The Wait Worth It | Part 1: Kathy's Path to International Adoption
Join us for Decadent Care, November 8-9 in Winnipeg, MB:
Description
In this episode of "Journey With Care," host Johan Heinrichs meets with Kathy Boschmann to explore her journey of choosing adoption. Kathy shares her experiences dealing with infertility and the challenges she and her husband faced in this regard. The conversation delves into their decision to pursue adoption, from considering fostering to local adoption and ultimately embarking on an international adoption journey. Their path leads them to Sammy, a child from Ethiopia, and the episode concludes with Kathy emphasizing the significance of a supportive community and spiritual foundation in the adoption process. Join us in the next episode as Kathy shares the heartwarming story of meeting Sami for the first time.
Timestamps
(00:10) Acceptance of adoption after years of infertility.
(04:14) Struggling with unrealized dreams and finding comfort.
(08:09) Considering fostering; ultimately chose local adoption agency.
(10:01) Applying for adoption involves sharing family history.
(13:12) Family member's understanding.
(16:13) Walking, talking, and praying for support.
(20:28) Challenges in adoption process and family dynamics.
(25:03) Eric's medical background helped in immigration process.
Other Links
Reach out to us! https://journeywithcare.ca/podcast
Email: podcast@careimpact.ca
Listen To Journey With Prayer - A prayer journey corresponding to this episode: https://journeywithprayer.captivate.fm/listen
or get both podcasts on the same RSS feed! https://feeds.captivate.fm/n/careimpact-podcast
CareImpact: careimpact.ca
About the CarePortal: careimpact.ca/careportal
DONATE! Help connect and equip more churches across Canada to effectively journey well in community with children and families: careimpact.ca/donate
Editing and production by Johan Heinrichs: arkpodcasts.ca
Send us a tip!
Mentioned in this episode:
See the gift-giving catalogue!
https://careimpactchristmas.com
Transcript
What does loving your neighbor actually look like? This
Speaker:is journey with care, where curious Canadians get inspired to
Speaker:love others well through real life stories and honest
Speaker:conversations.
Speaker:Hey, before starting this episode, I just wanted to give a special thank you to
Speaker:Marlin and Deb Peters for your generosity in helping keep the
Speaker:podcast going. If anyone else would like to help support the podcast, you can head
Speaker:over to Journeywithcare, CA, or just check the show notes in your podcast
Speaker:player. All right. Welcome to Journey with care. If
Speaker:you're wondering why you're not hearing Wendy on here, you
Speaker:will be in a few weeks, just for the start of the season. I've taken
Speaker:over a little bit. We just wrapped up three episodes where I was
Speaker:on with our adopted daughter, Danica. If you haven't listened to that
Speaker:episode, I encourage you to go back and listen to that one. It
Speaker:kind of leads into our next two episodes,
Speaker:which we will be interviewing our own Kathy Boschman. She's
Speaker:part of our care impact team. We are going to be delving into her
Speaker:story of adopting her and her husband's child
Speaker:internationally. Welcome to the podcast, Kathy. Thanks, Johan. It's
Speaker:so good to be here with you. Now, Kathy's been on the podcast before.
Speaker:I think maybe once or twice. Twice. Twice,
Speaker:yes. I've had the privilege. You're such a lovely guest, so it's always
Speaker:good to have you back on, and I know you have more stories to share.
Speaker:You have even stories about some of the work you've done with
Speaker:care portal. We'll find a way to get those out of you at some
Speaker:point. Maybe not in these interviews, but we really want to hear your story
Speaker:about adopting your son. I don't actually
Speaker:know much of the story. I've just heard bits and pieces in conversations with
Speaker:you, and I've met your son Sammy, and it'd be great to hear the
Speaker:story. Well, in this first episode, we'll focus on how you and your
Speaker:husband came to deciding to adopt and what that process
Speaker:was like and some of the supports and challenges along the
Speaker:way. And then maybe we'll talk about when you finally got to adopt
Speaker:and bring him home and actually go out there to get him and
Speaker:bring him back. I really want to hear that part of the story as well.
