You’re listening to Together by AGCI. I’m Melissa Rush. Today, we’re chatting with AGCI’s adoptive parents, Lisa and Nick. Nick and Lisa adopted their adorable son, William, from Colombia earlier this year. And their beautiful story is absolutely inspiring. If this story tugs on your heart, this is the perfect time to begin your adoption journey. This November, we’re celebrating adoption month at AGCI with a $500 adoption grant.
These grants are available for families who complete an application for one of AGCI’s international adoption programs by 11/30 and go under contract by 12/31. I can’t wait for you to be inspired by Nick and Lisa’s journey. Let’s get into our conversation. Well, we are so excited to have Nick and Lisa on the podcast. They are an incredible AGCI adoptive family and we’re so honored that they’re willing to share their story with us today.
In honor of National Adoption Month, said, welcome, Nick and Lisa. Thank you all. Thank you guys so much for taking the time to chat with us. So, I’m hoping that you can just start at the very beginning. Why did you guys decide to adopt? Yeah, yeah, I can start off. Yeah, it was something, you know, I think that I had in the back burner from years ago, I did missionary work years ago in Laos, in Southeast Asia, and I was primarily working with the university students, but also just a lot of kids in the neighborhood and village.
And, you know, that that kind of I think that kind of sparked something in me then. But then, like I said, it was on the back burner and life then ups and downs and everything like that. And then five years ago I married this lovely lady, and we started thinking about expanding our family and what that might look like.
And I’ll let you take over from there. Yeah. So, I think just through a lot of conversations that we had and a lot of prayer and just really careful consideration of what the process would be like and what it would mean to adopt internationally. I think we decided to jump in feet first. I think we just felt like this is why what we should be doing.
We looked at a bunch of different programs, different agencies. We live in different countries. Yeah, we loved our conversations with HCI and specifically, we really loved the Colombia program and just the child focused the Colombia part on their adoption program. So yeah, gosh, I guess it was December of 2019 that we decided to really jump in feet first.
And it’s been an amazing experience for us. Yeah, I’m so glad to hear that. So, had you did you guys always think, I mean, given your missionary experience, that you wanted to go international or what was the conversation like with that? That was that was definitely my heart. I was like, if I’m not going to have a biological child of my own, then adopting internationally was kind of what I wanted.
But I think we did go ahead and kind of take a step back and just be like, okay, let’s, let’s evaluate the options. And I just I have a lot of respect for people who do like Foster to adopt, but we were like, I just kind of, I couldn’t do that, you know, that’s yeah. And then newborn infant adoption domestically at just seemed like it wasn’t necessarily quite the need for that, that, you know, surrounded by other types of adoption.
So, it kind of pushed us back like it made sense to look into international adoption and the yeah, yeah. I was going to add to that, I think when we looked at the international programs, we just felt that if there aren’t families there to adopt these children there, they probably won’t be adopted and they probably will go through the system.
Our thought was perhaps here stateside these infants, and these babies will have that opportunity. There’s lots of families there that want these children. There’s waiting lists and, you know, there’s a lot of desire for that. Whereas internationally, our perception is possibly there aren’t those families lined up for those infants or those children. So, I think that’s really what pushed us towards or kind of inspired us towards going adoption internationally.
Yeah, I’m so glad you brought that up because all of the kids that we, you know, that we place with families like through JCI International Adoptions, kind of the last stop on the train, you know, they have tried to find domestic families. They’ve tried to reunify as possible. They’ve tried they’ve tried all those other options. And so, you know, unfortunately, that is true, that if that those kids who are waiting and eligible for it to be internationally adopted at this point in time, if they’re not adopted, that, you know, that’s the end of the line.
So, which is heartbreaking. Can you share what about what stuck out what stuck out to you about HCI? Why did you decide to move forward? I think we felt, and I can kick this one out, I think we just felt very comfortable with the woman. And forgive me, I can’t remember who we spoke with the first time, but we just felt very comfortable with her.
There was no it wasn’t pushy. We weren’t, you know, you know, followed up with phone calls and mail and emails. Afterwards, there was follow up, but it just didn’t feel pushy. It felt like she wanted us to make the best decision for our family and gave us the space and consideration to do that. So, we just felt very comfortable with the conversations that we were having.
