Michael & Elizabeth Stewart

Updates

• Update 13

  

  Why Hungary?

  December 31, 2024
  The Most Popular Question We didn’t begin by saying, “We should adopt from Hungary.” I couldn’t tell you much about the country before we started this process, outside of it being the punchline for bad jokes about being hungry (please… don’t). We just began by saying, “We should adopt” and decided to let the Lord lead the process through whatever encounters He would bring our way. Nor did we begin by pursuing international adoption. If “Why Hungary?” is the most popular question we get, the second would be “Why not adopt domestically?” We thought we would be, honestly. Long story short: In... Read moresharing our desires with our adoption agency, they recommended international adoption as a better fit for our family. We actually began in Bulgaria, and switched to Hungary based on further recommendations from our case worker. It helps that we’ll be working with one of the premier adoption facilitators in Hungary who has been facilitating Hungarian adoptions for over a decade, and is known in the U.S. Embassy on first-name basis. Hungary Facts Hungary is situated in the middle of Europe, bordered by (at west, moving clockwise) Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. It’s in the Central European Time Zone (6 hours ahead of us). Its capital is Budapest, which is bisected by the Danube River. The cover photo for this post shows the Neo-Gothic Hungarian Parliament Building, situated on the Danube in Budapest. You can probably read Wikipedia on your own, so here’s more pertinent info for adoption purposes: Hungary has a relatively strong social welfare system, providing for basic needs through well maintained and staffed orphanages; its foster care program is growing. The Hungarian government is also making strides in domestic adoption, understanding that children need more than basic needs and a good education, i.e., they need a mom and dad. Because of Hungary’s commitment to ensure that their children are matched into great homes they are very strict about a number of specific processes, including the family and agency’s commitment to post-adoption oversight and reports. Our agency has committed to the central adoption processing authority, the Ministry of Human Capacities Department of Child Protection and Guardianship Affairs, that it will assist all of our families in complying with the rigorous standards they have established to benefit and protect their children. The Hungarian flag consists of red, white, and green, standing for strength, fidelity, and hope. Not bad virtues to keep in mind for our adoption. Our Time in Country Given Hungary’s strict protection of its children (this is a good thing!), we have to be careful about information we share. It’s why we haven’t said much publicly other than we’re adopting twins. After the adoption is finalized, we can reveal names, age, sex, photos, etc. For those who were wanting to help buy clothes or toys—we’ll learn their sizes and abilities when we get there! To tell you the truth, we only know so much ourselves. I’m not even sure if they’re potty-trained… which will make for a fun plane ride home. But here’s a general rundown of our trip: *Arrive in Budapest on January 12 and travel to the western side of the country *Meet the twins for the first time on January 14 *January 14–21: supervised visitations with twins *January 21–February 21: granted temporary guardianship and twins will come into our care full time local court appointment for conditional release of twins *30-day period to focus on bonding (we’ll be visited during this time by social workers) *short trip to visit the embassy in Budapest for paperwork *adoption finalized in local Hungarian court *February 21–?: in Budapest for medical visits, passports, finalization of immigration paperwork *Late February/early March: arrival back in the United States with 2 new Stewarts If you would like more detailed updates and would commit to praying for us, you can join our prayer team by emailing our dear friend and fellow minister in the gospel, Jerome Bell (see original post at https://stewartadoption.com/why-hungary/ for Jerome's email address). Year-End Donations We’re still seeking to meet our increased financial goal for adoption. We passed our initial $50,000 goal (unbelievable!). We increased that goal to $65,000 after learning of the additional costs for twins and some of their anticipated therapy needs. If you’re looking for a tax-deductible donation to end of the year, your donation is fully tax deductible, and 95% of every donation goes straight to our adoption costs. You can any button or link on this page. The generosity we’ve received since creating our blog a little over a year ago has been life-changing for our existing and future family. I believe you’ve entered in to the work of eternity, and that our gratitude will be eternal. Eternal gifts are what matters; it’s why we began this process. Thank you. Happy New Year.

• Update 12

  

  Houses on Hills: Preparing to Travel

  December 3, 2024
  Our travel dates are set. We will meet the twins on January 14. We'll visit with them in a supervised capacity during that first week, after which begins a month of bonding in which we'll have temporary custody, spending 30 days with the twins in our Hungarian "home." I am pleased with the peach house on the hill we found. Its gardens and vineyards will be frozen over during our stay, but we'll take advantage of stomping around with no worry of damaging the flora! Our teenage sons will travel with us for the first week, but given their school and... Read moreextracurriculars, they need to return home. We're grateful they will see where the twins grew up, meet the twins in their home country, and be able to tell them that they were part of the big adventure to go get them. We hope that this meeting will give the twins someone to look forward to seeing back home (in the home they don't know yet). We're thankful for family and friends who are making it possible for us to be gone so long by caring for our kids, our house, and our excessive dog population. Costs for the trip are mounting, and we're trying to finalize most travel plans this week: Our known costs include international airfare for 6+, lodging for 45 days, vehicle rental (a large van at this point!). We don't know what the twins will need. Whether they come with suitcases full or just the clothes on their backs, we'll need to be prepared for both. We plan to travel with some Hungarian language children's books (yes, we could probably buy them there... but we need the practice beforehand!). Our total costs to date on the travel portion are about $13,000. On this Giving Tuesday, we're grateful for all who have supported us. We have a special place in our hearts for this house on a Hungarian hill. This longing and love for a place we've never been is yet another picture of the gospel. And like the sunlight that makes this house shine in winter, we're trying to be a warm and inviting light in a cold world. The twins aren't old enough to express such things. Some dark days are bound to follow. While 45 days abroad is a testing endeavor for us. They are about to leave the only world they've ever known. We're sending the twins a book this Christmas, filled with pictures of our home, our house on the hill in the United States. Here, too, the light offers warmth and vision even amidst the dark and cold. We hope it creates longing and love for a place they'e never been. And if not, we mostly pray that in the years to come, they come to discover the longing and love for an unseen, eternal home. "For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven." —2 Corinthians 5:1-2

