One Month and Counting...

Tomorrow marks one month since we officially submitted our LOI to adopt our Charlie. While I knew logically we would not receive our LOA (letter of acceptance) from China within the first month, it didn’t stop me from refreshing my email multiple times a day just in case :).

The wait for this LOA is really a difficult one because we have no idea how long to expect it to be. We could receive the LOA next week or we could receive it two months from now. The other steps in the process seem to have pretty good timeline estimates, but this one seems totally random.

I am so thankful we now know who our child is and have seen his sweet face, but it definitely challenges my patience. I want to wait well, knowing God's timing is absolutely the best thing for our family and just rest in that. But my heart longs to hold him and kiss his chubby little cheeks. I long to lavish him with the love that only a mommy and daddy can truly give. I long to tell him he's a perfectly made child of the most perfect God.

I know that time will come, it's the "soon, but not yet" I'm currently stuck in that threatens my sanity.

Several families on my agency's Facebook page have recently traveled to China to bring their babies home and I love seeing their pictures and reading the blog accounts of their trips. I met these families on the page when they weren’t even matched with children yet, and to follow their journey to now having that child in their arms is encouraging. It does remind me that this will happen. It's not just some fantasy I've dreamt up, but we will bring our son home to his forever family soon.

I read an article about waiting recently that talked about not missing the "here and now" while we are waiting on our desired future state to come to fruition. God wants to use me now and wants to continue to transform me into the wife, mother and friend he wants me to be. If I am so focused on the future, I might miss what he wants for me to learn while I wait. This is my new challenge to myself - to listen to God and seek him as I watch his plans unfold. These plans are his, after all.

I think Steven Curtis Chapman says it best in his song "The Glorious Unfolding"...

And this is going to be a glorious unfolding
Just you wait and see and you will be amazed
You’ve just got to believe the story is so far from over
So hold on to every promise God has made to us
And watch this glorious unfolding

 

Not for a moment

If you know anything about me, you probably know music plays an important role in my life.  Lyrics can communicate how I feel better than I can usually express them and sunday morning we sang a song that filled me with peace and refreshed me like water to my soul. 

In this crazy adoption journey, it's easy to feel lonely and uncertain about what's coming next. I love being reminded that The God who created the universe - who created the same moon and stars that are shining on our son - will never forsake us. That's a promise we can be certain of.

Verse 1
You were reaching through the storm
walking on the water
even when I could not see
in the middle of it all
when I thought You were a thousand miles away
not for a moment did You forsake me
not for a moment did You forsake me

CHORUS
after all You are constant
after all You are only good
after all You are sovereign
not for a moment will You forsake me
not for a moment will You forsake me

Verse 2
You were singing in the dark
whispering Your promise
even when I could not hear
I was held in Your arms
carried for a thousand miles to show
Not for a moment did You forsake me

CHORUS

and every step every breath you are there
every tear every cry every prayer
in my heart at my worst
when my world falls down
not for a moment will You forsake me
even in the dark
even when it's hard
you will never leave me
after all

CHORUS
not for a moment will You forsake me

Yay for videos!

Our social worker recently returned from Charlie's orphanage and provided us with THE BEST gift - video of Charlie in his orphanage!!  I so wish I could share it with all of you now, but we want to be super careful to protect his identity on public sites so we will have to settle for sharing with you as we see you. 

He is so precious and adorable and looks like he is being very well loved.  I think we've watched his videos a million times already and I have to restrain myself not to show it to total strangers in line with me at the grocery store :).  Brooklyn asks to see him, too - "Bubba? Bubba?"

My favorite part of the video is when Marissa tells the lady holding him "Yes, he has a family".  It melts my heart every time I hear those sweet words!!

While these videos are SO treasured, they also make the days just a little bit harder as we wait to hold that precious little boy and call him our own.

I know this next step is out of our hands, so we continue to wait.  We will be sure to update as we get new information and appreciate all of your love and support, as always!

It's a BOY!

We are SO EXCITED to announce that we received a referral recently for a 13 month old little boy living in an orphanage in China!!!!

Tuesday, April 15th we woke up hopeful that we would receive a call from our agency since a new "shared list" had just been released. The shared list is the list of eligible children for adoption that the Chinese government releases monthly. Adoption agencies can request to "reserve" children on that list that meet the criteria of the families waiting within their agency. It was getting later and later into the afternoon and I began to lose hope that our child would be on this list. I was sitting on Brooklyn's bed looking at my phone when it rang! I don't get many calls from Eugene, Oregon so I knew it had to be our agency.

 

"I want to talk to you about a little boy!", Marissa, our Holt social worker said. She had nothing but good things to say about this little boy who will soon be our son. He appears to be healthy except for the diagnosed ASD (Atrial Septal Defect) which may not need any medical intervention at all. He and Brooklyn will be 10 months apart in age. He is actually not from the shared list at all, but from an exclusive partnership our agency has with the orphanage. The not so good news was that his file had not been "officially" released yet so we'd have to wait until we could send our intent to adopt him to China.

Marissa also told us she would actually be at his orphanage the following week and would try to get some new photos and possibly even video of him for us!! Considering we cannot meet him for another several months, we covet any information we can get on him.

Marissa forwarded us his medical file and photos, which we reviewed with our medical team at Children's Medical Center's International Adoption Clinic. After looking over the file, they told us they really have no concerns and that he looks healthy and his development looks great. They recommended that we ask the orphanage a few follow up questions with updates on his current development which we received yesterday.

We submitted our LOI (Letter of Intent) to our agency a few days later which means we intend to move forward with adopting him. We were prepared to wait up to a month before his file was officially released, but we got a call yesterday - only two weeks later - that his file is ready and our LOI was submitted on our behalf to China!!

We are beyond excited! His orphanage is in a big city in China (the capital city of his province) and should provide more resources than smaller orphanages in more rural areas. The area he lives in looks beautiful and we cannot wait to see it and experience the culture.

We are now waiting for our LOA (Letter of Acceptance) from China which will take a few months to receive. Once we receive their acceptance, we must file his official information with the U.S. government to get approval of his citizenship. We then send the U.S. approval to China and they will send us a TA (Travel Approval) which will allow us to make our travel reservations to finally go to China!! We believe this whole process will take about 6 months or so and therefore are hoping to be able to travel to China in November or December of 2014!

It is so so crazy to think about having a son on the other side of the world - to have a face and a name to put with our dream. We plan to name him Charlie :) and keep his given Chinese name as a middle name. We already love him and can't wait to bring him into our family. We look at the pictures of him and imagine what his personality is like and how he'll respond to us.

While we wait, we need prayers! Prayers that the process continues to go smoothly and that all our paperwork processes faster than we are expecting. Prayers that Charlie is being given love, good food and has good health. Prayers that we wait well, knowing God's timing is perfect. Prayers that our travel is safe. Prayers that Brooklyn somehow understands what's happening and adjusts well to a new sibling. Prayers that Charlie adjusts well to a new family, new culture and new environment.

We are amazed as we see God leading us through this journey and see his fingerprints on each step we take.  We appreciate all your prayers and support and will keep updating you as we progress!