When we took that first step, neither of us could know how just how many potholes, hills, exits, traffic jams and accidents there would prove to be on that road, or how many beautiful and amazing sights we’d see along the way!

Our dossier went to China in late August 2001 after five months of loving preparation. The very next month, we received devastating news. My husband was losing his job. The ENT physician he was working with had quit, and the hospital didn’t think my husband’s job as an audiologist was safe without an ENT on staff. Because it’s a small hospital, they had no idea how long it would take to recruit another.

We had just hawked everything that wasn’t nailed down, hit our parents up for cash instead of Christmas presents and took out a substantial loan to pay for just some of our adoption expenses (we had no idea how we were going to pay for the rest), and now we were staring down the barrel of gun that could not only kill our adoption dreams, but cause us to have to uproot after only two years in our present location. We couldn’t understand why, when we’d gotten such clear direction about adopting from China, we had suddenly run into such a huge roadblock. It seemed an insurmountable obstacle.

Incredibly, the layoff turned out to be an answer to our prayers. After a few weeks of negotiation, my husband was able to work out a deal with the hospital where he’d been employed that allowed him to take over the practice as a self-employed individual. Their attitude was if he could make it fly, more power to him! And fly, it did. My husband made enough extra that year to pay the rest of our adoption expenses and also set some aside for the next adoption – an idea we hadn’t previously even been able to entertain because of our financial circumstances. In spite of our sometimes less-than-solid faith, our Father in Heaven provided a way for us to continue our journey.

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