Happy BIRTHDAY BABY!!

Our little girl celebrated her first birthday on December 23rd, we had sent her a care package and a birthday cake through a service in China.  We were hoping and praying for new updated photos and information about our precious daughter.  Instead we got word that she is in the hospital and could not receive her package.  We have a little bit of conflicting information as to why exactly she is in the hospital. We have peace that she is well of and we are fervently praying for her health and that she feels our love from the other side of the world. Please join us in praying for her.  We will hopefully have more information soon and some new photos too! 

DTC (Dossier to China)

As I type this my dossier is in the air, winging its way to China!!! DTC, Baby!

My kind of Beautiful...

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder.... Well, it may not look like much to some, but this is as beautiful as it gets in this Momma's eyes. An entire authenticated at 3 different levels, fully ready to go to China -dossier!!! Now that's PUR-DEEEE! I made Mina hold it with me as I prayed that our paperwork would find it's way to China safe and sound and that this little stack of paper would move from desk to desk and room to room in China as quickly as possible, and all who touch it show favor to it and get us to China with record breaking speed. I feel a hundred pounds lighter knowing that our baby girl is not waiting for her Mommy to get her papers ready, Now we wait, and right now waiting feels good! Now ask me that question again next month and I will probably be done waiting... but for now all is well. 

Now can I have my baby sister?

A little bit closer....

Marc and I set our alarm for 4:00 a.m. and headed out for the 3 hour drive to the Secretary of States office to get our documents authenticated. (Thanks baby for taking the day off of work to accompany & appease your over anxious wife) It was a looooonnnngg day, and let's just say the workers at the Sec. of St. office were in no particular hurry to authenticate our documents.  It is their policy- if you get their before 10:00a.m. that they will get them back to you the same day, but we had to wait alllll day.  We did save about 4 days of our paperwork either on someone's desk or on a Fed-ex truck so it was worth it.  Mina was exhausted by the end of the day.   At this very moment our dossier paperwork is winging its way to D.C. for it's final stamp of approval before heading to China!!!  Head over to our family blog, here for a funny (at least I think so) story about our little road trip to the State Capitol!

My Outrageously Adorable "Helper"

The not so pretty side of the paperwork!

My 4 year old (soon to be 5) took this photo of me this morning, this is how the kids have been seeing me lately. At a table full of paperwork, unwashed hair in a ponytail, and sweatsuit to boot. It's like a new level of Mommy guilt. I hate that my dossier paperwork is in my hands. I feel like every day that I hold on to it is another day that our sweet girl waits for us. So to say I have be a bit neurotic is an understatement. We have our last homestudy visit tonight, and my SW Rocks! so we should have our completed homestudy in a matter of days. Other than that we are just waiting on Marc's physical on Monday and we will be DONE! Hopefully we can have all of our documents certified & authenticated and on their way to China well before Christmas. The flip side of the Mommy guilt is that the 4 kiddos have a very preoccupied Mommy this week, one who made up a game called "SQUIRREL" which is played by their pathetic Mother hiding a bag of (shelled)mixed nuts in the backyard so they can look for them easter egg style.  Did I mention that NONE of my kids watch TV, ever... so I do have some type of excuse for turning my children into scavengers...

PA (Pre-approval to adopt)

We received our PA from China today! Which means we can share the cuteness of our new daughter.  Something about seeing her photo for the first time made my heart leap, it truly felt like I have always had this little face on my heart. This photo is about 6 months old so I am looking forward to seeing updated pictures, hopefully soon. I can't wait to get to China and kiss these cheeks, can you blame me?

LOI BABY!

We sent a LOI (letter of intent to adopt) to China yesterday! A little girl with the same SN as Mina, and a full year younger. We had really prepared our hearts for an older child, and we were comfortable with that, we were shocked when we saw this baby's sweet face. I was looking forward to being done with diapers and the 18 month old "point and grunt" means of communication. But one look at this child, knowing that we feel comfortable with this rare SN, reading about her little personality - Diapers and sippy cups HERE I COME!!! We are full of hope that we will receive our PA (pre-approval) in the next few weeks so we know we can bring her home. I can't share a photo yet, but she is absolutely, positively the cutest little thing,,, It took one look to know God was getting our hearts ready for this child.

