Li'l Bean's Li'l Boyfriends

Once Li'l Bean gets home, she will undoubtedly have to follow Daddy's No-Dating-'Til-You're-35 Rule. (Sorry, boys, Li'l Miss and Li'l Bean are pretty much off-limits until sometime after 2040.)  While she's in Ch*na, though, it looks like Li'l Bean's orphanage is pretty much chock full of adorable potential boyfriends. Want to meet some of them? I'd love to introduce you.

Writing a post about adopting boys from Ch*na has been on my heart for a long time.  If you're like most people I've talked with, the idea of Ch*nese boys waiting to be adopted is a bit shocking to you. When you think of adoption from Ch*na, you probably picture rows and rows of cribs holding sweet baby girls. Maybe you're even one of the people who has said to me, "You brought home boys from Ch*na?" or "I thought Ch*na had lots of girls waiting to be adopted!"

If that's you, don't feel badly. Misconceptions about adoption from Ch*na are pretty widespread. Personally, I used to be convinced that adoption from Ch*na was only for very wealthy people who wanted to wait years and years for their child. (Oh, and then there was that part about being super skinny.) Boy, was I misinformed! Our adoption process taught me that not-so-rich mommies and daddies with a little tummy pudge can actually go from application to travel in less than a year. 

Trends in Ch*nese adoption have been changing for years, but the general public's knowledge of this evolution is lagging. When it comes to the number of boys waiting, the public's perception is way off.  Ch*na maintains a "shared list" of children currently registered for adoption.  (This list gets its name from the fact that it is shared by all agencies placing children from Ch*na.)  There are typically around 2,000 children on this list.  In recent months, approximately 3-out-of-4 of the children listed have been boys.  You read that correctly: roughly 1,500 of 2,000 waiting children are boys.

There are many reasons to account for the large number of waiting boys.  Some of them are actually very positive. For many years, Ch*nese parents have only been allowed one child, and the prized baby was a boy. Thankfully, the stigma toward baby girls has been lessening. The One Child Policy has been somewhat relaxed, so parents are sometimes able to try for a second child if their first is a girl.  Also, domestic adoption in Ch*na is on the rise. (YAY!) Healthy babies - and even some babies with surgically-repaired needs - are now being adopted in Ch*na. Many of those healthy baby girls who used to fill the waiting lists are now being adopted in-country.  These are encouraging changes!

Unfortunately, birth defects are on the rise in Ch*na. Between 2003-2013, birth defects in Ch*na increased by 70%. While Ch*nese parents are letting go of the stigma attached to having a girl, children with medical needs are still very stigmatized. Orphanage directors say that 90-98% of children entering their care in recent years have some type of special need. This means that most boys in orphanages have some type of medical need. 

It's a pretty big change in expectation for adoptive families to shift their focus from healthy baby girl to boy with special needs. Because of this, there are many more families open to young girls - especially those with "minor" needs - than to boys. This fact breaks my heart for so many reasons. In fact, I could probably fill another blog post (or ten) with my thoughts on the joys of mothering little guys. For now I'll just say that my boys - who came to us through the Ch*na Special Needs Program - are priceless treasures who bring joy to my heart and adventure to our family each and every day.

Li'l Bean's orphanage is no exception to the trends I've mentioned above. Our adoption agency is partnered with her orphanage (meaning they get many newly-listed children's files). Currently, they have sixteen boys waiting and just one girl. I know that my little blog can only do so much to change our entrenched views of Ch*nese adoption. One thing I can do, though, is demonstrate a real need. I want you to meet Li'l Bean's boyfriends. Each and every one of them is just as real, just as full of life, and just as in need of a family as our Bean.

Below are pictures and short bios of some of the boys waiting in Bean's orphanage. The names I've used are privacy names given by our agency. Sadly, the little guys whose bios are written in red have been waiting since Christmas. They were listed at the same time as our sweet girl, and they have yet to find their families. Their files will be returned to China's general list very soon. The boys with blue bios have been waiting since January and will go back to the shared list in April.

