If you haven't already heard and the title of this post hasn't given it away, we are so very pleased to announce that our family has been matched! For you non-adoption language people, this means our agency has identified OUR DAUGHTER. I know some of you will want bare bones information while others want the nitty gritty. So here goes:
Bare bones first: She is the most beautiful girl in all of China (duh). She is a year and 8 months old (she will turn 2 in April). She has cleft lip and palate and a blood condition called alpha-thalassemia or thalassemia minor. Her cleft lip was beautifully repaired two months ago (October, 2016). She just started walking well the beginning of December. She is a tiny poppet (just 14.5 pounds at 17 months) so fits right in with our tiny family of girls.
She will need her palate surgically repaired soon after arriving in the US. Her blood condition is very minor and should not cause her any issues. We do not have a travel date as of yet but Trent and I are hoping to travel to China sometime Spring 2017. Just Trent and I will be traveling, the four big sisters will be staying stateside.
As much as I would love to share her photograph and videos with you our agency understandably has a social media policy which restricts this practice. I'm happy to show you her picture whenever I see you in person!
Now, for those of you who like details, and just for my own record, here's how it all went down.
Wednesday, November 23, 2016, 4:55 pm. The day before Thanksgiving. Our agency called! Our matching coordinator said they received a file for a sweet little girl who fits the profile of what we were hoping for in a daughter. We were urged to check with a hematologist about her blood condition and a cleft doctor about her cleft lip and palate. Of course, doctors offices were closed Thanksgiving Day and the day after, not to reopen until Monday morning.
Irony number one. Thanksgiving 2015 Trent went hunting, spent time in the woods praying specifically about our family situation and whether adoption was the right thing at this time for our family. He felt that it was. Now the same weekend a year later Trent went hunting and prayed over this specific child.
Irony number two. I imagine after a holiday weekend doctors offices are pretty busy places. However, I called a hematologist at Hershey Medical, left a message, and the doctor called back 15 minutes later. He spoke with me on the phone for at least 15 minutes, answered all my questions, and even sent a letter in the mail regarding our conversation. I also emailed our daughter's entire medical record and several photos of her lip before and after surgery to the Lancaster Cleft Clinic. The doctor got back to me in just a few hours with positive, helpful information.
Irony number three. I have been praying continually about what to do about my painting business. It felt like our referral at this exact time was such an answer to prayer. While I haven't made any official decision, I know I will be taking some time off in the New Year.
Irony number four. This sweet girl's file was supposed to have been completed over the summer. For some unknown reason the orphanage just completed it in November. But we know the reason her file wasn't ready just yet....
After much prayer and consideration we notified our agency on Friday, December 2, 2016 that YES, we agree, this is our daughter. On that date we are officially considered MATCHED. However, we now are entering the back and forth of paperwork between the US and China. We are waiting for her official release from the CCCWA (China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption) which we should get any day. Once we receive that our Letter of Intent (LOI) will be sent to China indicating that we want this little girl to be part of our family. Then we have to wait up to four weeks to have a Letter of Approval (LOA) sent back to us from China. Then we again go through more paperwork (immigration, visas, travel approval, etc). All of this back and forth from the time we receive our LOA can take up to 18 weeks until we actually travel to China. It is our hope that everything will come back sooner than expected and we will have smooth sailing through all the red tape so we can bring our daughter home as soon as possible.
We thank you all, from the bottom of our hearts. Don't stop praying for us and for our little girl. We know she is being well cared for and is in excellent hands. While our hearts are split between two continents we know that God's timing is perfect. We were not anticipating being matched until March so are humbled that God deemed it right for us to be matched sooner rather than later. And now we look forward eagerly to the day she will be in our arms. Forever ours.
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