Welcome Home

Early this month Erin and I were given a flyer from a friend that read International Christian Adoptions; Welcome Home Program, and was plastered with pictures of orphans from the Philippines. Seeing that it mentioned the Philippines, we were immediately interested. Upon calling the number on the flyer, we received an application in the mail and had started an avalanche of new emotions and fears we had never expected.

The Welcome Home program is designed to get the word out about the thousands of children across the world that need to be adopted. This program is different than most in that you are given the opportunity not only to hear about orphans, but to actually have an orphan live in your home. After attending a short orientation meeting, we were even more eager to proceed with the program, and see how the Lord might use us. We were also a little apprehensive upon hearing that 70 percent of families that host eventually adopt. It is our hope and prayer to find this little guy a Christian home. Hopefully ours, if the Lord wills. We left this meeting with a mountain of paperwork to fill out and a seemingly insurmountable task of 32 hours of parent training, to be completed in the next two weeks. Yet as we filled out the paperwork and worked on all the parent training, it seemed like a little price to pay for the opportunity to share three weeks with Jon, and the possible adoption that could happen in the future. By God’s grace we were able to fill out all the paperwork, and are nearly done with the parent training.

The more we learn about adoption and the whole process, the more we fall in love with this little boy named Jon V. We realize more and more every day that he needs a loving home, but more importantly, he needs the love of Christ. We are anxiously awaiting his arrival. He will be arriving on Saturday November 3, and staying at our house until November 26. We have many plans for him, which include a camping trip, a trip to Disneyland, and also to spend Thanksgiving with him and our family. We would greatly appreciate your prayers and support as we prepare for Jon to come to our home, and that God would be working in our hearts and the heart of this young boy. Also that he would see the love we have for the Lord and want to experience that as well.