Please pray...Ladybug II

Some of you know that we have always wanted a house full of children...well that has not happened...but we do have one very special girl that has just brightened our world in ways we never expected. We had not been home very long when Mel asked if I thought it was possible for us to return to China to adopt again and really I did not.

While we waited for Ellie Lu the adoption rules for the "standard process" changed and we are no longer eligible under those rules. In addition the process has lengthened so it could be years upon years even if we were eligible before we would be matched. While we were waiting for Ellie Lu we inquired several times on if we could be considered for children with mild special needs but there really wasn't a clear cut program at the time to allow this to happen.

The good news...now there is...our agency is one of 12 agencies that participates in a special program where children with mild correctable special needs are matched with families. We have several friends who have expanded their family in this way and our hearts have been opened to this option for our family. However we still were very unsure whether we could participate due to our ages...but Mel kept asking every few weeks and finally the later part of October I came across a letter we had received in late July and apparently I had read it but in my "new Mommy" fog had not comprehended what it said...it was encouraging us to adopt again. Was this a form letter that goes to everyone or did it apply to us and by God's grace could we return to China to be united with another child....on November 3rd I sent an email to our agency to inquire and braced myself for the disappointment I expected....

On November 4th I received a response and the email said to call immediately. I did and never in my wildest dreams did I imagine we would be encouraged to begin the process right away...for one reason we thought we had to be home a year with Ellie Lu before starting a new process. We found out that we needed to start right away as we needed to be matched with a child prior to Mel turning 55 on May 17, 2009.

As you can see we still had a very short time to complete a process that is loaded with paperwork, somewhat different than before and during a time when we were finding our "legs" as new parents...but start we did. Forms, forms and more forms, meetings with our social worker, taking adoption training classes, educating ourselves about various medical conditions all the while living and preparing for the holidays and trying to enjoy life.

It is still uncertain whether our dream of expanding our family will actually happen, but we are now at a point where we feel we have done all we can...it it is now in God's hands. We will be delighted beyond words if it all works out, but if it does not we know we have already been blessed beyond measure and we be content in knowing we tried.

Where are we now...we have sent the basic paperwork into our agency and hopefully next week they will have our homestudy and can then begin to look for a match. There is a limited amount of time for this to happen because Mel will turn 55 in 54 days. It is our understanding we need to have a match in hand and our letter of intent to adopt the child we are matched with in the hands of the CCAA prior to Mel's birthday....so while we are waiting to see if a match is meant for us...we continue compiling our dossier...certified documents, USCIS approval and hope all are completed in a timely manner. As you can see we still have ALOT of uncertainty but soon we will know one way or the other.

If per chance all this works out...then we would likely travel to China prior to the end of the year...mid fall. I can't even think of that until so many other things are in place...know that we so appreciate all of you who have asked us how we are doing with our paperwork and who have encouraged us when we felt unsure. Even if everything works out there will be many hurdles ahead of us...financing an adoption so soon after returning home during such hard economic times. Finding the best medical care to meet the needs of our child and preparing Ellie Lu for a sister or maybe a brother...so please keep us in your prayers and keep Ladybug II in your prayers...we don't know who she/he is but we know there must be a child just waiting to join the Fannon family....at least we still hope...

If you would like to know more about children with mild correctable needs you can view our agency web site and look for "child of promise" or you can check out this site for stories of families who have adopted children with various special needs.