The Stork

Our paperwork should be in the hands of the "assistant stork" by tomorrow.  Then, she will take it to the State Dept and the Chinese Consulate in DC for their authentication.  You can mail all of it in yourself, but this courier service can do it for us in a few days as opposed to weeks.  When your daughter is waiting on you on the other side of the world, every single day counts.  Ann, also known as the assistant stork, also handled Lainie's paperwork for us and she is great.   Pray for no snags, and no delays........

New Pictures of Mia!!

We'd been asking our agency to try to get some updated information on Mia.  They have been trying for quite a long while and finally got the right person. There are 4 pictures - this one is my favorite.  The rest are very similiar.  She has already grown up so much from the first picture.  We are sooo ready to see this girl in some girly pink! 
I talked to our I800A case manager on Monday and he thinks we will have our approval by the end of the week.  What does that mean?  Well, that approval is the final piece of paperwork for our dossier.   After we get each piece authenticated by the North Carolina Secretary of State, and the Chinese Consulate in Washington, DC- THEN - we can send our dossier to our agency for their approval - THEN - we can send it to China and wait for them to accept it all. Which, I am told will take about 3 months.  THEN - we can expect to travel in 2 months.  So, still many steps to go - but I'll be so glad when this paperwork is out of my hands.  You can join us in praying that this will all happen without a glitch and that we will be able to travel in record speed (a feat that only God has control over).... Actually, he's in control of it all - all the time. 

Chenzhou Girls Reunion

Sarah Mei, Lainie and Lilly

On Sunday, we were able to travel to visit two of Lainie's first friends and their famlies. She spent the first 14 months of her life alongside Lilly and Sarah Mei. As I've said before - they witnessed each other's first tears, first smiles and first steps when none of us were there. They do not remember those moments, but it gives each of our families comfort in knowing that these little girls share a connection that only heaven could have orchestrated. We are so thankful that God chose for these precious girls to live so close to each other here in the Carolinas.
We had such a great time catching up and watching all of the kids play together. The Hortons brought 3 of their four children, the Bryants were all in attendance with their 6 kids and we added in our four. That is a total of 13 kids. They had a blast.
Since we adopted our Chenzhou sweeties the Bryants have been back to China to adopt precious Ellie. The Hortons are in the process of paperchasing for another beautiful Chinese daughter named Isabelle and we, of course are paperchasing for Mia. Can you guess what we talk about when we are together???
It was a great day together. The Bryants were wonderful hosts and we enjoyed seeing the Hortons again as well. As I was watcing all of those children run around in the Bryants front yard I couldn't help but smile as I thought about how God brought all these children together. I'm sure he must have been smiling too.

Lainie riding the Bryant's donkey, BradleyWill and Fulton doing what boys do best.
Jillian and Ellie Bryant

So long summer - see ya next year!

The signs are everywhere. Bookbags have replaced the pool bags that hung in the mudroom. Football helmets and pads are scattered around where life vest and waterguns were once strewn. Homework has replaced random artwork and life is moving at a much faster pace. We've said goodbye to summer and I miss it already.

BUT, another school year has begun and I wouldn't be completely truthful if I didn't admit that by the end of summer I am longing for a little routine and structure after the laziness of summer. That of course, only lasts about two weeks into the year and then I'd do just about anything for a lazy summer day thrown in somewhere. Yet - there is a season for everything right? Time moves on.

Trey is in 8th grade. How did this happen? The school where I teach is K-8 so I have the rare priviledge of keeping an eye on him still (nobody tell him I'm watching okay?) Recently when I was giving him a "talking to" about something he needed to do, I noticed that I was REALLY having to look up at him. I quickly had him to sit down. I'll be doing that from now on. Jillian is in 5th grade and sometime over the summer what was left of the "little" girl in here disappeared. She's now a full blown "pre-teen". Will - ah Will still the baby in my eyes. I know that one day all too soon I will blink and he will no longer be the baby that I still see when I look at him. I so admire the way that he lives life. When I was worried about him and was a little concerned that none of his close friends were in his class, his former teacher reminded me that Will is his own party wherever he goes. And she's right. He's just fine wherever he goes. I should be more so myself. Lainie is happy to be back at the sitters. She's been asking about them all summer. We are so blessed to have a loving place for her to stay. In her mind and in her heart they are another set of grandparents. God is so good.