Again, we really fell in love with the Colombia program and the Child First Focus for Colombia really has. Yeah, I think the Colombia kind of went hand in hand with I got surgery because we were kind of exploring other opportunities and um, and I think that, oh yeah, we also had friends who had adopted their HCI from China, but they, you know, they, they spoke highly of it.
And yeah, that, that was, there were some familiarities and they, they had heard about it from a woman at our church who runs her own mission organization and, you know, just kind of well-known and respected in that community. And it’s like, well, if that’s her recommendation, that’s why you guys went with them. Okay. Yeah, I’m glad to hear that.
So fast forwarding a little bit, there’s kind of this infamous special needs checklist that as adoptive families are kind of starting on the process that you have to go through. And I know that that can be really challenging for a lot of folks as they’re looking at that and like, I don’t want to check the wrong, you know, not check something or and have might that be my child?
You know, it’s kind of it’s really hard. What were you what were your feelings about that? What were your feelings about special needs, you know, before your adoption journey? And how has that shifted or. I just love to hear about that experience for you guys. Yeah, so many thoughts and so many ways around that, honestly. And I think we both feel for anyone that’s, you know, struggling or kind of tackling that now or going to be tackling that because it’s not easy.
And it’s all of the things that you said, like you don’t want to eliminate a child that could be your child. But there are words on there that you have never seen before in your life. And we start with our phones and had to Google the majority of those of those things. And it’s weird because like on some level it’s like, you know, if we were having a biological child like you don’t get to choose that right now like we’re students.
And I tell them all the time, you get what you get, and you don’t get it right. And it’s like with a biological child, that’s how it got us. And so, it’s kind of like, well, should we even get to choose this? You know, and not, you know, not wanting to, like, play God or whatever? I don’t know.
I’m just trying to not overthink it because again, just, you know, we leave view our son as, you know, fully our child and just like we would with biological, it would be kind of the same situation I think for us, how we manage that was we know, you know, financially what we’re capable of handling. And I think one of the things that we knew we couldn’t do was for one of us to stay home full time into perpetuity to take care of a child.
I just wouldn’t financially be possible for us. So, looking at it through that lens I think was very helpful for us to go through that checklist and realistically think about what would work for our family. And also, we took into consideration what resources we had in our community too that could help us. Should we be matched with a child that did have some of those limitations in our trying to be or not, as we’re saying no to a child who might have these needs.
That’s hard to think about as well. But more like, okay, a child who has these needs would be better suited with a family who quite, frankly, has more needs than us. And, you know, one of the parents could stay home full time and care for them forever. Yeah, absolutely. It’s I know it’s so tricky because it’s like as you said, if you’re having a biological child, you know, there’s no checklist for that.
But at the same time, you know, you have to know what your abilities and resources and all of those things are. And that’s something we take really seriously. We never want anyone to feel like, you know, you we want families to feel prepared to parent the child that they adopt. And we really believe strongly in that. So, tell me the story.
Like when how when did you see William’s picture for the first time? What were your thought like? Give I want I want to hear all that’s such like a life changing moment. Oh, my gosh. It was like this time last year, which was crazy to think about because it was right around Nick’s birthday, which is in a couple of weeks.
It might have been your birthday weekend, like right before leading up to his birthday when we first got that. And it was I don’t even know. I don’t know how to describe after years literally of being like, okay, yeah, somewhere down the line, you know, like everyone wants, you know, you’re doing it. That’s like an easy conversation topic.
How’s the adoption going? And it’s almost like it’s just it’s still going so well. Papers and doing all that stuff. Yeah. And if I remember correctly, like we said last summer, we send everything in our final dossier and all that. And then we got word in August that Colombia had received it. And so, we thought we had like it was going to be like two years from then.
Yeah. Because, you know, we heard, you know, anywhere from 3 to 24 months from that point. And then we got a call in October. I believe that. Yeah. I think yeah. End of October, early November, somewhere in there and yeah it was or maybe it was a phone call. You’re right. Maybe it was quickly. You forget this.
