Author Archives: Shoshanna Grey

How to Adopt from Two Countries at the Same Time

We did something that is a bit unusual, but with increasing delays in different countries is becoming more common. We adopted from two countries at the same time. When we were in process for Guatemala and then found a child we wanted to adopt from Liberia, we questioned if we could even do it and if so, how to do it. As I began to ask around about it, I found that very few people even knew if it could be done. Then, I started to find families who had adopted from two countries at the same time or who … Continue reading →

Deaf Adoption – Interview With a Parent

Here is a recent interview that I did with Robyn who adopted Josephine, age 8, from Liberia. Q: What made you decide to adopt a deaf child? A: I had asked about adopting a deaf child only because we were told that many were deaf as the result of illness and could be helped by different procedures/meds. in the US. The deaf child referred to us had been deaf since birth, so this did not apply to her! Through much prayer, we arrived at the conclusion that this was what the Lord wanted us to do. It was a very … Continue reading →

Special Needs Adoption – Deaf and Hard of Hearing

For today’s Special Needs Adoption Awareness blog I want to talk about a special need that has become very near to my heart. Most of you already know that Laney is deaf. What you may not know is how much I wrestled with adopting a deaf child. When we committed to adopt Laney we knew no sign language and no deaf people. We knew nothing about hearing aides or deaf education either. I often would sit and imagine Laney being home and wonder if I would even be able to talk to her. What if we never got past the … Continue reading →

Sibling Attachment

Something that I get asked about a lot is my children’s adjustment to one another. We took three kids of different ages and backgrounds and threw them together and said “you’re family now”. It makes sense that some people wonder how that went! I have honestly been amazed at how well it has gone. Once Josiah was in our home I realized that we had a responsibility to protect him – even if that meant protecting him from his own siblings! I wondered if it would be too hard for him to have two older kids in the house, if … Continue reading →

Older Child Adoption – Blessing or Nightmare?

When talking to people who have adopted older children, it seems that you almost always hear stories from two opposite ends of the spectrum. There are the families who say that their adoption of an older child is nothing but a nightmare, that it ruined their family and that their child will never function normally in a family setting. Then you talk to the those on the other side who say that their adoption of an older child has been a breeze. Everything went smoothly, they’ve had no problems, the child is a joy. Is it possible that both experiences … Continue reading →

Wednesday’s Child – AdoptUSKids.org

For this week’s Wednesday’s Child I want to talk to you about AdoptUSKids.org If you are not familiar with this website, it is a national registry of waiting children who are in the foster care system. The kids on the site are not all of the kids available in the US by any means. They are just kids whose social workers felt that placing them on this listing would help them find families. AdoptUSKids offers a search function were you can specify the child’s age, gender, nationality and other factors. A list is then generated showing kids who match the … Continue reading →

Thursday’s Child – Reece’s Rainbow

My plan is to normally do this on Wednesday but since yesterday passed without my managing to post, this week we will have “Thursday’s Child”. You don’t mind, do you? For today’s profile I want to talk to you about Reece’s Rainbow. This is a non-profit that focuses on orphans with Down Syndrome. They work to raise awareness of the need to adopt children with Down Syndrome as well as providing a photo-listing of waiting children who have this special need. Several times a year Reece’s Rainbow does fundraisers to help create grants for the waiting children on their website. … Continue reading →

Our Adoption Story – The Wait Gets Long

Laney’s agency originally told us that she would be home by Christmas 2006. Now it was Spring 2007 and still no Laney – and no real news either. Then we received the news that our agency had decided to pull out immediately and stop working on adoptions. Naturally, everyone panicked and for several days we thought Laney was not coming home. When I got the email from our agency I turned to my husband and said “That’s it. We just lost Laney.” My husband, being much more practical and balanced than I am, encouraged me not to give up hope … Continue reading →

Our Adoption Story – Starting Again

Little Josiah’s adoption began to move forward, though it was slow going, and as the months went by we began to feel our hearts heal little by little from the loss of Erick. We still missed him but we were starting to get excited about bringing Josiah home. For some reason I also suddenly developed a very strong interest in the country of Liberia. I was looking at adoption programs, talking to adoptive families, etc and the whole time wondering why on earth I was interested in Liberia when we didn’t even have our Guatemalan child home yet. Still, I … Continue reading →

Our Adoption Story – The Beginning

The idea of adopting began with small seeds planted in my heart during my childhood. There were a few books that I read about adoptive families, the sweet couple my parents knew who adopted two biracial infants, a friend of the family whose children spent several months in foster care while I was a teenager. All of it made me start to think that I would adopt at some point in the future Adoption really began to take hold as an option, though, when several years of marriage passed and those pregnancy tests I took continued to be negative. I … Continue reading →