Gour Family Adventures: One Step Closer

Monday, November 2, 2009

One Step Closer

Un-Extreme Home Makeover

Phase II Part 5

A quick project....that turned into an all-day one, of course!

*sigh*

Our Adoption Timeline

4/10/06 received an information packet from Children's Hope International Adoption Agency
4/28/06 sent in pre-application to CHI
4/30/06 attended a local CHI info. meeting
5/5/06 sent in full application with fees to CHI
5/10/06 recieved approval from CHI
5/10/06 BEGAN "PAPERCHASE"!
5/10-30 searched for a homestudy agency
5/30/06 decided on Child of the Heart for our HS
6/5/06 sent our autobiographies to social worker
6/6/06 went to CIS office to file I-600A
6/6/06 first meeting with social worker
6/9/06 ordered birth and marriage certificates from Vital Records
6/15/06 Chelsea had a medical and got medical letter
6/22/06 had second meeting with social worker
6/23/06 Paul had a medical and got medical letter
6/24/06 joined the CHI yahoo group
7/5/06 got medical letters for the children
7/5/06 wrote letter of intent to the CCAA
7/8/06 Chelsea applied for a passport
7/12/06 third meeting with social worker
7/12/06 got employment letter for Paul
7/13/06 contract with Child of the Heart for our post-placement reports
7/18/06 put together all financial documents
7/19/06 fourth meeting with social worker
7/24/06 had local police checks done
7/26/06 home study is complete
7/31/06 sent all GA, SC and IN documents to Secretaries of States for certifications
8/9/06 received letter of approval from SC DSS
8/14/06 received fingerprinting appointment
8/22/06 had our fingerprints done at CIS office
9/19/06 received our I-171-H from CIS
9/22/06 Paul drove our I-171-H to Secretary of State office for certification
9/22/06 sent all documents to Carol Fredericks (courier) in Washington DC- http://www.dependable-acs.com/
9/22/06 began internet adoption education class "With Eyes Wide Open"
9/23/06 all documents arrive at Carol's house in DC
9/25/06 Carol dropped documents at US State Dept for certification
9/28/06 Carol hand delivered documents to Chinese Embassy for authentication and sent them back to us in SC
9/29/06 received all documents for dossier
10/6/06 sent completed dossier to CHI TN office for check
10/10/06 completed online adoption education class
10/13/06 DTC (Dossier to China)
10/06 began looking on the "waiting children" list to see if our daughter was a special needs child waiting there.
11/17/06 LID (dossier is logged into computers at CCAA)
11/17/07 LID anniversary
12/18/06 the CCAA reported their document processing news "The CCAA has finished the review of the adoption application documents registered with our office before October 31, 2006." This means our documents are next to be reviewed!
1/30/08 saw a little girl on another agency's waiting list and "wished" she were on my agency's list.
1/31/08 SHE IS ON MY AGENCY'S LIST! I filed a request to see her file but another family already had it.
2/6/08 got a call from CHI asking if we still want to see her file
2/7/08 spoke with several medical professionals about her special need
2/7/08 11:49pm Paul calls to say that he is certain this child is meant to be ours! I agree.
2/8/08 called CHI to tell them we want to proceed with this child then spent the day getting documents and new LOI ready to be translated into Chinese
2/11/08 10:28pm Ann at CHI emailed to say she had just uploaded our Letter of Intent (LOI) to the CCAA. Their computers had been down!
2/12/08 received WC packet from CHI and "Placed" appeared by her picture on the list!
2/13/08 received PA!
2/25/08 received home study addendum for Claire
2/27/08 received updated information from SWI
3/3/08 found out Claire is in foster care.
3/3/08 received SCL (our official referral) received at Children's Hope office!
3/4/08 UPS delieved our SCL to us and we signed and returned it!
3/6/08 Our SCL is shipped back to China on Paul's birthday!
3/14/08 Re-fingerprinting and Vaccines.
3/17/08 Travel package arrives from CHI.
3/22/08 received our extension of I-171-H approval!
4/9/08 received TA (travel approval) from CCAA!
4/12/08 received confirmed American Consulate appointment
4/16/08 booked our flights!
4/23/08 received final travel package
5/7/08 Flight to Beijing!
5/8/08 Arrive in Beijing
5/9/08 Temple of Heaven and Hutong tour
5/10/08 Forbiden City and Great Wall of China tour
5/11/08 Drive to Tianjin City
5/12/08 Claire Day! (Also referred to as Gotcha Day)
5/13/08 Adoption Day!
5/20/08 Consulate Appointment
5/22/08 Fly Home!

It's All about love

If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind, It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love, never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

~I Corinthians 13

Why Adoption? Why China? Why Special Needs?

These are questions we are often asked. We have four beautiful, healthy children and we should be happy, right? Well, we are! We feel that we have been extremely blessed, and that is exactly why we are on this journey!

We have always known (okay, I have always known, but it didn't take Paul long to realize it too!) that we would have a large family. We have been discussing adoption since the beginning of our marriage and through the years we have researched all the options numerous times. We felt certain that at some point we would adopt and in 2006 the Lord made it clear to both of us that it was time.

We had done so much research on the topic that we pretty much knew that we would go the international route. Yes, there are children in this country that need homes too. But, there is not a shortage of parents waiting in the line for healthy American infants and we knew we were meant to provide a home for a child that might not otherwise have one. When we looked into the Social Welfare system we found that most of the children only needed a temporary home. We also knew of foster families that were not allowed to adopt the children they fostered and had become attached to. So, for these reasons and more, we felt that our child was out there somewhere in a country other than ours. Now, to find her. Yes, her. That was also something we felt pretty certain of, our next child would be a girl.

After much prayer, I got online again and this time I came across an agency I had not seen before and could not take my eyes off now. No matter how many agencies I looked at I kept coming back to Children's Hope International. I just knew that they were going to help us find our daughter! They had five programs at the time: Columbia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Vietnam and China. I had had an inkling for a while that China was our country but I was trying to stay open minded and wait for God's confirmation. Suffice it to say we were given plenty of confirmation over a short period of time and it made us certain that our daughter was waiting for us in China. Thousands of children are abandoned in China each year with the majority of them being girls. China has a "one child policy" making it illegal to have more children. Boys are preferred over girls due to the fact that it is culturally believed that a son will provide for his parents in their old age. Girls are abandoned in an effort to try to have a son and many of the children are abandoned due to medical need or economic reasons. They are usually institutionalized until they are adopted and have little hope for a "normal" childhood without families to come forward and bring them home. So, our journey began!

During our home study we discussed possible special needs that we might be open to. We leaned towards considering the mild and correctable special needs. Our thinking was that if these children needed a family then we could certainly provide for a child with mild needs without disrupting our other children. Our agency gets a list of special needs children every few months and so for the past year and a half we have looked at the list and put our names in for young girls with mild needs. But we have found that we were one of many families that would jump at the chance to parent a mildly affected child. When the list began to include some harder to place children, I began to find myself considering them. If no one looks at their files then they will not get a chance at a life with a family, right? I began to think, "is it too much to ask to have us step out of our comfort zone and think about parenting one of these children?" What if I had given birth to a child with a major disability? We know we wouldn't turn our backs on that child so why were we limiting ourselves just because we had a choice?

Once we removed the limitations we had set on God's blessings we found our long wait over, for God has blessed us again!

"And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name, welcomes me" Matthew 18:5

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Had to do this one too! Allow my children to dazzle you with their Christmas Caroling skillz!

Monday, November 2, 2009

One Step Closer

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Why Adoption? Why China? Why Special Needs?

"And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name, welcomes me" Matthew 18:5