Thankful!

Last week was a big week for us financially. We received two different grants towards our adoption!
We've applied for 8 grants so far, and each one has been a bunch of work. We knew, though, that if even one grant came through that it would be totally worth it!

On Monday, Randy got the mail and we had a letter from Show Hope. This is their website - Show Hope was started by Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife Mary Beth. They do lots of adoption ministry and part of their ministry is giving grants to families who are adopting. We completed their application process back in August and were told to expect to hear back from them sometime in December as to whether or not we were being awarded a grant. The letter we got from them last week said that after reviewing all the applications submitted, we were being given $4,000 for our adoption!! We were absolutely blown away and so thankful. I know a lot of people apply for their grants, and I don't know why we were chosen but we are humbled and thankful.

Then, I woke up on Friday morning with an email from an organization called Katelyn's Fund. This is another adoption ministry that prays for families who are adopting and has grants to give to families who adopt. We applied for their grant a couple of months ago, but then the week before last we had a phone interview with them. This was one of the coolest experiences we have had so far during this process. The board of directors for Katelyn's Fund called us on speaker phone at 9:00 on a Monday night. They asked us some questions, like how we started on the journey to adopt, where we are in the process, how our faith has grown in the process, what songs or verses have been special to us along the way, what our hopes are for our girls, and then what some prayer requests are that we have. We had a great conversation and then they asked if they could pray for us! All four of their board members went around and prayed over us and it was just such a blessing - we could tell that they really cared about adoption and really understood the prayer needs we had. We got off the phone with them very thankful and felt very blessed to even have had that experience. Fast forward to this past Friday, and we got an email saying they were awarding us $3,000!! Whoa! Again, we felt very humbled and in awe that we were getting to experience God's provision in this way. $7,000 in one week - and we did nothing to earn it. Straight from God.

So now we are even closer to our final total! Our agency estimates that final costs will be anywhere from $27,000-$30,000. The reason this is such a big range is because of estimates of travel costs. We have $22,000 now! We are so thankful to be this close and are excited to see how God provides the remaining amount.

Please do what I cannot...

My mind was racing and I was having trouble sleeping, so I laid in bed praying for our baby.
"God, I cannot hold her or protect her - so please do what I cannot!"

When my other two are sick or scared and wake up in the night, I rush to their room and scoop them up and hold them tight. I whisper one of our three secrets in their ear:
-"you're my best buddy,"
-"you're beautiful,"
-or simply "I love you!"

As I was laying there praying, I realized my prayer is the same for all my girls.
"God, I will do what I can, please do what I cannot!"
They'll have broken hearts and broken bones that only God can fix. 
There's so much that I cannot do, but I thank God that He can.

I know there will come a time when our little girl is home. I will hold her, protect her, and tell her our secrets. But, my prayer for her will be the same, "God, please do what I cannot."
I know there will come a time when all my girls are grown. I'm pretty sure my prayer won't change, but I can always be their buddy, reminding them they're loved and beautiful - and our God can do what we cannot.

God, I thank you that you're good, and you've trusted me with these girls. Help me to do the best that I can, and to remember you can do the rest.  Right now, when I can do so little for our baby, I find so much comfort in knowing that you can do what I cannot. Hold her. Protect her. Tell her that she's loved!

You Are LID

That was the best title of an email in my inbox that I have ever seen! 

Here is what the message said, from our social worker at Lifeline:

I have some great news!  You are officially logged in as of 10/8/2012.  Therefore, you are now eligible for matching.  Your family is on my radar for a matching; however, keep in mind that the average wait time for a young girl with minor needs is 3-4 months from LID.  I will be sure to update you as we get any information on timelines and files. Congratulations!

Yes!! We are so excited and thankful this day is here!! Being logged in, or having your Log In Date, means that China has received your dossier, and you are officially in their system, eligible to receive a referral! 

When I read this email at 10:00 this morning, I immediately called Randy, he stepped out of a meeting, and I was able to tell him. I did a little dance for awhile, told the girls why I was acting so giddy, and then thought about what this means. And of course, cried. (Because I cry more now that we are adopting than I ever have before!)

It totally hit me how when we began this process almost 8 months ago, we had no idea if we would even be eligible to adopt from China. They have some pretty tough requirements. Age, financials, other children in the home. We didn't know if they would accept us, but we began the journey with the faith that if China wasn't where God had our next baby that He would lead us to where she was. 

Fast forward to now and we are IN! We have our log in date, and now all we do is wait for a match. God is so good and we are so thankful that He is allowing us this privilege of adopting a baby girl from China. It is only by his grace and we are overwhelmed with thanksgiving. 

Psalm 121:1-2 says "I lift up my eyes to the hills - where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth."