Speaker:So this first episode, I really want to focus on how you guys made
Speaker:that decision. So, Kathy, how far back would you
Speaker:say has adoption been something that has
Speaker:even come to mind for an option for you in the future?
Speaker:I think I didn't know a lot of adopted people, like
Speaker:when I was growing up or anything. But the idea of adoption never
Speaker:was a challenge for me. I know from growing up
Speaker:in the church community, there's folks I had adopted
Speaker:and were my friends. I don't think there was ever an
Speaker:opposition, but I never expected that would be part of our journey. I think
Speaker:what led us to that point, there's a lot of
Speaker:years in there. Eric and I were married. I
Speaker:guess we'd be called young now in our early twenty s, and I had
Speaker:always expected that we'd follow what I would
Speaker:consider the normal path and get married a couple of years later, have some
Speaker:kids. And that didn't happen for us. We actually dealt with
Speaker:infertility for over a decade. So
Speaker:that very difficult time led us to the place where we had
Speaker:to consider adoption because of medical reasons. That was our
Speaker:path that we were going to take. If you're willing
Speaker:to go there. Do you want to talk about what that season of infertility was
Speaker:like for that decade for you and your husband? Yeah,
Speaker:sure. It was obviously different for both of us. I was very
Speaker:eager to have family, children already, and Eric had his
Speaker:own place that he was at, but it was
Speaker:difficult. I still remember going into that,
Speaker:telling my, actually, two girlfriends that I worked with that
Speaker:they were both adopted, actually, and saying to them,
Speaker:wow, today marks 100 cycles that
Speaker:we haven't gotten pregnant. And that realization was,
Speaker:like, so disheartening that it's kind of hit
Speaker:this real significant marker. And I think what was the hardest
Speaker:was adoption. Wasn't. We weren't talking about adoption at that point.
Speaker:So it seemed like this was sort of where my story
Speaker:of longing to be a parent was
Speaker:kind of ending with unrealized dreams about becoming
Speaker:a parent. So it was very hard, depression. It was a very
Speaker:dark time. But even in the midst of that pain,
Speaker:I felt like my connection with
Speaker:God just was deepened somehow. Even
Speaker:though the temptation would be like to ask, where are you? And there
Speaker:were times where I was asking why? But in the midst of
Speaker:that, realizing that deep pain that I had within
Speaker:me, that his presence was there, he was in me,
Speaker:and it was a reminder of his presence in my life. And that kind of
Speaker:broke things open for me. And just being able to release this
Speaker:situation, these unmet dreams to him and
Speaker:longing for family, which I knew is something that he'd given
Speaker:me and part of who we are as humans, wanting
Speaker:to have offspring and raise family's very normal
Speaker:biological desire. But it was also a very
Speaker:emotional one for me. Now, I would imagine a lot of
Speaker:people that have similar experiences have gone through some
Speaker:challenges, even in their communities, where they're probably hearing questions
Speaker:like, when are you having kids? And why haven't you had kids
Speaker:yet? Those sorts of questions. So this podcast is about
Speaker:how we can love and care for our community and our neighbors better.
Speaker:I believe there are things that we can not do to also care for
Speaker:them better, and that is like asking those types of questions.
Speaker:Maybe tell us a little bit about what your experience was when you heard
Speaker:those sorts of things. What did that do to your heart,
Speaker:and how did that affect you guys emotionally? Yeah, for
Speaker:sure. Insensitive people just saying, what's wrong?
Speaker:Why aren't you kids? There were some very challenging times for
Speaker:me. I got to the point where I couldn't go to showers, baby showers
Speaker:anymore. Even for people who had also dealt with
Speaker:infertility and were excited that they were pregnant, it was just
Speaker:so difficult. Mother's Day, very difficult.
