November 1, 2007
by Chad Mankins
We are pleased to tell you that we made it home safely to the US (and no, we did not disappear into the international date line on our way over). After the joy of reuniting with most of our family members, we hit the ground running. First, we celebrated Chad’s grandparents’ 60th wedding anniversary. Then, after finishing some last-minute paperwork, we had our first home study and were approved within two weeks of our arrival in Florida. Then, this last weekend, we were off to a 4-day missions conference in Tulsa, OK (thank you for a wonderful time, MBC friends!!) which was very encouraging.
While we were still in Oklahoma, Bethany (the adoption agency) called us to say that a young lady was due on November 2nd in Orlando, and could they show our profile along with that of 3 others to her to choose from? Of course, we excitedly said, “Yes- please do!”.
And then, before we even left the Sooner state, we learned that this soon-to-be-due mother had chosen US to adopt her child!! We had a nice meeting with her yesterday, and now we will be waiting for a phone call to head for the hospital and await the birth! We knew that Oklahoma was known as the Sooner state, but we had no idea that this adoption might happen even SOONER than Elijah’s miraculously fast adoption back in 2004-2005!!
That’s what we get for all those prayers! How like God that is to surprise us by moving even faster than we had dreamed he would!! Rejoice with us, and we’d appreciate your prayers for a safe and healthy delivery, as well as for the period of waiting which by law can last up to 48 hours, where the birth mother will make her final decision to terminate her parental rights and then we will be the proud parents of……………..… (to be continued)
(Hey, if the TV series like 24 can work that way with the cliffhangers, so can we…)
Eagerly waiting and looking forward to continuing this email,
Chad, Janeene, and Elijah (who is already talking about being a big brother and is sharing in the excitement of anticipation)
SOONER than we had imagined--and that's more than OK
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