Here comes the FedEx truck with our referrals!!!
The FedEx guy who 'delivered' our twins...
Signing the paperwork on the spot so that the FedEx guy could take them with him.
There are so many parts to this story that will have to wait to be told until after we are home with the girls. However, I can answer some of your questions now.
--Yes, we are going to be able to bring both girls home on the same trip! We hope to leave for China right after Christmas or early January.
--Yes, they are both from Henan, but from different orphanages.
--Kate has a single ventricle and some other heart defects, with an unknown future prognosis. Zoey has a 'little foot' and a leg that is much shorter than the other one. Her ankle bone is missing and she faces a possible amputation.
--Kate will be 3 in January, and Zoey will be 3 in April. Jake will be 3 in July, so we will have virtual triplets. Since Jake is a boy, we will probably just do a 'twin' thing with the girls. :)
--The girls do not know each other yet. We will all meet on the same day.
--Yes, we have to pay double for most of the adoption fees.
--Yes, this is a very unusual situation. Kate needs open heart surgery very soon and that is why we have been allowed to adopt her at the same time as Zoey. CCAA has been awesome about wanting her to get the medical care she needs.
And no one asked this, but yes, we are scared! :) Like any other parents-to-be of twins, we are excited and scared at the same time!
I CAN tell you about one of the miracles we experienced along the way. When I called our social worker to ask for an amended homestudy, she was happy to do it. However, she stressed to me that our USCIS (immigration) office would NEVER amend our approval from one child to two. She was adament that USCIS would make us start a brand new process for Kate (which would take a minimum of 6 months, lots of paperwork and money). I told her that we at least wanted to TRY to get the necessary approval from USCIS and if God wanted to work it out, He would. We emailed our USCIS office to ask how to proceed. We never received a reply. Our agency tried, and they too, got no response. They finally were able to talk to a different USCIS office, who gave us the information we needed. Ten days after I sent the change request to our USCIS office, I opened the mailbox to see a letter from USCIS. My heart dropped, thinking they were sending me a rejection letter, but no!!! Inside was our new approval for TWO children!
We have had many different experiences with our adoptions and this one has been no exception. This time, we have felt like the Isrealites standing on the shores of the Red Sea, watching in awe as it parted in front of them. At times I felt like a bug on the wall, just watching all that was happening around me rather than being in the middle of the fight (like I usually am!). "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still." Exodus 14:14 It has kept us at peace during the process to know that God was totally in control...that this was His project...and that if He wanted to bring Kate home to us, He would have to do some miracles. He proved that He is completely capable of doing what needs to be done to accomplish His purposes.
