Eager to Get Started and Finished

We received the packet from CHI.  We now have the China country guide that I’ve been waiting for! I’m hoping to get our dossier done in record time. Now that we’ve firmly committed to the adoption, I’m ready to have it done. I am starting to have the emotions of an expectant mom. Our child will not be able to get here soon enough.

We now have to choose a home study agency. CHI cannot do our home study because they are only licensed to do home studies in MO.  We will have to have an agency that is licensed in IL. It is common practice for an agency to only be licensed in one state, but it’s required that you have an agency that is licensed in the state where you are living.

I emailed Tina Qualls from CHI asking for any references for home study agencies in IL. She replied back today, and we decided on one of the agencies from her list, BCHFS in Mt. Vernon. 

I worked a little on papers for our dossier. I wrote a letter of non-employment for myself, which sounds silly, but it is required. There have been people that have gotten their dossiers clear to China before finding out this was missing.

                                                                     

                                          Lori

We Meet China's Requirements

Our application at CHI is approved!!! This means that we meet China’s requirements, and that CHI will handle our adoption. It feels like a very big deal, though it’s a small step in the whole process. 

                                                    

                                                                                               Lori

We Weren't the Oldest Couple There (sigh of relief)

This was the day of the informational meeting at CHI. I felt like a fish out of water going to this meeting. I just knew that my husband and I would be the oldest couple there, and that all the other couples would be there because of infertility. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I’m glad my doubts didn’t keep me from attending.

We sat in our car in CHI's parking lot until about five minutes before the meeting was suppose to start. When we went in, each couple signed in and was given a teddy bear that had been donated through the James Fund. Each bear has the James 1:27 verse on the tag. People donate $5.00 for each bear to be donated to an orphan. I felt awkward accepting one.

Not only were we not the oldest couple there, but most of the couples there already had biological children, just like us. We were, however, the only couple there today that wanted to adopt from China. Most there were adopting from Ethiopia. This seemed more to do with meeting the requirements, than a specific call to adopt from that country. All countries have different requirements for adoptive parents. You can find out those requirements on CHI’s website if you are interested.

The meeting was great. We were super impressed with CHI and felt reassured that we had chosen the right agency for us.

We turned in our application, but did not receive a country guide. The lady that handles the China adoptions was not there. We were told that we should hear whether or not our application is approved within two weeks.

Also, we learned today that the wait for a healthy child is now five years. A special needs child is really the only option at our age. The reason that the wait is so long is that China considers any child that is less than "perfect" to be a special needs child, and most of the children in the orphanages have some sort of need. 

                                                   

                                                                                                 Lori

Why We're Not Requesting a Healthy Child

I have a list that I printed off of CHI’s website that gives an overview of the papers that we will be needing for something called a dossier. There’s a country guide with all the details. I hope that I can pick one up this Saturday when we go to CHI for an informational meeting. I ordered a certified marriage certificate today. That is one paper I know we’ll need that we don’t have. I also completed the application for CHI today. We are requesting a girl from China around 2 years old with minor correctible needs. If anyone is wondering why we aren’t requesting a healthy child that is a good question. Of course we want all of our children to be as healthy as possible that’s human nature, but in this case it just doesn’t make sense. Last summer we were told that the wait for a healthy child from China is over 4 years! We are already in our mid-forties. We don’t want to wait too long. We would like our daughter Emily to still be living at home when we get the adopted child. Emily is a freshman in high school now. In four years she will most likely be off at college somewhere. Anyway, a minor correctible could be something like club feet or cleft lip. There’s a long list of conditions that could fall into this category. 

                                                            

                                                             Lori

Signed-Up for a Meeting at CHI

We signed up to attend a meeting at Children’s Hope this Saturday. From my understanding it has been several months since a meeting like this has been held at their St. Louis office. We believe this is part of God’s timing, since they are having a meeting there now right after we made the decision to proceed with adoption.     

  

                                            Lori

Moving Forward

At this point we have more questions than answers, but we are ready to move forward. We had already decided on a adoption agency last summer and already have an application on hand. There are a lot of good adoption agencies out there. We chose Children’s Hope International in St. Louis, MO for three reasons: they are a Christian agency, they are close to where we live, and they really care about orphans. Their care for orphans is evident in the fact that people working there have adopted children themselves, they fund surgeries for orphans that have not been adopted yet, and they are interested in the children even after they are adopted. They have annual picnics for adoptive families, and they host homeland tours. CHI also handles international adoptions for other countries as well, but our focus is on China, since that’s where we feel God has called us to adopt. If you are interested, you can go to CHI's website to find out about other countries and their requirements. We have a link to their website on our home page.

Lori

Called to Adoption

We have felt called to adopt a child from China since last summer, but didn't know how it would be possible. 

On our way home from church this morning, Brent told me what the sermon had been about, since I had been teaching the 3 year olds' class. One of the guest speakers talked about stepping out in faith. If we wait until everything is lined up perfectly before we do something, then it will never happen. We both felt like this was a definite nudge from God to move forward with the adoption. We made a commitment today to step out in faith. This is just the beginning of our faith walk and our adoption journey. We will have to hold on to the fact that with God, all things are possible.

See our “Why China?” page for more details.

                                                                           Lori