Here am I. Send Me!

Two months ago Jeremy and I were asked by another adoptive family to help review the file of a little girl. I spent a few hours on the phone with a dear friend trying to decipher the file that was staring back at me. We decided that this little girl has the same or very similar special need as Mariah.

After speaking with this other family they decided that this little girl was not meant for their family. Please understand when you are active in the adoption community, you see many files and it is very common to turn down a file. In fact, we turned one down when we were given two to review along with Mariah's. As a family you pray about it and pray some more. Then a decision has to be made. This family said they would pray that Jeremy and I would pray about adding this girl to our family.

It took us two seconds and we knew we had to do everything we could to get her home!

As you have guessed, we begin this journey once again. This time it is vastly different. 

Is it scary? You bet! 

Is it hard? Absolutely! 

Are we ready? You're kidding, right?

But we both knew after Mariah we were not finished with our family. 

I will share a little of what we know about this sweet girl. She is thirteen years old. She lives in southern China. She speaks Cantonese and possibly has learned Mandarin in school.

She recently has moved into foster care after living in an orphanage for 12 years. She was abandoned at 6 months old. She is beautiful!!!

It is now a joke in our family that in order to be a Kaminski your birthday has to fall in the months of December or January. Three birthdays are in December. This sweet girl's birthday is January 4th. She will make the third January birthday! Oh my! Then we have one in February and one in June. 

She is only adoptable until the day before she turns 14. We will be running a marathon to get her home. It will certainly be a sprint to the finish line.

Our agency is more than able to do this. It will take cooperation from our home study agency, placing agency, and us. It is entirely possible. Her adoption will be expedited each step of the process. If you remember, there are about 15 bazillion steps!

China truly wants to see these orphans adopted before aging out. Their life after aging out is devastating. China will go above and beyond to help us. In fact, they already have. 

I cannot share her picture until we get Pre-Approval from China to adopt her. That may take a couple of weeks. There is a new data base system that is causing a bit of trouble and they have to get the kinks worked out. I wanted to wait to share this until we had Pre-Approval but we are very limited with time. I could not keep this secret any longer!

We are super excited!!!

We realize that many will not understand why we are doing this since we already have five kids. When God calls, we answer. We love kids. Our hearts are broken for the orphans. He called us to adopt again. We answered with a resounding, YES!

Jeremy and I ask that you pray for our new sweetie. This will be a very scary time for her. She has known China for 13 years. I imagine she will be scared. We pray that the Lord will soften her heart and allow her to begin to understand what a family is. Our hearts break for the fact that she has never had a mom and dad to love her. Thirteen years she has waited. She doesn't even know yet that there is a family in pursuit of her. 

God has already moved a huge mountain for us as we began this process. 

We covet your prayers for our sweet girl. 

Our kids here have also known for two months. Yes, they are great secret-keepers. They are so excited. 

Kyle was all for it. He simply said, "Sure! I think it would be great." 

Micah's words to us that night we asked each of them were, "Mom, I think I'd like to have an older Chinese sister!" That is exactly how he feels. 

Rebecca was amazingly tender-hearted and cried over this new little girl's current life and the possibility of a surgery like Mariah's. 

Ben was super happy. I think is response was, "Becca! Now you will be popular because you will have a Chinese sister your age."  Ummmm......what? I know, an odd response for a nine year old. 

Our kids are really amazing. They will give and give until there is nothing left to give. And be happy about it.

We have a bit of rearranging her in our home too. Our older boys are moving to a bedroom that we have to complete in the basement. Becca and this new Chinese Princess will share the older boys' current bedroom. Ben will have his own room and Mariah will eventually move out of our room to what is currently Rebecca's room.

We have been swamped with paperwork, background checks, applications, and doctor's visits. I knew if I continued to blog as much as I was, I would "spill the beans"!

Please lift our family in prayer as we rush to China to get our sweet girl before it is too late. Her birthday is January 4th. She has to be adopted by January 3rd.

When we said, "Here we are Lord. Send us!" We had no idea where He would send us. I meant it though. Jeremy meant it too. 

We are being sent to China, again!  

Isaiah 6:8      Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I,  Here am I; send me.