On September 10th, our adoption agency chose us to review the file of a sweet little girl. We’ went through the arduous process of reviewing records, consulting with physicians and our social worker, and prayerfully considering accepting this referral before the deadline
This hasn’t been a clear cut, easy decision, but it’s been an emotional roller coaster and considerable focus of our time–as it should be.
Similar to enduring the emotional ups and downs of miscarriage, pregnancy, and childbirth, adoption also carries very weighty emotional turmoil, and difficult decisions. Adoption requires just as much faith, hope, and love–but it also involves a community and specialists (social worker, adoption agency, government agencies, physicians, etc.) throughout the process.
Pregnancy was a physically obvious declaration to the world that you are expecting a child. Whereas adoption is a verbal, written, and focused time-intensive process where both parents ask or pay for assistance through the process.
Both are beautiful and wonderful as you slowly draw closer to your child and your future hopes for him/her as the time for birth/gotcha day draws near.
We are moving forward to accept the referral for this beautiful little girl. Now, we await China’s acceptance of us as the right adoptive family for her for an official, “YES”. The next step is working with our agency’s travel coordinator to determine when we will go to China to pick up our daughter and bring her to her forever home with our family.
So thankful our dossier was officially reviewed at the end of September, and we now have an official Log In Date (LID). That means, our paperwork goes into a pile that waits in line for all the other families around the world waiting to receive a Referral Acceptance or (RA) from the China Center for Children’s Welfare and Adoption (CCCWA).
Officially, the acceptance letter we wrote was recently reviewed by China’s Waiting Child program…so, we’re in the pre-approval stage. That doesn’t mean much except that our paperwork left one pile and landed on another one.
The current wait times for us to receive an official RA is anywhere from 2 – 5.3 months. We’re hoping and praying it’s closer to 2 months. Once received, then we’ll know better how long the wait to travel to China to pick up our little girl and bring her home.
At the moment, we’re discussing names and making plans to prepare for her arrival (a.k.a. sell things we don’t need/use, donate unused items, or freecycle others). We need space to make room for the crib in the kids’ room.
Please join us in praying for our daughter’s health, Godspeed to her journey home, and for the Lord to provide the remaining finances that we need ($15,000) to finalize the adoption. We can’t wait to bring another Garnecki into our family.
