After we returned home from our adoption of Corrie Yangbao, we almost immediately felt a calling to adopt again - though we weren't quite sure when. In 1998, we were blessed with the birth of another daughter, Merrie Rebecca Shearer - our 10th child! The delivery turned out to be far from routine. Cyndy needed an emergency c-section and Merrie was initially reluctant to breath on her own. As a result, she had to be transferred to Vanderbilt and spent 3 days in the NICU. God miraculously and providentially cared for both Cyndy and Merrie and they both recovered quickly. 

Within months, we were thinking about adoption again. We already had a completed homestudy, and an update would be easy. We already knew what documents to assemble for a dossier. Our agency and social worker were very understanding, but they cautioned us that they did not know how the Chinese Committee on adoption would react to an application from a family with 10 children. We had only had 7 when we applied to adopt Corrie. Still, the agency told us they would submit our dossier if we wished to apply. We finished our paperwork and submitted a completed dossier on January 22nd, 1999 - the second anniversary of Corrie's "gotcha" day. 

Behind the scenes - but unknown to us - Sarah had been born, just a one week after we had adopted Corrie in Changsha!. She had been found at the gate to the orphanage in her hometown of Yangzhou in Jiangsu province on February 16th, 1997. She had been growing up in the orphanage there for two years, waiting to see if there was a family for her somewhere.

After we submitted our dossier, we began the long wait.. and prayed about finances. When we applied to adopt Corrie, we had the money saved for all the expenses, but were unsure whether the Chinese government would approve us. When we applied to adopt Sarah, we were confident that we would be approved (we just knew, even if our adoption agency didn't!). But I (Rob) was really struggling with the financial questions. At each step of the way... just as we needed it, God provided just the amount of money we needed. The most dramatic came just before we left for China. Almost half the total cost of the adoption comes due at the end. I calculated that I needed $7,000 to take with me to China (about the average amount). Cyndy & I had saved several honorariums from speaking engagements, and our checks for teaching co-op classes, but I was still about $1500 short of the goal. We were down to one week before leaving and I was really starting to sweat. I even considered making an appeal to our church, or to our friends. As I prayed about it, though, God seemed to be saying, "Just wait and see what I will do!" About five days before departure, I got a letter in the mail from our mortgage company. My experience has been that letters from the mortgage company are rarely good news. So, imagine my surprise when I opened the envelope and found a letter explaining that over the past year we had been over-paying our escrow amounts for insurance and taxes and they had calculated that we were due a refund. Along with the letter was a check - for $1500!!! I collapsed in hysterical laughter and relief.

Micah (our oldest daughter) and I left for China on Sunday, October 3rd - with a blessing and prayer support from our church. "Gotcha" day for Sarah was Friday, October 8th. We did our registrar paperwork in Nanjing on Saturday October 9th. On Sunday, October 10th, we drove to Yangzhou and completed the notary paperwork  (and were able to visit the orphanage). We flew to Guangzhou on Wednesday, October 13th. Our INS interview at the US Consulate was on Thursday, October 14th. We received Sarah's visa on Friday, October 15th, and that evening we departed from Guangzhou via Los Angeles, arriving in Atlanta early Saturday morning October 16th. In Atlanta, Cyndy met us (along with Merrie, Sarah's youngest sister). Sarah also got a chance to meet her Grandmother and Granddaddy Anchors and her Grandmother Shearer. On Sunday, October 17th. we flew home to Nashville, where were met at the airport by our other children (and a number of dear friends). From there we went directly to our church in Mt Juliet, where Sarah was dedicated during the morning worship service.