Issues with Domestic Adoptions

Of course, we decided to adopt internationally. Click here to read an interesting article which describes current issues with domestic adoptions here in America.

Meet Our New Little Guy

Drum roll, please. Here are the pictures of Aidan Tianzhen that we received via email.

We went to see our pediatrician the day after the referral arrived to show her all the paperwork we received. Aidan seems to be small for his age and may need several surgeries over time for his cleft palate. As a result of this, he will probably need extra therapies and dental work over the years. We will also have to deal with more language issues since Aidan has had two years of hearing Chinese as opposed to the 10 months that Lily had. Also, with an older child we will have to be more sensitive about attachment and bonding issues.

We're overjoyed at the thought of Aidan joining our family. We ask for your prayers as we continue on this journey to get him, and prayers for Aidan as he waits for us.

It's Official

It's official. We received word today that we were approved by China to go ahead with the adoption of our new little guy. That means two things. First, we have to wait for the letter of acceptance and travel invitation from China. As soon as that all goes through the proper channels, then we will be traveling to get him. Second, it means that we are free to give more details about our son.

Our son. We weren't quite prepared for that. Not that we didn't think this was a possibility, since many more special needs children from China are boys. But we had a name for another girl picked out already and hadn't even been thinking about boys names. Not to mention that we've been saving all of Lily's clothes. Lily offered to share her clothes, but we explained that boys don't wear girl's clothes.

His name will be Aidan Tianzhen. His given name is Guan Tianzhen, and so we will use Tianzhen as his middle name. He is from Dongguan city in the Guangdong province. As far as we can tell, Tianzhen means "naive" or "innocent," but that's all we could find out by "googling" it. I'm sure we'll learn more later.

We've already been to the pediatrician to have her look at all the paperwork we received and for her to evaluate Aidan's condition as best as she is able. It looks like he has already had surgery to repair a cleft lip, but he will still need surgery for a cleft palate.

We don't know yet when we will travel. More than likely it will be after the new year, but there's a remote possibility it could be around Christmas time. That would figure...I was gone to get Lily during Holy Week and Easter. It would only be appropriate to be gone on another high feast day of the Church...not exactly easy times for a pastor to be gone from his congregation, but I'm sure God will work things out.