Sweet Surprise

I woke up this morning to the sweetest surprise on Facebook.  My dear friend Marybeth remembered a conversation we had months ago at our church Women's Retreat.  We had just started the adoption process and I told her that I wanted to bring something to China for the babies left behind.  I have since become busy and overwhelmed with the paperwork, fundraising and emotions that come with adoption.  Sadly, the lovie idea left my thoughts.  But, God didn't forget this conversation because Marybeth said he, "whispered in her ear yesterday".  She had to act on it and went right to work making a gorgeous scrapbook flyer to advertise "Sending Lovies to China"

Let's make this so big we have to bring a whole suitcase filled with lovies for the sweet babes left behind.  Make one, buy one, either way be sure to pray over it and have your children pray over it.  Then send them to Marybeth at the address above.

Today, I am so thankful for girlfriends with big hearts.  Marybeth, you have touched me more than you will ever know.

Oh yeah and I am thankful that we are LID (locked in date) today.  Praying for a quick match now!

DTC

On Sept. 13th we recieved the much anticipated email that we are DTC or in non-adoption lingo Dossier to China.  According to our agency, in 1-2 weeks we will be LID (Log in Date).  At that point we will be eligible to be matched with a non-special focus child.  We will be celebrating this weekend for sure.

 

Can't believe that next time this year we will have 3 Gator babies.

Waiting is Hard

Waiting is hard to matter what.  I have know for a long time that waiting and patience are my weakness.  When we struggled with not getting pregnant right away with Kyrie I became frusterated quickly.  Thoughts of pregnancy and "what if's" consumed my mind.  When we waited for our house to be built and I wasn't sure if our rental contract would end, I obsessed over the "what if's".  I waited to make our TK/K decision for Kyrie and again the "what if's" filled my mind.

I have waited nearly 20 years to begin this adoption process and here I find myself in a constant pattern of waiting.  We waited to move to SC so we could begin our homestudy.  We waited 2 months for our social worker to finally write up the home study so we could move forward with paper work.  We have waited for birth certificates to arrive, authentications, and deadlines. 

And now.....Now, I find myself in the hardest waiting place I have ever been.  We are done with our paperwork, we have filled out all of the grant forms, we have ended our t-shirt fundraiser, our yardsale is complete.  But, we have nothing to show for the blood, sweat and tears.  I have prayed  daily to God for 4 months to show me my daughter's face and NOTHING.  We are patiently waiting for a referral.  I am trusing God that through this I will FINALLY learn that when he makes us wait it is because he plan is greater than ours. 

"Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope."  Romans 5:3-4

Our life, His story

We have been blessed beyond words, words that are too deep to put into a simple blog post.  God created a story that only he could come up with because we could never have imagined it ourselves.  We were gifted a monetary donation by Brad's sister and brother-in-law so large that they said "we don't want you to worry, we just want you to bring her home".  This gift far exceeds anything we could have ever dreamed of.  I watched my husband humbly fall to the floor in tears saying that, "he no longer has to fear that our daughter will be left waiting while scramble to collect funds".  We are humbled and amazed at their generosity and God's provision through the use of his people. 

I must say that as a mother, the monetary gift means so much but, it is the acceptance of our child that means more than anything.  I love that without ever seeing her face we have family making sacrifices so we can bring home a new member of our family. 

There is a fabulous story behind our gift, one that I would love to share personally with those we know however, we would like to keep the details private to this blog in honor of our daughter who will one day feel incredibly loved by the generosity of her Aunt and Uncle.

"For him and through him and to him are all things.  To him be glory forever.  Amen" Romans 11:36

To Him be the glory as we sit in utter amazement of how we have been blessed along these 4 months of our adoption journey.

Good News/Bad News

Yesterday was a rough one with our littles at home. I think they are ready for school and the lack of structure and routine of summer is wearing on everyone. They are fighting a lot, running through the house and constantly wrestling. This is making for one worn out and tired mama. In fact we have this verse on our kitchen chalkboard right now and both kids have memorized it over the past two weeks. "Those who love God also love their brother (and sister)" 1 John 4:21. By the time dinner rolled around this mama was done and I needed a walk with my sweet fur baby who doesn't talk back. For some reason on the walk I looked down at my email on my phone. I got the blessing I so needed that day. It was an email from our agency saying our Dossier is complete and ready to go to China. I was in shock. They have taken over all of our authentications and therefore I really had no idea how far along we were. What is even more perfect timing is that today was our fingerprinting appointment which was the only thing the agency was waiting on. I walked home with new energy and couldn't wait to tell Brad.

                                                             Finger printing form
When I walked in the door he was upstairs putting the kids to bed so I opened the attachment of the email. I was shocked to find that we owe $4,150 do send our dossier to China. Deep breath. Sigh. God has taken care of us this far and he will as we move on.

Brad came downstairs and I asked if he wanted the good news or bad news first. He wanted the bad news so I gave him the bill. He was shocked as well but, just as happy as I was to hear about our dossier being complete.

I haven't shared a lot of the financial information on the blog because so much is personal. However, we will give God the glory and say that so far through personal donations, bonuses from Brad's work (never has happened before this adoption), the yard sale, and me picking up PRN jobs we have not yet gone into savings.
We don't know where the next $4,150 will come from but, we have placed our worries in God's hands and we will dwell on the "Good News"

"Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself." Matthew 6:34

If you feel led to support our adoption and our dossier going to China remember that we have a paypal account linked on the left of our page.  Donations are tax deductible.  With love and thanks!

Snapshot

The paperwork binder is growing by the day. Only those who have been down this crazy adoption road can imagine all of the paperwork. Here is a snap shot of the binder. I don't think the photo does it justice.

The contents are:
File of I800 A form and all supporting documents

Homestudy agency application and parent education coursework

Homestudy and supporting documents

S.C. Law Enforcement criminal records check

Adoption agency application (and lots of payment receipts)

Dossier Documents (birth certificates, marriage certificate, letters from employers, family financial profile, physical exams of all family members, passports, family photos and home photos and a letter to China asking their permission to adopt one of their orphans)

Applications and letters asking for loans/grants

We are actually coming to a close on all of the paperwork except for the financial parts. Somehow the inactivity is making the wait harder. I have never been a good waiter and I know God is teaching me something through this quiet period.
He does give small glimmers of hope just to keeps us going. Yesterday we received our fingerprinting appointment which was much sooner than we expected.

Quick Update

We have had a lot of thoughtful questions about how we are moving along with the process so I thought I would give a quick update.

Our homestudy is FINALLY completed.  We had a few issues with our social worker completing the write up of the homestudy by the end date we agreed upon.  This added some stress since I left at the end of June to take the kids to FL for all of July. We knew that we had to meet in Greenville to sign the homestudy before leaving for Fl and unfortunately the homestudy was not completed.  Thankfully, our social worker agreed to allow Brad to meet alone with her and I was able to sign the homestudy through fax.  This delay added a bit of stress but, in the end all worked out just fine. 
The best part of having the homestudy completed is we can now begin applying for grants and loans.  This is key because bills are adding up fast!

Once the homestudy was completed we were able to mail our I-800A form.  This is the form which determines our eligibility to adopt a child from a Hague country.  When that form is approved we will be fingerprinted to check our criminal history.  This is our last step before our dossier is sent to the US consulate and finally the moment we have been waiting for.....to CHINA!  At this point our paper work is finally done and we are at the mercy of government officials and our adoption agency to push the papers through as fast as possible.

After almost 4 months of paperwork we are truly antsy to see our daughter's face.  The end is in sight but, our referral day can't come soon enough.