The Christmas Gift.... TRAVEL APPROVAL!

I don't even know where to begin this posting. I have so many emotions at this point.

Let me just dive right in with the GREAT News! After 8 weeks of waiting, we have received Travel Approval! Only moments ago, I received an email from our adoption agency stating that we had Travel Approval and that they were working on confirming our Consulate Appointment and Travel Dates. Because the US Consulate and the Holt office is closed both tomorrow, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we will have to wait until next week before we will know for sure when we will travel. However, there are 2 possible travel dates at this point that Holt has given us. The first is January 22 (my birthday is January 21st) or February 26th. Of course we want to travel on the earlier date. The 2nd date is so far out because of the Chinese New Year Holiday that is celebrated in February and our Adoption agency has suspended travel for the majority of the month.

In my wildest dreams I would have never thought that the BEST gift that I could ever receive would come in the form of an email. To see those words on the screen that I have been waiting to see brought tears to my eyes and I immediately thanked GOD for this early Christmas gift. Although she is not with us for Christmas I KNOW that GOD's timing is perfect. He sees our path well ahead of us and knows what lies ahead and I trust him to guide us through the rest of this journey.

Christmas will be a little brighter knowing that we have one less hurdle to cross and that the days are numbered until she is with us. Her Christmas gifts are wrapped and will remain under the tree until she comes home. What a celebration that will be. I will keep you all posted as I get more information.

Please pray, my friends that we will receive the first Travel Date of January 22nd.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Giving Thanks....

Today, on the eve of Thanksgiving, I felt that I needed to pause for a moment and write down the things I am thankful for.

I am thankful for:

- My Wonderful Family

- The laughter my kids bring into my life

- My many friends

- The many blessings that GOD sees fit to bestow upon us (they are too many to list)

- My Health and the health of my family

- and I am thankful for what I do not have....

And I can't help but mention how thankful I am that GOD has blessed us with Madelyn, this journey to her and those that have come into my life because of her. When I look back at the last 5 months and I read my blog entries and relive those moments; I am so thankful for hurdles in this process that we have overcome thus far and I am thankful that we only have a few more to cross.

With respect to our progress in the adoption, we are still waiting on Travel Approval. I was hoping to have it this week, which in my calculations meant that we could have possibly traveled and been home with her before Christmas. I don't know that it will work out that way now. But I trust GOD, whole heartedly and know that his timing is PERFECT.

We have been keeping very busy these last few months. I traveled to San Diego, CA for a few days for work and then returned, only to travel with Lizzy to Washington DC for a class field trip. While we were in DC, we were so blessed to have met Keith's cousin and his family. His cousin lives in Maryland and took time to drive up to DC and spend some time visiting with us. They have 3 beautiful children and one of which, Carly, was adopted from China. They have been such a valuable resource to me throughout this whole journey.

Basketball season has started and both Christopher and Lizzy are playing. For those that know me very well - this is the time of year that I live for!!! I am also thankful for basketball season - lol. Christopher is playing for St. Louis and he has a pretty aggressive schedule, so we have been traveling a little playing some tournaments. We will be leaving shortly after Thanksgiving lunch to travel to Austin to play in the Jack Frost Tournament. Go Saints.

Please keep praying for us and most importantly Madelyn. Continue to pray for a speedy Travel Approval and Travel Dates. We are almost there....

Happy Thanksgiving!

Updated Pictures and Information

In August we requested updated pictures and information about Madelyn. I was not very hopeful that we would receive this information as it has been a long time since we requested it. However, as with everything else in this journey, we had to wait. Well - the waiting is over. We have received updated pictures of our sweet girl and the answers to our questions.

Upon receiving this information, I quickly scanned the email from the adoption agency and immediately went to the photos of her. I wanted to see what she looks like. My first reaction is - "Wow she has grown!" It has been a whole year between photos. She has lost the baby fat of her face that was so noticeable in her first set of pictures. She is beautiful and looks very healthy.

Then I had to know the answers to my questions. I had put alot of thought into crafting the few questions that I could ask that would give me the most information. After reading the response to each question I was very pleased. Here are the facts:

- Her palate has been surgically closed! This is fantastic news. We had questioned all along whether or not her palate had been closed. Her medical record was unclear. Even better news was that it was closed last December when she was 14 months old. In all of the research that I have done they recommend closing the palate as early as possible so that it doesn't affect their speech. This does not mean that she will not have some sort of speech issue but it does mean that it was closed during this optimal time in her life and gives her a better chance of developing normal speech practices. This is very encouraging news.

