Steven and Carrie Rhodes

are adopting a child from Bulgaria

Zdraveĭte i blagodarya… which means “Hello and thank you” in Bulgarian! Thank you for taking time out of your life to hear how God is working in our family’s lives and how we hope to honor Him as we are blessed to be a small part of His story.

We are Carrie and Steven Rhodes, Delana (Carrie’s mother), and Vincent our German Shepherd dog, and our family is in the process of adopting internationally. The theme of adoption has resonated with us throughout our lives. As we have matured in our faith, we have been profoundly impacted by the great love our Heavenly Father has for us as God adopts His children through Jesus Christ into His family! God has a heart for adoption, and the Bible is filled with supporting scripture. One of our favorite passages Galatians 4:4-7 says “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’ So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.” Wow, what intimate love God has for us to provide for us, create a home for us, and give us an identity that is so personal in relationship with Him that we can call Him “daddy.” The Holy Spirit has overwhelmed us with that love to the point we want to share that love with the lost, lonely, and the orphaned. He lit that fire ablaze in the summer of 2022, and after much prayer, discussion, research, and more prayer we officially began our journey trying to adopt from Bulgaria in December 2022.

Thus far, our pathway through international adoption has been a roller coaster ride of emotions and anything but easy. After months of completing paperwork for 2 countries’ governments, home study obligations, educational requirements, and all the waiting that occurs every step of the way, our dossier is in the final stages of being registered in Bulgaria and then we wait to be considered for a match. The wait for Bulgaria could be a few months to a few years. We also are open to and prayerfully considering “waiting children,” that Bulgaria hasn’t been able to match to a family. We don’t know when we are going to get matched or who we are going to get matched with, but that’s okay because God knows, and we have faith He is orchestrating everything for the best in His timing. Still, we have to be ready as that call could come any day.

The biggest way that we would love for you to come alongside side of us through this journey is through prayer. Specifically, please pray that God’s will be done and that He get the glory every step of the way. Also, please pray that the Holy Spirit will provide our family with the strength and patience to endure waiting to get matched as well as the courage to step out in faith in the unknowns that lie ahead. Most of all, please pray for our child/children that is waiting to get matched with us and their biological families-that God’s love and hedge of protection will surround them and they will ultimately come to accept the salvation and new life that Jesus Christ provides.

There is absolutely no pressure, but for those of you who feel called to help financially that is possible too. To adopt 1 child from Bulgaria is about $40,000 and each sibling is an additional estimated $18, 325. We are interested in a sibling set, so it is quite possible we could be adopting multiple children. These costs do not include travel expenses, and there are 2 trips to Bulgaria that are required for the adoption process. These are big expenses for us but not for our God! Through savings He has blessed us with, grants, and loved ones who generously feel called to bless us in this way, we know He will provide.

The old saying goes “it takes a village to raise a child,” which is so true. These are God’s children that He entrusts to us, and we do need the prayers, love, and support of our brothers and sisters in Christ as we strive to share the love of Jesus Christ with them and provide them a loving family. We can’t do it alone, so thank you for being a part of our story and on a grander scale a part of the amazing work God is doing. James 1:27 says “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” To be clear, we are only saved through Jesus Christ and His perfect sacrifice, not by works; however, those who claim the beautiful title “child of God” are called to do good works out of love and obedience they have for the Father. Thank you for taking time to read our story, pray for us, and partner alongside us. Obichame te i Bog da te blagoslovi…“We love you and God bless” in Bulgarian!

Adoption Status

Waiting To Be Matched

Adoption Agency

All God's Children International

Updates

  • Update 3

    Matched to our Child!

    June 30, 2025

    Hello loved ones, and we hope you are having a blessed summer. Thanks to Jesus, we are joyful and eager to share with you that God has blessed us with a precious little boy to adopt from Bulgaria! On June 16th, we received the phone call that we have been waiting years to hear that the Ministry of Justice in Bulgaria has traditionally matched us with a child to adopt. We're sorry we didn't inform some of you sooner as well as post this update sooner, but we have had a lot of paperwork and requirements we have been doing and are continuing to do to keep the adoption process moving along, Steven had been traveling for work during some of that time, we didn't have an opportunity to tell some family until this past weekend, and we wanted time to just prayerfully enjoy this ourselves and bask in this miraculous news. Until we bring our child home, we are under strict rules from the Bulgarian government not to share pictures or specific information about our child, but we can share he is about 1.5 years old and absolutely precious!

