Not Giving Up

“But I thought you guys couldn’t have kids”…


Adoption is awesome! Not only do we get to experience life with Mia (honestly we can’t imagine life without her), but it is a perfectly legitimate way to build a family. It’s not plan B. No parent (or child for that matter) wants to be thought of as lesser because they chose to adopt or were themselves adopted. While adoption may be the only option for some who want to build their family, adoption shouldn’t be seen as lesser.

That being said, we chose to adopt first. Not because we couldn’t have children biologically (although that would have been fine too), but because we see the tremendous blessing that is adoption!

In fact, about a year ago, Sarah said, “I don’t care if we ever have biological children." At the time we were only a few months into our second adoption. Since that time, the wait time for International adoption across the globe began moving p a i n f u l l y slow. So slow in fact, that our agency's projected wait time (from DTE to referral) is 24-30 months. For frame of reference, we were DTE 7/1/11, or roughly 19 months ago. However, the slowness of the process IS NOT A SUPPLY ISSUE! Orphanages in Ethiopia (and other places) are still overcrowded and children are still waiting to go home to their forever families. The slowness is a result of new legislation and the demand for more documentation. The whole thing is very political and very frustrating…

To tell you the truth, with the way things are trending, it might very well be 2 or 3 more years before we receive a referral.

So let us preface our next bit of news with this: we are NOT giving up, not on adoption, not on Ethiopia, and certainly not on the child we absolutely believe will one day be our son or daughter. But our agency does allow for concurrent family planning (that is, we can pursue other avenues of expanding our family while we wait), and so it gives us GREAT JOY to announce that we are expecting! And not just one, but two babies! That's right folks, we're pregnant with TWINS and due in early August!

Having children biologically was never something we really ruled out, it just wasn’t high on our priorities. But as the wait for the adoption began to drag on and on, we both started thinking that Mia could quite easily be 7 years old by the time this second adoption is finished, and we certainly never wanted that many years between our kids. And let's be really honest - we're no spring chickens either!

Twins however were certainly a BIG surprise for us both, but we feel so, SO INCREDIBLY BLESSED! We're not entirely sure what having four (4!) children will be like, and we are equally excited and nervous. But above all, we do think it will be awesome, no matter what comes.

So if you have financially or prayerfully supported us in our adoption, we want to assure you that your efforts are not in vain. As we prepare to expand our family in multiple ways, biologically and jumping through frustrating adoption hoops, we hope you’ll pray for us. WE DEFINITELY NEED PRAYER!!! (We’re talking FOUR kids here :-O) But we also hope that we can encourage others to make adoption part of their family. Not because they may not be able to have children biologically, but because it’s awesome! Because you’ll be blessed and will bless the life of a child who needs you! Because it’s not Plan B. And because adoption is a completely legitimate and God-honoring way to build your family!

Blessed to be a blessing,

Travis, Sarah, and Mia Taylor