It's a BOY!

Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare. Psalm 40:5

It is with great joy, excitement, and thanksgiving that I announce my little brother,

Charles DaShan, "Charlie"

He was born on January 5, 2006, which makes him 3 1/2, 2.5 months younger than AnnaClaire and almost exactly 14 months older than Kate! His name is Zhou Da Shan and he has lived at the Chongqing SWI in Chongqing, China since he was 2 days old! He is described as a clever and lovely boy who is loved by all. He is tiny, weighing 26 pounds and is 33 inches tall!

And we are SOOOOO excited to bring this little guy home!

I know you all want the story of how exactly Charlie came to be... and it's a good one. I am just amazed at how God brought him to us... so here we go.

We've always said that AC and Kate would be it... before we even knew what we were going to name them, we knew we were going to adopt two little girls from China... and that was it. Yet, my mom has also dreamed about having 6 kids since before Dad and Mom even got married. But then we went to China for Kate and we just knew that we were done. Our family was complete with the seven of us... or so we thought.

For the first few months home, those hard months with Kate, we were sure we were done. And then, on Mom's birthday, we took a picture of all the kids... and it looked so empty... like someone was missing. Our family started talking and Gracie/Charlie constantly came up. However, although we talked about it, from what I saw and heard, I knew that God was literally going to have to drop a little one in our laps if he wanted us to adopt again.

April came, which was when our 6 month post placement took place... when we could apply to AWAA again. We didn't, and I was sure that was it. We still talked but it started feeling more like a dream than a reality.

In June, we started talking more about a "Charlie" than a "Gracie" and knew that if we went back, it'd be a little boy. That is when Mom really felt that God was calling us back, and that he had a little BOY in China who was OURS. She started looking at lists (I don't even know why I said started... we looked at lists long before... but that's when she REALLY started looking at lists... as in not just thinking, "aww he/she is cute!")

And then on July 2nd, I was lifeguarding when Dad brought AnnaClaire and Kate to the pool. He came over and said, "You will NEVER believe what your mom is doing right now." I laughed and said, "What?" He then told me that she had found a little boy on a list named "Charlie" and she was asking for his file. He also told me that his SN was club feet and he was a little older than Kate (we later realized we had gotten the birthday off by a year, so he's closer to AC.) I asked if he was cute, and he said they hadn't seen pictures. I knew it must be serious if Mom was asking for a file without even seeing pictures first!

I got home and everyone was around the computer talking about him. All there was was a little line that said, "Charlie Male 1/5/06 club feet Chongqing." Mom had found the list through the No Hands But Ours website. She had seen the agency before, Madison Adoption Associates, but she had never asked to join the yahoo group... until that day.

They had all the referrals in the files. I then was able to find his entire FILE on the yahoo group. We saw the little picture of him holding the pink ball and we just KNEW he was ours.

My mom emailed D. and told her we had found his file and were definitely interested (thankfully, he was on the individual list, not the shared list... so we had TIME! Which was nice since it was a holiday weekend!) Now remember this was a Thursday NIGHT after hours. She emailed back with a form to fill out and told us that she had just received on update on Charlie and she would get it to us soon. On 4th of July morning, we got the update... 3 more pictures which had been taken not even a week ago, and his measurements.

However, our biggest concern was still not answered... was he walking or not? In his initial referral information, which was done when he was 2.5, he was not walking. We knew he was ours though and that he would walk eventually (him not walking was due to his club feet), so we sent off our LOI, asked them to hold the file, and filled out a few other things that MAA needed.

That week, we brought the file to the dr. and got the official okay. We also found out that he WAS walking... a definite praise! Our LOI went out on July 10th and I was in China when we received the news that we had PA, which was on July 18th! (oh and MAA allows pictures to be posted after PA, which is why I can post them!)

So that's how Mr. Charlie came to be... a story perfectly orchestrated by the God who LOVES and CREATED him...

What's next for us? We are busy with the paperchase! We have a deadline to get our dossier in China by 10/17, but it can be extended. Our biggest issues have been with our homestudy... we are doing it with our last social worker (our new agency isn't licensed in NC, so we are using our old agency for our homestudy.) Let's just say, we applied 3 weeks ago and STILL haven't been approved. So very frustrating, but I guess we are going to have to learn a bit of PATIENCE... not easy for me! God has definitely given me peace in the wait so far... I hope that he continues to show me that good things come to those who WAIT! He has promised us little Charlie and in his perfect timing, we will get to meet this precious little boy that we have fallen head over heals in love with! We are hoping to travel in the Spring of '10!


Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart;
Jeremiah 1:5