5.13.2009

Rwanda Adoption!

Rwanda is most likely where our second child will be from! We started looking into the Rwanda adoption process a few months ago. The best thing that we have learned is that Rwanda prefers to work with families directly. This means we would be doing a private adoption, with the help of other families who have adopted before us.
In many ways we would love to adopt from Ethiopia again, but the more we learn about Rwanda the more drawn we are to this beautiful country and the people. More to come............
pictures of children at Home of Hope, Kigali Rwanda

Our dossier has been registered in China for almost 30 months and we have passed our 3 year mark since we signed with our China adoption agency. It appears we have 2-4 years of waiting left. At this point our China adoption does not feel real any longer. We will not pull our dossier from China, but it does not seem possible that we will have a daughter from China. Some days this makes me very sad, sad for the children in China who remain in orphanages. Will I ever be able to let go completely? No.


33 comments:

Upstatemamma said...

Oh Leah!! Yay!! Congrats to you. Are you getting started now?! That is so exciting.

Anderson Crew said...

Please keep us posted! I have not heard of anyone doing an Rwanda adoption and would love to learn more about the process.
Best wishes as you grow your family!

Angela said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Angela said...

I also briefly researched Rwanda for adoption. Congratulations on your decision and sorry about your China timeline. They've gotten terribly long.

Bennett said...

wow that is so nice!!! did you see American Idol last night and the little kid that performed was from that country, so cute!!! he did a great job signing and dancing, the kids are so cute there.

Steph and Evan Griffith said...

Hi Leah,
Congratulations on your decision!

The children are beautiful.

Steph

Lory Howlett said...

Before we went to Ethiopia, our hearts were set on Rwanda. Even 18 months ago, Rwanda was much more difficult and uncertain than it is now. Have you met Jamie Jo (listed on my blog list, "Braner Party of Seven")? Even though I've never met her in person (yet--she just moved to Colorado), she's the one who got us started on our African adoption journey. How exciting! So many congratulations!

Rebecca said...

Congrats on your adoption from Rwanda! We've considered going there for our next adoption...we'll just have to wait and see :) We may be coming to you guys for advice!

I know it's a loss to possibly never have your baby girl from China. It's hard to have one vision and it not come true. The Lord will bless you with an amazing family (I mean, look at your little girl already - she's gorgeous and I know a real joy to you guys!) :)

Hugs!

Shawn said...

Wow, you've gone public so it must be pretty offiical. Can't wait to hear all about it!

Shawn

Erin said...

Awesome!! I am so happy for you!! Check out the Miles to Myles link on my blog if you haven't already!!

Heidi Klopfenstein said...

Congrats!! What exciting news!
We too are in the process of adopting a child from China (LID 9/17/07). We also adopted from Ethiopia (home for 3 months with our beautiful son).

Looking forward to following your journey to your next precious child.

Our family said...

Wow, your story sounds so familiar! We too are LID in China, 8/29/06, and brought our son home form Ethiopia last August. We are struggling on making a decision on what to do with China. It is so sad and frustrating, that like you, I don't know if we'll ever bring our daughter home from there. We are seriously thinking about going back to Ethiopia. I'll be following your exciting trip to Rwanda!

Mary

Anonymous said...

Please keep us updated with what you find out! We are considering an adoption from Rwanda or Liberia (when they lift the temporary ban) as there are so many children in those countries that are not being adopted or cared for. I really like how you have more say in who you can adopt and we have heard Rwanda actually encourages parents to visit and choose their child in person. SO many of the older children are not being adopted and there are many sibling groups available as well. Ghana and the Congo also just started programs. I heard Lethoso is open too. Many times these programs are more affordable as you can avoid hefty agency fees, so that is a good thing for families who may be apprehensive of adoption due to the cost. Let's get over there and save some kids!! :)

Annie said...

Congratulations on such WONDERFUL news :) It will be so exciting to follow your journey.

Laurel Greer said...

YEAHHHHH!!!!!

Kristi J said...

congrats on your next adoption...I will enjoy following along on this journey...Your ET darling is just too cute...she is adorable..but i guess you already know that :) thanks for stopping by, kristi

Amber said...

Very exciting!!!!

Lesa said...