Speaker:One Mother's Day that was particularly helpful
Speaker:was when they were honoring all the mothers and grandmothers
Speaker:and that they invited anyone who was longing to be a mother
Speaker:but hadn't yet been able to conceive or become a
Speaker:mother, to invited them also to come receive a
Speaker:rose or whatever it was. I remember telling people in
Speaker:my community and others dealing with infertility about that.
Speaker:They're just floored. They were like, what church do you go to? I want to
Speaker:come. That had been just so meaningful, and I think for
Speaker:people to understand when you can't go to those kind of
Speaker:events because it's too painful, just the
Speaker:acknowledgment, I think that is a very helpful thing for people
Speaker:going through that kind of pain. And not just first time
Speaker:infertility. A lot of women, families, couples struggle with
Speaker:secondary infertility. Like, they can have one child, but for some whatever
Speaker:reason, they don't conceive again or can't conceive again. And equally,
Speaker:I'm sure that's equally as painful and can be
Speaker:acknowledged, and that's. A beautiful picture of how a church is
Speaker:caring for those that are struggling with infertility. And just
Speaker:the way you're speaking. That reminds me of our last interview of season
Speaker:two with Rebecca on singleness, on how the church
Speaker:celebrates a lot of the things that couples have in marriage,
Speaker:showers and all those sorts of things. And as single individuals,
Speaker:they don't get that as well. So how can we care for these ones that
Speaker:can't necessarily have those same experiences as a lot of
Speaker:people would say are normal, right? Okay.
Speaker:So coming back to our original question, when did you make that decision
Speaker:that you wanted to adopt? What was that conversation like? How did that
Speaker:come? It was. It was interesting. I think there
Speaker:was a lot of things at play. Eric's
Speaker:brother and wife were also dealing with infertility at the same
Speaker:time for other reasons than our own,
Speaker:and they started that process. And so I
Speaker:think them working through that really
Speaker:helped us emotionally consider that
Speaker:we did look at fostering as an option to,
Speaker:while we waited to have our own, as the
Speaker:saying goes, we looked into that and actually did
Speaker:the training or orientation and kind of realized, no, we
Speaker:really want to be parents. We love children, but
Speaker:being a parent is what we wanted. And I so honor
Speaker:anybody that has chosen to foster because it's an
Speaker:incredible. I just am amazed at people who open their homes
Speaker:and hearts to be able to move in that sphere. After we went
Speaker:to the orientation and honestly checked it out, we just felt like, no, we want
Speaker:to parent children. We looked at local adoption,
Speaker:and there is one agency adoption
Speaker:options, and we went through all their orientation and home
Speaker:studies and whatnot, and for whatever reason,
Speaker:we were not chosen by birth parents to become
Speaker:parent to their children. We had our name looked
Speaker:at, I think, seven times in two years that we had our name with
Speaker:them. And even before we had signed up, I said to Eric, I said,
Speaker:two years. I don't think I can go beyond two years. If
Speaker:that isn't working, I would like to go
Speaker:for an international. Do you have a little bit of information on how that process
Speaker:actually works with that adoption agency? I was just curious about how that worked.
Speaker:You were chosen. So what was their selection process?
Speaker:In the process of applying and doing
Speaker:home studies and whatnot, you also put a little photo album and a
Speaker:write up about yourself and your family and things you enjoy.
