German Agency

I finally got a response from the German agency I had contacted to see what my options were. I got exactly the response I expected. (That's a first!)

1) We need to improve our German so that we may go through the process in German. (Ha! It would take 10-12 years for my German to get that good!)

2) We can only adopt from a country if we have a relative or plan on spending a lot of time there. There is 1 country that is an exception and they have older, special needs kids. Not an issue, except that country is not even on our long list.

So, we're essentially stuck. American agencies can't help because the German government won't let them. German agencies won't help because we don't speak enough German and don't have relatives in any of our "preferred" countries. (That's not even to mention the fact that Germany doesn't work with our country of choice) When I muster up the motivation (currently trying to straighten out an issue that was supposed to be resolved months ago with our Kabel company), I'm going to call the Central Authority back and explain my predicament to see if maybe she'll grant us the exception to use a US agency since the German agency isn't really an option. It's worth a shot anyways.....

-V

Dream

Last night I had the most wonderful dream! I was in an orphanage and there was a very special little girl who I knew was going to be our daughter. She was a little older and so beautiful!! We played together for many hours and she was very fun and sweet! I soaked everything in! I was a little sad that she would not be coming home with us this time, but I knew that it wouldn't be long. We had 1 more trip to make and that time she would get to come home with us. Strangely, I was more sad for her than for myself for the time that we would now be apart. I knew I could anticipate the next trip and could focus on that, but I was sad that she might be missing us and wanting to be with her family more than anything and that the time apart would be much harder for her to take. At this point, I remember trying to figure out which country we were even in, because I had no idea. Now I need to do some research, because I honestly have no idea where she is and I desperately want to find her! Maybe God has a different plan after all! :)

-V

Not giving up....

Those of you who know me, know I am stubborn (to say the least). As much as I try to convince myself to just wait, it doesn't feel right. So, I emailed the authorities in the country I wish to adopt from explaining my predicament in the hopes that they can somehow make an exception to allow me to use a German agency or something. I have yet to hear anything and it's been a few weeks, so I'm not holding my breath on that one.

Late last week, I also emailed a German agency in broken, translated German. Hopefully they could understand it! lol! They obviously don't work with the country I want to adopt from, but they do work with other countries I am willing to adopt from instead. I go back and forth on whether to wait for the "ideal" country or whether to adopt a child from another country now. I'm currently reading the book "Radical". I seriously want to adopt about 5 kids because of what I'm reading! (I'd say more kids, but at some point the thin line of my sanity will actually snap and that might not be so good either....) So, I figured it wouldn't hurt to at least contact the German agency.

I'm expecting 1 of 2 things to happen:

1) They tell me that they can help me, but we have to be able to understand the pre-adoption training, which is in German, as well as all of the paperwork, which will also be in German. (The possible except is if we adopt from Kenya, which conveniently enough, requires all documents to be translated into English!) I figure if this happens, we ask if we can do our training online through a Hague certified site, in English. After all, the requirement is to understand it, not to simply "do" it. For the paperwork, there's always friends and Google translate! ;-)

2) They tell me that they cannot help me, because we don't speak German well enough or because we "don't have a vested interest in that country" (we aren't going to move there, speak the language, or marry someone from there, etc.) This was mentioned on their website. Apparently, they have some moral obligation or something to prevent people from adopting someone out of their comfort zone or something. I really don't get that one. Anyways, if this is the response, I will then call the lady at the Central Authority back and say that I contacted a German agency who was unwilling to help me, so can I please use the American agency that was.

It might seem manipulative, but I prefer to look at it as a win/win. I will play by the rules, if they let me. But, if they block me from both ends, I will not go down without a fight. :) I will be sure to keep you posted!

-V