A lot has happened in the last year. Oh, my gosh. It’s been a whirlwind. Maybe in October there was some conversation that, like, something had been approved. Oh, yeah. Because I guess there was that period where Colombia could be like, oh, you know, we need this little more info. So. So we got the word that that had all gone through and that was in October.
And then, you know, whoever we were talking with said, yeah, so, you know, it could be anywhere from couple of months to, you know, a year, maybe even to like, okay. And then just three weeks later, literally, we get the call and she’s you know, I assume there was some follow up question and they like the way she was like, hey, Nick, do you have a minute?
And then I was like, Yeah, should I get Lisa for this? And, you know, I got her, and she said it was a bunch of errors. Like what looks so exciting? It’s like your life changes in an instant with the phone calls kind of crazy. It really was. It really was. And it really happened from that moment on.
It, just like you said, it was a complete whirlwind. It just happened. It happened so quickly. It was such an exciting holiday season last year, just knowing that this was on the horizon. And I think at that point in time we didn’t exactly know when we were traveling, but we knew it was going to be, you know, within the year.
Yeah. Yeah. Six or seven months from then. Yeah. So yeah, it was, you know, all of a sudden there was like, we got to get rooms ready and then it’s shifting to do there with different bedrooms and remodeling and yeah, all that stuff. And I was like, oh, all of a sudden it was like, maybe can we get like an extra month?
You know, like we had too little, too little pictures at first, which we printed off. And I know I put one on my desk at work and I think Nick did, too. We just had these two little grainy pictures from goodness knows when that they had of him. But it was fun to show our, you know, our other kids, our other daughters the picture of their new brother.
And then we did that actually on my birthday. That was when we shared them, which was cool. What a birthday present. Yeah, girl.
Oh, go ahead. Oh, geez. I really missed that. It was my 40th last year, and Lisa threw a party for me, and that was when we announced it to our kind of broader circle. We had talked with both my parents, but a much broader circle of friends, and that’s cool. That’s so cool. Did you when you guys got that that call and the pictures and learned about him, was it immediately like this is our son or did it take a little bit of time to kind of, you know, absorb this big change?
Yeah, I think Nick and correct me if I’m wrong was like immediately this is this is our son. No questions asked. You know, this this is this is you know, this is him. Absolutely. This is part of our family. I tend to be a little bit more cautious. And I know that we had to have the file reviewed by our international pediatrician.
And that was really important to me. I wanted to have them to have the file and read through it and let us know if we’re reading everything correctly. A lot of it was in Spanish. In Spanish, yeah. A lot of it wasn’t in English. So, we could read what we thought, you know, as much as we could. But obviously we knew that they could go more in depth with it.
So, once we sent that over to them, it was now your children’s, and they went through it with us. I think I was able to confirm at that point in my heart, in my head that absolutely this this is our child. And we were full speed ahead at that point. You know, the picture, you know, the center was cool that seeing the photo I’m like that’s you know is that an official people like it yeah that that makes it yeah all of a sudden it is now.
I mean it’s been a human we’re talking about this whole time and the paperwork and everything like that, but it’s this kind of abstract out here. And then you see the photo and it’s like, okay, that’s death. And then we got a little video to on a little video, which was cute to see them because it was right around the holidays, and he was kind of toddling around by a Christmas tree.
So, oh, definitely sealed the deal, that’s for sure. And I know this is an obviously an auditory experience for everyone, but he is the cutest little boy. He is so adorable. I got to look at some photos before we chatted, and he is just he’s precious. Thank you. Yeah, well, I think I think seeing the picture makes it makes it all real, you know, it’s like, oh, this is really because its adoption can be, you know, and everyone’s journey is obviously different.
And some, you know, there are people who wait five years are people who it happens within a year. You know, if the adopt awaiting trial, it really varies but it can. Yeah, like you said, it can feel very abstract and like, yeah, this is happening. But we’re like right now we’re like sending off files and filling out lots of paperwork and all of that.
And then to see the photo to see the video and be like, oh, this is like, this is real. This is our child. That’s amazing. So, I would love to hear about meeting him for the first time and traveling to Colombia. Have you guys been to Colombia before? And I don’t know. I traveled a lot in Southeast Asia multiple times.
