How we got here

Thirteen months ago we started the process of adoption and here we are now, about to travel to meet this cutie! We thought it might be helpful to for you to know a little bit about how things have unfolded during this long process. The short explanation can be summed up in two words - You wait! Four words would be more accurate - You wait for everything!

April 2006 We attended our first official Lifeline Children's Services meeting to learn about international adoption. We had already been in much prayer and consultation with friends who had traveled this amazing road. We knew during this meeting that adoption from China was definitely what God wanted for our family. We told Gracie, Cole and Sam our decision a few weeks later. They were very excited. Here's a of picture of Hadley's three older sib.s.

May 2006 We began the mounds of paperwork including fingerprinting by the local police and the FBI, an extensive home study (four interviews with our social worker, I don't know how we passed!), financial analysis, physicals, letters of recommendations from friends, police clearance letters, marriage and birth certificates, lengthly essays describing our earnest desire to adopt, plans to incorporate Hadley's native culture into our family, her care plan, our life stories in our own words.....I am tired again just writing all of this down. There were some bumps along the way that caused delays (you wait for everything) but God used them in our family to show His perfect timing and to help us pray together for our Hadley to hang on and be safe until we could come get her and bring her home. Our hearts longed to be together as a family and it is hard not to have all of your children under one roof. It is miraculous that God can do such a work in your heart to bond you to a child through a photo. We have never seen her in person or touched her sweet face, but she is ours and we love her as though she has been with us from the start. During these long months we began to pray that God would allow us to bring Hadley home before her 2nd birthday.

June 2006 Pat went on a trip to China with our Missions Pastor and close friend, Phil, and my Brother, Ron - Pat's the one with the cute legs. He got a great taste of the culture and was able to hug on precious kids at various orphanages that they visited. We decided to pursue a child on the "Special Needs" list. Potential adoptive parents are able to adopt children on the SN List via a somewhat compressed timeline compared to a healthy child adoption. The wait for a non-special needs child has recently changed to close to 3 years. We were able to select which criteria of "need" we were willing to accept and then be matched as children became available. By July, we were 2nd on the list to receive an assigned special needs child. Hadley has/had Erb's palsy, nerve damage caused by a "stuck shoulder birth." She had a partially paralized right arm, but has received physical therapy, and is reported to have no symptoms today.

July 2006 We completed more paperwork.....and waited.

August 2006 We received our referral (0ur assigned file). We finally saw the face of our daughter. I remember getting the call from Karla, our social worker telling us that they had our file ready and that Pat and I could come to the office to see her that afternoon if we wanted to. Was she kidding??? I immediately lost my appetite for lunch and scrambled to get my kids home from swimming and taken to a friend's house. Pat ran to get more tapes for our camcorder. We were like parents going to get an ultrasound done. We traveled to Lifeline's office, sat on a couch and saw the precious face of Lu Feng Jiao (soon to be Hadley Lu Eddins) for the first time. Karla wisely talked to us first before showing us the picture. She said if she showed us it first, we wouldn't hear anything she said after that...she is a wise lady. I gasped when I saw her face and immediately started crying. It is so hard to understand unless God prepares your heart. I sure didn't get it until I was the one sitting in the seat looking at the face of our daughter.

September-November 2006 We waited on approval from the U.S. Center for Immigration Services (CIS) for our fingerprints. In October, we received our second set of pictures (3) from her orphanage. She is about 15 months old in this batch. We were able to send a care package to Hadley during this time. Gracie, Cole and Sam had fun as we packed a box with a Build-A-Bear teddy bear, who wore a shirt with our family picture on it and a MP3 player with mom's voice was built into it's hand, a photo album of our family, plus candy for the caregivers and children. We really don't know if she ever received it, but I like to think she has already memorized my face and voice (she's exceptionally smart - you can tell by her picture)!

December 2006 After a very, very, very long wait (135 days at the CIS office) we were finally able to mail our documents to China. The file was taken by Lifeline's Rep. in China, Lily, to the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA).

January 2007 Our log in date (LID), meaning the day the Chinese government entered us into their computer system, was January 18th. This was a big day because we could begin to estimate how much longer we had before we could actually travel to get Hadley. The usual wait from LID until you get you letter of approval (LOA) is about 3 months. The LOA says that China approves of you as parents - glad to know that! Did I mention that adoption agencies like acronyms?

March 2007 New pictures of Hadley! We were told of a lady in the states who operates a photography business with her Father, who lives in China. He went to Hadley and snapped these shots (for more than a nominal fee!). They are living quite comfortably by profiteering off of us information starved adoptive parents. We're glad they are! Look how cute she is!

April 2007 We received our LOA.......and waited.

May 21, 2007 We received our Travel Approval and U.S. Consulate appointment for June 18th where Hadley will become an official U.S. citizen and legally be ours forever! The wait is truly almost over. Presently, we are scrambling to get our travel plans in order and finish up things here at home. The funny thing about the whole process is, once you receive your travel approval the admonitions change from"wait and be patient" to "hurry, hurry, go! go!" We are grateful and more than eager to go, whether we will ever be ready or not. Praise God for the blessings he has already provided us through this process. We leave for China on June 5th! This last picture was taken by our friends the Willards who have just returned home (May15th) with their two Sons, Alex and Matthew. The boys were actually in the exact same orphanage as Hadley and it is our good fortune that the Willards live in our home town. We're sure Hadley's transition to home in good ole' Bama will be easier because her buddies are with her.

I mentioned earlier that we have prayed to bring Hadley home before her 2nd birthday. We will actually board our home bound flight on June 20th - her birthday! God is faithful. "I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever, with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations." - Psalm 89:1