Happy New Year MYA

     Happy New Year to our beautiful Chinse Princess!!  It is now 2012 in China.  This is very sad and also very exciting for us all!!  We cant wait to become parents again to our 4th child!  God has blessed us sooo much, there are no words!  Although Mya is bringing in the New Year without us, she will soon have a forever family to go out of this year and bring in every other New Year forever!  Thank you Jesus for giving us this opportunity~ we have truly enjoyed our journey!  Happy New Year All!!!

Mindy

Just some thoughts~

     Im starting to get nervous~anxious!!  I have been on Rumor Queen alot lately, okay, I am addicted, anyway, I was told recently by our agency that possibly due to the CNY (Chinese New Year) that people may be rushing to "clean off their desks" in time to close for a week.  YES, a whole week...YIKES!!  As I am reading Posts on Rumor Queen, I feel like possibly we may be pushed back to mid-February.  I know, I know, I am suppose to be okay with this timeline, but to be perfectly honest, we are getting so close and every day, every day, I just sit and wonder about MYA, travel arrangements, packing...oh wow, packing~~  I am a packer, or not a packer..just depends on how you look at it!  Our paperwork states not to pack much, but holy cow, when I pack for a night, I could very easily bring 3 bags.  You never know what outfit to where..you know a girl must have choices!!!  LOL     Another concern with packing is, bringing our "Gifts" for everyone, including the orphans.  I believe we have to pay for extra luggage if not a person to account for it..more money:)  BUT, a plus side to that is......extra luggage for our purchases!!!!!!!!!  I am so excited for our shopping experiences!  I sure hope that Mya will LOVE to shop!!    Just a little update on how we, no I am feeling..I really think my husband just takes things one day at a time and is just....relaxed...HOW??????  My baby girl is waiting for us!   But if you ask him, she is HIS baby girl!  Mya is already wrapped around her Daddy's little finger just like the other 3!!  I am blessed to have Josh as my husband and a wonderful father to our "4" children..  That was fun..."4" children!!
God Bless!!!
Mindy

IMMIGRATION~ CHECK!!!!!!

     As of 2:30 am I woke up and emailed the National Visa Center because I wanted "CLAYTON ADOPTION" to be at the top of their email list in the hopes of getting the pdf file that is needed to "move on" to the next step. 

     I was thankfully and happily woke up by the text "are r up" from my sister, Hollie!  We talk every morning on our way to work.  Which I absolutely LOVE!  Anyway, I real quickly checked my email and there it was......NVC email and had all kinds of information on it that I had never received before.  And per this very trusty website, I thought THIS WAS IT!!!!  So I emailed this to my caseworker and called my sister and told her and was SO excited!!  I then texted everyone to let them know!  I checked my email and my caseworker emailed back and said, well this is closer but not the pdf. UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Ok, I have to admit, I didnt respond very well to this..I ended up having to pray and apologize to God for how I was acting towards my family, I was in need of a serious attitude adjustment.  I was so upset and I let my frustrations flow out of me and thats not the testimony that I want to have through this process.  This is all in Gods time and I need to be pleased with that.  Well, I am trying very much!  After my "tude adjustment" my family and I had a wonderful day together! 

      We were at walmart, getting ready for Christmas and I thought, while standing in the VERY long lines, that I would check my email....NVC..PDF!!!!!!!!!!!!!  THERE IT WAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  My husband was about 10 or so checkouts from me walking towards me and I am waiving my phone in the air, we got it, we got it!!!  He is smiling from ear to ear!  I then, still in the line at walmart, forwarded it on to the caseworker and we are moving on the next step!   That is, waiting on article 5 letter..I have to admit, not real sure what that is, but it is next on the list!  Then its TA (travel approval)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

     Again, If you let HIM, Gods timing is always the perfect!!!!!  Merry Christmas Eve Eve everyone!!  :)

WOW~its been quite a day!!

