WOW! I thought having a blog would be such a great way to keep everyone posted on the activities of the Wallis family. That's a great idea.....if you actually post something! Well, it's time to catch up because, believe me, we have A LOT going on!
What a year it has been! After the first of the year, Mike's work has taken off and he has been so busy - I mean REALLY busy! What a blessing it has been when so many people are suffering because of the bad economy, God has really provided for us. I guess God knew what was coming down the road and that we would need extra provisions this year!
Our adoption began to weigh heaving on my heart and mind early on this year. When we were still in the "paperchasing" phase in 2007, we fill out an application with our adoption agency to be considered for adopting a special needs child. However, since the time we did that, the agency revamped their "Waiting Child" program (aka special needs) and our application became null and void. I had not given it much thought until this year when God so obviously began tugging at my heart to begin moving forward with the Waiting Child program. So I sent an email to our family coordinator at the agency and requested to fill out another application for the WC program. Little did I know that our adoption was suddenly going "full steam ahead"!
So, on April 26, Mike and I sat down together to fill out our WC application. Let me tell you, that is not an easy thing to do. Part of the application is a long list of "special needs" that we had to mark with 1 of 3 options: 1) that we would definitely take a child with that condition, 2) that we would consider taking a child with that condition, or 3)that we would not take a child with that condition. That was really hard to think of all the children with each condition and decide if we wanted to pursue that particular special need or not. We felt that we were fairly generous with what we would take, but still heartbreaking to think of any child that no one might want.
Well, about 2 weeks after we summitted our application, we received a call on May 7, from our FC to tell us that we were accepted into the program. And the most shocking part was that we would probably receive a referral within 1-3 months! We were very surprised that it could happen that fast! So you can imagine our surprise when we received a call 2 weeks later on May 21 at 11pm from our FC telling us of a child that was available if we wanted to pursue it! Needless to say, we didn't get a lot of sleep that night. Our FC was emailing her profile to us immediately! It finally came at 1am!
Her name is Hua AoKa and she is 14 months old. She was born on March 29, 2009, with spina bifida and had had surgery immediately after birth. She was found on public bus No. 54 in Guiyang City on April 9, 2009. According to her medical records, she has had no trouble developing, however, she is considered very small for her age.
After spending the weekend reviewing her profile, we decided that we definitely wanted to move forward with adopting her. What an exciting time! Our heads were spinning at how quickly things have suddenly turned around!
What a year it has been! After the first of the year, Mike's work has taken off and he has been so busy - I mean REALLY busy! What a blessing it has been when so many people are suffering because of the bad economy, God has really provided for us. I guess God knew what was coming down the road and that we would need extra provisions this year!
Our adoption began to weigh heaving on my heart and mind early on this year. When we were still in the "paperchasing" phase in 2007, we fill out an application with our adoption agency to be considered for adopting a special needs child. However, since the time we did that, the agency revamped their "Waiting Child" program (aka special needs) and our application became null and void. I had not given it much thought until this year when God so obviously began tugging at my heart to begin moving forward with the Waiting Child program. So I sent an email to our family coordinator at the agency and requested to fill out another application for the WC program. Little did I know that our adoption was suddenly going "full steam ahead"!
So, on April 26, Mike and I sat down together to fill out our WC application. Let me tell you, that is not an easy thing to do. Part of the application is a long list of "special needs" that we had to mark with 1 of 3 options: 1) that we would definitely take a child with that condition, 2) that we would consider taking a child with that condition, or 3)that we would not take a child with that condition. That was really hard to think of all the children with each condition and decide if we wanted to pursue that particular special need or not. We felt that we were fairly generous with what we would take, but still heartbreaking to think of any child that no one might want.
Well, about 2 weeks after we summitted our application, we received a call on May 7, from our FC to tell us that we were accepted into the program. And the most shocking part was that we would probably receive a referral within 1-3 months! We were very surprised that it could happen that fast! So you can imagine our surprise when we received a call 2 weeks later on May 21 at 11pm from our FC telling us of a child that was available if we wanted to pursue it! Needless to say, we didn't get a lot of sleep that night. Our FC was emailing her profile to us immediately! It finally came at 1am!
Her name is Hua AoKa and she is 14 months old. She was born on March 29, 2009, with spina bifida and had had surgery immediately after birth. She was found on public bus No. 54 in Guiyang City on April 9, 2009. According to her medical records, she has had no trouble developing, however, she is considered very small for her age.
After spending the weekend reviewing her profile, we decided that we definitely wanted to move forward with adopting her. What an exciting time! Our heads were spinning at how quickly things have suddenly turned around!
