Zeke’s Journey Home
Our international adoption story began with acceptance to the AWAA China Program on July 23, 2012. After speaking with the program coordinator and finding out it was potentially a six year wait for a healthy child, we applied for the China Waiting Child Program. This was not a difficult decision for us to make because we knew that our child was waiting for us somewhere in China and trusted that God would bring everything together for His best to come to fruition. The next three months were a whirlwind of paperwork and continued prayers for God’s guidance and wisdom.
On November 29, 2012 Randy and I had a conference call with our family coordinator. We were told that our homestudy had been turned in and accepted and we were officially a Waiting Child Program family. This meant that the staff would begin reviewing files on our behalf. This was an unexpected surprise because our dossier would not be completed and sent to China until mid-January 2013. Our family coordinator then explained that because we did not have a gender preference and were willing to accept a referral for a boy, we had just jumped to the top of the waiting list. To say we were stunned would be an understatement! We asked why being willing to accept a boy had such an impact. She explained that at any given time there are a large number of families at various stages in the program and at that time we were one of five families open to adopting a boy. Our conversation complete, we prepared to follow-up on some other information she requested and went on with our day. Around 10:30pm that night (eight hours after ending our conference call) my phone rang. Unfortunately I did not make it downstairs in time to answer the call, but instead listened to a voicemail telling us that there was a shared file for us to review and that our family coordinator would call us back in the morning. We did not get much sleep that night!
The next morning (a Friday) our family coordinator called and we chose to review the file. Randy was at work when the file came through and I was getting ready to go to work so we looked at the documents separately. I still find it interesting that Randy chose to look at the picture of Ezekiel (Zeke) first and then read the accompanying file and I chose to read the file first and then look at the picture. I knew I needed to process the special needs information before I became attached to a sweet little face. Even though we processed the information we were given in opposite ways, we both knew beyond a doubt that Zeke was our son. We accepted his referral file and were granted pre-approval December 13, 2012. More current photos arrived 9 days later (pictured below) . . . melt! He had our hearts!
Our dossier was sent to China mid-January 2013 and we worked through the remaining steps necessary to bring Zeke home. On July 24, 2013 we boarded a plane for Beijing a family of two, became a family of three on July 29, and arrived back home on August 9 to settle into life together. The fact that our international adoption journey took one year and six days from start to finish is still mind-boggling. We are thankful each day (through all of the ups and downs) for the call to adopt, the son the Lord provided for us, and the family we have become. We will be celebrating one year as a family of three on July 29, 2014!
-Robyn & Randy Ross, www.zekesjourneyhome.blogspot.com
Just like the Ross family, most families can complete the adoption process of a little boy through the China waiting children program in 12-16 months! (based on a 6 month dossier building process). Families who are open to boys and commonly seen medical needs can be matched while working on their dossier or almost immediately after. We currently have many boys available for adoption and have recently matched all but one of our families who have their dossier logged in and are open to boys, so the need is great! Please pray and consider if God is calling you to adopt a boy through China’s waiting children program. You can view boys and girls who are currently waiting for a family on our Waiting Children website. Please contact our staff at waitingchildren@awaa.org or by calling 800-429-3369 with any questions or if you are interested in reviewing a waiting child.