It's go time...

I can't even believe I'm typing this.

Tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the day that we board that plane and fly to China. Tomorrow we will be that much closer to Micaiah. Rhett and Adiah have never been back so they are anxious to see where they were born. My mind is swirling with the last minute details that I wish I hadn't put off until now. PLUS...we girls need to get our nails done and our eyebrows threaded. PRIORITIES, PEOPLE!! And then we will do our last minute packing, weighing of suitcases, panic because they're too heavy, rearrange suitcases, decide to just pay the overage fee, and be done with it. As you do.

Tomorrow we begin the journey to bring our boy home and all I know is this...we are blessed. (or #blessed like the kids say)

We would appreciate your prayers.

If for some reason I can't post here I have started a Facebook page called The Road to Micaiah.

Here we go!!

For those who care:

August 24, 2016 Fly to Beijing
August 28, 2016 Fly to Guiyang, Guizhou
August 29, 2016 Gotcha day!
Sept 2, 2016 Fly to Guangzhou
Sept 8, 2016 Drive to Hong Kong AND get on a plane to fly home
Sept 8, 2016 Arrive home!

Six days

We're getting there folks. Because the kids school starts two days before we leave the Superintendent of the school suggested we "un-enroll" them and then "re-enroll" when we return. So that part is all worked out. Emily will move her stuff into her dorm on Sunday and fly home Monday so she can go with us. Some of her professors are giving her work to do while gone. So that part is worked out too. So now? I'm packing, looking at the projected weather forecast, repacking, and trying to get stuff ready for school so when we get home it won't be as stressful! We are getting Kai's carseat and booster seat for the table all set up along with his bed and toys. It's getting real.

If I'm being honest I'd have to admit that I am exhausted. A good kind of exhausted but still.

Realizing that everything is about to change and wishing I could just sit down and enjoy the things that are our truth right now. There is a certain amount of chaos that comes with traveling and adopting. Bringing our kids is going to be a true joy but also adds just a tiny bit more planning to the whole thing.

But then I think of Kai. And I realize that EVERYTHING is about to change for him. His truth will never be the same. I'm glad for that. He'll be a son. He'll be a brother. He'll be home. But I'm also sad for his little heart because until he knows that being loved by a family is better for him he will grieve and be so scared. I'm praying that God is preparing his heart and mind for all of this. I trust that He is. And that we will be able to comfort him and that he will accept us.

I'm excited. I'm scared. I'm tired. But I'm so blessed to be where we are.

We're coming, Kai.

Plane tickets are booked!!!

On Tuesday, August 9, we got a confirmation of our CA appointment in China so we were officially allowed to book flights to get us all to China! Yep. ALL 7 of us are going to China!! We leave August 24 and arrive back home on September 8. We're still trying to work out a few details with the kids school and schedules but hopefully we'll know all of that soon enough. I believe by the end of this week we will have our in country itinerary and I'll be able to share more about what exactly is happening. All I know is this. NINE days until we leave and FOURTEEN days until Kai is in our arms. So ready!

Ok, this just got REAL!!!

This morning I was for sure convinced that we would receive Travel Approval. Like for sure.

I know. This is a pattern for me.

I know that our agency always checks the website where China lists their TA's every morning after their corporate prayer time. So by late morning with no call I was convinced that we'd have to go through another weekend with no news or knowing when we were leaving. We were told that it could take anywhere from 1-4 weeks to receive TA after our article 5 pick up (which for us was August 1) but I'd been seeing a trend that alot of people with our agency were getting it faster. I decided instead of pouting and scouring the internets for ANYTHING related to travel approvals I'd get out of the house with the little kids and run errands. As I walked into Target at 1:30pm my phone rang and it was someone from our agency letting me know our TA had arrived and they were busy trying to request a Consulate appointment for our time in China!! 4 days after our Article 5 pick up!! I couldn't believe it! Adiah, Rhett, and I did a huge happy dance right there in the Rubbermaid section of Target!! We were a sight!

So here is what I know today. Since its Friday and we can't get a confirmed Consulate Appointment until Monday (or Tuesday) we can't really book flights. But if it goes like they think it will we will be leaving on August 24th for China and we will get Micaiah on August 29th! Eeeek! Like...that means we leave in 19 days!

We are not even going to talk about the fact that school starts for my school aged kids on August 22 and for my college kid on August 24th. And that she needs to move into her on campus apartment on August 21. Not eeeeven going to talk about it.

We are truly praising God for this huge news and trusting how all the details will get worked out! He is good!

Whooo hoooo! Article 5 pick up!

