We have a log in date!

Just a quick note, our dossier has been logged in to CCAA with a date of 2/25/10! That's a lot faster than we thought since the dossier just arrived on 2/22. Whoo-hoo! Making incremental progress. :)

Please help if you can!

http://bringingdrewhome.blogspot.com/

We want to make everyone aware of a family who needs our help and prayers right now. They are sooooooo close to being able to go get their son, Drew, from China. However, they do not have all the money that they will need to travel. They are holding a fundraiser to try to earn what they will need to bring him home. Adoption is not easy on the wallet, so to speak. There are a lot of people involved in the process and all those people want paid, shocking, huh? :) On top of all that, families need to figure in funds for the travel part of it. It adds up.

I have been following this family through their blog. They, too, have been married for 13 years (God-willing that will be us in April), have three biological children, and are in the process of adopting their second child (ok...they are one ahead of us on that one). Things are tough right now for them. It is not my place to give the details. Just know that they need our help.

Please take a look at their site. Even a small donation will help. Ten dollars would get you an entry into their fundraiser and twenty-five dollars will get you three entries. There is a "Chip In" button on the right hand side of their blog. Just click on it and it will take you to a secure site to donate. They even have PayPal if that is easiest for you. Please help Drew come home to his forever family. Prayers for them would be greatly appreciated too. On their behalf...thanks!!!!

http://bringingdrewhome.blogspot.com/

Out of the mouths of babes...

These stories are probably those type that you have to be there to really get a kick out of them; but, I just had to share them anyways as they made me laugh. Hopefully, you will get a little chuckle out of them too.

The girls and I were on our way to pick up Max from school. They started playing with some of the little figures that they had around them in the car. Sydney started talking about how the little figures could get married, typical Sydney. So, my mind drifts off and I start thinking about how blessed I am to be married to Ron. He is a wonderful husband, great daddy, hard worker, etc. I am thinking about how, God-willing, we will be celebrating our 13th wedding anniversary in April. Here I am thinking all those wonderful thoughts when I hear from the back "Let's pretend she gets unmarried and then marries him." What...unmarried? What happened to "Happily Ever After" and "Dreams do come true." and all that other stuff that our little princess used to believe? Of course, I spoke up. I certainly do not want our children thinking that is something that they will ever need to think about. I do not want our children to get "unmarried" or worry about us getting "unmarried". When I questioned Sydney about it, she said " You know...divor (imagine stumbling over sounds here)" Luckily, at least, she did not know how to pronounce the word divorce. It certainly is not a word we use frequently around our house!!!! I have to admit that I am saddened that she even is aware that people get unmarried; but, I guess that is a part of our life these days. The only times that I can recall talking about it is when referring to people we know who have been through the "d" word or in this case the "un m" word. :) So, anyways, my speech continued about how God does not want people to get unmarried and that we are suppose to stay with the one we marry forever. Sydney, bless her heart, came back with "But, Mom, it is just a chipmunk and a doll." Oh, out of the mouths of babes...



My next funny, at least to me, story comes from our youngest daughter, Veronica. After picking up Max, the kids all started talking about what they want to buy at Toys-R-Us. They have all been saving up their money and gift cards. Max is talking about more Transformers. Sydney wants some little doll set where you can change bodies around, not just the clothes, to give them different looks. To me that is just creepy and that is probably the exact reason that she wants it so badly now....it creeps Mom out. Veronica was giving the whole shopping some thought. She finally said "Me buy hanitizer to put in me red bug for me kids." (or something along those lines) Translation: "I will buy hand sanitizer to put in my red Volkswagen bug for my kids." I am hoping that she will find something at the store that she will be able to use now versus 25 years from now. :) Again, out of the mouths of babes... Now, I am off to use some "hanitizer"...

Dossier is in the air!

Another incremental milestone has been reached as we received word from our agency to send our dossier to them for processing. They'll send it for translation and then on to China to the CCAA to be logged in! We're sure all of you are wondering just what this dossier looks like so we took a picture before we dropped it in the FedEx Pak this morning.

Keep in mind that each stack of papers has at least 3 papers and many have more as we have the original document, a county and state certification (those are all of the ones with the gold circle on them) and then each stack has a

sticker of authentication from the Chinese consulate. Some documents went to the US State Department while others went to the California Secretary of State. We also had to include a copy of our passport photos, extra pictures, pictures of our house, family and of us doing stuff together, etc. Finally, a copy of each of these documents was mailed to our agency as well. We were surprised that the FedEx envelope was only 1lb 11.2oz. It felt a lot heaver for 9+ months of documentation collection.

The kids all received their first H1N1 and Hep A shots yesterday and apparently put on a very dramatic scene. Poor Julie and the nurse - people must have thought they were being skinned alive I hear. The best I could do was bring Indian home for dinner. Is it a coincidence that we had Indian and then get the good news about our dossier? I think not. :)

We're really rolling now and have a lot more to do but now the goal seems so much closer! Have a good weekend. We are supposed to be getting a lot of snow, so that should be exciting.

We have our PA!

Just a quick update to let everyone know we received our Pre-Approval (PA) from China so we're at least in the system! Now the onus is on us to get our dossier completed. We just found out that we need to have an addendum to our home study as we were too specific on Lil Bubba's age. We said 6-24 months and by the time we get him, he'll be over 2 years old so the paperwork won't match. We are already working with our social worker to have it updated, but alas, it'll need to go through the same process we know so well including a trip to the NY consulate. All in time....all in time I keep telling myself. Patience is not one of my strong suits so this must be part of the plan to help me learn it.

Anyways, great news and another milestone reached!

Prayer Request- Thanks!

Hi, All!
First, I want to thank everyone for your support during this process. It really means a lot to our family to know that Lil' Bubba will be welcomed with open arms.

Next, I would like to ask a favor. Please pray that all five of us will be healthy enough to travel together to China to bring Lil' Bubba home. I have been extremely concerned lately as we have been fighting many nasty viruses. We know that the Chinese officials would not be happy to see us if we appeared with these germs (cannot blame them). I am not sure what we will do if one of us is ill when it is time to go. Thank God, we have loving family members who have offered to help out as needed. My heart breaks at the thought of having to make that difficult decision though. I cannot bear the thought of leaving our three at home for two weeks even though I know they would be well cared for. I have separation anxiety!!!! I, also, cannot bear the thought of missing out on the moment of meeting Lil' Bubba and seeing his home for the past two years. What would I do...go or stay?! Ron definitely has to be able to go as his name is the main one on the paperwork. Plus, I am not sure that I could do the trip on my own. Can you imagine me traveling through China by myself? That might be made into a movie, most likely a comedy. :) We should be there as a family. We have been through the whole process together.

I know this is all in God's hands. He already knows what is going to take place. It is just so difficult for me to not know. Faith, Julie, faith!!!!

While I am begging for prayers, could you please also pray that our babies will be healthy soon? I know that we are blessed that they are not as sick as some children. They have only had to deal with viruses after all; but, it is still difficult to watch them suffering. Is it spring yet?

Thanks!!!! Stay warm and healthy!!!!