Part 4

Ok, Kelly read my last post regarding our big news & here is what he said, "Why in the world are turning a rather short little story into a big long novel???"


**Sigh** He just doesn't understand how this blogging thing works...suspense, mystery, excitement, keep the folks hungry for more! Ok, that's a stretch...I'm not exactly Danielle Steele or even Linn!!! So in order to appease my husband and not turn this into some annoyingly written cheap paperback, here you go....

I called the agency who has these kids listed. My biggest concern at that moment was that we had only been home with Lucy six months. She didn't think that would be a problem as long as our social worker approved it and our post-placement reports indicated that she was adjusting well. Great! So we sent in our application and requested the info on two of the girls.

I called the next day to follow up. Yes, they got our application but they had received over 200 phone calls regarding these kids. Yikes. For a lack of better words, the gal said it is "first come first serve"...oh boy. We have been in this sitation before (with Lucy...only it was a "lottery" pick of 148 people, yep. Only God...we were the blessed pick). So feeling down but not out, I knew the chances were slim. Then the gal said, "If you want to go ahead with one of them right now, without viewing their file, it will pretty much lock you in" (assuming we met all the requirements). So, right then and there, driving down the road to Nick's practice on my cell phone I told the lady, "YES" we will go forward without viewing the file. WOW. Did I just make a decision? Dinner still hadn't been decided on for the night....much less a big thing like this. The gal told me both of the girls' names....THEN, I had to choose WHICH girl I wanted (only one? Not fair). Tears immediately filled my eyes. Both girls had my heart. How do I choose?? As much as I wanted to sit there and talk it out with the lady...going back and forth between these two beautiful girls, I knew I just had to decide. With a whispered prayer for wisdom, I just said, "we will take the first girl". Immediately I questioned my decision. I really liked both but something about the 2nd girl's description had me. I stuck with my choice though...feeling a bit unsettled (but I probably would have felt the same way had I chose the other way around...that's just the way I am).

I called K and he was thrilled. So, long story somewhat shorter, we got all the pre-approval papers and took Thanksgiving weekend to get it all filled out. Whew. Then we ended up getting a video (interview-type) on both girls in the mail (they had sent it out when our application indicated our interest in both). I watched our girl's video and was relieved that I had in fact, made the right decision. I was surprised at how different she looked from her picture...but I figured she just didn't have make up on and her hair was fixed differently. I was in love with this sweet, shy, tiny girl. And I was determined not to watch the other video so not to confuse myself. But of course Kelly wanted to watch it. The minute he saw it.....then yes, I took a peek as well...we saw that it was the girl we THOUGHT I had decided on. WHAT?? Somehow (God), some way (God), I either got confused and told the lady the "wrong" girl...or SHE got confused or misunderstood me...???? I have no idea....all I know is that I am certain that God intervened and arranged for us to apply for the girl HE wanted us to have...despite my quick, and apparently, wrong decision that day.

So...here's the scoop as of today. We are working our buns off trying to get stuff done. I have completed six of the ten required hours of education we need to have. And we have an orientation meeting with our social worker tonight. THE BIG CATCH of it all is this......we MUST, MUST travel by her 14th birthday (October) or she CAN'T be adopted. GULP. I know Oct. seems like a long way off...but for those of you who know how incredibly long it can take to get a dossier together (ESPECIALLY with the new Hague requirements), time is SHORT!!!!! Our agency is going to do all they can to expedite things...they have even talked to Ch*na about cooperating in moving things along quickly and they agreed (we shall see). And the other concern is the immagration process....that is taking a long time these days (it was incredibly short with Lucy). We have been told that we may have to get our Congressman involved to help move things along quicker.

So as you can see, we are excited beyond measure...but we have some huge mountains (the timeline) in our way. WE NEED YOU TO PRAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!