Unfortunately, pretty much at the beginning. It is a little disheartening at times. When we were matched with Anna, we had all of our paperwork completed. We just had to tie up a few loose ends in order to specifically adopt a special needs child. With Elliana, not so much. There are some pretty major steps that we need to complete which cost a nice chunk of change...so we are having to "wait" for the chunk :-)
I keep telling myself that if we can just get these done, we seriously could be ready to send in our dossier in less than a month and a half, but we just can't seem to get it done. I know from Anna's adoption everything works as it should, but it is hard to accept when you are having to wait. When I look back at how things worked with Anna, I see that the timing couldn't have been better. But when you think about a little girl without a family having to wait...it makes my inability to control things much, much harder. I know that God's wisdom far surpasses mine, but it is my prayer that things start falling into place soon...I really want her home.
The boys are starting to talk about her a lot now. They are referring to her by "name" and making plans for the 5 of them. Parker, who is 3, keeps telling us that Elli is his friend and his sister. I was thinking tonight about how really neat it is that my 3 year old son thinks about his sister, that is in China, and knows that she is coming to be in our family.
Hearing my kids talk about the hopes and their honest desire to adopt again really makes me love the adoption process even more. I love the fact that it brought us Anna, but also that it has caused my children to think about other children on a global level. I want them to understand that there are children, people all over the world that need us - and we can make a difference in their lives. That was one of the things that I initially struggled with when we began the adoption process which lead to Anna...the fact that I could do this. I am just me...just Marcy, what could I do? I can do all things through Jesus Christ. He strengthens me. And in Him, I can do whatever He calls me to do - regardless of the circumstances, regardless of the obstacles, regardless of my inabilities.
So we are in the waiting game. We are waiting on China to issue our pre-approval, we are waiting on the means to process more paperwork and we are waiting to bring our daughter home...we are waiting on God.
Sending love and hugs to a little girl waiting from a family that is waiting,
Rodney, Marcy, Carter, Jacob, Parker & Anna Mei
