Our adoption process just took a huge step forward. We’ve been matched with a baby girl from China!

After 14 months of waiting, we received the phone call on May 3 telling us a beautiful 15-month-old girl is waiting for us in southern China! It is completely surreal to know that we have a daughter halfway around the world who we haven’t officially met. But we know God is good and she is in his strong hands, just as she has always been.

Nathan and I started this journey after a sermon on Abraham and Sarah really rocked our worlds at the end of February 2016. February 28, to be exact (which also happens to be the anniversary of our first date). Read about how God showed us we were supposed to adopt here.

We decided on that day that we were going to look into adoption. The following Wednesday, March 2, I spent some time researching how to adopt a child.

Though I didn’t know it at the time, that date had a divine significance. You see, according to the paperwork we were given, March 2 was the exact day she entered the orphanage.

This is not just a crazy coincidence. God has been walking with her, orchestrating our sweet girl’s path to us from the beginning! It is amazing that the very day she entered a Chinese social welfare institute (SWI) for kids without families was the same day we began the path to expand ours.

China Adoption Process

For those of you unfamiliar with how to adopt from China, I’ll provide some background information. China is now a special needs adoption program. This means you cannot adopt children without an identified need.

The “special needs” label is broader than the definition we use here in the United States. While traditional medical diagnoses are under this umbrella, it also includes non-traditional special needs such as older
children, conditions that are correctable with surgery, or simply being a boy. (No Hands But Ours has a great guide to special needs adoptions if you want more info.)

Our adoption agency had us complete a medical conditions checklist (MCC) during the home study phase. This required us to research and discuss in detail the type of special needs we were open to. Ultimately, we
were approved to adopt a boy or girl, age three or under, with mild to moderate correctable special needs.

China, along with the United States, is a member of the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children in Respect of Intercountry Adoption. This is a long way of saying that both countries are committed to
preventing the sale and trafficking of children. It ensures that international adoptions are recognized by both the birth and adoptive countries. (Read this for more information on Hague vs. Non-Hague intercountry adoptions.)

Because Hague countries must prove that adoptive children are truly orphans and provide medical information on the child for prospective parents, it takes several months for a child to be eligible for intercountry adoption. This means it is very rare to adopt a child under a year old.

Also, more than 70% of families awaiting adoption from China prefer a female child. Because of our parameters and openness to a male, we assumed we would be matched with a three-year-old boy.

Having a son already, we were in that mindset. Nathan and I had been unsuccessfully trying to come up with a boy name. I saved my son’s clothes and toys as hand-me-downs. J initially wanted a brother.

Until one day my four-year-old said, “Mommy, we already have two boys in the house, so I think we should get a sister so we can be even.” I laughed it off, explaining that I would be fine as the only female in the house, especially since we were more likely to adopt a boy not much younger than him.

Imagine our surprise (maybe not J’s!) when the adoption agency called with a file for a baby girl who was barely a year old!

Accepting a China Adoption File

When you are pregnant, there is a fairly reliable timeline for when a baby will enter your home. With some exceptions for those born a few weeks early or a couple weeks late, you know it takes about nine months from beginning to end. International adoption is a completely different story.

Some families start with an adoption agency’s waiting child list and go through the process to adopt a specific child. However, we (and most China adoptive families) were matched with a file by our adoption agency after completing our paperwork and being logged in with China’s government.

We were told it could take 6-12 months (or more) to find a child for us. I’m not going to lie; waiting is tough. We kept busy by fundraising and applying for adoption grants, reading about parenting an adopted child, and spending time with our son before he becomes a big brother. (If you are currently funding an adoption, don’t miss my free list of 101 Adoption Fundraising Ideas!)

Then on a normal Wednesday at the office, I receive a phone call from my adoption agency. We had been logged in for just shy of seven months, so I knew it was possible to be matched. Yet it was still a surprise to find myself standing in the breakroom on a conference call with my husband with someone telling us about a 15-month-old girl.

With a flurry of emotions and my coworkers eavesdropping on my end of the conversation, I jotted down a few notes. Advocacy name Cheyenne. Lives in Beiliu. Anemia. Low white blood count. Bald spot on head. Well-liked by nannies. Medical info, video, and photos will be emailed. Need to know by Friday morning.  

Nathan wanted us to look at the file together when we got home that night. There was no way I
could wait that long knowing my potential daughter’s face was waiting in my email! So we saw our sweet girl for the first time in a truck stop Arby’s parking lot off the interstate exit between our offices before noon that day.

Adoption isn’t glamorous. There is trauma and loss that must occur before these kids become eligible for new families. But with the smell of diesel fuel and curly fries lingering in the background, I knew the little girl crawling and exploring toys in the video before me would soon be mine.

I somehow returned to work after we sent the file to be reviewed by a couple of doctors. That night we spoke to our son’s pediatrician who thought things looked mostly good. There were a few areas he wanted to check on after she was home, but didn’t see any major red flags.

The international adoption pediatrician called the next day. She had experience reviewing medical files from China and said they were usually pretty accurate. Her opinion is that the blood counts indicate thalassemia beta minor, which does not require blood transfusions like its more serious counterpart. The bald spot we could see in photos was likely a congenital scalp condition that had healed but would never grow hair.

Our medical due diligence was complete. After much prayer, Nathan and I officially accepted the referral! A beautiful little girl named L is now in our family and soon we’ll get to meet her!

Next Steps

So what’s next? A lot of paperwork for us, money to spend, a room to get ready, plans to make, and then we bring her home in approximately four to six months. Pray for L, for our family, and for everyone involved in
bringing her home.

Be on the lookout for details on our adoption fundraiser yard sale in the coming weeks. Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter to get your free download of 101 Adoption Fundraising Ideas and check out our adoption journey page!

Thanks for reading, praying, and supporting us!

You may also like:

How We Raised $35,123.51 for our Adoption Without Debt

Why Our Family Decided to Adopt from China

What to Expect in the First Year After International Adoption – Part 1