     Yes, it has!  Ill start with waking up late!  Getting the kids off to school and counting the minutes til the school bus leaves..You Moms know how much 2-3 minutes gives you when it comes to the bus leaving!  Im praying, driving to the school and hoping the bus is still there and YES, thank God, it was!!!
     I send the boys off and off to the station I go to have "coffee" or (hot chocolate or Mt Dew) with the girls (other Moms in town)!  Now, today is a big day for me!   I get to go to the kids, Christmas assembly and Christmas parties at school!!!!!   I am so excited, because since I had been working, I havent been able to go,,:(
      Since I just had my gallbladder out one week ago,  today was a THE DAY to actually put on blue jeans and a "real bra" YIKES, it HURTS!  So in order to get on with my day, I just took a couple of the pain pills that I have been trying to stop taking.  I thought I would be able to "tackle" anything today... WRONG!!!!!!  I am talking with the girls and, of course, my two front (bottom) teeth start killing me. (no jokes about All I want to Christmas is my Two Front Teeth, LOL)   Now I have been dealing with a HUGE abscess and undergoing root canals, but things seemed ok..til TODAY!  I had an hour til the assembly and I call the dentist and he is, of course, OUT til the first of the year...I hung up and all I could do was cry, yes cry.  I thought no matter what, I was hurting so bad, I called them back and "tried" to explain to the receptionist what was going on, but again all I could do was cry...She said come on in and a doctor will see you!  I get there and a wonderful Doctor saw me and wrote a RX for an antibiotic and sent me on my way!!!!  I was then able to make it to the assembly!
      I get home and take more medicine, (to help with the rest of my day) and move on to the grade school for the class parties!!  I am walking down the hall and my son yells, MOMMY, YOURE HERE!!!!!!!  That, right there was worth it all!!!!  Mason says, Mom, good thing you got your gallbladder out so you could come to our party!!  SO CUTE!!!!!!!  Myles was so happy and said, Mommy, your not at work today!  This my friends, is what life and being a Mom is all about!!!
     Ok, next, I come home to an awesome email from the NVC (national visa center) and we have been waiting on our next baby step and there it was!!!!!!!!!  I then emailed my caseworker and she said that hopefully we can continue to get our "baby steps" and possibly push to get TA (travel approval) before CNY (Chinese New Year)  
     YAY~~~~  that means the earlier we can be on our way to get our little Chinese Princess!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Hang on Mya, We are working hard to come and get you!!!!!!  :)

Immigration APPROVED!!!!!!!!!!!

        I just had gallbladder surgery and the first question when I woke up from surgery was, "is there an email from Immigration??"  Unfortuantly my phone went dead, right when I tried to download.  Josh had said, "whoops, probably because I was playing Stack the States while waiting for you  to get into recovery!"  Just so you know, We highly recommend this game, its addicting for children and obviously adults:)  Very good with learning about your states/capitals!! 
      Anyway......... We go to the car and plugged in my phone and there it was..... Email from our immigration officer!!  Stating that Mya's immigration has been approved and is now being cabled to NVC (National Visa Center)!!  This is very good news!! 
     Now we are waiting for our NVC letter and we send that through email to the agency and they give it to their contact in China and then we wait for Article 5 pickup and then.......................TA!!!  
      I spoke with our caseworker and she said if this all goes quickly, then we could possibly get TA (Travel Approval) before the CNY (Chinese New Year)...She stated that they really like to clean off their desks so we may be looking for a very fast and timely TA!!!!!!!!!!!
      Please help us and keep praying!!!!!:)

Immigration ~ IN PROCESS

     YAY!!  We pulled up to the post office and my daughter, Madison says, "Hey Mom, what are we waiting for now in the process?  Would it by chance be something that we could get in the mail?"  I said yes, we are at Immigration and we are waiting on the "in process" letter! She says, "Oh good, can I get the mail?"  She came back and had a Christmas card and.............................an envelope with Dept of Homeland Security on it!!!!!!!   My boys were in the back and said, put your hand over your ears, Mom is going to scream!!!!    
     Yay, we are now IN PROCESS!  We are looking at any day within the next 2 weeks to be approved!!!  We will keep you all in touch!!!   1/2 step down!!!

LOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

     We are so excited!!!!  We received LOA (letter of acceptance) today!!!!  God and His timing are so wonderful!!
     Let me start off with our day.  I received a phone call at work on my cell phone from a number I dont know and it was my dear friend up at 3am in CHINA feeding her new little girl that they received yesterday.  She thought while she was up that she would check her email.  In doing so, she saw that 2 LOA's had come to our agency today, and wondered if one of them was ours!  I really didnt think much about it because just last week, we were told that it would be around 2-3 weeks for LOA.
     I got off early today due to my twin sister and her family are here visiting and I was totally missing out on my time with them, so I left and came home!!!!!  I come through the door and told my husband how cool it was that my friend had called me today from CHINA about LOA's coming in.  He said well lets look on email!  I told him, no its not us, they always call as soon as they get it and I hadnt received any phone calls...I opened up our email and there it was...........CONGRATULATIONS, LOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Day 45!!  GOD is so GOOD!  I then called our agency and they told me that they were AMAZED that we had received LOA!  I proceeded to tell her that its all in GODS TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We in all actuality could leave for CHINA in around 2-2 1/2 mos!!  YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!

       I am missing my little girl this Thanksgiving.  We have another family member and she is not able to be with us.  Thats okay, in Gods timing we will travel to get her and she will be our daughter FOREVER!!!!!!!!

      ON A HAPPY NOTE FOR US:  I called our agency and asked if our dossier was "in progress" on Tuesday and YES IT IS!!!!!!!!!!  She said that it would probably be 2-3 weeks for LOA (Letter of Approval), then its downhill from there!!!

      Our friends are traveling today at noon to go to China to get their little girl!!  I am so over joyed for them and cant wait to meet Briley!!!  They said it was exactly 2 months from LOA to TA (Travel Approval) for them, so we will see!!!!!     

      The other couple that I had asked for prayer for in regards to the Dad's birth certificate, Praise the Lord, it was resolved and they are officially waiting for their referral!!!!!!!!!  GOD is so GOOD!!!

        Please help us in praying for the Parents of Briley as they are traveling abroad for the next 2 weeks!!!!!!!!!!

       Thank you for visiting!!!!!  Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Travel Approval for our Friends!!!!

   We are very excited for our friends today!  They received their TA (travel approval) today and they hope to travel on Thanksgiving day!!!  YAY!!  I am so happy for them!
   
    I should be honest though, I am having a very tough day today.  I am struggling with our "Wait."  Please, if you could remember me and my family in this wait time until we can go get our baby girl!  I know this is happening all in God's time, but again, I am needing prayer...Plesae join me....
  
    Lord, please be with me and my family as we wait for Mya to join our family.  I know you know my heart and that I am struggling with our "wait"  Lord, to You, all the glory!  You have been with us the WHOLE way through and I KNOW that You will continue to be with us!  You are an almighty God and I thank you for trusting our family with this journey that you have given to us!  We feel so blessed to be able to honor and glorify You and Your Name! Lord, I love you so much and I ask this in Jesus' Name I pray, AMEN!
Again, if you could remember us in our upcoming days!!  Thank you!

Orphan Sunday, November 6,2011!!!

YIKES!!! I can't believe I almost forgot to tell you all about my amazaing orphan Sunday!!
Sunday morning I had the awesome privelege to speak in my sons Sunday school class about our adoption journey! The children are around 7-8 years old and I was so concerned if I was speaking on their age level. I was reassured by my son that "yeah mom I understand but then again, I'm going through it!!). He is so cute!! Anyway it was a wonderful experience and the boys and girls were able to ask questions. They amazed me by how much thy were actually listening and caring:).
Then we went to another church for their orphan Sunday and a video was shown and a table was set up and the pastor discussed briefly about orphans!! We then go back to our church later that evening and our pastor had given us a little book on "helping your adopted child". We are so blessed!! Thank you Lord for your goodness and loving me!!

