Waiting...

Wow! It’s hard to believe we started this journey three years ago. It took us a while to finish our dossier for China, but it was logged in at the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) on March 19, 2007. By that time we knew the wait would be a long time, but we didn’t realize how long it was going to be. (We still don’t know how long it will be before that dossier is processed and we travel to China to bring home our child.) It was even harder to think that we were not allowed to start the process to adopt another child while we waited.

As the wait got longer, we got more frustrated with China, with ourselves, and with God. It was a very difficult time not knowing when, or if, we would ever meet our children (we asked for twins in our original dossier). Each night we prayed for our children and hoped the day would come soon. It seemed like an impossible situation, and it became harder to remember that God likes to do the impossible.

Spring forward to March of 2009. I (Lois) was taking Beth Moore’s Bible study on Esther. In lesson five, she talks about waiting. I was so convicted when she read Isaiah 40:31 and said your strength will be lost and depleted if you’re waiting on an event or a person. The verse actually says that God will give strength to those who wait on Him. I realized that the date of that Bible study was March 19, the two year anniversary of our log-in-date. God knew exactly what time it was. (There is more to that story, but I will not write it here.)

A week later, we went to a training course given by our adoption agency. Our social worker, Karla, told us that China had created a new option for people like us waiting for years to adopt one of their children. If we qualified, we would be able to leave our paperwork in line for a healthy child, and apply to adopt a child with a minor special need which would take much less time. After praying for a few days, we asked Karla to do some research to see if we qualified for the program. It took a long time because China has changed the requirements since we completed our first dossier, and she wanted to be sure we qualified. Finally, in July all of our questions were answered and we felt a peace about starting the process again: interviews, information forms, medical exams, HIV tests, fingerprints, background checks, and much more.

At this point, our home study has been finished! Our agency is ready to match us with a child. Our dossier is almost finished. Once we are matched, they tell us that it will take six months to complete everything that the U.S. and Chinese governments require in order to travel. We have asked our agency to hold off matching us for now as we inquire into adopting a specific child named Jade. She is the foster child of friends in China. We know that God has a perfect plan for Jade's future and for our family. We are just asking Him to show us His plan. Our desire is that He be glorified in every step we take on this journey. Isaiah 26:8 says, "Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts."

We want to thank all of you who have joined us on this journey. Many of you have been and are praying for us. We are very grateful for your prayers. It has been a long wait, but God is reminding us how He has worked through difficult situations in our lives before. We are thankful that He is renewing our strength each day as we wait to see what He does.