Our Miracle...

Okay...I feel like I can share some of the most important details about what's been happening with our adoption processes...

First the very sad news...

Chris and I have decided we absolutely have to put our Ethiopian adoption on hold - we are pretty sure we are going to stop the adoption all together but for right now, we are putting it on hold.

A very comman (and true) theme in our adoption circles is this: The child that is meant to be yours will come to you at the right time.
Adopting parents say this over and over because there is no rhyme or reason to when people get referrals, delays that happen in each process, children that are available that may be different than what you requested, etc... There are lots of reasons to believe the child that is meant for you comes to you. So, on that theme...PLEASE READ BELOW!!!
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The very exciting news...

We are in the process of finalizing the adoption of a little boy from China!!!! This has happened so quickly and this child seemed to drop in our laps out of no where! I will try to explain some of the coincidences and events over the last week/months so you can see for yourself how GOD HAS BROUGHT US THIS BOY!

After adopting Alyssa, my dream has always been to adopt from China again. Part of my heart will always be in China - I fell in love with China and my heart ached for the many children needing families there.

While Chris and I were in China, we had 2 families in our travel group who adopted 4 year old children. I remember sitting outside our hotel room, watching the children play, and I said to Chris, "if we ever adopt again, we need to pursue an 'older' child". We also agreed we would adopt through the Waiting Child Program (children with minor, correctible medical needs).

Adoption wasn't possible for us over the last 3 years because my husband was not ready. So, our family started a charity to support chinese orphans. I have advocated for adoption in general, and specifically for chinese adoptions, for 3 years - some people might even say I've been "relentless".

Fast foward to September 2007 (yes, just 4 months ago!). Chris and I were faced with a decision - do we choose to adopt from the Waiting Child Program through China or do we adopt from Ethiopia. We had done a lot of research with agencies and other families about Ethiopian adoptions and felt it was a definite possibility for us. We also longed to adopt from China again as our hearts were in China and we felt it would be wonderful for Alyssa and our newly adopted child to have a sibling from the same country, culture, situation, etc...

In September, we approached our Province about the Waiting Child Program and we were informed PEI was not allowing families to adopt through this program in the traditional way (agencies matching families and children). Instead, we would have to go through CCAA, which would take about 3 years! Chris and I were not prepared to wait 3 years for a referral. So, we decided to adopt from Ethiopia.

The PEI Adoption Coalition was formed and I was asked to be the spokesperson for this group. We worked HARD to get PEI to find another alternative for the Waiting Child Program. Finally, in December, the Adoption Coalition receieved confirmation that PEI would allow families to adopt from the Waiting Child Program and would allow agencies to help with the matching.

By this time, Chris and I are well into our Ethiopian adoption - BUT, for those of you reading my blog over the last few months, there were MANY delays. Delays with getting Provincial approval, delays with our file in Ottawa, delay with getting our file sent to Ethiopia. All along I had been posting that I thought we would have referral by Christmas. Well, our file only made it to Ethiopia on Dec 21st so there was no chance of a referral at that time!

Now, it's January 7th and I read on an adoption board that our agency (the one we used for Alyssa's adoption) has a file for a 4 1/2 year old boy and they can't find a family for him. IMMEDIATELY, my heart stopped. Chris and I had discussed with this agency (back in September) that we were interested in adopting a preschool boy with a minor medical need. Now, we hear there is 1 file left and it's exactly what we were looking for!!!

So, I also immediately think to myself "This is impossible because PEI does not allow us to do 2 adoptions at the same time AND we've already invested all our resources in our Ethiopian adoption!!"

But, the next day, a family who knows us personally called us on the phone to tell us there was a boy needing a family from China (they had also heard about this little boy through the adoption boards). Of all the people in the entire universe, why would someone call ME??

So, I called our Province and they said they thought it would be okay for us to pursue the adoption from China and we could put our Ethiopian adoption on hold. We called Kids LInk and they said we could definitely put our adoption on hold and as soon as we were ready, we could activate it again. WOW, this was exciting!! I thought, "God is opening up doors for us to do this adoption!".

But, $$ came into the picture. How could we POSSIBLY afford another adoption?????? We had used every last cent and bit of credit we had to finance our Ethiopian adoption. The money tree was dead!!! The other major issue was that of adopting 2 children so close together and having 5 children. This was more of an issue with my husband but it is something that we seriously needed to consider. What could we handle, what was best for the children in our home, what was best for our newly adopted children...

I found out from the China agency exactly how much it would cost to adopt this little boy - including country fees, airfaire, accomodations, document fees, translation fees, etc... and got the totatl amount. WOW! It was actually not as bad as we thought. But, still thousands of dollars!

I then called Kids Link and they told me how much they could refund us some of our money if we chose to stop our adoption. It was like God hitting me over the head saying "HAVE I GIVEN YOU ENOUGH SIGNS YET???"

Without one tiny shred of doubt, Chris and I knew we were supposed to adopt the little boy from China.

Another stange thing is how God prepared our hearts for a little boy - remember how much we loved our little foster boy and he had to leave on Christmas Eve - I was so devestated and sad. God prepared our family for a son and brother!

So, we don't have much information to share as we haven't received his official referral. We need to get our documents to our China agency and then they will give his referral to our Province.

Here is what we do know...

1. He's a boy!
2. He's almost 5 years old!
3. He has a reparied cleft lip and palate.
4. We should be able to travel to China in 6 months to bring him home forever!!!
5. Our children are ABSOLUTELY THRILLED with adopting a brother and are really excited that he is "older" and can play with them.

Praise God! I am in awe of how He works. He knew ALL ALONG that he had a specific child in mind and even though we made the wrong decisions at every turn - He still made it possible for the little boy to join our family!

If you haven't believed in God before this post, YOU MUST NOW!!!

I am so happy!
Tammy