China Girl Update

Just an update on the adoption process - our paperwork with immigration including fingerprints and our home study "expired" on August 28th.  Thus, we updated our home study over the summer and submitted our immigration extension, and we just received approval of our extension!  The paperwork and process can be so overwhelming - I was beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed just with these updates, how quickly I had forgotten how much effort was involved in pulling together the complete dossier last year! 

Chances are we will likely have to submit another extension (or two) of our immigration paperwork and another home study update before we actually receive a referral as our extension expires next December, and the current wait time is approximately 4 years (we are approximately at the 15 month mark from our log-in-date (LID) in China).  There are so many factors, however, that can impact the wait time - number of families with completed paperwork, number of families who drop out of the program, number of families adopting from the Waiting Child program, among other things.  We are in the Waiting Child program as well which means that we can review referrals of little ones with special needs.  This may shorten our wait time, we will see. 

Although not physically a part of our family yet, China Girl holds a place in our hearts.  Just this past weekend Jack was asked how many kids are in our family.  This shouldn't be such a complex question, right?  Well, Jack went on to explain that, in addition to him, Samuel and Lydia, there is his brother who died (this is the simplest way for him to explain it) and there is China Girl.  Poor lady who asked, who knew she would get such an answer as this!

God has His plan and will bring China Girl (physically) into our family in His perfect timing.  Until then, we wait and pray for this little girl who is at the end of our red thread. 

“An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but will never break.” –An ancient Chinese belief