Home Visit was a Breeze

We cleaned our home to the level that would pass military inspection. Amy didn't even care. She basically said, "Yep there's the fire detector, let me see your fire extinguisher and it looks like you have enough room for another person to live here." I knew it would be that way but it was still great to get a lot of "spring cleaning" done. Feels good to have it all organized. We discussed the possibility of adopting out of MBHOH. We have to find out who is the sending orphanage and if they actually house kids at MBHOH, if not then we can at least try to get a child out of the same provience. If we do that then we can visit MBHOH while we are there. We had met a couple that I will blog about later, that said it was indeed possible. That couple lives in China in the same area and works with MBHOH often. So I verified that we have to wait on my medical garbage to resolve itself before the home study can be completed. But we also have to wait on the CAN reports so currently it is a race to see what gets resolved first; me or the CAN's. My money is on the CAN's seeing as April will be month 4 when they are due.

Maria's Big House of Hope Final Tally!

Sleepers: 51 brand new sleepers in sizes Premmie to 3T, 12 additional sleepers were used for a total of 63 sleepers!

Medicine: 39 bottles of medicine (Ibuprophen, Tylonol, Cough, and Cold n Cough)

I am so proud of Noah I could just bust! God is doing such an amazing thing in that little boys heart, it is so big that it is contagious! So many people got excited about what he was doing and donated. I am so grateful! Blessed be the name of the Lord. I have tasted and I know that God is good!

Adoption Update

Not a lot to say currently. We are looking at our final home study appointment next week. It will be the actual visit to our home to see how we function and interact as a family. Amy will finally get to meet our children we have been bragging about for months now. I don't know what really comes after this step because I believe my back condition will be holding things up for awhile. I don't think the home study can be officially finished until my back surgery (or whatever will be done) is finished and I am released from a doctors care. Me being the hold up is surprisingly funny since I am the chomp at the bit gal. I am fairly calm about it, in that I know ALL OF THIS is about God's timing. I keep praying I won't take one step ahead unless his light is there to illuminate my path. I refuse to step out into darkness. So I figure, we need more time to do more homework and we need more time to collect funding and we may even need more time for Maria herself to even be born. Who knows but God and we just are trusting in his timing. We got our fingerprints back from DHR stating that we passed our security clearance and we are clear to be able to foster and adopt in the state of Alabama. It came back like mid-February which was in good time. Amy was shocked when I brought her copies of our letters. So that is good news. The CAN's are another story, apparently they can take up to 4 months or so to process. Those are the record of abuse reports. I finished my 8 hour online Hague training and Eric is halfway through his. We have yet to tackle all the millions of discussion questions from the Adoption Manual so I suppose that is next, it is the dreaded homework I spake of earlier. Our interviews with Amy our social worker have gone great. We really like her and the feeling is mutual. Most of the people we asked to fill out letters of recommendation for us have already sent in their letters. So really everything is moving along swimmingly. We received our tax refund so we can pay our first payment or two payments really, I think it is about 5 thousand. God is so faithful. How we ended up with a tax return at all is amazing and Eric gets a 3,500 bonus in April. We will begin the application for grants and the support letters when the home study is completed. You can't apply for any of the grants without the home study in hand. I have a lot of peace about the money currently. If God orders something, he will pay for it. It is my mantra. So far, he has been faithful to bring in the money out of our own checkbook. I know we will have to ask for support, but for now, it is pretty neat to be able to pay for it ourselves. We are blessed! So no real exciting news to report other than I guess we have a name for our new daughter...Maria. Noah chose it and it sorta has stuck. It is in honor of Maria Chapman, who has gone on to be with Jesus. Noah says he can't wait to meet her in heaven. We pray for our Maria her name and discuss our second daughter by that name now. So if you think of it pray for our little Maria!

Noah's 7th Birthday Gift Idea

Maria's Big House of Hope (above)

Noah’s presents for his birthday party were footed sleepers for babies and infant medicine to be sent to Maria’s Big House of Hope in China. We were discussing another friend’s birthday gift and I told him the friend had asked for donations to an organization that provided for orphans in India, like Maria’s Big House of Hope does in China. Noah got very animated and said, “MOM! I don’t want any presents for my birthday, I already have too many! I want to collect things to send to MBHOH! Then maybe the things I send can be used for my little sister if she gets to go there! (We are adopting a special needs child from China). Again, pass the tissues! So we wrote a letter to our friends to stick in the invitations and asked for donations. We told our church about it and now people are handing us money and asking us if they could also donate too. It’s incredible! I’m so blessed by the heart inside this boy. Thank you sweet Jesus for making him this way!