I implore you to take a few minutes to meet these sweet boys. The bios I've included are short, and there are lots of adorable pictures and even videos. Please pray for families to come forward for each one of these little guys, and consider whether you might have room at your house for one (or two!) of them.

Maverix - DOB 5/2013

This little man has stolen my heart. He shares a birthday with our daughter, and they have the same heart defect.  Unlike our daughter, Maverix has had surgery to repair his heart, but he still needs surgery for his bilateral cleft lip and cleft palate. Maverix's file says he enjoys baths and watching cartoons. You can watch him in action here.

Brinx - DOB 11/2012

Brinx has the cutest smile. His file says he is "smart, cute, and strong". His special need is post-operative anal atresia. (For those of you who live in the Midwest, Nationwide Children's is a great hospital for children with this need.) You can see Brinx in action here.

Parx - DOB 4/2011

This cutie is my Li'l Dude's age.  From this picture, he looks to be just as rough-and-tumble as my little guy.  Parx has a developmental delay (particularly in expressive language) and a history of seizures. He has good physical development and especially likes going to playground to swing. You can see this handsome little guy cuddle with his foster mother here.

Merrix - DOB 1/2013

This chunky-cheeked little man is described as "fat and cute". He likes to touch his caregiver's face while being cuddled.  He has PKU, which requires a special diet, and developmental delays. See him in action here. 

Kennewix - DOB 11/2012

I adore this sweet boy. Our Li'l Man had this haircut when we met him in Ch*na. Kennewix is said to have weakened muscle force in his limbs.  He likes watching children play and taking baths.  His file says that he likes to beat the water, splash, and smile while bathing.  You can watch a short video of Kennewix here.

Baileywix - DOB 5/2011

I love, love, love Baileywix. (Okay, I pretty much love them all.) This sweet boy has microtia (undeveloped ears) with some hearing loss. He is not completely deaf; the orphanage provided video that shows him following verbal directions. Baileywix has been in a foster-type environment.  Our agency has lots of pictures of this little guy.  There are baby pictures and pics of him cuddling with other foster children, like this one...

Baileywix is described as busy and bright-eyed.  You can watch him here.

Cedrix - DOB 10/2008

Is Cedrix handsome, or what? This sweet six-year-old is described by his caregivers as "smart and lovely". Cedrix was abandoned when he was three years old and now lives in a foster family. Cedrix is deaf and cannot speak, but he uses simple sign language and is able to express his needs.  Our agency believes he actually attends a school for deaf children, but this has not yet been confirmed.  Click here to watch a recent video of Cedrix walking to school.

Brunswix - DOB 3/2013

This little cutie celebrates his second birthday this month. His special need is post-op anal atresia. Brunswix is developmentally on target, and he is oh-so cute with those chunky cheeks. Check him out on video here.

Eastwix - DOB 2/2012

This little guy sounds like he is all boy. His report says he likes the swings, slide, and playing in the sand. He can speak the word "car" loudly when he sees a car. His special need is a brain scan difference. Watch out, his smile in this video will melt your heart. 

Renwix - DOB 4/2007

This adorable little guy is said to be clever, easygoing, and open. His file says he likes communicating with people and learns quickly.  He likes to read and can count and write from 1-100. He lives in a foster family where he helps his younger brother and sister put on his shoes and helps his foster mother with the trash. His special need is listed as Dandy-Walker syndrome.  Unfortunately, I don't have a video of this super cute little dude.

Zaxby - DOB 11/2012

Sweet Zaxby was abandoned when he was four months old. He has a heart defect and Down Syndrome. He likes to be teased and played with. Check out his teeth coming in and his sweet clapping in this video.

Harwix - 5/2008

Harwix has major delays due to brain underdevelopment. He lives in a foster home and loves getting attention from his caregivers.

