Pre Approval!!!

Here is some great news!! Today I got an email from our agency which said we received our PA(pre approval)!!! Since we are not DTC(documents to China)yet we have been given a deadline to be finished with our dossier and have it in China. It is August 27. So we must all pray that there are no glitches in the paperwork and we can be done WAY before that. Once we are DTC and we have a LID(log in date)is when the count down to our RA(referral approval and the most important thing in this process)begins. So the sooner the better!!! They said from LID to RA is anywhere from 3-5 months. Could be shorter(tee-hee), could be longer. But Praise God for this small step!

Fingerprints!!

I'm so excited because today we received in the mail our invitation to get our fingerprints done from the govt. This is an all important step to getting our approval. After that happens we really have nothing left to do except wait for our approval or any questions they might have for us. Lets pray that doesn't happen! The appointment is set for June 3 which is before our vacation! I was nervous we were going to get an appt for the time that we would be gone. Anyway, I just wanted to pass on that bit of news! Any news is big news in the adoption world!!

Something is squirrely with Google reader...

Trying this again!! Testing, testing.......

How it all went down...

On May 4th a new shared list came out with children on it that were eligible to be adopted from China. On May 5th, we got an email from our family coordinator, Melissa, that went out to all families who were in the Waiting Child program with AWAA. For you non-AWAAers that means we are waiting to adopt a child from China who has "special needs". This email said that families who were paper ready(meaning all of your paper work is finished and in China) or paper chasing(what we are...not finished with our paperwork) were allowed to look at and inquire about these children. Normally only paper ready families could inquire. We've seen emails like this before and just never felt like the Lord was nudging us to ask about any of the children. Not this time. I was actually out running errands that day and got the email on my i*phone. I called Brian and asked him to look at it with me while he was at work. The face of this little boy popped up on our screen with a special need that wasn't very clear as to how *involved* it was. So we decided to email our FC and see if he was even still available. Knowing that these children find families VERY quickly in the days following a new list coming out. I wasn't expecting to hear a "yes" he is still available but I did. So she sent us his file. Again, I'm still out running errands and all of this has happened in the span of 20 minutes. We get his file and I look at it on my phone and Brian looks at it at work. We both decide we would like to know more and asked our FC if we could do a full review which means we then have 10 business days(I think) to speak to a dr about his needs and pray about it. Again knowing that his file could be locked by another family any where in the world at that moment I wasn't expecting to hear that he was still available to do a full review. He was. At this point I am driving home like a mad woman so that I could get his file and email it to a dr in Michigan that we knew would be able to read his file and his Chinese file and give us an honest opinion. Brian also has to go into an afternoon full of meetings but before he does he also emails the file to our brother in law and my sister who are both medical professionals to get them to look over it as well. Matt is a family practice dr and Sara is a nurse practitioner. They give us their opinions but we still had not heard back from the dr in Michigan. Later that night Brian calls me after looking at it some more and before speaking to the other dr we had decided to see if his file was still available so that we could lock it. It was. And we did. That night I could hardly believe all of this was happening. I mean...I didn't get up that day thinking today might be the day. The way the Lord worked things out still makes me stand in awe. Brian and I rejoiced that night privately because we weren't ready to tell the kids yet. Turns out...that was a good decision. The days following while we were trying to get everything in order to send in our Electronic Acceptance were filled with many tears and anxiety. I'm not sure what I'm allowed to say on my blog just yet about him. Until I get the go ahead I have to be vague but lets just say this...Been there done that. Think back to our adoption of Adiah. If you don't know then email me privately. But going into this one of the conversations I had with the Lord was "God, I'm just not sure I can do 'that' again. The not knowing was too much." I should have known! I love to look back over my life and in the times I said "no" or "I can't", etc., is exactly the times when God says "Lean on me. Yes you can! And this will be another faith step in your journey to Me and knowing more about Me." We turned in our EA on Wedneday, May 6th, but I still was wrestling with my fears. I did alot of crying, alot of praying, alot of searching, and alot of asking the Lord if this was really in alignment with what He wanted. Were we really the right family for this boy. I needed to hear loud and clear. I was willing to call AWAA and say I'm sorry but we can't do this. Of course during this time is when the other dr from Michigan calls. Doesn't give us much "hope". And one of the things that the Lord told me (again!!!) is not to put my hope in man or the words of man. That I put my hope in HIM. He has it all figured out. He knows what this is all going to look like. He does...not man. So on Thursday or Friday(I can't remember right now) I went to get Adiah out of her bed and when I picked her up I began to sob. And I remembered that the drs said the same type of things about Adiah. And if I had let my fear win out...I would have missed THIS! Missed that precious girl's smile, and laugh, and joy. I could have missed it. I called my friend, Tonya, and she prayed for me. After I hung up with her I knew that we were doing the right thing. He gave me peace in just the right moment so that I would KNOW it was from him. We told the kids that night which was so precious. I have a video of it which I'll put on here later. But we had to keep quiet about it because Brian's mom was out of town and my parents were out of the country. We wanted our families to know first. It has been difficult to keep quiet about it. My sister in law, Gina, said something to me this past weekend when we were finally able to tell our families. She said "In the moment that you said yes, did you have peace?". I said I DID! She then went on to remind me that Satan loves to come in later and mess you up with doubts and fears. But if you go back to THE moment and KNOW that God lead you there then you're heading in the right direction. I liked that!

