BEST. NEWS. YET.

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that our adoption journey has not been easy.  

It hasn't been smooth.  Or predicable.  Or even logical.

It's been rough.  And rip-your-heart-out painful.  And long.  R-E-A-L-L-Y long.

In October of 2009, we started the process to bring home two sweet little ones from here.  (More specifically from the tiny teal country on the Gulf of Guinea.)

As we began to sense that door was closing (due to circumstances we could not have anticipated or controlled), our hearts were drawn here.

God used this awesome organization...

and many, many incredible people to open our hearts and our eyes to the need for parents willing to adopt children living with HIV.   In our quest for answers and direction, we learned how far HIV treatment has come since the 1980's, realized how uneducated we really were, and arrived at a point where we were able to say that we were (and are) 100% comfortable bringing a child with HIV into our family.  (Curious about HIV?  Click here.)

In March of this year, we jumped headfirst into HIV adoption.  We fell in love with precious faces while we rushed to complete our dossier (a.k.a. GIGANTIC stack of paperwork).  On June 2, all those hard-won papers finally arrived in a certain country in Eastern Europe.  

We held our breath, hoping to hear any day that we'd been invited to travel to meet our kids.  Instead...this - news that the country we hoped to adopt from had changed their laws, making HIV-positive children under five basically unadoptable outside their own country.  

Parents who had submitted their papers in May were sent travel dates.  

Parents who submitted their papers on June 2 were sent nothing.

Later in June, we received news that the law might be changed again on October 11.  July, August, and September were filled with hope, anxiety, and sadness (sometimes all at once).  The first days of October were some of the longest days of my life.  

October 11 came and nothing.  No law change.  No real news.

Through the roller coaster that 2011 has been, I have hung on to my hope to adopt a little one with HIV.  (My husband might tell you that I'm just a teeny bit stubborn.)  I have prayed and cried and dreamed about the children I know are waiting in orphanages in Eastern Europe.  

Since October 11, Jeremy and I have been praying for new direction.  Praying from the depths of our hearts that God would open closed doors or clearly lead us in a new direction.  

I wanted the open doors.  

God chose the new direction.

Last month I called our Ghana agency with a question about updating our paperwork.  Our case worker suggested that we consider transferring to another one of their country programs, like...maybe...here.

My first thought was China?  Don't you have to be rich and really patient to adopt from there?  (I'm pretty much 0 for 2 on that list.)

Nope.  Apparently, many people (me included!) confuse China's Traditional Program with their Special Needs Program.  While you do have to wait 5-6 years (or maybe more) to adopt a young, healthy Chinese child, there are many (like 2,000) little ones waiting who are considered special needs.

The China program representatives went above and beyond in helping us make our decision about whether China was a fit for us.  They answered calls from their cell phones, sent about a bazillion emails, and even petitioned the agency director to transfer all the money we paid to the Ghana program into our China account.  A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

We sent our China Pre-Application on Friday, November 18.  

Many of you prayed for us on my birthday - Tuesday, November 22.  

On Monday, November 28, we got a call at 9:45 p.m.  Our agency had found a little boy they thought might be our son.

We talked and prayed and sought counsel from others.  We researched our little guy's special needs.  (He has several needs - not HIV - that we feel are very manageable for our family.)  We sent our initial paperwork to China on Thursday, November 30.

And, just a couple of hours ago, we received our initial approval (a.k.a. PA) from China.  This means that we are officially matched with one handsome little man.  In 9-12 months (practically forever, I know!), we'll board a plane and head to China to pick up our son.  

OUR SON.

Want to meet him? 

At one point, the international specialist for China said to me, "I just wish you guys had found me first."

But, you know what, we weren't supposed to.  

I do not understand what we've been through.  There are no easy answers.  There's no cliche explanation.

I do know that my heart has changed over the last twenty-six months.  My world is bigger.  My heart is broken for children - imperfect in the eyes of the world - who are precious in the sight of our Heavenly Father and who desperately need mamas and daddies to love on them.  Children whose needs were outside of my box before I started this journey.

And, most important of all, had we found the China program twenty-six months ago, this beautiful boy would not be our son. 

You guys - my bloggy friends - have been an amazing part of this journey.  You've cried, prayed, and supported me in SO. MANY. WAYS.

Please keep praying as we continue in a new direction.  This new adventure is just beginning.  We're starting from scratch on our new GIGANTIC stack of paperwork.  It will probably be 9-12 months before we can travel to China to bring our little one home.  

(I so wish it could be tomorrow!)

Before I sign off, I have one more little request to make of all of you.  We are totally, hopelessly, disastrously stuck without a single boy's name that we can agree on.  Suggestions?