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Fall 2006
We are excited to announce our log-in-date! It is September 20,
2006 (9-20-06). This is a significant date in the adoption
process because this marks when our wait begins. "China Center
of Adoption Affairs" (CCAA) now has our dossier "logged in" and
we are in line for adopting one of their beautiful children! The
wait right now is 12-16 months, but things can change at
anytime. We are actually fine with the wait because it is all in
God's hands and He knows what is best! Also, since our youngest
two children are still so little, it will give them time to
mature and prepare for a baby sister. This will be a wonderful
year of learning patience, learning to trust in a Sovereign God,
and learning all about China as we wait for our referral.
We have had a great summer full of fun activities with the
children. Softball season was exciting with Abigail playing
shortstop for her team. Gracie continued piano lessons through
the summer and went on a mission trip to Broken Arrow Bible
Ranch in New Mexico where she had the opportunity to minister to
Indian children. It was a great experience for her! Evie and Jack Henry have grown
so much! Evie has needed much more structure time, so I did some
pre-K school time with her over the summer! She is like a sponge
and absorbs information so easily- it is amazing what children
can learn at such a young age. We are now doing "school" with
Evie everyday- she loves it! Jack Henry wants to do everything
Evie does! I do let him "color" and eat a snack while Evie and I
have "school time". It works out great( well, most of the time)!
We ended our fun summer with a beautiful vacation to Destin,
Florida. Mike had a week long dental meeting there and we all
tagged along! It was beautiful and relaxing, too! We spent
mornings at the beach (while Mike was at his meeting) and
afternoons were full of shopping, visiting Baytowne Wharf, and
more beach time. We always ate delicious seafood for dinner. Our
favorite family dinner spot is Pompano Joe's. Mike and I always
go out to dinner one night by ourselves. This year we went to
the Marina Cafe. The food was excellent and the view of the
harbor was breathtaking especially at sunset when we were there.
One of the highlights of the week was a sunset dolphin cruise.
We ventured out on a glass bottom boat and enjoyed seeing lots
of dolphins and jellyfish. The Captain of the boat had pictures
of a beautiful Chinese girl about three years old, so being
nosey, we decided to ask about her. Come to find out, his
daughter and her husband had adopted her from China a couple of
years ago. She was so precious. It is funny, now that we are
actually in the process of adopting, we notice people with that
in common with us everywhere we go. I love to hear other
people's stories!
Here is our adoption timeline for those interested:
April 1: Our first application approved with our agency,
Chinese Children Adoption International (CCAI)
April 4: Sent for Mike's birth certificate and our
marriage certificate from vitalcheck.com
April 17: Received Dossier packet from CCAI
Received Homestudy packet from our homestudy agent
April 23: First homestudy visit in our home
April 25: Kim's physical with doctor
April 28: Mike's physical with doctor
May 1: Kim applied for passport
May 5: Mike applied for passport
May 24: Received police clearance reports
May 26: Second homestudy visit (in social worker's
office)
May 31: Filed I 600-A and had fingerprints done our local
USCIS office
June 1: Sent Kim's birth certificate to People's Republic
of China Embassy in Washington, D.C. for authentication
June 2: Third homestudy visit |
Jack Henry having fun in the sun!
Mike and Jack Henry at our favorite restaurant-Pompano Joe's.
Evie and Jack Henry watching the waves.
Sweet memories
Our girls
Enjoying Baytowne Wharf at Sandestin
|
June 9: Final Homestudy visit
July 14: Received homestudy rough draft
July 18:
Homestudy draft reviewed and approved by CCAI
July 20: Homestudy sent to USCIS
July 29: Received 171-H
July 31: Documents state certified
August 8: Documents received that were authenticated by
the Houston Chinese Consulate
Sent completed dossier to CCAI
August 21:Documents sent to China (DTC date)
September 20: LOG -IN -DATE!
Prayer
Requests:
Pray for Lydia-- We do not know if she is born yet.
But,more than likely the birthmother is pregnant or has
already given birth. Please pray that God will comfort and
help her as she goes through difficult days. Please pray
for her health-that she would be strong and that her
caregivers would love her and take good care of her. Pray
that God will be preparing her little heart to accept love
from us and that she will feel loved until we can get
there.
Pray for her birthmother--As the mother of four
children, I could not imagine feeling like I "had" to give
up my baby. The pressure for these birth mothers is great
and they often see no other option. Pray for this woman's
heart- that somehow God would reveal Himself to her
through this difficult trial.Also,thank God in your
prayers that Lydia's birthmother chose life for her!
Our travel plans-- Please pray for us to have
wisdom as we decide who should travel to China. This is
the hardest part of the process for us. Our three options
are the parents go, the whole family goes, or one parent
with our two oldest goes. We want to do what is best for
everyone.
That God would receive glory-- not us! We want God
to be glorified throughout this process. He gets all the
credit for this, because He is the One bringing it all
about. We can rest in his sovereignty and love--pray that
we will. . . |
An excerpt from "An
Orphan's Prayer"
Even as I lay in the darkness
each night somehow I feel assured,
That no matter how lost I appear, I am not alone.
Holy hands guard my steps; sacred fingers wipe my tears,
touching my lonely heart.
The one who made me,
The God that knew me before I was born,
Hears me every time I call.
He whispers His promises in my ear.
I listen with hope to His voice.
Author Unknown
Thank you for your support and prayers! We will be updating this
part of our website periodically,so please check back! |
