Before I begin, let me just say that nothing about this story is normal and just like last time every detail is the exact opposite of what we were expecting! Adoption is such a roller coaster and every story is completely different.
Here’s the story of how we were matched with little sis…
On a regular Tuesday afternoon in January my phone rang. Like most of us in 2019, I barely answer my phone since it’s mainly spam calls. But when I saw the area code for Eugene, Oregon I knew it was our adoption agency and I could barely breath. I answered it and all I could think was, “IS IT HAPPENING???”
(It was!)
The director the the China Program was on the other end of the phone call telling me that they had locked a file for our family. She began to go over the profile for me to make sure it was a match we wanted to see. Jeremy wasn’t home at the moment, it was just me. As we spoke I went from crying to smiling to blanking out on repeat.
When she said it was a one year old girl my heart skipped a beat. I think I said, “turing one or turning two?”. She replied, “turning one next week.” I was stunned.
My mind was spinning. On our first adoption I had wanted to younger child so so much. But in the end, when we were matched with a two and a half year old I realized she was perfect for our family and still SO small. In hindsight I felt my hesitations for adopting a two and half year old were totally crazy. It still scares the hell out of me that we could have missed out on Nova because we almost went firmly “under two” on our profile. But as everyone says- everything happens for a reason and we ended up so so so happy with our little toddler, never once regretting our choice.
When we began our second adoption we always stayed open to the oldest possible age, while still keeping birth order with Nova. In my mind I was 99% sure we’d be matched with an almost-three year old (since our max age was 3) and that was all I had mentally prepared for.
Back to the phone call… I apologized for being speechless, and told her we definitely wanted to see the file and that it sounded perfect.
I hung up and began texting Jeremy, who I knew wouldn’t write me back because he was on his run (he uses “do not disturb” mode or something). I told him to hurry up and come home because we were receiving a match and that I would wait to look at the file with him.
He said that when he finally saw my texts the first one that popped up was “THE FORTUNE COOKIES!”.
Just a few days before we had opened not one, but two, fortune cookies that said this…..
Now, I know fortune cookies are not a credible way of telling the future. And to make it even weirder they’re not even a real Chinese “thing” (you only get fortune cookies in the US but not really in China). Still, there is no denying that these fortune cookies actually told us our future. How crazy is that?
Jeremy finally got home. I had been pacing around for close to an hour trying not to look at the email sitting in my inbox.
We sat on the couch and he gave me his lengthy “classic Jeremy” speech about how we didn’t have to say yes and we couldn’t feel pressured and bla bla bla bla (I wasn’t really listening). He is a very cautious person and so I did not expect him to say yes right away. I believe we had Nova’s file for ten days before he decided it was a yes.
We opened the file. It was so minimal compared to the file we had received for Nova. Two photos, no video, pages of medical report with yes/no answers and one long paragraph summarizing the child’s history, condition and personality.
Five minute later as we were sitting there re-reading that one, precious, paragraph Jeremy said, “Well- there’s not really anything to think about. Just tell them yes.”
We called our parents and texted photos to our siblings and an hour later sent in our LOI (letter of intention) to our agency. It was so nice to have such an easy decision after our ten days of “pondering” with Nova’s adoption. But I guess it’s just the theme of our second adoption. Everything was 100x easier. EVERY.THING. And I definitely believe in the destiny element of it all- that our very different timelines led us to the perfect (for us) child each time around.
Days later we are still in shock, still debating names and still texting all our friends with one year old children (really basic) questions like, “how old are kids when they start to talk” hahaha.
Ironically, just a few weeks ago we had a conversation where we decided that if we had to wait 2+ years for a match that we would be fine with that and stay the course. Getting a match six months after we began our paperwork, and one one month after our “one year” family day with Nova. If it seems fast to you, it is VERY FAST and not typical for China adoptions.
And now… well, we get back to our paperwork routines. Nova needs a US passport and we’ll be completing the nursery within the next month or so. It’s normally 3-4 months from the time you match until you travel. We’re VERY excited to visit China in the Spring. We want to see the great wall and see some sights with Nova this time before we meet little sis (after which, all bets are off since you never know how tough those first few weeks will be).
I can’t wait to hold this little gal in my arms. I feel like I’m living in a dream currently…. I wake up thinking of her and go to sleep thinking of her.
And the cutest thing ever… Nova has been carrying her photo around showing everyone we meet. While she definitely does not fully understand what’s happening, she’s so excited and proud to have this photo of her little sister. It’s heart melting!
Thank you for sharing our JOY as we count down the days to meeting little sister. We’ll share updates as things move forward!
