let the paper chase begin

Welcome! Please join me as I create the story of our journey to a little princess who is waiting for our family in Taiwan.

We are a family of 6, soon to be 7! We have 4 bio kids ages 11, 9, 7 year old twins, and our princess waiting in Taiwan who is 4.
We started this story awhile ago, July of 2006. God had moved my heart and I felt that adopting a child from another country was His plan for our family. At first I wanted to adopt an infant from China, but we did not meet some of the requirements. We looked at Guatemala, Russia, and Taiwan, and decided that Taiwan was the program for us. In October we had gathered enough information to feel comfortable starting the home study process, so we filed our application. In November, we had some unexpected financial downfalls and decided that we would not be able to move forward with our adoption. I was heartbroken, but I trusted that God would do what was right for our family. I knew that He was watching over our family, and that He knew the plan for us. As hard as it was I kept on going, and tried not to feel discouraged; there was an empty spot in my heart where a little child belonged.

I refocused my energy on raising my four amazing kids, and homeschooling them. One thing that researching adoption did for me was give me a heart for orphans and needy children around the world. I helped my kids to learn more about helping the poor and needy, and helped them understand what it means to be an orphan. Looking back, I am sure that God's plans are perfect and that international adoption has left a permanent burden in our family's hearts to help those in need.

As 2007 kept marching on, the feeling that I was supposed to adopt a child kept tugging at my heart. I made the decision n October to tell my husband that I felt that it was time to try again. At first he was surprised and a little resistant. I think he had made peace with the decision not to adopt, but when I explained to him that this was something I had felt very strongly about all along, he agreed to move forward. We decided to try an independent adoption in Ukraine. We also decided that we would be open to adopting a child from 0-6years old, and we would consider some minor special needs. In November we started our home study and filed our I 600 A.
We finished the home study in December right after Christmas. I was so excited to be moving forward with everything that I bought a stocking for our new daughter, and hung it on the fireplace! We also decorated a bedroom just for her.

In February of 2008 I was starting to get restless waiting for the I 171 H to come because in Ukraine you have to send your dossier over and get logged in before you can travel, then you get a referral while you are in country. I was thinking this could be months and months, because Ukraine had some changes happening, and seemed to be moving slowly. I was feeling discouraged. I started looking at photo listings of waiting children both international and U.S. kids. I also contemplated doing foster care. One night I was feeling really down, I was doubting why I ever started this whole thing. I remembered how I had felt when I first heard God speaking to my heart about adopting. I prayed that night for His guidance,"Father, what should I do?" That night, I found a photo listing that had a photo of our little girl! I could hardly sleep all night, I knew I needed to call the agency that was representing her right away in the morning. That was March 12th 2008, and through a few twists and turns we are holding her contracts in our hands today! Praise God.

We would love to have you with us through this exciting journey. I have already been so encouraged and blessed by other blogs and adoption stories. I hope our story can be a blessing and encouragement to you!