It seems like the last 2 weeks have flown by and crawled by all at the same time! We knew that August 1 was the day set for our final piece of paper to be picked up in China so I used that time to begin sorting through all of the things we've accumulated to take with us to China. I ordered clothes online from Old Navy for Micaiah and then promptly sent them back when we got updated measurements of him. I ordered the next size up (3t) but now I'm wondering if I should have kept the 2t. Oh well...we'll see soon enough! We also gathered all the documents needed to take with us to China that we have so far. I got all of our medications purchased to take with us. Rhett and Adiah took their typhoid series of pills. Lots of things! But even though we've been busy... my mind has felt preoccupied with this date. August 1.

Because now?

Now we are only waiting on our travel approval. I've seen some people from our agency receive theirs in 3 days. Some 1 week. Some longer. Our travel coordinator told us we would need our TA by August 5 in order to leave on the 17th to get Kai. If it doesn't come until next week we will have to wait until the 24th. If it's after that? Who knows. But as you can imagine we are anxious to get our boy. My mind is swirling with how we're going to pull this off with all of the back to school things going on. Only God can work this out for us so I'm choosing to not fret but wait and see what He does.

All I know is this.....


There is a chance that we could meet Micaiah James AnFu Woods this month!

THIS MONTH!!

Like we could be leaving in 2 1/2-3 1/2 weeks!

Ok, I need to go breathe into a paper bag now....much to do.

Peace out.

Article 5 drop off and other stuff....

Monday the 18th our Article 5 was dropped off in Guangzhou, China. This is the last item of business before our Travel Approval (TA) is issued. It always takes 10 business days for it to be ready so August 1st is the day that it will be picked up by our agency's liaison. Once it's picked up it will be overnighted to Beijing which is where our TA will happen. So basically we are at least 2 weeks away from getting that. 

Here's the fun news though. It looks like there is a trip planned for August 18. Which meeeeeaaannnnssss....

If we get our travel approval on time we could be leaving August 17th!

Now I'd like to point out that this is the EXACT time that is the most difficult for us. Emily's college classes start back on August 24th in Nashville. Her move in date to her apartment on campus is August 21. The other kids schools start August 22. 

But here is what I also know. Our boy is sitting in an orphanage across the world and nothing will keep us from getting him asap. I fully believe that God will work out all of the details.

He reminds us in Isaiah 55:8-9 that His ways are higher than ours and our thoughts are not like his. 

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.
    “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so my ways are higher than your ways
    and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

I'm giddy with excitement and nervous all at the same time. It's getting so close and then Micaiah will no longer be with out a family!!

NVC letter

This morning we received the pdf of our NVC letter in our email. I forwarded it along to our Travel Coordinator and we are now scheduled for Article 5 drop off on Monday. It's always 10 business days so it looks like we'll get pick up on August 1. But that will be confirmed on Monday. Can't wait! After pick up its TRAVEL APPROVAL time! Not that I'm excited or anything. 

GUZ number and DS260

I was fully expecting to get our GUZ number in our email's inbox yesterday which was day 6 after I800 approval. The typical day most people get theirs on. But why be typical I always say (#noidont). So this morning on day 7 when it STILL wasn't in our inbox I emailed them again and asked for it. I got an email back with our GUZ number so then we got to move on to filling out our DS260 form. Whats that you ask?

I don't really know. A form. Called DS260.

Glad I could help you.


No really, its a very important form because this is what triggers our Article 5 drop off and pick up.
What's that you ask again?

I really don't know. An article. That has a 5 at the end.

You're welcome.


No really AGAIN! I think its the last thing that happens before our TA can be issued. It takes about 10 business days once it's dropped off in China to be ready. But they only drop off and pick up on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays.

So as soon as we get the pdf of something in our email then I'll send it to our Travel Coordinator and she'll schedule drop off day. Yay! Getting oh so close to being able to book flights and KNOW when we get to go pick up Kai!!

I800 provisional approval...check!!

So apparently if you bug your officer assigned to your case at USCIS it doesn't necessarily help. What has in the recent past been taking 10-11 days for an approval of an I800 application took us 16 days. Is that a huge deal? No. Unless you're a mama waiting to bring her kid home then YES. It's a big deal. I happened to call the handy dandy number on our receipt last Friday which was day 11. I got a big fat "No. Not approved yet". But in my heart just knew that it got approved the second I hung up the phone with the officer. What can I say? I'm an optimist. Tuesday rolled around (the day after the 4th of July) so I called again. Another "no". I called Wednesday. "no"

You see the pattern? I was completely bummed and thought for sure something was wrong.

It wasn't. We just happened to get a slow officer. I called on Thursday, July 7 and finally got the answer I wanted to hear. APPROVED!! Either they got sick of me calling or our file finally came up for review but either way we now get to move on to the next step!! What step is that, you ask?

