We’d gotten such a strong witness that Sofie was to be our child that we felt a surge of faith and optimism. We knew she’d be coming home to us, and we got right to work taking the necessary steps to make that happen.

Then came the news: China said no.

Through our adoption coordinator, our facilitator encouraged us not to lose hope and promised he’d keep trying. In the meantime, we fasted, we prayed, we attended the temple. And they still said no.

Things at the CCAA had gotten so strict that they issued a statement to all adoption agencies that they would make NO exceptions for larger family adoption, and that the agencies weren’t to ask or they would risk receiving “demerits.” This was the breaking point for me. It was right before Christmas and it was just the worst news I could imagine receiving. I felt it was hopeless and I truly began to lose faith. I was miserable and angry and felt like life had lost its flavor; everything around me was flat. I was tired of people asking, “Heard anything?” and I took it as a personal affront when they did. I was a mess. I practically subsisted on blessings from my husband just to be able to get through each day. I did my best to follow the counsel I received, which was always to keep up my faith and read the Book of Mormon. As I did these things, I began to feel better, and I will remember forever the night when I finally prayed and told my Heavenly Father that although I desperately hoped having Sofie in our family was part of His will for us, I wanted His will to be done even if that was not going to be the case. I acknowledged that He knew what was best for our family and that if not having Sofie was somehow best, I would accept it. It was hard, but I really meant it, and I immediately felt tremendously better.

In the meantime, our facilitator was busy at work trying to figure out a solution to our problem, and we know that he was inspired as a result of our prayers. He asked us to gather letters of support from congressional representatives and senators, and our agency did so, too. I was eager to do anything that might help, but I had doubts at first that anyone would be willing to help us. Amazingly, we had letters from our state senators and congressmen within a couple of weeks, and we were appointed a special “case manager” who would check in with us from time to time to see how things were going. We also ended up with letters from Ted Kennedy and Mary Landrieu, among others!

Finally, on January 17, 2005, we got the news we’d been praying for! Our little Sofie was coming home. I literally fell to my knees when the call came, and I laughed and cried and screamed in complete hysteria while our poor two year old watched her crazy mother. As soon as I could compose myself, I poured my heart out to the Lord for His incredible blessings, and then proceeded to call and email every single person on the planet. Really.

Just three weeks later, Curtis and three of our children (including Maizie, whom we’d adopted just over two years earlier), flew to China to meet our newest addition. Liu Tian Xin, who had been living in a Shanghai orphanage, was finally, finally our new daughter.

You can see first meeting here.

(continued)