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Waiting For Referral
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Waiting for our sister

April 18, 2006
We are still waiting!!!

It seems as if the question of the year for the Harris family might be, “So, when are you getting your baby?” We sure do wish we knew the answer to that question. We are basically in line behind other parents who are waiting to be matched with their babies. As of now, the Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) has matched all families with dossiers logged into their office before May 31st. Our dossier was logged in on August 24, 2005. Originally, we were told to expect our referral within 6 to 8 months. Well, we have made it to 8 months and we still have several months’ worth of matches ahead of us. Some people have said that all of the sudden the CCAA will start making a lot of matches and then it will be us! That is our prayer! Adoption is so different from being pregnant because you really don’t know when you will see her face and yet she consumes so much of your heart. This has already been such an incredible journey for our family and we are so glad you are following along with us! We ask that you join with us in praying for Sarah Joy, for her caretakers, for her birthmother, and for us as we prepare to bring her home!
 
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Philippians 4:6




Christmas 2005


Why Adoption?

So many people have lovingly asked us why we chose to adopt when God had already given us two beautiful children. Our answer has to be….when God puts something on your heart, you cannot pull away from it. Most of you know that Michael and I are very involved in our church, Beech Haven Baptist, and we continuously seek God’s will for our lives. In Sept. 2004, our church was involved in a 2 week revival crusade with Life Action Ministries. During that time, we learned how important obedience is to God. I had no idea that He would be calling us to adopt a baby.

I remember reading the book of James over and over and finally the words of James 1:27 jumped off the page. “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” Then I just had this burning in my heart and I knew we had to obey! Michael has been wonderfully supportive about the adoption. I really think he believes this won’t be the only baby we adopt. I don’t know….we will just have to wait and see how this one goes! Not long after we started talking about adoption and praying about it, we went to see Steven Curtis Chapman in Atlanta and we were blessed to see his presentation on adoption. He and his wife, Mary Beth, have adopted three beautiful girls. Once again, God was reassuring us that this was the path we were supposed to follow.


Disney World -- Summer 2005

Why China?

When we originally felt the call to adoption, it wasn’t necessarily to China. In fact, I had been looking at the faces of beautiful boys in Guatemala. Then I casually started talking to a lady (Lisa Miller) and soon learned that she was the mother of a beautiful girl from China. Lisa gave me a National Geographic Video that followed a family from Atlanta, GA as they journeyed to China to bring home their second daughter. Lisa also introduced me to a wonderful group of people in the Athens area that are parents of children from China. I started attending the playgroup and learning more and more about the orphans in China. I learned about the one-child policy that China still enforces today, where mothers are only allowed to keep one child and they usually choose the boys. That is why so many girls are in the orphanages. I also learned that adoption from China is actually one of the safest and most predictable. In other words, the picture of the child we see in the referral will actually be the child we bring home. There are typically no surprises like there are with other international adoptions. After we finally decided to proceed with China, we had to choose an agency that we felt we could trust and rely on. After much prayer, we choose Chinese Children Adoption International (CCAI) and we have been extremely pleased with them!

Thank you so much for following our journey! We are so excited!!!
 

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