A “Golden” Opportunity??

A month or two ago, I learned about two other “ex-pat” families here in Santiago who were considering international adoption. Via e-mail we discussed how in order for Americans living abroad to adopt internationally, a homestudy by a U.S.-licensed social worker is required. Of course, this requires that the U.S.-licensed social worker make a trip all the way to Chile!

Yesterday, I received an e-mail from one of these families, letting me know that they are moving forward with plans to adopt from Ethiopia and that a social worker has agreed to fly down to Chile if there are three families needing homestudies. (The upside is that the three families could divide the costs of flying the social worker here.)

Since homestudies are only valid for one year, it would be pointless for us to have one done unless we are certain that we are going to adopt internationally. As I’ve mentioned before, we have researched Haiti, Uganda, Ethiopia, Liberia and a few others but have not had a clear sense of direction on any of them. Finances are a very big issue. We are unsure whether this is an opportunity to step out in faith and begin an international adoption … or whether turning down this opportunity might be a step of faith in and of itself. (Because who knows when we would have another chance to do this, and we would have to simply trust that God has something better in store!)

There is a place in our hearts just waiting for another child to join our family. In fact, in our timing this would have already happened. But in God’s timing, He has seen fit not to bring that child into our lives yet. So now we consider this new opportunity, and the choice is unclear. Is it truly a “golden” opportunity? Yes? No? We just don’t know …