One of the things that Brian and I decided was that we are moving forward with joy and anticipation. That we will not "speak" anything over our son by claiming these things written in his file. When I say that please know that I'm not being naive. I just believe in a REALLY BIG GOD!! We are praying and believing that God can and will take care of this boy and that he can live BEYOND what is projected over him on paper. But no matter what...He is in control and will give us everything we need to get through and flourish in our situations. Since that moment when he gave me that confirmation...I haven't looked back. I want my life to be lived fearlessly for Him. We are SO excited to go to China and pick up our son. We have to now finish our paperwork and then wait for China to say yes!! It will probably be end of the year or early next year before we can go. But thats just me guessing. Until then I ask that you pray for him. Pray for his health, his safety, his nutrition, his growth both physically and mentally, and that God will make a way for us to get to him sooner than later. And that his heart would be prepared and ready for his new family who loves him so much!!! Thank you, Jesus, for this blessing. For this opportunity to trust you even more!!

A little about Rhett:

He is 2. Just turned 2 on May 3. He is only 10 months younger than Adiah!! He is a tiny little sweetie so we need to get him home and start "Operation Chunky Monkey" again! And he lives in the Jiangsu province. I'm not sure if I can say anything else but be watching because the second I can I'll tell you more. Oh...and show you his precious, precious face!! I've already been told he has my mouth :) and that he looks like he already belongs with us!

We have another son!!!!

Stay tuned for more details...it will take some time to write out but I wanted you all to know that on May 5th, 2009 we saw our son, Rhett!!! He is precious and we are over the moon excited!! Even more reason to get that paperwork done!!

Paperwork update

This past week has been good in terms of paperwork! On Monday my new home study reports arrived so I overnighted them along with my I800-A form to USCIS in Chicago. For those who aren't in the adoption world that is just a form that is super important in this whole process. This basically says that we are allowed to bring an adopted child home. SO...I just checked my online banking and noticed that they cashed my check already so they definitely are doing something with that paper work! We now wait for them to "invite" us to get our fingerprints done. Also, I mailed my Texas documents on Tuesday to get certified in Austin. I think they arrived Wednesday and they left Austin yesterday to be sent back to me!! I believe that is a super fast turn around!!! Once I receive them today I will update my little time line over there in the sidebar. I will probably mail all of my documents off on Monday to get authenticated just so when my paperwork from USCIS gets back to me I only have to deal with one piece of paper. Stay tuned for more updates.....

Home study...take 2!!

Today my new home study arrived with the correct notary so I'm off to overnight it to Chicago!! Whoo hoo!!! Can't wait to get this show on the road!!

Lets try this again...

Thanks friends for being so excited about my home study. HOWEVER...small snafu. Noticed that the notary expired LAST WEEK so we are having to have 4 new copies re-notarized and mailed to me. Isn't this fun? So I am not mailing it off today but I'm sure it will be resolved soon! I just KNOW it!!

Homestudy in hand!!

Well after a LONG time(or maybe its not a long time to some of you) we finally received our final copy of our home study! Praise the Lord for that!! I am going to turn right around and mail it off with our I-800A form so we can get in line to wait for our last piece of the puzzle! Hopefully the wait won't be too horrible!! Probably a couple to three months? At least we made some progress today though!