Well, here we go!
When it comes to international adoption, one of the hardest things is figuring out where to adopt from. This part has been hard for us. When you look out at the world and realize just how many orphans there are in the world that need to be rescued, it breaks your heart. And it breaks your heart even more that you can't rescue every single one of them.
So we have spent the past few weeks praying and seeking God's Will about where we will find our future child. We have spent time over the last few months reading through Operation World to learn more about countries around the world. Kyle's primary passions in selecting a country to adopt from are:
1. A country where the child has little or no hope of hearing the gospel.
2. A country where orphans experience a lot of hardship if not adopted (for example, girls who are taken into sex trafficking).
We have had to take other factors into consideration, such as:
1. Whether the country allows foreign adoption.
2. Whether the country allows Christian parents to adopt.
3. What the parent requirements are (for example, some countries don't want you to have any children other than the one you are adopting, some require both parents to be 30).
So! We have narrowed the list down to 2 countries!
Our top choice after all this research and prayer is Azerbaijan (yes, we did have to youtube it to figure out how to say the word properly...you should too!).
Azerbaijan borders Russia and Georgia on the north, Armenia to the west, Iran to the south, and the Caspian Sea to the east. The primary religion is Islam, making up almost 88% of the population. A little less than 10% of the population are "non-religious," and a mere 2.74% are Christian.
Azerbaijan has recently moved in the direction of religious freedom, which is why we are even allowed to adopt from there. Many predominantly Muslim countries don't allow you to adopt their orphans unless you proclaim yourself to be Muslim.
Our second choice (we've been told it is always good to have two choices) is Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is across the Caspian Sea from Azerbaijan. It borders Russia on the north and China and Uzbekistan on the south. About 54% of the population is Muslim, 34% claim no religion, and 12% are Christian.
We found one adoption agency that has programs in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. I have been talking with a consultant from Adoption ARK, and today we submitted the pre-qualification form. Once the agency has reviewed our pre-qualification, we will be able to talk more about their different country programs.
That's all the news we have right now. Not terribly exciting...but we are one step closer!
Becca and Kyle
