TA and More

Wow--just--WOW!!! We received Travel Approval (TA) today. Even our agency seemed shocked that it happened so quickly. It feels like the best Christmas present ever, but at the same time I feel a twinge of anxiety. As several of my friends have told me, I'm paper pregnant and that's why I feel the way I do. Soon, sweet girl. Very soon.

I just cannot keep these to myself--China sent our agency some new pictures of Chelsea and I am so eager to share them. She is a beautiful girl, and--I'm thinking--maybe even a bit of an adventurer? :-) I'm not sure, but it looks to me that in one of the pics neither of her feet are touching the ground! Not sure about this, but it wouldn't surprise me at all. Her file says she is "restless". Sweet girl, we love you and cannot WAIT for you to become a member of our family.

 

God Our Great Provider

Hello dear friends,

Darrell and I found out that we were chosen for a Lifesong matching grant through Springing Hope 1:27 and Trinity Lutheran Church!!! Our grant amount was $3,000 and we are so incredibly grateful for this.

I’m going to be very transparent here. I think that many of you know that I have a difficult time asking people for help and especially financial contributions (Darrell, on the other hand, does not struggle with this!!! LOL) In all seriousness, with the help of Springing Hope 1:27, Spring Baptist Church, Ashley Lee and the puzzle fundraiser, numerous family and dear friends and some China and agency grants and a couple of extra jobs Darrell and I have accepted, we have currently raised $15,325 toward the initial $30,000 cost of the adoption.

This matching grant has the potential to raise $6,000 more, reducing the total cost of the adoption to $8,675. This is an absolute miracle from God. I sat at a table last year with several ladies who have hearts for orphans and they heard me say, “We could never go back to China. We can’t afford it.” WOW—a miracle from God, every penny of it. Darrell and I believe this with all our hearts.

That said, and since you are all our dear friends in adoption, we would like to lean on you for your prayers and assistance if you feel so led. Some friends and I were talking at school recently about the expectations and realities of special needs adoptions. Darrell and I would like you to pray for our family—that emotionally God will prepare ALL of us—including Luke, Katie and Chelsea Qingnan—for what lies ahead. He knows our needs and we know He will prepare us for this calling if we allow Him to lead us. Please pray for us.

I know many of you have given so much already. Not just your time, but your money and prayers and help that we don’t even know about. Thank you. Our gratitude for what you have done for us already is beyond words.

If you feel so led, please view the matching grant information below, share it with your friends and family and anyone you think would want to help us, and let them know that we covet their prayers and would be grateful for their financial assistance:

--All financial contributions are tax-deductible and can be made to Lifesong for Orphans on our behalf

--100% of the funds received by Lifesong for Orphans will go directly to cover our adoption costs. Nothing is taken out for administrative costs.

--Please make checks payable to: Lifesong. In the memo section of the check please write: preference Stein #3235 adoption. Note: In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to the named non-profit organization. This organization retains full discretion over its use, but intends to honor the donor's suggested use.

--Mail checks to:
Lifesong for Orphans
Attn: Stein/#3235
PO Box 40 / 202 N. Ford St.
Gridley, IL 61744

3. Donations may also be made online via PayPal by going to this link here. Please make sure to enter this note in the payment description: preference Stein #3235 adoption. Please also note that PayPal will charge a 1.9-2.9% service fee if donors choose to pay with PayPal. The amount received by Lifesong will be reduced by that amount.

Thank you again for all that you have done for our family. We hope that someday we can repay each and every one of you for the love you have shown us.

Article 5!

A quick update and then it's bedtime for me. We received our Article 5 from the Adopted Children's Immigrant Visa Unit (ACIVU), U.S. Consulate General Guangzhou, on Wednesday. One step closer precious girl!

Another Step Closer

Darrell called the NVC (National Visa Center) on Friday to check the status of our file. We were told by Immigration that it could take the NVC until the end of November to complete our paperwork due to the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. Well, our paperwork is already complete and in the mail!!!

Darrell asked NVC if they could email the approval, they said no, our agency said they could, Darrell called back, they said no again, Darrell called a third time and THIS TIME they said yes!!! However, even being open until midnight they didn't think they could get to it that day. It's now Sunday so you can be sure we will be checking email and snail mail on Monday for that approval! As soon as we get it we will email it to our agency and they will immediately send it to China. We'll keep you posted.

We Have I800 Approval!

We are so thankful that our I800 was approved Wednesday (in other words, Immigration gave final approval of our paperwork). Yesterday we were told that we will receive a confirmation letter in 7-10 days, and in the meantime our paperwork has been forwarded to the NVC (National Visa Center). They should send approval to Guangzhou in about three weeks. :-)

LOA!!!