Lexington - DOB 10/2011

Little Lexington was abandoned in October 2013 when he was two years old. He has muscle weakness in his legs but can walk with support. He likes to hold the milk bottles and feed the younger children. Check out his super cute pout and his All-American PJs in this video clip.

Drexler - DOB 9/2006

Drexler was found abandoned when he was two years old. He cannot hear or speak, but he has good a memory and is observant. Drexler also has a heart defect. He attends a special school for handicapped children.  He file says he gets good grades, respects his teacher, and gets along well with other children. 

Dominix - DOB 12/2009

Dominix was abandoned when he was three years old. He has been living in the orphanage for years because no one submitted his adoption paperwork. Dominix is blind, but he is described as a bright, smart, and independent boy. He lives in foster care and likes playing with other children.

Essex - DOB 11/2012

Essex is described in his file as having "smart eyes". He has postoperative hydrocephalus, a left indirect inguinal hernia, and low muscular tension. He can hold his milk bottle to drink, and he likes taking baths.

If you've made it this far, thank you! I'm so grateful that you were willing to take a few minutes to see these little men. These sweet guys, viewed by the world as imperfect in some way, have taken the place of healthy baby girls as the face of Ch*na's orphan crisis. These splashing, swinging, giggling boys are filling Ch*na's orphanages. They are waiting for mommies and daddies who could use a little more a crazy, a little more mud, and a few more sword battles in their families. Maybe one of those families is yours. 

Three Little Letters

If you read my blog during our last adoption, you know that the road to an adoption from Ch*na is marked with initials: PA, DTC, LID, LSC, TA. Ever since we committed to Li'l Bean, we've been racing to be DTC (Dossier To China).  Unfortunately, getting our dossier from my trusty purple accordion folder to Ch*na has not gone smoothly.  There was the little snow/ice issue at the FedEx facility in Memphis.  Then our agency suggested they hold on to our dossier for a few days because offices in Ch*na were closed for Ch*nese New Year.

Last Friday morning, our agency was getting our dossier ready to go when they ran into a computer glitch. They were hoping it was a temporary issue, but the glitch was still there Friday afternoon.  And Monday.  Even after the staff in Ch*na went back to work Wednesday, our file was glitchy.

Thankfully, our case manager loves me even when I email her 178 times a day has superpowers.  This morning she emailed to let me know that she was finally able to access our file in Ch*na's computer system. So, as of this afternoon, we have some new initials.

We are FINALLY...

Can you tell one of our li'l superheroes is pretty excited about being one step closer to meeting her sister? 

Ice Storms and Shipping Delays

The paperwork for this adoption is trying to kill me.  I thought I could breathe a big sigh of relief when our dossier went off to the Ch*nese Consulate or at least when it got picked up from the Consulate and overnighted to our agency.  Not so much.  

Our courier retrieved our dossier on Monday and handed it off to FedEx Monday afternoon.  It was supposed to arrive at our adoption agency sometime Tuesday.  Tuesday afternoon I got an email from our case manager saying that our dossier had not arrived.  When I checked the FedEx tracking, I saw something like this.

"No estimated delivery date available at this time"?!? That is not a message you want to read in connection with a stack of papers that you have shed blood (well, almost), sweat, and tears over.  Apparently a giant snow/ice storm hit Memphis this week and caused a "sorting issue" at the FedEx facility.  Ack!

So, Tuesday night I had a minor emotional breakdown and may or may not have chosen to drown my sorrows in two bowls of snickerdoodle popcorn.  I actually freaked out less than I could have; perhaps because this process has already been filled with more surprise paperwork issues that I could possibly have anticipated.  (All of this is totally preparing me to be a better mom of four kids, right?)

Thankfully, our package escaped the snow and made its way to our agency Wednesday afternoon. Our case manager was sweet enough to email me to let me know it was safely in her hands.  Maybe now I can breathe that big sigh of relief.

They aren't expecting any hurricanes over the Pacific next week, are they?

