Our Story

Hi family and friends (and also our dear Avery who will be reading all of this someday)! We are excited to share a little bit of our journey to adoption with you all. Please know that the journey has been very long and has at times very heart aching. We are going to be as brief as possible in our "story" but if you ever want to know more, please let us know. We are in awe at how our daughter came into our lives! We feel so very excited and blessed! So, here we are...knowing that there's a little girl in China who is ours. How did this come to be? Well, as we said, long story short...(or trying to make it short)...We have two wonderful boys and we had thought that our family was complete as we were very busy and very enamored with them. But...God had other plans for us. In September 2005, Ken went to China to assist his brother and sister-in-law in their adoption of their second daughter. While he was there, Tera began feeling that God was opening her eyes to the needs of children in the world. And, as the beautiful song from our favorite singer Steven Curtis Chapman says..."What now?"... After Ken returned home from China, we discussed this in great detail and began to pray about it for a very long time. We had a difficult time determining if this was the right path for us as it wasn't a path that we had previously thought of for ourselves. Then a series of events in July and August of 2006 made it very clear to us that adoption was something that we were supposed to pursue and deeply desired to pursue. We were very moved and thankful for the moments that lead us to believe that our questions and prayers had been answered. So...with hope, fear, trust, and excitement we started down this adoption path. We talked about our options for adoption and considered several countries. One reason we decided to adopt from China was because our future daughter would have cousins who had also been adopted from China. Another reason was because China allows you to specify gender and we were excited about the thought of having a daughter and sister. In August 2006, we started our adoption paperwork process with intent to be as speedy as possible because we were told that the wait was 14 months. We completed all of our paperwork in December 2006 and it was given a log-in date in China of January 30, 2007. And then we waited and waited and waited. Currently, they are still working on March of 2006 but each month are only referring out about two days of log-in dates. So, the projected wait time for us could be at five years or more. We just didn't know what to do with that. It was very hard as we felt very certain that adoption was the journey that we were supposed to be on. So once again we kept hearing that question of "what now?". In May of 2009, our adoption agency got approval to match prospective adoptive families with children who have special needs. We were nervous but cautiously optimistic about this program as it actually was a program that we had considered when we first started our process.  (When we started our process, Tera was drawn towards babies on the internet with cleft lip/palate. We talked about it but decided that because Ethan was only two, we should enter the non-special needs process.)

We are looking forward to becoming a family of five! We had just signed China's acceptance document for us to be matched with Avery! Matthew and Ethan are very excited to have a little sister!

So in June 2009, we meet with our social worker and filled out some paperwork regarding what types of special needs we thought that we were comfortable with. Then..once again, we prayed and we waited. But, this time we didn't have to wait for long!! After a series of events during the first week of August, we once again knew that our prayers were being answered. On August 6th, we received a call from our social worker saying that they had just received the files of six children. All of them were boys except for one little almost 13 month old girl who had a repaired cleft lip and unrepaired cleft palate!!! Normally we would have been an anxious freaking out mess! But, because of the series of events that took place, we actually felt confident that this was our little girl!!! So after checking with doctors and insurance and also getting amazing updates from China, we made the decision to go ahead and pursue the adoption of this adorable little one!! For more information about her, check out the page that is titled "About Avery". After we learned about Avery, we waited until we received pre-approval from China on August 25th to tell Matthew and Ethan about their baby sister. They already knew that we were adopting but we had also been honest with them that the wait was getting really long and we weren't sure what was going to happen. It was a very special moment when we shared with them that we had finally found out about their baby sister! They were so surprised and excited and thought that she was so cute! We answered all of their questions and we talked about where we live and where she is in China using our globe. We also prayed for her and thanked God for her. Over the last couple of months, they have come to refer to their sister as "Avery" and have been excited about preparing her room for her arrival. They even made her a panda bamboo home for her room! (so sweet!) As for the rest of our process...we signed the final approval from China which says that she is ours on September 11, 2009!! We received our travel approval from China on October 14, 2009 and now need to wait on some final paperwork from immigration. So, the big question is when are we going to be able to go and get her. We are hopeful that we may leave for China on Thanksgiving Day!! If we do not travel then (due to not receiving paperwork in time), we may not be able to go until January 2010. We are very excited and anxious to get Avery home with her family as soon as we can. We would love to have her home for Christmas! But, we are trying to trust in God's timing. In the mean time, we ask for your prayers that Avery may be happy and healthy until we are able to be together. When we are in China, please follow along with us on our "Trip to China" page. Also, don't forget to check out the "Guestbook" page and leave us a note! Our entire family (even Avery someday!) will enjoy reading them! We are looking forward to continuing on this great adventure of adoption!! Ken, Tera, Matthew, Ethan & Avery

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