When can you bring her home?

This is the most popular question I have been asked. I wish we could bring her home right away. So we would not miss another day of her life. With adoption it is never that easy. We are waiting on paper work and contracts to sign first. Once we get the paper work it is a mad dash to get all the offical signitures. Then they are quickly returned to Taiwan and our case will be appointed a Judge in their court system. During the court process there will be a hearing , a ruling, 2nd ruling, then the date set to get her visa to leave the country. The date of that appointment will determine our travel date. We will get notifiyed about 3 weeks before it is time to travel. Most of the time it take 7 months for all this to happen. So to answer the question she should be home by Christmas. It could happen sooner (with lots of prayer) but it could also take longer. We always have known this is how it goes. So while it is hard not to be able to go get her right away. This is the way it is to protect children’s rights and make sure all is legit in an adoption.

He kniT us together

This is our story of what has taken place of over the last 5 weeks. The weekend before we got "the call" John agreed to up our age preference to 0-4 years old, but he said she would have to just be turning 4 at referral no older. This was an answer to prayer! We sent our agency the update on Monday April 13th. That same day in Taiwan, they sent her file to the agency to be put on their waiting child list. Then the next day our case manager saw our update and saw that this little girl was just about to turn 4 and thought this could be a divine match. Now we get "the call". I wanted to accept her with the little information we had. John being the engineer he is needed to make a more informed decision. So being very optimistic about her. We requested additional medical information. We thought it would be a couple days, a week at most to receive an update. It was so hard for me to hold back my excitement all this time when I knew in my heart all along that she was the one. This was my “marathon” and the last mile of the race is always the hardest and most important. The finish line was in sight, with God’s great grace I hung in there; even when my mind was weary He would pull me back. I just wanted to go to sleep and not think about it until there was an answer. I heard the Lord calling " You're almost there. Don't quit. Stay strong. Keep the faith. Keep going…you'll make it…, It will be worth it!” Then finally a month later we got the update. We had our questions and concerns answered. We immediately submitted a formal request to accept her referral. Next we had to wait yet another week to hear that the orphanage had granted us approval to move forward with her adoption. This was it, we had finally been chosen for our little girl we have waited so long for. We have no picture of her yet. But from a physical description she has a chubby figure with a round face. Her personality reads that she is friendly, talkative, and curious.

From the very beginning of our adoption God had started to knit us together. The day that our file was put on our orphanage’s waiting list, was also the day she became legally free to be adopted. That very same day she was sent to live in a nursing home where she still lives today. I believe it is definitely a match God has knit together and I know she is the child He has always intended for us.

Time to Celebrate!

We have been matched with our little Asian angel GIRL from Taiwan!

She just turned 4 years old on May 4th. The long wait to be chosen for our child is over. Praise God! I will post our story of how it all came to be soon. For now I will reveal her name;

Naveia Hsiao-Yu H. Naveia (nuh-vay-uh) Hsiao-Yu (her first given Taiwanese name) H. (security reasons, if you know us you know our last name)

I know you want to see her. We can't wait to see her face too. I hope a picture comes soon.

Waiting....

The picture above is a celebration waiting to happen. It has been set up collecting dust since Christmas. At Christmas I bought this frame and wrote a note in it, it says "Dear God, A daughter lives in my heart. I pray that you will soon give us a face to frame. Patiently waiting for our little Asian angel. Love Mommy". When we get "The Call" we are ready to celebrate God's blessing upon us.

The most difficult part of adoption is waiting. In the beginning I had to wait on my husband to agree we could start the process. Then we had to wait for clearance from the government that we would be approved to adopt. Once we got on the waiting list the "plan" was it was going to be 3-14 months waiting to be matched. I could handle that and we happily waited. Then we got close to waiting 14 months and they moved the projected wait time to 18-24 months. I was disappointed, but could handle it. Then we got close to 18 months and they moved the projected wait time to 24-30 months. I started to second guess that maybe Taiwan is not where our child is from. I felt it was unfair that there are children around the world waiting for a family and here we are a family waiting for a child. So I began looking into other countries, US foster system, but nothing felt right. God made it clear I am to wait it out in Taiwan. So we continue on waiting in faith, 28 month now. Our children have gotten older over this long wait. So after a year of me asking John if we could up the age on our child preference to 0-4 years old. Last month he finally agreed, but he specified she would have to be just turning 4 at the time of referral no older. This was an answer to prayer!

I know I can trust in God's promises. He placed the desire to adopt on in my heart over 15 years ago. I know it will happen in His always perfect timing. God is so faithful, even when I'm not. I have to submit to His timing even if it means waiting a long while. Keep us in your prayers that God's promise for this child will be fufilled.