But yeah, never. South America was uncharted territory for us, which, you know, going back a little bit, that that was a remember initially like somebody we were talking to it, I got soldier, it was like, oh yeah, Colombia or like Colombia like, I mean, okay, you know, it’s just it’s all kind of random at first. And until they explain to us, like they I was saying, kind of the just the very child first approach that Colombia has and the ability to get a younger child because they try to move as quickly as possible to get kids into their forever families.
Yeah, that was yeah. Kind of what sparked this more in Colombia. But yeah, so we had had no history that, you know, I took Spanish high school and college, but that that’s about it. Well, it’s a beautiful country. It’s wonderful. And the people are like, I don’t know. I feel like every time I go there, I’m like, man, everyone is just so full of life.
And it’s really, really an awesome place. We loved it. Like, I just absolutely enjoyed our time there. In fact, after, you know, everything had been approved and we had what was that final peace that he needed to fly his visa or. Um, yeah, one last piece of the puzzle that we needed to be able to take him home and we got that.
And we could have flown out on a Friday, and we were like, you know, stay until Monday and, and just stay through the weekend because we I mean, we just loved it. We love the country. We were able to we stayed in where he was born. We stayed in Bogota. And then we stayed in La mesa. Yeah, a mountain town.
And just all three experiences were unique and different, like you said, that just the people were so welcoming and kind to us. And I, you know, I was a little concerned about that because we looked very different. He was like them. We look very different than everyone there. And I you know, during the experience, I was wondering, like, are the are the Colombians wondering what we’re doing or how do they do this?
Is this upsetting to them to see this very American couple with a Colombian child? But you were not at all. And, you know, we talked to our interpreter a little bit about it. I share that concern with our interpreter. And she said, I think they’re thinking what a beautiful thing is happening. And I think once I was able to look at it that way, I think I felt much more comfortable with it and just began to realize that, yeah, people are smiling at us because they’re happy and you know, they can see that a good thing is happening for this little boy.
Oh, that’s awesome. So, tell me about the moment, though, when you met him. Like, were you guys nervous? What? We’re all what we’re I mean, it’s kind of an it’s a I mean, it’s a big deal. I it was yeah. We forget how when exactly. But I mean, it was we learned this, you know, a couple of months before we are well, probably even sooner than that.
But at whenever we learned that there was still a surprise to me how early on in the time in Colombia that we would get him because, you know, we were in Colombia for four weeks in one day. So, you know, about a month. And initially I had assumed, like, there’d be lots of steps we’d have to do in Colombia before meeting him.
But, you know, we ended up the way it works is you get him like day three, I think it was every day for it. And so, in the day before that is when you we it was a zoom call. I don’t know if it always is or that because we were so coming out of home and stuff. But yeah, with all the all of his psychologists, social workers and everyone who’s been on his case in Colombia and they kind of tell you and your translator fill you in on just everything about him, you know, from the health issues to like what does he eat on a daily basis?
Yeah, you know, how does this leave? How does this leave? So that, you know, that was cool, kind of like the preparation the day before and then I remember that that evening we went out to dinner and then it was like, you know, tomorrow everything changes. The approach they do. And I don’t know, obviously we just have this one experience.
But the way they did it in Colombia, at least for that group, was make it like kind of like a birthday party. And it was like a birthday party vibe, and it was at our hotel room. And again, that may have been it may have been a chain. One of the things that they changed with Calvin, but that was kind of sticking.
Then instead of meeting him, like in some neutral place, they bring him to our hotel rooms. Like we got balloons and a cake and, and have music, music playing for him. And we had brought we had brought a few toys for him to play with some new toys. And they I think his two social workers, you know, carried him in and brought him brought him to our room.
And I think it was a beautiful and overwhelming idea. You know, a lot of money for him. I’m sure he was like; this is what is happening. But yeah, you know, we just brought him in and were able to sit down with him and, you know, bounce a ball with him and play with him and I don’t know, I think they maybe stayed like a half hour or so at same with our interpreter.
And then, you know, they laughed, and it was just the three of us. And really, what do we do now? And he was like every parent when they go home with their baby, you know, they for a second, it’s like I have to keep reminding myself of all the paperwork we done, like, and I just leaving this baby with strangers like this is the years of background checks and FBI parents.
