Well, the BIG news is the magazine is officially mine and August is my first issue! How exciting is that?! We are thrilled and inspired to grow this magazine and feel blessed that I have a business that not only makes money and allows me to work from home, but to be working in an area that I love and feel passionate about. It's a dream come true for me!
Here is a link to my Natural Awakenings magazine website. The magazine is available there and all over the Tallahassee region if you are looking for a hard copy.
In adoption news..... Last weekend, Dave and I went to a reunion picnic in Orlando, FL for families who have adopted their children with Ukranian Angels assistance. A good time was had by all, until Nathan "disappeared" for about 10 minutes. Dave and I and a few others were searching for him in the park. He was finally found by the restrooms, which were no where near our picnic pavillion! It was terrifying. I am not naturally an over-protective mother, but when we are out in public like that surrounded by many, many strangers.... I DO keep my children close, except for this particular escape-artist moment. It was so scary, but luckily it had a happy ending.
Dave enjoyed seeing the former Ukrainian children, as did I. But I have to admit, I didn't feel completely at peace about it. I've shared in previous posts, that Dave and I are looking for a daughter, under 5 years of age. Based on many things that I have read in my research, and some conversations with parents at the picnic, it is constantly brought up how Ukraine is very limited on referrals of girls under 6, who are not severely disabled. I am not opposed to a special needs child with mild, correctable issues, but we are hoping for a child as healthy as possible, as most parents do.
I have never brought up China in this blog before. Frankly, I pretty much avoided looking into a China adoption because I knew that China has practically halted their adoption program of healthy girl babies. It used to be pretty commonplace to see beautiful Chinese baby girls adopted by American families, but the Chinese program has slowed down so much that I know of one woman who has waited over 3 years for a referral, and an adoption professional that I talked to today, says the wait is more like 5 years! Can you imagine? Waiting 5 years to adopt a child?
The ironic twist (to my ever twisting adoption story), is that I have always wanted to adopt ever since I was a young girl, and I always imagined it would be a Chinese girl. When we began this process, and I heard about the difficulties parents were having with China, I just disregarded my old wishes and focused my mind elsewhere. But really, there are no difficulties with God and in the Universe. In both cases, God/the Universe/ or however you want to believe, has given me my dream of owning a magazine such as the one I now own AND the possibility of adopting a daughter from China. I know it's cliche, but God DOES work in mysterious ways. Look at the abundance of blessings that have befallen on us lately!
How this is able to happen for us now is because China is still allowing adoptions of special needs (SN) children and older children (also considered special needs). Last week by chance, I found a picture of a little girl who I am very interested in and have received her file and medical reports. I have talked to the agency "handling" her adoption and a local homestudy provider in Tallahassee who has worked on many adoptions out of China. I have sent out her medical files to a Dr. in Alabama who specializes in international adoption medical reviews, for her opinion on her health status. How's that for trying to move things along...?
The good news is, if we give the "go ahead," this particular agency can put a "HOLD" on her file and we would have 3 months to get all of our paperwork in order to adopt her. She is not on the "Shared List." This is a list sent from China to several agencies of SN children available for adoption, and you have to move faster if you find a child off of that list. Having the ability to have the 3 months to put our dossier together is a blessing that I received today.
I don't want to say more, as I don't want to completely jinx it. But say a prayer for us that she is the one and we can begin working on bringing her home. If we accept her and begin the process for this girl in particular I will fill you in on more facts. Until then... pray, pray, pray for us and the daughter we are hoping to find.
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