National Foster Care Month

During our adoption journey, God has moved our hearts towards the plight of those children who don't have moms and dads. May is National Foster Care month - a time to bring to light the need that exists both here and abroad for kids without parents.

As we have waited, we have been working at our church to start an adoption ministry. In God's perfect timing, the launch date for our ministry is May 18th - 5 days before I leave for China!

You can read about it here

Good Friends - Good times!

Let the celebrations begin!! Saturday night, my wonderful prayer group got together to celebrate Becky's referral and impending arival. We invited the husbands along for good measure. Jeri opened her home to us, and we had a wonderful evening filled with great food and wonderful fellowship! In good southern fashion, we sat at the table for many hour eating and talking and laughing!

Jeri & Bill got Becky all set for the beach with her own beach towel, sand toys and bling bathing suit!

Travel Approval!!!

We just received the call - I am going to CHINA!!!!!!! We need confirmation from the consulate - but it looks like mom, Destiny & I will leave on May 23rd and return home on June 5th! We will be united with Becky on Monday, May 26th!

Praise God - He is so Good!!

You've Got Mail

Becky got her first mail this week – thanks to all who sent her something! It was really neat for us to see her name on the package……

Our first gift was from Lara & Annie. Their mom is my very dear friend Tricia who I have known since my Boston days! The girls sent us this beautiful dress

Becky surely will be the best dressed – thanks Maria for this awesome dress. This is very cute – it is totally reversible and both sides are adorable!

And thanks to Christie for the fun stuff – apparently this ladybug is one of Eric Carle characters. I have no idea who he is, but all who have young kids assure me I will find out soon enough!

Travel Update

Now that we have our referral, the most popular question is “when do you get her?”. The short answer is – not sure. Hopefully, I will be able to travel the fourth week in May. The longer explanation is that we are waiting to get our travel invitation from China to go get her. Once we receive that, our agency will contact the US Consulate in Guangzhou and schedule our appointment there. The departure date for China will be backed down from there – generally 10 days before the appointment.

We are hoping & praying for a quick TA – if we get our TA by the end of April, departure dates have generally been running three to four weeks after the receipt of TA.

More Surprises

Thank you so much to our great friends Kim & Dave and their boys for these beautiful celebration flowers (the picture does not do them justice!)

We share our referral date with Kim & Dave's Forever Family Day when they brought their beautiful daughter Kate home from China in 2007.

Thank you for sharing your lives with us - you have been a lifeline through this wait!

Praises

The events of the past few days surrounding our referral have been nothing less than the Glory of God manifested here on earth. Now that I have come back to earth a bit - I must give all the praise & the glory to our Father - the Creator of heaven and earth - for what He has done in our lives.

The support and love that from our friends -both near and far - old & new - is nothing short of God's hand in our lives. A special thanks goes out to our CWA family; we have been so blessed by the people we have met through our adoption agency; you all - without exception - mainfest the love of Christ every day and I thank you for showering our family with that love!

Praise the Lord!

Yes - give praise oh servants of the Lord

Praise the name of the Lord!

Blessed be the name of the Lord now and forever

Everywhere - from east to west - praise the name of the Lord

For the Lord is high above the nations his glory is higher than the heavens

Who can be compared with the Lord, our God who is enthroned on high?

He stoops to look down on heaven and on earth

He lifts the poor from the dust and the needy from the garbage dump

He sets them among princes even the princes of his own people

He gives the childless woman a family making her a happy mother

Praise the Lord!!

Psalm 113

She's So Beautiful!!

Great things come in big brown trucks around here!

We received our referral package at 11:00 am this morning - praise God for Saturday UPS Delivery! The UPS guy thought I was absolutely out of my mind (which my husband would agree with!) as I was taking his picture as he walked up our driveway...and our two neighbors across the street were a little worried as I was jumping up & down & screaming!

Doug was out washing the car...and I immediately summoned him home! He opened the package and saw her precious face first - and broke out in the biggest smile! You can see why for yourself....

Isn't she just about the most beautiful baby you've ever seen?? We are so in love with her already!

For those who have asked - what will happen next is we have sent back to our agency our acceptance of her; we will then wait about 3-4 weeks for the US Consulate in Guangzhou to schedule our visa appointment; we generally travel about 6-8 weeks after referral date, so we anticipate that travel will be in mid to late May.

We are thankful to God that He has blessed up with this child; while the next weeks will be difficult for us with our daughter so far away, we trust our Lord to watch over her and keep her safe while He prepares her heart for her new family!

Think Pink - we have a daughter!!

“I prayed for this child and the Lord has granted me what I have asked of Him”

Today we received word that we have a daughter! Her name is Ai Lan Ji, she is a year old (dob 3/24/07) and she is in Hexi, Huazhoa, Guangdong Province! She is about 16 pounds and 27 inches

We anticipate that Karen, her mom & Destiny will travel mid to late May to pick up Becky Ai Lan Yingling!!

Thank you for all your prayers – they are so appreciated & felt!

Our God is an AWESOME GOD! Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow!

Stork Sighting???

There is a rumor "flying" about the China adoption community that referrals have been sent from the CCAA in China; if it's true- - it means that after 28 long months, we may see our precious daughter's face sometime between Friday and next Tuesday!!!!

We will keep you updated!