Many people have asked me where little Abigail Fu Jin is currently residing in China. She is in Xinfeng County in southern Jiangxi Province. I am posting a map of China (below). If you click on the picture it will come up larger. The outlined Province is Jiangxi and Abigail is living near the southern tip of this province, so she is really pretty far south. Supposedly, the food there is some of the spiciest in all of China, as they like to use chili peppers in their cuisine. Mike, as you all can probably imagine, is quite excited about this fact, as he has a steel-lined stomach when it comes to spicy foods. :)



Here is a map of just Jiangxi province, so you can see just how far south Abigail's orphanage is in Xinfeng.

We got a video of Abigail!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) Here are the latest photos (taken from the video). :)

WHAT A BLESSED THANKSGIVING, INDEED!

As you know, our dossier was logged in at the CCAA in China in February of 2007. We were told to expect another 3 year wait, due to improved economic conditions in China and a new domestic adoption program within the country. So we figured we'd be spending another few Christmases without our Chinese daughter.

On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving (11/20/07), Mike happened to have insomnia and checked his email late at night, only to discover a surprise. Our agency had sent us an email asking if we were interested in looking at any of the "waiting child" files that they received from the CCAA. The "waiting children" are children who China considers to have "special needs". These "special needs" are much different from what we in this country would consider a special need. In China, you are classified as a special needs/ waiting child if you are slightly older (over 2 years), have a birthmark, scar, correctable congenital dislocated hip (like I was born with as an infant) or other minor correctable conditions such as ptosis, clubfoot, etc. As sad as it is, these children, who are healthy and lovable children, are considered less adoptable in China, so they are placed on this waiting child list.

Anyway, there was one little girl named Fu Jin who caught our eye. She is 15 months old. She has been at the orphanage since she was 1 day old. The caregivers at the orphanage were concerned about her, because at 9 months, despite meeting her milestones, her legs seemed a little weak- she would walk "slowly" in her walker, compared to the other kids. The doctors did all kinds of CT scans and assorted tests, decided that she must have had some kind of trauma during her birth and they sent her for therapy. She went to a rehabilitation facility for therapy, and upon her release, came back to the orphanage much improved. At 15 months she is now standing steadily, is much stronger and is talking (mostly about food...she knows the word for "meal", for instance...Ha! She'll fit right in here!).

We were in love from the minute we saw her, and knew that there was no way we could say "No". But the agency, being the reputable agency that they are, told us that they would put the file on hold for us until we consulted with doctors/ specialists, etc and made an informed decision. Again, there was no way we were saying "no". But, we did what they wanted and spoke with the specialists and on Wednesday, 11/28/07, we officially told our agency that we wanted Fu Jin to be our daughter. On Thursday we wrote our formal Letter of Intent to send to China (our letter petitioning to adopt her and outlining how we will address her needs once she comes home), on Friday we made final changes to the letter, and on Saturday the LOI was in the mail on the way to our agency. From what we've been told, it will probably be about 4 months until we travel to get her (so April of 2008). On Saturday, we received her original file from China (before that, all we had was copies). Our agency even sent us mailing labels so we can start sending her care packages soon.

THIS IS FINALLY HAPPENING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are over the moon with excitement!!!!!!!!!!!!! Abigail Fujin Dlugozima, we're coming for you soon. :) :)

Here is a quick summary on our journey thus far:

Mike and I have been married since 1999, and always knew that we wanted to adopt. In 2002, we spotted an advertisement at church asking married couples to consider adopting from China. I called to inquire, but was told that we were too young, as both parents must be over 30 to enter the program. In 2004, we were blessed with the birth of our daughter Emily. When Emily was a year old, in 2005, we decided that we wanted to add child #2 to our family, and that now was the time to pursue our adoption dream. We were still too young to adopt from China, so applied to a Russia adoption program. After almost a year, after our Russia paperchase was complete, the program became very unstable and we decided it just wasn't for us. By now, I was almost 30 and almost old enough to apply for an adoption from China. Chinese adoptions have a history of being one of the most stable programs for adoptions, and just really felt right to us. So, thus begins our China adoption story.

In the summer of 2006, we began our China paperchase (homestudy, immigration paperwork, gathering together documents for our dossier to go to China, etc.) By February 2007 we were "logged in" to the program in China. And so began the wait. Initially, we were told 10 months, then 16, and then (due to an improved economy and new domestic adoption program in China), we were told to expect 3+ years. This was good news for the children of China, but a litte sad for us. As much as Mike and I are eager to expand our family, Emily is just as anxious to have her sister home. We just didn't want her to have to wait until she was 6 years old to finally have the sibling she always wanted.

And then everything changed. I found out I was pregnant in the beginning of July 2007. PERFECT. We figured that now we would have our daughter in China and this new baby, and we were finally getting the big "insta-family" of our dreams. Unfortunately, this excitement did not last, as our hopes were once again dashed. The pregnancy was not meant to be. After 11 weeks of pregnancy, and after seeing our baby's heartbeat (just when I thought all was safe), I lost the baby and had to have a D and C on August 23, 2007. Our baby angel Sarah was with us for such a short time, but she will never be forgotten.

I can't even begin to describe the heartache we felt. As bad as this wait had become (waiting for our adoption from China to come through), it now became a million times harder. After suffering such a devastating loss, there was no way that we could possibly survive 3 more years of heartache. And then God answered our prayers......