Friends and Family,
2012 has started off as an exciting year for the Boelk household! During the Christmas Season in 2011, Brian and I started thinking about adoption. We had always felt we had room for another child in our family but just weren’t sure of the timing. For a long time life felt chaotic enough with three kids, two of them being crazy twin boys! But just before the end of 2011, I felt God pointing out to me (crazy as this sounds to all of you who know us) that life, while busy, felt pretty routine. So I broached the subject with Brian and we decided to each take some time and pray about it.
Our prayers were answered with a resounding, Go For It! We attended a Christian concert in January called Winter Jam. The main band who organizes the concert is partnered with an adoption agency and they showed a video from one of their trips to China. During this trip they were followed around by a 12 year old girl. Her parents had died and her aunt had adopted her, but recently her aunt fell ill and had passed away. She was nearing her 13th birthday (in which children age out of the system in China) and was pleading with them to help her find a family before she turned 13. Right then I looked at Brian and said “If that was us, I’d take her home in a minute.” He nodded and said, “Me too.” At that moment, our journey began.
We have partnered with an agency that has worked extensively in Africa. Many of you may wonder why we aren’t pursuing adoption in the US. We feel that God has put Africa on our hearts and we feel a strong desire to be a multi-cultural family. We want to embrace this child’s culture and meld our cultures together to create our new family unit.
We are currently in the homestudy phase and will be pursuing the adoption of a girl, approximately 6-8 years old from the country of Ghana. Ghana is a beautiful country about the size of Oregon, situated in the heart of West Africa. Ghana is one of the most stable countries in Africa. Unfortunately, the economy has struggled and, like most African countries, the majority of people live in poverty. UNICEF estimates that there are 1,000,000 orphans in Ghana.
We feel called by God to complete our family through adoption and in answering that call, we know God will help support and provide for us during this process. We were designed by God for community and know we can’t walk this journey alone. As family and friends, there are a few ways you can support us during this journey:
• First and foremost, please pray for us. We have experienced the power of prayer firsthand and know how important it is that we keep God at the center of this. Specific things we’d like prayer for are: A smooth and expected process with no major hiccups, this young girl would know that god loves her and is bringing a family to her, and that our hearts would be soft as we prepare to become a multi-cultural family.
• Financially
1. Paypal your donation to amy_boelk@yahoo.com or mail to 213 Pheasant Run, West Branch, IA 52358.
2. Go to www.icvineyard.org. Scroll down towards the bottom and on the left hand side of the page there is a “Donate” button. Click on that button and you’ll be taken to Paypal. There is a comment box before you confirm your donation where you will need to type “Boelk Adoption”. If you do not type “Boelk Adoption”, your donation will go into the church’s general fund. If you donate through this method, your donation will be tax deductible.
3. We will be organizing a massive garage sale for hopefully May. During spring cleaning if you come across any items you want to get rid of, we will gladly take anything you have. Items that aren’t sold will be donated to Goodwill. Please contact me via email at amy_boelk@yahoo.com and I’ll arrange to pick up the items.
As a family, I can’t tell you the excitement we feel. We are excited to welcome a new sister and a new daughter. We can’t wait to see how our lives and the lives of others will be blessed by this young girl entering our family and we hope your share in our excitement!
With lots of love,
Brian, Amy, Taylor, Carver and Kinnick
