I'm Going to Elaborate . . .

I had a peripety.

First of all, let me say that it has been our prayer that we bring Avery home this year.

We have been waiting, officially according to China, since 12-11-06 to be matched with a baby girl from China. That is a long time, but we needed that length of time to have Carlie and to get to where we are now - so all is good, but enough of the waiting! Now that Carlie is over a year old we can officially accept a referral, if only China were on our schedule. So, according to the "predictions" made by websites that do that sort of thing with the China referral dates, if China started speeding up their process and referring even more children a month, then it could still be 2011 before we have our daughter, if that! So, Lyndal and I have been waiting to decide what to do - should we switch countries? should we stick it out and wait? should we switch agencies (we love Dillon)? should we go through the special needs program? We wanted God to guide us - open doors, close doors, make paths very clear . . .

Then the peripety came:
I read this blog post: http://gatheringpeeps.typepad.com/gathering_peeps/2009/02/page/2/ from a fellow Dillon mom who has adopted three children from China (has two biological children as well). It basically says that satan doesn't want families to be together, he hates us, he hates "the least of these." AND, China is not a predominately Christian country by any stretch - so you can imagine what hand satan has there! This is what lit a fire under my hiney to move this process along through any power WE (and, of course, God) could. Our agency did not have access to the main SN database, but were expecting approval for it anytime. So, we decided to fill out the SN checklist (a daunting and emotional task) so we could be ready when Dillon had access (IF they got approved). We said we'd give it two months and then we'd decide whether or not to switch agencies (we've since found out that we can't switch agencies, so that door was closed). The special needs checklist was almost completed and we get this email saying Dillon has been granted access to the special needs database, DOOR OPENED!

I turned in our checklist TODAY!

Now, how long do we have to wait before Dillon finds us a match? Not sure on that one, but it is a heck of a lot shorter than 2011. We are DEFINITELY closer to bringing Avery home THIS year!

We are now praying for God to guide the hands of the Dillon social workers who are finding these precious children parents!