I've started this blog to keep family and friends updated on the progress of our adoption journey and as a way for me to keep my thoughts organized!
At this point we are in the very early stages of adopting a 6yr. old little boy from China. If we get the incredible privilege of bringing him home, we will give him the name Asher Duvall. We chose Asher because he was one of the 12 sons of Jacob, one of the 12 tribes of Israel. His name means happy, blessing, and that is exactly what he is!
Let me give a little back story in our road to adopt Asher (Julian). Jon and I have been discussing adoption for about a year and a half now, and in the last 6 months we have really felt called to adopt from China. I just assumed we would be adopting a little girl because that is what you picture when you think of China, a lot of abandoned baby girls. Well, it turns out that isn't the case anymore. Through my desire to learn more about China, I've come to find out that it's actually quite a wait now to adopt a healthy baby girl. China has relaxed their one child policy, and families can have two children without fear of penalty and there are more Chinese families who adopt. Most of the children waiting and in need of a family now are boys and girls, ages 3+, who have some kind of special need. Special needs can mean a whole lot of different things ranging from a big birthmark on their face to Cerebral Palsy or Down Syndrome. I never even considered adopting a child with special needs, not because I wasn't willing, but just because that wasn't really what I pictured for our family. All that changed about a week and a half ago (yes, it hasn't been long!), when I was looking through a waiting child list. As I'm scrolling through this list of precious children who yearn for a family of their own, I suddenly came across a sweet little face with the name Julian. This is not his name, but they can't list his Chinese name, so they give him an American name. He is 6 years old and he has Down Syndrome. I can't describe to you the feeling I got when I saw his face. About as close as I can get is the feeling you get when you see your baby on the screen during your first ultrasound. They still seem so far away, but you know they are yours and you would do anything for them. It brings tears to your eyes, and that is exactly what I experienced when I saw him for the first time. Now I had the task of bringing this sweet little boy up to my husband. Jon was totally on board to adopt, but didn't think he was going to do it RIGHT NOW. To my utter surprise, he said "If we can do it, let's do it." After the shock wore off, I was ready to go. The very next day I was getting in contact with whoever I could to find out if we would even qualify to adopt him and how to get things moving if we could.
Now, just a short time later, we have been approved by the adoption agency we want to use, CCAI, and we are desperately trying to gather together the $325 we need to send with our application and Letter of Intent. Once we submit those things to our agency, Julian's file will be on hold, for us. Our info and Letter of Intent will go to China and we will wait to hear if they will approve us to adopt Julian. If that is God's plan and we get our pre-approval, then we begin the mad dash of gathering documents, forms, fingerprints and such and we begin to tackle the biggest roadblock: the funds. For Julian to become Asher Duvall, we will need to pay a total of close to $30,000. Yes, this is an overwhelming and seemingly impossible amount, but guess what? I serve a God who is bigger than $30,000 and if He wants Julian to come home to us and become Asher Duvall, He will provide. I have total and complete faith in this.
Friends and family, we covet your prayers right now. For Julian, as he remains in China and still doesn't know he has a family who desperately wants him, and for us, who are here in the US, trying our best to stay patient and wait on God's timing. We hope you will follow along with us in this incredible journey!
~Carly
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