We were so surprised!

As you may know (well you do now!!), we sent our paperwork into China on April 17th, 2007, for a baby to complete our family. Two was not enough!
We originally applied for a NSN (non special needs) baby, and were not so patiently watching the wait times increase. About two months into the wait, the wait time was estimated to be 24 to 26 months. (FYI . . Alyssa's wait time was 18 months, and Mikaela's was 6 months.)

We decided to fill out a SN (special needs) checklist to see if this might make our timeline go faster. We were very specific with the special needs that we would accept. We would accept a boy or girl, 0 to 12 months, with minor skin conditions (i.e., bruises, birth marks, eczema) or a baby with a cleft lip and / or cleft palate. We were told by CCAI (Chinese Children Adoption International -- our adoption agency) that based on our very young age limits, it would not be likely that we would be matched with a SN child.

Imagine our suprise, when 6 months into the wait, we received a call from CCAI on November 9th, that a little boy who was celebrating his first birthday that same day, wanted us to be his mommy and daddy!!! We were over the moon! We were immediatly sent his pictures and the brief history that CCAI had.

We took his information to our pediatrician for review. In addition we spoke with a plastic surgeon who specialized in cleft lips and cleft palates. (He also heads our local cleft palate foundation in Colorado Springs!). We prayed for God's guidance in our decision, involving our families and church in prayer as well.

On Tuesday afternoon, we placed a call to CCAI and told Pam that we'd love to make this little guy a part of our family. Our LOI (Letter of Intent to adopt) was officially sent to CCAI November 16th, 2007. We've been told to anticipate travel in 3 to 5 months.