Speaker:You value some of your family history. Then
Speaker:when birth parents, typically mom, but sometimes there's
Speaker:father involved, will come in, they've decided to place their child for
Speaker:adoption. They will be shown, I think
Speaker:it's several of these different
Speaker:albums, photo albums, we'll call them, and then they can look
Speaker:at those and they can choose a family within that
Speaker:or consider placing their child with. So
Speaker:really, that's all there is to sort of say, hey,
Speaker:choose me. I would love to parent your child. The beauty
Speaker:of the adoption options is that you can make it as open or closed
Speaker:as both couples or both birth and
Speaker:adoptive families are comfortable with. And so there can be
Speaker:relationship between the child and the birth family,
Speaker:which is a beautiful thing for the child, just to be able to
Speaker:know where they came from. And be loved
Speaker:by both families. Okay, so you guys are on the waiting list for two
Speaker:years, you said, and then you decide, you know what? Maybe
Speaker:we need to look internationally. So that comes
Speaker:up in conversation. Where do you start? Does that feel
Speaker:overwhelming when you make that decision? I think I'd been in it for
Speaker:so long, and even just making the decision to adopt,
Speaker:even to put our name forward locally, I think that's where the big
Speaker:crux was to make that final decision. I
Speaker:mentioned Eric's brother and sister in law. They did an
Speaker:international adoption, and so that
Speaker:really solidified it for
Speaker:Eric, for sure. When they sent us
Speaker:photos of our niece and nephew for the first time,
Speaker:when we got those, Eric, just like, he was in love
Speaker:with them. What country were they from? Kazakhstan. They're
Speaker:from in
Speaker:realizing, wow, these are my brother's
Speaker:kids, and I love them. Whether they're born of his body
Speaker:or come to them through adoption, he realized, wow, love
Speaker:doesn't have a barrier. And so I
Speaker:think in that realization, it's like, okay, I'm ready. Let's
Speaker:go. Let's do this. It really confirmed for us
Speaker:that that was a good way to grow our family. And
Speaker:there was some trepidation with family members.
Speaker:There were some that weren't sure about
Speaker:adopting from Africa in particular. I think
Speaker:some people maybe had to work through some underlying
Speaker:racism or having grown up in a culture
Speaker:that having biracial family
Speaker:was not as acceptable in that
Speaker:generation or as was completely uncommon, I
Speaker:think, in the generation. Do you feel like you needed to have those
Speaker:conversations with them to convince them or what was
Speaker:that like? Yeah. Eric and I each had a family member
Speaker:that had a challenge with it, and I remember speaking with in
Speaker:my family, it was my father, and
Speaker:he honestly just wanted to understand. I'm not sure if it was so much racism
Speaker:as what's the difference between adoption and
Speaker:slavery? And just trying to
Speaker:understand, I think honestly understand
Speaker:the motivation for us. Right. And so
Speaker:just being able to say to him, we
Speaker:were at the cottage at the time and
Speaker:helping him to understand my deep desire to have
Speaker:children and saying to him,
Speaker:dad, if you didn't have kids, you'd be sitting here alone
Speaker:all by yourself at the cottage.
Speaker:And from that moment on, he never asked me again.
Speaker:He never questioned it. He understood.
Speaker:You felt some support from him from that point.
Speaker:Yeah, I did. I mean, he loved,
Speaker:like, there was no doubt about
Speaker:know, just seeing him connect with Sammy
Speaker:as best as he could. He knew how and
Speaker:real a bond between know. Neither of
Speaker:them were really big talkers. But I knew that
Speaker:there was that connection with them over
Speaker:a few different things. I think that was a really important conversation to have,
Speaker:just to settle it in his mind that
Speaker:adoption isn't about owning somebody,
Speaker:it's about being in relationship with somebody
Speaker:and that it's a mutual thing.
Speaker:Not wanting to be heroes wasn't about us
Speaker:marching in, oh, we're going to save this person's life.
Speaker:This child's life never entered our mind. It was
Speaker:very selfish reasons that we adopted. We wanted
Speaker:to be parents, and this was a way, and we knew that there was a
Speaker:child out there who wanted to be part of a family.
Speaker:So it was totally mutual and remains
Speaker:mutual. The joy, the
Speaker:love that we experience together as a family is
Speaker:irreplaceable. For those of you that have listened
Speaker:to my episodes of Danica, we are saying the same thing. We
Speaker:didn't feel like the heroes bringing in this adult
Speaker:that needed to have that father heart in her
Speaker:life. She brought value when she came into her home
Speaker:just as much as we brought value to her. It was a
Speaker:mutual gift from the lord, and
Speaker:that's really what it is. So, other than your
Speaker:brother in law, what about those family members and community that
Speaker:surrounded you and encouraged you along the way? What kind
Speaker:of things would they say to you and how did they encourage
Speaker:you in this process? I had
Speaker:met a woman through our adoption
Speaker:agency, and she and I walked
Speaker:thousands of kilometers together weekly. We'd be out
Speaker:two, three times a week, walking and talking. And
Speaker:that was sanity for me.
