We go from a girl to a boy

About Christmas time in 2008 we received a bulk email from our adoption agency to all waiting families urging us to view a list of additional children needing families. With the Christmas holidays in full swing we looked but simply did not make the time to process what we saw. Well, early in 2009 we received the email a second time. Clint decided maybe this time we would study the list more carefully, so he did. All of the children were adorable; our hearts went out to them. Both boys and girls were included in this list. Many of the children had severe medical challenges requiring extensive surgeries. One little boy caught our eye. The adoption agency in Kentucky had named him "Oliver" on the website. He was born without his 5 toes on his right foot.

This is Jin at 2 years old

Our 1st picture of him

After a lot of prayer and many discussions we decided to inquire about Oliver. Inquiring would not take us out of our place in the waiting line for a "healthy girl." After a few months of waiting again we were allowed to actively seek Oliver as our son if we chose. His Chinese name is Jin Li Min and he is 4 years old. His birthday is June 15, 2005. Yes, that is right if you are doing your math... He is one month younger than Jon Campbell. We were 2nd in line to inquire about Jin. We had to wait to see if another family would continue to pursue him or not. Our prayers continued to be, "Lord, if this is the little one we are meant to have please work it out." The other family was a blended family and they ultimately decided they would withdraw which meant We Three in Tennessee would push forward and pursue Jin as our son! This was a huge praise, but also a bigger decision to make. Do we continue to wait in line for a girl or do we seek Jin? Waiting is very hard and we had been doing that since 2007. As a family we truly believe we are meant to be Jin's forever family. Our intention from the beginning was to help a child, boy or girl. We knew China had many orphaned little girls that is reason we chose China. After all this time we know God had a different plan at a different time for us. Well, as you may guess more paper work was involved, our home study had to be revised and approved along with renewing our fingerprints and our pediatrician writing a letter describing the care plan we would provide Jin when he arrives in the States. After our adoption agency matched us to Jin we then had to wait for China to approve and match us to Jin. We received the final approval from China on July 21, 2009. This was a day of great excitement! We both felt a confirmation from the Holy Spirit that this was the right thing to do when both of us on that day, in different places, had feelings that this was to be day!