[Recap from the last post: I wanted to adopt an older child from the foster care system once we moved to our new house; Tim wasn't so sure it was the right time. Then we got an e-mail about a waiting child in China, and Tim was the one who said, "I know this is crazy, but do you think we could get our paperwork in on time?"]
Now, while Tim and I are in complete agreement about wanting at least two children from China, he had not been in as much of a hurry as I to disrupt our happy, comfortable family of three by adding a "waiting child" to the mix. I had figured that when the time was really right, we would be of one mind about adopting again. I had even, from time to time, prayed something to the effect of, "Lord, when the time is right, please cause us to both feel your leading." So when Tim started wondering about how long it would take to complete the paperwork for this child, my ears perked up. If I had gone looking for a child, this is probably not a child that I would have inquired about. Nothing personal, there just wasn't anything in his profile that really grabbed me, and his special need was not one that I had ever pictured when I dreamed of our next Chinese child. But at the same time, there was nothing in what we knew about him that made me feel especially reluctant. I was already on board with older, boy, special need, and Chinese, I just hadn't thought that all of those things could come together for us at this point in time. But. His profile mentioned significant fee reductions from both his U.S. agency and his Chinese orphanage that made the prospect of adopting internationally the year after a move, a new mortgage, and a salary cut...if not easily affordable, at least imaginable. And the description of this boy (written by a representative of his U.S. agency who had met him in person) specifically recalled observing him interacting with small children in very positive ways. As for our not meeting the one requirement from China, it was one of several mentioned that the agency might be able to get us an exception for. So, I figured, why not e-mail the agency. I thought from the way his profile was written that he aged out in January, and I really didn't think it was possible to put together a dossier (collection of documents required for adopting from a foreign country) that fast, but I have heard some amazing stories from the world of older child adoption, and I figured the agency would know better than I what was or wasn't possible.
So, after learning of this child's existence on the afternoon of Friday, October 15, we talked it over after Esther went to bed, decided it couldn't hurt to ask his U.S. agency about him, and sent off an e-mail to them early morning Saturday. Then we had to wait the weekend for a reply. We felt alternately a little bit excited at the possibility of adding to our family, a little bit foolish to be wasting the contact person's time with what was undoubtedly a stupid question, and a little bit relieved that we were going to be told it couldn't be done and we would get to have more time enjoying family life as we know it before we threw a wrench in everything by adopting again.
On Monday, October 18, mid-afternoon, we got a reply from the U.S. agency. The child we had inquired about didn't age out until early summer. His case worker thought that if we pushed it, we could complete all his paperwork with a month to spare.
Wow. We kind of looked at each other like, "This is serious. Now we have to actually decide."
[To be continued...]
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