Adoption Journal - Long

Well, our journey of adoption began many years ago. Jason and I talked about adoption before we were married over 8 years ago. We knew that we wanted a biological child if that was possible. Shortly after having Landon in 2005, I talked with Jason about the possibility of adopting soon. He said, "not now!" I am too much like my Granddaddy and Nand to not do anything about it once it is in my mind and heart.
So, for about 1 year, I researched and gathered all the information that I could about adoption. (agencies, cost, how long it would take, travel, etc.) In December of 2006, I talked with Jason again about adoption and he was open to hearing the information. I showed him all the research about the different countries, how much it would cost, how long we would stay in the country, timeframe of receiving the referral, etc. After much prayer, we decided in January 2007 to pursue the adoption of a little girl from China.
One of the requirements to adopt from China is you have to be 30 years old before you send your dossier (paperwork). We chose Children's Hope International (CHI) out of St. Louis as our agency and they allowed us to start working on the paperwork in May 2007. Being the Type A persoanlity that I am, I immediately began filling out the forms, turning in applications, writing my autobiography, sending out reference letters, gathering our birth certificates, drawing floor plans to our house, getting fingerprints for the FBI, filing status with the immigration office, writing checks to the government, and tons of other stuff.
Our (my) goal was to have our dossier sent to China on October 26th, the day after my 30th birthday! Well, we were on our way with that goal until July when 2 employees for CHI decided to make some bad choices in the Russia adoption program. CHI fired them immediately for their actions. CHI immediately let all 50 states know of this huge mistake because they wanted to be upfront and stay in good standing with the states. All the states were appreciative of their information EXCEPT the state of Illinois. IL made CHI go through all kinds of hoops, such as, corrective action plans, meetings, etc. until they were back in good standing again. Needless to say, that put us 6 months behind.
Then, because it took so long with the IL government, all of our papers were over 6 months old. The Chinese Embassy in Chicago does not allow papers to be over 6 months old. (Type A persoanlity didn't help this time) So, we redid all of our paperwork with the doctors, our employers, our accountant, the police department, and many others. We drove to Springfield to have all the papers state certified then to Chicago to have them authenticated by the Chinese Embassy. We mailed them to CHI in St. Louis the beginning of this week. They plan to mail our dossier to China THIS Friday, May 2. (1 year after starting the process)
After completing over 70 different documents, our dossier is heading to China. When it gets to China, they will translate it to Chinese and give us a Log In Date (LID)! From the LID, the 2 - 3 year wait will begin. Anything that could have gone wrong in this process, went wrong with us. We KNOW that God's plan is way bigger than our goal of October 26th. We KNOW that His purpose and plans are PERFECT for us. As much as I wanted it done by October, I TRUST His ways are better than mine. AMEN!!! The Lord continues to teach us about our faith in Him, patience in the crazy times, perseverance in the difficult times, dependence on and in Him, and bringing us closer as a couple through this roller coaster ride called adoption. We both know that the Lord called us to adoption and we will see and follow Him to the end. More to come . . .