Oh my! Where to begin?! Well, really it begins with our story. We always felt God calling us to adopt more than one child. We originally thought we would be adopting a sibling group, but those doors were closed. China simply doesn't typically have any sibling groups. Furthermore, our adoption agency prohibited us from adopting two children at the same time despite our asking. We knew God was in control, and we would simply wait for God's timing.
The story continues on our trip to China. While in Guangzhou, China, we met a family from Oregon who was adopting a boy a few years older than Micah. Interestingly enough, we found out that they were originally from the Peoria area and even used to attend Bethany Baptist! What a small world! We also found out that they, too, felt God's call to adopt two children. In fact, they submitted their application while still in China. That was just crazy.
Crazy came knocking the Monday after we got back. Deanna decided to e-mail Holt to see just how the process worked when adopting a second child. What led her to do this? We feel that it must have been God. Holt replied at the end of the day with an e-mail that would tip the ball rolling down the side of the mountain. Holt told us that they were raising their adoption program fees starting tomorrow, July 1. If we submitted an application before midnight, though, we would still be able to lock in current fees. After some discussion and prayer, we decided to submit our application and application fee later that night. After all, what could it hurt to just turn in an application. We would still have plenty of time to deliberate, see how Micah was adjusting, pray, do some financial analysis, build back up our savings, etc.
NOT! Literally two days later our home study case worker was at our house to do our post-placement visit for Micah. After talking about how well our trip to China had been and how well Micah fit in with our family, we asked about how the process worked if we adopted again. She told us that since we were starting again so soon, she could reuse a lot of our home study. In fact, she said she would only charge us a nominal fee for the updated home study instead of charging us a couple thousand dollars. God was knocking down mountains AGAIN, showing his hand at work, and we were only getting started!
Next, Deanna called Holt to ask what else would need to be done to adopt a second child. They told us that we could reuse a lot of our dossier, we could reuse our visas, and we could update our U.S. Immigration application instead of applying new again. All of this reuse translates into money and time savings. We know this whole idea of a second adoption sounds crazy. The truth is God calls us to do crazy things. We are stepping out in faith and obedience to God. We are trusting that this is His plan and that He will provide in all ways.
Skip forward to today ... we have completed our home study update and are waiting for approval. We have also been matched with a beautiful little girl we found on Holt's special focus list. This little girl is 2 years old. She lives in a different province than Micah. One neat thing is that we have been able to get pictures and video of her. We are so in love! We are beyond excited to introduce you to our daughter, Hannah Wuxi.
The kids voting on whether they we were matched
with a mei mei (little sister) or di di (little brother).
They are SO excited for mei mei Hannah!
First family photo with our FOUR children!
He took a little child and had him
stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to
them, "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name
welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent
me." ~ Mark 9:36-37
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