We are so very thrilled to share with anyone who even reads this blog that we received wonderful news last Monday, April 30th.  Our adoption agency called with a referral for us, which they followed up with an email containing a full medical report and all information that is available.  When you receive a referral, you have to work within a 72 hour timeframe, during which the agency has a lock on that child in the database for Chinese adoptions.  We had no problem completing all that needed done in that timeframe.

Tuesday morning we met with an international adoption specialist at Akron Children's Hospital, who explained in great detail all of the medical information that is available to us and what we can expect if we would choose to accept this little girl, which we decided to do without any reservation.  Our little girl's name will become Camellia Grace once she is officially a member of our family.  She is currently 3 1/2 years old but will turn 4 before she comes home.

After an extensive discussion with the international adoption specialist, there was nothing that scared Dale and me away from saying yes to her.  We agreed that we have issues that concern us but nothing we feel we wouldn't have the resources or strength to handle.  We would do whatever is necessary to help her live a healthy life and someday understand the saving grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Our agency has told us that Dale can expect to travel in 5-6 months, which would put his travel date around October - November.  We won't have an idea of an exact date until just a few weeks before he actually travels.  There are several more paperwork dates we have to work through.  The most immediate is waiting on a pre-approval, which says the Chinese government approves us for this little girl.  We can expect to receive that in 2-3 weeks.  We are now in a stage of several hurry up and wait phases, but we have been confident from the beginning that God would choose the perfect little girl for our family and that we would bring her home in His timing.  It suddenly seems to be a real challenge now that we have a picture and actual identity to our little girl.  It's amazing how as soon as you say yes to a child, your heart grows with love and a sense of urgency to get her home, as well as worrying about her every day - whether she is receiving good care, eating well, growing, sleeping well, receiving loving care.

As always, we still need help financially to bring Camellia home.  Any prayers are always appreciated.

~Nicole