So, yeah, you know, because at the moment they’re just like they were there, but they didn’t ask us all these questions. They were just kind of like, okay, that’s good. Yep. I will see you again in seven days and I will share too. And I don’t know if this will be helpful for other newly adopted moms, or maybe this is just a weird experience that I had.
But that evening when we went to bed, I don’t know if you remember this, but I it must have just been an emotional release, but I just cried and cried and cried and cried. And I wasn’t sad, and I wasn’t it wasn’t it was just an absolute realization that everything had changed and the blink of an eye.
There’s a new member of our family and he’s here at that point, we would let him fall asleep in the bed with us, and then we would move him to his little crib. But he was just I’m just like this little this little baby is here and we’re here in a different country. And it was just a big just, I think, emotional, rational, and emotional release for me.
And sorry I’m here. A dog trying to scrape on our door here. Oh, God. Yeah. So, it, it passed. And the next morning we got up and have breakfast. But yeah, it was definitely, definitely an emotional, emotional day. All it was, I emotions I, I will I’ll be the first to admit I’m a relatively easy crier, especially during the day.
Whatever I expected that we would both be like crying when we got him. I don’t know if it was because of, like, social workers. I mean, I’ll be honest, it is a rather awkward situation because you’re like you’re playing with this kid who is like, technically your son, but like you just met him. So, it you’re playing with a little stranger kid, and you have these like two people who are like watching you.
And then this other, our interpreter was awesome. She took photos and video for us and did a great job of capturing it, but at the same time, it’s like, what? Hey, how do you little, you know, like, what are we doing here? And, you know, you don’t want to do like you don’t want to hug too much or too little and you know, yeah.
So, I don’t know if that was why, but yeah, we, we didn’t have a lot of any tears at the moment. But then, yeah, like you said, maybe it builds up throughout that night. And yeah, you know, for me, I don’t know. It was just like something switched in my mind. I have two daughters from my first marriage and so they’re now well at the time they were ten and 13, now 1114.
And so, you know, it had been a few years. But like, yes, I feel like as soon as I saw it, I was kind of just like, oh, yeah, here we go. Another one of these like, you know, just switched into that mode and which was helpful for me because I had no idea what I was doing. I, you know, I mean, it is but that was the closest that I had ever come to it.
I don’t think I’d ever change the diaper before because you really got thrown into this guy, like, what do we do? But yeah, it was it was definitely exciting and fun and all, you know, emotional roller coaster day, month, week, sometimes it still is so. Yeah, absolutely. Well, that is completely normal. I think sometimes people, you know, it’s there’s such a buildup, right?
Like it’s like, okay, it’s happening, you know, years and thinking about it, all these things. And then it’s like it happens. And I think it’s very normal, like you said, to have this kind of like emotional release of like, okay, no, this is this is our child. He’s really here. Yeah. And not that it’s sad, but it’s just like you.
You kind of can it’s almost like when you’re able to let your show, like, relax a little bit. Like, it’s like, okay, he’s in our arms. It’s going to be okay. I mean, it’s going to be hard, but whatever we come up against, like, we’ll figure it out. So, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So how has the transition been? You said so.
You have to. He said he now has two older sisters. How has how is that then that I mean, that honestly could not our experience as it has could not have gone better or more smoothly. Yeah. And they love him. He loves them. The younger one is just very nurturing. Like she’s 11 now, wants to be a teacher, you know, just very much like he’s very little like life played all, you know, like, yeah, the older one is not any of those things.
She’s I love her dearly, but she can be somewhat standoffish and just kind of like, you know, one-word answers. 14, right? 14. Oh, well, yeah. Hey, I wasn’t at 14, but like, it’s been so cool and such a pleasant surprise to see, like, it’s brought out this whole other side of her and just sitting there interaction and that.
Yeah, that aspect has been great. And you know, not that there’s lots of challenges with them being from my first marriage and you know, they’re only with us about a third of the time, okay. Which, you know, stays in lots of ways and there’s been all sort of stuff with that, but kind of benefit is that he doesn’t like.
