I have used “Here We Go Again!” and “The Journey Begins Anew!”  It is getting more difficult to make a new, introductory title to announce we are adopting, so I decided to keep it simple.  We are adopting and going down this all too familiar road again!

For several years we have kept a little girl in the back of our minds.  She made an impression on Brittany back in 2013 when a candy  sucker made them fast friends.

And, after returning home, we found out that Riley had been one of her primary caregivers.  Riley requested early on that if we were to go back to China, could we please bring her home?

Before that would happen, we have to step back a few months.  Our adoption agency, Madison Adoption Associates, had several people in China for a program to advocate for children needing to be adopted.  One of the attendees past a window and and saw a beautiful face smiling at her and waving.  When the day was drawing to an end, the lady asked why she had not seen that little girl and was told that she was unadoptable.  Well, that just was not an acceptable response, and our adoption agency quickly put her picture up on their website.  Which Kelly happened to stumble across and fell in love …

This lovely child had been on the shared list for five years with no interest, but God knew the right time and that time is now!  So, we started the process.  As you might guess, she is 13 years old and will age-out on December 5, so the clock is ticking.

Our agency listed her name as “Victoria” on their website, which was interesting because back when we were starting a family, Kelly had wanted to name a girl Madison Victoria.  Boy after boy after boy and that name went by the wayside.  But when Kelly’s sister reminded us of that name, we decided to call this beautiful young lady “Madison.”

Since we had a timeline and a trip in place, we started advocating for the little girl from 2013.  Riley’s little charge!  It seemed doubtful as she was young (she just turned six) the the orphanage did not seem very motivated to file her paperwork.  In fact, we checked on her status when we traveled in 2015 and nothing had advanced.  But we did not give up and with the help of our agency, her paperwork has been filed and we have been matched with her, a beautiful girl we have decided to call Peyton.

So the adventure begins!  We will keep everyone posted here on a fairly regular basis.  Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers.  Madison has some medical issues that are more complex than what we have had to manage through to date, but God has a plan.  All we have to do is say “yes” and get out of the way!

Currently we have had some issues with the Chinese Consulate in NYC authenticating our paperwork.  But this is not anything new.  There will be plenty of delays and issues as this is how international adoptions progress.  But in the end, we look so forward to adding these two girls to our loving family.

Cameron