Agency and God's timing

I am thinking about changing to another agency. I love the one that we're with but I think that I found one that I like even more. While researching cleft lip and palate, I ran across the profile of an ADORABLE little boy. He is so cute and chubby. He has a repaired cleft lip and a cleft palate that still needs repairing. I emailed the agency to ask about him and they emailed me RIGHT BACK! I was amazed. I've emailed agencies about different kids over the last couple of years and most of the time they don't ever email me back. Then we continued to email back and forth a couple of times in a very timely manner.

The website seems to be very straight-forward. I looked up reviews on the agency and saw lots of good things! What I like better about this one is that they are only involved with China adoptions and they have a very active waiting child program. I guess I would say that one agency seems "female"- emotion driven, has a lot more rules that may not be necessary while the other seems very "male"- to the point, no sugar coating, and precise.We have not sent any money to our agency or the signed contracts. So, we are not obligated to stay with them in any way.

In another topic- how do you know when God's timing is?? I am going to start Grad School in less than a month. I will be getting a Master of Christian Studies. I know that I will learn so much about the Bible and I think that my relationship with God will grow deeper. I want to take what I learn and teach it to my children when I homeschool them. However- what if that is NOT what God wants me to do right now. I think about adoption 24/7. What if we are supposed to adopt now. Is our child waiting on us now? I certainly would not want to go to school if  I knew that he was alrebady waiting on us.

When I saw that sweet boy's profile (ohhh I wish I could put a link to his picture ... he is so perfect) it made me think. Our "plan" (which is VERY subject to change) is to adopt a boy younger than H. But, this little boy was almost exactly one year younger than C and one year older than H. I started thinking of how great that could be IF he and C became very close friends and playmates. C would LOVE that! And then H could have her mommy all to herself bc the boys would be wrestling and playing boy stuff. But, it could go the other way- he and C could comepete for my attention and then I'd have 3 babies in my lap and in my bed!! I don't have 3 arms so this could be a problem.

Well- only God knows. So I'll just keep praying and I am certain that He will lead us to our child.

Adopting in China: A Practical Guide / An Emotional Journey by: Kathleen Wheeler adn Doug Werner

I just finished reading this book. I seriously feel like I just went through the whole adoption process with the authors. It was really easy to read and full of information about the adoption process. Some of the information was a little outdated... because it was written 10 years ago. Just to think that they finished the process from application to finalization in 1 year.. and thought that was a long time! Now the same process takes 4+ years.

Where we are now in the process...

Right now we are in the process of saving up money and doing LOTS of research. We can not begin our paperwork until the beginning of 2011 because we want to adopt a child who is younger than our youngest child. H is only 11 months old right now. A waiting child adoption does not take nearly as long as a traditional adoption. So, that is where we are now.

 

Adopting the Waiting Child