We have LOA (Letter of Acceptance)! We got it yesterday, which essentially means China officially approves the adoption of our daughter. We love you Chelsea Q.

Estimated travel time is mid-January.

Adoption Update

I am bleary eyed and MUST go to sleep, but I have to share our wonderful news first! We found out today that China has already translated and logged in (aka Log In Date or LID) our paperwork that was received on September 10th. Wahoo!!!!! This happened super fast and we are thankful to God for that.

We have been told that we could travel in about four months or less, so by mid-January or sooner. We are praying for sooner of course. :-) Sweet dreams y'all.

One BIG Step Closer to "Marlaina"

I almost cried in the grocery store today. Our agency called when I was on the cereal isle and said our dossier will be mailed to China this afternoon. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!!! Now the wait begins...

News Worth Sharing!

It is sooo late for me but I just have to share our good news! On Thursday, August 30th, I picked up our remaining approved documents from the Chinese Consulate's office. Praise the Lord!!!

Thursday night we carted the kids off yet again to the FedEx store, but this time instead of making copies we mailed our dossier off to our agency. Which is why Darrell and I were able to relax with a showing of Roman Holiday on our DVD player here at home tonight while the kiddos played games and watched their own show. (Luke is a fan of Audrey Hepburn but apparently tonight he and Kate were in the mood for some Scooby Doo).

We will breathe a big sigh of relief when we get the thumbs up from the agency and our papers are mailed to China. That will be one of many very important milestones which will bring us one step closer in our journey to our daughter. Please continue to pray for God's hand in our journey. Xie xie!

Another Snag (we'll view it as a small twig)

Throughout this adoption, just as the one before, Darrell and I are intentional about remaining positive. Don't get me wrong--we have our moments of anxiety--but it is what it is and we deal with it, with much talking to God in the process. :-) Well, this week we had several of those anxious moments.

MONDAY I went to the doctor to complete a medical form that needed to be done. We found out that morning that Darrell's form, which was done early, expired (the notarization had surpassed the 6 month mark). Of course I'm on the way out the door and he's at work. This could be a very long story but I'll just say that I took his form with me and after TWO attempts the doctor signed off on it. When I left the office I felt like a foreigner in another country who had infiltrated their government and stolen secret documents without being caught. Anxiety experience #1.

TUESDAY my dad and I drove to Austin, the State capitol, to have our dossier certified. The original approval from Immigration was not signed (nor should it have been), so we had to walk a couple of blocks to the UPS store, get a copy made and have it notarized. When we returned to the State Department they threw away the "Denied" letter and approved all our documents. Whew!!! Anxiety moment #2.

WEDNESDAY Darrell went to the Chinese Consulate's office to get everything authenticated and--you guessed it--they denied our dossier. WHAT ON EARTH HAPPENED??? Well, apparently the State Department removed a staple on one of their certification letters and China would not accept it because it had two extra holes in it. Also, Darrell bound our home study with a staple because the Consulate's web site said they would not accept documents that weren't bound. China did not like that Darrell did this (he was honest and told them that he did it. If the State Department had done it, it would have been ok). Apparently we are the first family that both agencies had ever heard of this happening to, and it must just be the woman who took our paperwork. EXTREME anxiety moment #3.

Thank the Lord for Kim at the agency we used for Katie's adoption. They are not our primary agency (they did our home study only) but they went out of their way to help us in our moment of panic. We overnighted the two documents back to the State to be recertified and paid a courier to wait for them so we would not have to wait two more weeks. We should receive the documents back tomorrow, at which point (if the Consulate's office is not closed) I will go back and try again. Anxiety moment #4.

We know everything should will be OK, but we will breathe easier when our primary agency receives the dossier, gives it their stamp of approval and sends it off to China. At that point we will let out a big, big sigh of relief. :-)

Hello all! I would love to update you on our sweet daughter Qing Nan's adoption. We were able to walk in early for our fingerprint appointments.The original date was 7/16 and we had our biometrics done 6/27. Yay!

In the meantime, the kiddos and I went out of town and then Darrell went out of town, and just before going out of town our police clearances expired. SOOO, Darrell was able to get that redone yesterday. Apparently the Dream Act has caused long waits for clearances here in Houston but fortunately, since Darrell took time off work to get it done, he was able to do it in about an hour (it helps that he knows the folks in the permitting office :-)).

SOOO...I need to have a medical form notarized Monday morning and on Tuesday I will travel to Austin to have everything certified. That's our plan anyway.

