Play Video

Play Video

Our next door neighbor sent us off on our big trip to Kazakhstan with prayer—inside the airport express bus! He, along with all of our friends and family, had been waiting on pins and needles for news of our travel date. At the end of our destination waited the two angels that were the answers to our years of thought and prayer. Making the decision to parent two teenagers was not one we took lightly but with the love and support of our families, friends, and Nightlight we were finally on our way.

We arrived in Astana, Kazakhstan at 11:30PM, the airport seemed a lonely place and we only hoped that our tiny Russian vocabulary would get us through. The following day, after trying somewhat successfully to fend off jetlag, we were escorted to the orphanage that housed Alex and Julia. Kazakhstan in January was cold like we had never felt before, but inside the Detsky Dom we were met with a warmth that could melt the ice. We had wondered how our presence would be received there, but it quickly became evident that no thought was wasted on boarders. The main hope was to help the children find their forever families.

Over the weeks we visited, learned, laughed, ate, studied, and bonded with our children. They told us stories about their friends and jokes and songs they liked. They were three dimensional children that we could see and touch and hug, yet they were still like a dream. The bonding period and court date came and went so quickly and then it was time to leave and complete the first part of this journey. We had a traditional party to celebrate with all in their family group, some of whom would soon be leaving with their own new families. To leave our children and come back home to the States alone was a thought that hadn’t received nearly as much consideration, but we were comforted now knowing that we were all a real family.

We sometimes reflect on how many people asked why we adopted older children instead of a baby. While our reasons were sound and numerous, our prayer was for help to find the children that were meant to be ours. And that is exactly what happened. The other day a friend and fellow adoptive parent of older children asked how we felt about our decision to adopt teens. Our reply: No decision in all of our lives has brought more joy and enlightenment than coming together with Alex and Julia as a forever family.

It was three years ago that Peter and I attended our fourth Nightlight picnic. Ever since joining the Nightlight family in 2000, we always made a point to attend the picnic and all other activities we could possibly participate in. Three years ago we were so proud of ourselves for listening to God’s calling not to pursue Snowflakes for our second adoption, but to pursue an international adoption.

We had just completed our home study and were waiting and praying for a referral of a child as young as possible (because we had done the big thing and given up the chance of being pregnant and having a newborn, so we wanted to at least make sure our referral was as young as possible), when we attended our 4th Nightlight picnic. Over the years we joyfully watched the visiting Russian children perform and thought to ourselves, “Oh, they are cute,” but never felt a calling to adopt any of them.

It was at this picnic that we were socializing and trying to make new friends who might have adopted internationally, when someone announced that the visiting orphans would be performing on the stage. I suddenly could not breathe! We were standing right in front of the stage. I looked at Peter and told him we needed to move to the other side of the park immediately. He asked why, and I explained, “Because we are going to fall in love with one of these kids, and we are not adopting older. We are adopting a baby!” I took Peter’s hand and moved across as far as possible to the other side of the park. All the while, Peter was asking what was wrong with me, because for the past three years we had always watched the children perform. Why was this year different? We didn’t learn until 8 months later, when meeting our sweet daughters Anya and Galina, that Anya was one of the girls performing on tour during the summer picnic.

Why did we decide to adopt from China? That’s the question we are consistently asked when people look from our handsome son (Snowflake Embryo Adoption) to our beautiful daughter (whom we brought home from China earlier this year). Our answer is always that God gently led us there by the people and circumstances He placed in our lives.

Once we figured out how God wanted us to continue growing our family, we found that we were comfortable with how the adoption process for China is constructed. It is straightforward, fairly predictable, the children seem to adjust well, it requires only one trip to China, and in the end you come home with a child. That’s not to say that the waiting time did not have its emotional highs and lows. Our official wait began on our log in date, or the date our paperwork was officially recognized by China, May 27, 2005. I think the hardest day of our adoption journey was in February 2006, when we missed the referral cut-off date by two days and had to wait an entire month to see our baby’s face.

Ten months to the day from our log in date (about two months longer than we originally expected), Nightlight called us with the news that our referral had come in and if we accepted it (no big question there!) we would be the proud parents of a little girl named Luo Xi who was residing at the XiangYin orphanage outside of Changsha (a major city), Hunan (the province), China. I immediately called Tim and then everyone else I could think of, until my cell phone battery ran out. We drove to Nightlight and finally got to lay eyes on our little beauty who we would name Abigail Lynn-Xi Atnip. That was an exciting day.

