Viaje a Casa

Slow Steps In The Right Direction

Hello everyone!

Wow...it's been a long time since I've made an update here.  When we first began looking into the adoption process we heard many folks talk about the long, slow, arduous process that they endured.  We have certainly seen the reality of this, and we're really not even deep into the process.

In my last post I shared with you that we've chosen to work with All God's Children International.  We began the initial process with them earlier this year.  They've required a lot of information from us because of Lynn's past medical issues with breast cancer.  We had to get all of her medical records sent to them and a letter of endorsement from Lynn's doctor here.  That process was painfully slow due to varying levels of incompetence in the medical community (lost records, lost letters, etc.).  I then had to obtain copies of sealed juvenile court records from Illinois to send to them.  I had a few minor indescretions in my teenage years that we wanted to fully disclose, even though the sealed records wouldn't have come up in our FBI background check.

And then there was the tornado that hit our house in March and rendered it unfit for a home inspection.  This was followed by months of incompetent contractors who can't seem to finish the job of putting it all back together again.

Finally in early May Lynn and I decided to go away for a weekend to pray and figure out how to proceed.  We felt the Lord saying to us that we need to focus first on getting out of our rental and purchasing a home before we go further with the adoption.  This will be much better for our home study.  And it will allow us to take out a home equity loan (because we're making a large down payment) to help fund the adoption.

That brought us to another problem.  Our lease isn't up until December.  When we signed the lease our property manager (who is also a real estate agent) told us she'd let us out a couple months early if we bought through her.  Okay, so that's October.  But Lynn and I didn't want to put the adoption off that long due to the Hague Convention and the possible closing of Guatemala for international adoption.

Whew.  Are you keeping up?

Well, a few weeks ago our landlord surprised us by saying that she would let us out of the lease any time we wanted!  Woo hoo!  So we are now searching in earnest for the right home to purchase with the hope that we'll find something and get moved this summer.  Please pray with us!  Once this step is complete we will begin the actual legal process of finding our Guatemalan child.

PS:  I just checked my e-mail between that last paragraph and this and had an e-mail from Lynn that it appears that Guatemala has ratified the Hague Convention.  That is great news for us...I think!

Agency Update

Hello everyone!

In my last post I shared with you the difficulty in deciding between agencies to facilitate our adoption from Guatemala.  The very next day after making that post, several agencies suspended their Guatemala programs due to the impending ratification of the Hague Convention.

The only agency from our choices that was confidently standing at the end of the day was All God's Children International.  They are in the best position to be fully compliant  to do adoptions with Guatemala when the convention is ratified.

We then watched some videos from All God's Children and were greatly moved by the care and dignity with which they treat the birth mothers, the children, and the adopting families.  We loved learning about Hannah's Hope orphanage in Guatemala.  The children who find forever families in America are greatly loved and cared for in this orphanage, all in the name of Jesus Christ.  After our adoption is complete we love the idea of being able to continue a relationship with this orphanage, especially through taking our child back there on mission trips.

Here's where things stand with us.  Lynn had to get a new oncologist here in Columbus who would examine her, review her medical history, and then write a letter to the agency detailing Lynn's cancer, the treatments she had, and her life expectancy.  That went very smoothly.  Lynn is five years out, fully in remission, and expected to have a normal life expectancy.  That letter is now written and ready to be sent to the agency.  They will then approve us to move forward with the paperwork.

Once we get the thumbs-up from them, we will schedule our home study.  Hopefully this can be done in the next 30 to 60 days, however everything has been slowed down by the tornado that hit our neighborhood last week.  We have much clean-up and repair to do before our home study.

Financially, we will need to have about $13,000 raised in the next 60 days or so to cover the home study and first payments to the agency.  This too is now a bit complicated because our car was totalled in the tornado and we now have a car payment we weren't planning on.

These are the ways that you can be praying for us as we take our next steps.  Thanks for joining with us in this journey.

Decisions, Decisions

Hello everyone!

Sorry it's been so long since we posted an update, but as of yet there isn't much to report.  We are in heavy-duty research mode, trying to follow God's leading toward an agency.  On the human level, this can be a very frustrating task.  There are so many agencies to choose from.

I can tell you this:  It looks as if God is settling us on Guatemala as our adoption country.  We originally were open to both Latin American and Asian countries but God has steered us away from Asia.  We were then considering both Guatemala and El Salvador, but this week we have learned that the youngest children available are between 1 1/2 and 2 years old and the process takes up to two years to complete.  We are really hoping for an infant, and don't want to wait that long.  Guatemala, though it is the most expensive, is also the easiest of the two to adopt from and has the shortest wait time.  It is possible (depending on how quickly we get on the ball with our paperwork) that by adopting from Guatemala we could have a child home with us by Christmas...but most likely by about this time next year.  Adopting from Guatemala will cost us about $32,000.

Right now we are focusing our research on three agencies.  They are, All God's Children International, Christian World Adoption, and Bethany Christian Services Adoption Agency.  All three are very committed to placing children in homes where they will come to know the Lord Jesus Christ.

Please pray with us that our agency decision will not be hindered by human frustration, but will be carried along by the Spirit of God.

Greetings!

Hello!  Thanks for stopping by Viaje a Casa, our blog dedicated to the adoption journey which we are about to embark upon.

Most of you already know us and have come to the blog via our invitation.  But for those who have stumbled upon us by chance, I'll offer a brief introduction.

We are Bill and Lynn Huffhine.  Married since 1990 and originally from Illinois, we are now living in Columbus, GA.  We are both born again Christians and I (Bill) am an ordained elder with the Free Methodist Church of North America serving on the pastoral staff at Christ Community Church.

After three miscarriages over the course of fifteen years of trying to begin a family, God has moved in our hearts to welcome into our home one of the world's fifty-million plus children who do not have families of their own.

Each year since 2002 Bill has spent time in South America on short-term mission trips working with children in Bolivia and Ecuador.  Lynn has also worked a great deal with Latino children in the public school system here in the states.  God has awakened in both of our hearts a love for children from this part of the world.

In January, 2007 we will begin taking the first concrete steps toward adopting a child from Latin or South America.  At this point we are feeling that we will focus on either El Salvador or Guatemala.

What is the purpose for this blog?  First, it is a way for us to share this journey with our family and the many friends we have in different parts of the country.  This is a road that is best traveled with many companions who can pray with us during the high points and inevitable low points that we'll experience on the journey.  I publish this blog also with the hope that others who we don't know and are on the adoption journey will draw strength, encouragement, and friendship from reading how God is walking with us on ours.  We would love to make many new friends across the country who are also in the process of adopting.

We will make regular posts to the blog chronicling this journey for you, beginning today and ending with photos of our child coming home a year or so from now.  With discretion, we'll share with you both the joys and the struggles we face along the way.

Over the course of the next 12 to 18 months we will be working to raise about $18,000 if we end up adopting from El Salvador or about $35,000 if we end up adopting from Guatemala.  Though we are trusting God to provide the resources in His time and way, we also recognize that some of our friends and family may wish to join with us financially.  On the top of the right sidebar you'll notice a box called "Adoption Partnership" which uses a third party fund-raising tool called "Chip In."  If you would like to contribute to our adoption fund, this is a safe and easy way for you to do so.  Your contributions will be safely given with your credit card or debit card and then forwarded to us at the end of our "Chip In" event which is scheduled to end on December 15, 2007.

The greatest gift you can give us is your prayer for us.  This will not be an easy journey, but it will be one that will bring a child into our home to know the love of a family and be introduced to our Lord Jesus Christ.  We look forward to sharing this journey with you.