THE MANNCHENS ARE ADOPTING- AGAIN!
We are adopting from INDIA and the UNITED STATES.
We are Uli, Liz, and Bo Bei Mannchen- an international family of dreamers hailing from the three great nations of Germany, America, and China! We posture 'our lives and work around caring for orphans and widows. Loving them. Accepting them. Advocating for them to understand that they have been named by God as "chosen" and "wanted." After years of working with children around the world, we were beyond excited to finally welcome home our daughter Bo Bei in December of 2019 from China!
And now we're ready for two more!
Here is our story:
Our journey began with seven years of unwavering dedication to parenthood when the Lord gave us a vision of a "rainbow family." In 2019, while working in missions in Germany, we overcame significant challenges to adopt our daughter Bo Bei through a US agency. Her adoption was finalized in China, and she became both a Mannchen and a US citizen. Yet, returning to Germany revealed an unexpected hurdle—Germany did not acknowledge her citizenship or adoption. Months of legal battles ensued, with victories and setbacks. Faced with the prospect of an extended bureaucratic process and an unyielding call for more adoptions, we made the difficult choice to uproot and move to the United States.
In 2021, we arrived on American soil, driven by an unshakable determination to grow our family and offer loving homes to more children in need.
These three years have been a whirlwind of emotions and experiences. Shortly after arriving, we began paperwork for our second China adoption. As we eagerly awaited China's adoption program to reopen, a dormant dream stirred—our desire to embrace an infant into our loving arms. We decided to pursue domestic adoption concurrently. After two failed domestic adoptions, we held fast to our faith in God's promise.
During this period, our agency introduced the possibility of changing our China adoption plans to an Indian adoption. China is still closed, and recent changes in India's adoption program have opened new avenues for international families. With a decade of mission work in India, primarily focused on orphaned children, we felt a profound resonance with this new opportunity. Our familiarity with the staggering number of orphaned children—over 30 million—motivated us to embrace this open door and offer them a loving home.
In February of 2024, we laid down our domestic adoption, and three days later, we were officially matched with a little 2-year-old girl from India we are referring to as "A." WE ARE SO EXCITED!
Isn't the journey adoption takes you on just amazing?
Preparations are in full swing as we anticipate our child from India's homecoming this fall. Our domestic homestudy is still active, and we plan to pick it back up after our little one is home.
It may surprise you that both adoptions' combined expenses amount to $90,000! To aid our adoption journey, we've initiated a crowdfunding campaign to offset the costs. Through personal savings and grant applications, we've made substantial progress. However, we're now seeking assistance for the remaining balance required to finalize the adoptions (all awarded grants have been directly transferred to our agency- if we receive more grants, the goal number will adjust accordingly).
We firmly believe that our call to adoption resonates within a greater community, a village bound together by the shared goal of providing loving homes for these children. By choosing to support us in this endeavor, you become an essential part of our journey, changing the lives of all five of us.
With heartfelt gratitude, we thank you for considering joining us on this exciting journey to bring our children home.
