Adopting Sophie Grace

There are no words for it. We’re parents again, sort of.  Our daughter is not 9 months away, but rather 7,000 miles away.

We got our pre-approval from China today.  It’s the first of several governmental approvals, but it is by far the most important.  Today is a joyous day!  We have the approval and Sophie is a huge step closer to coming home.  Today is also frustrating, because our little girl is 7,000 miles away and we can’t go to pick her up yet.

Thus begins the process of gathering the other 50% of the paperwork and the other 90% of the funds to bring her home.

We know that it will happen. Several people have asked how we know, so let me tell you. We believe that God wants us to help this orphan and be her forever family, and that where he leads, he provides.  We have prayed about this and talked with plenty of others about it.  Everything seemed to point in this direction — even the people who said we were nuts to do this said it was the right thing to do.  Through the process, we know that both friends and strangers are praying for us.  We are encouraged by people all the time, and we have the opportunity to encourage others simply be being part of the adoptive community.  The prospect of another little girl in the house is just amazing. The process in itself is a wonderful thing, even if it’s bureaucratic and long.

For those who are not aware of the special needs program in China (like I was a few months ago), here’s how it goes…

1. China lists a number of children with various special needs (almost always some medical issue – many fairly minor like Sophie who just has slow growth) with various agencies.  Each agency gets a few children to list for a few months.
2. You choose a child to apply for and an agency to apply through.
3. You get approved by the agency and begin your home study.
4. You begin gathering what will become a hill of paperwork documenting everything from where you were born to how healthy your dog is (I’m serious).
5. You send a “Letter Of Intent” (LOI) to China with some of these documents.  This is your first application to the Chinese government and the first they know of you.
6. China agrees that you should adopt this child.
7. Happy dance.
8. You finish your home study – if it’s not already done.
9. You gather up all of your supporting paperwork, and staple more paper to it with official signatures of a notary, the county government, the state government, the US government and the Chinese consulate.
10. You apply to USCIS (US Immigration) to get the immigration paperwork for your new child.
11. While you’re waiting, you can send care packages and pictures to your child to help bridge the distance.
12. You get fingerprinted and checked over by Uncle Sam.
13. After 2 or 3 months, USCIS says OK.
14. Happy dance part 2.
15. You send this pile of papers to China where they burn it to heat a small city.  OK, really they review it carefully over a few months and give final approval to travel to pick up your child.
16. Happy dance while packing.
17. Fly around the world.
18. Gotcha Day – you have now added a new day to your yearly calendar of birthdays and anniversaries to celebrate!
19. Happy, tired dance.
20. A little more paperwork for good measure and you bring your child home!

So here we are doing the happy dance tonight and looking toward the future with a certain hope.