Speaker:Having somebody who, one understood the challenges
Speaker:of infertility and adoption and the weight
Speaker:and all the effort that
Speaker:it really takes to adopt internationally.
Speaker:So that whole mental health piece was huge, having that
Speaker:person. We had dozens of people praying for
Speaker:us. I remember when we hit the ten year mark of dealing
Speaker:with infertility, doing a family photo, just Eric and I,
Speaker:and sending that out to our church community,
Speaker:whom we knew was praying for us and wanting to
Speaker:help us meet to become parents. It's always a
Speaker:tough thing to know. Like, people don't want to ask you all the time
Speaker:you're pregnant because there's so much disappointment. But you
Speaker:also do appreciate the times when people are just
Speaker:willing to say, hey, we're thinking about you
Speaker:walking through this difficulty. And we had very
Speaker:supportive small group. I remember times when I couldn't go to small
Speaker:group. It was just too difficult. And one in particular where
Speaker:one of the leaders, she came over, like when I called and said, I just
Speaker:can't come, she says, I'll be right over and walked and
Speaker:came over to be with me in our own little small group while the rest
Speaker:carried on with their time together. So
Speaker:how important would you say are those support systems around you, like, having a
Speaker:small group and a spiritual community just to help you
Speaker:guys through that process? Would you be adopting if you didn't have that? How much
Speaker:harder would have that? Oh, I can't
Speaker:imagine not having had that kind of support and
Speaker:people alongside family members. Like I said, eric's
Speaker:brother and his wife, having been through it themselves and having
Speaker:had their example of how they processed it and
Speaker:seeing how their life had changed and how challenging it was to be able
Speaker:to prepare us mentally, emotionally, spiritually for the
Speaker:changes that we were experiencing and what was
Speaker:coming. And that was huge. So
Speaker:community connection with other people, having gone
Speaker:through it, just really important, and I can't
Speaker:imagine having done it without them. What are some of those first steps that you
Speaker:had to take when going through this international adoption
Speaker:process? For our local adoption process, we
Speaker:had already done a home study, but thankfully they allowed us to
Speaker:use some of that for our second home study. We
Speaker:had to update it, obviously, but home study can be
Speaker:very scary. Going into it, you hear a lot. Of the
Speaker:negative stuff. Yeah, like, oh, quick, we got to fix the house
Speaker:before. But it's not about the house.
Speaker:It's about your family, it's about your relationship,
Speaker:and it's a lot of talking, it's
Speaker:a lot of working through things together as a couple.
Speaker:How are you going to parent? How were you parented? How are you going
Speaker:to parent? How do you resolve conflict in your marriage
Speaker:and so many different aspects that you
Speaker:have to think about. I have said to. Well, I've said
Speaker:to many people, if everybody had to go through that process
Speaker:before they get pregnant, there would be a whole lot less
Speaker:kids in the world because it is daunting.
