A Heart for China

Today, Hank and I met with two counselors at Lifeline Adoption Agency (http://www.lifelineadoption.org/), one specializes in domestic adoptions and the other in international adoptions.  It was very relieving to be able to ask questions openly and get answers.  The counselors were great to talk with and they didn't bother to "sugar coat" the adoption process. 

Over the years, as Hank and I have talked about adoption, it was obvious that I leaned more toward international adoption (China) and Hank was more interested in domestic adoption.  When I really started to think about that, it made sense...most of my friends who have adopted have adopted from another country, whereas most of Hank's close friends have adopted infants from the US.  We were each drawn to that with which we were most familiar.

So, my prayer going in to this meeting was 1) that God would use it to confirm the direction we are going in or to send us in a different direction and 2) that (if he confirmed our direction) Hank and I would walk out of it with a heart to adopt from the same place whether it be the US, China, Uganda, Twain, etc. 

Leaving the building, I felt like a giddy school girl.  In my heart, I knew that God had answered our first prayer and confirmed our direction, but I wasn't sure about the second one until we got in the car and Hank said, "my heart just swells to think of adopting a child from China".  Thank you, Lord, for clearly answering our prayers!

So, that being said, over the next few days we will fill out our application for adoption.  This is the first step (of many, many, many) toward bringing another precious child into our family.