REFERRAL! (for real!)

For the past month my mom has been highly anticipating a call from Karla, hopefully saying that we recieved a referral. At 8:15 this morning, she got it! Karla told my mom about a 6-year old girl that she thought would suit us. My mom was overwhelemed, and she called my dad, who was equally enthused. They spent the morning getting informaton about Yang Yi, a non-special needs (we believe) healthy little girl. My mom said, "It was perfect because Tim had to do all of the calling, which meant he was committed." At about 1:15 in the afternoon, I was in my independent language class, learning Chinese (Rosetta Stone), when my teacher said, "Chelsey, you're wanted down in the office." I shut down the computer, packed up my stuff and headed down casually to the Upper School office. Until- I realized why I was probably being called down: a referral??. At that point I nearly dropped my bag and started running down the hall, and down the stairs. I tried to tell myself not to get my hopes up, but I had a feeling. When I got to the door of the modular (yes, my school has trailers) I saw my sister beckoning me in, with a grin on her face that answered every question in my head. Yes, a referral. I was so excited. Together we darted to end of the hall to the officeto see my mom opening up a file on the computer showing a picture of the most precious little girl. We spent the next few minutes staring in awe, hugged as we hurried back to class, and smiled the rest of the day.

I can't explain how exciting this is for us. I know we still have a ways to, and it could take a while, but it's an answer to prayers to have something like this happen. We needed the push. Now we have rejuvenated hope. Please pray for us, and that the rest of the process would go smoothy! I'll try to put a picture on here as soon as we get a confirmation.

In Him,
Chelsey :)

Waiting for Referral

The title basically explains our adoption situation as of now. All we're doing at this point is waiting for our Chinese conact, Lily, to send us a referral when she notices a child who would fit with our family. We spent the first couple of weeks looking through lists of special needs children, but at this point we've backed off and given it to God. We filled out the awareness form, and the special needs qualifications form- now we wait. and wait. and wait.

At this point I feel so much for Lily. I have recently discovered that once a child has been referred to a family, the child is put on hold for 48 hours. When those 48 hours are up, the family must make the decision whether to move forward with adopting this child or not. If the family says no, the child is permenantly off the list for that adoption agency. There is so much pressure on this woman. Sure, there are more people with whom she shares the burden, but that is a huge responsibility! And obviously God is in control of every situation, nonetheless, please keep her and the other social workers in her position in your prayers.
WAIT. Thats the gist of it all. WAIT.

In Him,
Chelsey :)