The Amazing Officer B

If you read this post, you know that February didn't start off on a productive note.  After lots of incredible progress in January, the beginning of February involved more redoing than doing.  In fact, after I wrote my sad post, I got a call from our courier saying that yet another document had been certified incorrectly and had to go back to the Secretary of State.  Another document to fix, and I was already losing my mind over the fingerprint appointment letters that still hadn't shown up.

Fast forward to Friday, February 6.  I rushed home from school pick-up, absolutely certain that the long-awaited fingerprint appointment letters would be in our mailbox.  After all, it had been 15 long days of waiting, and U.S. Immigration had pretty much promised 10 to 14.

The mailbox was empty.  Again.

I confess, all my determination to wait patiently left me.  The clock was ticking ever closer to Ch*nese New Year, which would mean delays in getting our paperwork through the final stages of certification.  It just wasn't right that getting fingerprint appointment letters in the mail was taking longer than our entire twelve-page home study.  (I mean, you should be able to print and mail a one-page appointment notice infinitely faster than you can write a short novel about someone's entire family, right?)

So I called U.S. Immigration, and in my best my-daughter-needs-heart-surgery voice, I told them that this process was taking way. too. long.  We had a letter from a pediatric cardiologist requesting that they expedite our case because of our daughter's need for surgery; however, I'd been told I couldn't submit it until we got fingerprint appointment letters.  Thankfully, the Immigration Officer who answered the phone gave me permission to send my expedite request.

I quickly pulled up our expedite email, which I may or may not have written earlier that week and saved in my Drafts Folder.  I glanced at the time as I sent it.  It was after 4:00pm on a Friday afternoon; I couldn't imagine there was any way someone would have time to look at my email, let alone actually respond, before the weekend.

About 32 minutes later, my phone rang.  It was Jeremy saying that the Immigration Officer assigned to our case had read our email and responded. The Amazing Officer B had called him to say that she'd gotten our email, that she would be working the next day (Saturday!), and that she'd be glad to email our fingerprint appointments if we did not receive them in Saturday's mail.  What?!?

I mentioned before that we've been blessed by some pretty awesome people who have walked with us in one way or another on our adoption journeys.  The Amazing Officer B is absolutely one of them.  True to her word, she called the next afternoon.  Our letters still hadn't arrived, so she sent them via encrypted email with some totally adorable password like "sweetgirl".  Not even kidding.

With appointments in hand, we were able to drive to our state capital that Monday to walk-in for fingerprinting.  (Our actual appointments had been arbitrarily assigned for a date later in February.)  No one in the office mentioned we were there on the wrong day, and we were in and out in less than ten minutes.  It was a fun little date, and we even had Cheesecake Factory gift cards to pay for a super yummy lunch.  (Thanks, Mom and Dad!)

Officer B said she should have our fingerprint results in her computer by the next morning and would email our approval as soon as she finished it.  Getting the approval certified would involve another trip to our state capital (about five hours roundtrip), so I made sure my schedule was clear for the next day and found a friend to hang out with my boys.

Then things started to get crazy.  Before bed, Li'l Dude had a fever, so I canceled the babysitter.  The boys would just have to join me on my adventure across the state.  The next morning we hung out at home, waiting for the phone to ring.  When it did, it was Jeremy with bad news.

The Amazing Officer B had our approval ready, but there was an issue with our home study.  She needed three words taken out.  Easy enough, right?  Except those three little words were on the notarized signature page.  She would need our social worker to make the changes, resign the page, and have it notarized again.

Thankfully, our social worker is also amazing.  She had a new page emailed to Officer B in no time flat.  There was just one little problem.  Now that we had a new home study, I needed a certified copy of that too.  Which meant I now needed to drive to our social worker's office (an hour away and not any closer to our state capital), pick up a new home study, print our Immigration approval, and still make it to the state capital by 5:00pm.  Yikes!

