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.