The Journey Begins

The beginning of this journey began in 2012...
We had just celebrated our 6 year anniversary.  We had planned to go out for dinner as usual and didn't really have anything else planned for the evening.  We were delighted to find out that the Lord has given our family a little miracle.  We are expecting a BABY!  

The timing of all of that was quite interesting.  

We had started with the adoption agency in January of 2012 eager to answer a burden that the Lord had placed on our heart for growing our family and serving the Lord with our whole family via Adoption.  The meeting didn't go tremendously well and we were told that because of some specific circumstances it might be a bit tough to have our home study approved.  We left the meeting feeling disappointed, and confused.  

With the adoption processing needing to be delayed for at least a year, we were asking ourselves the question "are we doing everything we can do to "grow" our family."  After prayer and deliberation we decided just 2 weeks prior to the pregnancy announcement that we should see a reproductive endocrinologist.  

Well, we no longer needed that appointment, as the Lord saw fit to have answered our prayers for a baby long before ever stepping into that office!  

We were super excited, a little nervous, and very hopeful that we will actually get to meet our baby.  The Lord more than answered our prayers to have our little Isaac get a good long time to grow in my womb, and a repetitively easy pregnancy and miraculously quick and sneaky delivery.  

When Isaac turned one in October or 2013 the adoption thoughts began again. 

We knew we would adopt an older child (this was Jonathan's thought back when we started in January of 2012, but I wasn't ready from the losses, I felt I emotionally needed an infant) November brought lots of research into countries that would fit our "profile".  We Registered on the Rainbow kids website and Reece's rainbow... 2 very "dangerous" sites, as all the kiddos just melt your heart.

The Lord was really showing our family that every child deserves a loving family where they can be known and know others intimately. We are so fortunate to have been adopted into the family of God, and know the acceptance that comes with that adoption. We were thinking through what country profile might work best...

In December we were set on the Ukraine.  The needs of the orphans there were great, and we were more comfortable at the time with a child that looked similar to us.  We researched agencies, and picked one, and started the process of paperwork and finding a home study agency.  All seemed to be moving along with such ease, we even received amzing  news that a car accident I had been in was going to be "paying" for our home study fee from the settlement. All things were going well...

From the end of December till the middle of January our family was so sick it was tough to make progress on anything adoption related.  We were all frustrated that we weren't able to make any progress, and regularly prayed that the Lord would bring healing so we could pursue the adoption.

While we were praying and deliberating, the photos of little kiddos just kept coming into my email (I warned you those sites are dangerous), and I really started to fall for the adorable children from China, even though I knew we didn't meet the requirements...

It seemed the illness was purposeful, and the Lord used the time to make it clear that we weren't going to be going to the Ukraine after all. The Lord was going to use the "yes" we had for the orphans who looked like us in the Ukraine, and the "yes" we had for the orphans for little to no special needs, and transform it to a "yes" for all his orphaned children.

On January 27th (my birthday) we decided to contact Great Wall of China Adoption Agency to find out if China ever makes exemptions to their requirements. We were still uncertain if we would abandon our Ukraine process, and praying for a clear yes, if we were supposed to go to China.  We were told we could fill out an eligibility check and specific exemption form and they would review it and send it to China on our behalf to see if an exemption could be obtained.

We submitted our paperwork on Feb. 5th to China.

We finalized our paperwork on February 6th and were told it could be a little while.  We were praying for a clear yes, and on Monday Februray 10th we got our official exemption granted from China, allowing us to pursue an adoption there. We felt the Lord confirmed this was were he wanted us.

Februray 10th we got the profile of the little boy we heard all about on January 27th, David.

February 11th, I sent emails to 6 different "friends" from varying points in life asking them for help with his file review.  Every single one of them replied and one amazing lady offered to have it viewed by a pediatric internal specialist, and a neurological specialist, free of charge!  And another amazing friend's husband who is a PA extraordinaire offered to review David's file as well...  We were in love.. But the Journey gets much rockier from there...