Before I even begin this post, I am amazed & emotional. It has been miraculous . The process of adopting Karah & MeiLi began with a small quiet voice in my spirit. I remember thinking with the initial thoughts of doing Karah's adoption, how impractical and hard it would be. I ignored it for a long time but it just would not go away. Finally I asked Mary if she had felt anything about adopting a little girl from China and she said yes, she had been feeling that way but since I was so deadest against adopting any more children ( we had 4 already from domestic adoptions) that she was not saying anything to me. With that confirmation we began the process. We had to do a major house addition to meet the requirements (our home was only 1200 sq. feet) . Then of course how do the finances come for such an undertaking? We spent a year to rebuild our home, all mostly done by our family (my 3 older boys did a lot of the labor and Mary's dad was a contractor who moved in with us to help us do it). Friends and family rallied to help us. My step dad Ricardo came to help with the labor. That process started in 2003 and was the beginning of a chapter for us. (I'm planning on going back and blogging Karah's adoption in a separate blog.) The opposition to doing all this was overwhelming at times. There were so many obstacles to overcome. One of our sons nearly died with encephalitis right before we went to China the first time but thank God he pulled through. We had to refinance our home 3 times to obtain the funds to rebuild the house and do Karah's adoption. Before MeiLi's adoption, last year, my job was eliminated and I was in a layoff. God again provided and I got another job within my company, just when it looked like I would be unemployed and have to sell the house. But we never gave up despite all the hardships. Friends and family have given us money to help cover the last minute unexpected expenses for MeiLi's adoption. You all know who you are. God will bless you richly for helping, you will see. From our hearts we thank everyone who supported us and prayed for us and encouraged us as we have dealt with the hardships. We are doing well now. MeiLi does have an ear infection so we have a Dr. Appointment for her today. Please pray for a quick healing for her. I am posting these photos I took yesterday of the girls playing on our yard. Later, I will do a post of some of the highlights of our China adventure as a recap, because I have some really neat photos that were on my HandyCam that I could not get posted until the DVD in the HandyCam was finalized to share. So check back once in a while.
The Chapter of the adoption process for these two Chinese girls is now closed. I've decided we can help others to adopt in the future as we have the resources but Mary & I both agree we are done adopting now. Our quiver seems to be full :-)
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