We became DTC, Dossier to China on October 19, 2015. An exciting day because we knew that now it was just a matter of time before we could start viewing a file if it were presented to us.

Let’s go back though to a couple months ago when Josh and I were enjoying  outside porch time drinking a glass of wine. I looked at him and asked if he could ever consider a boy and that maybe we needed to open our hearts and minds to this idea if we both felt comfortable with it. Josh said, “Boys are crazy….but it would be fun to have a golf partner.” So I knew that the door was open for more conversation about it. That night I didn’t sleep a wink thinking about having a boy in our home, it really made me uneasy to be honest. I just don’t know the male gender like I know the female one! We both sort of took it out of our minds until about a month ago and then went back to the possibility. That night I slept so well. Josh and I both woke up the next morning and felt good about changing our gender to either a girl OR a boy. Whatever God had in store for us was what we wanted. I guess it’s like opening the gates a bit wider to make it easier for God to do His work.

A couple weeks later, I was on CCAI’s website where only members can view, and I saw the face of an angel. I knew I had to ask more about him just going on his picture and the words that were written about him. Look at this sweet face! His Chinese name is Long Zhi Gang and he goes by “Zhi” or “ZhiGang.” Of course it isn’t pronounced “Gang” as in a group, the ‘a’ is more of a ‘u’ or ‘o’ if that makes sense. 

Pam Rodriguez who is in charge of all the files of available children called me immediately. She said, “You are welcome to see his file, but this today is the last day his file can be with us, it needs to go back to the CCCWA this afternoon.” If I hadn’t decided to visit the CCAI site, I would never have had the chance to even view his file. It would have gone off to another agency to enable their families to have the chance to view it. First little miracle of the day. Later that day though, Pam called me and said that she was sorry and that she didn’t realize we weren’t yet Logged in to China. The little boys file was LID only because he didn’t have any notable medical needs. She said that if there was anything that could be done, it would be. They were going to try to get us logged in so that we would have the chance to consider this sweet boy. That night when Josh got home, its all I could talk about. I told Josh about Pam’s phone call and we both agreed that if it was meant to be and that if it was truly God’s plan for us to consider this little boy, then it would all work itself out. That night at 9:00 our time, Pam called us on her cell phone. They had managed to Log us in early in China. Someone who works for CCAI personally went down to the CCCWA three different times in hopes of getting them to log us in. We officially got logged in to China (LID) October 20, 2015. That secured this sweet boys file a bit longer for us to review it and have a few doctors we had ready to review it. 

It has been a whirlwind this past week. Ive had a sleepless night or two, which I think is quite typical when making a decision as big as this is. The thing is, this little cutie is a bit older than what we ever thought we’d adopt. He’s four and will have just turned five when we are able to get him! But you know what? We are good with this and its actually refreshing not to have two toddlers at the same time. Bronley can stay her rightful place as the baby in the family and Libby will be the eldest. Zhi is ten months younger than Libby.
Here’s the other amazing thing, Zhi’s orphanage seems like one of the good ones in China which is a HUGE blessing to us and obviously to him. In his file that we received, there were SO many photos that Pam couldn’t even send the entire thing at once. We’ve also gotten three videos of him which is such a gift. He seems HAPPY and looks well taken care of!
Want one more amazing tid bit? On Facebook, I am in a lot of China adoption groups, this has helped me immensely during the last many many months. I commented on one of them if anyone had ever been to Zhi’s orphanage before and immediately a boy named Rob in his early 20’s who lives in Dublin, Ireland wrote back that he works for Eagles Wings, a non profit organization that goes into orphanages to work with the children and that he KNOWS sweet Zhi very well. He and I have been going back and forth for a couple days now and he’s given me even more pictures and even more information on this little guy. Zhi actually told Rob, “I want to go to America.” “Wo ye xiang qu MeiGuo.” Isn’t that amazing? Total goosebumps. Rob put me in touch with a girl named Anna who lives in Pinehurst , which isn’t far from us. She has also worked in Zhi’s orphanage and has adopted one of Zhi’s little boy friends. She had a wealth of info and even more pictures to share with me. Anna is actually going back to his orphanage to adopt a 12 year old little boy and has said she’d bring over our care package that we’ll put together when she goes.

This little boy has stolen our hearts. I know it won’t be easy in the beginning, but we need to look a bit further down the road with this. He is an amazing fit for our family and has so much potential. He’s a smart little boy who loves to clean. What more can you ask for? **Insert the laughing so hard its crying Emoticon** Haha. No but in all seriousness, we’ve prayed forever for a good fit for our family. This little face speaks to me in so many ways. We cannot wait. Oh and I know you’ll want to know when we can go and GET HIM!!! Trust me, I’d like to know too. We are waiting on our LOA, Letter of Acceptance. Once we have that, then we wait for our TA, Travel Approval. Thinking maybe it could be March. Maybe. I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, this little guy is going to get tons of care packages from his family in America.

Acting like a cat

We are so thrilled to be adopting this special little boy.