To recap where we are in the process...
- Fall 2008...we began to pray for several children on Reece's Rainbow's web site (Reece's Rainbow is a beautiful ministry that finds forever homes for children with Down Syndrome in other countries. Oftentimes, if they are not adopted before the age of 4, they are placed in mental institutions for the rest of their lives.) :(
- October 26, 2008...God spoke to us very clearly (neat story...I'll post that some day), leading us specifically to a precious little girl in Taiwan named Chia Fen.
- November 23, 2008...First home study meeting with our case worker Tonya...we paid half of home study fee
- December 6, 2008...Second home study meeting
- December 7, 2009...Third home study meeting...paid remainder of home study fee
- December 18, 2008...Home study complete (phew...lots of work!)
- February 2, 2009...The orphanage said we could adopt Chia Fen (whom we have named Grace Jubilee Fen)...officially "matched"!!! :)
- February 9, 2009...Sent in I600-A...also sent photo album, application and birth mother letter to Julie (She's the person we're working with at the placement agency)
- February 13, 2009...Applied for passports
Last week, Julie contacted me to let me know that she is working with another family who is adopting a little girl with Down Syndrome from the same orphanage where we are adopting Grace. Julie said that our 2 families are at the exact same stage in the adoption process, and if we continue on the same path and time frame, the orphanage said that we could travel to adopt our girls on the same day. She gave me Sheryl's email address, and I realized that not only are we adopting from the same orphanage and at the same point in our adoption journey, but we also both found our girls on Reece's Rainbow's web site, and on the RR page of adopting families, their profile appears just above ours! Too coincidental! Now, isn't God full of wonderful surprises! He has given us a family to walk alongside on this incredible journey.
And that brings me to today... Julie emailed to ask for a copy of our passports (orphanage needs them for our paperwork), but we don't yet have them. Incidentally, Julie also emailed our new friends Sheryl and Joby to ask them for copies of their passports too, and they too just applied for theirs and do not have them yet. I had to laugh at how amazing it is that we continue to stay on the same path and at the same rate of speed as they are going. I told Sheryl, "I hope this doesn't slow down our paperwork, but at least we are in this together!" :)
Okay, well, now that we have our blog up and running, I'll be posting all our updates and news here. So, drop by often! :) Thank you for your prayers!
