Guess where we're headed?

We got an email from our agency that we received Travel Approval(TA) yesterday.  We have to wait until Monday until we know our travel dates...but are hoping to leave on July 2nd!  That's less than 2 weeks!!!!

"Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; He rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him!" (Is. 30:18) 

We're getting ready....

to leave as soon as we have approval.  We have our visas and are still hoping to leave before her birthday.  In the meantime, it's summer as usual including camps, swimming and trips to the beach:)

Signed, Sealed, Delivered...

She's ours!  We received our LOA, the long awaited letter from China, today via FedEx from our agency.  We signed it in no time flat and sent it on its way.  Whew, that was a LONG wait.  Our next step is to wait for travel approval(TA) from China.  Our agency predicts 2-4 weeks but with the swine flu scare, it has taken some families longer, so we're excited but not holding our breath yet.  I told our agency rep that I REALLY want to get her by her birthday, July 19th.  She said it is very possible.

Now, I get to put together the long lists of things I need to pack and get our visas...yeah! We're coming, Josie!

But these things I plan won't happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, be patient! For it will surely take place. It will not be late by a single day." Habakkuk 2:3

A little glimpse....

Thursday will be 6 months since we first saw Josie.....we are ready to go bring her home!  

Unfortunately, we are STILL waiting.... I can tell you that this is way more emotionally painful than childbirth:)

COME ON LOA!

Still waiting for our letter from China that officially says she's ours.  The average wait is 90 days, we're at 107. After several phone calls, our case was in the wrong place. I knew it!  Now that it is fixed, we need to wait for one more signature and then they'll send it.  Until then, I dream of meeting this sweet little face....we're coming Josie!

No, we're not traveling yet....

I should have a shirt with that saying on it, but even if I have to answer 'no, not yet', I still love when  people ask because then I get to talk about Josie.....

Even though we have no LOA yet, we have been lucky enough to get updates.  Some from wonderful 'yahoo' friends who have been SO nice and checked on our little girl while they we're in China picking up their little ones and a few new pictures from our agency.  Yes, the waiting is HARD.  But God's timing is still perfect and I know it won't be too much longer until she's a part of our family.

Enjoy the pics....she is 30 inches and 21.5 pounds.

Josie

It has been TOO long since my last post...but in the adoption world, things are always changing.

All of our paperwork was finally completed and sent over to China on 12-22, but for some reason it took a long time to get logged in.  So our 'official' log in date(LID) is 1-16.  What does this mean?  Well, it means we get to start the clock from that date in waiting for the official approval from China(LOA).  Typically, it takes about 90 days.  After that we wait for travel approval and THEN we finally travel.  A LOT of waiting.

In the meantime, our adoption agency closed its international division and we've been transferred to another agency.  So, I'm hoping that doesn't add more time to the wait...

AND, we moved.  Ok, only 5 miles from our old house, but with the amount of work it may as well have been across the country.  We've been settling in and slowly unpacking.  Which, of course, meant we had to update our home study.

But, I'm sure really all you wanted were all the adorable new updated pictures of our little girl.

So here are a few more of Josie EnHui...

Our little sweetheart....

'All of God's grace in one sweet little face'.

This is the latest picture of our little baby girl. She is waiting for us in southern China.  We received our official preapproval from China today...so we are just waiting for our last document from immigration to arrive and then we can send off all of the paperwork. Come on...we are ready to leave yesterday!!!! Still no 'American' name. Her Chinese name is Qian En Hui and she was born July 19, 2007. We are in love!

B-L-E-S-S-E-D!

I am overjoyed and extremely excited to share with you the news that our family has been blessed with the referral of a little girl waiting for us in China. I know many of you have shared this journey with us and have been praying for us and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of your support. It has meant so much more than you'll ever know!

We are still waiting for an 'official' preapproval so I can't share many details, except that she is absolutely beautiful and about 16 months old. 