He has a novelty. Every time they’re with us, they’re with us like about a third of the time. So, the weekends they’re with us and stuff, they’re anxious to see him. They’re not like, you know, get out of my room already. You know, he accidentally breaks something. It’s not that big of a deal. Yeah. Yeah. Whereas if it was day in and day out, you know, they probably totally started to get a little annoyed with him by now or something like that.
So. Oh yeah. Siblings, little, little brother. Yeah, yeah. Oh, well, what a blessing. I’m so glad to hear that. So I know this is I mean, this all just happened not that long ago, but just thinking back, like from the very beginning up until now, like what has the biggest challenge been in your journey from like from the initial process or from when we, you know, brought William home either or both, whatever, six are in your mind that the process of the paperwork and the fingerprints is?
I wouldn’t say challenging, but there is a long list a lot. And like, you know what the order and I don’t know, just a little overwhelming at first. Oh, sure. Like, you know, like lots of things. Once you break it out, you start making progress like it was a bad thing, just a long process. It was awesome when we were able to send that whole thing away and be like, we did this like we did this and now it’s going off.
Yeah, I think, I, I think our challenge once we brought him home is just, it’s in on a bad way, but it didn’t necessarily go the way I think we had planned it to. Meaning when we first brought him home, our plan was I was working from home until Nick works in the school, until he was off for the summer break.
And then I was going to go back to full time, and we were going to put William into daycare in August when he went back to school this past August. And I think just being with William and my time with him, I think we both just decided it just wasn’t time to now put him into daycare in August.
That just didn’t seem like the right fit for our family. So, we had to think what we needed to do as a family so one of us could stay home with him until next year or till we feel like we’re ready to put him into a care situation. And that ended up being me and I transitioned to working part time basically in the evenings so I can be home left with William during the day.
100%. The best decision that we possibly could have made for, I think, our family and for William. But it was challenging. You know, it was definitely something that we didn’t enter into lightly. I really love my job and my career, and it was definitely something that I had to weigh. Like, Am I ready to give this to give this up now and again?
Like, like we said, it’s there is absolutely no looking back and it’s definitely the best decision that that we could have made. But, you know, you go into something with a plan and you’re like, you’ve thought about and you’ve prayed about it. We think you have this all set out and then you bring this little person home and you’re like, well, maybe that’s not how we planned.
It isn’t the way that it’s going to go. And it’s just kind of reframing what that oh, I hate to say this, but that new normal is going to look like for your family and just kind of adjusting. And I think we’re still even and I certainly am still kind of adjusting to what that looks like day in and day out.
But again, I think we’re both would agree that it’s the best decision that that we could have made. Yeah, that’s right. Yeah. Well, I think that’s I mean, one of the challenging things about, you know, and for you, you know, Lisa, like becoming a parent for the first time. Yeah, you have all these plans and ideas of like how it’s going to go and how you’re going to do it.
And then it’s like your kid comes in and they’re like, no, that’s not how that’s going to work. And it all works out the way it’s supposed to and ends up being great, but it’s so hard. And I think especially, yeah. When you, when you have a career that you love and to have to figure out the balance of that.
Like that’s, that’s such a challenge I think, especially for, you know, moms. Yeah. I mean, thank you for sharing that. Is there anything that has surprised you? Every day we’re surprised. Every day. I mean, something new. I think the biggest thing for us from the onset. So, like during the process, I think it I’ll take it back to like when we were we were considering this, you know, we were looking at the price tag and we’re like, we don’t we don’t have that to just, you know, do this, and write the check and be done with it.
You know, we’ve got, you know, two other kids to think about and a mortgage and a car, you know. So, yeah, but I think we just felt like this is we’re going to do this and we’re just going to be open to however God is going to figure it out for us. And when we looked at it on paper, we’re like, Yeah, this doesn’t make sense.
Like this, the numbers, you know, you see that breakdown of the cost and it’s like, I don’t know, 36,000 or something like that. Yeah, yeah. We have about maybe ten families, probably isn’t going to work for us. So yeah, yeah. We kind of pushed all of our resources and every, you know, everything that we had saved to put towards it.