- She exhibits no evidence of any type of hearing issue. She is responding appropriately to commands and can talk normally with others. This is good news as well. We were concerned with her having cleft lip and palate that there may have been some ear issues that would have affected her hearing. We are still not certain if she will need tubes in her ears but plan on having her evaluated by the ENT when she gets home. This is very encouraging information.

- We did receive her current measurements. She is 28 lbs. and 33.7 inches tall. I compared these measurements with US girls growth charts and she appears to be in the 25th percentile in terms of her height and in the 75th percentile in terms of her weight. This too is great news! She is growing and developing very well. We always worried about feeding and nourishment issues related to her having a unclosed palate, however with news of her closed palate and her current weight and height I am very encouraged that she is on track in terms of growth and development. I am sure that once she arrives home her health and development will only improve! GOD IS GOOD!!!!

My children were very excited to see her picture. Christopher's first reaction was overflowing love and compassion for her. I can see his heart when he looks at her. He immediately wanted me to email him her picture. I have seen him post updates on his Facebook page notifying all of his friends of his little sisters adoption status. I would imagine that I will see her picture on his facebook page within the next day or so. He is a very proud big brother. He is such a sweet kid.

Lizzy has been anxiously awaiting her pictures and was overly excited when she saw them. She cannot wait to get her home and play with her and of course, dress her up in all of her new clothes. She is going to be a great big sister.

Thank you all for keeping her in your prayers. I will keep you posted on our travel dates. Please continue to pray that we will receive our Travel Approval very quickly.

Nearing the Finish Line....

The adoption is still moving along. At times it seems that things happen fast, which creates alot of excitement, then we come up against an obstacle and things slow down to a crawl. That cycle seems to be repeated over and over again throughout this adoption.

In my last post, you will recall that we received our LOA (Letter of Approval) from China and had to file more paperwork in order to proceed eventually to Travel. We filed the I-800 with USCIS (Immigration) on 10/5/09. This form is our petition to classify Madelyn as an immediate relative upon arrival into the United States. The approval process is a bit quicker that its counterpart I-800A which we had to file very early on. After 18 days from the date USCIS received the I-800 we received approval!!!! It came via email notification on 10/22/09 from the Case Worker at USCIS that has been very helpful.

Now there remains only 2 hurdles to overcome before we can travel - Travel Approval and Travel Dates. Our I-800 approval will now be sent to China, along with our signed LOA and within a few weeks we expect our Travel Approval. We are still unsure of when we will actually travel but are holding out hope that it will be before the Christmas holidays.

It would be so difficult for our family to celebrate Christmas without her. I know that we will most likely not have her for Thanksgiving and have resigned myself to that fact. The hardest was not having her for her birthday. She turned 2 last Sunday - October 18th. We recognized her birthday last Sunday and were surrounded by family and friends, however we are withholding the big celebration until she gets home.

I am calling on all of you to continue to pray for the efficiency and speed in the Chinese Government Officials that will be reviewing our documents and granting us an approval to Travel. Please also remember to pray for Madelyn as she prepares for this huge transition into our family. This is the biggest part of my prayer list. Getting to her fast is of utmost importance to US, but when I step back and think about someone besides myself - I have to think about her and how she will feel, what she will think and her how little world will be turned upside down. Even though I know that our family will love her and give her the best life we can, my heart and mind cannot dismiss the loss that Madelyn will feel. Please say a special prayer that God continues to prepare her.

On a lighter note, the homefront preparations continue. A couple of weekends ago we made a special trip to Lafayette to shop for Madelyn. Our close friends, the Clavelle's arranged a major baby shopping trip for Lizzy and I. We purchased clothes, bibs, socks, a car seat, stroller and many other important items. I can't name all of the items and we had to guess on sizes, but I can tell you it was a successful shopping trip. We have a few more last minute items to purchase before our trip but the bulk of it has been purchased.

I will keep you posted in the coming weeks as to our progress. Thanks to everyone for your support and continued prayers.