We left for China in the middle of May for a few fabulous days of sightseeing in Beijing and then flew to Changsha to meet Abby! We met her for the first time on May 22, 2006. She was 13 months, 11 days old. The sweet gals from the orphanage placed her in our arms and she stuck to us like glue. She was beautiful and cuddly. It makes me a little sad to look at pictures from those first few weeks as I can see in her eyes how sad and scared she was; although you wouldn’t have guessed it from her quiet demeanor.

We came home with Abby a little over five months ago. She now runs happily screeching through the house as her brother chases her. She is almost 19 months old and is very confident and strong. Abby’s Nena (my mom) always comments on how full of joy Abby is. One look at her smiling face and one listen to her giggle, would fill anyone’s heart with joy.

Within a year after our wedding, we started trying to have children. For several years we tried, cried when we could not conceive and cried whenever we saw a baby at a restaurant. I can remember my wife sobbing as she banged on my chest crying, “Why is God doing this to us?” After nine years of infertility, we decided to adopt internationally. We interviewed many adoption agencies and chose Nightlight Christian Adoptions.

We first adopted a little boy and girl from St. Petersburg, Russia. It was an amazing journey. While we were leaving our new daughter’s orphanage, quite a few of the orphans were literally hanging on me yelling, “Papa!” It changed me forever. Less than a year later, we adopted a six-month-old girl from the same orphanage that our son was raised in. We were done. Our family was complete, until… my parents and I decided to take a humanitarian trip back to St. Petersburg, Russia with donations from members of our congregation and local stores. While I was in a Wal-Mart store, my cell phone rang. It was Ron Stoddart, the President of Nightlight Christian Adoptions. He knew that we were traveling back to Russia and he ‘just mentioned’ that there was a little two year old boy that was turned down by a few American families for adoption. His eyes were crossed and in that culture someone with crossed eyes is considered ‘mentally deficient’. I told Ron, ‘no’ as we had just arrived back from adopting our little girl a few months earlier. I asked how old the boy was. Ron checked his birth date, and it was May 4, 1999. I was shocked! I said, “Ron, that’s the birthday of the little girl we just adopted a few months earlier.”

We ended up adopting the little boy with crossed eyes and named him Timothy. We were NOW complete! Four kids; that’s enough, until…my wife and I decided to sponsor and advertise an adoption Information meeting less than an hour from our house. Very few people showed up, but Ron Stoddart had flown in for this meeting. Of course, he brought his photo album of children waiting to be adopted. As my wife and I flipped through the album with no interest in adopting more children, we kept coming back to a little girl with crossed eyes. I got so emotional, I had to walk out of the hotel room where we were looking at the album and I cried. I didn’t know why, but there was something about this little girl that took our breath away. Several months later we flew to Minsk, Belarus and adopted the little girl. While in country, as we were in the orphanage director’s office, she casually mentioned that the little girl had an older sister in another orphanage. OH NO…how could this happen! Adoption agencies try their best to know if there are other siblings as they want them to be adopted together. I said, “Let’s go see her.” LONG STORY SHORT…we adopted her, too, several months later. Six children? I would have never imagined it, but God’s plans are always superior to ours!

Our adoption journey has been amazing. We have had the opportunity to watch God provide abundantly in all things. For us, adoption started long ago…. I (Amanda) have had a desire to adopt since I was a child. This desire was intensified by time spent with orphans in Romania and through studying institutionalized children in college and graduate school. Nathan didn’t necessarily feel drawn to adoption from a young age. He comes from a family of six biological siblings and hadn’t really considered adoption until our courtship when I spoke of my passion for adoption. Nathan has been fueled mostly by conviction that adoption is something that pleases God and is a way to carry out His command to care for orphans.

We entered adoption seeking a child under the age of our biological daughter (now two). When we received our referral for Anara, my husband was immediately convinced that this child was a Hubartt.

When we started the process, we weren’t sure where the finances would come from. We are a single-income family and didn’t have the money up front. We knew that adoption was expensive, but we felt strongly that it was worth pursuing and knew that God would provide the finances. God has provided abundantly through numerous people. He has used our family, our friends and even people we have never met.

As of this writing, we have been home for eight days. Anara is doing well, Violet is adjusting, we are finally over jet-lag, and soon we will be settling into a routine and a new “normal”. This adoption experience has taught us God’s faithfulness to provide for His children. He has taught us that He is sovereign and we can see that He was in the big things and the small things. We understand that

He accepts us into His family as orphans and we pray that our experience might help other families accept orphans into their families. We hope to have more biological children, and we would also like to adopt again. Thank you, Nightlight, for everything that you have done to bring Anara home. Thank you (reader) for having a heart for adoption and making our adoption possible.