From China with Love

Extreme Home Make-Over: Secrest Adoption Edition

Well it has finally happened. It took 10 long weeks, but we are officially Dossier To China!

When Larry and I began this process 6 months ago we had to learn a whole new alphabet. In fact, Larry is still learning, God love him!:) I thought it might be fun to school you on the acronyms of China adoption, beginning with DTC.

DTC- Dossier to China: large packet of paper work including legal and government documents, as well as your home study review with your social worker, pictures, fingerprints, etc. that is authenticated by a couple of government agencies and then sent to China.

LID- Logged-in date: after you are DTC it takes a few weeks to be logged in to China's system so that you can start receiving referrals or files of waiting adoptive children in China.

LOI- Letter of Intent: when you have received a file of a child you are ready to adopt, you send an official letter of intent for that child to China

PA- Pre-approval: you then receive pre-approval from the Chinese government acknowledging your intent. You have not been officially approved to adopt this child, but it's really close.

LOA-Letter of Approval- eventually you receive an official Letter of Approval from the Chinese government and will soon receive your TA.

TA- Travel Approval: once you receive travel approval you usually travel within about two weeks!

Now the moment you've all been waiting for...but not really.

I don't know that we should call this blog post Extreme Home Make-over, though there is definite demolition, moving of walls, doors, electrical, etc., going on. "This Old House" is probably more appropriate. Over the 12 years we have lived in this 1968 bi-level, my hubby has been able to morph it into a wonderful little nest for these AZ Cardinal fans (with the help of my dad and some friends!)

Larry, my dad and a good friend have made some great headway on the current home renovations, which are helping make more room for Little Birdie number 3. We actually completed a secret project upstairs that Larry wont' let me share photos of yet, but downstairs is coming together slowly and surely. Every weekend we make more headway, and I am thankful for the time we have to work on it!

The first project we have been working on is to put down new flooring throughout the entire basement. Currently, the flooring in the family room/office area is finished, but the flooring for our new bedroom, bathroom and laundry room will have to wait as the men reconstruct walls, closets and doorways. Below is a picture of the closet and doorway in our current playroom. This pic is actually from when we moved in 12 years ago. The closet and doorway are being reconstructed to make a new entrance into our new master bedroom.

On the left is a picture of the closet doors and doorway before demolition. On the right is some of the re-framing that has happened over the last week and a half. You can see the doorway has been recessed into the room and the old closets ripped out. There is a new pocket door going into our furnace room. 

Below you will see a picture of our new laminate wood floors. This is a picture from when the floor was only half done. We are so thankful to have gotten rid of the 8 year old carpet!! It was well worn, burned, and stained in different places. 

New Beginnings are wonderful, aren't they?

As we have taken time to clean out: throw away, give away, sell and relocate items in our home, I feel a weight being lifted. Living in a mess of construction for any length of time can be unsettling. God has been speaking to my heart during this process. Even as Larry and I were on our hands and knees RE-laying parts of the floor, I was well aware of how the messes of life can ruffle my feathers. Jesus has been teaching me to embrace the messiness of life. And I don't mean sawdust. 

                                       Adoption is messy.

Though I have an amazing Adoption agency that seeks to streamline the adoption process in every way possible, there are still bumps and glitches, and government closings, and technicalities, and re-sendings, and missed details, and misinformation somewhere along the way. If I had any illusion of control in my life (and I had grand illusions, let me tell you), God in his great mercy and grace has used this process to free me from said illusion.

                                 The Challenges are Real.

Our agency does a beautiful job of preparing us adoptive families for the difficulties and realities ahead in the absolute best way possible. They train and equip and hold your hand every step of the way. And yet, Larry and I realized we were in denial. In our desire to be positive and hopeful and focus on "the joy set before us," we have secretly been avoiding the fact that things are going to be

                                   Really, really messy.

The truth is, when you adopt a child from a foreign country (and even from your own country) you may encounter language barriers and cultural differences, and speech delays, and malnutrition, and attachment difficulties, and fear. Oh so much fear. Fear of abandonment. Fear of conditional love. Fear of not knowing where their next meal is coming from, or if it will be enough to satisfy your hunger. There will be tantrums and meltdowns and sleep deprivation from the child and the parents! Oh what a first year we are in for! But we can't help but think, and really, really know, that it is all worth it.

 Paul said we share in the sufferings of Christ that we might also share in his glory. Nothing truly beautiful ever grows without suffering. "For the Joy set before him, he endured the cross." (Hebrews 12:2) There is no beauty of salvation without the pain of the cross. No new life, without death. And we have been called to die to ourselves and take up our cross and follow him. Jesus even said in John 12:24, "Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." 

James writes in 1:27, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

Darn it, if the gospel isn't just super-duper messy. And he is calling me to roll up my sleeves and get dirty.

The beauty of salvation comes after the pain of the cross, the beauty of Spring comes only after the cold death of winter, and the beauty of a home renovation only comes after a great, big, ugly mess. 

And the Journey continues.....