Here We Go Again!

I will be completely honest, I did not expect be writing a post like this so soon after bringing the boys home. I did know however, that at some point I would be writing about adopting again, but didn't think it would be for a year or two.

Like most adoptive parents, soon after we returned home with Drew and Jaxon I had already started looking at waiting child lists and watching the advocating sights. I love seeing children being advocated for and then finding out they have found their forever families. At the suggestion of a friend, I joined Madison Adoption Associates sight and was completely overwhelmed at how active they were. To be honest, I deleted most of the posts in the beginning because I just didn't have the time to read all of them.

Madison had just returned from doing a Journey of Hope camp in China and had several kids they were trying to find families. I actually didn't look at any of the files for quite a while until recently. There was a 13 year old girl that was being advocated for all over. My heart just broke for her knowing what her fate may be if a family didn't come forward for her. Anyway, I made the call to inquire about her but since we were no where near being paper ready, I was told that there would not be enough time for us to get everything done. I was also told that several other families had inquired about her and that they were certain she would have a family in time. That was enough for me, I think I was more worried about the thought of her not having a family more than anything. (Just to update, she does have a family and will be home before the end of the year)!

But, there was something that kept telling me I needed to look at a couple of the other girls on Madison's list. I had quickly looked before, but when I saw there needs I will admit, I got freaked out and didn't look any further. So, I finally gave in and decided to watch the videos from the camp. I was completely in love within minutes of not one, but two girls. Two girls from the same orphanage that were both 8 years old, but with completely different special needs. I finally got up the courage to confront Matt and to my surprise, he said I could request their file (requesting a file wasn't committing to anything, or at least that is what he said).

We looked at both girls' file and one was more manageable than the other, but one was not completely as thorough as the other, plus there was some conflicting information. I got back in touch with Madison to let them know we were interested in both girls but needed more information on the other. I was told that since there was some conflicting information, they were going to put girl A on hold until they could get the updated information and we could go ahead and have a doctor review Girl B's file. So, that is what we did. Within a couple of days we had an update on Girl A, but it still wasn't very clear so we asked if we could ask for another update, with a list of very specific questions. While we waited for those answers, we had Mylee's orthopedic doctor look over Girl B's file.

I remember Matt and I talking one night out by the fire about how do we choose which girl it to be our daughter? I just could not imagine picking one of these girls to leave the other behind. Bringing both home was not an option this time. His response was "we will find our daughter, and the girl left behind will find hers."

This was all going on during the weekly trips to Riley for Mylee. On the way home from one of the trips, I said a quick prayer asking God to please show me some sort of sign as to which girl (if any) was meant to be our daughter). Within minutes, and I am not even kidding, I got a call from Madison letting me know that Girl B's file had been locked. I was both disappointed and excited. Disappointed because she would not be our daughter, but SO excited because my prayer had been answered, sort of. Before we could lock in Girl A's file, we had to have those questions answered.

A couple days later, I got an e-mail with the answers to the questions we had asked. Everything was answered very clearly this time, but we still wanted another opinion so we sent her file along with the updates to a specialist. Basically, we were told that their biggest concern with this little girl was not the medical need that she had been labeled with, but more so with her adjusting to a family lifestyle and the change of moving to another country. Matt and I looked at each other, and he said "that's no big deal, not a big deal at all."

The next day, October 28, we sent in our LOI asking China to allow us to once again adopt one of their children. We got our Pre-Approval only 6 days later on November 4. I wanted to post so badly about our news on here, but we wanted a chance to share with family and friends first.

So, without further ado...



Naming her has been the easiest of all the kids. As soon as we sent in our LOI I told Matt that I wanted her middle name to be Faith for obvious reasons. As for Keliah, I love it, and it sounds a little Asian. So, Keliah Faith De Le will be her full name.

We are completely smitten with her. She is absolutely beautiful. She will be 9 on December 1 (Emma will be 9 on Dec. 11). She loves to dance and even wants to teach dance when she is older (Emma goes to an excellent dance studio here and cannot wait to have a sister to take dance with). She is very into her long hair and fashion (a girly girl!). Her favorite color is pink and she would like a pink bedroom (got that covered). She wants a large family with lots of brothers and sisters (I think we can handle that as well). Oh, and did I mention how beautiful she is?

So, where are we now? Well, our home study was updated on Sunday with our 6 month post placement. Our SW said she would have it done by the end of the week. I am headed into town tomorrow to get copies of birth certificates and our marriage certificate. Our goal is to have our dossier in China by January (we have until February 4th) to get it there. We are hoping and praying to travel in early summer this time so the kids will be out of school and it will be easier for family members and friends to help out. As of right now, the plan is for Jaxon and I go travel to China. He really wants to go back and show me where he is from so we will be spending a couple of days in Wuxi then off to Shangdong where Keliah is from.