We still wait for Mia. This week we received notice that a vital piece of our paperwork had been received and was being processed. We expect our fingerprint appt within the week -then we should get our final approval papers. This is the final piece of our dossier (massive paperwork bundle) that goes to China. We are so ready to have the dossier in the mail. Our agency is trying to get an update on Mia's growth and development. So far they haven't had much success being able to contact the orphanage. We've given them some questions to ask about her daily life. I'm hoping we will hear something soon. The info that we have is from 11-08.

We are also blessed to have a dear, dear friend who has put together a raffle and a dinner to help raise funds for our travel costs. She and others who are helping her have just been amazing!!!! God has provided what we needed just as we needed it. We've learned not to look too far down the road, but to trust him for what we need this day. It has been quite a faith building experience. Our prayer has been that in the end we will be able to tell all who will listen of how this adoption was not possible for us financially had He not come through for us. So far we are just amazed by how He has provided.

When I was looking for a verse for Mia, I was drawn to Hebrews 10:23. I've quoted it in almost every post. Each day I am aware of how fitting the verse is to our circumstance. I am confident that it was His nudge that led me to this verse and it is His voice that I hear speaking to me when I read it each day. I hope that one day it will be part of Mia's testimony. May she one day "hold unservingly to the hope we possess, for He who promised is faithful." Heb 10:23

I saw God today....

I saw God today in the beautiful face of a young Chinese lady who has graciously agreed to help us communicate with Mia once she is here. This gives me such comfort to know that we have someone who can translate for us when we need help. I've not been concerned about being able to communicate with Mia about basic needs - but I have been concerned about how she will be able to communicate with us about her feelings. So, establishing this connection today was such an answer to prayer. Thank you Beverly for helping arranging our meeting. Just knowing that there is someone I can call when Mia needs help communicating with us is a huge relief. Today was better than anything I could have planned out myself. I am once again reminded....

"for He who promised is faithful." Hebrews 10:23

What Takes So Long?

Jillian and Lainie Holding Mia's Picture

This picture will go to Mia in her care package.

Now that we have Mia's referral -why do we have to wait so long TO GO GET HER? The answer is complicated. Unlike Lainie's adoption, we received Mia's referral before we had a completed Home Study and other paperwork. This is because we began Lainie's adoption requesting a Non-Special Needs child and then switched over to special needs when we saw her on a list. With Mia, we started the process looking for a special needs child and THEN began our paperwork. I know it is confusing. All of that to say, we are working on paperwork and it isn't about how fast WE can complete it, it is about how FAST the governments of both countries process it. This week we will receive our completed Home Study. Then, we will mail in our I800A - this is an infamous piece of paperwork in China adoption. Hopefully, with a week of so we will then receive an appointment to go to the Immigration Office in Charlotte for our fingerprint appointment. This appointment will most likely be many weeks from now. That is one hold up. In the meantime, I have collected a mountain of paperwork for China referred to as a dossier. This includes birth certificates, medical forms, financial status reports, etc. Once our fingerprints are done and we are approved by immigration, they will send us an approval letter. This will be the final piece of the dossier. Then, each piece of papework must be authenticated by our state, our national government and the Chinese Consulate. Each piece must be sent to those offices and they put their stamp on it. THEN, we can finally send it to China. At that point, we can expect to wait about 3 months for them to send us our LOA (Letter of Acceptance). We will sign and return it hte same day. Then, we will wait again - hopefully not more than 2 months - but could be longer - to receive our TA (Travel Approval). Then we are ready to go. Are you still with me?

In the meantime, we are putting together a care package for Mia. There are many services that provide help with getting these packages to waiting children. We are using Ann at Red Thread.

Meet our Mia

This is Yang Miao, our little Mia Carol. We decided to call her Mia in order to keep part of her Chinese name. Carol is my mom's middle name. She was born on January 3, 2003 in the Shaanxi Province of China. She is six and a half years old which makes her 1 year younger than Will and 3 years older than Lainie. She was on a waiting child list because she has repaired cleft lip and palate. We hope to travel to bring her home in early 2010.
I have struggled with what to write in this post. I've tried to get it done for several days now. I want to answer the how and why questions that many of you have, I want to tell the story of how this all came to be, I want to share with you that I am excited yet terrified, happy yet sad... So many things that just can't be expressed by mere words.
For now, you'll have to just enjoy the sweetness of Mia's picture. I'll try to figure out how to share my heart another day.
Jen