Pre-approval is here

It's a cool and crisp Sunday morning.  The sun is rising giving way to some beautiful colors across the clouds and sky.  It's a good time to sit and eat oatmeal and reflect on all the blessings of this week while preparing for church.

We received a phone call on Tuesday morning from our adoption agency.  China approved our request to adopt Jordy.  I'll be honest, there was a part of me that was like, "Oh, no! This is for real."  Once I was over the initial shock, my heart started to celebrate.  Thank you God; we are going to bring this little guy home!!  Wa-hoo!

We decided to collectively tell our families on Thursday about our new and different journey.  While I was worried about the response, our family has been very supportive and we are thankful for that.  We decided to tell our own children that day and they are over-the-top excited!  They have been praying for Jordy to find a family and were a bit surprised when we said he was going to be part of ours.  Our son instantly began making plans in his room for his new brother.  He would have packed his bags if I would have let him.  But I informed him that we are a looooong way from the part where mom and dad fly to China.  No need to pack yet little buddy!  He's all too ready for us to go. :(

Friday, my husband called to inform me that we had been nominated for a matching grant.  We didn't even know that we were eligible to apply yet but our agency did that for us and we received an email about it.  Very cool and uplifting.  Now we need to come up with a creative way to raise $1,500 dollars which they will then match.

It's been a wonderful week of family, pumpkin carving, and good news!

Big Leap of Faith

One week isn't a long time to make any important decision and especially when it involves an actual human being halfway around the world.  However, that's how much time God gave us.  We had one week . . . well not really even that . . . to decide whether we wanted to notify China of our interest in this little boy.  We had to have initial paperwork turned in by Friday last week in order to prevent "Jordy's" file from being sent back to China.  Knowing how our God works, we took a very big leap of faith and filled out pre-approval paperwork requesting that China allow us to proceed with the adoption of this boy.  Our thought is that if God has placed him on our hearts, the least we can do is try.  If it isn't meant to be, we have faith that God will intervene in some way.  So, last week, we were figuring out our financial self worth, filling out blanks on paperwork, visiting our physicians for physicals, and visiting the lab to be absolutely certain we don't have Hepatitis, AIDS, or any other random illness that would be unacceptable to China.  Pre-approval paperwork done!  And now?  We wait.  We should know in ten business days what China's response is to our request.

In the meantime, I'm doing my best to be proactive about the next steps.  I've been in search of a Hague accredited home study agency in Indiana.  Turns out this is a very rare accreditation in Indiana.  I am getting discouraged because I called the agency a friend used and their accreditation had lapsed.  I called another agency in Indy and they no longer do China adoptions because of the strict requirements.  I called agencies in Fort Wayne and Leo with no luck.  I started calling Michigan but couldn't find an agency willing to do just the home study without the whole adoption process.  Finally, with much reluctance, I called Evansville, Indiana.  My reluctance comes from the thought of having to drive almost 6 hours one way multiple times both for the home study portion and for the post adoption reports.  But, I ran out of options.  Turns out, God had a hand in it.  I called Evansville and find out that they are Hague accredited and . . . this is the best part . . . they have someone in Fort Wayne able to do our home study.  Whoo hoo!  Thank you God for providing a solution that was better than I could have hoped for.  If we use them all the way through to the post adoption, they are actually cheaper than all the other options that weren't even options.  :)

I feel incredibly accomplished.  We have the PA paperwork turned in, we found an agency to do our home study, and we have an adoption agency to see us through that has been so very helpful so far.  

God is good!

No Need to Panic

By the time you read this post, you will have already been made aware that we have decided to pursue adoption of a very "special" boy in China.  (No need to panic!)  Did I really just say that?  Yep.  (And now, I need to take a big deep breath.)

Excited?  Definitely!

Scared?  More than you even know!

Let me back up . . . before Dustin and I became the proud parents of one very healthy bouncy baby boy named Gerik, we began the process of looking into international adoption.  We attend a meeting and loved the idea.  However, the cost was intimidating to say the least and the country we desired most, China, had such strict guidelines that we couldn't qualify.  We decided to pursue foster parenting instead and became licensed and while waiting for our first placement to arrive we decided to have one of our own.  And enters Gerik!  Best day of my life but I'll save that for another post.

Let me back up again.  In the earliest years of our marriage before children, we had the rare blessing to meet two incredible missionaries while attending Winona Grace Brethren Church.  These two made a big impact on our lives.  Coming from Canada to finish seminary, they brought their two boys to live for a year.  While here, they found out that they were expecting number three, not planned.  Ultrasounds revealed possible problems, and when their baby girl was born, there was a "problem."  However, let me tell you that watching this mom and dad with their baby girl was absolutely amazing.  She was born with a cleft palate and was going to need surgery but I will never forget how stunningly beautiful she was and how incredibly calm her mother and father were in spite of the hurdles they were going to have to face.  Their unwavering faith in Jesus Christ carried them through and left a HUGE footprint on my heart.  How amazing it was to watch this girl with a "special" problem be so incredibly loved and adored.  It was then that the idea of adopting a child with a special need planted itself in my heart.

Now, we can fast forward to now.  We are the proud parents of four, two biological and two adopted from foster care.  Our last biological child was born September 7, 2010 and we couldn't have been happier.  Now, our family is complete!  Or is it?  God has a funny way of stirring my heart.  I knew he was talking to me about children but I wasn't sure exactly what he wanted.  Foster parenting again?  Domestic adoption?  Foreign adoption?

I hope this link works to because he is adorable!

http://youtu.be/5dAccZfGtwU

**WHACK**  This is where GOD slaps me in the face with an adorable picture and video of a "special" boy from China in need of a forever family.  And there you have it!  After review of his file, my husband says, "I am starting to think we can do this.  We already have four.  What's one more?"  I couldn't agree with him more.

Blogging . . . almost sounds painful!

I have read many blogs.  I've heard of blogs but I've not yet ventured into the blogging realm.  So, here it is.  My first attempt.  This is a test and only a test.  In the case of a real true blog, I would ask you to read on.  However, this is just my first test.