Our adoption journey started way back in 2022. We had both finally turned 30, which made us qualified to adopt from China. Having spent some lengths of time in China, we knew of an older waiting child who we wanted to bring into our family. We began the adoption process with Lifeline Children's Services in November 2022. Just under a year into this process, we received the devastating news that China was unlikely to resume foreign adoptions. At this time, we were left with the decision of whether to pursue adoption from another country. Through prayer and discernment, we stepped forward in adopting from Bulgaria. We were open to a special needs adoption and most of Bulgaria's orphaned children have significant disabilities and medical needs. We felt great peace as we learned about Bulgaria and the process to adopt from their country. Only a few months after beginning the process to adopt from Bulgaria, we were matched with a beautiful older boy. His obvious gentle demeanor and big brown eyes captured our hearts, as well as broke them in two because he has been waiting for a family for 11 years. We felt very confident this was our son.
We traveled to Bulgaria in June 2024 to meet him and traveled back in October 2024 to bring him home. Our travels were filled with challenges and moments of beauty. We were shown the difficult reality of orphan care around the world, and we walked through the very real trauma of institutionalization and neglect, as well as the trauma of adoption. We made it safely back to the US in October 2024 after two weeks in Bulgaria. Upon arriving in the US, Maverick needed to remain at our children's hospital for two weeks due to the state of his health and medical conditions.
Since mid-November 2024, Maverick has been able to be in our home safely and healthily! We praise Jesus for sustaining Maverick's life for over almost 12 years and bringing him into our family. Since he's been home, we've seen tremendous breakthroughs in both his health and his engagement with the world around him. When we met, he wouldn't make eye contact, he wouldn't engage with any toys or people, his smiles were random and his other emotions were nonexistent, his body was extremely sick and his baseline was discomfort, he engaged in many harmful stims, and refused most forms of physical touch and affection. Today, ALL of those things look different! He will make eye contact with others, offers social smiles, has shown us tears and frustration, as well as laughter and affection, his body is healing and receiving proper nutrition, he doesn't hurt himself, he is learning to engage in play and reach out for things he wants to look at more closely, and he not only craves physical affection, like hugs and head rubs, but he also offers it back.
He is a changed boy, and he has only been at home for 3.5 months! God is faithful to redeem and restore. Maverick is surrounded by a team of people who want to see him thrive, including extended family, therapists, and school personnel. We couldn't be more thankful that he is being seen as fully human, deserving of opportunities and resources to help him grow and experience happiness in his life.
And all of where he is now and what is to come can be largely attributed to the people who helped us bring him home in the first place -- our agency Lifeline Children's Services, various generous grants and donors, Connected Hearts Ministries for helping us raise the funds necessary to make adoption possible for our family, the adoptive families who came before who advocate so fiercely to make sure no child is left without a family to call their own, our church community, friends, and family. We had and continue to have such a large network of supporters who truly embody what it is to be the Body of Christ to the least of these.
Adoption is hard. It is trauma. It takes a lot of everything you have. But it has also been the clearest picture of God's redeeming love. Maverick has humbled our family, he has made us all stronger and more compassionate, and we have been blessed by his joy in the midst of struggle and discomfort. Every child deserves to be loved and cherished, cared for and given the resources they need to thrive, no matter their disabilities or their age, and we are thankful to God for allowing us the gift of loving Maverick as his mom and dad.
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