It's a match!

After months of paperwork, emotional ups and downs, fingerprints and background checks, reviewing more medical records than a medical student...we have finally been matched with a child!  We cannot post his picture yet, but will as soon as we have the thumbs up from our agency.  He is a 2 year old boy from China!  He will be three in December (that's right, another December birthday in our family)!  And, we are hoping to bring him home sometime early next year.  He has a form of spina bifida which has been surgically corrected and he seems to be doing just fine now.  He is walking, running, talking and his caretakers say he is a happy boy.

He, of course, has a Chinese name, that we have no idea how to pronounce correctly.  We have chosen to give him an American name too.  In honor of his nickname for the last year, as we prayed for this nameless, faceless child, "Little E," we're giving him the name of Eli.  With Trip and Mady, we chose their names for various reasons, Trip is a nickname for being the third Thomas John Kuehn in our family, and Madeline was a name that TJ and I both really liked for a girl and it turns out her initials (MGK) are the same as my grandmother.  With Eli, we felt like since we were basically taking away his Chinese name, there needed to be a reason behind the choice we made for his name.  And, of course, there is not just one reason, there are many:

First, as I mentioned before, we've been calling him Little E for a year now, so a name beginning with E just made since.

Second, it was a little boy named Eli that first started our conversations about adding to our family through adoption.

Third, Eli is a priest in the Old Testament.  It is the priest that Hannah leaves her son, Samuel with after God hears her prayers and blesses her with a son...much like he has blessed us with all of our children.

And, finally, Eli means high, uplifted, ascend.  And, we have been lifting Eli up for the last year, so it seems appropriate!

Trip and Mady are excited to meet Eli.  They are already planning what to show him when he first comes home, how to teach him English, where he will sit in the car and at the table, all the important details of joining our family!  We cannot wait to meet him in person!  Please lift him up by name as we wait to bring him home!  Begin praying now for God to open his heart to be loved by us!

On the move...

To say the last few weeks have been emotional, would not even begin to fully describe our adoption journey's recent ups and downs.  It really is like being on this crazy roller coaster...one minute you are climbing up this hill that is taking forever, and then, the next thing you know, you are flying, moving full speed ahead, completely unable to see the next twists and turns.  Ever since we completed our home study back in May, we've been on a slow, steady climb, waiting for it to be authenticated so we could send it to China.  Recently, while we were waiting patiently, a child was brought to us to consider for adoption.  After much prayer, medical research and many discussions, we made the decision to say yes to this precious child, only to find out less than 24 hours later that he'd already been matched.  The reasons behind the mistake are too long and boring to explain in this blog, but nonetheless, we were heartbroken.  Our hearts have been healing the last couple of weeks as we begin to wait again, hopeful for what and who God has planned for our family.  And, yesterday, we began the move again, the climb up our next hill.  Not to another child yet, but to China.  Our dossier (adoption paperwork) is officially on it's way to China, the birthplace of our next child!  It has been about a year since we first applied with our agency to begin this journey!   And, our paperwork is finally out of the US and on it's way to China!  I must admit, I'm a little in disbelief that we have finally reached this milestone.  Sometimes in the drudge of the paperwork and the disappointment of unmet expectations, you begin to lose sight of what brought you to this place to begin with.  But, with this exciting news, I am reminded that God's plans for us are perfect.  They are to give us hope and a future, and not to harm us.  His timing is perfect and He has already chosen the child that will be joining our family.  And, I for one, cannot wait to meet him or her!  So, I'm jumping back on the roller coaster, strapping myself in and holding on for the ride!