Now I Know Why - Part 4

If you haven't read the first three parts, they can be found here Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

When I first read Adeye's post about "Kevin", I knew exactly which agency was advocating for him since I recognized the "picture frame" used on her blog. When we were looking for our 9yr old son, I had checked Holt's list a few times hoping I might find a child listed who was on the shared list.  I saw his picture but quickly went past it because he was outside of our age range and older than our oldest.  But this time, something burned in my heart for this boy.

Since he will no longer be eligible for adoption on the day he turns 14 (2/9/11), he needed a family with a dossier already in China or a family who had adopted from China in the last year.  Only those families would have a chance of completing all of the paperwork necessary to finalize his adoption in time.

I wondered after I saw him on Adeye's blog, why God allowed us to submit LOI for TJ if "Kevin" was to be our son.  I think it's because I might not have connected with him as much if we hadn't already committed to TJ.  You see, the description of "Kevin" sounds a lot like TJ.   I couldn't imagine TJ being in Kevin's shoes in just four short years. 

I also know know exactly why things happened with DJ as they did. It wasn't just to help us find TJ, but it was to ensure that we had a file sitting in China waiting for us to be matched with our other son.  There is no way we could have been Kevin's family if we hadn't started paperchasing for DJ back in February.  If we had already been through the I-800 process for DJ, it would have been too late to try for Kevin.

After committing to GW's adoption, we were able to make contact with two families who have adopted older children from his CWI who know him.  They have both given positive reports on him which is such a comfort to us.  This contact was facilitated by someone we "met" back in 2007 when they brought their daughter home from GW's CWI.  I had followed her blog off and on since then.  They began an adoption of a 10 yr old in 2009 and were about 6 months ahead of us when we decided to adopt DJ.  I contacted her at that time and we began an e-mail friendship that grew as we continued to find out more and more how much our two families have in common.  So, God was working to bring us to GW as far back as 2007!!!

Then, after commiting to GW, I remembered a Sunday acquantaince who had gone to China to teach English.  I poked around and finally discovered that she lives in the same city as GW!!!! Interestingly enough, she had not moved to his city originally, but had just moved there within the last few months!!!  I e-mailed her telling her that we would be coming to the city and would be happy to deliver anything she needed.  She replied and explained that she had recently returned from a visit to the US so didn't need anything.  But, she offered to let us stay with her!!! She will even be out of town for the first few days we are there, so we would have her apartment all to ourselves!!!!

Then Sunday afternoon, we went to a friends home for their adopted daughters birthday party.  We hadn't seen them much since they brought their daughter home from China about two years ago because they started attending a different church.  While there, I was asking them all about their daughter and finally asked what CWI she was from.  My jaw nearly hit the ground when she told me her daughter is from GW's CWI!!!

So, God has had a wonderful plan for Kevin, starting back in 2007. It is truly amazing to sit here in awe and realize just how long God has been arranging things for this boy and our family.