We all think of Qing Nan all the time. We pray for her, we talk about her, we think about her and we look at her pictures. We (mostly I) cry sometimes, too. Katie made her the cutest card with a funny picture of a girl in a St. Patrick's Day costume on the front, and Luke made her a beautiful piece of shell art with pink ribbon hanging down and her name painted inside. The four of us are trying to learn a little Chinese so we can communicate with her, but I'm pretty sure that yours truly will only remember a few simple phrases like "Wo men fei chang kai xin ni shi wo men de nu er!" (We are very happy you are our daughter!) If I remember nothing else, I want to remember those words. :-)

Darrell and I want to meet our daughter and get started loving on her. We would also like to thank you all so much for supporting us on our journey.

Adoption Update

Hello friends. Just want to give you all a quick update on Qing Nan's (Marlaina's) adoption. We finally have our fingerprint appointment set for July 16th. We had to request an extension from China late last week since they have not received our dossier.

The adoption is behind roughly four weeks--two weeks due to a tooth infection that I had several months ago (it was bad) and two due to delays completely outside our control. A friend of mine who is adopting from Bulgaria had the same home study completion date as ours, except ours happened three weeks after hers. She received her fingerprint appointment in two weeks and ours took six. As with our daughter Katie's adoption, we have done everything we can with this adoption to get things turned around as quickly as possible.

Ya know, it's God's timing so we're not worried about it. We plan to try a couple of things to make up for lost time, though. We'll try to walk-in to the fingerprint office this week and see if it works. We'll also drive all our paperwork the 300 miles round trip from Houston to Austin rather than mail it in for State approval. Fortunately the Chinese Consulate's office for our region is right here in Houston, so we'll do what we did with Katie's adoption and walk it in, too. We'll keep you posted. :-)

Springing Into Summer

The kiddos' last day of school is this Friday--yippee!!! This will be my first summer home with the kids since I left my job 10 months ago. I have thought about this moment ever since I left my job. I've never had the experience of being with my kids all day every day, and I am thankful to God for giving me the opportunity to do this.

We will have a lot of firsts this summer. First vacation without having to worry about getting home and catching up on a bazillion email messages before getting back to the office. First time the kids won't have to fend for themselves in day care. First time to attend Vacation Bible School at our church. First time to participate in lots of fun summer activities we've never done together.

Most importantly, I want to use this summer to do some things that stretch us a little and challenge our comfort level when it comes to doing things for others. I'm talking about taking it to the streets--literally. Our family likes good food and we like to go biking, and I recently read an article about a guy and his family in North Carolina who make breakfast tacos on the weekend and deliver them via their bicycles to people who are hungry. We've done this before from our car, but never from our bikes. We will have a few kinks to work out logistically, like being safe in Houston traffic. Well, even if we end up delivering from our car, who doesn't like a good breakfast taco in the morning?

I'm a tiny bit anxious about my ability to keep up with the kids all day, especially with Luke. Those of you who know Luke know how motivated and energetic he is! As my dad puts it, grass doesn't grow under that boy's feet. Haha!!! However, I wouldn't trade his zest for life for anything, and I figure we will spend a lot of time in the pool. The boy LOVES to swim, and this past weekend some of the swim techniques Katie learned over the past couple of years came back to her. It's important to me that my kids learn to swim well and develop a healthy respect for all things water.

I'll close with this pic of the kids enjoying some frozen yogurt under an old oak tree. Happy summer, y'all!

One Step Closer to Marlaina!

The crickets have been chirping on this blog but I now have big news! We received official word from China that our preapproval is final. It is also my husband Darrell's birthday today and he couldn't have asked for a better gift. :-)

And...our final approved home study is en route via priority mail! Wahoo!!! Our I800a is ready to go as soon as we receive that home study. It should be in a couple of days. I am so thankful to the Lord for revealing all this to us today.

Change

It seems our family has been bombarded lately. It hasn't all been good, and it hasn't all been bad, either. It has made me think, though:

Sometimes the things we can't change

end up changing us.

For the first time in my life, I fully understand what it means for God to be in control. Not me. Him. Why it took me 43 years to realize this is a mystery to me. Those of you who know me well know that I like to be in control. It's in my genes. Each in his own time, right? I will no longer secretly wish that my expectations be met or that I know what is right. I will pray "if it be in Your will God" and mean it. Because His will is perfect, even if I don't understand it.

And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. Romans 8:27-28

Duncan and Sam Have a Family!

Do you remember these guys from a previous post?

I have been praying for them and checked Reece's Rainbow to find their status. Today they were listed under the My Family Found Me link!!! A family named Morton in Virginia is adopting BOTH of them!

God is so, so good.