Adoption Meeting!!

Our family was blessed last night to attend our regular monthly adoption meeting!  This is where families come together to support, learn and give "personal" adoption stories!  There was a speaker from Global Orphans and he gave a very passionate presentation on the work that "we" as a ministry have had a part in building "villiages"/ homes for orphan children in several countries. 
      Also, a prayer request, a family in the adoption process has had some major set backs and need prayer at this time...They are waiting to hear back to see if China will accept their paperwork due to having a dual citizenship birth certificate.  He was born in Germany and is a soldier for our country, his father was stationed there at birth time. 
     Another family is in need of prayer, they are awaiting for their TA - Travel Approval!!!  Anytime they are due to get it and then they are about 2 weeks away from traveling to get their little girl!!!!!
    Lastly, please keep our family in your prayers, we are on day "25" waiting for our approval so we can move on with more paperwork!!!!
ALL IN GODS TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  :)

OK..MOVING TO WHERE WE ARE NOW:

We are in the process of awaiting to get our LOA (Letter of Approval)..We are on day 19 and anxiously waiting.  The more I look at our daughters face, the more hard it is..

            When we didn’t know who “MYA” was, we kept saying, “oh I just wish we knew who she was” and everyone told us that it gets worse when you know who she is….well……………..guess what, ITS SO HARD!!   Our family is in love with this little girl and we cant wait until we can hold her and love her and give her a forever family!!!  Its almost like, I am mourning her…She’s right there, so close and we cant have her..  All in Gods timing, right…right!!!!!!  It’s a minute, hourly, day by day prayer to help me through this waiting period.  I give God all the glory for all that has and will happen with this adoption!

            I have been looking on Rumor Queen, an adoptive chat group online, and there is a person on there that has spent a lot of her time, keeping up with and charting the “timeline” of the adoption after you accept your referral.  This is an awesome resource to look at but then again, its depressing to see how long different steps have been taking.  This site is also wonderful to ask questions and meet people from maybe even your orphanage, your province, or the special needs that you and your child will be facing.

When No-one Cares as YOU Care

Do you ever feel like…”why don’t they ever ask, or even care when I talk about our adoption process?”  I dealt with this some at the beginning of our process and some from time to time as the process goes on…

            I have read a few books and I have had to learn that, not everyone shares your passion for adoption.  They may not even understand the ins and outs of adoption, so they don’t understand what it is that you are going through on a daily basis.  I have to admit, in the beginning, it hurt and now I am dealing with things a lot better…still some hurt but I am better J   They don’t understand and that’s okay!!!!

            I realized going through our own adoption process, that I needed to apologize to my brother/sister-in-law.  I feel that I wasn’t as “into” their adoption of my nephew as she probably needed me to be.  She was and is very understanding and has forgiven me…thank God!  LOL

            Just know and keep in mind to be thankful when people do care and ask how things are going!!!

Do we both travel, that is the question!!

My husband is not a traveler, nor has he ever flown in an airplane.  The day we got married, he told me that I will never fly again and our children will not fly until they are out of our house.  He is petrified of flying.  So, somehow, we have to go get our new little girl from China and by his rules, we don’t fly!!!  I love the man, he is so cute!!

            When the opportunity came with possibly adopting Katiana, he never even thought about it, he was going to get her!!!  Then, China came up and he was second guessing the flying thing.  I just prayed about it and a couple of days later, he came to me and said, “I’m going with you to get our daughter, and our children are also coming along!”  Imagine my excitement!  I was and am so excited that my family will be going with me.  Before this, my father was very ready and willing to go with me to get his new grand-daughter.  He, needless to say, was very happy that my family is going but secretly sad that he couldn’t go with me.  Don’t worry Pa, we will see you when we return home!!!  Again, God is in it all!!!!

**FUNDRAISING**

Oh fundraising!!  Remember, by one of my last posts, that we are having a hard time with this…So stick with me!!!

