Happy New Year!

Dates to Remember

As of Wednesday December 16
-Ethan is 13 months old
-11 weeks (77 days) since RA!
-6 weeks 1 day (43 days) since I-800 Approval
-3 weeks 6 days (27 days) since I800 cable notice
-3 weeks (21 days) since Article 5
-TA!
Wednesday September 30th
-13 weeks 5 days (96 days) since DTC
-12 weeks 1 days (85 days) since Referral
-11weeks 6 days (83 days) since LID
-10 weeks 5 days(75 days) since PA

Merry Christmas!

Travel Confirmed

Our consulate appointment is Jan 25. Gotcha Day will be Jan 18. Our travel dates are Jan 14-28.  We are booking our flights today.

We would LOVE for everyone to meet us at the airport when we get home.  Or if you want to meet at our house that would be great too.  I will be needing to see familiar faces.

Once we know flights I'll post them.

3 more weeks!  It will get here fast!

4 weeks!

In four weeks, we should be on the flight to Beijing. Our agency said that they are calling for our consulate appointment and it looks like we'll be leaving on Jan 14th and coming home Jan 28 or 29. So in 4 weeks we'll be leaving. I had hoped for 3, but 4 is good. We know that in 1 month, Ethan will be placed in our arms, FOREVER! Gotcha Day should be January 18. He will turn 15 months old that day.

When we heard that it will be 4 weeks now instead of 3 when we will travel, we did think about asking if we could leave next week. But then we remembered why we had peace about leaving in January. And we still do have peace. Leaving a week later than planned gives us another week to get ready. We'll have 10 days after school gets back. We will be able to enjoy the holidays without worrying about packing and getting ready to leave. It will all work out perfectly.

I'm praying that we'll be there the same time as Ethan's little buddy Max's family. They are waiting for TA. They should get it in about 2 weeks or so. It's very possible we could be meeting our boys on the same day. That would be awesome. For friends to meet their forever families on the same day.

I'm also praying that another friend, who I've never met personally, will be traveling with us. We "met" through our agency 6 years ago, when we were paperchasing Abby. We've chatted on and off the past 6 years. But reconnected about 6 months ago, when I saw her posting again on our agency's yahoo group. She is also adopting a little boy. And she also received TA yesterday. They are praying about if they should leave next week. I selfishly and praying they leave with us in Jan. :-)

So now that we know tentatively our travel dates, we can start to plan. We are trying to get the girls taken care of. We have plenty of friends who have offered to take care of them. Our dogs will be taken care of by another sweet friend. We just need to make the final arrangements for everyone.

Now I get to enjoy Christmas and not worry about paperwork. I love this feeling.

Soon....we'll be in China! I'm so excited.

TA!

We're going to China! We just got the call. TRAVEL APPROVAL! We are so excited.

Tentative travel dates are Jan 7th OR Jan 14th. Keep checking the blog for the dates. We should know in the next few days.

Be sure to follow us on our travel website. www.ethanwilliam.com

Less than a month and we'll have a son! Praising God!

Love,
Debbie

GREAT NEWS!

Our agency emailed this afternoon. Good news! Our Article 5 was issued TWO WEEKS AGO! They just found out. This means we are 2 weeks into the wait for our travel approval. Average wait for TA is 2-4 weeks.

So Bill & I have been talking (and we need to do more praying). It is possible for TA to come by next Wed. If it does, do we leave on Dec 26th? Or do we just wait and leave on Jan 7th. We don't know what to do. I hope we'll hear an answer from God soon.

So now I'm anxious about travel. We could be leaving in 2 weeks. Oh my!

Update

Well, I'm so anxious. The closer we get, the more anxious I get. It does not look like we'll be leaving Dec 26th. I'm a little sad about this. But I know it will all work out perfectly.

-Do I really want to leave my girls the day after Christmas?
-Do I really want to skip Beijing?
-Do I really want to fly 24 hours and then meet Ethan the very next day?

The answer is NO. I want to enjoy Christmas with my girls. I don't want to feel rushed. I want to enjoy Christmas vacation with them. Maybe we'll even get a couple of Disney days in there. I want to experience Beijing without the girls. I want to take it all in. I want to have the 2 days to get adjusted to China before meeting Ethan.

I know all I keep saying is "I want". I know that God is not having us leave later than expected because of "my wants". But I'm just starting to understand WHY we are not leaving with other families who we thought we would be traveling with. And it's starting to make sense to me.

I contacted my agency yesterday and they are going to check on Article 5 for us. It's been 3 weeks since it was cabled. They feel that it should be issued very soon. The next tentative travel date is Jan 7th. This is what I'm praying for now. I'm praying Article 5 will come THIS week, and TA will come by Dec 28. If we leave on Jan 7th, then we will meet Ethan on Jan 11. Just a little over a month from now.

I thank you all for the prayers & support. Continue to pray for Ethan. Pray that we will bond and that his adjustment will not be too hard for him.

Until then, I wanted to leave you with 2 photos we took last night. These photos did not make it to our Christmas card. :-) Merry Christmas! I can't believe Christmas is in 2 weeks.

Still Nothing

Still no word. I'm getting anxious, and worried. So I emailed our agency. I asked if they could check on our Article 5 status. They agreed they would. They think we should be hearing something soon. I hope they are right.

I also asked if they had tentative travel set for January. She said they do. Right now they are thinking Jan 7th. So that is what I'm praying for now. That we can leave on Jan 7th. That would mean we would meet Ethan on Jan 11.

Ethan's little buddy Max might be meeting is forever family that same time too. That would be amazing and so neat.

This wait is getting old. It's been 10 weeks since RA. Why on earth is it taking so long to get travel approval. It should not take this long.

God's timing IS perfect. I know I will look back and understand this very soon.

Until next time......

Travel Website

We have set up a website for travel. No, we have not received travel papers yet. But we are just getting prepared.

I emailed our agency and asked if our Article 5 has been issued. She said they have not received word yet. She also said if we get TA by Dec 16 then we will be with the Dec 24 travel group. That is 2 weeks from now. Since Article 5 is not in yet, then I'm not sure we'll make the Dec 24 group. This makes me sad because I heard our old guide Rosa is going to be the guide for this group. And we really want to be with Rosa again. So please keep praying.

Here is the new site. www.ethanwilliam.com

Until next time....

Update

We received a letter today from the National Visa Center (NVC) saying that they recently received our approval form I800. Our petition has been forwarded to the appropriate visa-issuing post where the adoption interview will take place.

Soon (and I pray very soon) they will issue an Article 5. We will receive an email from our agency when the Article 5 has been sent to CCAA (Beijing). Then we wait for CCAA to issue us our TA (Travel Approval).