I don't even know. I think I fill out another form online after I get another email from someone. :)

All I know is this...

We're close.

Like SUPER close!!


Kai baby, we're coming!

Kai's care package

The day we got our LOA we contacted Lady Bugs and Love and ordered Kai a care package. We weren't allowed to do that until we got our official "yes" from China so you better believe I got on that quickly! Some of our most treasured pictures from when we adopted Rhett was when we got photos of him seeing us in a picture book and eating a cake we ordered for him and his friends. It's like he officially knew we were coming for him. This morning our agency emailed us two pictures they received from his "party". I'm not sure if we'll get anymore but you can believe that I was happy to get these!!

I mean COME ON! Look at his sweet face! And you know we ARE from Texas so I say "go big or go home" about that cake!! Hilarious!! Listen, we don't mess around.

I can't wait to kiss his sweet little cheeks. 

Soon....

What's next?

Before we talk about anything else lets just take another look at our little sweetie.....

*sigh*.........

He's just too precious. And I'm so thrilled that we can actually share his photos and tell you a little about him.

His name right now is An Fu Rui. He lives in Guizhou, China. An Shun City to be exact. We found that An means "peaceful" and Fu means "blessing" and so we chose to keep those two names in his new name. Just like we did with Rhett and Adiah. So Micaiah James AnFu Woods. And I can't wait to get him home and start the journey of us learning about him and him learning about us and all the fun stuff in between.

So now that we've been approved by getting our LOA you'd think we can just hop on a plane like yesterday, right? For those who followed along with our other adoption journeys then you know there are a few more steps to take before we can go. Thus, the estimated mid August to early September travel time frame.

I found this handy dandy graphic floating around the world wide web that *sort of* explains what all happens during a Chinese adoption process.

We are currently on step 9. Yesterday I mailed off our I800 application which is basically our immigration application to bring home this specific child. Once approved steps 10-13 kinda happen with out me knowing much. They kinda happen behind the scenes. Which is weird but hey....can't change it.So I'm thinking late July or early August before we get Travel Approval. That's just a guess.

BUT OH the paperwork that now we get to do in order to prepare for travel. And by that I mean starting this morning after I get done typing this I'll be up to my EAR BALLS (yes, I made that up and in my head it sounds awesome so I'm keeping it right there) in paperwork, paperwork, paperwork. I ate my breakfast, took my greens and vitamins, did my stretches so now I'm ready. I can do it!!!

Kai is so worth it!

Wait....say whaaaa? (aka LOA, baby!!!)

So.....

today around 3pm I had decided that yet again our LOA would not arrive since it was already 4pm where our agency is. I figured that maybe Friday it would come.

At 3:01 pm I was sitting at the computer checking email and facebook when I saw at notification that I had just gotten another email. I clicked over and this is what it said...

"LOA Arrived & Next steps!"

Come again....??

I stared at the screen and then literally SCREAMED my head off. A couple of times.
And then I hugged my daughter and called my husband, and told the rest of the kids! (I did eventually get a call from our family coordinator. I guess she sent the email first.)


China says YES!

Introducing you to our son, Micaiah James AnFu Woods! Aka:Kai Aka:little man Aka:our boy

We are over the moon excited and can't wait to go get him! We have a few more steps to go through in order to get travel approval. Estimating a mid August-early September travel time frame. We shall see. But first...We CELEBRATE!!!

Well here we are....Dragon Boat Festival

Dragon Boat Festival in China

"The Dragon Boat Festival (Duanwu Festival, Duānwǔ Jié, Double Fifth, Tuen Ng Jit) is a
traditional holiday that commemorates the life and death of the famous Chinese scholar
Qu Yuan (Chu Yuan). The festival occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month on the 
Chinese lunar calendar.

What Do People Do?

The Dragon Boat Festival is a celebration where many eat rice dumplings (zongzi), drink realgar wine
(xionghuangjiu), and race dragon boats. Other activities include hanging icons of Zhong Kui (a mythic
guardian figure), hanging mugwort and calamus, taking long walks, writing spells and wearing perfumed 
medicine bags.

All of these activities and games such as making an egg stand at noon were regarded by the ancients as
an effective way of preventing disease, evil, while promoting good health and well-being. People
sometimes wear talismans to fend off evil spirits or they may hang the picture of Zhong Kui, a guardian 
against evil spirits, on the door of their homes.

In the Republic of China, the festival was also celebrated as "Poets' Day" in honor of Qu Yuan, who

is known as China's first poet. Chinese citizens traditionally throw bamboo leaves filled with cooked

rice into the water and it is also customary to eat tzungtzu and rice dumplings."

