Our Family Journey

This Blog is to keep all our friends & family updated on our journey to complete our family. As usual – I am a procrastinator- so we are doing this at the tail end of our journey!
After the complicated pregnancy I had with Abbey- who was born 2 months early & spent 4 weeks in the hospital- it took several years for me to get up the courage to try to have another. Little did Mike and I know that that journey would be fruitless after nearly 2 years of trying. We were devastated after the many treatments resulted in no pregnancy & then having 2 infertitility specialists tell us we had <1>

Luckily God is gracious and opened the door to International adoption- thus the journey to Olivia began. We were introduced to a great adoption agency –Living Hope (http://www.livinghopeadoption.org/) . It is run by Chinese emigrants & they are a wonderful Christian organization. They have the only Christian run orphanages I am aware of in China. Once we opened the door to International adoption- we shut the door to having a biological child- with no regrets- it was all behind us.

So in May 2005- we began the looong paper chase to send our Dossier to China- collecting all the papers that say we are willing, able & capable of adopting and caring for an orphan from China. We were excited to officially sign the contract with our agency in August 2005. Unfortunately we watched the blogs and realized as we were beginning the process what was a 6 month wait- was becoming longer & longer each month.- not what we wanted to see after trying already for 2 years to have a child!

But miraculously- God did for us what science couldn’t- blessed us with another biological child. Isabella was born in March 2006- premature- but only by 5 weeks this time around. She & I were much healthier than the previous pregnancy. She is a vibrant red- haired little imp who with the help of her big sister Abbey- keep us quite busy! Yet-we still yearned to bring home the daughter we feel God had for us in China. We don’t know what God has in store for her life- but we know had we conceived on our terms before signing the adoption papers- we never would have went with China knowing it would soon become a 2 year + wait. ( We were getting any younger – you know? J )

More transition came though as I became more & more disillusioned by my hospital based practice in Ohio. I connected with an old friend from Trevecca Nazarene College (now Trevecca University http://www.trevecca.edu/) It seemed like a wonderful opportunity to work with other Christians and have more control over how things were run, …..or so I thought. 3 months after we moved- things didn’t seem to be working out so well. But the Lord used this to stretch Mike & I – we both felt Him prompting us to branch out & start my own pediatric practice. So, June 25th 2008-we made the bold leap & trusted God to work out the details- and He has time and time again!!

Fast forward to December- I now have a thriving- very actively growing practice- ( busier than at my previous job and with 2 ½ x the patient base in just 6 months!) and we get the call!!!! Our daughter- Ye Gui Xiang has been matched with us. She is a petite little cutie- living in the Xingye Social Welfare orphanage in Guangxi province, ( near the border of Vietnam) Our papers on her were sent from China- Decmber 25th- (how’s that for a great Christmas present?) and we received them on her 1st birthday- December 31st!! Anne at http://www.redthreadchina.com/ was great and was able to send a birthday cake & care package to her quickly-to celebrate her birthday a little late. Miraculously for us -we were surprised with pictures of her & the cake with a few glimpses of the place she has called home for the last year.

We them prepared for the 2 month wait for the Chinese government to approve us to come & get her. We were told the earliest we would be going is 2/25 to 3/15. Just when we get everything planned out- we get the call………………………..can you go to China on 2/11? We were ecstatic & frantic at the same time. As a solo practicing doctor I couldn’t just leave me now thriving pediatric practice- YIKES!!! For the first time I resented my new practice because I felt it was preventing me from getting the daughter I have now prayed for for over 3 years!!

After I had my little pity party- and every door seemed to be slammed in our faces- Mike & I prayed & felt we were supposed to say YES- and trust God to work out the details. The minute we prayed that- He did just that!! Everything started to fall into place for us to go- even after a nail biting week wait for the US Consulate to come back from their New Year’s holiday & give us our final consulate appointment- were Olivia will become a US citizen.

So – we are now leaving Feb 11th from Nashville airport to fly to Newark NJ. From there we fly north over the arctic circle & Russia to arrive in Beijing. We will do a few days sightseeing- and have precious time to acclimate to the 14 hour time difference. Then it is off to Nanning-the capitol of Guangxi province where we will get our daughter on 2/16!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Abbey for one is glad for the long wait to get Olivia- because she has worked on us for 3 years to able to go- so now as she approaches her 8th birthday- we feel she will be more of an asset then a hindrance. Belle (nearly 3) on the other hand will be in the loving arms of Mike’s mom Vi & family friend Carol as we trek off to get Olivia.

We look forward to keeping you updated- and getting some encouraging notes while we are in China!