Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Updated pictures!!!
We got a special surprise this week! Our adoption agency sent up some new pictures of our sweet girl late Monday night. These were taken just last week. I was on a fieldtrip with Jace in the outer banks of NC when Joey texted me the new pics, and I got quite teary. The new haircut, and sad eyes made me long for her so much more. Can't wait to hold her in my arms and finally see her smile ..... Here she is ...
Is she just adorable or what?? bitter sweet for mom, here, to see those big, brown eyes .... would have been easier to see a smile, one day soon though .... We love you!!
Friday, June 3, 2011
A Little Humor
I found this humorous on another family's blog adopting from China and wanted to share ...
You might be adopting from China if:
13. You own new children's clothing in 2 sizes, for two seasons, for a child you've never met.
12. You know that waiting for China has nothing to do with dishes.
11. You've been "expecting" way more than 9 months.
10. You're as hormonal as a pregnant woman without the weigh gain--well, maybe with some weigh gain.
9. You've been fingerprinted four times and have never committed a crime.
8. You practice squatting while going potty to perfect your aim.
7. You practice strapping large amounts of cash to your body without wrinkling it.
6. You have a crazy obsession with Skype, Blogger, and Chinese adoption sites.
5. Letter combinations such as LOA, LID, TA, LSC, PA, SWI, CWI, SW, SN are part of your everyday vocabulary.
4. You can stock a small medical clinic with the "just-in-case" medicine and first aid supplies that are in your suitcase.
3. You know that I-800 and I-767 are NOT highways.
2. You study Mandarin phrases like a college student cramming for finals in hopes you will have something to say to your daughter.
And ....
1. You love someone you've never met with all of your heart.
You might be adopting from China if:
13. You own new children's clothing in 2 sizes, for two seasons, for a child you've never met.
12. You know that waiting for China has nothing to do with dishes.
11. You've been "expecting" way more than 9 months.
10. You're as hormonal as a pregnant woman without the weigh gain--well, maybe with some weigh gain.
9. You've been fingerprinted four times and have never committed a crime.
8. You practice squatting while going potty to perfect your aim.
7. You practice strapping large amounts of cash to your body without wrinkling it.
6. You have a crazy obsession with Skype, Blogger, and Chinese adoption sites.
5. Letter combinations such as LOA, LID, TA, LSC, PA, SWI, CWI, SW, SN are part of your everyday vocabulary.
4. You can stock a small medical clinic with the "just-in-case" medicine and first aid supplies that are in your suitcase.
3. You know that I-800 and I-767 are NOT highways.
2. You study Mandarin phrases like a college student cramming for finals in hopes you will have something to say to your daughter.
And ....
1. You love someone you've never met with all of your heart.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Stork Visit!!
The stork (Fed Ex delivery guy) came to visit me at work this morning!! China sent our Letter Seeking Confirmation for us to officially sign and send back saying we will be Ava Grace's parents :) I have been in a cloud all day of emotions. We are so very blessed that this letter came about 4 weeks early, and it came today on my dad's birthday! Happy Birthday Papa Ed!!
This is a HUGE step in our adoption, now we wait for our Article 5 which is the last step to get Ava's visa and then travel approval. We are waiting on an updated picture of our sweet girl, which we expect in 2 weeks or so. Our whole family just CANNOT wait for our travel approval to come!
This is a HUGE step in our adoption, now we wait for our Article 5 which is the last step to get Ava's visa and then travel approval. We are waiting on an updated picture of our sweet girl, which we expect in 2 weeks or so. Our whole family just CANNOT wait for our travel approval to come!
Monday, May 2, 2011
Blessings for today
What a wonderful day today has been! I got to talk to our case worker and get a little more information about our time frame to travel to China, and ....we had a wonderful "surprise" luncheon at Joey's work, the NC State Lab, in honor of our adoption. I was truly overwhelmed with Joey's co worker's thoughtfulness and generosity today!! A great BIG Thank-You to all of you at the NCSLPH for all you did for our family today. This was our 1st adoption celebration, and it just makes all of the wait a little bit easier to celebrate Ava Grace's upcoming arrival.
