The Beginning

Greg and I had been discussing for some time about expanding our family.  We had a bigger house and a bigger car, and we had a very big Father calling us to listen.  We started the our homestudy back in May of 2010, but several things waylayed our intentions.  After everything had settled down (which was around October), we called our social worker to come out and see the new house....we were ready.  The only problem we were having was choosing a program.  We were going to start the process to do a  domestic waiting child adoption from foster care, but something was holding me back.  I didn't feel a connection to it like I had with our prior adoptions from Guatemala.  I was still researching programs and beginning to entertain the idea of another international adoption when our homestudy agency posted about a little cutie from the China Special Needs program that was in need of a family. So I started researching the program and the more I learned, the more I liked.  I joined groups and asked questions, I talked to different agencies and to different adovacy websites.  I was convinced and when I told Greg all about it, he was ready to move forward to.  There are two ways to go about adopting in the Special Needs program.  You can do all the paperwork ahead of time.  This allows you to be matche with any child on the shared list.  Or you can look for a child on the special focus list, be matched, and then do all your paperwork.  We elected for option B because in oder to be on the Special Focus list you had to have been waiting for at least 2 months....most have been waiting years.  Since we decided to go with option B it also had two choices of how to do things....you can register with an agency and tell them everything you are looking for and have them match you to a child or you can look for yourself, find a child of interest and proceed from there with that agency. Once again we went with option B.  It felt like the most proactive thing to do.  Now we had to decide what "type" of child we were open to. We were having our homestudy done for up to two children, either gender, age 0-12.  Plenty of options but we were torn about what age to request, younger or older children.  The kids wanted a little sibling and in many ways that would be great.  Greg and I felt led to an older sibling and in many ways that would also be great, so what to do.  So I decided to find an agency that could help us to see the most files and that was highly regarded.  I found WACAP.  They were not new to me, I have heard of them before and have a few adoption friends who have used them in the past.  They are wonderful!  And so very helpful and that was a great comfort.  At first, we requested to see a few files of some of their younger children.  But after viewing their files, we knew our future son or daughter was not a younger child.  We knew the reason they didn't fit with our family was because we weren't listening to what God had spoken on our hearts so many months before.  I told our agency rep about wanting to adopt a waiting older child.  It just so happed that they were adding new children to their list and she suggested a few I might like.  There were a couple of wonderful kids we were interested in, but one we both felt strongly about...ZWQ.  Something in his eyes and his file spoke to us.  We were hooked.  He is 8 years old, with what Greg and I consider a non-special need.  He has had the benefit of having a foster family for the last 6 years, a rarity.  He is very smart, shy with adults and outgoing with his friends.  He loves cartoons, games, and Tae Kwon Do.  We can't wait to welcome him home and into his forever family.