I have been praying this verse since before we started this process in February. So much about adopting from China seemed out of our reach and beyond what we could do. We have cried out to God for help and He has shown himself faithful. We are so thankful! He is a big God!!

Dossier To China!!!

Today was a big day - the biggest yet on this whole journey. Our dossier is officially on it's way to CHINA!!! All the work we've been doing the past 7 months has been in order to get this dossier together. We have been waiting for months for the day when our agency could send it off to China. And today was that day!!!

"What is a dossier? It is our entire lives in an envelope. Seriously, everything is in that envelope: birth certificates, marriage license, employment letters, criminal checks, background checks, passport photos, 6 photos of our family, financial statements, medical exams, and our I800A form. Also included is our home study…a typed document consisting of 4 interviews/visits with a social worker, life history, family histories, financial histories, interviews with our kids, parenting styles, beliefs, and just about everything else remotely related to us as individuals and as a family." (From a blog I love)

We were excited. 

Kendall was sitting next to me when I checked my email and saw that it had been sent. I squealed and told her that all the paper work we've been working on, all the letters asking China to let us adopt one of their little girls are all finally heading to China. She seemed to totally get it and was very excited too, which I loved! It was fun to celebrate being one step closer to my third daughter with my first daughter. 

Baby girl, we are coming as fast as we can and we are celebrating every milestone along the way! We are longing to see your face and know your name. Soon!! 

Now we wait for our log-in date. This should take 3-4 weeks. THEN we will officially be able to receive a referral for our baby! It could still be a few months until we know who she is, but we are one step closer today! 

Approved!

We received our I800a approval from immigration last Monday, August 27th! The approval was actually dated on my birthday, August 24 - we just got it in the mail on the 27th. We were so excited that that part of the process was behind us! We scanned our approval and emailed it to our agency and they began the process of authenticating and certifying our whole dossier. This takes around 2 weeks, so we expect to be sending our dossier to China very very soon!!

We passed a pretty big milestone a little over a week ago: my 30th birthday! We are now officially able to adopt a child from China, according to their rules on age. Randy got me the most special gift for my 30th birthday. Here's a picture:

I love it so much and wear it everyday! Can't wait to see the face of our sweet baby and to give the necklace to her one day!

First baby doll!

We are still waiting on our home study to be rewritten and resubmited to USCIS for approval. Our home study agency says they should have this ready tomorrow. The waiting hasn't been fun, but in the meantime, we've been keeping busy with Kendall and Cooper! Today we went on a shopping trip to Pearland. Kendall needed a hair cut, we got a couple of new dresses for school, some party supplies for Cooper's upcoming 2nd birthday party, we had a lunch date at Panera, and we found this!!

I had seen some people mention that Carter's had this in our Lifeline facebook group, and after I had already checked out there today, I remembered it! I went to see if they had it and they did! I was super excited. This is the first thing we've bought for our sweet baby in China and Randy and I just love it. We love that she will have a baby to love that looks just like her. Now to keep it safe until she gets here...these two big sisters are ready to meet their new little sister!

Request For Evidence

Translation: NOT what you want to get in the mail from USCIS.

We got home from our trip to Ft. Worth on July 30th, totally expecting to see our immigration approval from US Citizenship and Immigration Services in the mail. It was not. So, we were confident we would get it one day that week. It didn't come.

This Monday, August 6, we went to the mailbox and DID have a letter from USCIS. So excited, thinking this was our approval, we opened it to find that it was a Request For Evidence.

Stink.

Apparently, before they can send us our immigration approval, they need more detail in our home study report - our OH SO DETAILED home study report. Our representative at Lifeline said that this is actually becoming more and more common and that she has actually had three clients lately get this RFE notice.

So what this means is that we get with our social worker here in Texas that wrote our home study report, she adds the information they are requesting to our report, fixes some wording, and when that is complete we re-submit our home study to USCIS. And then, (hopefully!!) we get our approval.

I was pretty upset at first, understanding that this was just more of a delay in this crazy road to our daughter. I am so ready to see her face. SO READY.

But....I realize that things are moving as quickly as we can possibly make them on our end, I realize that all of this is in God's perfect timing, and I am choosing to trust and rest while we are waiting. Even choosing to be thankful. We have so much to be thankful for, and we trust in our God who sees the whole picture. He knows why we needed this slow-down and we believe He will give us our daughter in His perfect timing.

Please continue to pray with us to that end. We are still praying our big prayer for a referral by Christmas. Even if we do not have our dossier in China on my birthday, we still believe this is possible for a God who does what seems impossible to us. Thank you for your support and your prayers for our family and for our daughter! We are so thankful for you!!

"Don't be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm." Exodus 14:13-14