Who? What? Where? When? How?

Answering Your Adoption Questions

After announcing my adoption, I was flooded with questions from friends and family.  Thank you all so much for your love, concern, and interest.  Here are some of the questions I have received, and the best answers I can give right now.

Where are you in the process now?

I am in the very beginning stages of the process.  I have spoken with IBESR (Social Services in Haiti) as well as a number of hospitals and orphanages.  Before I can dive deeper into this process, there are two things I need to do.

1-Fundraise (I am in need of both one-time gifts and monthly sponsors)

2-Move.  I absolutely LOVE my current house…but it isn’t a situation that would work for a family.  I am currently looking to rent a home closer to the Kids Alive campus.

Once I have finished fundraising and moving, I will be able to continue in pursuing the adoption.

What children will you adopt?

I don’t know yet.  I won’t know for a while.

How many children will you adopt?

I am praying for two.  I know it will not be easy for a child to be adopted by an American mom in Haiti.  I think the kids would really benefit from having another person who is “in their shoes,” walking the journey with them.  Someone who understands them on a level that even I can’t.  A partner, playmate, and sister.  That’s my reasoning behind praying for two…but I’m leaving it up to God and trusting that His judgement is better than mine!

How old will these children be?

I would love to have young school-age children (two-and-a-half or older) because it would mean I could continue teaching as I am now.  However, there is a very real possibility that they could be babies.  Whatever daughters the Lord gives me, I will embrace them with arms wide open.

Is the adoption through Kids Alive?

No.  Although I am working very closely with my bosses at Kids Alive, they are supporting me through the adoption, but not orchestrating it.  The kids that live at the Kids Alive Children’s Village are not adopted out of the ministry.  Once kids come to us at Kids Alive, they are not orphans anymore.  With us, they find homes, families, mothers, fathers, and siblings.  My adoption will be separate from Kids Alive.

Do you have a timeline?  When will the kids come to you?

That is entirely dependent on how long it takes me to fundraise and move.  If I am able to raise funds quickly and settle into a new house in the near future, the process will be shorter than if those things take a long time.  Once those two things are complete, I may have a better idea of how long the rest of the process will take.

Will you continue teaching at Kids Alive?

I love teaching kindergarten and I would love to continue teaching.  Of course I will be taking some time off when the girls first come to me (forming attachment after adopting is crucial to both parents and kids).  After that “maternity leave,” I hope to continue teaching kindergarten, but only if my girls are school-age.  If God gives me babies, I will continue to work at the Kids Alive school, but my role may temporarily change to one with a more flexible schedule that would allow me to both care for my children and impact the lives of the Kids Alive kids that I love.

It Takes a Village

How you can help bring my family home.

There is SO MUCH that I want to tell you about the adoption process, and don’t worry!  I plan to answer lots of questions in another blog post coming soon.  But first, I want to answer one major question that people are asking:  How can I help support your adoption?

Well, thanks for asking!  Here are a few ways you can help support my adoption TODAY!

1.       Pre-order a tee-shirt.

Want to look good and change the world?  Just send me an email and I’ll give you all the information you need on how to purchase this personalized adoption tee-shirt.

erinahiggins@gmail.com

2.      Make a one-time donation or become a monthly sponsor.

Did you know that for just $20 a month, you can provide for one child’s adoption fees?  For just $40 a month, you can send her to school.  A one-time gift of $80 provides her with a bed while a few people chipping in $500 provides for connecting power to her home.

Whether you can give a one-time gift of $10 or a commitment for $100 a month, your donation is SO important to me.  No donation is too small!  To give securely online, Click here:

https://secure.kidsalive.org/p-2501-erin-higgins.aspx_ga=1.62234159.2050691254.1468069216

Don’t want to transfer money online?  No problem!  Just send me an email (erinahiggins@gmail.com) and I’ll get you information on donating in a way that works for you!

3.      Pray for me.

Never underestimate the power of prayer.  I can tell you with great certainty that there has not been a single day on the mission field that I have not needed your prayers.  I value your prayers more than I can put into words.

Pray for me through this process.

Pray for my future children.

Pray for God to provide all the funds we need to become a family.

Thank you so much for being a part of this journey.  It takes a village to raise a child – and in this case, it takes a village to bring a child home.

Called to Adopt

How I knew adoption was the next step for me.

I will be the first one to say that adoption was not my Plan A.  It wasn’t my Plan B.  Or my Plan C.

As a matter of fact, I think I’m all the way on Plan Q by now.

But the beauty of this is that God often uses closed doors to lead us to what He has for us.  When I started this journey months ago, if someone had told me “you’re going to adopt,” I probably would have said, “nope.  Not ready.  Not gonna.”  But now, because of the journey it took to get here, I can say with 100% certainty that I am ready to say YES to adoption.

Here’s how the journey began…

I love my job.  I love my ministry.  I love Kids Alive.  Ever since I moved here, I have felt that it has been a great fit.  But in April, I started to feel like something was missing.  Actually, I felt like something had always been missing, but I was only now beginning to realize it.

The more I thought about this missing piece, the more I felt the depth of its presence in my life.

When I first moved to Haiti, I felt called to minister to orphans and vulnerable children.  And that is exactly what I have been doing.  But three months ago, God revealed to me that I am not here to simply minister to them and teach them at school – I am here to care for them in a deeper way.  That was the missing piece.  Caring for orphans.

I didn’t know what this would look like, but I was ready to pursue whatever God had for me.  I prayed hard, sought out counsel from friends and family, and started working with Kids Alive to figure out how to go about this.

I prayerfully made a plan.

God said no.

I made another plan.

God said no.

Every time a plan fell through, I felt a combination of discouragement (is this ever going to happen?) and peace (God’s got something BIG planned, I just don’t know what it is yet).

Finally, one evening in June, I got an email from Kids Alive with the following suggestion: Adopt a child!

When I read that line in the email, a dull sense of numbness took over my chest and began to spread.  Maybe I had read it wrong.

I read it again.

Adopt a child!

Nope, it was still there.  Black text on a white screen glowing up at me from my phone.

I skimmed the rest of the email, then scrolled back up and read that line again.

Adopt a child!

It was still there, suggesting the same thing.  The numbness inside of me slowly changed to excitement.  Uncertainty.  Willingness.

I wasn’t sold on the idea yet, but I was getting there.

After meetings with IBESR (Social Services here in Haiti), conversations with other organizations, and afternoon talks with adoptive families who have been through (and are currently in) the process of national adoption, I finally got it though my stubborn head that YES, this is what God has for me.  And YES, I am all in.

It has been a crazy journey to get to this point, and I know that the journey has only begun.  If you want to know more, feel free to email me at erinahiggins@gmail.com 

Also, keep your eyes out for another blog post soon about how YOU can help bring my family home!