Hey All! I am excited about figuring this out. I thought I should probably start our blog with why we are adopting since that is generally the first question people ask, followed by, "Why China?" I will attempt to keep my thoughts clear and coherent however, I have so many thoughts racing through my mind all at once it will be difficult.
My adoption journey began a very long time ago when I was just a child. I have 2 adopted sisters and I simply thought that when I grew up that I would also adopt! I can't imagine what my life would be like without my 2 adopted sisters, especially Kelly, who is only 18 months older than me. We were the best and worst of buds. She enriched my life and I thank God for her.
As I grew up and got married I dreamed of having lots of children. God graciously blessed us with 2 wonderful daughters. Our first came as a very unexpected surprise and the second with a lot of effort, time and prayer. Our "secondary infertility" has been a journey in and of itself and could have its own blogspot! God has used it to grow my husband and me in many ways. I have come to understand that I am not being punished for some past sin and that I am blessed. He loves me and everything He does is good. There is nothing physically wrong with either one of us, we just happen to be in that 10% of unexplained infertility. We did not want to pursue extravagant medical help understanding that it is God who opens and shuts the womb. (Please understand that I am not against the medical help, it is simply not where God led us.)
Through that journey, adoption became more and more of our focus. It took several years for us to finally take the plunge and go for it. In the process of deciding how and where to begin we agreed on China. Again, this I believe has been a lifetime process for me (Shanna) because even as a young child I wanted to have an oriental baby. I had a dear friend through elementary and middle school that I cherished. I loved his family and how they all took care of each other. God uses so much in our lives to lead us. It is God who led us to China.
In April of 2005 we began our adoption full force. Our home study was the very first thing that we got done followed by the massive amount of paper work that comes with it. We completed our dossier, which is all the paper work that gets sent to China, in August. In September all our information was sent to China and we were officially logged into there system on October 17, 2005! That is our very important date known as our Log in Date (LID). It is the LID that we watch to see how far China has gotten in the matching process. Right now China has placed children with families that have LID's through September 8, 2005. They have been processing about 2 weeks worth per month. There is approx. 5 weeks between that date and our LID so we can possibly expect our referral sometime in early March. However, as I have learned, it is God who is in control, not the Chinese Gov't. They may speed up a little bit or could slow down again. Who knows??? Only God. Partly as a means of self preservation I have been able to suppress much of my emotions through out the up and down of this unexpected very long wait! As many of you know we thought we would have had Melina in May of this past year. Again, I have learned and I hold on to the sovereignty of God. It is in His perfect timing!