Speaker:I'm sorry for any of you out there who are thinking about adopting, but
Speaker:it's just a lot. It's daunting in the sense that
Speaker:having to dig up through all to think through those
Speaker:things that you aren't forced to think through just in regular, day to
Speaker:day relating with your spouse, maybe it's like going through
Speaker:therapy. So it's good in that way, right? Make sure
Speaker:you are on the same page for how you're going to move forward. So would
Speaker:you say that process was helpful or was it a
Speaker:little too complicated? I think it was helpful
Speaker:in the sense that you do get to be on the same
Speaker:page and understanding, wow, we have different
Speaker:approaches or, oh, we are more on the same pages than we thought we
Speaker:were. Especially when things as, you know, as a parent,
Speaker:that things get kind of rough. And it's just like, well, how are we
Speaker:going to handle this? And having had those conversations
Speaker:earlier is super beneficial, for sure. So that is just
Speaker:one aspect, but the other one is the mountain of paperwork
Speaker:is challenging. I mean, like I said, it's
Speaker:been years ago already that we did the initial paperwork,
Speaker:but it feels like you're constantly
Speaker:submitting forms and writing things and
Speaker:updating things as you're the. I think when we
Speaker:started till Sammy came home was at least four
Speaker:years. Like, started with local adoption. Right. And then it
Speaker:was maybe four and a half years in the midst of
Speaker:our adoption. Something very unusual happened was
Speaker:that we actually had a child placed with us before
Speaker:Sammy. And the only second time
Speaker:in the history of our adoption agency, the birth mother changed her
Speaker:mind, which was so hard. It was like a death.
Speaker:I have never had a miscarriage, but I'm guessing it was probably
Speaker:very close to what family would
Speaker:parents would experience with the loss of an unborn child.
Speaker:It was so hard. And I remember where I was when
Speaker:I got the phone call. The beautiful part
Speaker:of that whole pain was
Speaker:that evening. I remember our house group leaders at the time, and one
Speaker:of our pastors and his wife, who are friends of ours, came over and just
Speaker:sat with us. And just like, as we all just kind of shook our
Speaker:heads, like, what happened? We
Speaker:thought we were at the end of our weight. And
Speaker:then to have that child taken from us as well
Speaker:was so hard. So did that
Speaker:bump in the road, did that kind of make you guys
Speaker:rethink the whole process? No, we
Speaker:were. No, we
Speaker:didn't let that deter us from our
Speaker:desire. And seeing that dream come true. And within
Speaker:three months, they had found another Sammy for us
Speaker:to come. And I just look back and say, yeah,
Speaker:beautiful for that child that they got to grow up
Speaker:with their birth mom, birth family. Like I should be celebrating. While
Speaker:I was grieving this loss, I
Speaker:only more recently realizing, wow, what a wonderful
Speaker:thing for that little person that they got to grow up
Speaker:in their hometown with their family
Speaker:throughout their life till now. And we would not
Speaker:have Sammy. Like, he wouldn't have joined our family. And we really
Speaker:believe that he was, can we say,
Speaker:destined to be our son. God knew who we needed,
Speaker:and he knew who Sammy needed, and he brought us
Speaker:together. How did that come about in determining
Speaker:which child would be brought into your home? With the
Speaker:international adoption, there is no
Speaker:choice. As far as from in the program we were
Speaker:in, they basically send
Speaker:you a profile and say, hey, how about this one? When you
Speaker:apply on there, you say, what age of child
Speaker:you would like to adopt. You say, what your
Speaker:physical limitations that you'd be open to,
Speaker:whether it was heart issues or lung issues.
Speaker:It really feels weird filling out this form saying, yeah, I'm okay
Speaker:if there's epilepsy, and no, I'm not okay if there's diabetes.
