My Bulgarian Adoption Story | Part 1

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“I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you. — John 14:18

For those of you who don’t know, as I announced on my Facebook page, I am in the middle of an international adoption for a little boy halfway across the world. I want to share part of how and why that came to be today.

Back as a little girl, I knew I was called to adopt. I knew I would welcome children into my home who weren’t mine and love them like they were. When I was married in 2015, I was convinced that was the beginning of a great adventure. We had looked at a few children on the waiting child lists and fell in love with two, one older boy and a younger toddler boy, both from Eastern Europe. As we were debating to move forward, tragedy struck our family and in late 2017 I lost my husband to sin, and was left homeless, jobless, and devastated.

Over the next six months I was able to get a new job, that I love and make three times as much as I was at my old job, I had secured a charming home out in the country, and had even traded in my PT Cruiser for my amazing Ford truck. To top it off, I managed to get a promotion within six months of starting my job. I was completely on top of the world, and I wanted to give everything that God had blessed me with back one hundredfold.

After praying for many opportunities, one opportunity knocked: to welcome a woman, and dear friend, who was homeless at the time. It was a wonderful blossoming of our friendship and I knew that is where God wanted me.

When we knew our time living together was coming to an end, I watched with awe as God provided for her every need where she could not provide for herself. To watch her be set free was incredible. I was so sad to see her go but so happy for her future.

After just a few weeks of her leaving I was restless, I already knew that God was calling me to something else, but to what, I didn’t know.

Then one day, just out of the blue I got an email from a photo listing agency for children with special needs. Now, this was a normal thing for me, I got these on a daily basis. The strange part was instead of 5 or 10 children in the email, per usual, there was only one. And it was the same toddler that my ex-husband and I had debated perusing years back.

My jaw dropped, I sat there just in complete shock and awe and I did what any other insane human would do…I inquired about him.

Not long after I got more information on him I knew I had to move forward. There was no way in the world that this wasn’t from God. So I searched through so many agencies, trying to find a good fit.

Finally, I came across Saint Mary’s International Adoptions. It was like greeting an old friend. Their agency “fit like a glove” with my situation and they were willing to work with me through thick and thin.

The first hurdle we covered was what nationality is this child? If he was anything but Bulgarian, the adoption for me as a single woman would have ended. I prayed hard in those hours. I prayed that if the door was meant to be shut, do it now, spare my heart; but if the door was meant to be opened then to let it fly open and let no one doubt that God’s hand worked this adoption out. I prayed for people to come to Christ through this testimony and that they could see His goodness and glory. But God was just starting, after an agonizing 24 hours, we found out he was indeed Bulgarian.

So we moved forward and put in a soft application. I was thrilled, I had told my family and was eagerly anticipating the next steps. Then, out of the blue, Saint Mary’s called to say another family had put in an application and I was out of the running.

Once again, I was just devastated. I could not understand why the Lord had led me here only to hit a closed door. I had remembered my earlier prayer and just didn’t understand. I decided to be faithful to the Lord’s decision and to be grateful no matter what. (1 Thessalonians 5:18 | Psalm 107:1 | Ephesians 5:20)

A few weeks later, after my life had taken a series of upheavals, (or as I like to call them a series of unfortunate events–I know I’m a book nerd), I got a call from the agency saying that they had never had to make this call before but they wanted to let me know that the other family backed out and if I wanted to put in a declaration stating that I was still interested in this adoption that I should do it now. While I was grieving, behind the scenes the agency was fighting for that child, praying for me and praying for him.

I was so overjoyed and grateful for God’s goodness and mercy in my life, I continued forward with the adoption. No funding in place and absolutely no plan on how to parent a child with special needs as a single working mom.

Yet every month, grace was abundant. Every month with unsurity as to whether I would be able to make the fees and dues, the money was always there. God provided. Every time.

God even opened the door for me to work a second job just ten minutes from my house in my field of work (which is insane, considering I live in the middle of nowhere and work in the mental health field.)

So here I am, finally on the other side of my home study (Lord knows I needed every drop of grace to get through that.) I am moving forward and am praying that I can meet my son soon.

And if you’re wondering, the plan for his care has been put in place, arraigned by God, I’m sure, where I can care for him, keep my job, and work from home during whatever hours work for me.

I have heard from many people that this is the hand of God, what a miracle this is and how little one and I are truly blessed. I am beyond grateful and in awe of what God has already done, and I know what God is capable of. (Job 42:1). I will continue to trust in the Lord, (Proverbs 3:5 | Isaiah 26:4) and to cast all of my cares on Him (1 Peter 5:7).

If you’re interested in learning more about Bulgarian adoption, or just special needs adoptions, please please feel free to reach out!