I decided to head to our social worker's office, hoping and praying that our approval would be done and could be printed when I got there.  Just as I was leaving town, I got an email from Officer B.  Our approval was done, but their entire computer system had crashed.  I'm not kidding.  I truly didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this point, so I tried really hard to laugh and set off for our social worker's office anyway.

Over an hour later, I had our new home study but still no Immigration approval.  I also had two little boys and a lot of Chicken McNuggets in my car and a R-E-A-L-L-Y long drive ahead of me.  I decided to email Officer B to see if she had an update on the computer system.  This is where her superhero alter-ego kicked in, and she completely saved the day.

She started emailing me regular updates (including smiley emoticons and bold lettering and a profuse apology).  Then, the system came back up and she emailed our approval right as I pulled into a friend's driveway.  A friend, a printer, an emailed approval...perfect.

Just after 2:00pm, I hit the road...again.  This time I had all the paperwork I needed in my trusty purple accordion folder.  (That thing has been with me on more trips to the Secretary of State than I can count.)  We made it to the state capital with time to spare, and enjoyed leftover Cheesecake Factory yumminess and some Incredibles on our drive home.

About eight hours after leaving our house, Li'l Man, Li'l Dude, and I made it back.  The day had started out disastrously; but, thanks to the Amazing Officer B, everything worked out in the end.  The rest of our paperwork was certified and on its way to the Ch*nese Consulate.  It should be picked up tomorrow and on its way to our agency before the closures for Ch*nese New Year.  Phew!

Once again, I'm left feeling incredibly thankful for people who have gone above and beyond to help us bring our sweet girl into our family.  All of my you're-so-amazing emails can't really express how grateful I am to people like our social worker and the Amazing Officer B.  The things they have done, even the things they might consider small or routine, put the wind back in my emotional sails and make this roller coaster of a journey just a bit easier.

Oh, and that's not all. Officer B has already offered to expedite the second part of our Immigration approval.  I told you, she's amazing.

Li'l Bean's Broken Heart

Some of you may have noticed that our adoption process has been moving along rather quickly.  (Or maybe you've just noticed that I've been making the 2-1/2 hour drive to our state capital about every other day lately.)  We officially started this adoption from scratch on December 30.  In spite of some paperwork drama, our entire dossier should arrive at our agency -- notarized, sealed, and ready to go to Ch*na -- on Tuesday!!!  

Part of our rush is because we absolutely cannot wait to hold this sweet girl in our arms.

(Can you blame us?  Look at the sweetness!)

But there's another reason, too.  As I mentioned before, our Li'l Bean has an unrepaired heart condition.  Most children born with her heart condition have surgery when they are between four and six months old.  Our girl will be two in May.  

Being as this is CHD (Congenital Heart Defect) Awareness Week, I thought it would be an appropriate time to share a little more about our Bean's broken heart.  Li'l Bean has a condition called Tetralogy of Fallot or TOF.  People with this condition usually have a combination of four heart abnormalities (although some have only three and some have even more).  Her medical records are a little vague, but it appears that Bean's heart has five defects.

Here's a quick summary of what's going on in Bean's heart.  (I'm a newbie heart mama, so this is a very basic description.)

1.) Pulmonary Infundibular Stenosis - The outflow tract of the right ventricle is narrowed.  This makes it difficult for blood to leave the right ventricle.

2.) Overriding Aorta - The aorta is the largest blood vessel in the body and usually connects to the left ventricle.  In Bean's heart, the aorta is connected to both the left and right ventricle.  Thus, it is said to "override" the right ventricle.

3.) Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD) - This defect means that there is a hole in the wall between the two ventricles in Bean's heart.  This hole allows oxygenated and unoxygenated blood to mix in her left ventricle.

4.) Right Ventricular Hypertrophy - The heart is a muscle.  Because of the narrowing of the tract leaving the right ventricle, the wall (muscle) of the right ventricle works overtime to pump blood through that opening.  The muscle is thicker than normal because it is working so hard.

