Teri's first blog

I am officially making my first entry. Ryan has done an amazing job capturing our journey so far, so I thought it would be a great time for me to share my thoughts as well.

I do not even know where to begin. It has been an incredible 2 ½ years from our wedding night thru today. I am astounded every day to see what God has revealed and how much we have grown. My heart is so full of love for my sweet husband. This has been such a wonderful process of growth for both of us…as individuals and a couple.

Ryan has captured where we are in our journey to find our sweet children, so I want to share how our hearts have opened for all orphans around the globe. It is so interesting to look back and see how every step led to the next one and each step led to where we are today.

When we first began the process I was a little confused by all of the classes, tests, and paperwork we had to complete in order to be approved in this process. It felt so time consuming and over the top.

But now we know why it was necessary…

You see…adopting a child from an institution (orphanage) is so very different than anything you could ever imagine. I grew up in a church and have been surrounded by people in missions and charitable roles my entire life, but I have never heard the truth about orphans. We have learned the truth and it has changed our lives.

Because of that we are so grateful that our journey led us to this place.

It is going to be my life’s mission to make an impact in this country through education and speaking to move people into action so we can change lives. Our foster care system in this country is very poor. In addition, there are so many millions of orphans around this world that are waiting for homes.

There is so much we can do…

We can pray.

We can give.

We can serve.

We can adopt.

We can foster.

We can educate.

Our goal is to move people into action and have everyone pick 1 thing they can do to make a change.

When Ryan and I think about the children longing for homes, it hurts our hearts. Ryan and I have been fortunate to learn specifics and we think most people just like us…would be blown away.

Did you know most babies in orphanages drink from bottles where the nipples have been cut off so their formula flows faster? And the average orphanage in Ethiopia has 400 children? And our prison system and homeless population in this country is full of children, men and women that were raised in foster care?

We recently read one story about a baby that was adopted from an orphanage. The mother was concerned because she only played and moved her right arm. The parents and caseworker quickly went back to photos they took from her orphanage to try and understand why this was taking place. The photos revealed the baby’s crib faced the wall and she would lie on the left side of her body so she could play with a toy that was hanging on the wall…she did this all day.

This is just a taste of reality. I think to myself…what if that was me, what if that was my sister or brother or friend?

Ryan and I both realize adoption is not the right fit for everyone. And adoption from an institution can be a long hard road. But there is something for all of us to do and it can be as simple as educating people around us. You never know when a simple conversation can lead someone to give financially to support an orphanage, a child in foster care, a family that would like to adopt but cannot afford it or take there family to an orphanage for a week to love on babies.

Beginning soon, we will provide links to websites to help educate those who would like to learn more. Please pass it on so we can have more awareness and extend love to those who need it the most!

Thank you all for joining us in this beautiful journey!

Children find a home

I wanted to send an update on the children that we had targeted. As you know we moved from Russian adoption to a Lithuanian adoption. We had targeted to beautiful children from Lithuania and had been waiting for word. During this time Teri and I have been praying for God's will. We received word that both Viktoryia and Little E have been placed with other families who were further along in the Lithuanian adoption process. This was very difficult, but we know that God has a plan for us. We are comforted in knowing that these children have found their forever homes. We continue to pray for our children wherever they are right now. We know that we serve a awesome God and he has an amazing plan for us. Thank you to all of our friends and family who continue to support us through this journey!

Love, Ryan & Teri

Strides for Adoption

Someone call the press! Two blogs in two consecutive days! WOOT WOOT. We had an amazing weekend with our friends and family. We took part in a adoption awareness event Strides For Adoption 5k run. It was put on by our adoption agency Bethany Christian services. It was a beautiful(warm & muggy) morning and we had a great turnout. Team Froman represented the event in full effect! The Team included: Myself, Teri, Mom, Dad, Miki Peek, Taegan Martin, Vince Reed, & Marco. Mom won first place in the walking division and Miki took home the top female runner! Teri and I had to laugh as we knew once mom learned it was a contest there was no doubt she would win. She donated her winnings to our adoption fund. THANKS MOM! I was unable to run due to my surgery and still being under restrictions, but Teri represented and ran! This was her first 5k and she did amazing. I was very proud of Teri as it was much tougher than expected. The temperature at race time was probably close to 85 degrees and you could cut the humidity with a knife. I helped Lisa with timing and handing out water:) I could not have picked a better job. After the race we decided we would throw a party at our house for everyone who ran for Team Froman.

What a great party....Carne Asada, chicken, tortillas, homemade salsa, mmm. We had our case worker Lisa over with her daughter Sarah, boyfriend Larry & the rest of Team Froman. It was so nice for everyone to mingle and talk about the day & adoption. I truly feel a connection to everyone who is involved. I explained that Lisa has become a part of our family as this process is very intimate and you learn about one another very quickly. It is so refreshing to know that we have an advocate such as her in our corner who is fighting for the exact same thing that we are! No matter how many times we change our minds and look at going another route Lisa is there to hold our hand clear the path! She is truly a blessing.

We will hopefully hear something this week about the children we are pursuing so please keep us in your prayers. It is funny as I have been a nervous wreck and Teri has been as cool as a cucumber!

THANK YOU ALL for your Prayers, Love, & Support!

Ryan & Teri

Trying to keep up

Ok, it is official that we are horrible bloggers. Even with the numerous amounts of requests it has taken well over a month to update our blog. Allot has changed since our last update. As most everyone knows we had originally started the process to adopt from Russia. Well....We are know deep in the process of a Lithuanian adoption. We receive emails periodically about waiting children and one day received one with two children(not related) that we absolutely fell in love with! A 3 year old little girl by the name of Vikoryija & and a 2 year old little boy that we have nicknamed little E since we cannot pronounce his name. We immediately called out case worker Lisa(who is fantastic) and told her we wanted to pursue one of these two children. Within the hour Lisa responded back and we had an appointment with her at the end of the week to discuss the children and to have our first Couple's interview.

We walked into our meeting nervous and not knowing what to expect. We discussed the children and decided that we would like to pursue both children knowing that we could only get one. We went from 5mph to 105mph! The next week we had our home study(which we passed) and began getting the 150,000 thousand forms we needed certified, notarized, & state sealed. Teri has been a trooper as she is the organizer & list keeper of all that we have to get done. With all of that being said there was a May 31st deadline on these children and we did not make it. However, we knew we did not have time to complete it all before the deadline. We did it to show the country that we were serious about these children and that if by chance they were still available we could pursue them. As of today June 6th it is our understanding that both children are still available. We have submitted our immigrations paperwork and will be waiting to hear back. We feel confident that by the end of June we will be ready to adopt from Lithuania with all of our paperwork turned in! We were told by Lisa yesterday that there could be a very good chance that we could be locked in with one of these beautiful children by the second or third week in June. Our prayer is even if these our not supposed to be our children that they find loving and caring homes. That is really what this journey is all about. LOVE. Please stay tuned as I am going to try and update another blog this evening to update everyone on our strides for adoption 5 k! Pictures will be posted as well!

Love,

Ryan & Teri