We are getting so close! I think we should start packing. :-)

More updates soon.......

Ladybugs N Love

I just have to say a HUGE THANK YOU to Ladybugs N Love. They were so nice and kept checking and checking until we got the updates we requested. They even went over and beyond. We are very thankful to Angela & Ladybugs N Love. If you are reading this and waiting to bring your child home from China, I highly recommend hiring Ladybugs N Love to get updates on your child.

Thank you again Angela! We are so grateful!

New Photos!

I got a wonderful email yesterday with 2 handsome photos in it! I was so excited to open the email. Here he is. Our boy! He's so cute! I love his eyes! I can't wait to hold him and spoil him. Not too much longer, I hope, until we meet.
Enjoy the cute photos!

New Photo & More Fabric

Last week at my baby shower we received more fabric & good wishes from friends. We have a great collection of wonderful fabric. I'm so excited. The wishes are beautiful and I can not wait for Ethan to read them one day. Here is a photo of the fabric we received from the shower.


I have met 2 ladies on Ethan's orphanage yahoo group and one of them has received photos of her son. This morning I was sent this photo and in the background is Ethan. I was so happy to see this photo. I'm not sure when it was taken. But it is still a treasure. I have also emailed the company again about photos that I ordered and she said she called them again this past week and she's still waiting to hear from them. I hope and pray we get some good photos soon. Until then, I'm going to cherish this one. It's grainy, but it's still precious. Ethan is in the back against the wall. We think the other child in the front is his friend Max.


Praying about our travel. Pray that we will hear something soon and that the airline prices will come down A LOT!

Until next time.....

Celebrating Ethan!

Yesterday my friends from church threw me a wonderful baby shower. I was so amazed with all that they did for me, and for our son. So many friends showed up with wonderful gifts for him. We played games, ate cake and had good fellowship.

All of the guests got the opportunity to decorate a onesie for Ethan. They turned out amazing. Some are in the slideshow. I also received some fabric & good wishes for his quilt.

It was a GREAT afternoon. Thank you to Kris, Pam & Billie for all the time, energy and money that you put into celebrating our son! We appreciate it so much.

Enjoy the photos.....

I800 APPROVAL!

I was so happy to receive the mail yesterday. We got another notice from USCIS and this time it says that we are "provisional approval". We are so happy. After the big mess up, we found out that they received our papers Monday at 4 PM and they approved it on Tuesday. Praise God! I also found out a travel mate also received their approval a day before us. So we are not behind at all.

Now we wait for travel approval. We would LOVE to leave the first week of Dec. Then we would be home for Christmas and we would also be able to get cheaper tickets. Please continue to pray for our travel plans.

Also pray for Bill & I as we do prepare to leave the girls at home. We went to the airport last night to welcome home a new baby from China and it hit us both. We are not going to have an easy time leaving the girls. So please pray for us, and also pray for our girls that they will not be too sad while we're gone.

Thanks!

Quilt Fabric

I received more fabric & wishes this week. I'm so excited to see how much fabric we have collected. I've also been working on Ethan's Good Wish book and it's starting to fill up. I am enjoying reading the wishes & prayers to him. But we still have plenty of room. So please keep sending me the fabric & wish.
Thank you to my cousins Ricky, Linde & family and to my friend Pam H & family.
Until next time....

Nov 4

Today is a special day for us. 5 years ago today, we boarded the flight to China to adopt Abby. I can't believe it's been 5 years already. 4 years ago today, our dossier was sent to China to adopt Jadyn. Amazed it's been 4 years. Now here we are, Nov 4th and in another adoption. I had hoped maybe TA would come, but with the week we had last week that is unlikely.

We received a letter from USCIS saying that I filled out our I800 wrong. All of the information was correct. Except Bill should have filled it all out, not me. So we had to redo it and send it back. We had to send it USPS because it was going to a PO Box. It was supposed to be delivered last Thursday or Friday. It did not get delivered until Monday afternoon (4 PM). As you can imagine I'm very upset about this setback. I've been told that this should not delay us in getting TA. I don't see how it won't. BUT, I'm trusting in God. He has it all planned out. The trip is already in the works and we will go when He wants us to go. We will have Ethan in our arms shortly. It might not be December. But it could be. We just do not know. And the unknown is what is killing me.

So here we are, Nov 4th. What could happen today for us? I'm now praying that our I800 approval gets cabled to Guangzhou. That would be awesome if it did.

Please pray for my sanity. :-) Pray that I can get through this wait. Pray for Ethan as he waits for us. Thank You!

Fabric

We have received more fabric in the last 2 weeks. We are so grateful. Thank you all for your wishes & fabric. Ethan is going to love seeing how loved he is even before he's home.

Keep the good wishes & fabric coming! :-)

P.S. My Princess Journals has been updated. I do not know why it does not show up on the side as being updated. Tons of photos of the girls.

Until next time....

UPDATES!

I received updates on Ethan today. I'm so happy. No photos yet. The orphanage said they would send some. I pray it's soon. Angela (the lady getting the updates for me) said that she thinks they are having issues with their internet.

He is 17 pounds 6 ounces and 25.5 inches long. He's little.

By comparison, Abby at 14 months was 21.3 pounds and 30.25 inches tall.

He has 4 teeth on the bottom and 3 teeth on top.

He is crawling. He's not walking yet.

He likes to play with all kind of toys.

He eats formula, rice cereal, fruit & crackers

He drinks Nestle formula & Duo Wei Dan Nai rice cereal

He has a friend. His mom & I met on the yahoo group. Max is 3 weeks older than Ethan. It's nice knowing that they are friends.

I'm so happy to get this info. Now I hope we get photos very soon. :-)

Until next time...

Happy 1st Birthday Ethan!

I've been thinking about this day for weeks. Wondering how I would feel. And right now I am sad. I'm sad because we're missing his 1st birthday. Sad that he's not home to celebrate.

But then I think about what is to come, and I am happy. I'm happy knowing that in a short time he will be home, in our arms FOREVER. I'm happy because he will never spend another birthday in an orphanage. I'm happy because I know God is caring for him while we are not with him.

We are going to celebrate today. We're going to have cupcakes and sing Happy Birthday to him. I'm going to have the girls make him a picture.

And I'm praying that tomorrow, or at least someday this week, I get updates on him.

So until then, HAPPY BIRTHDAY precious boy! We love you and we can't wait to meet you.

UPDATE: We had a little party this afternoon. The girls did make a picture for Ethan. And we had cupcakes in honor of his birthday. Here are a few photos...

Notice from USCIS

We received in the mail today a notice saying that USCIS has received our I800 (Petition to Classify Convention Adoptee as an Immediate Relative). This is good news. This means they are working on our file and they have our address and can contact us if they have any questions.