Birthdays and Such

I've been meaning to mention for a while now that Blogger started giving me a hard time in the commenting department as soon as I started this blog. In other words, I can no longer comment on my friends' blogs. At all.

I have tried different things and searched the web to see if someone else has had my same little problem and found a fix for it, but no such luck--yet. So, to all of my dear blog world friends, I read your updates, I laugh and cheer and cry along with you (I really do), and one of these days I will be able to let you know how I feel and that I care.

Most of my friends and family aren't bloggers (except my sweet cousin Sara), so they get Marlaina updates practically daily or at least weekly. I know many of you have been praying for Marlaina and I ask you to please keep praying because she FEELS like our daughter but she's not our daughter yet. I'm not even sure if I'm "allowed" to say what I'm about to say, but I'm pretty sure none of you will report me to the blogging police. I only say this because Marlaina is not our daughter yet and I'm still learning blog etiquette.

March 19th is Marlaina's birthday. I pray for her EVERY DAY. I pray that God will allow her to join our family. I pray that her foster family tells her how special she is all the time and that they celebrate her 9th birthday in a BIG way!!! I can't even express my emotions in words. All I can say is that I wish she was with us to celebrate her birthday, but God has her where He wants her to be right now. His plan may be hard for me to understand but it IS perfect. So happy, happy birthday sweet girl. Maybe one day you can read this when you are old enough and you will see one more time how deeply you were loved in America when you celebrated your 9th birthday in China.

Boys Who Need Families

God put these precious boys on my heart so I contacted my friend Annie and she gave me a crash course in Advocacy 101. I mainly needed to know advocacy etiquette (what to post, what not to post, how to post it, etc.) If I could snatch them up into our family right now I would. But I can't, so I'll try to let God use me the way He wants to and pray for these boys. I will pray HARD.

Duncan will be 16 this summer so he needs a family FAST.



From a family who met him in Feb 2012:  Duncan very much wants a family. He is smart and works hard. He gets along well with others. Duncan struggles with facing the future here in his native country. He knows that unless a miracle happens and he gets adopted (or a family commits and gets USCIS approval) in the next few months, he is going to be sent to a mental institution, even though mentally, he has no issues. Duncan appears to have CP (cerebral palsy), and he is small for his age (about the size of a 13 year old). Duncan’s medical information is en route from the orphanage now, but the family who met him and who he approached to ask for a family and the facilitator want to go ahead and get his information and picture out there.

Duncan uses a walker to walk and is independent in mobility. Duncan is a compassionate teen and one who says he “fears even to hope for a family, because he doesn’t think anyone would want him because he isn’t handsome”. In fact, when it was time to pose for this picture, Duncan worried that someone would see it and then not want him. Duncan needs a family to show him God looks on the heart to see beauty (even though he’s a quite handsome boy regardless)- and so do Christian families. 

Duncan’s heart is big, and he is well-loved in this orphanage. Many worry for him if he doesn’t get adopted before he turns 16 and it is too late.

Please go to this website http://reecesrainbow.org/category/newly-listed if you want to find out more about this precious teen. Also, $738 is available toward the cost of his adoption, and there are lots of grants and financial resources out there.

This is Samuel:






















He is in the same situation as Duncan and needs a family FAST! Here's what Reece's Rainbow says about Samuel:
 
From a family who met him in Feb 2012:  Sam is an AMAZING young man! He is friendly, good-natured, has a good sense of humor, and loves soccer (futbol). He is very good at soccer, and has gone to a camp for great players in Poland a few summers ago. Sam very much wants a family in America- he approached a family adopting there and asked many questions about it, and has talked to the orphanage staff before about how much he wants a family- for parents to love him, encourage him, and support him.

Sam’s disability is very minor- he has malformed fingers on both hands. Otherwise, he is healthy. Because of this disability, he was sent to a special needs orphanage. He is very smart, has already started learning English in school at the orphanage and is well-liked by his friends. Sam’s faith in God is very important to him and he would like a family who also worships God, who will encourage his gifts in soccer, and who will tell him “I love you” and listen to him as he talks.

Sam has goals for the future, and would like to play soccer and go to college, but he knows his life in his home country will not give him those chances. He is very intelligent, very respectful and has a great perspective about adoption, because he has a friend already adopted into the US. The family that met him in February 2012 will be happy to answer questions about him as well. Sam eagerly posed for the pictures, and begged the family and facilitator to please not forget him and to find him a family fast!

If you want to read more about Samuel, go to this link: http://reecesrainbow.org/category/newly-listed

I pray it's not too late for either of these boys, although it might be. However, I also know God put them on my heart for a reason, and I will continue to pray.