Bringing home two!

Well the good news is out!  We are adopting Meilin Eliana along with Molly.  Here is a little background on how we ended up with one more.  We will probably travel to China sometime this fall and bring them both home together!   

 

Our home study took longer than we had hoped but of course it is always God's timing which is perfect.  Because it was taking awhile (no ones fault just timing on paperwork etc) we had time to decide to get approved for two just in case!  China allows you to adopt two and there are so many children waiting that we just wanted to be open to what God had planned for us.

 

I wasn't actively looking at first but am on some facebook groups that are always advocating for children.  That is how we found Molly as well.  One day someone showed me a picture of a little girl waiting in China.  She thought of me because this precious little girl also has Williams Syndrome just like Molly does.  First I saw this beautiful face that looked so much like a younger version of Molly. 

 Then I was a bit surprised that she had WS too since it is pretty rare.  There are many many many children in China with DS but not WS.  Just like Molly, they didn't even know right away she had it.  I do know of a beautiful 11 year old there right now though with WS if anyone is interested!

 

I started to find our more about Meilin Eliana and the New Day Foster Homes she is in had so many pictures of her.  It seemed from the comments that anyone that has met her fell in love with her as well.  She had so many people praying for a family to come along.  There is one picture where several kids are sitting in a row after preschool and she was the only one that didn't have a family coming for her.  It broke my heart.

We ran into a few roadblocks from there which is typical in most adoptions.  Another agency had her file and at first told me they wouldn't release it to my agency.  I was heartbroken to say the least but vowed to keep fighting for her.  But, with time and trying to protect my heart I started to move on.  I joined another group advocating for children in China to see if there was another child out there for us.  Then just a few days after I joined someone posted Eliana's picture and info!  There she was again!  After some more talking to the agency and help from others, we were finally able to get her file and lock it.  We got preapproval from China this week!

 

We know that she is 4 1/2 years old.  She will be 6 months older than Mia!  She is charming and a very happy little girl.  She loves music and laughter.   She had heart surgery when she was one.  Heart issues are common in children with WS as well as DS.  The two syndromes have so much in common.  Her and Mia will have matching scars on their chests but both are doing great now!

 

So many families were scared away because of WS.  You just don't hear much about it.  From what we know and have learned it isn't a big deal.  That didn't scare us.  I also did a lot of research and talked to many other families that adopted two at once.  They all said go for it!  They would do it again and the children bonded because they had each other.  It wasn't always easy at first but not much harder than one at a time and I just couldn't imagine making her stay in China any longer.

 

We know it won't be easy atleast right away.  It will be two more than need us.  Molly has been through so much in her 9 years that we wanted to make sure we can give her what she needs first of all.  In the end we decided that this in the road God has paved for us.  Were we scared?  Of course!  In the end we will have 4 children with special needs at home.  But, it doesn't matter.  They are beautiful little girls that have no future in China.  We have the support and resources here to give them all their hearts desire.  We will be blessed beyond belief when they come home!

What we need most is support.  First emotional support and prayer!  Adoption is hard.  The paperwork is overwhelming.  The children we adopt have had difficult pasts and trauma so any support we can get helps so much.  We aren't saints, we are just doing what God has called us to do.  We aren't crazy (well technically speaking anyway) we just have a heart for orphans and the bible tells us over and over again to help the widows and the orphans.

 

The second is financial support.  Not everyone is called to adopt but everyone can help give support in many ways.  Adding another child will add an additional $10,000 or so to our adoption.  It is a lot of money and something we took into consideration about adding a second child but I just couldn't see leaving her behind because of money.  This is our 3r and 4th adoption in 3 years.  We were blessed enough to pay for the first two on our own.  This time we didn't have time to recover before we started again.  We hate to have to ask for help and like to do things on our own but it isn't possible. So many people love both our girls in China and the US and can have a part in bringing them home.  Yes adoption is costly but when it comes to a child's life who can put a price on that?

 

We are doing what we can to save and sell things on our own.  I have made quite a bit on my name puzzles and keep selling them.  We will have a huge garage sale in the spring and are trying to come up with other fundraisers.  We have already been blessed by several wonderful donations as well and are so thankful for all of it!  There is a donation button on our blog and donations go through Reece's Rainbow and are tax deductible.  We will post more on funds next week and figure out exactly what we hope to raise.

 

The last thing we will need is help when we first get home.  Life will be busy and crazy.  There will be jet lag to deal with as well!  I will post more on this when we get closer to travel.

For now we are just overjoyed by the love and support we are getting.  We feel incredibly blessed to bring two more girls home and thank you all for you love, support and prayers!

 

 

 It is not hard to see the pure joy in her heart is it?!