5.) Left Pulmonary Artery Stenosis (This defect occurs in 40% of people who have TOF.) - I'm not 100% sure that Bean has this abnormality, but it appears that she might.  This means that her left pulmonary artery is narrower than it should be.

What does this all mean?  Basically, the combination of defects in Bean's heart are working together to hinder the flow of oxygen to her body.  TOF is a cyanotic heart defect, meaning that people with unrepaired TOF have low oxygen levels and often appear blue because their body is receiving a mix of oxygenated and unoxygenated blood.  This lack of oxygen is exacerbated when they are upset or exerting themselves.  Li'l Bean is cyanotic and has clubbing (abnormal curling) of her fingers due to a lack of oxygen to her extremities.  

After we requested to review Bean's file, we got this sad little video.  (Yes, we have a real live video of our daughter!) In the video, Bean is very upset.  You can see how blue she is (especially over her upper lip).  If you look closely, you can also see the clubbing of her fingers.

The Child Advocacy Specialist from our agency emailed the video to me the week after Christmas.  The first time I watched it, I just knew Bean was ours.  I remember I was walking into Target and clicked on the link right away.  It seems strange to see a little one screaming her head off and think, She's my baby; but that's exactly what I did.

So...what does the future look like for our Li'l Bean?  First, she needs to surgery to fix her little broken heart.  Hopefully her heart can be repaired in one surgery.  She might need a series of surgeries.  There's also a slight possibility that the doctors will be able to help her heart but not fully repair it.  And, while we certainly hope this isn't the case, she's ours no matter what.

And after surgery? Well, maybe she'll be an Olympic gold medalist like this guy.  (Betcha' didn't know Shaun White has repaired TOF.)

Photo Credit: www.shaunwhite.com

Photo Credit: www.theoldergamers.com

Or maybe she'll just be a little girl who loves to ride bikes and play princess and get into all kinds of mischief with her big sister and big brothers.  A little girl who is loved.  A little girl who knows what it means to be part of a family.

We can't wait to make her part of ours.

Slogging through the Paperwork Jungle

I've had a yucky week...and a half.  It's absolutely February's fault.  (Oh how I despise you, second month of the year.)  I admit, the snow-covered world outside my window is breathtakingly gorgeous.  And I love it...for the entire month of December.  And January.  By the time February gets here, my toes are itching for flip-flops, and I just want to go camping.  Whoever decided to make February the shortest month of the year is one of my heroes.  Seriously.

It hasn't helped that all the brilliant progress we were making on our paperwork has come to a complete standstill.  Instead of trekking through the paperwork jungle, I pretty sure I'm getting strangled by an anaconda.  Or drowning in quicksand.

When I last posted, our U.S. Immigration application had zipped across the country and been received at their lockbox.  The next step is for them to send us an appointment time to be fingerprinted.  (Because, you know, our fingerprints have gone all spy ninja since the 14 times we were fingerprinted for our last adoption.  Just sayin'.)  In spite of my dramatic daily sprint to the mailbox, the mailman hasn't come through for me yet.

So...that stinks.

While I wait ever-so impatiently for that appointment letter, I've been trying to finish up a few other loose ends with the rest of our dossier.  Last week I collected all of our out-of-state documents and prepped them to go to a courier in D.C.  Both our birth certificates and our marriage certificate are from out-of-state, so they can't be processed by the Chin*se Consulate that oversees our state.  Instead they have to go through the Chin*se Embassy in D.C., which requires that they first go through the U.S. Department of State in D.C.  (Complicated, I know.)  

So far, these documents had been ordered from our birth counties and then sent back (or carried in by my lovely mom) for authentication from the Secretary of State in our birth states.  I had then wrestled them into a package with two checks, a money order, a request form for the Consulate, copies of our passports, a cover letter for the courier, two sets of copies of each document, and a return F*dEx envelope.  (I managed all this in spite of having a total breakdown getting a little anxious when F*dEx.com would not open on either computer in the church office as 5:00pm rapidly approached.)

