It's funny how life unfolds some times. Really. Who would have thought we would be embarking on this journey at this time in our lives? We have been married for 13 years and have one beautifully, talented, and intelligent son. We have struggled and overcome so many obstacles in our life together and have been able to maintain our family at times through sheer strength of will (His will, not ours). And so, it stands to reason that when we prayed and God directed us to adopt a child, that we would end up in the process of adopting the total opposite of where we started. I often say God keeps me around for comic relief. He is always watching to see what plan, long or short term, that I am going to come up with and then makes sure to let me know that the plan is His and may have nothing to do with my grand design.
On February 16th, we met with a local agency to discuss the possibility of adopting. We had decided to adopt a child up to the age of three, preferably a boy, non-special needs. After meeting with the adoption agency, we decided to consider special needs but maintain our age limit. On February 17th, while doing a web search to try to find pictures of different special needs...I found my son. It's the same feeling as holding your newborn in your arms for the first time, but your heart aches because you know you have just begun a journey with no time-frame or defined time-line. When reading his information, I found that he was a waiting child due to his age only and he was six years old...none of that mattered. That was my son! After showing the picture to Scott and Samuel - our fate was sealed. We all agreed this was the missing member of our family.
On February 19th, I placed the call to the agency with our son's picture. I was cautioned by the operator that several people had called and he was most likely already in the process of being adopted. She then transferred me to Laura, who admitted several calls had been placed, but Simon was still available. My heart stopped! Were we interested? Are you kidding!?! Laura gave us Lisa's number who handled the China Waiting Child program. I called Lisa and received first-hand information about our son as Lisa had met him and spent two weeks at the orphanage conducting a camp. She was thrilled so speak to us about Simon as she advised just the day before she had been praying for a family for this child as his wait with the agency had been longer than expected. She advised our first step would be to place him "on hold" so that no one else could begin paperwork on him. She emailed me medical documentation and additional pictures which we forwarded on to our pediatrician. It took a while to have the documents reviewed, but by the end of February we had given an affirmative YES and had our interview with the agency. Now...on to the homestudy.
On February 16th, we met with a local agency to discuss the possibility of adopting. We had decided to adopt a child up to the age of three, preferably a boy, non-special needs. After meeting with the adoption agency, we decided to consider special needs but maintain our age limit. On February 17th, while doing a web search to try to find pictures of different special needs...I found my son. It's the same feeling as holding your newborn in your arms for the first time, but your heart aches because you know you have just begun a journey with no time-frame or defined time-line. When reading his information, I found that he was a waiting child due to his age only and he was six years old...none of that mattered. That was my son! After showing the picture to Scott and Samuel - our fate was sealed. We all agreed this was the missing member of our family.
On February 19th, I placed the call to the agency with our son's picture. I was cautioned by the operator that several people had called and he was most likely already in the process of being adopted. She then transferred me to Laura, who admitted several calls had been placed, but Simon was still available. My heart stopped! Were we interested? Are you kidding!?! Laura gave us Lisa's number who handled the China Waiting Child program. I called Lisa and received first-hand information about our son as Lisa had met him and spent two weeks at the orphanage conducting a camp. She was thrilled so speak to us about Simon as she advised just the day before she had been praying for a family for this child as his wait with the agency had been longer than expected. She advised our first step would be to place him "on hold" so that no one else could begin paperwork on him. She emailed me medical documentation and additional pictures which we forwarded on to our pediatrician. It took a while to have the documents reviewed, but by the end of February we had given an affirmative YES and had our interview with the agency. Now...on to the homestudy.