June 9-12...Chinese National Holiday

If you're wondering how I feel about Dragon Boat 
Festival....I'm all for it! Truly. Enjoy! But please....can
you come back from said festival and issue us our LOA? 
Thanks. 

Love, 

The mama who loves a good celebration but desperately 
wants her baby boy home

Missing you

It's Friday night.Emily is out with friends. Natalie is at a choir banquet. Ridge, Adiah, and Rhett are watching spider man with your dad. And I'm sitting here desperately missing you. A boy whom I've never physically met before. Kai...Mommy can't wait to hold you and whisper in your ear how much I love you as I tuck you in at night. It's crazy to miss someone so much that you've never met. But I can't quit dreaming about these hands....

And these feet....

It's only been 10 days since we've been logged in and 18 days since we saw your face. And I can't quit seeing you in my mind. Or when I look at the family table and imagine you around it. Or when I see little kids running around at restaurants. I see you. I think of you. I pray for you. And I can't wait to hug you and kiss you. And for you to know that you have a mommy and a daddy and sisters and brothers who can't wait to do the same. Praying our LOA comes quickly....

LID and LOI

Today we received the news that we are officially logged in and our Letter of Intent was sent as well. Now the 2-3 month count down until we are approved by the Chinese govt (LOA). Easy peasy..... (hah). Lots to do anyway to prepare for our boy so I'll try to use my time wisely! Plus,, with the end of school flurry of events I'm sure the time will pass quickly. Thats what I'm telling myself anyway. Don't burst my bubble!

What's in a name?

Thank you so much for sharing our joy with us! What an amazingly exhausting week we had. And now the amazingly exhausting wait for our acceptance letter (LOA) and TA (travel approval).

Many of you asked me when we can go get him now that we know who he is. Well, I wish I could say that it would be this week but not so much. I would have to say that I think it will be 4-5 months from now before we can go. Maybe longer or maybe sooner. Only God knows. But on average that's what people wait after accepting a referral.

So why the name?

Obviously what you name your child is a huge decision as you definitely want to name them something that means a lot. And something they can grow into. It's as if you are speaking something over there lives. So we spent many months thinking on this.

As we stated before we are going to name him Micaiah James *chinese name* Woods.  With Adiah and Rhett we chose to keep one of their Chinese names as one of their middle names and we will do this with him as well.

Micaiah is a prophet from the bible. You can read about him in 1 Kings 22. I had forgotten about this story but when I was at a women's event at our church our Worship pastor's wife, Aunie, was speaking that night. She had another message prepared but God laid on her heart that day to change her message and speak about something else and use this scripture. In this scripture, Jehosephat and Ahab were wanting to take over some land that didn't belong to them. They wanted to do it but decided to consult with some prophets to see if God would look favorably on them if they did. Would they succeed, basically. So they consulted with 400 prophets and each prophet told them to go for it (my words). Jehosephat didn't really feel satisfied with that and asked if there wasn't any other prophet they could ask. Ahab said "There is still one prophet in whom we can inquire of the Lord, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah." In other words, he never tells me what I want to hear.  He just says what God tells him.
You can read the rest of the story but I loved the name when I heard it so I came home and studied that scripture some more. I looked up what the name Micaiah means and it means "who is like God". So after talking with Brian we agreed and decided on that. I'm SO glad Aunie changed her message that night! We plan to call him Kai.

James is Brian's dad's name. Brian always said if we ever had another boy he would like to name him after his dad. Brian says that Papa Jim (what the kids call him) didn't have the easiest upbringing as the youngest of 4 boys in a preacher/carpenter's home in West Texas. There was love but over the years Brian has learned there were also a lot of challenges. So Brian has watched as most of his dad's life he fought for things that weren't easy, but always believed he could. I see so much of that in Brian even today - and we both want that trait to be true for our latest son. He may have not had the easiest beginnings in life - but he will be a Woods now! So Micaiah James is the name - and his Chinese name (we'll have to write about that after we are allowed!) and Woods round it out...

May he always say what God tells him, never settle for going with the crowd, and always believe that with God he can achieve anything - even when he knows it won't be easy!

The day my mind stopped working and I became a zombie for about 4 1/2 hours

*Warning: More details than you care to know. I just want to remember how God worked it out and every single thing*

It all started this past Monday, April 25, after posting about our dossier landing in China safely. My mind drifted to our Log in Date (LID) and wondered when that would come so we could officially be matched at some point. Maybe a couple weeks or a month from then?