God showed up big yesterday!

This was me yesterday, and a bit this morning... Oh, the paperwork,,,Yes, I said paperwork... Let me just say, God showed himself in a big way yesterday. This is already shaping up to be a fun journey, I have a feeling it is going to knock my socks off. I can't say much more than that yet... Oh, but I just can't wait until I can... Curious???

Here we go!!!

 
So I have started this new blog to journal our next journey to China... It was really a toss up if we should add to our family blog or start a new one. We decided to start this for a few reasons, we really would like to be a bit more transparent on our adoption process than we were the last time. We have kept things really sugar coated ecspecially for our families that would have way too much input an advice to offer. I have really struggled with this because I know we shouldn't care how others view what we are doing as a family. But we also love our families very much, what we feel as them not being supportive, really comes from a place of love and worry on their side. All that being said, we were not ready to lay it all out there that we are starting the adoption process again.When we adopted Mina we were very secretive about our plans. We didn't really want all the questions from family and friends that come with all of the unknowns about adoption. When are you going to China? Why are you going to China? Are you sure you want to do this? You already have 3 kids, your crazy, you guys really want 4 kids? I am pretty much an open book, I am not the type to keep things in, but for this... only a few of my closest friends knew about our adoption plans before we had Mina's photo and we were counting down the days for our trip. Secrecy does have its upside, When we did receive the questioning from the "not so supportive" few, it was pretty much a non-issue. Mina was our daughter, no matter what anyone had to say. Marc and I would love to have the support of our family and friends but it surely isn't the most important thing to us. So as much as I love posting cute photos of my kids (they are pretty darn cute), I know that most people who read this blog are adoptive families as well. I am committed to tell our story for them and for the people who are considering opening their families to the blessing of adoption. It will be great to be able to share how God works this out from start to finish. A few months ago Marc and I prayed that God would let our hearts be content with our family and that he would either take away our desire to adopt or make it a possibility. Over the past few months we have come to the realization that we both strongly feel like we have another child waiting for us in China!!! We do truly believe that this is God's plan for our lives and we are leaving it up to him to show us the way. That is what will be so great about journaling this entire process start to finish.. And being completely transparent about the whole thing... We expect God to show up in a big way... We started the process yesterday!! We want to adopt another child from China!! We will go through the China Special Needs program, just like we did with Mina. We have NO idea how long the process will take but we are looking forward to the journey. A few months ago we started to pray that God would show us how we could financially be ready for another adoption so soon. A few days later Marc's job security was ripped out from under him. We were crushed on many different levels. Please pray that his company either decides to keep his division (this is still up in the air and will be for awhile) or that he finds another job. (this is yet again why our families have HUGE reason to worry, ecspecially in this wonderful economic situation we find ourselves in.) We really feel like we are meant to move forward in this adoption process even though logic may say otherwise. Now it is out of our hands... I'm am excited to see how it works out!A day or two after the news of his job, our Pastor wrote the following on his blog...
www.stevenfurtick.com
When God answers by fire
October 15th, 2008
“…The god who answers by fire-he is God.”
1 Kings 18:24

What do you do when you really need rain, but instead, God answers by fire?

In 1 Kings 18, Elijah declares to the people that God is going to show up and prove himself after 3 years of drought. And God does exactly that.
But…
When it hasn’t rained in over 3 years, and you hear that God is about to show up, wouldn’t you expect him to show up by sending rain?

I wonder how many of us are praying for God to send rain into an area of our lives, but it seems like He’s turning up the heat instead?
-Praying for God’s provision…but the bank account continues to dip
-Praying for God to grow your church…but another disgruntled faction just took their tithe and moved their membership elsewhere
-Praying for God to heal your marriage…yet your husband seems to be getting colder and more resistant by the day

It can be difficult to trust the intention of God when He’s forecasting more fire in your already scorched situation.
Remember:
God eventually did send the rain that Israel so desperately needed. But first He had to reveal His glory and authenticate His sovereignty by fire.

God often answers by fire before He sends the rain.
The fire incinerates our altars of idolatry, and burns away all of the false securities that we tend to trust in.
That way, when the sky finally opens, and the rain starts to pour, there’s no doubt:
He is God.