I wanted to explain a little about our last waiting period, because many of you have asked for updates. China is a Hague adoption country, so everything is very regimented and smooth, but does take time for all the paperwork. We received our Log in Date with China in late March, and our pre-approval to adopt last week, so now we are waiting for our Letter Seeking Confirmation, (we are told will take 2 months from now) which is our official "referral" for our daughter. Once we receive this, we can submit an I800 thru US immigration to officially get approval to adopt a foreign born child and bring her into the US. (takes 2-4 weeks to process) We will then get a litter from the Nat'l Visa Center, and be able to submit our final document, which is an Article 5 letter to China. Once they receive this, they will give us our Travel Approval (TA). So .....long story short, we will most likely hear about our travel arrangements end of July or 1st of August. So, yet again, we are bracing for travel in Sept, but really praying our Lord will move this along faster so we can be with our daughter and make our family complete by July/ August.
Its good that we are told "worst case" scenarios, so if we are blessed with travel sooner, it will just be a wonderful surprise.
Also found out some interesting news today from our case worker. YiYi may not be her nickname after all, lol, they are not sure what she is called at this point, but we should get another update with a picture and height/weight info in about a month. We will stop referring to her as YiYi in our prayers, and simply use Ava Grace until we truly know what her name is :)
Keep praying for our family, and for Ava Grace! We truly appreciate and covet your prayers thru this process, Mandy
I wanted to explain a little about our last waiting period, because many of you have asked for updates. China is a Hague adoption country, so everything is very regimented and smooth, but does take time for all the paperwork. We received our Log in Date with China in late March, and our pre-approval to adopt last week, so now we are waiting for our Letter Seeking Confirmation, (we are told will take 2 months from now) which is our official "referral" for our daughter. Once we receive this, we can submit an I800 thru US immigration to officially get approval to adopt a foreign born child and bring her into the US. (takes 2-4 weeks to process) We will then get a litter from the Nat'l Visa Center, and be able to submit our final document, which is an Article 5 letter to China. Once they receive this, they will give us our Travel Approval (TA). So .....long story short, we will most likely hear about our travel arrangements end of July or 1st of August. So, yet again, we are bracing for travel in Sept, but really praying our Lord will move this along faster so we can be with our daughter and make our family complete by July/ August.
Its good that we are told "worst case" scenarios, so if we are blessed with travel sooner, it will just be a wonderful surprise.
Also found out some interesting news today from our case worker. YiYi may not be her nickname after all, lol, they are not sure what she is called at this point, but we should get another update with a picture and height/weight info in about a month. We will stop referring to her as YiYi in our prayers, and simply use Ava Grace until we truly know what her name is :)
Keep praying for our family, and for Ava Grace! We truly appreciate and covet your prayers thru this process, Mandy
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Update on YiYi
I wanted to share a little more about our sweet girl tonight, and about all the emotions I've had since finding out about her.... So YiYi was 15 months old on 3/19. Many of you know we were adoptiong through the "Special Needs" program in China, which could mean any variety of mild to moderate medical conditions. YiYi was born with a cleft palate, and had a hard time with recurrent pneumonia and failure to thrive in her first 5 months secondary to her cleft palate. She had this surgically repaired at 5 months old, and has thrived ever since!!! She may also have kidney calcifications, but her kidney function is great in her lab work :) She is growing well, crawling, and we are told she has a good case of stranger anxiety. (at least we know this up front :) So .....we found out who our daughter was, and were elated!!!! And on the same night, found out it could be 6 months before going to get her!! I experienced such joy, and such deep sadness at the same time. When people congratulated me for the next several days, I would cry ..... The longing in my heart for her made the wait seem almost unbearable. I shared this with a few people who prayed for the Lord to take this sadness from me, and He did!!! I still long for her, but I know 4-6 months to wait for an entire lifetime with her is OK with me.
We found out more about Shanghai Welfare Institute, and we feel really great about all the good things we learned. It is one of the best orphanages in China, and when diplomats come to visit the country, this is THE orphanage they take them to! How reassuring is that?? I no longer worry about her receiving good care, and enough food, as she is in the best place imaginable or prayed for.
I ask you to please pray for an expedited process to go get YiYi and to bring her home. We love her so much already ....
We found out more about Shanghai Welfare Institute, and we feel really great about all the good things we learned. It is one of the best orphanages in China, and when diplomats come to visit the country, this is THE orphanage they take them to! How reassuring is that?? I no longer worry about her receiving good care, and enough food, as she is in the best place imaginable or prayed for.
I ask you to please pray for an expedited process to go get YiYi and to bring her home. We love her so much already ....