Now they process our petition, then send it off to the US Consulate in China.

We've been waiting 2 weeks now. Hopefully we'll get TA within 5-7 weeks MAX.

Just keep praying.......

And his name is......

Ethan William Junhua.

The travel papers are filled out for our agency. Bill told me it was my decision on the name. He did not have a preference. So I decided to use his full name. It means "handsome and outstanding".

We have chosen to have our agency take care of our Visa's. We are also going to do Beijing again. I wanted to originally skip this part, but then I thought about it. Maybe I'll actually get to enjoy the city this time because I won't have any kids with me to worry about. Plus I want to have the time to get to know some of the other travel group families. And maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to climb the Great Wall! :-)

We are almost 2 weeks from RA. It is going by fast. Praying we hear about TA in Nov.

Still hoping and praying for updates. It's been a week since I ordered them. I hope to get an email very soon.

Until next time....

Name

This week we received a stack of papers that we need to fill out and return to our agency. It's our travel papers. No, we are not traveling yet. But we need to fill everything out so when we do get our travel approval, we'll be ready to go.

Well they want to know what we are naming our child. Bill & I talked about not including Ethan's Chinese name. But I've changed my mind. I think we should. We did for the girls.

I'm not sure what to use. In his referral, it says Junhua. But our agency put it as 2 names: Jun Hua. Do we name him Ethan William Junhua, or Ethan William Jun, or Ethan William Hua? Do we leave William in his name? Or just name him Ethan Junhua? Jun means "handsome". Hua means "outstanding". I'm not sure.

I also ordered updates on Ethan. I hope to get updated measurements on him, and praying for updated photos. I was also allowed to ask 10 questions. I hope to get the update within the next week or two. Once I do, I'll post it here.

I think the next 2 months will go by fast. It's already been 10 days since we received our RA. That has gone by fast.

Until next time......

Quilt Fabric

We have received more fabric this week. The first was from my friend Antje. It is from Germany (where Antje is from). We are so excited to have fabric from Germany. Thank you Antje and family.

The second is from my parents. Thank you mom & dad. We love the bright colors. I know it will be perfect in his quilt.

Introducing Ethan William!

What an amazing day! It all started off by an email from David in China. He emailed us to let us know that Billy is now with a Christian Foster Family! He is with about 19 other kids, many who are around his age. At first I was sad. But then I thought about this. He's with a CHRISTIAN foster family! This is what we've been praying for. That he be with a CHRISTIAN family. God heard our prayers.

Then today at 2:15 I come home from getting the girls from school. I check my email and see one from Fed Ex. It says that our agency has a package on it's way for us. Well I got so excited. There is only 1 reason why they are sending a package to us via Fed Ex. I asked Bill if they called. He said "No".

About 3 PM the phone rings. It's our agency. I screamed. Here is how the phone conversation went:

Me: Hello?
Leah: Hi Debra, this is Leah from America World.
Me: Hi Leah
Leah: I just wanted to let you know that we have your RA!
Me: I have been waiting for your call. I received an email from Fed Ex
Leah: Oh my! Ha Ha! You were not supposed to get that email yet. We were not done making calls yet.

It's official. China said YES! He's our son. We are so excited and thrilled! Leah said that she thinks we will be traveling around mid-late December.

I love how God confirmed to us that He's here. He's protecting Billy. Billy is why we started the adoption process again. When we had to give up Billy it was very hard. We prayed he would find a good, Christian family. The day before his birthday, we get a call about a little boy with a cleft lip & palate. Today, the day of the call saying Ethan is definitely our son, we find out that Billy is being taken care of by a CHRISTIAN family. I just can't stop saying this. God has heard. He's here.

Here is some info about Ethan. I hope to get updated info and photos in a few weeks.
All of this info is 6 months old now.

Name: Dang Jun Hua
DOB 10/18/2008
Currently living at the Zhangzhou SWI, Fujian Province

Praising God tonight & always! We have a son! Something I did not think I would ever be able to say. We are thrilled beyond words. Thank you for praying with us.
Until next time....

Waiting....

So, the rumor sites are saying a package (or 2) are on their way from China. Some people have been told by their agencies that their RA's are in this package. The good news is, their dates are AFTER ours. So there is hope that our RA is in the package too. The bad news, is that there could be a chance that it won't be in there. There is no rhyme or reason with how things are handed out. I mean, there is some, but just because someone with dates after us is getting their RA, does not guarantee that we are getting ours. I can only pray that if the package arrives tomorrow that we do in fact get the phone call.

Once we get the call, we can plaster Ethan's photos everywhere! I can not wait.

So tonight we're anxious. Bill is cleaning! Moving the kids rooms around. Organizing. This is what he does when he's anxious. I call it "nesting". :-)

Keep checking for Ethan's photos! I hope it will be soon.

Until next time.....

More Fabric

Thank you Clark Family for the cute fabric for Ethan's quilt. How funny that it goes perfectly with his puppy dog themed room. :-)

Homestudy is GOOD!

I heard from our agency today and our homestudy is good to go. No issues at all. No updates needed, for now. Praising God tonight!

Now pray that our RA/LOA arrives soon and that our TA will get here soon after that. We have a deadline of Jan 25th to be back or else we'll have to update local clearances for the homestudy (homestudy is not valid after Jan 25th).

Waiting for RA/LOA
Wait for TA (travel approval) after RA is approximately 7-10 weeks
Wait for travel after TA is approximately 2 weeks (if there is a group traveling).

All things are possible with God!

Thanks!

No word from agency-but some Hope

So today I was trying to find our referral email for Ethan. I want to print out his Chinese name so I can label things we hope to send to him soon. Well as I was looking through my emails I came across one from our Family Coordinator in July. It was long, but I read it all. At the bottom was this sentence.

For families adopting a known Special needs child, the approval must state that the family is approved for “special needs” as “medical needs” is not sufficient.

So to me, this is saying that our Homestudy should be fine. I have peace and hope that it will be fine.

No word about RA's. Hoping it comes very soon. I'm ready to meet my son.

Until next time.....

Bring Me Hope Ranch Video

I'm so happy to see this video! Please pray for them during the next few months. What they are doing is amazing! Bill is ready to get on a plane to help out. I wish it were that easy. If we get to travel for Ethan before they leave, we hope to see everyone and meet the kids.
Enjoy the video...

Pray please

I need prayer. I'm stressing out. Bill told me to calm down. That I do not need to be worrying about anything. Here is my concern:

I'm hearing that now the homestudy has to state the specific Special Need of the child that we are approved for. Our homestudy does not state the specific need. I have emailed our agency and have emailed the FL office. I have been talking with the FL office and she has not heard of the HS needing to state the specific need. She has had FL families go and come back with the "general wording" and everything has been okay.

