Great News!

Wow, a lot has been happening around here! First, Larry completed the Chicago Lakefront 50K Ultra-Marathon on Saturday, March 31st as a fundraiser for our next adoption. We have been truly overwhelmed by what God has done through this fundraiser. For all the details, please read my update letter here. It is truly an amazing story!

If that weren't enough, we have even more wonderful news to share! Let me back up a bit. During the last week of March, our adoption agency sent out an email stating that they had received 23 new special needs files completely out of the blue. We all thought the next batch wouldn't come until May or June. It was definitely exciting to hear, but I was determined to guard my heart this time, knowing that there were 80-100 families on the interested families list. Our agency's email stated that they would start making phone calls at the end of the following week. That helped me to stay calm too, since I figured I could at least try to contain my mental craziness to a few days. Then Larry's mom flew in to visit, which kept us pretty busy. The thought did enter my mind how perfect it would be to get a referral with her here though, since she will be traveling to China with us this time around...

Monday and Tuesday came and went. Wednesday I had a doctor's appointment at 8:40AM. When I got home, there was a message from Allison, our family coordinator at our agency, asking me to call her back. At first it totally didn't sink in why she might be calling. She didn't say in the message, and I was still operating in guard-my-heart-detached-mode. As I listened to the following message from someone else, my brain started to put it together. Why else would she be calling except with a referral? Then I started shaking. I hit "stop" on the answering machine and quickly dialed the phone. The receptionist put me through to Allison's extension and I found myself on hold, listening to phone music. I ran upstairs to tell my mother-in-law what was going on, hoping that I wouldn't end up getting Allison's voicemail. Eventually she came on the line and asked if I knew about the referral batch. Did I ever! She said our file indicated we were interested in a cleft-affected child as young as possible. Um, yes! She then said she had the file for a little girl with a cleft palate who was just 6 months old. Did I want to hear about her? Hmm, let me see...YES YES YES! Here is what we know:

Chinese Name: Jiang, Si Wei
Meaning: we believe Si Wei means "little thinker." We are working on an official translation.
English Name: still trying to come to a decision!
Birthdate: September 26, 2006
Location: Pingjiang County Children's Welfare Institute, Hunan Province, China

We have 3 pictures of her, but we aren't allowed to post them on any websites until China gives us the official stamp of approval to adopt her. If you'd like to see her, I am allowed to send pictures via personal email. Just let me know!

We hope to travel sometime between July and September, depending on how long the paperwork takes. We are definitely praying to be there by her first birthday on Sept 26th. We are thrilled beyond belief and we just can't wait to get her! God has been so very good to us. I'll let you know as soon as we hear anything else, and as soon as we settle on a name for our precious peanut! Thank you for your continued prayers as we add another member to our family!