About 16 years ago, I met this precious girl...
My parent’s neighbors traveled to China and brought her back to be part of their family. I fell in love with her. She was, and still is, vibrant, fun, full of joy, special, beautiful and loved by God and her friends and family. She babysat for my boys last week and they adore her too. I wish she lived next door!
Then, during the summer of 2005, I traveled to Beijing and had the privilege of teaching conversational English and American culture to a group of 15-16 year olds. I loved them and they taught me much about the people and culture of China. It was a life-changing experience. When I left, I was excited to start my teaching job in America, but I was sad to leave my awesome students. My first year of teaching was hard as all first years are, and I missed the teaching I had done the previous summer. I started looking into options to go back overseas and teach, but God brought this guy into my life in February of 2006.
We went on our first date on April 1, and I soon stopped my search of jobs out of the country. On our first date, we sat at dinner for 3 hours and talked about most everything under the sun. I even told him I wanted to possibly adopt a baby from China someday. He listened intently and I am thankful that was my last first date! We got married 15 months later and God has blessed us with 3 amazing boys. We chose Ephesians 3:20-21 as the prayer for our wedding and marriage and our marriage and 3 boys are truly more than I could ever ask or imagine. It amazes me every day that God knows what our family (and all of His people) need even when we can’t imagine how perfect His plans are for us.
Scott and I both come from families with four children and both loved the family dynamics we experienced growing up. After 3 c-sections and big baby boys (William was a whopping10 pounds of preciousness.), I felt like I was done having babies. But, we still both thought we would love to add one more child to our family. One day, Scott and I began talking about China adoption again. He had never been as on board with adopting as I was, so I never wanted to push him into it. We prayed about it often and discussed it some, but I feel you both need to be fully committed to adoption as it is a very different and emotional journey. God had begun working in Scott's heart in the area of adoption. We started praying regularly about adopting and took a few small steps to start the process. After much prayer, paperwork and God being faithful in each small step, we submitted our dossier to China in June of 2017. We also moved that summer, so it was insanity all around. We were excited and nervous and were told by our adoption agency to get ready for a long wait.
Our first immigration clearance letter.
Dossier mailed to our agency!
Our last document was finally authenticated!
Fast forward to December 2017, as I was driving to my sister’s graduation at Texas A&M University (WHOOP!), I called our agency to see how things were looking since China had made some big changes to their adoption process in September. They told me to be prepared for an even longer wait and we talked about what that meant for our paperwork and immigration status. Scott and I have both learned that God truly is in the waiting, so we accepted this news and continued making plans for our family of five. We have prayed during this entire adoption process that God would show us if he wanted us to continue on this journey and if so, that he would bring us the perfect match for our family. Deep down, I started having doubts. Carson was getting older, the process seemed more complicated now and I just didn’t want to push anything along unless God was smack dab in the middle of those plans. We had a fun and busy spring and started making plans for the summer and fall. Scott’s work is in a busy stage currently and I began looking forward to a hopefully relaxing summer. Then, I got a call.
It was May 15 about 3:15 pm, Scott was out of town and I was sitting in a doctor’s office waiting room with William and Carson. My phone rang from an unknown number in Colorado, but I answered because our agency is based in Colorado. Sure enough, it was the sweetest employee from our agency with news about a little girl who needed a family and a cleft palette repair. I took notes and couldn’t believe it! We had set our expectations to wait for at least 6 more months to a year. I called Scott and waited for the information.
The next week was a blur of prayer, doctors visits, paperwork and God providing in many details. The first of which was that Carson played happily and quietly for a full 15 minutes in the waiting room while I spoke with our agency. This never happens! Also, the first cleft team I met with has operated on several adopted babies and gave me the information I needed and helped calm my anxious heart.
That weekend, we wrote a letter to China expressing our intent to adopt this child. We only had to wait one week and one day for the first acceptance and then more paperwork ensued! Carson and I are getting good at doing immigration paperwork and making copies and mailing it to different places. He has been a huge part of this process and he doesn’t even know what’s about to happen. Please pray for his heart in the coming months.
But you know who are more excited than I expected?!? These 2 brothers and BFF’s. They pray for her, ask about her and desperately want to travel with us.
We are thrilled and nervous all at the same time. I am thankful to God for his faithfulness and covet your prayers. We can’t wait to add another child through adoption!
We went out one rainy morning for pink donuts to celebrate our Letter of Acceptance from China. :)