• Update 11

  

  It's Official

  October 14, 2024
  Today we received our official referral from the country of Hungary. “We hope,” reads the last line of the referral, “the children will find a nice, loving family.” We share that hope, and the eternal hope that all of these moments lead to. Thank you for your enthusiastic and prayerful hope in all of these steps. What’s next? * A passport appointment in the morning for our boys. The particulars of school, extracurriculars, and travel arrangements need to line up, but we’re hoping for the possibility that William and John get some time in Hungary * Filing immigration paperwork. * Scheduling further counseling based... Read moreon needs specific to our growing family. * Compiling a story/photo book for the children to learn about their new family. * Getting ready for travel—we have reason to believe we’ll travel in January. In case you didn't see our last update—we're adopting twins!

• Update 10

  

  We said YES

  October 5, 2024
  We said YES to a referral. In a sense we said yes twice—because our adoption agency has asked us to consider adopting TWINS. (Even more accurately, that’s 8 yesses, given that our sons have been and are a continual part of the decision-making process—and they have patiently wondered what’s taking so long.) Questions abound, I know: When do they come home? What are their names? etc. We have to protect their identities right now, but we will keep you as informed as possible about this process as none of this would have taken place without your prayers and financial support. The... Read morenext steps include: * Requesting an Official Referral from the Hungarian Ministry of Culture and Innovation (saying yes started this process). * The Ministry will send our Dossier to the local region responsible for making the final decision whether we can pursue the children. * The Ministry will issue an Official Referral. * Traveling to Hungary for about 45 days (travel time + 30 days of mandated in-country bonding during which we’ll have temporary guardianship + official court dates on either side of that bonding period). I will post more about Hungary, but for now, here’s what we’re doing to prepare: Learning basic Hungarian. * Preparing as if we’ll travel to Hungary in January (we don’t have an exact date, but we are told January is a likely possibility). * Adding to/updating our home. Given the addition of more than one child, we’ll need another room (a garage conversion is most likely). * Speaking with multiple medical and child education professionals about the likely specific needs our children will have. * Continuing training, counseling, and education related to the needs associated with adoption (we’ve known from the start that trauma, medical needs, and/or developmental delays are expected). Here are our current prayer and support needs: **Travel. We’d like to know when these exact dates are so we can secure travel plans and figure out how many of us can go to Hungary. It’s always been our desire to have our entire family united there, but school and work schedules along with the international travel costs for multiple people will factor in. **Home updates. We’ll be talking to building professionals this month about the cost-effective and timely solutions for adding more space to our house. With this set of twins, we think an additional room is important. **Bonding time. Please begin praying now for a meaningful bonding time in Hungary. Part of that is the preparation that begins now—learning more Hungarian (they’ll pick up English before we pick up Hungarian!), planning how to spend meaningful interaction time with the children, and planning for all the ways in which planning won’t go according to plan! And pray for the preparation of hearts of all involved—our hearts as parents, the hearts of our children, and the hearts of the interpreters, social workers, and officials we’ll encounter overseas. **Unknown Needs. We’ll have more mysteries than answers. But that’s OK—we walk by faith, not by sight. Every human is marked by the mysterious image of God, regardless of how much background information we think we have. We’re asking God to prepare for us the right team to help with ongoing medical, educational, or development needs our children might have. Your generous support has made this process possible. For example, it cost about $1500 just to have these adoption files translated and assessed by International Adoption Clinic professionals. That’s one of many specific ways in which we’ve been able to apply the funds you’ve provided. We’re hoping to announce soon that funds will be going to plane tickets! (Note: we did increase our original goal to reflect the updated information we have on twins and some of their specific, ongoing medical needs). We praise God for what He is doing in our family. And we praise Him for you. We believe He will continue to reveal Himself as our Helper

• Update 9

  

  Dossier Translated!

  September 22, 2024
  Our dossier has been translated. What’s a dossier? A dossier is a collection of documents submitted to the The Ministry of Culture and Innovation in Hungary. It included things such as our a representation letter from our adoption agency, our official request letter to the Ministry, an immigration approval, our home study, and the loads of paperwork completed to this point. Outside of the paperwork, one of the more fun elements of the dossier was creating photo files for Hungary. I’ll attach some of those here. Dossier delivery day is September 26. With this step done, the only thing left is... Read morematching, which will require an official referral from Hungary. The Impact of Your Donations On this original post I supplied a graphic that show our adoption fees. I drew a red line on the fees we’re responsible for up to this point (You can see here: https://stewartadoption.com/dossier-translated/). These are the official fees that your generosity has helped us to cover. Our travel fees are unknown at this point. This infographic is based on Elizabeth and I traveling to adopt one child. Those fees increase if we’re able to adopt multiple children (which we’re hoping for), and they increase if we’re able to take our current biological children with us to meet their new sibling(s)—something we also hope for. Pray for us, as we expect to hear officially from the Ministry soon.
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