We have some more paperwork we are waiting for, but hope to have her home in the spring.

We are especially thankful this Thanksgiving!

So sorry for no news update....but it seems like with adoption you might as well be an elephant, you know, pregnant forever.
So here it goes:
#1 paperwork: yes, with China we had to destroy another small forest for all of the required documents. i think i just signed a form saying that i would donate a kidney if they would approve us...hehe. seriously, we have almost everything authenticated and ready to go. just waiting on our 'change of country' to be approved by the good ole USA gov't....should be any day.

#2 matching. we were told that about 100-200 files are added each month in the middle of the month. have they added any yet this month? no! so we wait to see if we will be matched this month, if not, maybe we'll be looking at a Christmas surprise. after matching, travel in 6 or so months.
So that's the deal.....

I've been tagged

My adoption blogger friend Jennifer tagged me (http://ourlittledumplings.blogspot.com/).



I'm supposed to reveal 7 weird or random facts about myself....let's see, I can't think of weird so let's go with random:

1)when i was in college i worked at a frozen yogurt store(not that weird) and one day the Red Hot Chili Peppers came in to ask for directions(my one brush with fame)

2)my feet look just like my dad's so i have to keep my toenails painted

3)i started wearing a bra in 6th grade and walked in on the first day of school and some boy named david announced that i grew boobs over the summer(i still need therapy for that one)

4)i can't carry a tune at all but love to sing

5)i just received a plaque in the mail yesterday from FSU with my maiden name on it and 'meto conference women's swimming championship' 1990/1991, and a note saying 'sorry this is 17 years late'

6)i love being at the beach at sunset

7)i have 4 sisters, 1 sister-in-law and 13 nieces and nephews....can you say FUN family reunions...



I now have to tag 7 people:

http://www.blogfortheloveofpete.com/

http://hellomynameisdrama.blogspot.com/

http://thewoodard4.blogspot.com/

http://sellersfamily5.blogspot.com/

http://steveandrandel.blogspot.com/

ok, so i only tagged 5....

The updated homestudy is completed so soon I will forward it to immigration and wait for approval:) All of the other 11 documents are already authenticated and have been delivered to our agency's office. So......we are making progress, only 2 documents left and were finished with this part!

Did you notice anything new in the header?....that's right, we've switched our journey to China. I think all along we knew that's where she was, our little girl, so the past year was just part of our story to find her. What have we been up to these past few weeks? Well, since everything in our paperwork blizzard is a year old, we've had to start from square one. We have new birth certificates, marriage certificate, physicals(and China requires bloodwork), police clearances, employment letters, and oh yes, the home study. So at this point, we have 11 documents on their way to be authenticated and we are just waiting for our home study update to be completed and our immigration approval. I'm told we can just apply for a 'change of country' through immigration which would be a shorter approval time then if we have to completely re-apply. Anyway, I'm hoping that by the end of October this mountain of paperwork will be off to China. Oh yeah, and of course, we had to find a new agency, so after a few phone calls it was really clear which one was for us.

I'll keep you all updated....we're hoping to see our little girl's face by the end of the year:)

too early for details, but our journey is continuing....stay tuned!

ps-no, we did not get a referral from Vietnam

11 days left in August + no referral = it's over for us....unless by some miracle the governments agree to continue, but that is very unlikely.....

But these things I plan won't happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, be patient! For it will surely take place. It will not be late by a single day." Habakkuk 2:3


Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
don't try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
he's the one who will keep you on track. Proverbs 3:5-6

....one of my favorites....

Psalm 103
Praise the LORD, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits-
who forgives all your sins,
and heals your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things,
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's......

For as high as the heavens are above the earth
so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our trangressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.

this journey is coming to an end....

i was notified today that we have 10 days left to receive a referral from Vietnam in order for there to be enough time to complete the required paperwork before Sept. 1st....10 days.....and it does not look like we will end this part of the journey with a baby. pray for us, it's been an emotional year to say the least.