Not much longer!

As we get closer to bringing our precious son home, I can't help but think of all the emotions we have felt over the last 34 months. Easter Sunday 2006 we stood around my parents dinner table and told my family we were going to adopt. Everyone was so happy and I can remember my dad saying "it's about time" :) At this time we had been married for nearly 7 years and had been trying to start a family for 6 of those 7 years. So we applied for a home equity loan and the real fun began. After 8 months of paperwork including visits from the social worker, fingerprints, criminal background checks, statements of health from our physicians, financial statements, birth certificates, marriage certificate and adoption education (*whew*) our dossier was sent to Children's Hope International and forwarded to China. On 1/15/07 our dossier was given a log-in date. We prayed and prayed and waited and waited for the child we were going to adopt. A sweet baby from China to be our precious child forever. Well, already knew that God had placed China in our hearts for a reason and we knew there were so many little ones in orhpanages waiting for a family to come home to, but we did not know that God had specific plans for us. As our wait lengthened and our prayers continued, we began to realize God was calling us to open our hearts to special needs adoption. Since the beginning, we knew that there are special needs children available for adoption but we did not think we would be qualified or prepared to handle a child who was born with a special need because we are about to become first time parents. So, what was the natural thing for us to do? Pray.
So we prayed and prayed and our thoughts and feelings began to change. How could we pray for God to send us a child and see us through this lengthy adoption process if we were not willing to open our hearts and home to any child? How could we ask God to bring us a child on our conditions? So we changed our prayers and we prayed for God's will to be done, not ours but His. We started looking at waiting children lists and after a few mis-matches; we found our boy. We have been through so many emotions from excitement and joy when we received Pre-Approval to pure confusion and sadness when Adoption House closed their doors. Each time we have encountered another bump in the road we have relied on our prayers and wonderful friends to keep us focused on the end result. We are almost there, but not without one last bump. After Adoption House closed only months ago, our file was transferred to Heritage Adoption Services. Heritage is now closing their international adoption division.
Heritage expects our Travel Approval to be here this week and they also plan on completing the travel process for us. All I know right now is that I am completely head over heels in love with this sweet little guy that is about to change our lives forever and the small details of how we got here will be a distant memory.
Stay tuned, for our lives are about to change FOREVER.
Glory be to God!!