Introducing Miles Blackburn!

Referral Photo Of Miles

Well, we are on another adoption journey to China! Before you determine that we are crazy, at least read the rest of the story.  As we left China in June 2008 after adopting Mac, in our hearts we knew we would someday return to China.  We had no idea whether we would return to visit with Madeline and Mac when they were older or whether we would actually return to adopt a third child.  It was a door we never closed.  It wasn't ours to close.  I have always looked at our agency's waiting child list which is where they post descriptions and sometimes pictures of special needs children they are trying to place.  Every time I look at the list there are pictures of beautiful children with various, and sometimes even multiple special needs, who are in need of loving homes.  I am always able to turn the computer off without giving it another thought.  However, as I looked at this list on Sunday, April 18, I clicked on the description of a little boy who hadn't even celebrated his first birthday yet.  There was no photo available of him.  When his information came across my computer screen, I realized that he shared the same special need as Mac, bilateral cleft lip and palate.  Why had this little one's information with no picture spoken to me?  I cannot answer that question, but it did.  I could not deny that fact.  I showed Jason the information, and of course, he told me to call our agency the next day and ask about the little guy.  You have to know that I am the realist in this pair and Jason is the eternal optimist.  My mind raced all night long with questions about this little guy and what would happen if he became a part of our family.  Was another family already reviewing his file? What does he look like? Where would we put him in our 3 bedroom home?  How would we possibly come up with the money needed to pursue adopting him?  As all these questions raced through my mind over and over that night with no chance of sleep coming, Jason lay beside me sleeping like a baby.  You see, he has mastered the art of worrying about nothing.  The next day I wrestled most of the day with whether or not I should make that phone call.  Finally, around 2:15 that afternoon while I was sitting in the school parking lot waiting on Mac to finish speech, I decided I had to call.  I was sure that a family would already be looking at his file since he was so young and had such a correctable special need.  So, I finally called my friend Sarah in the waiting child department at CCAI who helped us through Mac's whirlwind arrival and adoption in 2008.  She recognized my voice immediately, asked about our family, and then asked what was on my mind that day.  When I told her that I had noticed this little guy's information last night and just couldn't get him off my mind, she said she thought his file was probably already being reviewed but she would be glad to check for me.  Whew!!! I thought that was my answer and that we were off the hook.  However, when she came back to the phone she said, "I am really surprised but no one is reviewing his file yet probably because there isn't a picture posted yet.  Would your family like to review his file?"  I sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity.  I finally managed to tell her that I needed to talk to Jason and I would get back with her the next day.  She offered to hold his file until she heard back from me the next day and I told her that would be great.  Jason had gone to take our youth and children to state Bible drills and I could not call him.  I sent him a text that simply said, "Call me asap!"  He did and I told him the news.  I told him that in order to review the file we had to either complete our agency's application or their family information worksheet.  Jason, of course, never hesitated with whether to review the file or not.  He simply said complete the one that is the easiest.  Mac and I came home and I began digging out the needed information to complete this initial paperwork.  Madeline had gone to Bible drill with her daddy that day.  When they arrived home later that evening, I had already completed the necessary paperwork. We submitted the paperwork to CCAI on Tuesday morning.  They reviewed it all and by Wednesday afternoon we were looking at pictures of a sweet little face with big, black eyes.  We wrestled all week with what to do.  We could think of a million reasons to say no.  The easy, most logical answer would have been no.  The bottom line in all this, however, was that this little guy who had spoken to my heart needed a home, a family, and love.  We could provide all three. Without understanding why God had called us to this, by Sunday night after church both of us realized that we had to say yes even if we didn't understand why and even if the path God had set before us wasn't completely clear.  The next morning I called Sarah and told her YES and the paperchase began.

