Our Story...

Kate Elizabeth will be our 2nd internationally adopted daughter. In October of 2002, my husband Randy and his eldest daughter Elisa stepped off a plane at RDU International Airport with a beautiful 10 month old little girl from central China. Olivia would open our eyes to the necessity and beauty of James 1:27 where God commands His children to care for the orphans and widows of the world. Why? Because He isn't capable to care for them and meet their needs Himself? No, of course not. God Almighty is certainly able to handle the distress of the orphan epidemic on this planet without our help. Then why ask us? At the time my husband and I just thought that we were being obedient to care for "the least of these". But now we know that God wanted to bless us through this adoption as much as we wanted to bless Olivia. Adoption is the hidden treasure, the diamond in the field, that God longs to reveal to us if we will only trust Him enough to leave our comfort zone and be obedient to this command. Olivia has now been a part of the family for over 4 years and what a wonderful adventure it has been!

Last summer we decided we could and should adopt again. Our thoughts first turned to China. However, we decided that the wait was too long for us. Next, we looked into the children with special needs in China and applied for 2 of them. However, we were turned down in both cases. The "competition" for these children is stiff now that the traditional route is taking so long.
So we then started looking into other countries, scanning lists of orphans mainly in Central America. And, one fine day, on one of these lists we spotted her-a beautiful little Guatemalan girl named Elizabeth with brown hair and big brown eyes. She had been with a foster family since birth. We called the next day and asked about her. We were sent her information and a week later we decided to move forward.
In the mean time, there was a lot of scuttlebutt about the changes in Guatemala that were forthcoming. Guatemala was scheduled to close international adoptions with America on Jan 1, 2008. No new referrals of children would be made after Jan 1 and everybody knew that. But, what wasn't known was whether or not adoptions that were already in process would be "grand fathered in".
We did not know if this child would be coming home to us until after Christmas (2007).

About Lisa Allen:

I am the Christian mom of 4 girls and the stepmom of 2 more that are grown. I have been married for almost 18 years to my best friend and my prince. I homeschool our 4 daughters which takes a good part of my day. My two older daughters are biological and the younger two are adopted from China and Guatemala. Adoption has opened my eyes to another layer of life, one that is near and dear to the heart of God. Afterall, He adopted me into His family and I am ever so thankful.

Visit Lisa at www.awaitingkate.blogspot.com.