DTC!!!

Wednesdasy we received the exciting news that we are DTC (Dossier to China)!  This simply means that our official paperwork for the adoption (our dossier) has made it through all the official signing, stamping, approving, authenticating, notarizing, etc. on "this end" and has been sent to China for approval on "that end".

The kids put this together while we were camping last weekend in
 hopes that we would receive the good news this week!

I can remember when we first started on this journey back in November and I began learning the "language" of international adoption.  I felt like it would be ages before we would get to celebrate this milestone of DTC.  It has been a long time getting to this point, but we have learned so much along the way and have had opportunity to learn more about Emsley and how best to prepare for her homecoming.  This waiting is really difficult, especially since we have known Emsley's face since early on.  Things were very manageable before we saw that sweet face but ever since laying eyes on her, things just can't move fast enough.

We have been told by our agency to plan for travel in November.  This is not set in stone as the timeline from this point forward can vary significantly for no real understandable reason.  Some couples wait longer than others for approval and some couples seem to be approved very quickly.  There isn't any real explanation for the difference but we are continuing to pray for God's timing.  

The next milestone we will reach is our LID (Log-In Date).  This is the date that the central authority in China puts our information into their system and begins processing our request to adopt Emsley.  LID usually comes within about 2 weeks of DTC so we hope to share the good news soon!

Also, when we receive our LID we will be able to request another update on our girl.  We should be able to ask 8 questions of the orphanage staff and request pictures and video too.  When we requested our first update it took over a month to receive it.  We are praying that the orphanage staff will look favorably upon our request and send it back quickly!  We love seeing new pictures of our girl and learning more about her personality and likes/dislikes.  

We have been working hard on grant applications and now have about 4 of them almost ready to mail.  Please pray with us that we will receive some grant funding.  As you can see from the fundraising thermometer on the right-hand side of this page, we are just a little less than half way to our goal.  God has been faithful to provide what we have needed at each step along the way and we know he will provide the rest of what we need to travel to China.  

Birthday Surprise!

Today is our oldest son's 9th birthday but we woke up to a special present for the whole family!  Here is what we found in our email inbox this morning:

Our adoption agency works with a sweet woman in China named Helen who puts together care packages for adoptive families to send to their children during the long adoption wait.  We were able to send Emsley a new pair of shoes, a xylophone toy, and a photo album with pictures of our family complete with captions written in Chinese characters.  We ordered the package a week ago and it arrived yesterday.  The orphanage staff took these pictures and sent them back to Helen that same day!  Thank you, Lord, for this special gift.

I can't express the feeling of joy I have at seeing our little girl looking at pictures of her new family.  I pray that she has an understanding of what it means to have a family.  I pray her nannies will explain things to her in such a way that she will understand that we are coming for her soon and that we love her deeply.

Cade agreed with us that this was a very special birthday present!  When I woke him up this morning and told him he had a present from China waiting for him, he jumped out of bed and ran for the computer.  We are all just a bit crazy about this little girl!

I-800a Approval!

We received our I-800a approval in the mail today!  This means that we have been approved by the US government to adopt from China!  We are now able to start the authentication process for our dossier (usually a 3 week process).  After that, we send our paperwork off and wait for approval from China.

We were originally told that approvals for I-800a were taking between 42-46 days but ours came in 38 days!  Praise the Lord!  We are trusting in His timing.

Update!

Today we received an exciting phone call from our agency telling us that they had received an update on Emsley and would be emailing it to us in the next few minutes!  I opened the email to find this adorable face looking back at me:

I was so excited to see a near smile on her face as the first few pictures we had received with her referral showed no signs of a smile at all.  Emsley has grown a lot since the first photos we saw of her.  She has so much more hair too!  How I wish I could reach into this picture and scoop her up into my arms!  We're coming soon, sweet girl!

We also received a couple more pictures:

and

I love this one because I can see the same expression on her face as when she was younger:

The final part of the update included some information from the orphanage staff about Emsley.  They reported that she is gentle and quiet.  Oh my heart!  She also likes to play with other children and is not a picky eater!  Let's pray she can teach her older siblings a thing or two about that!

