So how did we decide to adopt?

Since the main reasons for this blog are to keep you guys up to date on our adoption and to have something for our little guy to read when he gets older about how he joined our family, here's some background....


Matt grew up in a big family and I grew up as an only child.  Once when I was a teen, my dad mentioned in passing that he wished he and my mom had adopted a sister for me from China.  This idea really kind of settled in my heart, because I really would have liked a sister.  Before we got married Matt and I discussed adoption and having children.  I started bargaining at 6 kids, and I was pretty sure that since my spine is very curved, giving birth 6 times might not work out for me.  Matt, being from a large family, started lower, but I have since helped him see that, while 6 is a bit big, 4 is a good size family (He wrote that!  I'm still aiming for 6).  Matt still has a friend from his younger days who is from Taiwan, and he and his family helped Matt learn about and love Asian cultures.


In the almost 14 years that we've been married, God has changed us both so much.  There is nothing like the love of a parent for a child.  I could not understand fully what God did for me when he sent Jesus to the cross to pay for my sins until I became a parent and felt the love of a parent for a child.  When I see poverty and injustice causing there to be 143 million orphans in the world, my heart breaks.  I know that it doesn't even approach the brokenness of God's heart because of this sin.  I thank God for organizations like Compassion International, the Watoto Children's Choir and many others for stepping out in faith to bring about change.  Not everyone is called to adopt, but everyone is affected by adoption.


So, now we have three kids and Matt is off of active duty with the Navy (still finishing with the Navy Reserves), and our days of moving around seem to be over.  As soon as Matt's civilian job situation settled, we eagerly started the adoption process.  Several friends and acquaintances used America World Adoption Agency for their adoptions and, as they are located near enough to us that we can drive to their office, we also chose to work with them.  We chose China's special needs program.  Immediately, we had some minor issue that required a pre-approval from China.  A month after the very first bit of paperwork was filed, we got a call with a referral.  Apparently, part of the pre-approval that we needed required us to be pre-approved with a specific child.  Shock.  Joy!!!  Most families finish three rounds of paperwork over about a year before they get any type of referral.  More on this will come after we are approved for the adoption.  From that point, we BEGAN the home study and dossier paperwork and have just recently finished both.  Now comes the wait for the paperwork translations and CCAA review and approval.


Romans 8:15   For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba!  Father!"


John 14:18   I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.


James 1:27   Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

How we became the zoo that we are....

Hi!  Welcome to my very first blog post!


Matt and I have entered the world of blogging so that our friends and family can keep up with our adoption process.  Our fourth child is currently waiting for us in China.  The waiting has been hard for me, but more on that later.  This first post should tell you how we became the zoo that we are....


Matt and I met when we were freshmen in college.  We got married four days after graduation, and he started his first career in the Navy.  About two years later, we had a beautiful baby girl.  Her dear little nose wrinkled just like a little bunny.  We went out to a Chinese restaurant and noticed that she was born in the Year of the Rabbit, so we started calling her "the bunny".


Three years later, we had another girl, just as beautiful as the first, but very different.  This child would not allow a nickname.  Her full name had to be spoken, just the right way and emphasizing every syllable.  Then, one day at the Baltimore Zoo, she discovered penguins.  She is loyal!  Once she picked a favorite animal, she was all about penguins- shirts, a toy, sheets, books.  A year or so later, Sandra Boynton wrote a clever little board book called "Your Personal Penguin" and Davy Jones recorded it as a song.  So she became MY personal penguin.  From Now On.


Sadly, in the book, the personal penguin belongs to a hippo.  I wasn't comfortable with this image....  This child asked me if there was another animal I liked better than a hippo.  I said that I should be something smaller.  Cute.  Maybe black and white to match the penguin.  She said, "like a skunk?"   Somehow, I became the skunk. (!)  After another trip to a Chinese restaurant, Matt because "the rat" because of his birth year.  No one actually calls him that very often though....  there are SOME limits here...


Three years after the penguin, we had a little boy.  He was cute and wiggly and full of energy!  He, too, was a fan of Sandra Boynton, and I always woke him up in the morning with the song "Snuggle Puppy", so he became the puppy.


And now our dear littlest one is waiting for us, and we are waiting for him.  Since everyone else in the family had their animal, and the penguin has pointed out that they can all be black and white animals, they have deemed him the panda.


Some days it really does feel like a zoo here, and some days pass calmly and happily.  As the prospect of a little brother sinks in for each of us, I can already see changes.  The girls are SO excited.  They can't wait to play with him and hold him.  The puppy seems a little nervous about his position- he's been a little snugglier, a little sassier, a little more disobedient, and a little more independent.  He is clearly nervous about us going to China without him.


Matt has been reminding me over and over that God is in control of the whole adoption process.  A friend who has adopted has reminded me not to worry "because God has ALWAYS known the day you would bring  your child home".  My head knows that they are right, and that these things are true.  My heart isn't quite there yet.  I can tell that God is growing more peace and weeding out my worry.  Here's what I've been chewing on lately:


Ephesians 1:4-5, 11  For he chose us in him, to be holy and blameless in his sight.  In love, he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.   In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.


Mark 9:24  Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”