BAIR FAMILY

We have been so grateful to work with All God’s Children and the Bulgaria program for our adoption. It has been a great experience for our whole family. God truly blessed our family when He opened our hearts to adopting a special needs child. Through this process, we have been able to get a small glimpse into the heart of our God and how great His love is in choosing us – broken and imperfect ourselves.

The amazing thing about adoption is that when we looked at the video of Tsvetomir, we saw his potential, not his special needs. We saw a little boy who with the love and support of a family could do anything. Today he is like a celebrity in our small town. Everyone knows him and welcomes him wherever we go. His infectious laugh and smile are a testimony to everyone of the transforming power of God’s love.

McNEW FAMILY
Helen has been home nearly three months. It is wonderful seeing her grow and change, becoming a healthy, strong-willed, beautiful little girl. We have only taken a small step in our journey so far. We are so grateful for All God’s Children and for God’s leading us to Bulgaria. There is such a need there, and so many more beautiful children who need forever homes.

SCHUSTER FAMILY
After talking with All God’s Children, we were told about Bulgaria. We felt a tug on our hearts. Stoyan began to feel like our son before we even told AGCI that we wanted to adopt him. What a joy to hear him call us mommy and daddy. In God’s word it says, “God sets the lonely in families” (Psalm 68:6), and He has done just that!

Many orphans still remain in Bulgaria. They are in tremendous need of better nourishment and a forever family. Please consider adopting one of them into your family.

HARRIS FAMILY

Joshua is a busy, active, healthy little boy who has a prosthetic foot, but never slowed down. He plays tennis and T-ball, swims, and enjoys fishing trips with his daddy. We are blessed.

God’s plan is perfect and God’s timing is perfect. Trust in His plan and remember He is always faithful. We are so thankful for God’s hand on our family and blessing us with the perfect son. We don’t think of our son as “special needs”; he is perfect to us. We are so very thankful to be his mom and dad.

STEBBING FAMILY
Today our son is a handsome, fun-loving, life-of-the-party, very smart 6-year-old who just started kindergarten. God has been faithful to us and to Jon as he has had several surgeries since coming home and is doing so well. Our lives have changed – material things just don’t seem to matter much anymore. The eternal things matter so much more! God has also taken us back to China, to the same orphanage that Jon came from (totally a God thing, not something we planned) to bring home another child. God’s seed has fully blossomed into a beautiful rose with petals that form our family. To God be the glory!

This story would not be complete without sharing how much a part of our family the staff at AGCI has become. They were not only there to guide us through all that paperwork, but they prayed with us and they cried with us. And finally, they rejoiced with us when we returned home with our children! Thank you to all of you at AGCI.

BURCH FAMILY
I became a client with AGCI with the intent to adopt a non-special needs, as-young-as-possible baby girl from China. At the same time I signed the initial contracts and began the home study, I began to think about, pray about, and research special needs adoptions. The waiting times for China adoptions were increasing, and I was surprised to find that my idea of “special needs” was very different from China’s. So many of the children had “needs” that were minor, correctable, or just plain uncomplicated. Much to even my own surprise, I ended up choosing to adopt a 2-year-old with a congenital heart defect. I am so glad that God’s ways are higher than our ways. I would never have known to go looking for a toddler labeled as “special needs,” but it was a perfect fit. As my friend tells me, “she was special, and you needed her.” So true.

McBRIDE FAMILY

Adoption has changed our lives. We always knew we would grow our family through adoption, but once the time came, it was overwhelming. What agency? What country? How do we pay for this? What is ironic is that I’m a licensed social worker and have worked in adoption for five years! I should be ready to make such decisions. However, when it was OUR family looking to adopt, it was personal and we did a lot of research. We found that AGCI was well prepared and ready to answer all our questions. Above all, we felt that AGCI was trustworthy, efficient, and conservative in practice. Also, AGCI invested in the countries where they work beyond adoption. This was important to us.

RUSH FAMILY
We brought home more than a 15-pound bundle of brown eyes and curls. Our little girl Havi brings with her an awareness and conviction that will not go away. Her very presence tells a story of the millions of children who do not have, who are not found, who don’t know love. When Havi looks into my eyes, I see the mother who gave us the most beautiful gift. I cannot forget the beauty of Ethiopia because it lives with us in a high chair at the edge of the table. As Havi approaches her first birthday, we know that so many Ethiopian babies will never reach theirs. She is my daughter, she is a piece of our family, and she is loved unconditionally, but she is also a little ambassador to all she meets.