WE HAVE LOA!!!!

It has been quite some time since my last post. For a time it seemed that this adoption was stagnant; more like at a complete standstill. In all of this, I have learned to expect anything and everything: wait, hurry up, paperwork, more paperwork and the void of information. It is quite an emotional rollercoaster.

Keith and I had been in Dallas for 3 days when upon our return we were SHOCKED and EXCITED to find a fed-ex package which contained our Letter of Acceptance (LOA) from China. This is the piece of paper that we have been waiting on since the end of the summer. Although it feels like we have been waiting on it forever, in actuality it has only been 56 days. For those of you who are not familiar with the adoption process - the LOA is the official document that when signed and accepted signifies the finality of the child referral. This is a momentous hurdle that we have crossed! This milestone also begins the journey to our travel approval and eventually travel dates. To get there we must complete and file more paperwork, which I already had completed and fed-ex'd out to arrive on Monday (10/5/09).

When we received the LOA we also received some preliminary information from our adoption agency regarding travel. This information states that we can expect to travel in approximately 8 weeks. 8 WEEKS! I haven't even had to time to absorb this information. 8 weeks - I keep repeating this time frame in my mind. How quickly 8 weeks will fly by.

Our family has been quite busy over the course of the last months - getting settled back into the routine of school, sports, etc. This has kept my mind occupied and has made the wait a little more bearable. As a family we have a few things that we need to get in order before traveling to get Madelyn. Keith's Office Manager, Rachel, is expecting her first baby and announced that she would not be returning to work after the birth of her baby, which is due in November. Rachel has been part of our business for 4 years and thinking that we would now have to replace her and have someone new in the office to handle our business, especially for the time frame that we were in China was a bit overwhelming. However, God has his hand completely intertwined in our family and this adoption. He blessed us with a wonderful person to replace Rachel. We hired her on September 30th and she starts this Monday. Gods timing is perfect!

We are still waiting for the answers to our questions and updated pictures. There is no guarantee that we will receive this information before we travel. Although I would love to have updated pictures of her - I would love it even more to have her in my arms. I can finally see the light at the end of this tunnel....

Please keep praying for us. We should have our sweet baby girl for the Holidays! What a wonderful blessing.

There has been no more news regarding the adoption but I wanted to post an update on our preparations. We had previously finished painting and putting together Madelyn's bedroom. However, there was one thing that I wanted to do before I considered this project complete - and that was have her name painted on the wall above her bed. This may not sound like a huge "event" but each item purchased, each preparation completed is a big deal and is done with much love and family involvement.

This weekend my sister and my niece, Jena came from Texas to help with this project, as they are the artists of the family. I had purchased some letter stencils in the size and design that I wanted as well as some paint. Jena not only did a fantastic job of stenciling her name on the wall she went the extra step and painted some pretties as well. Jena is so talented, artistically she did not need a stencil for those, as I would have, she just free-handed the extras.... The finished product was more than I had hoped it would be!

When I think about all that went into putting her room together, it was truly a family affair. Elizabeth selected the bedding and the wall color. Suzanne, my sister-in-law, Lizzy and I painted the room. The pictures that now hang on the wall of her beautiful bedroom were painted by Lizzy in the 3rd grade and match so perfectly, as if they were painted specifically to match. Lastly, the beautiful wall decorations were done by my sister and neice.

I feel so blessed to have such an involved family. It is good to be surrounded by those that have the same level of excitement as we do.

Waiting..... blindly.....

Today is like every other day although each day is now viewed differently than before this adoption process. I am having more than a difficult day today with waiting. The wait seems endless and yet I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I was able to accomplish something that was positive but it made me all the more sad. Let me explain. In this process, our adoption agency recommends that we put together a family photo album and include photos of ourselves, extended family members, friends, pets and photos of her room/house/yard. I put together a beautiful little pink photo album with some of the best pictures of our family and was even able to include a photo of her finished room that is waiting for her. I also had to include captions of who was in the photo IN CHINESE. This was a fun project as we all got to see how our names looked in chinese. We were also able to include a letter to the orphanage and Madelyn, which we again had to translate. This was definitely out of my realm of capability and had to send the letter to a translator via the internet. I sent the package which included both the photo album and letter today. I hope that she will receive it soon and her caregivers will be diligent about showing her our pictures everyday to prepare her for us. It's great that we can reach out to her this way but I would prefer to skip the wait and be in China with her right now instead of those pictures.