Receiving this update has been like a refreshing spring to my spirit.  This adoption process can be so very hard at times and can feel so very slow but receiving these pictures and tidbits of information is just......wow!  Thank you, Lord, for this encouragement today.  Thank you that Emsley is growing well and playing with toys and (almost) smiling for her picture!  This Mama and Daddy are ready to have their girl home!

I-800a Fingerprinting!

This morning John and I made a trip to the Dept. of Homeland Security to have our fingerprints taken for our I-800a approval.  This is the last step before we can prepare and send our dossier off to China!  

We actually tried last week to go in a week early for our fingerprinting but were told that they no longer allow people to walk in early.  We were thankful that our actual appointment was only a week away rather than a month or more!

We are still waiting to receive an update on Emsley.  We've been told there is one coming soon!  We can hardly wait to see her sweet face again and to hear more about her personality.

What a weekend!

Our first fundraiser was a huge success!  We had so much to sell that it filled 18 long tables, 20 boxes of books, a driveway full of furniture and appliances, and the front yard covered with bikes, tools, artwork, baby gear, etc.  Traffic was steady both days and the weather was perfectly warm and sunny.  God answered our prayers and held off the rain and thunderstorms until Sunday morning.

This was only part of it....

More items were in the garage, on the side driveway,
and on the front yard!

We had a great time meeting new people from the community and sharing our story with them.  We were also blessed by all our friends and family who came by to support us and for those who stuck around and helped keep the MANY boxes, racks, and tables of clothing organized!  

On Saturday morning a wonderful friend from church baked two huge trays of her famous cinnamon rolls and caramel-nut rolls and they were gone in the first couple of hours!  So delicious!

John setting things up
(and being a little cheesy)

Despite the sunburns, sore muscles and tired feet, we had a wonderful weekend working toward our little girl.  The yard sale raised enough for us to pay our next agency fee and to authenticate and submit our dossier in the next few weeks!

The signs that were printed and donated by Thorne Printing!

Saturday afternoon, as we were packing up the last of the items that hadn't sold yet, we still had one bike and a bed frame with canopy left.  As I was standing in the driveway looking at those items and praying that they would sell before we had to pack them up, a minivan came around the corner with a young family who were looking specifically for......a bed frame and a kid's bike!  Wow!  This family told us that they weren't even out looking for yard sales, they were just out looking at house plans and came across our sale at that moment.  Just another reminder that God has the whole story worked out and He will provide for our needs.

We want to thank so many people who helped in a variety of ways to make this yard sale successful.  We actually wouldn't have been able to pull it off without the friends and family who gave of their time, possessions and talents to help us out!  There are too many to name here but if you helped in some way and are reading this now, please know that we thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

Feeling blessed....and overwhelmed!

We are in the midst of getting together our first major fundraiser!  This Friday and Saturday we are having a GIGANTIC yard sale.  We have been hugely blessed by our church, family, and friends who have generously donated items for our sale.

We've been collecting these items for a number of weeks now and have filled up my parents' four-car garage!!!  When I think about how many people have given us things or offered to help or done behind-the-scenes work on this project, my heart is overwhelmed with gratitude.  We have had people offer to help organize and price items.  We have had people offer tables, baked goods, craft items, etc.  A local printing company made up some wonderful signs with our sweet baby's picture on them to help advertise the sale and a local rental company offered clothes racks to organize all the great clothing we had donated.  The outpouring of support and love from everyone has been amazing.  We can hardly wait for the day when we can sit with our daughter and tell her of all the special people who helped bring her home to her family.

We are looking forward to a weekend of beautiful weather and are praying for lots of traffic at the sale.  Please help us pray for lots of people to come find something they just can't live without.

On the paperwork side of things, we have finalized our home study and submitted our I-800a application to the USCIS.  Now we are waiting for approval from the USCIS before we can get our dossier authenticated and submitted to China!  We are making progress and although the waiting is so very hard, the Lord is reminding us to "not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, submit our requests to God and the peace of God, which surpasses understanding will guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus." (Phil. 4:6-7)

We have also submitted a request to Emsley's orphanage for an update on her development, growth, and overall health.  It's been a number of weeks since we made the request and we are really looking forward to seeing some new pictures and knowing a little more about our little girl.  We will share new pictures as soon as we get them!