December Update

Time is flying. It has been 3 months since we actively started our adoption journey, although we started researching adoption and potential countries since the Haiti earthquake in 2010. We have been in contact with our primary agency and she is in contact with the orphanage director working out the details of matching families with waiting children. On our end, we are doing odd jobs, filling out paperwork and grants (unfortunately only one grant is available pre-homestudy), doing lots of research and enjoying learning about Sierra Leone. We also needed to reach out to supportive friends and family for adoption recommendation letters. We were overwhelmed by the gracious and supportive words they gave in support of us adopting. We are blessed to have some amazing people in our lives. We would like to thank those of you who wrote on our behalf.

We found a Sierra Leone adoption support group that has been crucial in helping us navigate all the steps in adopting from Sierra Leone. Several members have even lived in and do ministry in Sierra Leone and are able to help with things such as drivers and guides. They recommended using our agency, Frank Adoption Center, for their integrity and ethics and there are many families in the group who have successfully used them. There aren't many agencies available for Sierra Leone, so finding an agency was no small feat. There were only 18 adoptions from Sierra Leone in 2015 and I imagine similar statistics in years surrounding, so finding such a community of 88 members has been an answer to prayer and we are learning so much.

We have already had to decide on paper our ideal match, researching and thinking about who we can best care for. We are expecting our youngest child to be somewhere in the range of 2-5 and our oldest to be 4-7, though we have expressed as young as possible to accommodate birth order to the best of our ability. In some schools of thought it can be considered high risk to adopt outside of birth order, though there is support and resources for successful adoptions where the new family members are older than the current children. It is a much higher success rate while adopting outside of birth order to stay under the age of the oldest. We have local families who have adopted outside of birth order who can be a source of wisdom for us. In considering our kids personalities, we feel the best fit would be having the new kids ages fall in around Elyssa and Gabriel. Due to lack of medical care and malnutrition the children are often smaller and delayed in development, so it is highly common for the ages to be one to two ages older than we are told. With this in mind, we are prepared for our children to be older than we thought once they are home with us and evaluated by a doctor.  We have asked to be matched with one boy and one girl, though we are open to two girls. We have chosen two very special names filled with meaning and hopes for their future. Aria Brielle means "The song and breath of God is my strength" and Aidan Nehemiah means "A passion for no more tears". We hope to incorporate both their given names and their Carlson names as they both will be part of who they are. We are excited to see what God has planned in their lives.

We will need to travel to Sierra Leone 2-3 times depending on how paperwork lines up. Going often is actually a blessing. Adoption can often mimic kidnapping because a strange family swoops in and takes them to a new place away from people and places they know. The more often we visit, the more we get to know each other and the more the kids will be prepared to come home with us. Additionally, extended family members are required to consent to the adoption even if both parents of the children are deceased and no family is willing or able to be a guardian. We also have a required 6 month guardianship period where we will have required weekly Skype visits. We are so excited to begin a relationship before bringing them to our home. It should facilitate a gentler transition. We recognize that Sierra Leone is their home and what they know and love. We hope to continue that and honor their family, culture and their African identity.

Sierra Leone is currently listed as #14 poorest country in the world. We have been told by members of our support group that Haiti and Mexico look like a first world countries after staying in Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone means "Lion Mountain" and is a beautiful land full of so many things that seem unfair. Here are several observations we have been made aware of. The power goes out often. Hotels often run out of shower water. There is an overwhelming smell. Due to the poverty, there is not the best disposal system even in their capital city. Freetown, a city of 2 million people is often loud and chaotic. Ferrel pigs fight children for food at the wharf. A previous, long lasting civil war has caused economic and infrastructure setbacks. Both sexual and labor child trafficking issues are problems. The civil war, Ebola and HIV have left many children without both parents. 39% of girls are child brides and polygamy exists at 37%.  94% of the female population has been affected by female genital mutilation by their teen years and those who haven't are at risk of being forced, even being captured in their sleep, to see that their cultural tradition is adhered to. As you can see, there are many humanitarian concerns that we are hoping to raise awareness of. Despite their trials, the people are often described as warm, accepting, generous, hospitable and loving. We hope to build long lasting friendships and partner long-term with Sierra Leone. The beauty and truth of the Gospel is spreading. We hope that the many injustices will be redeemed.

Prayers-
-Health and safety of our Sierra Leonean kids
-That the children chosen for us would be a good fit
-Continued preparedness for us and our kids
-Children's extended family consents to adoption
-Humanitarian concerns
-That we would be awarded the grant toward our home study that we applied for
-That we are able to quickly pay our $2700 home study fee and can start our home study in the next week
-We still need to pay $3000 to our primary agency
-Puzzle fundraiser- We have two Sierra Leonean flag puzzles that have a total of 504 pieces. Our vision is for friends, family and adoption supporters to sponsor a "piece" of each child's journey to our home, writing a special message to the child or simply signing their name. The puzzle will be kept as a keepsake for the child to see who helped love them home. Our goal is to have all pieces sponsored for $12/each by the end of December. That will exactly cover our outstanding balance with both the primary and home study agencies.

Please share the updates of our journey to anyone who may be interested. We hope to create a community around us as we go through this process.