Matthew Qi-Hao

The last week and a half have been very hard for our family. There have been many ups and downs. It all began with Derek and me talking about what our next vehicle would be--as we would be filled to capacity when our new little guy came home.

How many orphans from Ch*na would God have us adopt? 6? 8? 10? We had no idea.

Then, two days later, we found out that Ch*na had placed new regulations on adopting families, and we were in "violation" of the new regulations. We did not know if we would be able to keep the little boy that Ch*na had already said we could adopt.

We prayed and trusted in the sovereignty of God. He put us on this path to little guy, so we believed He would carry it out to fulfillment.

During our times of prayer, we continued to ask God what He would have us name little guy.

We decided that his name would be Matthew, which means "Gift from God", because it would be by God's grace (gift) that he would be our son.

For days we waited to see what Ch*na's response would be regarding families who had already received pre-approval for a specific child but who were in "violation" of the new regulations.

The day our agency (CCAI) received Ch*na's response, they called us directly. Our agency let us know that Ch*na had decided to allow us to keep Qi-Hao (pronounced Chee-How), but we would not be allowed to adopt any more orphans from Ch*na in the future.

Sadly, other families who were just as far along in their paperwork as we are--and many who are even a lot farther along(!!!)--were told they would not be able to adopt from Ch*na.

The day was mixed with so many emotions. We rejoiced with our friends who had received phone calls revealing the fact that their chosen child would indeed be coming home to them, and we cried with our friends who woke up to rejection phone calls. In addition, we cried at the announcement that we would not be able to bring any additional orphans out of Ch*na. (The thought of the number of orphans who would remain orphans due to the new regulations hit us like a little kick in the gut.)

While we mourn with those who mourn, we do thank God for the gift of our next son.

And so, with great joy we announce that we will indeed be bringing home Matthew Qi-Hao Bollinger. He is our "Gift from God".