Our Journey

All though we just recently made the announcement that we are adopting, this has not been a recent decision.  We desired for Gibson to have a sibling, but knew shortly after his difficult birth that if we were to have more children we would adopt.  Adoption was something we both had a desire for but this event really began the journey.  After our move to Tennessee in 2012 we began to explore domestic vs. international adoption.  We spent more than a year reading adoption blogs, speaking to adoptive parents and attending adoption workshops.  After that year we both felt God leading us toward international adoption and specifically China.  Once we determined to explore China we began to research international adoption agencies and ultimately chose to partner with CCAI (Chinese Children Adoption International) out of Colorado.  We formally submitted our application in October 2014.

Once we chose our international agency we found a local adoption agency to begin our home study.  We started the background check phase (needing clearance from each state we had lived in).  About 1 month into our process we began to look at a file of a little 1 year old.  We had a week to look over the limited paperwork and short 5 second video clips before we said yes on December 9.  We received pre approval from China on December 22.  This meant we had exactly 6 months to complete all paperwork and get it to China.  The "paper chase" as it is often referred to in the adoption world included getting current copies of birth certificates, our marriage license, intense medical check ups, financial statements, etc.  Each of these papers needed to be authenticated locally, by the state they originated and then by the Chinese Consulate.  Simultaneous to this paper chase we began meeting with the social worker to complete our home study.

While we were authenticating several papers in Nashville right after Christmas, we received a call from our international agency.  To our surprise they said we were matched with a 2nd child if we would be interested in looking at his file.  We did not set out on this journey to bring home 2 children but we checked yes to multiple children on our application in case we were matched with a child with a sibling (we didn't want to separate siblings).  After making sure we wouldn't be "taking away" a file from another family, our agency assured us this child did not match any other family in their system.  With that information we said we would look at his file.  Strangely enough we were sitting in an IHOP waiting for our tire to get fixed (we'd had a flat at Opryland hotel the night before) and had plenty of time to check out the file.  Once we saw the pictures and read about this new little guy we were pretty smitten.

We took about a week to pray and think through logistics and officially said yes on January 8, 2015.  Since that time we finished authenticating all the paperwork, completed our home study and got approval from immigration to adopt from China.  We have also taken the time to prepare for the adjustments bringing home 2 boys will take for our home.  We still have a lot of waiting left to do, but that also allows us time to continue to prepare as much as possible.

Stay tuned for more of the story.  In the meantime, here are the first pics that we got in their files. Now you can see why it was an easy yes for us!!

Twin A

Twin B

God in His holy dwelling is a Father to the fatherless......

Psalm 68:5