So I had already decided that that was the day that I would start my second round of Insanity Max 30. That would be my big accomplishment for the day. *haha* I've had a hard time being motivated and had put my eye on April 25th as the day I would start again.

I went upstairs and worked out. Check.
I rushed through the shower. Check.
I went to the dentist for a filling. Check

On a side note....You have to understand that I live south of Dallas. In a relatively small community. Where once you've been somewhere more than one time people remember you. My dentist is no different and we've been going there for about 7 years. So these people know LOTS about me and my family. And my house. And my Christmas lights. And our adoption. And when my 15 year old drives the golf cart down to the creek to take pictures for a class project and kinda gets on to him about that not being safe. You know...that kind of thing. And I love it.  Anyhow, while there I talked about how this was the day that our dossier landed in China and I guess at any time we could get a call. Dentist said "well if I'm drilling and your phone rings I'll answer it and say 'We'll take him or her!'"  I dig that guy. Then when checking out at the dentist the sweet ladies who work up front asked me how the adoption process was going and I repeated the story that I told the dentist and also joked about how "chill" I was about everything while never letting my phone out of sight. We laughed and I carried on.

Next, run by the store to get an oven lightbulb. Check.

Then go get lunches for Rhett and Adiah because I promised them I'd come eat lunch with them. Check.

Drive to Subway for Adiah, Schlotzsky's for Rhett, and Panera for me because we're all a little high maintenance and can't eat from the same place. Check.

Arrive at school at 11:25 am and figure out how to get all these lunches plus drinks inside so I shove all the bags into my purse and precariously balance the drinks in my arms and hands.

Rhett's lunch is first so he arrives to the cafeteria and I begin gathering all the bags out of my purse and set up his lunch so he can eat.

At this point I decide that it might be a good idea to locate my phone which was under all those bags in my purse and set it on the table...you know....just in case.

And thats when I saw it....*missed call* from a (703) area code. Our adoption agency is in the (703) area code.


And then my mind stopped working.



I looked at Rhett and said "Hey buddy. I'm gonna need to step in the hallway and make a quick phone call, ok?"
He was all sorts of ok with that because SCHLOTZSKY'S!

My mind was racing because honestly maybe they were just calling to let me know our dossier had arrived in China. Maybe they were letting me know about a super fast Log in Date or something. OR......????

I dialed the number...

As the receptionist was connecting me to our family coordinator I just prayed and a tiny bit teared up. Because what if...?

And then I heard the words I'd been waiting for...."Hi Amy! I was calling to talk to you about a potential match for your family."

I was in literal shock.

She begins describing the child and what was going on and asked if I would like to call my husband to decide if she should send the file for an initial review. I said yes.

At that point I knew I needed to go eat with Rhett so I went back to the cafeteria (like a zombie) and sat down and sent Brian a text:

"I'm at lunch with Rhett. And I just got a call....."

Like.... all dramatic like....

Which was silly because he didn't even respond!  So after Rhett went out to recess and while waiting for Adiah to arrive to the cafeteria I called Brian.

He was in disbelief that we ALREADY got a call! I explained the child to him and he said "Yes, lets look at the file". So I called our FC back and she sent it over.

I finished lunch with Adiah (which consisted of a bunch of silly 9 and 10 year olds talking about snapchat photo filters. And could they all call me "mommy". What the what?) and then raced home so I could look on the computer with Brian while he was at work.

To say the rest of the afternoon was a complete whirlwind would be an understatement. We looked at the file and Brian began researching. He is a Dr so I trusted him with that instead of me because all I know is the internets sometimes turns up weird things and I don't trust myself to not go down crazy rabbit holes.

At one point in the afternoon, Brian calls me and explains some things in the file and feels like it all looks really good. We ask our FC if we can do a full review so that we can send the file to another Dr for his opinion.  She says yes and we now have 4 days to review and get medical opinions.

In the next couple of days we consulted with a Dr here in the U.S., prayed a lot, cried a lot (well, I did anyway because that is what happens to me when I process HUGE decisions), talked with the kids, waited on some more information, prayed some more, ate some chocolate (because duh!), and tried super hard not to get myself attached until we got a final official medical opinion. (easier said than done).

But here's the deal. We didn't need more information or a Dr's final opinion to tell us that this was our child. Brian knew it. The kids knew it. (Oh....Adiah KNEW it!) And I knew it. Even with all my "what ifs". But like I was telling a friend....I'm a processor. I'm the cautious one. I have to think through EVERY SINGLE detail. Sometimes that looks all pretty like a present. And sometimes that looks kinda teary and snotty. Because I wanted what was best for this child. And guess what? God chose us despite my silly fears. And I'm humbled.

So all that to say......