How exciting about Rowanda! Keep me posted on this. I have wanted to try and go with Ethiopia since our age is okay with them.
We have been waiting for 35 months and June 19th we will be on our 36 month mark (3 whole years LID). I know how you feel about the long wait. So uncertain.

Jamie Jo said...

I'm answering the question you left on my blog. . . . yes, my POA meant that the nuns accepted my request for an older child.

FHL said...

Oh my, those children are adorable and your daughter is gorgeous! We are like you, we have not pulled our dossier,will not pull it, but there are days when I notice that my hope that once shone like a blinding light has turned to faint shadows. My heart breaks for the children.

Mom to many said...

Our daughter, Destiny, was at the same orphanage for a few weeks... until she went to Children's Hope International House of Hope. Do you have your adopt and shop site up and running yet? Cute things there.... can't wait to shop! AND - how is the new job? Probably not new anymore... do you have a link to the agency?

Anonymous said...

How exciting for you and your family! Good luck!

Unknown said...

Love you blog! Congratulations! That decision is hard, but the Lord will guide all your steps.

Amber said...

Give us some new pictures women!

Hey, I will be in Austin next MON-Wed.

Amber

Jamie said...

Hi! My name is Jamie. I happened to come upon your blog. We are in very similar situations. We have had a log in date for 22 months for China. We decided not to wait much longer but to go ahead and adopt from Rwanda while we are waiting for China. Our dossier is almost done for Rwanda. I wanted to say good luck. I understand how sad it is for those sweet girls in China. Hopefully you will be able to adopt from Rwanda and still get your darling girl from China as well.
Good Luck!
Jamie Soucy

Sharing Life and Love said...

How wonderful about your plans to adopt again---from Rwanda or/and China! I hope you do not give up on China and actually strongly advise you to look into Waiting Children. Your child may just be waiting on one of the many agency waiting lists or even the shared list (if your agency participates in that!)

Just so you know....CC*AA just came out with an announcement that anyone logged in with an agency, who wants to adopt from another agency's waiting child list, may switch their dossier over to the new agency in order to adopt that child. It may be worth your time to check out some of the lists.

Let me know if you need any help!
Erin

Lisa said...

Leah, that truly is exciting. Another amazing journey you are on. Words sometimes cannot describe what you go thru when you make a choice like this. So I won't even try, cause you know "I know" that this new journey will be spectacular.

Gabre I can tell, looks so much bigger now. Stunning, sweet, getting taller. How precious.

Hugs all around,
Lisa and Tigist

Anonymous said...

We too are looking into
Rwanda. It looks like Gladney is working with Rwanda now, but I like the idea of going through a private attorney. Have you had any success with this? Please keep us posted!

Good luck!

Anonymous said...

Leah,
I would love more info on how to privately adopt from Rwanda.How can I find out more?I have done some on line research and gotten no where.How exciting for your family!!
Thanks,
Ella
Zuels@hotmail.com

Susan Allee said...

Hello,
Stumbled across your blog because we are in the process of adopting a boy form Rwanda, Judah. I look forward to following your journey to your child as we are headed to the same place. Praying for your journey.
Susan Allee

allee-fam.blogspot.com

Jennie Allen said...

We are in process too! Love the little picture of the orphanage. There are so few!

Tristen said...

Hi! I just found your blog... I'm sorry to hear about your long wait with China and that you don't feel like it will happen. I wanted to let you know we are in the process of adopting from Rwanda too. We are almost DTR (dossier to Rwanda)! Although we are using an agency, Gladney. They have been wonderful, educating us about the county, process, updates, and education regarding parenting a child with trauma in their backgrounds. I couldn't imagine doing it on your own... if I can help you with questions or resources please feel free to contact me. I'm looking forward to hearing more about your Rwanda adoption. It's always great finding another Rwanda adoption family :)

Shelly said...

I know this is really random, but my husband and I have two children adopted from Rwanda (in Jan of 2010) and I recently came across some photos of them when they were younger (babies - before we met them), which was a precious blessing! (and great addition to their scrapbooks!) Anyway, I came across the above photo but would love to see it in it's original form (so that I can see closer if our kiddos are in it!) wondering if you might could help? You can check out our blog SneAdventure.blogspot.com

thanks!