Fundraiser #1 - Bake-sale at our town-wide garage sale…We made enough to cover immigration fees….Its a bake-sale, without God, we would have never made the amount that we did.

Fundraiser #2 – Spaghetti dinner at our church..We had an amazing day getting ready for the dinner..All kinds of people came out to help with our meal…Our idea was to “serve” our church, but instead they wanted to come out and help, “ALL DAY.”   We served around 100 people a spaghetti dinner and we then made our fees for sending our paperwork to the Chinese Consulate…

Fundraiser #3 – Gun raffle  - A gentlemen at my husband’s work is a gun dealer and offered to buy some guns and raffle them off…what he did was take his share and we got the rest…it was a tremendous fundraiser..We  again made what we needed to send our paperwork to China, to be DTC!!!

Fundraiser #4 -  Contemporary Christian Concert – Fresh Water Band offered their time and talent to play a concert for us!  It was wonderful!  God really blessed us!

Fundraiser #5- OUR BIGGEST FUNDRAISER YET – GODS FUNDRAISER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  My husband got some “back pay” from work…It was amazing!!!  For some reason, my husband was way up on the list to get the most you could..He shouldn’t have been due to seniority…Again….GOD!!!!

Fundraiser #6 – in the process of getting things together!!

See, there are ways to raise money for these adoptions..Don’t let the amount scare you away from being a blessing to a child!!!!!!

Do we fund-raise or Don’t we??

CHINA!!!!!!!!  We felt God leading us to China!  I can’t tell you how wonderful it feels to be in the Lords will!  I had come to my husband to discuss the different possibilities for fundraisers and he was not on board with that at all…I then asked him, “Do you have money somewhere” because I was sure that we didn’t have that kind of funds.  He then said, “well, no, but I am not comfortable with asking people for help..We both have a problem with asking for help..we are working on it!!”

                My sister-in-law and I sat down and thought of ideas.  I then took the ideas and showed my husband and he then thought they were great ideas!  See, the Lord is always working!

Let’s go back to the beginning…………..

                March 2011 we submitted our application to Madison Adoption Associates!  We were very excited!  Adopting was not in our “Life plan” but God had different ideas for our family of 5!!

Here is our story………..

                We have supported an orphan in Haiti for 4 years.  Her name is Katiana and she is 13 years old.  She had written us after the horrible earthquake and asked us to come and get her so she could live with us and feel safe.  Immidiately, we were going to go get her.  The country had closed the adoption process due to the earthquake.  I kind of felt relieved because I didn’t know how to go about the adoption process.  A few weeks later, I googled  Haitian adoptions and they had re-opened!!!!!!!!!!  I was so excited and called Josh at work and he said let’s do it!!!

                On Monday, I called all kinds of adoption agencies and was told that my husband and I were too young and that we have too many children to adopt from Haiti.  We were very upset and didn’t let it stop me…I then called Haitian lawyers and the Haitian Consulate, trying to get a waiver signed to over –rule our age and number of children.  Again, this was not working in our favor. 

Long story short, God then proceeded to tell me that we were not going to be able to get Katiana.   Our family was very saddened by this but fell that this was Gods will for us! Now that the Haiti door was closed, we still felt like we should give a child a forever family!  

                That brings us to China!!!! 

EXPERIENCE OF A LIFTIME

“ADDING A CHAPTER TO OUR LIFE BOOK”

I just want to share our wonderful experience with this adoption journey!  We feel so blessed to be doing Gods will for our lives!  He has blessed us tremendously and we, as a family, have grown in our relationship with our Lord and eachother!  There are no words to describe the feeling a mother feels when her children feel the love for their Savior, and a sibling that they have never met yet.  They have opened their hearts and minds to something out of our comfort zone.  My oldest daughter has now told me that she feels like adopting is something that she would like to do when she has a family!  I am so proud of our children and they have the absolute best Daddy and I have the best husband EVER!!!  Thank you Lord for my family!!!!!!!!!!!!!