The McClelland Family
My husband and I are the parents of four girls. We were in our early forties when we felt God calling us toward adoption. Many of our friends and family could not imagine why we would open our home to a young child when our girls were all in their teens. This had nothing to do with common sense or with what we had in mind for our lives. It was all about us following God’s call to adopt.
Our story began when I was 40 years old and found myself pregnant. Our youngest child was 11 years old. I will be honest. I was in total shock and not particularly excited about the prospect of having another child initially. As I began to process it, God began to open my heart to the idea of being a mother again and I became very excited. We told the girls and they, too, were very excited. Soon after, I miscarried our child. I felt a sadness that could not be explained. I was sure that God wanted us to be parents again. We decided, even at the age of 40, to try again. I became pregnant again…and I miscarried again. This time, we were sure that God had called us to be parents, but not in this way.
Our church had begun an adoption ministry a few years earlier. I was involved in the prayer chain for our ministry, Open Hearts Open Homes. This involvement had really given me a heart for the orphan. I began to wonder if God was calling us to adopt. I thought Gregg would think I was insane if I brought it up, so I began praying that God would call Gregg to this idea on His own. And, of course, it happened within weeks!
Gregg was listening to a National Public Radio broadcast on his way home from work that day. The topic was Russian orphans. He heard about the plight of orphans and what happens to them when they “age out” of the orphanages. He told me that we needed to do something. He told me we needed to adopt. This was the beginning of a journey to our son, Benjamin.
We began to research different agencies and countries. It was a whirlwind of information. We put it in a spreadsheet. We prayed about it. We asked friends for advice. Soon, it came down to the point where we needed to make a decision. We felt God leading us to Christian World Adoption because it is a Christian organization and we shared the same purpose in adoption – caring for orphans in their distress.
We applied to CWA in February 2009. Our home study approved us for one or two boys under the age of three. Our dossier was submitted in July 2009. We received our first referral in November 2009. We were asked if we would consider two brothers who were 14 months and 6 years old. Because it was outside of the scope of our home study, they asked us to take some time to consider it. We talked with CWA’s counseling staff, with our agency and with friends and decided that we would love to welcome them into our home. The problem occurred when our home study social worker contacted the Department of Children and Family Services for their approval. They did not think that we should adopt an older child from Russia. Though we fought for them to approve us, they did not and we ended up having to deny the referral. This was very difficult for us.
We then began to wait again. We were back on the list for a referral in January and received a call in March 2010 with a referral of, believe it or not, the same little boy who was now 18 months old without his older brother. The older brother had been moved into foster care and was no longer internationally adoptable. We were later told by the Ministry of Education that “God must have had plans for us to be his parents.” We agreed!
We were given travel dates and were asked to travel in THREE WEEKS! We quickly began to make all of the arrangements to travel. The next day, there was news that a United States woman who had adopted from Russia had put her child back on a plane to Moscow by himself. News outlets all reported that Russian adoptions had been halted to the US. We called CWA and they said they still wanted us to travel. We purchased our tickets to fly. The next day a volcano erupted shutting down air travel in London, where we were supposed to fly through. Things were not looking good for us! BUT, this little boy’s face kept calling us. He was our son and God had called us on this mission. He promised that He who began a good work would be faithful to complete it.
The day before we were set to leave, air travel opened back up. And though there was still tension in the air politically surrounding the adoption process, we were still welcomed. The day after arriving in Krasnoyarsk, we drove three hours to the orphanage in Kansk to meet our son. I cannot tell you the joy we felt in holding this tiny little boy who seemed so frail. He had no emotion. I wanted to take him home that day! But, we continued our trips to the orphanage, visiting Benjamin and eventually signing paperwork to officially accept our referral at the end of our first trip. Was there really any doubt that we would sign this paperwork? Absolutely NOT!
Fortunately for us, someone had given us the heads up that if we brought our court paperwork with us on our first trip, our court appointment would be set quickly. We were able to bring it with us and the day we returned from our first trip, we were informed that court was set and we would return in THREE weeks! So our whirlwind trip turned into a short stay at home and then we were back on a plane for our second trip!
We visited Benjamin in Kansk a few times before court and then were prepped for court by our coordinators. They did a great job preparing us for what was about to occur. Because the woman had returned her child shortly before our trips, things were very tense in the Russian courts in respect to adoption. Our case was scrutinized almost unfairly. We went to court expecting to be approved that day. Unfortunately, the judged asked us for more documentation. It’s not like we just had to sign a paper or something. They wanted information from Illinois! We returned to court a second time with paperwork in hand and again they asked for more information. We scrambled yet again, returning to court the third time for a fifteen-minute hearing approving us to be Benjamin’s parents! The struggle was something we did not anticipate, but looking back it was almost comical. Our friends, and even Anya, our CWA case manager, were running all over the country picking up the pieces of our needed paperwork to allow us to bring our boy home. What a model of the body of Christ to us!
Our ten-day wait then began. We were fortunate to have met up with an American missionary family who was serving in Krasnoyarsk. We spent much of our time with them and with other couples we had met who were also adopting. These friendships were ones we will never forsake because they were made at a time in our lives when we were utterly dependent on God. They saw us when we were vulnerable and we needed them to pray for us and to lean on. What a blessing those ten days were!
Finally the day we had been waiting for came—Gotcha Day! Nothing felt better than to take our son out of that orphanage. The next days were a blur of paperwork in Krasnoyarsk and then in Moscow. By the time we arrived in Moscow, Benjamin was already a different boy, beginning to show emotion and already speaking some American words. It was only the beginning of Benjamin’s transformation into a healthy, American boy—our son. Today he is an almost three year old, healthy boy. He has no delays and seems like he was always our child!
We would wholeheartedly recommend Christian World Adoption. Anya Rutherford, our case manager, was a wonderful help to us throughout the whole process. We also feel that our coordinators in Russia were the best available. They knew the system and could navigate it to bring home our child in a timely manner. We also appreciated their emphasis on depending on God each step of the way.
God richly blessed us through our adoption. In fulfilling the command to care for orphans, we found out what it means to truly trust in God for all of our needs. We learned about unconditional love. We grew together as a family to bring home our little boy. And now Benjamin will have the opportunity to learn about the love of Christ! We would not hesitate to tell other families to trust God and go on this journey if they are being called to do so. To God be the glory!
— Kris & Greg McClelland
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