    This has always been and will be God's story that we are humbly blessed to be a part of. As we stated in our first post, our motivation to adopt comes form Jesus lovingly adopting us into God's family and out of appreciation of that gift wanting to share it with a child in need. As many of you know, this journey has been filled with much pain, indescribable waiting, and stress. Though we prayerfully felt this was one of God's specific calls for our lives, we did have seasons of questioning whether the call was to learn how to trust God more in suffering and solidify Jesus' sufficiency even if it's not in God's plan for us to have a child. This past March we came close to letting our required documents expire and not continue to put ourselves through this grueling process, but the the Holy Spirit convicted us with a sermon we heard the next day at our church that specifically talked about the degree of suffering Jesus endured for us and how we should take joy when we are able to suffer for him. Thus, we came home and pretty quickly got on our knees with tearful sobs and thanked Jesus together for the suffering He endured on our behalf and asked the Holy Spirit to help us honor Him well in our suffering. We re-commited then and there to give God our best and leave the results to Him, and so God enabled us to press onward with renewing all of our paperwork and waiting, which is what many of the last few months have been filled with. Oh are we so grateful we did, because on June 16th we feel as if God took all of our tears, sleepless nights, times of confusion, and pain and say "Enough...it is time for joy to come in the mourning," and oh what joy! Now this doesn't mean that there isn't hardships or that we are even close to understanding all God is doing in the way and time he is choosing, because we can't and aren't supposed to, but we do know God has beautiful purposes through this time in our lives even more than we can comprehend. He has strengthened our faith, our marriage, our character, our ability to enter into suffering with other people, and our appreciation for who He is through this journey, and we know He will continue to conform us more into His image as we take on the role of "mom" and "dad-"wow that feels great to say! It blows our mind that our son wasn't even born when we began this adoption journey, and our initial dossier documents didn't fully encompass his parameters until we updated them a year later-these are just a few examples of how God has thus far enabled us to see His handprint all over this story!

    The next steps for us will be taking our first visit to Bulgaria to meet our son and continue our adoption process in the Bulgarian court system. We don't have exact dates yet, but this trip will be about 1 week and most likely happen in mid-later July or early August. Then, we have more tasks to complete along with the processing system in Bulgaria, and usually within 3-5 months from the first trip we take our second trip, which is also 1 week, to complete the adoption paperwork that needs to take place in Bulgaria, get our son for good, and bring him home! So, most likely he will be here with us by the end of this year or early next year.

    We can't fully express how thankful we are for the people who have been our prayer warriors, our support system, and our encouragers through this journey. Many of you have cried with us in our sorrow, listened through the lamenting, taken time out of your lives to offer words of encouragement, and even helped support us financially with the adoption. Thank you so much for the blessing you are to us and the ways you have sacrificed for our family. You have been in the trenches with us in the sorrow, and we are thrilled that you can know live with us in the joy and celebration of the awesomeness of God! Please continue to pray that the Holy Spirit will equip us to be the best Christian, loving family for this little boy. This little boy and our family are all God's children that He has divinely made into a new family and we want to keep honoring Him through the joys, challenges, and everything. To God alone be the glory and praise!

    Philippians 4:19 "And my God will supply all of your needs through His glorious riches in Christ Jesus."

  • Update 2

    Continued Approval and Registration

    August 9, 2024

    Good day loved ones, and we hope you are all doing well and having a blessed season of life with the Lord. Though many of you have been following alongside our adoption journey on a personal level, we wanted to take a few moments to give an update on a more global level. We also want to thank you again for praying for our family and taking the time to listen, support, and encourage us.

    Since posting our last update, our adoption journey has been wrought with much pain and frustration. Between our adoption agency unexpectantly changing policies that are life-altering and unforseen changes in Bulgaria's government amongst other things, we've often felt discouraged, beaten down, and forgotten about by most people. Still, we know that our triune God has not forgotten us and we trust in Romans 8:28 that He is working all things for our good as we love God and are called according to His purposes. Though we've had many days where we've asked God "do you want us to stay on this adoption journey" and have endured much sadness and emotional turmoil, we believe He is still present in this and calling us to continue on this path. Through prayer and doing all the continued work asked of us (annually renewing government paperwork, 52 hours of adoption-related education, etc.), we are giving God our best and trying to honor Him as we wait on His timing and giving Him room to move. Our resolve has been strengthened that no matter what, Jesus is sufficient.

    At this point, we have recently submitted all the annual paperwork that both our government and Bulgaria's government needs to stay registered and active. We have expanded our parameters even more than prior and are open to children of many ages, many medical conditions, and a sibling set. As we wait for a traditional match we still prayerfully consider waiting children as well.

    Again, we appreciate your continued expression of love, support, and encouragement and most of all your prayers. The call to adopt is an extremely challenging journey for families, and those called to it need God's people rallying around them and bathing them in prayer. Through Jesus, we still have joy, hope, and blessings that the Holy Spirit reminds of us daily. Thank you for being a part of our lives and support system as well!

  • Update 1

    Bulgarian Approval and Registration

    September 30, 2023

    Hello loved ones! We just wanted to share our good news that as of September 12, 2023 we are approved and registered in Bulgaria for international adoption! This means we are eligible for a traditional match, and we are also still prayerfully considering waiting children as well. We praise Jesus for this news as we are just one step closer to getting matched with our child/children. We trust in God's timing and are excited to see how God will continue to work!

$10,360 raised of $35,000 goal
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Donations 24

  • Pam & Mark Prather gave $100
    My God bless you both with a child soon
  • Shirley Calvert gave $100
  • Linda Lashbrook gave $40
  • Anonymous gave $50
  • Jay and Amy Shultz gave an undisclosed amount
  • Daven Lawalin gave $500
    God bless your journey!
  • Anonymous gave an undisclosed amount
    You are a blessing to these children 💕
  • Jeff & Michele Shultz gave an undisclosed amount
    Thank you for sharing your story, praying for you as you go on this journey of adoption.
  • Vicki Bridges gave an undisclosed amount
    Prayers and God's blessings to you on your journey
  • Matt & Caroline Thompson gave an undisclosed amount
    We are praying for you both on this long and difficult and rewarding journey. We know that the Lord has blessed your family and is using you to bless others along the way and even in the waiting! You are not alone!