A New Year

I reconnected with a very special person in my family today. I think our busy lives have impacted the amount of time we had to spend together just talking and hashing out life in general. I realized today how much I have missed those conversations as well as how much this person means to me. During that two hour phone call-we talked a lot about my little families pending adoption and the choices we have made to bring a child into our lives who may or may not have a "disability." After the conversation ended I made the desicion to share our Medical Conditions Checklist with people, which we have not done until today. Not out of a desire to keep secrets, just simply because these are personal decisions that we made as husband and wife.
Our decision to adopt a child with or without a disability is born from our desire to grow our family. We wish to make a difference in a child's life and be the family that a waiting child needs. What we know is that there are children who are considered "unadoptable" in China's eyes because they are termed less than perfect. I thank God that in our family we view human life with more respect. We did not arrive at any of these decisions lightheartedly. A lot of thought and research was done prior to filing our Medical Checklist. I feel we have been led to this point in our lives and guided in these decisions. I know as a family we will all come together and embrace this new child in our lives and I am so thankful for the love and support we have been given. So here is our checklist.
We have said Yes to the following medical conditions: Congenital heart disease-minor; club foot/feet; malformation of the fingers/toes; missing fingers/toes; hypospadias; anemia; birthmark/hemangioma-non facial; eczema; extra fingers/toes; hernia-umbilical/inguinal; malnutrition; physical development delay; premature/low birth weight; scar/burn-non facial; torticollis; undescended testicles; vision-strabismus. We have said Maybe to:Imperforated Anus; hearing loss-partial to moderate; vision-cataracts.
So there it is, I think this sums it up pretty well and I quote (from two exceptional teens in our life) "thats it-they really give kids up because of those things..."
If any of you would like to do your own research on these Medical Conditions there is a "Waiting Child Adoption" CD available for purchase from Love Without Boundaries. I would loan out ours but it is inexpensive and purchasing it goes to help save the lives of medically fragile children in China. Feel free to check out their website: www.lovewithoutboundaries.com Also, if you have not viewed the videos from LWB at the bottom of our blog-please do so, they are very informative. I couldn't decide between them so I included them all.

Kung Hei Shing Taan & Gung Hay Fat Choy

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year-
Please don't ask me how to pronounce the title above- I got it from someones email! Well I have been digging out of the rubble from our Christmas Explosion today. Caitlin woke up with a yucky tummy and had thrown up in bed-just yucky snotty drainage I think. So several loads of laundry and hours of cleaning later things are somewhat put back together. Gotta love the Christmas Season and once again-thank God I don't have to work this week-or next! Check out Caitlin's new tent! There is a short story behind that purchase. Caitlin had a fever last week and Grandpa came over to stay with her. By noon she was playing and insisted that Grandpa climb in her makeshift tent(made with a sheet & chairs) Grandpa grudgingly complied and they both fell asleep in there. What a picture that would have been. Anyway, Grandpa decided it was time for a bigger tent. So I moved things around in her room to make it fit. Thanks Grandpa-She loves it!

Just Checking In...

Merry Christmas to you all-
I just thought I'd check in. Things are moving along day by day. Cailtin is ready for Christmas to get here. All the preparation and goings on have her pretty tired out. I am just extremely relieved to have school over with for a little bit. It always amazes me how exhausted I am and ready for a break already. On the adoption front, our agency is waiting for a new list and we are waiting to see if our new little one may be on it. I am becoming more anxious as the days go by...we really haven't waited that long in the world of adoption. But still and all we are ready.
We got luggage today for our first Christmas celebration. We have been married for nine years and never have we had a decent set of our own luggage. Just another little note...Caitlin asked me tonight how we see God-I am mystified as to how to explain this as I am just learning myself but I said God is like a Ghost who is with us all the time. He is next to us holding our hand and waiting for us to talk with him. She is really picking up a lot in Sunday School-I am so proud of her. Before we finished talking she said something like... God is beside me but Jesus is in my heart! Gotta love that.Here are some pictures of her as Mary in our Christmas Program at Church. They sang Away in the Manger.

How Could I Forget!

Our Dossier was reviewed and "Logged In" in China only two days after its arrival. I can't believe it was such a short wait for our LID. Now we wait for referral. Amazingly enough, on the yahoo group that we are a part of there are only two families ahead of us waiting for referral. The yahoo group tends to be an approximate of half the real number of people waiting from our actual agency. So there may be from 2 to 4 people waiting before us. We could even see a referral in January on the next list of Waiting Children to come from China.