WILL FAMILY

Wibnesh has transitioned beautifully into our family and it feels like she has always been here. We were concerned about her not walking; she is now running and jumping. We were concerned about her talking; she is the loudest of our children. We were concerned about her unknown medical issues; the doctor can’t find anything wrong with her. We are amazed every day by this little miracle that God has blessed us with. She has changed our world and we are so glad we took a leap of faith and adopted her. We know our journey isn’t over and there will be valleys, but we have learned in a very tangible way that God is faithful to those who are obedient and He always provides for His children.

DAY FAMILY

I decided to work with AGCI mainly because of the extensive work they do with orphans, unwed mothers, and education in countries around the world. In September 2009, God handed me my daughter, Janie. She is perfect in every way and the light of my life! She is doing great due to the excellent care by the AGCI staff in Taiwan. In February 2010 I learned that Janie’s birth mother had given birth to another baby girl. With prayer, lots of hustle, and God’s hand leading the way, I brought Lexie home 10 months later. These incredible sisters are now together. Through it all the entire staff at AGCI was with me every step of the way, so I say thank you from the bottom of my heart. Janie and Lexie thank you. We are a family because of you.

SMITH FAMILY
Our son has been the beginning of something more than wonderful. We will advocate for the orphan. We will adopt more children. We will support others adopting children. We will share and share some more, because we know that the Lord is using adoption and our passion for loving children.

SHOYAT FAMILY
Our story began with a hesitant, meek yes to God’s calling for our family. We had never really considered adoption. Through circumstances and earnest prayer, however, it became clear to us that this was the path God had chosen for us. What first began as steps of obedience undertaken with great fear and trepidation soon became a full-fledged pursuit of a dream planted in our hearts by God Almighty. Our days became focused on the quest to find the children that God had chosen for us and make them part of our family.

It didn’t take long to realize that international adoption is not for the faint of heart. While the ongoing challenges became an expected part of the process, the countless blessings we received along the way were completely unexpected. We assumed as we began our journey that God was using us to save orphaned children by giving them a home and a family. Little did we know how much these orphaned children would bless us in return. The truth is that they have saved us — from a life of mediocrity and routine, from a life lived without the absolutely humbling, awe-provoking thrill of knowing that you are doing what God created you to do.

It is our prayer that God’s blessing will cover and keep each and every waiting adoptive family in the days to come. We know He will continue to write more wonderful stories of faith, hope, and love in the lives of those families He has called to care for the world’s orphaned children.

COUCH FAMILY
Our adoption story began long before we ever sat down to fill out the adoption papers. The Lord had opened our hearts and eyes to the many children out there who were looking for their forever home – a mother and father to love them unconditionally despite what circumstances they may have experienced.

We contacted All God’s Children International and began filling out our initial paperwork. We felt led to apply for the Oregon Program. We then immediately began the home study process. We were blessed to be matched with an amazing social worker who walked with us through every step of the way, including the paperwork trail. We submitted our home study and received word from the Department of Human Services caseworker that we had been selected to go to committee to be considered as parents to two precious little ones. Yes, one became two, a brother and sister!
We were ecstatic!

On August 28, 2009, we found out that we were now the proud parents of a 2-year-old son and a 3-year-old daughter! Our hearts were overwhelmed with complete joy! We met our little blessings seven days later and brought them home four days after that first meeting. It was truly amazing, God’s timing had been so perfect. We continue to ask ourselves daily, “How is it possible that the Lord blessed us with these two children?” He had not just answered our prayers for a child, but had bestowed on us a double blessing!

Since then we’ve had the joy of adopting our third child. The Father to the fatherless has chosen our children and placed them in our arms, marked “With All My Love, Special Delivery”!

PELTEKIAN FAMILY
As we look back over our adoption experience, we are so grateful for all the resources that the Lord provided to us through AGCI and our amazingly wonderful social worker. We are thankful for all our circumstances that molded our faith and strengthened us in our walk with the Lord. And most of all we are thankful for our beautiful daughter, created in His image, the child God chose to add to our family in such an amazing way. We have done a lot of work with international as well as domestic adoption and are so impressed at the help we received from AGCI. They are very available and provided so much needed information that made our journey almost simple. We highly recommend AGCI to anyone considering adoption!