And then we were just like, well, God Will, we’re excited to see how you’re going to work this out for us and to say that it was jaw dropping just the way I and people always say that and I don’t know how to explain it other than like it was truly incredible and amazing. And people that Nick went to high school with 20 years ago giving him a call and saying, I want to I saw this on Facebook that you’re doing this, and I want to contribute a substantial amount, you know, just incredible.
Wow. Incredible things happen to align this up. Church our church was hugely supportive, and they actually have a program on grafted that works, you know, to encourage adoption. And they were just very, very generous. And then we had friends who, like this was kind of a funny story. We had a couple of friends who we hadn’t even talked with our we talked to their parents, but not like our siblings or anything, but like they didn’t even know we were adopting.
But we had dinner with some friends and stuff, and you know, it did come out. And then like a couple of days later they sent us this link they had already they set up a go fund me for us and like sent it out to like all their relatives and you know, none of these people in the US and they raised like, I don’t know, three or $4,000 for us, which we were like, wow, wow.
We should tell our family. Yeah, you wow, you know. But yeah, that, I think just that was, was super surprising. It shouldn’t have been like we should have been like a poor Scott is going to come through and figure this out for us. But I think just to see it like tangibly happen before your eyes, it was just incredible.
And I think it also gave us when, you know, things were challenging and even now when things are challenging and you’re we’re looking at it like, ah, I’m looking at it like, Holy cow, like what’s going on here? I think I’m finding comfort in that. Like, this is, this is supposed to happen. Otherwise, it wouldn’t, you know, like these things were all set up in place specifically for this child to be here at this time with us.
It’s encouraging. And yeah, again, I think that initially just really shocking and surprising. Happy, shocking, and surprising for sure. Yeah, I’m so thank you for sharing that. We always joke that we wish we could just put that on our website. Like, don’t worry about the finances. It will all come together, we promise. We obviously cannot say that, but I cannot tell you.
I mean, I have been you know, I’ve had the privilege of getting to talk to the adoptive families for, gosh, over eight years now. And pretty much every single family I talk to has a story like that of that, because it is it’s very overwhelming when you look at the numbers. And most people can’t just write a check for that amount.
And, you know, disclaimer, you don’t have to write a check for that amount. It is it is a process with over a period of time. But it’s just amazing to see the provision that that does happen when you just say yes and step out in faith and just follow where your lead. And it’s it is. And not to take away from the fact that it is scary to look at the numbers and to look at your, you know, bank account and be like, this is I don’t see how this is happening, but it does.
And I have heard that so many times. And so, if you are listening to this and that is the reason why you are not adopting, don’t want that be the reason why you’re not adopting. It will come together, and you’ll be amazed by the people in your life that, you know, adoption isn’t for everyone, and that’s okay.
But everyone can help make adoption possible. And so, I think people feel also sometimes like they don’t want to ask for help. They don’t want to like put that out and put pressure on someone. But people want to help. People want to help you. They want to be part of your child’s story. And that’s something that everyone can do.
And, you know, whether that’s $5 or a thousand or whatever or even just, you know, praying and coming alongside people in that way give people the chance to be a part of it, give people a chance to help. And like you said, I think people are excited, too. And, you know, Nick alluded to just even people that we didn’t know that we had never met before were just I was inspired by it.
Like I was like, holy cow. I should be giving more to potentially adoptive families and seeking out opportunities to support adoptive families, too. It’s just it really is inspiring. And I would definitely in fact, I’ll say some prayers tonight for some people that are considering it and are worried about the financial aspect of it, because it really does.
It’s really inspiring and encouraging to see how it does fall into place. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Well, to end, do you guys have any encouragement for I mean, I feel like that was encouragement in itself. But any other encouragement or wisdom for families who are, you know, maybe on the fence, they’re just considering adoption and trying to decide if it’s part of the plan for their life.
What would you guys say? That’s a good question. Yeah. I mean, that would definitely be that you just one just the provision, you know, that was we mean, like Lisa said, we were never stressed about it. And like I, you know, comparatively speaking, I think we did kind of have it like, well, make it, you know, okay, go ahead.
Make it happen. And I think that that helped. And I guess just to not stress about that aspect of it, you know, obviously be wise and diligent and blah, blah, blah, but yeah, not too stressed about that aspect of it. And we do pay off I think to, you know, were called to take care of widows and orphans.
