The Moore Family
In the 16th year of our marriage, after a miscarriage, unsuccessful fertility treatments, and two failed attempts at adoption, we finally welcomed a 2-year old adopted son, Philip, from Bulgaria into our family in March, 1999. As Philip grew older we began thinking about adding to our family again. Living out in the country, we had plenty of room to spare. We also realized that we were getting close to the age at which adopting would no longer be in a child's best long-term interest. Lacking the funds in hand to pursue adoption, we decided to take out a loan and start the process.
In 2003 our adoption agency, Bethany Christian Services, let us know about a
young boy in Bulgaria named Metodi. This 8-year old was being kept in an orphanage
for younger children because the orphanage director believed he could and should
be adopted, but she also knew that if he were sent to an orphanage for older
children, his chances for being adopted would dry up. In May, 2003 we went to
visit the orphanage together and found him full of life and enthusiasm, an eager
learner with a lot of potential. We decided we would try to bring him home.
At the time, we expected the process to take about a year. In the meantime, however, the Bulgarian government decided to revisit their adoption laws and regulations. While we were still gathering our paperwork, they changed the laws, rewrote regulations, and for a time put all foreign adoptions on hold. When the government was ready to receive applications again, we had to resubmit much of our documentation. Even worse, the government decided that all agencies had to re-apply for permission to represent foreign adoptive parents. Our agency representatives in Bulgaria were kept waiting for many months and were finally told that they would not be approved. Bethany scrambled to find an agency that would act as a surrogate for us in the Bulgarian courts. By this time, our loan money was exhausted and we were very discouraged. Funds from A Child Waits Foundation helped us cover these unanticipated expenses.
Eventually, the legal and financial complications were all
worked out, and we were notified in February, 2005 that the adoption had been
approved! We brought Metodi home in April and welcomed him into our family as
Matthew Eric Moore. In the past few months Matt has learned enough English to
carry on everyday conversations with all kinds of people. We decided to start
home-schooling him for now, and he has adapted very quickly to formal schooling.
One of the special blessings of bringing an older child into one's home are
the "Oh, wow!" experiences. For the first couple of months, nearly
everything we did with Matt surprised and delighted him. Even with routines
fairly established now, he still manages an "Oh, wow!" about once
a week. Sometimes he talks about his life in Bulgaria. His overall estimation
of his life then is "Oh well, who cares?" We know his caregivers in
Bulgaria cared about him; otherwise he would never have made it here. But his
sense of rootlessness underscores how deeply painful it is to grow up without
a family and how worthwhile it is to provide one. We pray that the sacrifices
of so many together with us to bring Matt into our family will be richly rewarded!
Sincerely in Christ, Jim and Erika Moore