Our Journey Begins

For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you, to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11

Every story has a beginning, and every journey a starting point.
Our story to Elainea began with the most divine, pure and humble start, a child’s prayer. One night during her evening prayers Hannah prayed for a sister. We were brought to tears with the sincerity of her prayer. We had no idea that she had such a longing for a sibling at only two years of age.
Joe and I always knew that we wanted more than one child, but we were holding out hope that since we had Hannah that maybe the next one would just come naturally. We contemplated and prayed on the matter for quite a while, and decided that we were being called to adopt. We felt that it was our destiny to adopt a girl from China. It is hard to believe that it has almost been two years since.
We began the adoption process in January of 2005. We changed adoption agencies once, filled out what seems to be endless paperwork, but are now finally done except for the wait. We will always owe a debt of gratitude to the awesome friends we have made at Wasatch International Adoption Agency. Dianne Squires and Kathy Keiser have been so supportive of us during this journey. Thea Dresher has worked so hard to prepare us for when Elainea comes home. Our case worker Donna Riley really understood our family culture and did an exemplary job on our Home Study. This study is used to match our family to Elainea. It is our belief that it was no coincidence that we ended up with Wasatch as our adoption agency. Also a word of appreciation to those that believed in us and wrote letters of recommendation for our homestudy.
The adoption process has often been referred to as a “paper pregnancy”. Well let me tell you, I am now approaching the gestation period of an elephant! After a year of waiting, we are looking forward to the next milestone in the process which will be the referral.
All we can do is ask our friends and family to please pray for Elainea until she comes home.
We love you with all our heart and soul Elainea!
Mom, Dad and Sister(Pam, Joe and Hannah)