IT'S A..........................................

BOY!!!!!!

Oh I how I wish I could show you his precious little face! But I can't until we get official approval from *hina.  But trust me....presh! He's looking fly in his Nikes though, huh? He is 3 years old. And eventually his name will be Micaiah (we'll call him Kai) James *insert one of his Chinese names here* Woods.  In another post I'll tell you why we chose his name.

It's strange to see your child for the first time as a toddler. So much of his life that we've missed already. So much he won't be able to tell us. And that grieves me. But God has and will continue to knit us together in a beautiful way.  However that looks.

So now my mind wanders to what is going on 13 hours ahead of us on the other side of the world. Is he sleeping, eating, playing, laughing, crying? Just like we did with his sister and brother who also came home from *hina. Oh, I wish I could know.

Soon enough. We'll be together. This mama heart can't wait.

Delivered

So....what'd YOU do this weekend?

Me? Not much.

Just hit refresh a few times to watch a certain little package make its way around the world. 

No biggie. 

Last night before I headed to bed I checked to see where it was one more time and got the lovely *delivered* screen and I thanked God. 

Sweet relief.

 

DTC! Aka: Dossier to China!

Yep. You read it right...our dossier is on it's way to China! 

So what does that mean for you people NOT in the adoption world? 

Well for US it means that after 5 months...actually EXACTLY 5 months from the day we applied with our agency...every document we gathered, every interview, every certificate ordered, and notarized, and state certified, and Chinese Embassy authenticated and organized....ALL of that? Well its making its sweet little way to China and THEN? Then they will finally know that we LOOOOOONNNNNGGG to bring another sweet brother or sister home to be a Woods family member!

It means that I will *a tiny bit* be obsessive about hitting the refresh button on the Fedex website. What? Just being honest.

It means that next week (hopefully) when it arrives in China and we're officially logged into their system we are officially...

OFFICIALLY...

waiting.

Waiting on the call that will change our whole world.

My heart can hardly stand it. (And neither can Rhett and Adiah!)

It could be hours, or days, or weeks, or months. 

Who knows....except God.

And truly if I'm being honest I'm not good at waiting. But He knows the desires of our heart. So we choose to trust Him.

So if you think of it maybe say a prayer that our paperwork arrives safely in China. That our new little one is safe and well and *somehow* knows that they are SO loved all the way over here. 

My mama heart can't wait.

Thank you, God.....

Isaiah 43:5 Do not be afraid, for I am with you;
    I will bring your children from the east
    and gather you from the west.

The one about the dossier

Yesterday I mailed our dossier to our agency for review. I may or may not have freaked the employees out with the importance of this getting to its destination safely! I may or may not have heard them exhale loudly as I left. What?!?! It's like my sister said....I feel like I put my child in the mail! And then I got oddly emotional when I got in the car. Our child....it's all worth it for him or her.

Praying that this time next week it will be flying over the ocean to Chin@!! 

 

Day-tripping

Today I woke up at dark thirty and made the 3 hour drive to Austin, TX to get our I800A certified at the secretary of state. It took about 10 minutes to get it done and I was on the road again! I located a FedEx and shipped it to Cindy at My China Docs to get an expedited authentication. We shall see how that goes in a couple of days. It should arrive to her by tomorrow and hopefully on its way back to me by Thursday. Hopefully! The plan is to make my final copies of the authentication page and get our entire dossier in the mail to AWAA on Friday.

It feels so good to be in this place now. After several weeks of inactivity due to the delay at USCIS its kind of crazy to be finishing up. Now just praying that when the people at AWAA review it that it all looks good!!!

Noonday fundraiser and a fun picture!

This morning my sweet friend, Jennifer, did a Noonday party at our house with a portion of the proceeds going towards our adoption! She SO didn't have to do that but I'm so thankful for her willingness. You can tell as she speaks about the Noonday company that she has a passion for what they do. Here are some pictures of the jewelry table. I completely forgot to take pictures of the bags that are fabulous! Trust me!

If you are interested in purchasing anything for say.....Mother's Day. Or.....Yourself....she is going to leave the party open for 2 weeks. You can shop by going to HERE.

You won't regret it!

Also here's another fun picture to leave you with......

Looks like I'll make a road trip to Austin during the day on Monday!

I800a approval!!!

I can NOT tell you how excited I am to say that we FINALLY have i800a approval! Man, that was a long time coming.

On Monday, I was almost for sure that approval would be in the mail. Like FOR SURE! I mean, come on....we got that RFE business handled super fast so I figured all they would have to do would be look at it, print that approval off, and mail it.

I was wrong.