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Meet Ava Grace "Yi Yi"
Fend Yizhen "Yi Yi"
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Reality Setting In!
We are have finally completed all our paperwork for the entire process! The last step was the fingerprinting and from other's experiences, we heard that may be a little stumbling block along the way. Thank God it went very smoothly for us! We received our official notification a few weeks ago from US Immigration Services that we were authorized to adopt!!! Wow! And, then reality sets in! It has seemed all like a fantasy until now. Right now our dossier is being translated into Mandarin and being sent to her governmental officials for approval.
We have also gotten so much support from our friends and family. They often ask where we are at in the process and are excited much like we are. Just that is encouraging to us. What an experience this has been. It has been great to talk to so many others who have been or thought about adoption. You would never realize how many friends have told us that. One couple has even asked how we knew it was right for us.....it is hard to put into words but you just know because God places you- face first- into that position and if you have that intimate relationship with Him, you will know. Of course, I would say that we are nervous about it all- especially the trip to get her, the adjustments when she comes home with us, and answering questions when she asks. But what parent is not nervous? We are comforted feeling assured that it was not our decision but God's calling- even in our early years of marriage- even when we didn't even talk about adoption. One of our friends asked, do you feel like it was a call from God? To us there is no doubt at all, but to some they may not realize God's will and plan...it all depends on where we are at in our relationship with the Lord I believe. Little things reinforce God's call I think- for example, we went out to eat dinner with some friends a couple of weeks ago. We were all stuffed from dinner, but for some reason we decided to stop by the Dairy Queen for a little taste of heaven, they call it 'Brownie Earthquake.' HA! As soon as we walked in and found the only tables left open in the place, it was right beside a lovely couple with 3 little adopted girls- girls that are from the same country we are going to- and to top it all off, they just got back with their youngest daughter only 2 months prior to that night. They opened up and shared their story with us and we with them. Was that a coincidence? Some might say yes, but I say no; hinged on the fact that we had just received our official acceptance from USCIS the week before! Wait- it gets better! Mandy went shopping to the mall the next day and guess who they saw in the food court amonst hundreds of people? Yes, that same couple! We have a testimony to God's call on our family!
Just think, our soon to be Ava Grace is somewhere in this world right now and I can only imagine what she's doing. Waiting seems to be harder and harder the closer we get, but we are trying to focus on the here and now at this moment- our current family that will forever change on a 2 week trip overseas. A change that we are all looking so forward to, but a change that we will never forget either!
We have also gotten so much support from our friends and family. They often ask where we are at in the process and are excited much like we are. Just that is encouraging to us. What an experience this has been. It has been great to talk to so many others who have been or thought about adoption. You would never realize how many friends have told us that. One couple has even asked how we knew it was right for us.....it is hard to put into words but you just know because God places you- face first- into that position and if you have that intimate relationship with Him, you will know. Of course, I would say that we are nervous about it all- especially the trip to get her, the adjustments when she comes home with us, and answering questions when she asks. But what parent is not nervous? We are comforted feeling assured that it was not our decision but God's calling- even in our early years of marriage- even when we didn't even talk about adoption. One of our friends asked, do you feel like it was a call from God? To us there is no doubt at all, but to some they may not realize God's will and plan...it all depends on where we are at in our relationship with the Lord I believe. Little things reinforce God's call I think- for example, we went out to eat dinner with some friends a couple of weeks ago. We were all stuffed from dinner, but for some reason we decided to stop by the Dairy Queen for a little taste of heaven, they call it 'Brownie Earthquake.' HA! As soon as we walked in and found the only tables left open in the place, it was right beside a lovely couple with 3 little adopted girls- girls that are from the same country we are going to- and to top it all off, they just got back with their youngest daughter only 2 months prior to that night. They opened up and shared their story with us and we with them. Was that a coincidence? Some might say yes, but I say no; hinged on the fact that we had just received our official acceptance from USCIS the week before! Wait- it gets better! Mandy went shopping to the mall the next day and guess who they saw in the food court amonst hundreds of people? Yes, that same couple! We have a testimony to God's call on our family!
Just think, our soon to be Ava Grace is somewhere in this world right now and I can only imagine what she's doing. Waiting seems to be harder and harder the closer we get, but we are trying to focus on the here and now at this moment- our current family that will forever change on a 2 week trip overseas. A change that we are all looking so forward to, but a change that we will never forget either!
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