Other friends who are using our agency have had to have their homestudy state the specific need. So I'm confused to why FL does not. Then I'm hearing that it could be a state requirement.

I'm trying not to worry about this. Worst case is we have to pay more money ( a lot of money) to change the HS to say his specific special need. Best case is we do not have to do anything and our HS is fine.

Also please pray that we do travel and come home before Jan 25. This is when some of our local clearances expire. We do not want to have to re-do this.

Thanks for your prayers. Day 72! OH, I did hear that RA emails will be sent out in the next 1-3 business days. Praying we are in this batch.

Until next time......

Day 70

We are officially at day 70 from our Log In Date. 10 weeks since our paperwork was logged into China. Wow! I can't believe it's been 10 weeks. It has gone by fast.

So, on the rumor sites, the average wait for the referral acceptance is 70-90 days. So, if the rumors stand, we could be getting a call within the next 3 weeks. This call is to tell us that China is agreeing that Ethan can be our son. As soon as we get this call, I can put his photos everywhere! I can't wait. I'm sitting here staring at his precious passport photo and I want to share it with everyone. He's got the biggest smile. It's so precious.

Once we get the RA call, then it's more paperwork to send off and then more waiting. The average wait from the RA call to our TA (travel approval) is 7-10 weeks! Eek! I hope and pray it's not 10 weeks. I hope and pray it's less than 7. After TA, we are on a plane hopefully within a week or two.

So, with all the estimates, I'm starting to feel that January might be a more realistic month to hope for travel. Of course Dec is not completely out. You never know.

So that is our update. Ethan turns 11 months old tomorrow. I do have an email in to our agency about our homestudy. I'm hearing that USCIS wants it to state the specific special need of the child in our homestudy. Ours does not. So we're waiting to see if the rumors I've heard are true or not. If they are, then we have to correct the homestudy. No biggie, just more money unfortunately.

Keep checking the blog. I hope to have a big RA announcement soon.

Until next time......

Camp Video from this year

This is a video from the 1st week of camp this summer in Xi'an. Billy is in this video. I love seeing his smile.
As you watch this video, please remember to pray for all of the orphans in the world.
Thanks!
Debbie

*Please give it a minute to download.*

An Unexpected Call from China

Right now I'm on a high. I just wanted to share with you. I was helping the girls with their homework and Bill came out to me and said "I guess I missed a call from David. Listen carefully". Well we know 3 Davids. I had no idea which one he was talking about. Then I hear "Hello. It's Billy. I love You!".

The call came from David Bolt with Bring Me Hope. They are still in China, but now they are running a "ranch" for older orphans. And Billy is there! This completely shocked us. (For those you don't know or remember, Billy was the boy we were trying to adopt. He is 13 years old).

One of the purposes of the Ranch is to love on the older kids and to teach them English. I had just assumed they would have kids from around the area where they are at. It never occurred to me that Billy could even go.

Of course we have emailed David & Nicole who are there. We have a lot of questions: How long is Billy there, can we send him anything, does he know that we were trying to adopt him and now we can't etc. I hope we do not miss the next call. I do not know how good the internet is there where they are. Maybe we can even Skype with them.

God is Good! He is looking after Billy! He went to camp when we did not know if he would be able to go, and now he is at the Ranch. He is not in the orphanage. He is with David, who he bonded with last summer. God is so Good!

Please continue to pray for Billy! I truly believe he has been protected because of us asking for prayer over him.

We heard this summer that SIAS University (where the Bring Me Hope camp has been held the last 2 years) has offered to pay the tuition for any orphan who wishes to go to school there. This again was an answer to prayer. Billy "ages out" in July. When a child turns 14 in China, they have to leave the orphanage. Now, if Billy does not find a forever family, he could possibly have the opportunity to go to the university for FREE! Again, God Is Good!

Thank you for letting me share with you. Bill & I are just very excited right now. This was something very unexpected.

Thank you for your prayers!

Quilt

Thank you to my Mother-in-Law for the very cute puppy fabric for Ethan's quilt. It is perfect and goes very well with is bedroom. We are excited to add this to his quilt.

We would still like more fabric & good wishes. His book does not have many wishes at all. If you do not want to send fabric, we would still love a good wish for Ethan. It will be great for him to see how much people are thinking about him before he is even home.

Thanks in advance. Until next time....

Can't help myself....

I so badly want to post Ethan's photos on this blog. I've been sitting here playing around with the background and I just want to add his photos! I can't do it until we get RA (Referral Acceptance). We're so far in the wait, but yet it feels like we have so much longer to wait. UGH! :-)

I did print out his passport photo (that we received with his referral). It's the only photo where he is smiling. VERY precious! I can't wait to put it on here!

Trying to be patient! But it's hard!

More Fabric

I received another piece of fabric this week from my BFF from my childhood years. Thanks Mindy for sending Ethan fabric and for his good wish! :-)

We still need a lot more fabric. We want his quilt to be very colorful and his good wish book to be filled with prayers & good wishes. Please send us some fabric & a good wish. We would like to start working on his quilt soon. If you need our address, please email me. tiffsmom95@me.com

Today, 2 friends boarded the flights to China to meet their little ones. I'm praying for safe travels, protection while in China, A wonderful bonding experience for the babies & families. One day soon it will be us on the plane. I can't wait!

Until next time.....

Retail Therapy

So, what should a girl do when she's anxious and missing her new baby boy? (Besides pray, stalk the yahoo groups and rumor sites) SHOP!

Today Bill & I ran out to Target to get Abby her birthday gifts. We of course walked through the baby section. We are trying to decide on how to decorate Ethan's room. We talked about Owls. But then can not find any bedding that we like. Then we found PUPPIES! So cute! And in the colors that we like (blues, greens & browns). So we bought 4 receiving blankets, a nice, soft blanket, a blue fitted sheet and, the cutest bank ever (I think for a boy) A DOG! I'm so excited.

So this is his room theme. Puppies & blues, greens & browns. We chose paint colors but are waiting to buy the paint until we're ready to paint the walls.

I'm just happy to have finally found something we both like! :-)

Email from our Agency

The other day I emailed our Family Coordinator asking her if she knew if our dossier was translated & reviewed yet. This is the reply I received.

Debbie:

Good evening! I wish we knew that information to share with you. We don't get any news on dossier processing for any dossiers (reviewed or un-reviewed). We can see on the website that they are "in process." The wait from referral to RA (Referral Acceptance) is the longest and hardest for most families, especially those with un-reviewed dossiers. You have your child's photo and have to wait many months for the approvals, I can imagine it would create anxiety.