So in my sadness I called the number on our receipt and was promptly connected with our officer. She informed me that YES, our RFE information was there but she had not had a minute to look it over.

*deflated*

So I didn't even expect it to be in the mail until at the very earliest today.

Nope.

So.....what does any normal person do? She gets her husband to call the number on the receipt so she doesn't look like the crazy one.

It's how I roll.

He calls the number, answers a few identity questions, and then gives me the thumbs up.

*thinking to myself: "What does that mean? She's nice? She's looking on the computer? What?"

Approved.

WHATTTTTT? (note to self: have Brian call everytime I need something)

So yes...we've been approved! As of April 6th.

So the plan is this.

1. Celebrate!
2. Get that letter in the mail.
3. Drive that sucker to Austin after getting it notarized for it to be certified.
4. Overnight it to Houston to our courier so she can get it rush authenticated.
5. Hopefully DTC by April 22.

We have to have our dossier to AWAA by Wed of the week we want to be DTC. I wish it was possible this coming week but it's just not. But hopefully next week?!?

To be continued.....

RFE- addendum complete

Because we are working with such amazing people for our home study our addendum has been completed and on its way today back to USCIS today. Praising God for that! So who knows how long it will take for our officer to approve us once they get it. But at least its on its way!!

RFE

Well a dreaded "Request for evidence" arrived at our house today. And I was not pleased! But after contacting our awesome social worker and her boss plus our family coordinator at AWAA we are now in the process of gathering the evidence they need. Which in our case is to fix some wording about our 18 year old in our home study via an addendum by our social worker. That will be mailed out tomorrow to USCIS and hopefully they'll receive it this week. In the midst of all the craziness we realized that at least we've been assigned an officer to our case. There have been some major delays in receiving approvals lately so I'm just thankful for anything I can be thankful for right now! Pray our approval comes sooooooon!

Fingerprints done!

Praise God! This morning Brian, Emily and I were able to walk in and get our fingerprints done a week early! They didn't really want to let us but finally they did and we were out of there in less than 30 minutes. So now what? We wait for the last piece of paper we need to finish our dossier. The approval letter! Unless they have questions and need more information it shouldn't be too long. Pray they don't have questions.....

Finally...fingerprint appointment letter!

Ok, ya'll I have been so patiently (er....maybe not) waiting for our fingerprint appointments to arrive in the mail and they finally came today! Because Emily is 18 she also has to have hers done with us. She arrives home tonight for spring break but our appointment time isn't until after she returns to Nashville. And the appointment is here in Dallas. So we are going to trrrryyyyyyy to walk in to get our fingerprints done early while she's here next week. Please pray that they allow this to happen! God is good...!!

Thank you!

Well, I couldn't be more humbled and thankful for the response that we received from everyone after publicly announcing our adoption plans! We are hastily working on getting everything finished up with our dossier so we can be DTC as soon as possible! Our agency is expecting many files in the coming months and we hope to be at a place where we could be considered for one of those precious children. As of today our I800A application along with our home study is at the govt office its supposed to be at so now we wait for our fingerprint appointment to be assigned. Its a whole lot of "hurry up and wait" but at least we're now at this point.

Until then....

Homestudy

Well finally there's something to write. Today we received our finalized home study in the mail which was exciting! I already had everything ready to go for our I800A application so when we received our home study I could mail it off. And that's just what I did. I hopped in the car and went straight to FedEx and mailed that puppy off. Since Monday is President's day and today is Friday I scheduled it to be delivered on Tuesday. Oh well. At least its on its way!

Every email or blog post our agency writes that reminds us of the children waiting for a family it makes my heart leap.

Soon......

Patience

Isn't that truth?

I'm finding it hard to be patient this go around. I think the first time with Adiah I was just kind of clueless about the whole process. I mean, I knew that at some point I'd be finished with our paperwork. I knew that at some point we'd get a call about our little girl. I knew at some point we'd travel to go get her. They say ignorance is bliss and in this case I think it's a tiny bit true.
With Rhett, we found him as we were paper chasing so his sweet picture was in my mind as we were finishing up and it felt like time flew. It only took us 11 months from applying with AWAA to being home with him. Crazy fast!
However this time.....I think I know whats on the other side. The excitement of finishing up. The excitement of the call. The excitement of knowing the one God chose for our family. The excitement of traveling to get our sweet one. And so I'm finding myself thinking ahead too much. Not being in the moment and enjoying the process. And I don't want to look back on this time and not think of it fondly.

So today....I choose peace. I choose a good attitude. I choose to be in the moment. I choose to look forward with excitement as we go down this road to....whoever God has for our family. I choose to trust Him with that.