While we wait for China's approval, there is no one we can call, no website we can visit that will provide us any type of information on the status of our file. We just wait.... blindly.....

Although I can say that God has someone in our lives that has a close friend that lives in Shanghai, China that has agreed to reach out to the Orphanage and possibly visit Madelyn and take some pictures for us. I am holding my breath that this endeavor actually comes to fruition. I would love to have some updated photos of her. I will keep you posted and hopefully be posting some new pictures of our little girl soon.

LOG IN DATE - One step closer

Well we have reached another milestone in our journey to Madelyn. For those of you who are not familiar with the China Adoption Process - I will explain the meaning of this latest hurdle. In my last post we were finally able to send our completed Dossier to China. Sending the Dossier to China (CCAA) is one thing, however the most important part of this process is the Log In Date (LID). Sometimes this can take many weeks and until they log your documents into their system the Adoption is at a complete stand still.

We have a LOG IN DATE OF AUGUST 5, 2009!!!!! Just 5 days after it was sent to China. God's hands are definitely intertwined in this process and taking hold. We still must wait - but we are encouraged and we know that GOD is listening to our prayers for expediency. Please continue to pray for both the efficiency of the CCAA staff processing our Dossier and the speed in which they do so. Also, please pray for Madelyn as she prepares for this big transition in her life and and her continued health and safety.

In all of this we know that God is preparing us, molding us and teaching us things that we need to know. For me, Patience seems to be my biggest learning opportunity. I can see that I am growing in the Lord every day.

Good Morning Friends and Family,

I wanted to touch base with all of you and give an update on the progress of the adoption. Since my last email lots of paperwork has been filled out and I mean LOTS! More importantly, we have received our approval from Immigration. This approval was given in record time – 31 days from the time USCIS received the paperwork to approval. There are many more hurdles that we must get over before actually receiving our Travel Dates to China, and I won’t bog you down with all of the details, but we are well on our way. Today, July 31st, our Dossier (packet of approved, certified and authenticated paperwork) is being sent to the Chinese Adoption Authority for approval. This approval is the big one and how quickly it is given will determine how quickly we get our baby girl. The CCAA is historically known for taking a long time to issue approvals – so I am asking that today, as our documents make their way to someone in China at the CCAA, that you pray specifically for the efficiency of the person and/or persons that will receive them and for a speedy approval. Our God can move mountains and I know that through prayer we can again have an approval given in record time.

Since my last email, lots of things have happened in preparing for Madelyn’s homecoming. As many of you know, Keith and I have not had babies or toddlers in many years, so we are starting from scratch. We have purchased a beautiful baby bed, bedding and have painted her room pink. We still have some more things to do to prepare her room but it is moving along. We have bought a few other items, such as sippy cups and clothing items. We have a long way to go to be fully prepared but we are working on it and having a lot of fun doing it. Wow- have things changed and technology improved since our kids were little. I think you now need a PhD to operate one of those new and improved strollers – LOL.

I would like to ask that you continue to pray for our family as we journey through this process. I have had much time to think and prepare myself for Madelyn’s arrival. In praying for her every day, I ask GOD to prepare her for this big transition and remove any fear she may have when she meets us. Please make this your prayer as well.

Again, I want to thank you all for your continued prayers and support! I love you. I will keep you posted as we reach each milestone….

June 9, 2009

Good Morning my friends

As many of you know we have been in the process to adopt a baby from china for a year now. Well our prayers were answered last Thursday when we received a sweet baby girl named Qin Qiu Ying (pronounced Chin Chu Ying) who is 18 months old. We are so excited and are anxiously waiting the time when we are allowed to travel to China and get her. There are many hurdles to cross before that time and possible hiccups along the way. I want to ask each of you to pray for speed in the paper processing at Immigration and at the CCAA and of course for her continued health and safety. Please join us in prayer for our little girl! You might want to throw in some prayers for our family too - the wait is turning out to be very hard for me!

I have included her picture. Thank you for all your love and support throughout the years, during this milestone in our lives as well as all the ones before. Thank you for being such great friends (family)!!!!