How Much Longer?!?!?!?!

One thing that I did not share was that Robert and I are also on a "Waiting Child" list. This list is really a list for parents who are open to adopting special needs children. It's really, children with medical needs but they range from congenital anomalies, mild deformities (some are surgically corrected in China while others may have surgeries in the states or others may not require ANY surgeries) .........you get the idea.

Robert and I felt that perhaps our daughter might not be born the "perfectly healthy" daughter, but no matter how God presented her to the world, that she would still be the perfect daughter for us! We felt called to REALLY leave ourselves open to what GOD WANTS FOR US, not necessarily what WE think is best. We've learned that we tend to screw it up really badly when we do it our way and not God's so - hey, we know He does have the perfect daughter for us.

Parents who are open to adopt special needs children from China typically recieve referrals earlier than those who are still waiting for a healthier child. OH - 'referrals' is the term used for the child that China matches to the parent. A batch of paperwork full of babies matched to parents is mailed to the adoption agency and they call the parents matched to announce their 'referral' which includes the baby's picture, bit of history and current developmental status. (My next post, I'll jot down terms and how our process has been - for those of you who want to adopt from China - be prepared for PAPERWORK HELL!!!!)

SO - that leaves us the question.....HOW MUCH LONGER WILL WE WAIT??? WAAAHHH! When we initially attended the adoption seminar, the wait for a child from China was 9-11 months!!! Wow, well, 9-11 months have turned into 23 months according to our agency website, America World. We're at 14 months so for a healthier baby, we're looking realistically around next August. A child who is considered special needs might be sooner.

We have a tendancy to get nervous about this wait seeing that we are "older" parents. You want to make sure that you're still healthy enough to be around and an able parent when the kid gets 20, you know???? But the Holy Spirit reminds us that God is STILL on the throne, in control, HIS timing is perfect and that He will never give us more than we can handle. THAT - is a promise I can handle.

In the meantime, we just.......live life and wait patiently for the daughter God has for us. Rock on!