Sunday, December 18, 2005

The Beginning


We are Scott and Sharon Ankerich. We have three daughters and live in Dacula, Georgia. Savannah is our 16 year old and is a junior at Mill Creek High. Amelia is 13 and a seventh grader at Osborne Middle. Rosemary is our 10 year old fourth grader at Duncan Creek Elementary. I am a Kindergarten teacher at Duncan Creek and plan to take a maternity leave when we travel to China. Scott is the Director of Program Management and Customer Service at Scientific Atlanta.


We have been on this journey since October, 2004. This is our story:

The dream of Ella Kate grew from the desire to have another baby to the promise of a precious Chinese daughter. We have already been blessed with 3 beautiful daughters, and they have always wanted another sibling.In July 2004, Savannah, our 16 year old, purchased a CD by Steven Curtis Chapman. She was so touched by the song about his adopted Chinese daughter and wanted Scott and I to hear it.One night Scott came home and said I just had to listen to the song. I told him he had to read an article Savannah had found in a Christian Music Magazine. While I listened to the song, Scott read the article. They were about the love God has placed in the Chapmans to adopt 3 Chinese daughters. We both were humbled by God's amazing plan. God had led Savannah to talk to us and then He opened our hearts to begin praying about adoption.We discovered Steven Curtis Chapman was coming to Atlanta for a concert and immediately got tickets. His concert was totally dedicated to informing the crowd of his experience with adoption. We were sure God was speaking to us.We began researching agencies. In October, we were at a gymnastics meet and spotted the cutest little girl. I got up the nerve to talk to the mom, Cathie Zinn, and asked her about the little girl. Her name was Madison, and she was precious. We spent the next four hours hearing about their trip to China. The amazing part was that they had received their second referral the day before and had sent the acceptance letter that morning. We were able to see the pictures of their new baby, Hannah. After that experience, we were sure CCAI would be the agency we chose.In October, we went to our first CCAI meeting and started the process. Our LID date was April 27, and we are patiently awaiting the news of our precious Ella Kate and our adventure to China.

We had thought we would have Ella Kate with us for Christmas but we are told by the office in Colorado that our referral should be in the January batch. We went to the Steven Curtis Chapman concert on Friday night and were able to meet a woman that had just received her match picture. Her daughter was beautiful! We know that God has the plan and perfect timing for us to get Ella Kate. He is so awesome and His love endures forever!

We plan to take the girls with us! We have met with their teachers and they agree this will be a monumental event in the life of our family. There is no way I could ever recreate the moment we see, touch, talk to, and hold our precious baby! They need to be there to experience this incredible miracle God is blessing us with! Gothcha Day will be the greatest day of their lives for a long time to come!!!

Jeremiah 29:11-14

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