I'm going to Cullman today to meet my friend "Sarah" who is adopting from our same orphanage. She's in town for the weekend from Seattle. I can't wait to meet her! It will be so special for Kate to be able to keep in touch with Sarah's little one. And another cool thing... I've shared before that I'm in a yahoo chat group of parents who have adopted from our orphanage (that's how I met Sarah). Well, I recently posted again in the group and asked some travel questions... and ANOTHER mom (let's call her Mary) wrote back that she is adopting currently a little boy from the orphanage! They are hoping to travel this fall as well! I sent her to my blog right away because there is a little boy in some of the pictures we've been sent. Sure enough, HE IS HER SON!!!! I mean, how COOL is that?!?!? Here he is:
And there are more pictures of him from Kate's birthday pictures in one of our previous blogs. Just so cool! So now Kate will be able to grow up knowing at least TWO children that she started life with. I just think that is so neat. This little boy is going to grow up in Kansas - we will have to make a few trips that way to visit! Kate's gonna have some really special pen pals for sure ; ) God just does so many neat things!
On the "progress" front: We submitted our I-800 the day after we received our Letter of Acceptance (LOA) from China. The I-800 goes to the USCIS (US Immigration) where an officer looks it over and approves it. This process is supposed to take 2-3 weeks. Sometimes, however, you get an officer who is out of town, has a lot of work, etc. We mailed ours in August 8, got the receipt that it had arrived on August 20, and found out it was approved August 28. The way you find out it's approved is you call multiple times per day, wait on hold for 20 minutes, and ask people ; ) So then it goes to the NVC (National Visa Center) where they do some sort of approving and then send it to China. Ours isn't at the NVC yet. We are running a tad slow on this process (according to estimates - NOT, of course, according to God's plan on this ; ) He has a perfect plan and knows JUST when He wants us to travel. Our other friends in the process, Sarah and Mary, however, have progressed through this step quicker than we have - so it is possible that they will travel before us. But again, God's timing is perfect. So though I've been a bit disappointed, we wait on Him! Just working on patience and trust ; )
"All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be" -Psalm 139:16
So even though it's so hard to not go get Kate RIGHT now, it's comforting to know that God ordained each and EVERY one of her days - He knows just how long till we get her - and He planned each of those days for a purpose. I'm trying to rest in that!
On the "bethany" front (we told you how God just affirms over and over and over and over and OVER that Kate's first name is Bethany...), we have continued to have lots of Bethany incidents in life. Almost daily STILL God brings the name into our lives in one way or another. It's just becoming funny at this point!!!! So crazy how God works ; )
A friend gave us a precious children's CD and this song was on it... PRECIOUS!
http://
And here is a great blog on adoption. This gal is hilarious!
http://jenhatmaker.com/blog/
A few more links if you're still with me... here is a Mark Schultz song and the story behind the song. Another friend sent this. I didn't know he was adopted. And the story behind the song is so cool - I never thought about birth moms this way and it's just a really neat thought:
story:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
We are helping to plan an adoption/foster info night at our church. It's really coming together! We have lots of attendees and a great group of "table hosts" that have adopted, are adopting, are fostering, etc. The table hosts will share their stories with their table at the beginning of the evening and then we'll hear from some awesome speakers! A tax accountant (who happens to have been adopted) will share on affording adoption, a social worker from our adoption agency will speak about the domestic and international adoption processes, a representative from DHR will talk about fostering, and an adoptive dad with teenage girls will share his thoughts with us. Should be an awesome night! Here's a link to the flyer if you are interested. You don't have to feel called to foster or adopt to come - there are lots of other ways to serve the orphans of the world - we'll try to hit on those ways too. Just a neat way to come together as a community and look at ways we can serve the children of God. Hope you can come!!! Here's a link to the Facebook event page:
https://www.facebook.com/
And here's the flyer:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/15Vy4zn7eBPJrWbMBCuVKAZavrrKfKxAFv5FUhMW7ZVtKRGD6C4FrwwgICvBK/edit
There is a national holiday in China that has something to do with moon cakes. So we used our favorite overseas package-sender, Ann at www.redthreadchina.com again to send a package to Kate's orphanage. We sent moon cakes and a camera. Here's the picture of the package (Ann sent us a pic before she mailed it):
Just a side note, I knew about this holiday months ago, and you know how God give you little encouraging things throughout the weeks... you see Chinese adopted kids everywhere, perfect verses, etc. At Cracker Barrel, they had the moon cakes displayed ; ) Here's a pic:
Just a little "you're on the right track" boost from God ; ) So cool!
Travel update: Looks like we'll likely travel right at the beginning of November. There is a SLIGHT chance we could travel the third or fourth week of October, but with this last step taking a bit longer than predicted, we may be aiming for that November 1 departure date. We'll see what God's plans are though! We've prayerfully decided that James and I are both going to get Kate! Super exciting! We'll leave our girls here with friends and family - they will be FINE and they will undoubtedly have a blast ; ) It will be sweet to have some special time with James and Kate just the three of us - we won't get that chance again for a long time most likely! I've been collecting the things we'll need for the trip - every medicine you can imagine, baby things, food, etc.It's a lot to pack! I am putting together a packing list (the ones online that I find are YEARS old) so for those of you adopting, here is the rough draft. I have copied/pasted items from these older lists and added some other items. I'll update it once we actually pack and then when we come home, I'll try to take off the things we didn't need. I couldn't get it into columns on Google docs like it had been in Word, sorry - it's like 10 pages long. But here it is just in case it helps anyone:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oGHs1sqCnbr96fDyCYvXGxiapDGl8vm7aXqOQ9Rz8rI/edit
So that's the news! We've been cleaning like crazy, re-organizing rooms, closets, etc. Nesting for sure! So exciting to think that we will head to get her in about 2 months. Anne has started back to school and she LOVES it. Anne is such a sweet little thing and so helpful. We love her kind spirit and her songs, games, and sayings!!! Molly has been loving to change her clothes LOTS of times throughout the day! It's a hoot - and a lot of laundry ; ) They have both started ballet (James did the "mommy and me" with Molly yesterday and I was KICKING myself that I forgot my camera. He's gonna have to do it again for sheer camera purposes - it was HILARIOUS. I will post pics for sure. I was laughing so hard I was crying. Unlike most of her fellow classmates, Molly does NOTHING the teacher tells her to do - it's much funnier watching from the window than being the "mommy" in there with her... hehe... anyway, that's another story). Molly has been showing her true "TWO" year-old-ness lately - and I have been loving this book "Making the 'Terrible' Twos Terrific" by John Rosemond. It is a God-send for sure. But Molly is such a little love and snuggler and we just love her. We love these little girls and can't wait to bring Kate home to this ballet-loving, outfit-changing, drama-filled, giggle-filled little house of ours! Here are some recent verses from my quiet times. So good:
"Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage" -Psalm 84:5
"When you release loved ones to Me, you are free to cling to my hand" -Jesus Calling
"So let God work His will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God and He'll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it's the only way you'll get on your feet." - James 4:7-10 (message)