Since that day many things have happened to remind us along the way that God is in His plan that we chose reluctantly, at first, to follow.  We shared our news with our children.  We knew they would be excited, but wasn't sure how Madeline might react to having another brother instead of a sister.  She was absolutely thrilled and did cartwheels across the living room.  Mac's response to the news was "I already love him"!  God had paved the way in their hearts already.  We have a daily calendar in our home that talks about different places and people groups in China and how to pray for the people of China.  We went through that calendar two years ago and now it doesn't get much attention unless Madeline comes through and flips pages randomly.  I walked by it many times each day and never stopped to read the page it had been open to for months in our home.   I finally took notice of it one day.  It was open to April 19-the very day that I made my initial phone call about our son.  On that date it talked about the city of Zhengzhou-the very place where we will eventually meet our son.  Chance? I don't think so!  Over the next couple of days, we had to send in our official application to our adoption agency along with the application fee.  Jason had worked on a project for a sweet couple in our church and finally completed it and took it to them.  He never expected anything in return.  Later that day the gentleman came by the church with a card for Jason.  Inside the card was a check for the exact amount of the application fee that we needed to mail the next day.  Chance?  I don't think so!  A few weeks later we got an email from our agency that our son had been moved to a new foster care facility along with an update and some new pictures.  He looked good, but me being the worrier of the family, I immediately called our agency with questions about why he had been moved from his foster family.  Had his health worsened?  Were they not able to manage the feeding issues that go along with cleft lip/palate?  Was he sick?  Once again, many questions going through my mind.  The person I spoke with at our agency assured me that this was a good move for him and would provide him with the medical attention he needed.  She told me that as she got more information about the move she would share it with us.  That night I decided to google New Hope Foster Home in Luoyang, China, which is where the email said he was moved to.  When I did, I made an amazing discovery.  Our little guy was residing at Maria's Big House of Hope (MBHOH) which is a facility built especially for special needs children in honor of Steven Curtis and Mary Beth Chapman's adopted daughter who was killed in a tragic accident in 2008.  I tried not to get too excited because I had no confirmation that this was really where our little one had been moved to so we waited and hoped I was correct.  We received an email the next day confirming that he was indeed living at MBHOH.  We could never have hoped or dreamed of a better place for him to live as he awaits the arrival of his forever family.  Chance?  I don't think so!  In the same email our agency said that he was currently being called Oliver.  My mouth dropped to the floor as I read this.  When we were waiting for baby #2, we thought we would be getting a girl.  Her name was to be Olivia.  So, it was a joke at our house that if baby #2 turned out to be a boy, we would just name him Oliver.  Chance?  I don't think so!  After reading the email, I called Jason to share all the good news with him.  About an hour later he called me back and when I answered my phone, he said you are never going to believe this.  He was sharing with our youth minister, Derek, about where our little man had been moved to and Derek told him that his sister would be part of a missions team working at MBHOH this summer.  Chance?  I don't think so!  On my birthday my aunt handed me a card at church.  I thought nothing of it because she always remembers my birthday and sends me a card.  On the way home from church, I opened the card to find a check designated to help with our adoption expenses.  It was for the exact amount of the next fee to be paid to our agency.  Chance?  I don't think so!  We have been amazed and humbled as we have watched God's hand at work in this adoption!

We had a rather difficult time coming up with a name for our little guy.  We knew we wanted his middle name to be Jackson (my maiden name) because our other two children are named after family members. We also knew we wanted to call him something that started with an "M" in keeping with Madeline and Mac.  After much debate we finally agreed on Miles Jackson.  That was before the email when they told us he was being called Oliver at MBHOH.  So, now we are undecided once again.  He will either be Miles Jackson or Miles Oliver.  

As I said earlier, Miles was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate.  He had his first surgery to repair his lip in China on June 27, 2010.  He will, of course, face more surgeries once he is home, but we are eternally grateful to a team of surgeons and other medical professionals who gave of their time to travel to China to provide this life-altering surgery for Miles and ten other littles ones. 

We made it through the paperchase pretty quickly.  All our paperwork, called a dossier in the adoption world, was mailed to China on Friday, August 13.  So, now we wait for permission to travel to China and make Miles a part of our family forever.  We have been told that the wait from this point in the process will be 4-6 months.  Please join us in prayer for Miles as we wait to become a family of five.

  

Completed Dossier Being Shipped!

Updated Photos Of Miles