I wish the process would go faster, but it isn't. Recently our un-reviewed dossier families have been waiting 5-5.5. months on average, with the range being anywhere from 4-6 months. Also, unfortunately the Hague process is taking quite a long time for TA's. right now from RA to TA Hague families are waiting 7-10 weeks for their TA. We send 1-2 groups to China per month so as soon as the TA arrives we get families to China as quickly as possible.

I wish there was more I could do to speed the approval process along, but if you need anything else from me in the meantime, please let me know.



I honestly don't know why I expected anything else. It's frustrating to me that we can't find out the status of our paperwork. We have no idea where we are in this wait. I'm praying we do not have to wait 5.5 months for our RA. I think our agency is just being very conservative and so I'm praying that it's sooner. I've seen it happen with other families. We're just ready to go bring Ethan home! The unknown is so hard.

Until next time.....

A Preview

Today was my first day volunteering in the 1 yr old room at our church during the service. We have volunteered before, but always in the girls rooms. Well they have moved up to the Kindergarten class so I told the coordinator I would like to work in the 1 year old room, since this is the room Ethan will be in when he comes home. Today was "promotion" Sunday, so my first week to serve.

I am scheduled to work at 8 AM. We only had 1 child so they merged the class with another class and I went to the service. At 9:30, who was schedule to work was sick so I helped at 9:30. We had 8 one year olds. 4 boys and 4 girls. I have to tell you, I just watched the boys. And I loved it! They did not scare me off. LOL Just seeing how they are, and watching how they play, got me so excited for what is to come. It is also preparing me. These boys are so cute. They LOVED eating! It was funny, at one point all the boys were at the table eating Cheeriros and the girls were playing. I think we'll need a bigger pantry when Ethan comes home, if he's anything like these growing boys. :-) I'm excited and can't wait.

This weekend we also started getting his room together. We decided to move the girls back to their old room, so Ethan's room will be next to our room. The walls are so thin, I won't need a baby monitor. So yesterday and this afternoon was spent moving furniture and going through toys & clothes. We still have a lot to do. But we did make progress. The crib is set up, waiting for our little guy to come home.

Now we're deciding on how to decorate Ethan's room. I'm thinking about Owl's. But not sure. We don't plan on buying a crib bedding set, just sheets & blankets. I would like to paint the room, maybe blue & green. Not sure though. We're still thinking. Right now the room is PINK! I don't think that will work. :-)

Praying for several friends who are waiting for their TA (Travel Approval). They have been waiting way too long. They need the TA now in order to leave in a few weeks. If they do not get it soon, then they can't travel until November, since there is a holiday the 1st week in Oct (in China) and then there is the trade fair in China. It's very busy and agencies usually don't send travel groups during this time. So we're praying TA's come this week! (Of course it would be nice if our RA happened to be in the TA package too LOL).

Until next time.....

More purchases

I'm trying not to go overboard here with shopping. But some things are hard to resist. The other day we were at Target getting school shoes and I passed the baby section. I found this owl PJ's. I just loved it. I almost did not buy it, but could not help myself. I like owls right now. They seem to be everywhere.

Then I received an email from Babies R Us telling me that the All American Bib I registered for is being discontinued. So I wanted to run out and get it before they were gone. While we were there, I found this bathing suit. It was on clearance. Since we have a pool I figured Ethan should have a bathing suit. :-)

Trying to be patient during this wait. I hope within 2 more months we'll hear something.

Until next time......

Quilt

More fabric came today! I'm so excited. And the envelope was addressed to Ethan. His first piece of mail. :-) Thank you Jocelyn & family for your fabric & wish. We appreciate it.

We still need more fabric & wishes. I want to fill up a book for him with good thoughts. Please send in your fabric & wish soon. Thank You!
Debbie

Ethan is 10 months old today

Praying and thinking about Ethan today as he turns 10 months old.

Happy 10 month birthday sweet boy. We can not wait to meet you.

Love, mommy

More fabric from friends

Fabric has been coming in slowly, but it's coming. :-) I'm so thankful and excited to see Ethan's quilt come together. This weekend we received fabric from 2 close friends. The McIntosh's and Whitten's. THANK YOU. The fabric you chose means the world to me. And your thoughtfulness means so much! I can't wait until the quilt is put together completely and until Ethan is wrapped up in it.

I know more fabric is coming. I can't wait!

No news from China. Still praying things will go faster than expected. God is in control!



Until next time....

Tickers

I have removed the tickers. I don't like how the tickers read. For example, it said it has been 1 month and 1 week since referral. Well we got our referral on a Tuesday. Not a Friday. I like to do the count by weeks, not by date. I wish it would say "5 weeks, 3 days since referral".

So I took it all off. I'll keep track on my own calender.

As of today, 4 weeks since PA. I received an email yesterday from our new FC saying the wait for RA could take 6 months. Of course I did not like reading this. BUT, I need to remember, our agency is very conservative when it comes to giving out a time frame. I do believe we'll have our RA in maybe 2 more months. I'm starting to think we'll travel in Jan or Feb now. We'll see. God has a plan. He already knows when we'll be traveling. It's already worked out! We just have to wait.

Thanks for waiting with us. Thanks for praying for Ethan. I'm curious and also scared to see how big he's grown. Scared because it's the reality that he's growing up without us. Right now I have photos of a 5 month old baby. He's almost 10 months old now. I wonder if he's sitting up, crawling, trying to walk. Once we get RA, I'm going to find out.

UPDATE: Since I typed this journal, I decided to just keep my own dates above. I'll keep updating them.....

Until next time.......

Trying to Educate Myself

I'm so new to the life of a cleft child. I have no idea what things mean. Someone will ask me something about "is it this or that?" and I answer "I don't know".

Today Bill & I drove to Tampa and met with the Cleft Team Nurse that we plan on using for Ethan's medical needs. She was super sweet! The clinic is about 40 minutes from our house. Not too far. She showed us before & after photos of children with cleft lips. The surgeries were amazing. She feels Ethan has a complete unilateral left cleft lip & palate. But of course, we won't know for sure about his palate until we get him home.

She went over how the team works. She told us what to expect for the surgeries. She calmed a lot of our fears and answered a lot of our questions.

We plan on meeting the whole team in November, when they meet again. If by a miracle we are in China, then we will meet the team in Jan.

I feel so much better having met with Heather today. I have met a few others who will be there to assist us. I have a peace over me now, knowing I have people to turn to in the medical field. And I know that I can contact them if we have questions or concerns while we are in China.

I still have a lot to learn. I hope to be prepared when we do meet Ethan. Bill is also preparing himself too. So we'll make a good team.

