Paperwork and Perseverance

We are in what is called the "paperchase" phase of the adoption process. This involves an enormous amount of paperwork, gathering legal documents, getting a lot of things notarized, reference letters, education requirements, and a home study (which includes it's own massive list of things to do and sign and pay for). It threatens to be very overwhelming. The sheer number of tasks combined with the highly specific and tedious way in which we must accomplish the tasks, and the large amount of money that seems to be required for every step of the way..... feels at times like something that simply cannot be accomplished. Last week I was in the middle of my third day of phone calls in a miserably failing attempt to find a local home study agency I stopped and sat down in tears of frustration. I was feeling like I was getting nowhere. The adoption time line is a long one. This phase of the process is the only part that we have any control of. There will be a season upon us shortly when this paperwork is done, and we are waiting. Waiting for our agency, our government, and the government of Ethiopia. This is the only part of the process we can change the pace of. So I felt a sense of urgency to complete our part as quickly and effeciently as possible. And three days of phone calls, three days of emails, three days of unreturned calls and emails, and three days of closed doors, felt like we weren't moving forward in anyway at all. I had been simultaneously working on other paperwork, requesting legal documents, and having a few things notarized, but those accomplishments felt small and not enough.

In my tears that third day and in the days following God spoke gently to my heart. We are called to persevere through this. We are called to keep pressing on, we are called to fight the hard fight as we keep our eyes on him.

The next morning our agency posted this quote from Jen Hatmaker on facebook and God used it to motivate me and help me gain some perspective:

"When you say YES to adoption, you are saying YES to enter the suffering of the orphan, and that suffering includes WAITING FOR YOU TO GET TO THEM. I promise you, their suffering is worse than yours. We say YES to the tears, YES to the longing, YES to the maddening process, YES to the money, YES to hope, YES to the screaming frustration of it all, YES to going the distance through every unforeseen discouragement and delay. Do not imagine that something outside of "your perfect plan" means you heard God wrong. There is NO perfect adoption. EVERY adoption has snags. We Americans invented the "show me a sign" or "this is a sign" or "this must mean God is closing a door" or "God must not be in this because it is hard," but all that is garbage. You know what's hard? Being an orphan. They need us to be champions and heroes for them, fighting like hell to get them home. So we will. We may cry and rage and scream and wail in the process, but get them home we will." 
-- Jen Hatmaker

God's word has been encouraging us and helping us as we press on.

"The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."
Deuteronomy 31:8

"The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it."
1 Thessalonians 5:24

"Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed it, so it will stand."
Isaiah 14:24

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grown weary and lose heart."
Hebrews 12:2-3

So we will fix our eyes on Jesus through this paperchase. We will trust that he is sovereign and faithful. We trust he will provide all that we need for all that he has called us to. We think of our future child and the beautiful plans that God has for their life and we believe that all of this is worth it.... that they are worth it. 

Our Story

We are the Borgelt family. Welcome! We are glad to have you here following our adoption journey. Our names are Dan and Amanda and we currently have three sweet kids: Caleb, Sophie and Levi. Dan is a pastor in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church and Amanda is a full time stay-at-home, homeschooling mom. We have felt led over the past couple of years to expand our family through the miracle of adoption.

Our adoption story began 2 years ago a few weeks after the birth of our youngest. I (Amanda) watched the following video and felt God stirring almost immediately.

Click here to see video

From that point forward God began working in our hearts and the circumstances in our lives to prepare us for this journey. We began reading the scriptures and seeing all throughout God's heart for orphans and his commands to his people to care for them.

We became aware of the world's orphan crisis as we discovered the horrifying situations and numbers of orphans around the world.

We read together David Platt's book "Radical" were reminded of the radical call God has placed on our lives and surrendered again to whatever he wills. God reminded us during this season that this Christian walk is one where we give every part of our lives for his glory and that this surrendered life is a life full of abundant joy.

Our hearts began to break for the fatherless. We asked ourselves "How do we respond to all our eyes have been open to and to this ache in our hearts for these little ones?". God answered these questions in a number of ways and began to call us to orphan care through sponsorship and beginning a whole church partnership with an orphanage in Haiti. However we knew that God was calling our family to more than that. He began to clearly lead us to adoption. We have room in our hearts, our home, and our family for more children. So we said "yes" to his call and we committed to following wherever he leads.