One little boy needs a family

Over the years, I (Cindy) have advocated for special needs orphans in need of adoptive families when and where I can on the internet and in person. It's quite a blessing when I get to know about a child actually finding their forever family! :-) I call the children that come to my notice our "prayer children". Sometimes I believe God is just asking hubby and I to pray, and ask for prayer, for certain children at certain times. I received one such notice (no pictures) for a 3 yr old Chinese boy on 9/4/08, as follows in part:

"BABY BOY IN CHINA
The final item I want to mention in this message is an appeal on behalf of the little boy in China who desperately needs his forever family; we wrote about this child two and a half weeks ago and we are still waiting for his family. We are virtually out of time, but I am sending this out with the prayer that God would quickly raise up this boy's family; if we don't find his family very soon---within the next couple of days---this child's file will be returned to the CCAA, and we don't know what will happen after that. The following are the points of information we have received on this child:

- Three-year-old boy; - Large red birthmark on upper body and part of face; - Left ear abnormality; - Mental development is normal; - Possible Weber Syndrome (not confirmed); - No history of seizures; - He is a social little guy, but can be shy at times".

I inquired into Chinese regulations as an attempt to learn what more I could say or not say about this little one as I spread the word wherever I could? My inquiry was mistaken for interest in adopting him :-}. The adoption agency gal and I tried to reach each other by phone for several days to discuss what could and could not be forwarded online. In that short of time, CCAA recalled the file. :-( That means the child was no longer available for adoption! Maybe ever?! We were appalled, and hubby and I quickly asked "what if you tell CCAA that WE have belatedly stepped forward to adopt him? Would they release his file again?". And then we prayed, lots, waiting to hear back. The answer days later was "no".

I couldn't forget him, and kept him on prayer listings. I shared news of him with a friend, who suggested contacting someone that I had actually worked with many years earlier. I emailed her, and told her "a family" had stepped forward at the 12th hour, but it was too late for this one boy. Did she have a way to know if and when he was relisted, if he was?? And we would double our efforts to advocate for him?

Three weeks went by, and an email came out of left field on 10/8/08 saying a friend in a US international adoption agency had someone in Beijing who had found him. But CCAA didn't want to release his file until "the interested family" stepped forward. Gulp. We prayed, we stepped forward, THEN we learned we still didn't have to follow through in adoption... we may not even meet all of the agency's and China's requirements!! Whew.

It took an agonizing 4 weeks (!) for the release to happen. But we finally got word 11/10/08, along with his file and photos, that his file had been released, and the little guy was once again available to adopt. "So we can now advocate for him, I asked?" No - he was a designated release. They would wait until WE decided yes or no to adopting him ourselves before posting his file on the internet! We prayed lots more, and believe that God is gently asking us to, for the third time, to step forward and offer OUR home to this little one. Interestingly enough, I had always told people that I didn't care if a child was black, white or purple polka-dot... we would love them all just the same. Yep - with his Port Wine Stain fading off into spots in places, little Yan is a God-made purple polka-dotted child. God has quite a sense of humor!

And thus we are now fully committed to the incredible spiritual highs and lows, emotional ups and downs, and mountains of paperwork, time and expenses.... all known as the Adoption Roller Coaster. It's up to God now to stop this ride for our family if this one little boy is truly meant to be in a different family. If not, then we pray that God keeps His protection and comfort around him while we try our best to ride this coaster to the end, and soon.