No news from China. We're still very early in our wait. I hope and pray we hear something by the end of September. But it could be longer. Just keep praying.

Until next time......

YAY! More fabric & wishes

Last night Tiff came home from church with more fabric & wishes for Ethan. I was in tears with the generosity. Wow!

Fabric from Tiffs friend Ashley


Fabric from Ms. Barb (Ashley's Mom)


Fabric from the Strever Family: Stephanie, Gabby & Kaylee


Thank you so much for giving to Ethan's quilt. We feel so blessed. We can not wait until we can start putting all of the fabric together.

Until next time.....

More Fabric!

I'm so excited to get more fabric for Ethan's quilt. That's 6 squares. We have a long ways to go. 94 more squares to go. Thanks to Kris, John & kids. We truly appreciate the fabric & good wish.

Well, it finally hit me this morning. I'm ready for our son to be home. I'm ready to start taking care of him. I'm ready to get to know him. I think this time around, our 3rd adoption, I am not "as" anxious to get him home, as I was for Abby & Jadyn. I think I was anxious for Abby because she was our 1st baby waiting in China. Jadyn I was anxious because she was older and we had updated photos of her, and we were seeing her grow up without us. But with Ethan, yes I want him home, but the girls are keeping me so busy, I have not had much down time to really think about it. But this morning, it hit me. I need him home!

It's hard not knowing how long it will take to get our dossier translated. With how everything is going, I'm praying its fast. But we just won't know. I have had a lot of paperwork to do in this wait. Paperwork we'll need to bring him home. Once we get RA then we send all of this off. This could add a few weeks to our wait to travel. Again, praying it won't add too much time.

Today as I was going through some people's blogs, I came across this site Ladybugs N Love I think I would like to look into using them after we get our RA. I would like to get updated measurements of Ethan and hopefully even some updated photos. We are not supposed to contact the SWI until after RA, and since that was a question on the one form we had to fill out, then I think we'll wait until after RA. We did sent packages to the girls, and it was expensive to mail. I'm thinking if we use this service, then it will be close to what we would spend if we did it ourselves. AND, we can't get updated info our photos on our own.

Counting the days. Well, trying not to. Time is going by fast, even though some days it does not seem like it. It's been over 3 weeks since referral. Almost 2 weeks since PA.

Praying for some good news in the near future. Thanks for praying with us. And please send us some fabric & a good wish. :-)

Until next time......

Please Watch

Registered

So, I've been busy preparing the forms needed once we get the RA. It's a lot of work, for me. Well, my friend Kris suggested we get out of the house and have some fun. So today, she & I went to Babies R Us and Target and I registered for baby BOY things. It was so much fun looking at all the BLUE! Of course I kept going to pink and then said "No, BLUE" We had fun. Here is a photo of me. Yes, I brought my camera to document the fun. LOL

After we were done at Babies R Us, we went to lunch at the Olive Garden. It has been years since I've been there. We had soup & salad. It was good. Then off to Target. Sorry, no photo of Target. I was too tired. :-)

Tiff & her friend Ashley babysat the kids for us so we could go out. I just had to take this photo of our girls. We call them our triplets. We went shopping last week and they had to each buy this shirt. They are so cute together.


Today was a good day. A fun day! It was fun looking at things for Ethan. We don't need much. Thankfully we still have the "big" items.

Until next time.....

I should not.....

I know, I've been told not to count down from any of the dates that we received. It could cause me to be anxious. But I could not help myself. So I added the tickers to the top of the blog so I, and anyone who is interested can see how long we've been waiting for the next step (which right now is RA).

Hopefully this won't make me too anxious. If it does, I'll take it down.

Until next time.....

Pre-Approval

I'm jumping out of my skin with excitement. We received word today from our agency that China has sent our Pre-Approval (PA). We were told this could take 2-4 weeks. It took 10 DAYS! As you can imagine, we're very excited. Things are going fast and we love it. Now we wait for RA (referral acceptance). We are told this could take 3-5 months, with the average being 4 months. If we go by the "average" we could very well be in China in December. But, how things have been going lately, we could get the RA sooner, which means traveling sooner. We can not be with Ethan until his 1st birthday, because of our homestudy saying we're approved for a 1 year old or older.

Please pray for Ethan as he waits for us in China. Pray for his health, safety, well being. Pray for us as we plan to bring him home. We have a lot to do.

THANK YOU!
Debbie

Quilt Squares are coming in!

THANK YOU to the Olding & Weiland Families for giving us fabric for Ethan's Quilt. We truly appreciate it. I'm so excited to have this made for him. He will see how many people love him and are praying for him.

Just to clarify, we would like 1 or 2 10x10 inch squares of fabric. A fabric that you like, or that represents where you live etc. OR, if you don't want to cut fabric, you can go to a fabric store, like JoAnn's and buy a "fat quarter". This is a quarter of material that is already cut. They have tons to choose from. We will then cut the fabric to make the quilt.

The "good wish" can be typed or written on an index size card (or something similar). It does not have to be a long wish. Maybe a prayer, encouraging words, or your favorite bible verse. Then if you could sign your names (family names) and the city & state where you live, then Ethan will know who the wishes are from and where they came from. We would also like a piece of your fabric on the wish so we can remember which one you gave to him. If you would like, we can add it to your wish later.

I appreciate all the emails. We're looking forward to making this for him. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Love, Debbie

1st Baby Gift for Ethan

What a surprise we had this morning! We received our first baby gift for Ethan. I happily opened it up and was thrilled to see what was inside. A very cool/cute outfit, some toys & a photo album. THANK YOU Weiland Family. This means so much to us.

1st purchase

What a week! One full of surprises. We are still thrilled with the news of little Ethan. We found out yesterday that we have our Log-in-Date. It's July 9, 2009. We were told when we were DTC that it could be a month or two before we find out what this date is. Well, CCAA sent it to our agency right away. Bill keeps saying "Things are happening faster than it's supposed to". :-) We also looked at our homestudy and we're approved for a child 1-14 years. I contacted our agency and they said since we will be in China after he turns 1, then we're okay. I'm so thankful for this. I did not want to have to change our homestudy and pay the extra money to get that done.

The other day we went to the baby store. I'm finding it hard to buy anything. We don't need much. And many friends have offered to give us clothes. We did hit the clearance rack and found this outfit. Of course I had to get it. And it was only $5. I can not resist a good buy. :-)


Yesterday & today we started tackling the bedroom that will become Ethan's. We are putting both girls and all their toys into one room, so Ethan can have his own room. Well our girls have so much STUFF! Stuff they don't play with. Bill was getting overwhelmed with all of the stuff. We made some progress. We'll make it work. I'm ready to start planning colors, themes & getting the room set up.

