Journeying to China Again!

 

Most of you know that we have begun the adoption process once again...this time praying for that perfect little boy.  Our journey had started last spring with the preliminary application to our agency that helped us get Hannah, and we thought we were good to go, when suddenly the head office decided that because of Roger's past heart attack and his diabetes, they didn't think that China would accept us.  We were so confused and so broken.  We wondered "why" many times and just didn't understand what God was trying to tell us.  We had always planned to return to China for a boy all along and thought God had finally brought us to this point. A few weeks passed, and we felt maybe God was pushing us towards domestic adoption, but my biggest fear was that if we adopted domestically and this child looked more like us, how would that affect Hannah. Would she always be the "different looking" one, although they would both be adopted?  We had read many books and watched many documentaries about how Chinese girls feel as they grow up in America, not really feeling they belong here or there. I was so fearful to tears that she would always feel like the one who didn't belong, because she looked different. Yes, later I realized that God would take care of all that, but at the time, it really scared me. It still brings me to tears just thinking about it.  You never want your children to feel that way.  After I expressed my thoughts to Roger, we actually had stopped talking about adoption or even thinking about it until we got a note in the mail from someone who said they were praying for us and our adoption.  Also with that note was some money. We still don't know who sent it, but we will be forever thankful to them, because we felt it was a nudge from God saying, "Don't quit, I have a plan for you!"  In May, my sister-in-law's sister suggested that we contact an agency in Colorado who works with China. She had talked to them herself about our situation and they told her that our health issues wouldn't be a problem.  So we filled out the preliminary application and we were quickly accepted! So began the long process of ALL the paperwork that is involved in adoption...home visits,  doctor letters, employment letters, police checks, birth and marriage certificates, financial statements, fingerprints, Immigration approval, and your petition to the Chinese people asking them to allow you to adopt.  Oh and let's not forget the 12 hours of classes that we each had to take! Towards the end of the paper chase, we were reassured that this was God's plan as we had a little scare before Christmas, knowing that some of our paperwork would be expired if we didn't get it to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago before Dec. 18th. God worked it out quickly... we both took a day off of work, drove to Indy to get the rest of our papers state sealed, then express mailed them to Chicago. Our kind courier, Denise Hope, helped us along the way and walked them into the consulate on Dec. 15th.  They were passed through with no problems and returned to us on the 23rd...Merry Christmas to us! We were so thrilled to have that step completed.  Then we made multiple copies of our dossier and sent everything to Colorado to our agency where it would be checked over many times and translated . We got word on January 8th that our review was complete and there were no mistakes!!!!! Such a relief knowing you don't have to redo any of the papers again! On the 9th, our dossier was sent to China. We couldn't believe that we had finally made it to this point where the Chinese people would actually look at us and decide whether we were fit to adopt once again. In the back of our minds there was still that doubt that we would not be accepted, but God quickly pushed Satan out as we received an email on January 16th that our dossier had been logged in on January 13th, the same day it was walked into the China Center.  That never happens...it is supposed to take at least  2 weeks to get logged in...we were shocked!! Why, I do not know, because again we should NOT have been surprised by God's amazing work...He had this in His plan all along!  As you can imagine, the tears flowed and the excitement went to an all-time high, so high that I couldn't keep it in and interrupted every class at Lincoln by announcing it on the intercom!!  We are so excited and so thankful that God is allowing us to take this awesome journey of adoption once again!! We are so grateful for the many prayers and the encouraging words that we have received already!!  We are so excited to take all of you on this journey once again.  Please continue to pray...we are now waiting for our agency to send us profiles of boys that match our checklist of special needs. We hope to hear from them soon.  Pray that when we do receive a profile, that we will clearly hear God's voice telling us "this is the one"! We love all of you and couldn't imagine going through this process without you!!

 

Me getting our papers state sealed, while Roger and Hannah are
driving around Indy...we couldn't find a parking spot!
No problem...I jumped out and they kept driving!

All ready to be sent to Chicago.