The Journey Begins Again

A little more than two years ago, we sat in the waiting area of the Adoption Registry Center of Guangdong Province, China. Somewhere in an adjoining room Shan Wei Chun, now known as Isabelle, was about to being the transition that would bring more joy to our family than we could have ever imagined.

Not long after Isabelle joined our family, we began feeling strongly that she needed a sibling close to her own age. The youngest of our other children is more than 11 years older than her. And while her two older sisters love and care for her beyond our wildest expectations, we realized that by time time Isabelle is 7 she would probably be left without anyone but us to play with. Besides, we initially began the adoption process hoping to make a difference. And if making a difference for one little girl can bring us so much joy, imagine how wonderful it would be if we had two!

When we first decided to adopt from China, we came across a supposed "Chinese Legend" that summed up our feelings for what we were doing. It is call the Legend of the Red Thread, and says very simply: "An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but will never break." As we work toward adding another little spirit to our family, this will once again be our thought. Only this time we're adding a second red thread to the one already established.

We have finally finished the paper chase that is the international adoption process, and have been accepted into the China program at WACAP, our adoption facilitator. We now look forward to untangling that second red thread and finding that daughter of God in a foreign land who is meant to join our family. Through this blog we will share with you that journey.