Speaker:I'm okay for there's this. And not that. It just
Speaker:feels very wrong when you're. Doing it, especially as
Speaker:a believer, right where you see everybody has intrinsic
Speaker:value that the Lord has placed in them. I don't
Speaker:know how I would even navigate that. That must have been difficult for you
Speaker:guys. Yeah, it was. And they really coached you
Speaker:through it when you're going for the adoption. Well, our agency
Speaker:did, too. And just saying, really trying to help us. Don't
Speaker:feel bad. Just write what possibilities you are
Speaker:open to. And for some, they might not be willing to deal
Speaker:with any physical limitations. Eric being a nurse, we were very
Speaker:open to it. With his medical background, we weren't
Speaker:intimidated by that possibility. So maybe we're a little bit more open than
Speaker:other people. I don't know. But, yeah, that
Speaker:was one piece. And then immigration is another part of the
Speaker:process. So once you get connected with a child, place with
Speaker:a child, then more waiting happens. So
Speaker:we knew about Sammy. We said yes to him,
Speaker:the profile he gave us, and then that sort of sets
Speaker:off another process. He needs to go to a
Speaker:doctor. He needs. Gets approved by the canadian
Speaker:government to be able to come live here, that his medical needs aren't
Speaker:so big that they wouldn't be willing to take care of
Speaker:him. Canadians are not allowed to adopt children with
Speaker:AIDS or HIV who are HIV positive or
Speaker:weren't at that time. How old was Sammy when his name came
Speaker:into your hands? He must have been three and a half months
Speaker:old. And where was he living at the time? Our
Speaker:adoption agency had a children's home in
Speaker:Adisaba in Ethiopia, and so it was run
Speaker:by staff whom we had hired. And there is
Speaker:a power of attorney. The director becomes a power of
Speaker:attorney for the families that are adopting. And they
Speaker:have a nurse on, like, 24 hours. There's
Speaker:a nurse or nurses, I'm not sure, in the home. And they had a doctor
Speaker:who would always come in just for those kids. So it
Speaker:was run as if it was a Canadian.
Speaker:Well, as canadian as it could be. The expectations that
Speaker:Canadians would have on taking care of children. So they did
Speaker:a really good job with the children. Now, next
Speaker:episode we're going to get into. When you actually get to meet him,
Speaker:we'll get into that story. Two more things. First of all,
Speaker:you guys get all your paperwork in. The decision has been
Speaker:made. What's the feeling like with those that have been supporting
Speaker:you and surrounding you in prayer this whole time?
Speaker:I'm sure they were relieved as much as we were
Speaker:excited. Yeah. It would have been a community
Speaker:celebration to know that the paperwork had
Speaker:all been done and we'd been received our referral for
Speaker:Sammy and that we'd said yes. Just as
Speaker:excited as they were. The first time was probably even greater excitement.
Speaker:The second time with some trepidation on all our parts that this would
Speaker:actually happen because it was a good ten months before we actually
Speaker:went to Ethiopia on the whole immigration process
Speaker:taking place during that time. All right, and we'll end with
Speaker:this. If you got to go back to
Speaker:that time when you guys decided to adopt, what piece of advice
Speaker:do you wish someone would have given you or even words of encouragement that you
Speaker:would have liked to hear at that time? I think what comes to my
Speaker:mind is that it will be worth the wait. As
Speaker:hard as this is, it will be worth the wait.
Speaker:That's beautiful. All right, so next week we're going to get
Speaker:into when you actually get to meet Sammy, that little bit of adventure
Speaker:that you got to go on. I know when I first met you, we talked
Speaker:about Ethiopia because I did some study on Ethiopia
Speaker:and some of the cultural aspects and the Ark of the Covenant, things like
Speaker:that that I was really into. I'm still into that stuff, but
Speaker:we're not going to get into that next week. But we'll talk about your adventure,
Speaker:going and meeting Sammy. Awesome. So until next week,
Speaker:thank you for joining another conversation on journey with care,
Speaker:where we inspire curious Canadians on their path of faith
Speaker:and living life with purpose in community. Journey with Care is an
Speaker:initiative of Care Impact, a canadian charity dedicated to
Speaker:connecting and equipping the whole church to journey well in community.
Speaker:You can visit their website at Careimpact, CA or visit
Speaker:Journeywithcare CA to get more information on weekly episodes,
Speaker:journey with prayer, and details about our upcoming events and
Speaker:meetups. You can also leave us a message, share your thoughts,
Speaker:and connect with like minded individuals who are on their own journeys of
Speaker:faith and purpose. Thank you for sharing this podcast and helping
Speaker:these stories reach the community. Together we can explore ways to
Speaker:journey in a good way and always remember to stay
Speaker:curious. You.
