Congo adoption Archives - Katie Ganshert

There’s a Girl

Posted on July 1, 2013September 11, 2013 by Katie Ganshert

We first saw her face in February.

Three pictures in our inbox.

We learned her story a couple weeks later.

And since then….

We’ve said a lot of prayers.

We’ve done some investigating.

We’ve received more pictures.

I’ve written her love letters.

We’ve sent care packages.

Thanks to so many of YOU, we made her a puzzle….500 willing hearts came together and sponsored a piece to help bring this precious one home.

I bought her a pair of pink Crocs that sit on my nightstand.

We glued some pieces on our Adoption Map. (Brogan asks, almost every day, if we’re getting closer to the heart.)

And then….

I flew to the Congo.

I held her in my arms.

I kissed her sweet cheeks.

I smelled her sweet skin.

I wiggled her sweet toes.

I whispered her name into her ear.

I didn’t want to let go.

But I flew back to America and here we’ve been, waiting and waiting and waiting…

Dying to go back.

After losing two previous referrals (a referral is adoption speak for being matched with a child), a little boy in October and another little girl in January, we weren’t going to share the news about our Congolese cutie until we passed court.

But court’s been taking forever.

We’ve been there now for 13 weeks.

We feel stuck.

We’re weary.

We’re distracted.

And we could use prayer.

So please pray.

Pray for her well-being.

Pray for her precious little heart and the difficult journey she has ahead of her. Because what she’s already gone through and will go through makes my “suffering” absolutely pale in comparison.

Pray against corruption.

Pray for all the hurdles we still have ahead of us.

Pray that God would be glorified and we would be sanctified, come what may.

Pray that we’d be a family soon. Because we sure don’t feel whole with her over there and us over here.

My friend, Kelli Standish, says it best:

Waiting is one of the most excruciating acts of worship.

And that’s exactly what it is. Or at least what it becomes. Because when you’re here, in this place of helpless waiting, with no power to move it along, what else is there to do but open your hands and trust?

Let’s Talk: What are you waiting for?

Update on July 27th, 2013 – PRAISE JESUS! We are a family of four! We passed court! She is officially our daughter. Hoping and praying the rest of this journey goes quickly so we can bring her home! Thank you for your prayers!

Adoption: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Posted on February 6, 2013February 6, 2013 by Katie Ganshert

Adoption can be a wonderful beautiful amazing thing.

But it’s also messy and complicated and risky and not quite so black-and-white as I originally supposed.

World has orphans. Orphans need families. Families adopt orphans.

Sounds nice and tidy, but oh is it ever-lovin’ not.

Before I jump into an explanation, let me share a non-update update.

I haven’t blogged about our adoption lately.

Mainly because for a long while there, nothing was happening.

Well, that has changed.

I can absolutely say that things are happening. A big decision was made and we’re moving forward with a strange mixture of caution and eagerness.

I promise that as soon as I can be less cryptic and more specific (hey, that kinda rhymes), I will. As soon as I have something I can share, I will gladly shout it from the rooftops.

Until then, I’ll say this:

We’ve learned so much. Our brains are water-logged with all the learning.

We’ve seen the sticky, rarely-talked-about underbelly of adoption, especially from impoverished countries like Congo. We’ve learned that the greater the need in a country, the greater the risk for corruption. Which should give you a hint at what we’re up against. DRC is one of the poorest nations in the world. It is a war-torn country ravaged by AIDS and poverty that has resulted in an orphan crisis that is most grievous.

Yet I wouldn’t encourage anyone to adopt from there until they’ve done much praying and are willing to do much research.

How does that work?

If there’s an excess of orphans, let’s hurry up and adopt them, right?

Well, not quite.

There are orphans who will never have a family unless they are adopted. In which case, go adoption!

But then there are orphans who already have a family. A family who wants to raise them, but can’t feed them, so they end up in orphanages that can feed them. Orphans like the ones mentioned in this post.

Many orphans in Congo fall into that second category. They don’t need a new family. They need assistance reuniting with the one they already have.

Yet there are agencies and lawyers in country who have turned a blind eye to the corruption, to the fraudulent papers, to the lack of investigations done to ensure that the children being adopted should actually be adopted. Which is exactly why the U.S. Embassy in Kinshasha is now requiring an additional 3-6 month investigation before they will issue any Visas. They are trying to clean up the mess these agencies and lawyers left behind.

So what do we do with this information?

For us, it meant reconsidering everything. We tossed around domestic infant adoption, foster care, trying to conceive on our own, changing countries, stopping altogether.

But the more we prayed and fasted and sought guidance, the more our hearts kept landing where we originally began.

The DRC.

Only this time we come armed with knowledge we didn’t have in the beginning. And knowledge is power, right?

Right.

So we’re going to wield that power. We’re going to use it to help us do all we can to make sure we’re not somehow adding to the corruption in the country. To make sure we’re doing everything possible to navigate an ethical adoption.

This means asking the tough, uncomfortable questions. This means taking extra precautions – like a third party investigation. This means checking my emotions at the door, because my mama heart yearns to race headlong with eyes and ears shut tight. This means being on our knees, praying for God’s best and God’s truth.

This means TRUST. Oh, heaven, trust.

It means surrendering all my fears to a God who knows everything–not just my past, present, and future, but our child’s past, present, and future too.

Come what may, He’s got a plan and a purpose for having the Gansherts on such a crazy, nutty, eye-opening journey. To Him be the glory.

Now, If you’d like to help we crazy, nutty, open-eyed Gansherts travel such a journey, then please hop on over to our Adoption Fundraising Blog.

Because it’s big-time time for another fundraiser. One that I am totally, completely psyched about. It involves a puzzle, a sharpie, and 500 willing hearts. I get teary just thinking about what a testament the end-product will be to our little one someday. We’re also selling t-shirts and hosting an online Tastefully Simple event! So come on over, read the details, and know that we covet your support and your prayer.

All donations are tax-deductible, thanks to Lifesong for Orphans!

Let’s Talk: Have your eyes ever been opened to something you had no clue about before?

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
~Micah 6:8

Beauty from Pain

Posted on February 8, 2012February 7, 2012 by Katie Ganshert

This theme unfolds all around us.

God bringing beauty from pain.

God breathing life into that which feels dead.

It’s a running theme in my debut novel, Wildflowers from Winter.

It’s a running theme in adoption.

Every single one is born out of pain. Out of sadness.

It starts with frightened pregnant teenagers who don’t want to be mothers. It starts with houses steeped in addiction and abuse and neglect. It starts with countries afflicted by war and poverty and AIDS. It starts with parents who die and governments that devalue life.

Orphans exist because our brokenness is real and pervasive.

Yet God uses what is broken to reveal His glory, showcase His mercy, bring about healing, pour out His blessings, knit together families, and draw hearts closer to Him.

Beauty from pain.

Life from death.

It’s a truth that resonates deep in my soul.

Nothing is too broken, too tattered, too lifeless, too painful for the Master Craftsman.

Not me.

Not you.

Not any choice we have made.

Or any circumstance we find ourselves in.

He can use it all to sculpt that which is beautiful and that which is breathtaking.

All we have to do is let Him.

Let’s Talk: Tell me about a “beauty from pain” story in your life or in the life of someone you know.

In case you missed it, Southern Writers Magazine had me as a guest on their blog yesterday. I wrote about Love Delivered. Come say hi if you get the chance!