Our three little documents flew off to D.C. overnight.  The next day, someone posted in one of my adoption groups that birth certificates and a marriage certificate are no longer required for families who have previously adopted from Ch*na.  I frantically called my agency, and they confirmed this change.  Really?  I mean, I'm all for less paperwork; but I would have loved, loved, loved to get that tidbit of information 24 hours earlier.  Thankfully, I contacted the courier in time so our two checks, our money order, our birth certificates, our marriage certificate, and our return F*dEx label are now flying back from D.C. after their fun little field trip.

Not to be deterred, on Monday I collected all our other documents to go to the Consulate that oversees our state.  I printed/copied/dug up pretty much all the same things I had sent to D.C. and read over the courier's instructions 47 times.  One line said, "Please check your authentication pages from your Secretary of State, as they do make mistakes."  I chuckled at this one.  Surely that wouldn't be necessary.  I have total confidence in my Secretary of State to correctly print the notary's name and the date the paper was signed on the authentication sheet.

But, I'm a tad OCD.  So I checked.  And two of our nine documents were authenticated incorrectly.  The authentication sheets list the woman who signed the document instead of the notary.  Ugh.  I guess I'll be taking a little field trip to the Secretary of State's office.

So, tonight I need to remind myself that these are all all small things.  They're easily fixed.  When it comes to bringing home our girl, I can drive to the Secretary of State one. more. time.  Or fill out one more paper.  Or send one more F*dEx.  I need to ditch my stinky drowning-in-quicksand attitude.

In that light, seven of our ten documents are headed in the right direction. My mailman will show up with that fingerprint letter sometime soon.  And February?  Well, it's already 14% over.

A Little Christmas Surprise

We've been talking about starting the adoption process again for awhile.  Over the last 25 months we've added two adorable boys to our family, bought a house that had been empty and unloved for a very long time, owned two houses at once for a very long time, listed and then tried to sell a house for a very long time (showing a house with three preschoolers is pretty much at the top of my list of 10 Least Favorite Things Ever), and fixed the garage door/carpet/drywall/toilets/cabinets/appliances/lighting/doors and more in our new house.  So, even though some of us have been sick with baby fever for quite a while,  those of us who tend to be a little more rational stinkin' slow to get on board suggested that maybe waiting to bring another child into our family would be a good idea.

For the last few months of 2014, Jeremy and I talked and prayed about the right time to begin the adoption process.  We included our kids in this discussion, and they were not slow to get on board.  (Li'l Miss has been asking for a sister pretty much since we got off the plane in 2012.  Li'l Man keeps announcing that he wants five boys and five girls, while proudly holding up both hands full of fingers. Li'l Dude...well...we're counting on him getting used to the idea.)  As a family, we decided to move forward at the beginning of 2015.  

Then we got a little Christmas surprise.

On Christmas Eve, our agency posted the files of several newly assigned waiting children.  When we woke up on Christmas morning, even more little ones had been listed.  One of those sweeties seemed like a good fit for our family.  (Actually, most of them did, but someone is cutting me off at one this time.)  We asked to see this little one's file and received it right away; because the awesome ladies on our adoption team work to find kids families even on Christmas.

On December 30, we officially told our agency we were ready to begin the adoption process, and that we would like to ask Ch*na's permission to make that little Christmas baby part of our family.  We've been quiet about this news because we've been waiting for Pre-Approval (PA) from Ch*na.  This is the first step in the process of adopting a specific child (basically the "matching" step).

This afternoon we got a call from our adoption agency.  They said that we have officially received PA for...

...OUR DAUGHTER!

I am beyond thrilled to introduce you to our Li'l Bean (who, in our unique family tradition, will probably not have an actual English name until the day we meet her).

Li'l Bean is 19 months old and has an unrepaired heart defect (which I will share more about in another post).  She has stolen our hearts, and we can't wait to meet her.  We are working hard to keep our process moving along.

In the meantime...girl names, anyone?