It has been a while since I blogged last. A lot has been going on in our lives over the last few weeks. More about that in a bit.
Our process of adopting from China has been a long road. God put it in our hearts in 2006 to adopt from China. We finally got up the nerve to begin the paperwork process in 2007. Our dossier (the mounds of paperwork that we have to send to China that has every bit of information about us) was “logged-in” on March 30, 2008. After that, we have been waiting. For a girl. One girl.
In February this year, we had to update our Home Study (a written report about our family compiled and prepared by a social worker). The line for a healthy baby girl from China is soooo long. God put the burden on our hearts that there are children in China now who need a forever family. With that in mind, we asked our social worker if she would amend our Home Study to say we would adopt a boy or girl up to 4 years old and would consider a Special Needs/Waiting Child. We also said we would be willing to adopt 2 children.We filled out a medical checklist with our adoption agency and waited.
China opened a new program on September 1, 2010. The new program is called the Special Focus program. The Special Focus children are children whose profiles have not been taken by an adoption agency in 2 months or more. They are on a shared list between agencies. These children usually have more Special Needs, may be older, and are mostly boys. Special Focus children may be adopted by a family who has already adopted from China within the last year without the family having to start over with the dossier process. Also, families who are already matched to a child may adopt a child from the Special Focus list and pick them both up with one trip to China.
Back to our process. After our Home Study was updated, my husband was scrolling through the profiles of waiting children online. A sweet little face popped out at him. After much prayer, we decided to pursue the adoption of a little boy that we will call E. A boy. A BOY! Not girl. Really?!?
So then, a few weeks later, our adoption agency called and asked if we would consider adopting a child off the Special Focus list that we will call Z. Prayer, prayer, and more prayer. Research, research, and more research on his Special Needs. Our immigration status had not been officially changed. (Many thanks to the friends, federal workers, and politicians that helped push our immigration status and fingerprints through.) Our immigration status change finally came in, and yes, we are approved to adopt 2 children up to 4 years old of either sex.
We are currently pursuing the adoption of Z as well as E. They are 3 months apart. Twins, if you will. They live in cities right beside each other. We can send them care packages and pictures. Hopefully, we leave in a couple of months to get our boys. If you want excitement in your life, come to our house!
Whew, when God moves, He moves!
Isaiah 61:7 (NASB) Instead of your shame you will have a double portion, and instead of humiliation they will shout for joy over their portion. Therefore they will possess a double portion in their land, everlasting joy will be theirs.
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