Special Needs adoption from China.

Yep, we decided this is the way we are going. It took lots of researching, prayer, soul searching and then just a leap of faith! We are using Childrens House International. I joined their CHIWaitingKids yahoo group in March - really never thinking we would go that direction. The joke is on me! I started reading a lot of blogs and it seemed the little girls I would totally fall in love with happened to have heart conditions. Many times the condition just needed to be monitored and others needed one surgery. I feel pretty sure this is the type of special need our daughter will have.

Our social worker will arrive on June 16th for 2 days of the homestudy. We are hoping to be done with all our paperwork by that time and then we will just have to wait. CHI has a new special needs group that will arrive in most likely August and so hopefully our little princess will be in that group. If all goes well it is most likely she will be home with us by January 2008!

names . . . .

I want our little princess to have a name that feels good with all the other kids - but especially with her sisters.

isabella christina: belle, bella, izzi
alexandra maria: zani, lexa, xia
tatiana maria: t, tia, tati
tessa maria: tess, tessie, t

I am just playing with names. We threw Alexandra out there yesterday. I've always liked it but of course it does not have a "T' other than that though . . .

List 18.

Every 3 months Childrens House International receives a new list of Waiting Children. On May 7th a new list of waiting children will be presented to potential adoptive parents. Families that have put in a pre-application are allowed to view the children first. We put in a pre-application however because we are not CHI family yet we are in the second phase of the pre- application process. We are interested mostly in little girls with minor heart defects - a special need that most seem potential adoptive families seem to be seeking. That is another reason I am assuming we won't find our daughter on this list. Still, I am feeling anxious about List 18! I am wondering how "matching" works! How long before we will get the password? Will we JUST KNOW one of the little girls is our daughter?

. . . just the thought that there is any chance our daughter is on this list makes me feel very nervous!

I have today without the kids so I am trying to NEST! Cleaning, organizing etc. so if we find our daughter I can focus on paperwork!


Ellie