Accepted to adopt from China

We have been accepted in to the Waiting Child program by CCAI- 

Chinese Children Adoption International!!!

What does that mean?  

Well, I attached the website, so you can get some details.

CCAI Waiting Children

But basically it means that we have decided to adopt a toddler or preschooler from China.  The child will have some sort of special need.  Since it will probably take about 18-24 months before we have our sweet girl home, we figure our baby girl could be being born right now.  She will grow up in an orphanage and maybe spend a little time in a foster home, if she is really a lucky girl.

Why did we choose China and this program?

To be honest, we originally said that we would not pursue an international adoption due to the extensive travel. It is hard to go to another country to adopt when you have children at home.  Most countries require 30 days in country and a lot of countries require more than one trip.  Our friends, Sandy and Jeff, volunteered to help my mom with the care of our boys, which opened the door a couple months ago for us to begin thinking about international adoption.

China requires a shorter stay than most countries.  We would be home in one trip of 14-17 days.  In the case we receive travel approval at a time of year when it would be very difficult for David to travel, I can bring a friend or family member with me.  (We are really praying this is not the case as David is a much better traveler than I am and we really want to do this together, but it at least gives us a safety net, if needed.)

When we originally looked at China, it was due to the security of the program and the moderate travel schedule.  To adopt a healthy child would take 5-6 years, so we looked at the waiting child program and my heart was stirred.

For a little background, David was born with club feet, I was born with amblyopia and Cole has autism.  If we were born in China, rather than America, we would have been less desirable and any of us might have been abandoned.  To think about my sweet Cole growing up in an orphanage because he was not wanted broke my heart.  You might say, but you didn't know Cole had issues until he was almost 2, but in China, that often doesn't matter.  With the one child law, and a society without social security, having a healthy boy is your retirement plan.  People often abandon girls right away in the hope that the next child will be a boy.  But sometimes children are not abandoned until a healthier child or a boy comes along.  Most times people can not afford the fine, at least a full year's salary often as much as 4-9 times the family's yearly salary, depending on the province and the whim of the local family planning official, to have a second child.  In other cases, as the child grows, they can not afford the fine and the medical expenses.  This does not mean these children are not loved.  (This has been hard for me to get my mind around.)

Often times parents will go to great measures to hide pregnancies to avoid being forced in to abortion if it is their second child and they will abandon their children far away from their homes, to avoid being caught, but in very public areas, to insure the child is found and cared for.  A special needs child does not have much hope for a future in China.  They are often hidden and are generally unschooled.  They look forward to a life of poverty and often begging.  Parents know that growing up in an orphanage is awful, but they have great hope of the child being eventually adopted and given a better life.  We decided that we can give a child that better life.  We are not rich, by any means, but we are blessed and with our insurance, resources and love, we can give an abandoned child much more than they had the hope for in their country.

After MUCH prayer, we feel this is where God is calling us and where our third child is.  It will be a long road and we will not have our child for a long time, but we are ready and on our way.  We start orientation this Friday, 4/27/12.