We have truly experienced what it means to be walking in total faith in God's will during this amazing journey, as witnessed by the events that happen next...As a Christian, we know these events to be a small part of God's ultimate plans..
In China it is known as the "Red Thread." This ancient Chinese belief states: "An invisible Red Thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but will never break." Well, our "Red Thread" is about to reveal to us a very special little girl who we are destined to meet...Please read on...
During our 2-month long paperchase, we began to feel that God was leading us down the path of considering a special needs adoption and as we began to research more about the "Waiting Child" process, our hearts were truly tugged towards these children. We felt that our family has an enormous amount of love and resources and that our relationship was mature enough to handle the responsibilities that may go along with the adoption of a waiting child. More than this, we believe that God didn't just call us to adopt a "perfect" child, but rather all children deserve the love of a forever family! You may be wondering...What is a Waiting Child?
A “Waiting Child” has been defined as a child who has a minor correctible medical need or a child who is older.
In May 2007, we applied to view the files of 3 different waiting children on our adoption agency's listing. May 21st came and went with no call from our agency...Our family was not selected to view any of these files...Our hearts were saddened, but we knew that those 3 children were destined to be a part of someone else's family. We will wait for the next list in August and apply again.
On August 8, 2007, we sent in our Waiting Child application to our agency.
On August 20, 2007, we received the call from our adoption agency that has changed our lives forever…
Here is a shortened version of the conversation:”Trish…this is Sarah from Great Wall…I wanted to let you know that we have matched your waiting child application with a 19 month old little girl…her name is Lu Na Qun, her special need is cleft lip and cleft palate of which her cleft lip has been repaired…would you and Shon be interested in looking at her file and pictures to see if you would like to proceed with the adoption of her?”
"Do I want to see her file and pictures? Of course!!" Her medical files, growth reports, and pictures arrived in my e-mail Inbox within 5 minutes of our phone call ending, but it seemed like an eternity. I immediately went to the picture file and downloaded her pictures…oh my goodness, all I could say was…This is my daughter…
This is the child we were destined to adopt! Of course, this needed to be verified with Shon as well, so...
I ran to the phone, dialed three different phone numbers to finally get in contact with Shon at work, and gave him the news. Of course he didn't believe me so I sent him a copy of her records and pictures. It seemed like it took forever for him to receive the e-mail, but when he did and he opened her pictures, there are no words to describe the amazing feelings that we both had for this little girl. Shon was in agreement...she is definitely our daughter!
We immediately sent her medical records to the University of Minnesota to have them reviewed by a group of experienced international adoption doctors and after their immensely positive evaluation of her, our Letter of Intent to adopt Lu Na Qun was sent off to the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) on August 27, 2007.
What happens next and when will we bring our Jaida home?
Read the next page to see all of those acronyms we need to progress through to bring our Jaida home...
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