Brody is a Big Brother!!!

One happy kid!

Friday was the day!  It's been a long wait for this very special day, but our day has finally arrived. We are matched with a child!!!!
 

One of the most beautiful children I have ever seen!  Just gorgeous!  Can you tell I'm a mama again?  But seriously, our child is stunning. Cute as pie I tell you!  I saw those big dark eyes, and I was smitten.  Ryan warned me ahead of time to keep an open mind and not get wrapped up in that beautiful face. But Ryan knows me too well because my heart was captured the moment I saw the picture. I knew instantly this child was ours. 


I know you're all ready to find out if it's a boy or girl or one or two.  But hey, I've waited years for this so you can wait a couple of paragraphs.




How it happened
The amazing Jynger is what happened!  I wish all adoptive parents had a wonderful adoption agent like us.  She is a blessing!  Jynger is always on top of things.  So when India said our agency could match 3 special needs children at a time, she got to work. Our family, as well as several other families, received an email asking if we were interested in this child.  We looked up a few medical terms and within ten minutes said yes we were interested.  Not knowing if the people ahead of us on the list were interested too, we headed out on vacation for spring break.  Little did we know Jynger contacted the orphanage that week to 1) make sure the child was available for adoption 2) give our family's information to see if the orphanage would work with us.  I'm so glad she did this.  It would have been heartbreaking to learn we were the family and then it did not work out.  So it was a complete surprise last week to get the email.  We received the email on Wednesday and prayed about it. Thursday morning we had a medical professional look at the paperwork.  13 pages of information which is totally unheard of.  By lunch we said "YES!" Then we waited to hear back on the verbal "yes" from the orphanage. I could not believe by Friday morning we heard back from them. It's a YES from everybody! They are working on sending us more information and papers to sign.  Hopefully we will be an official, "official" match in a couple of weeks when we sign on the dotted line.  They did receive our dossier today!




How we told Brody
Brody has wanted nothing more than to be a big brother.  He takes great delight in babies.  So we were a little concerned about how he would respond to getting a toddler instead. Knowing Brody loves looking at pictures of children, Ryan called him over to the couch and said, "Come look at this kid." Brody dashes over.

Brody, "Who's this?"

Ryan, "What do you think?"

Brody, "Ooo, it's a cobbler."

Ryan, "A what?"

Brody, "You know, a cobbler."

Ryan, "You mean a toddler. Well, what do you think?"

Brody, "So cute! Who is he?"

Ryan, "He's your brother."

It's a boy!

We have another beautiful son!  We could not be any happier!  Brody loves him already too.  His picture has gotten lots of hugs and kisses from Brody. 

 We are now working with an orphanage in the State of Maharashtra, India. 

At this time it's best to not share a lot of details, but their website is amazing! It was good to see it.

We are very thankful for our child to be there in such good hands.

Of course, I can hardly wait to have him in my own hands!
Once we have official paperwork signed, we'll be able to post information about the orphanage.

It's a day of celebration! We are delighted to share with family and friends our good news.  I love sharing about my son, and I am looking forward to sharing more and more about him in the days ahead.  It was also too much fun listening to Brody tell his classmates this morning that he is now a big brother.  Brody's dream came true! We are just all smiles!  Thankful for Big Bro and Little Bro!!!

We would like to thank all of our encouragers over the years.  Those you who kept saying this day would happen.  Your kind and thoughtful words have meant a lot.  Thank you also to those of you who prayed for our family and little boy.  We still need your prayers.  There is a precious face to look at now. We want him home badly.  Pray all of his paperwork, court dates, and passport goes through as smoothly and quickly as possible.  If God can move mountains, He can move paperwork!

An Update

Easter

An Easter picture of Brody smiling.

Spring is here, and I figured it was time for a small update.  A little good news and bad news.




The Bad

Did you hear a loud sigh last week?  I'm sure it was heard around the world.  It was me.  A frustrated me!  We got the email and letter saying your current I-797 expires in September.  You must file your I-800A,  Supplement 3 along with home study update with USCIS...yadda yadda yadda.  For my non-adoption peeps, this means
1- lots of paperwork
2- fingerprints
3- medical examinations
4- Home Study update (me being paranoid that my house is spotless)
5- Basically lots and lots and lots and lots of George Washington's. Well, it's more like Benjamin Franklin.

It's just a big headache!  I headache that we've done before and renewed.  But hey, third time's a charm! Right?  If I click the paperwork three times and repeat, "There's no place like home," this is going to happen.  Right?  Feel free to add more encouraging "three times."

So awesome friends who love writing reference letters for the Brice family, be prepared!  Doctors, you will be seeing us soon!  God, we continue to pray for your provision!!!




The Good

When we set out on this adoption journey several years ago, we wanted a special needs child.  However when we were registered in the new system, we were placed in the "normal" track. I was disappointed, but I prayed God would be in control of placing the child who needed to be in our family.  Normal or special needs we would love and be very grateful for a child. 

Back in February at the BIG CONFERENCE, agencies were able to voice concerns. One being about special needs children and there being families who really wanted those children.  Long story told short- our agency is able to place 3 special needs children at a time now.  Woot!  Woot!  This excitement out weighs my bad sigh earlier. 

What does that mean for us you ask? It means maybe we can have a child sooner than we thought!  It takes years to be matched with a healthy baby.  Our heart's desire is a special needs child (noticed I didn't say baby).  We have been in this process a long time and that does put us higher on the waiting list for one of these children. Maybe 2013 will be our year after all.  Maybe.  I will remain optimistic and in prayer!  So if you hear a loud squeal of delight, heard all over the world I'm sure, it will be me.  It's will be a very happy me!  It will be me...a mom again!