Update from Chris:
Today we transition from being proclaimed
as Mom and Dad by our little girl to being Mom and Dad. In the eyes of
China, we are officially the parents of our daughter. That is weird to say but yet I
keep saying it over and over in my mind and I am loving it! We are still a long way from the
completion of the process but for some reason it seems more real now.
We prepared a package for her, which could
be her last depending on the speed of the rest of the process. I had some
photos printed to go along with the goodies mom had prepared a week or so ago
in preparation for today. I
finished putting it together, taped it thoroughly and shipped it.
The package includes a translated note to
explain that we will be coming for her. That
she will join our family forever and that in a few months we will travel by
airplane to come see her. It
further explains we will adopt her while in China and we will return back to
the US.
My thoughts on the process
I would like to tell you all that this
process is for the masses and that everyone should go out and pursue an
adoption, domestically or internationally, but I won't. I will tell you that if 8.5% of the Christian population adopted a child there would be no
orphans. And that even
though this process was very smooth for us, it is a very challenging
process. The waits are killer
and the unknowns are worse. We pushed
hard and fast every time it was our turn to make a step and then we go back to
the wait game. Even though
most waits were short, they are the most agonizing waits and all of them felt
like forever.
How did we get here?
As I reflect back on this process I will
tell you we didn’t start looking at adoption to fulfill our Christian
Duty. We didn’t look into
adoption to find our child. This desire
started with our mission trips to the Dominican Republic just 3-4 years
ago. We love our family in
the DR and love our Church Family there as well. Our opportunity to host grew from our
Love for the DR. We love the children of
the DR but the process to adopt is very difficult. You have to be in country
for nearly 9 months straight and this seemed impossible for both of us. When we came to the realization of our
inability or unwillingness to adopt from the DR our agency, an agency that
facilitates adoption from the DR, recommended we look at hosting as a way to
try out the process. The hosting process
isn’t perfect but I would recommend anyone, considering adoption.
Hosting
You don’t even have to have a desire to
adopt to host. Nearly all of the
children that come to the US from China find their forever family while here. I am not sure exactly how many but more than
half of the hosting families are undecided or hosting to advocate when they
commit to hosting. We committed to being
open for whatever God had in store for us.
It is like the saying goes. If
you pray for God’s Will be prepared for what he has to say.
All I can say is here we are. We are the very proud parents of a young lady
that is in desperate need of love and a family to call her own. Yes, God, our daughter is coming home.
If you want more information on how to
make a difference in the life of a child, via hosting, please feel free to
email us:
Chris – christopherswing@yahoo.com
Kelsey – kelslading@hotmail.com