This week has also been amazing to me. I have found out that 4 of my adoption friends either accepted a referral, started the paperchase for a child, has a child they are waiting to bring home or received their immigration approval. So much excitement this week. I'm also meeting new friends because of Ethan. I love it. New families are being formed. It's awesome!

Until next time.....

100 Wishes Quilt

To welcome and celebrate a new life, there is a tradition in China to make a Bai Jia Bei, or 100 Good Wishes Quilt. It is a custom to invite friends and family to contribute a patch of cloth with a wish for the baby. Part of the patch of cloth goes into the quilt for the baby, and the other part of the cloth can go into a creative memory notebook with the wish for the child. The quilt contains the luck, energy, and good wishes from all the families and friends who contributed a piece of fabric. The quilt is then passed down from generation to generation.

We would like to collect 100 squares of fabric to make a quilt for Ethan. All we ask is that you send us 1 or 2 10x10 inch squares of fabric or a fabric quarter (fat quarter). The fabric can be of your choice. We would like it to be something that could represent your family, or where you live. Or it can just be something that you like. Along with the squares, we ask that you write a little note to Ethan. A "good wish". It can be a note of encouragement, support or a bible verse. Then attach a piece of the fabric to the note, so that when he reads the notes, he'll know what piece of fabric you gave to him. Then sign the note with your name & family name, and what city & state you live in. The wish can be on an index size card/paper. I will put all of the good wishes into a scrapbook for him to keep.

If you need our address, please email me at tiffsmom95@mac.com and I will email it to you. We would like to have the fabric & good wishes as soon as possible. Hopefully by October. I will post updates on the quilt here on the blog.

Here are a few photos of the girls quilts. They absolutely love their quilts. We know Ethan will love his too.

Thank you!
Debbie

Referral Acceptance FAQ

I have had several people ask me "When are you traveling" and "Why does it take so long to go?" Well I received an email from our agency today with the answers. I hope this will help you. It has helped me.

What is the RA (Referral Acceptance)?
The RA confirms that the CCAA (Chinese Center Adoption Affairs) has approved a family’s request to adopt a specific waiting child. It is also known as the Letter of Acceptance (LOA).

What is the average RA wait time?
These estimates are based on trends we have observed for RA’s arriving in 2009 and are not guaranteed timeframes.

Dossiers that have not been reviewed by the CCAA current can anticipate an RA wait time of 2-6 months from the day the EA was submitted.
o The average wait is currently 4 ½ months
o 60% of families are waiting 3-6 months to receive their RA

· Dossiers that were submitted directly to the Special Needs Department can anticipate an RA wait time of 2-6 months after the EA has been submitted.
o The average wait is currently 4 months
o 71% of families are waiting 3-6 months to receive their RA

Why does it take so long to receive the RA?
The CCAA is diligently working to process EA’s from families all over the world. For families who submitted an EA before their dossier was been submitted or submitted an EA soon after their dossier was submitted, it is important to note that a dossier must first be translated before the dossier can be reviewed by the CCAA.

A family receives their PA once the CCAA has translated and reviewed the EA. A family’s dossier is then sent to the CCAA’s Special Needs Department where a family waits for their RA to be issued.

Is there something wrong with my application if I wait longer than the average timeframe?
No. If the CCAA has a question on the information in a family’s dossier or EA they will contact America World directly. In cases where the CCAA asks for additional information or clarification on a family, it is possible that the RA processing could be delayed. Families will be contacted if the CCAA asks for additional information or clarification on a family.

Will the CCAA expedite my approval if my child needs surgery?
Most children adopted through the WC program will require surgery, therapy, or rehabilitation of some kind. The CCAA desires for children with special needs to come home as quickly as possible in order to receive this care. With this in mind the CCAA still needs to have a system in place for issuing approvals.

Why is it possible for a family who accepted a referral after my family to receive their RA first?
As referenced earlier, the RA wait times vary depending on what stage the family’s dossier is in at the time the EA is submitted. Therefore families who submit their EA in the same month will not all receive their RA at the same time.

Also, the content of every EA and dossier is very different from one family to the next. This can change the amount of time it takes the CCAA to process a family’s EA and therefore the RA. While there are similar patterns in how long families can wait for approvals, we encourage families to refrain from setting expectations based on another family’s process.

How does America World receive the RA?
The RA is mailed from the CCAA to America World. The package can arrive any business day and any time of the day.

So, with that said.....Our dossier has not been reviewed. BUT it did go directly to the Special Needs Department. So we can hope that we'll get our Referral Acceptance letter in about 4 months. That would be around November. Then we get our Travel Approval about 2 weeks later. Then we travel about 2 weeks after that. So....we could travel anywhere between Nov-January. Of course we're praying CCAA will work fast for us and that we'll see a quick RA.

For now, we prepare to bring little Ethan home.

Until next time.....

Some info on where Ethan is

I'm trying to do some research on where Ethan is currently. I have found a few good sites. I'm not sure what hotel our agency uses. But it looks like we'll be staying in Fuzhou. I believe this is the capital. Here is some info on the area where Ethan is living now (Zhangzhou).

The City of Zhangzhou is located on the lower parts of the Nine-Dragon River (Jiulong River), the second longest river in the Fujian province. Zhangzhou has over 4 million people. Zhangzhou is known for its production of fruit, flowers, and potted plants.

The weather in Fuzhou (the capital) is very similar to North Florida or South Georgia. So we should be used to this when we travel.

His orphanage is in the southeastern part of Fujian Province near Xiamen. It might be new to international adoptions.

When I find more, I'll post it here.

Until next time....

More info on Ethan

I'm not sure how much info I can share about him on the blog. So if I'm told to take this off, then I will.

Ethan was found on October 20, 2008. They estimated him at being 2 days old. He weighed 5 lbs 7 oz and was 19 inches long. The referral information that we have was done in March 2009. At 5 months old, he was 11 lbs and 20 in long.

He has an unrepaired cleft lip and unrepaired cleft palate (stage III). We are not sure if his cleft lip will be repaired before we arrive in China. If not, then that is okay. We plan to take him to All Childrens to look after the cleft issues.

He is currently in the Zhangzhou City Social Welfare Institute in the Fujian Province. I'm currently doing some looking on the area. We have not been to this province before so we're looking forward to going to another part of China. Here is a map of where his province is. (shaded in green).


I'm looking forward to finding out where we will be staying, and what there is to do in this province. This is going to be an exciting adventure. :-)

Until next time......

REFERRAL!

We are thrilled beyond words to announce that we have a referral! At 10:12 AM this morning, our adoption agency called to tell us that they have locked the file of a little BOY waiting in China.