Right. Like that’s clearly stated in the Bible. And I think we read, you know, multiple books about adoption and just really felt that that’s what we’re that we’re supposed to do in some capacity. And like you alluded to, not everyone should be adopting or needs to adopt or, but I think if you feel that time is probably there for a reason, and I would say to explore it, read, read the literature that you can’t go wrong supporting an orphan in some way, right?
Like you can, whether it’s financially supporting another family or pursuing it yourself, no matter what you’re doing the right thing, because that’s what we’re supposed to be doing. So, I think reading some literature about it and definitely obviously talking to your partner about it a lot and praying about it, you can’t go wrong. Obviously see returns on the on that investment no matter what.
I mean. And I, you know, and then I would add to it just the joy that he has been, you know, having this little guy and for me, you know, the just purely like selfishly looking at it, but like for me with my with my daughters having gotten older and, you know, like as a parent, everyone’s kind of like, oh, especially his and her teenage years.
Like remember when they were so cute little and oh if I could go back and you know, all the little cute outfits and all that stuff and it’s like I get to do all that again, you know? And I know obviously lots of people are in lots of different stages, but anyone who has older children and is like, oh my gosh, I really want to go back into the diaper stage, you know, or, you know, whatever.
Like there’s lots of diapers or lots of diapers. Yeah. But it’s kind of like for me, it’s just it’s been fun because it’s like, like parenthood 2.0. Like, I get to do this again and, you know, relive a lot of that. And yeah, and that’s when I it, it’s a cool aspect for me. And I think one other thing that I would add for, for folks who are heading to their country to meet their child for their first time, my big encouragement would be to enjoy your time in country.
And just when we first got there and we had William, I think that very next day we’re like, okay, let’s see this process. Let’s go home. I think we both really just wanted to get home with him. But, you know, we realized that that’s not going to happen. There’s a lot of paperwork that needs to happen and country.
And I think once we did that and we said to ourselves, like, when are we going to be off work for a month together again, where we in another country, we’re probably not going to have that experience again. So, we just need to take a step back and enjoy it. And I think once we put that, you know, frame, we have that frame of mind.
We thoroughly enjoyed our time, and it did it did take a very conscious mind shift. Yeah. Because like this time that day to having him, we were like, all right, let’s get on with it. Yeah, yeah. We just I think just being in country and experiencing another culture and meeting new people and learning more about our son’s culture and hoping that our lives that we can, knowing that like we will forever have a tie to this culture and second, that it as much as we can taking all the pictures that we could so we could show him, you know, different places we visited when we were there with him, showing them his hometown.
We definitely plan to go back again, hopefully sooner rather than later, maybe when he’s a little bit older and can kind of understand it a little bit more. But yeah, I think my advice or encouraging would be just try to relax and just enjoy that time in-country and do some exploring and even down there yourself. But then like the reality, like living out of a hotel is hard.
Nick got older. Sure, but don’t rush that, because then you get home and all of a sudden work comes and family and, you know, and all of a sudden things are so busy and like, oh, my gosh, the yard, because we’ve been gone for a month and, you know, things like that. So, like, enjoy. Just soak in that time.
Yeah, yeah. You’re kind of in a that’s a once in a lifetime experience. Very well process. Yeah. Unless you’ve got multiple times until you adopt again. Yeah. Yeah, no. Yeah, absolutely. No, you’re in, you’re kind of in that little bubble and. Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, with anything, it’s like, okay, let’s get our life started again.
Let’s go. But it’s like you kind of have this, yeah, a once in a lifetime experience to pause and for you two to be together and just with him and in his in his birth country and then also, like, think about when he’s older, to be able to be like you have an understanding now that you wouldn’t have had of some of his of his heritage.
And that’s invaluable. Exactly. Awesome. Well, thank you guys so much. It was such a joy to talk to you, to hear your beautiful story. And I know this is going to be such incredible encouragement for so many families. So, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me today. Thank you. My pleasure. That was AGCI adoptive parents, Nick and Lisa, thanks for listening to Together by AGCI as always.
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We look forward to sharing another story of hope the next time we’re together. We’ll talk to you soon.