In other news, we finished up our home study visits on Saturday. We may need to add a few things because Emily is living in Tennessee for college right now but hopefully it won't hold us up too much. After our home study report goes through several people for corrections, etc then we get to apply with the govt for our approval to move forward. Exciting times, people! We're working our booties off over here!!

1st home study visit

Our first home study visit is scheduled for this afternoon and to say I'm excited is an understatement! Our social worker is the same one who has worked with us before while adopting Adiah and Rhett. We're excited about that. She's sweet and helpful!

Our second visit is scheduled for Monday and that's our full family visit where she comes to the house. Emily will have to be skyped in since she's at Belmont but it's nice that they're working with us on that.

And then our last visit is next Sat!

I think I've officially finished gathering documents for our home study and dossier and so begins the portion where I send things off for certification/authentication, etc. Once our home study report is finished then we apply with the govt for our approvals....blah blah blah. So many things to keep straight.

Anyway, just wanted to post something on here about where we're at right now.

So ready....being patient and trusting His timing. I'm a work in progress. ;)

Why again? After all these years?

I know its a question that many of you are thinking.

Why again after all these years? You already have 5 children. Don't you want to be done raising kids ever? Isn't enough enough?

Listen. I get it. Please don't think that we didn't wrestle with some of those same thoughts. 

Because we did.

But here is just a tiny glimpse (without giving too many personal details) into why.

When Brian and I got married we never really thought too much about how many kids we would want to have one day. We talked about "if we can't have kids....I guess we'll adopt". But really that was it. Very early into our marriage (like '3 years' early...like 'in the middle of medical school' early) we got pregnant and had Emily. Then Natalie 2 years later. Then Ridge 2 years after that. So honestly adoption wasn't really on our minds or hearts after that. So we decided to "help pregnancy not happen" and found a Dr to do the same. 

And then....

Brian had a car accident in 2004 that ripped our world apart for awhile. And we found God. In a new and powerful way. He changed so much about us during that season of pain and healing and so we began thinking about "if we never had another tomorrow" what would we wish we would have done. And so we began the process to adopt Adiah from China. And it was amazing and life changing and challenging and wonderful. Our hearts opened up to love in ways we NEVER knew was possible. Not just Brian and I, either. Our kids began to love differently. And outside of themselves. And big. 

And then God gave me a dream. No...not that "I have a dream" kind of thing. A literal dream. About another one. And it freaked me the freak out! Because...."GOD! We already have 4 kids and Brian will kill me when I tell him about this. And I want to travel. And do things. And....yes. Ok. I want this!"

So I told Brian about the dream and he didn't kill me (sorry to spoil the surprise!) and he said we'd pray about it until we knew exactly what God meant by that dream. So that's what we did. God showed us the way to Rhett and so here we are with 5 kids. And it's all kinds of wonderful (and loud) just as I'm sure you're imagining. 

So why?

Well....for the past couple of years Brian and I have grieved our decision that we took into our own hands early in our marriage to "control" how many kids we have. Plain and simple. And I won't get into the whats and whys and all that business because that's private. And I know that there are differing views about that. This is our personal journey, however. But we knew that God was stirring our hearts for another. Whatever and however that looked. And as weird as it is for us to be thinking down this road again...we trust Him. And as much as I dragged my feet on getting started (because oh my word the paperwork!) my mother heart is anxious to bring home whoever God has for our family! We're pumped! So yes....I'll have a college kid (she's at Belmont University in Nashville. Waahhh!). One almost graduating high school (she's in 11th grade right now). One beginning his high school career (he's in 9th grade). Two in elementary (they're in 3rd and 2nd grade currently). 

But like we realized after Brian's accident way back in 2004...we're not promised one more day. And our time here is short. And for some reason He has opened our hearts up to this again. So we're fervently working on this paperwork. And trusting his timing. And believing for big things! 

I'll keep you posted.... :)

Announcement time!

Well! I felt it was only fitting since we have  "The Road to Adiah" and  "The Road to Rhett" blogs floating around out there (and poorly managed I might add....dang you social media!) that I go ahead and begin "The Road to...?". And since we don't know who it is we'll be bringing home I guess the title of this blog will stay that way until we know. I wanted to have a way to document our new journey as we bring home another sweet one from China!!

Yep! That's right...

And we couldn't be more excited and anxious to get this paper chase finished. We have gathered almost all of our documents for our home study and are waiting for the phone call from our social worker to begin our visits. I have NO CLUE how long this chase will take us because its been a minute since we've done this (We brought Rhett home in January of 2010. I'm sure things have changed!) but I'm hoping to be DTC by March. Is it possible? Pray with me that it is!!   Next post....why again?