Adoption update

On Monday we went to the adoption agency to go over our completed home study. Everything looked good......Jason and I even had a good laugh over a couple parts that our social worker elaborated on quite eloquently. For example, in our family guidelines we wrote, about Tony, that he was our little stinker that you never knew what he was up to next......in our home study she wrote, Tony is a creative boy who always seems to be planning something fun. HA HA!!!!! Hey, that's why she's the professional...who are we to argue with her wording. Too funny!
I was pretty impressed with us after reading that. We're a great family.....who knew? Haha..

We also got to meet with Jill, the person in charge of the list. The "List"...the miles of names and info on over 1500 kiddos looking for a family to call their own. This list is shared by over 300 agencies and can be looked at by any one of their clients. She showed us some girls to see examples of how the file works and what sort of info we can expect on each one. The list is mostly boys, over half the kids are severe needs, and another 3rd of that are over the age of 7. This makes a little girl under age 4 with minor/correctable needs a more rare find. They're out there, just harder to lock in because you have to do that before anyone else does, and unfortunately, those same criteria are not only the most rare...they're also the most sought after.
We knew all of this going into Monday. But there was something we learned that we didn't know. Mostly because it's a new law only a few weeks old. China has changed the way they handle the special needs list. In the past a couple could look at and lock in a child and then get their dossier (paperwork) over to get approval. Not anymore....now, they want everyone to have it all over there already and approved before you can lock in a child. This goes for any child that has been put on the list since 3/19/10 and from now on. What does this mean for us? Well, since we don't have our dossier sent over yet (you have to have a completed home study and immigration paperwork all done first) we would have to wait another 3 mos. or so until we can get a log in date before we can lock in any child. Major set back on our timing. There is the possibility that we can look for a child available since BEFORE the 19th.....but the reality is, if a girl, under age 4 is still available after being on the list for that long.....she probably has a more severe need.
I left there definitely a bit discouraged, but still knowing that it will all work out. It may not be in our time frame, but I know there is a plan for us and God has His hands all over this. So for now, I choose to believe that there is a reason we aren't supposed to find her just yet.

Horses, cake, and a concert....

......what could be better? On Sunday we had a birthday party for Helen's son, Alex. It was way the heck out in the middle of nowhere at a horse farm and the kids were allowed to ride ponies and run around the farm. They loved it. It took about an hour, 20 minutes to get there so we were driving as long as we were actually at the party, but it was worth it. I had offered to make a cowboy cake for Alex which turned out pretty good. We had to leave a little early because Jason and I had a casting crowns concert to go to that night and we were meeting for dinner beforehand. But we managed to be there for the horses, lunch, cake, presents, and pinata....so we were good.