Could the China Adoption Manual BE Any More Overwhelming?!

Let me start by saying, "AAAAHHHHH!" D'! How did you do all this?!!! I received a couple emails this week from Lifeline with documents attached. Some I had already read and downloaded from their website and some I had not. I just was given the link to our CAM today. Our China Adoption Manual. Are you kidding me?! I mean I realize that they need to really know the people who are applying for adoption, this is afterall a child's life we are talking about here. But I just didn't realize exactly how much there would be. I don't mind all the forms, I am my father's daughter, I see a form...I must complete it. I'm good at document gathering, like it actually, in a sick sorta way. It's the blasted short essay questions! I was talking to Eric about it and trying to voice that I felt so "blahhhh" about all the short answer essay stuff. I finally landed on; it's because I already know I'm a good parent! To which my loving husband responded, "Yep. Now you just have to prove it to total strangers." Which is exactly it. Of course they need all the essay stuff to determine if we are psycho or not, but wow, it is gonna be so time consuming and draining. However, our little girl is worth it!!! (or boy...we are going to ask for a girl but are open to whatever child God has for us.)

And so...here we go. Our eldest child, our sweet son, is already announcing to the world that we are adopting. He apprently had a prayer request for his little sister in China last Sunday. Now all the Children's Ministry is buzzing about Noah's little Chinese sister. Which means, now their parents are approaching us. Guess it's time to formally tell the church. Which is a good thing considering they are such a prayerful and giving church. We can use large quantities of both, he-he.I just need the Lord to guide my footsteps according to his word and let no sin rule over me. (Psalm 119-133) Because I am already racing ahead and tripping. I need to slow down and focus calmly on one thing at a time. NOT try to do 20 things at once and screw half of them up and freak out with stress over it. Speaking of freaking out with stress...the money. This is my other area of prayer. I CAN NOT freakout over money. If God has called us to this, he will help us fund it. I recently heard a guy on the radio say, "If God orders it, he'll pay for it." I am gonna take heart and rest in that. We are re-working our budget and tightening up, I am back at work and will likely work more, we will apply for grants, and eventually raise support. God will work out the fine details, as he lights my path I will take a step and when the light doesn't move, neither will I. Lord hear my prayer.

Journey to Our 2nd Little Girl or Boy

Today is Jan 13, 2011. On the night of Jan. 11, 2011, Eric and I submitted our Statements of Faith, Application and Fee, to begin the adoption process through Lifeline Adoption, to bring home our 3rd child from China! It is so surreal, I mean I know what we are doing, but then I have no idea what we are doing! As I begin to think about having a 3rd child, likely a second daughter, I can't help but wonder where she is and who is taking care of her or if she is even alive yet. If she isn't, I wonder where she will be left...to be found. In China you are not allowed to put your children up for adoption. So, the children in the orphanages are children who were abandoned and then found and taken to an orphanage. But she likely is alive and so I wonder what medical issues she is having and how they are affecting her. Who is loving her and cuddling her, if anyone. I pray she is loved and that she knows she is loved. I have so many new prayers now. I pray that she will quickly bond to us. I pray that her medical situation is easily managable without too much pain. I pray that her and Noah and Eden will become fast friends and siblings. I pray that Eden will have a wonderful relationship with her new sister, and not be to terribly jealous and put out. I pray for Eden's adjustment and that she won't feel slighted and hurt. I pray for Noah that he can manage with 2 little sisters and our time even more divided. I pray for myself that I will really come into my own with 3 children! I never thought I'd be a mother of 3! I worry that Noah will feel slighted but he seems excited! We asked him if he wanted a brother or a sister and he said he wanted a sister because two boys would be to rough and tumble and he thought Eden would like it better to have a sister. How unbelieveably sweet is my boy?!!! I love that kid!

We got a response from our agency at 6:10 am! They were just letting us know they received our application and that they are moving offices so our social worker won't be in touch with us till next week. They are the nicest people and we have heard nothing but amazing things about them. I pray it is a good relationship, a good fit.

We told my parents and they are ecstatic! I was so shocked for some reason. I called Mom and told her and she was so supportive. Then she called back 15 minutes later and was like..."I need to know everything!" I'm gonna be a grandma again! Tell me everything! When do I get the baby?!" It was so precious. Then Dad called me and left me a message congratuating us and telling us how excited and proud of us he was! It was the best response we have gotten yet. It was good. God is good!