Many of you know that way back in 2005, while we were still in Kenya, Marti and I felt God leading us to adoption. At that time, Marti had been pregnant 7 times with 3 kids and 4 miscarriages. Other events and experiences led us to that decision and so we began the arduous paperwork trail. Finally in March 2006 we had been officially accepted and logged in by the Central Chinese Adoption Agency. We had hoped to only wait about 9 months before we traveled to China to complete our adoption.
But that was not God's timing. In January 2007 we sensed God calling us back to the States. Later that month Marti discovered that she was pregnant. She delivered Amy in September 2007. Because of our move and new addition we were on a one year "wait period." That ended in September 2008. But it did not delay us because other families with our same log in date were still waiting.
In December of 2008, our adoption agency informed us that we had to make a decision one way or another. Surprisingly we found ourselves at a crossroads. In 2005 we were praying that God would add to our family another daughter. He did in 2007. But were we to press on with the adoption? Through lots of prayer and conversation, we renewed our commitment in January 2009. Since that time we have collected more paperwork, participated in another home-study, and received our re-approval.
The Lord willing, we anticipate to be matched in the next batch of referrals coming from China. That should take place by the end of the month. After that we will have to get our travel papers together, buy airline tickets, and go to China approximately 8 weeks after the referral. We will spend 2 weeks there meeting our daughter, completely necessary paperwork, and travel back.
We are amazed at God's providence in this whole, very long process. We feel certain that God is in this. We also feel very scared and humbled at times. Please pray for us and all the details yet to be worked out in the coming days and weeks.
Tim,
Let me add to your reading list Guests of the Ayatollah by Mark Bowden. It is a riveting account of the events surrounding the takeover of the U.S. embassy in Teheran. It is instructive regarding cultural awareness and sensitivity among a number of other important pieces.
Go Cubs!
Dave
Posted by: David Foster | July 12, 2009 at 10:05 AM
Congratulations on your referral, seriously. I wonder why God sees fit that you should add a fifth child to your family while others have been waiting nearly as long as you by a matter of months but still have years to go for their first?
Posted by: Waiting | July 24, 2009 at 04:16 PM