UPDATES

𝐈’𝐦 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐫𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧’𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝.

👉 Take action here (2 minutes):

https://adoptioncouncil.org/advocacy/action-center/#/31

Friends, this is not the way I expected to share this, but circumstances have changed. Some of you know that this journey began unexpectedly. This past summer, I hosted an orphaned boy from South America with the intent of advocating for him to find a family. At the time, I had been told that, due to my age under Hague regulations, adoption was not something I should even consider. However, after returning home, he told his social worker that he wanted to be adopted by me (and Chester, my dog).

Since August, I have been working diligently and carefully through every required step. The day before Thanksgiving, I received confirmation that my son’s country had officially accepted my Letter of Intent — essentially the “green light” to move forward with his adoption. Just today, I received my completed home study and am preparing to submit my USCIS paperwork next week. I will continue this process unless and until I am legally prevented from doing so. This is a major milestone, and I am deeply grateful.

Yesterday (January 14), my adoption agency informed me that the U.S. government is planning to indefinitely pause the issuance of immigrant visas from certain countries, including my son’s home country, effective January 21, 2026. If implemented without exceptions, this could halt international adoptions already in progress.

International adoption can be difficult to understand. The simplest way I can explain it is this: imagine someone you love being unable to leave a foreign country through no fault of their own, and being told there is nothing you can do. Most of us would move heaven and earth to change that. For me, that is exactly what this is about. If this pause moves forward without an adoption exception, my son could be left without a forever family. Because of adoption rules, I am not permitted to have contact with him during this process. From his perspective, it could look like I simply stopped trying — when in reality, I am doing everything I can. This is where I am asking for your help.

The National Council For Adoption (NCFA) has prepared respectful, non-partisan letters that can be sent directly to your elected representatives, urging them to support exceptions for international adoptions:

👉 https://adoptioncouncil.org/advocacy/action-center/#/31

It takes only a few minutes, and your voice truly matters.

I believe God is still in this. Faith does not mean silence; it means acting when the door is still open.

Thank you for reading, for praying, and for standing with us.