We can not upload any photos of him to the web. I can tell you he is very cute. Here is some info about him.

His birthday is Oct 18, 2008. YES, 2008. He's 8 months old! He is currently in the Fujian Province of China. He has an unrepaired cleft lip & cleft palate. We are not sure if they will do surgery on his lip before we arrive in China.

We sent our Electronic Acceptance (EA) to China today. Our next step is to wait for the Pre-Approval (PA) from China. Then we wait for the Referral Acceptance (RA) from China. Once we receive the RA, we can post his photo everywhere. After RA, comes Travel Approval (TA). Then we travel. We are hoping to be able to travel by the end of this year.

Thank you for your prayers & support during our journey. We would like to ask that you continue to pray for us as we wait to bring our son home.

I bet you are wondering what his name is. Well, after a lot of thinking we have chosen to name him Ethan William. Ethan means "Firm, Strong". William means "Strong-Willed Warrior". And of course William is after Bill.

Now we need to get ready for a BOY! We're so excited and thrilled. Praising and Thanking God today.

Until next time......

Dream & Life Verse

I had a dream last night that our son was home. We were at the doctor and I told her to check his mouth. His palate was 90% there but he had a tooth sticking out in the middle of his palate (weird dream, I know). I was holding a boy with only a diaper. I could feel his bare skin. Loved it! Then we went to a church function and I had no boy things, only girl things. Then I said "We don't have a name for him! I don't know what to call him!" Then I woke up.

I realized last night as I was going to sleep, that Bill got a t-shirt last year and wore it to camp. It became the camp verse (I think). I ended up buying the same shirt a few months ago. It says in big print "Isaiah 40:31". Then on an eagle it has the verse "But those who HOPE in the LORD will renew their STRENGTH. They will SOAR on wings like Eagles".

I asked Bill today if he realized this when he suggested the name Isaiah yesterday. He said he did. Then I said "I think it would be cool if we use this name. OR, at least have this be his life verse. Because this is the verse that was used at camp because of your shirt, and camp is what started the whole process of us adopting".

Can you tell I'm getting a little anxious? It's the beginning of the month again. This is when I've seen the WC list updated in past months. Could our call be coming within the next 2 weeks? Praying.......
I'll keep you updated.......

Have a Wonderful 4th of July weekend. Be safe & Have fun.
Until next time.....

Still talking Names

So, I've been thinking and thinking of boy names. This is just really hard for me. I think of a name, and then can think of several people we know with that name. I've thrown out ideas to Bill. And he just shrugs.

Well today we were driving and I told him that I was doing some research on name meanings. A few sites I went to told me the name Caleb means "Rage Like a Dog". Well of course that freaked me out. No way could it mean that. I wondered if people who named their son Caleb knew this. Then I just did another search, and found Caleb means "Faithful". So which is it? Rage Like a Dog or Faithful? :-)

As we were driving, Bill said "I like Isaiah". I said "What? I suggested Isaiah and you said NO". He said "Well, I kind of like it. What about Isaiah William?" Well of course that shocked me. Because Bill has never wanted his son to have his name.

The meaning of Isaiah that I found is "God is Salvation". William means "Resolute Protector" or "Strong Willed Warrior".

The other names I looked up (but not sure if these are the real meanings) are:

Isaac- Hebrew- He Will Laugh

Jonah-Hebrew- A Dove

Aiden- Irish- Little Fire

Liam-Irish-Strong-Willed Warrior

Owen-Welsh-Desire Born

Ethan-Hebrew-Strong, Firm, Impetuous

Once we know who the little guy is, it will be easier to name him. I really appreciate the suggestions in the previous post. I did reply to you in the comment section (not sure if you saw that).

Until next time.....

Delivered

Our Dossier is in China!

All shipment travel activity is displayed in local time for the location

Jun 29, 2009 8:46 AM
Delivered
BEIJING CN

Jun 29, 2009 8:00 AM
On FedEx vehicle for delivery
BEIJING CN

Jun 29, 2009 7:56 AM
At local FedEx facility
BEIJING CN

Jun 28, 2009 6:07 PM
In transit
BEIJING CN

Package available for clearance
Jun 28, 2009 6:07 PM
Int'l shipment release
BEIJING CN

Jun 27, 2009 9:18 AM
Departed FedEx location
ANCHORAGE, AK

Jun 27, 2009 8:13 AM
Arrived at FedEx location
ANCHORAGE, AK

Jun 27, 2009 5:07 AM
Departed FedEx location
MEMPHIS, TN

Jun 27, 2009 1:39 AM
Departed FedEx location
MEMPHIS, TN

Jun 27, 2009 12:29 AM
Arrived at FedEx location
MEMPHIS, TN

DTC!

I can officially announce that we are DTC! (DOSSIER TO CHINA). Our paperwork is complete. I talked with our agency yesterday. Everything looks good. They are sending our dossier to Fed Ex today. She also told me, that she thinks it won't be long until we receive a referral. She hopes within the next few months we'll know who our son is. Of course, I'll announce it here, when we do get the call.

We received the official tracking email from our agency. Here is the info. I love it!

Shipment Dates
Ship date
Jun 26, 2009

Estimated delivery
Jun 29, 2009 by 6:00 PM

Destination
BEIJING CN

Weight
3.0 lbs/1.4 kg

Reference
CH_Dossiers

Jun 26, 2009 4:35 PM
Picked up
HERNDON, VA


Until next time.....

Dossier Compete!

I can finally say it. Our Dossier is Complete! We received the final pages today from Houston. I was busy this afternoon organizing them all, and double checking everything. It's ready to send to our agency. I'm so happy and relieved to be done. A lot of work goes into this. It feels good to be done.

Now we sit and wait for a referral call. We don't know when we'll get the call. It could be next month, or in 6 months. We just don't now. God knows. And his timing is perfect.

Until next time......

New Photo

Today I woke up to 8 new photos of Billy. This is one of them. I love seeing him happy. I know that whenever he is with Sarah, that he is happy. This photo was taken on May 16th during the Bring Me Hope Night walk.

This is the first time I've seen or read an update about him and I did not cry all day. It's been hard for me to get to this point. I'm just happy knowing that he is doing well. I'm still praying every day that he does find a good loving, caring, Christian family.

A friend of mine is going to camp. And I've connected her with Sarah. They have been emailing. They might be at camp the same week, AND Billy might be able to be there too. I'm so excited. I can not wait to see what God has planned.

I'm not going to password any more post about him anymore, since we are not able to adopt him. I consider him a friend now, so no need to password protect.

Please keep him in your prayers. We really appreciate it.

Until next time.....