Shamblins working to adopt 14-year-old orphan who enjoyed a past Christmas
Imagine meeting an orphaned 14-year-old girl and wanting to make her a part of the family. Now imagine not being able to bring her home for over two years.
So it is with Steve and Nikki Shamblin and their efforts to adopt Elizabeth from an orphanage in Colombia.
“When are you gonna come get me?” she asked during a recent Skype call with the Shamblin family.
The young girl already calls Nikki Shamblin Momma and asks to see her brothers and sisters on the Skype calls they make every two weeks. The Shamblin family, aside from Mom Nikki and Dad Steve, includes Thomas who is 25, Emily who is 23, Sadie who is 20, Reed who is 16 and Lydia who is 7. The oldest three are now out on their own, Nikki said. The Shamblins are no strangers to adoption as Lydia was adopted from China a few years ago.
Steve said adoptions can take about a year and a half to complete so they’re pretty much right on track.
It all started Christmas two years ago when the Shamblins hosted Elizabeth and her biological sister, Cindy, in their home through a program their adoption agency, Nightlight Christian Adoptions, coordinates over the holidays.
The girls spent the Christmas season with the Shamblins exploring the area and having fun together. “I said [to Nikki], you know we’re probably going to want to adopt her after,” Steve said. “Because that’s the whole plan when you host, and sure enough, they came and we spent two weeks with them and took them camping and to see Christmas lights and stuff like that. Basically they show up with the clothes on their backs, that was it.”
Once the girls returned to the group home in Colombia, they were debriefed and a report was sent to the Shamblins with what the girls thought of their stay. It took weeks to receive the report, the Shamblins said, but Elizabeth had “expressed a strong desire to be adopted” by the large Shamblin family. Cindy, her biological sister said she preferred to be adopted by a family with no other siblings.
The couple, who both work as administrators at Mountain Area Christian Academy (MACA), then decided to pursue adopting Elizabeth. “It’s been a long process. It took eight months for Colombia to make their decision,” said Steve. “We’ve already been through the process once, I think we’ve been finger printed four or five times.
“All paperwork is done, we just owe them. We have to send money for various things, like this dossier which is a collection of all the paperwork,” he added.
Nikki said, “After they approve it, we’ve got to get our visas and make arrangements to go to Colombia. So, when she comes back to America, she’ll be a Shamblin. Right now it’s just a matter of waiting.”
They are hoping March is the magic month where it all comes together. The total adoption costs are anticipated to be $15,000. They’ve already paid $5,000 and they’ve raised another $2,000 with a pancake breakfast and other fundraisers. $8,000 more is needed to complete the adoption.
The Shamblins know God will provide what they don’t have. Steve said when they adopted Lydia, he and Nikki were the only ones to know they were $2,000 short the day the remaining money was due to the Chinese foster home. He said that after an article appeared in The News Observer, someone walked in the school with a $1,000 check and right before 2 p.m. when the deposit was due, someone else walked in and wrote them a check for the last $1,000.
The couple will have to stay in Colombia two to three weeks to complete the process and sign the adoption papers. “We’re anxious to get her,” Nikki said.
The couple encourages other couples and families to explore adoption. “Don’t be afraid of adoption,” Steve said. “We hear people say all the time they can’t afford it. When we started with Lydia we had $200. We cooked pancakes, we parked cars, we had a meal with our church, people donated – and Lydia’s adoption was $30,000.”
He went on to say once a family gets the home study done, “you’re in” and that community churches have opportunities to help.
Nikki added she felt adoptions were biblical because God has adopted us into His kingdom. She said, “If you yourself can’t adopt, help someone who can.”
Anyone interested in helping the Shamblins adopt Elizabeth is asked to please call Mountain Area Christian Academy at 706-374-6222 or email nshamblin@macalions.org.