Passports and Pictures

Wow, the last 24 hrs have been slightly busy. The Fed-ex man did show up with our packet around 3:oo. Inside were several documents for us to sign including the Acceptance Letter from China.. It states " Based on your application and in accordance with the Adoption Law of the People's Republic of China, the CCAA matched a child with you.. Herein, we send you the information about the child to you. You are kindly requested to make your decision, sign in the proper place below, and deliver this letter asap to the adoption organization that submitted your application file." Mike and I signed and "marked" the box stating we would accept Dang Xue Yuan as our child. Sounds so easy doesn't it??

If it were only as easy as "checking' a box YES...

YES we'll take her, right now please!

We also applied for Madeline's and Matthew's passports today. Hoping to get those in 3-4 weeks.

In between filling out paperwork and giving away $$$ (ha) I washed clothes, talked to Virginia, folded clothes, swept the house, loaded the dishes, picked Cody up from moms, and finally....

drove to Fed-ex to overnight our packet back to CCAI.

My sweet and dear friend Lisa was there to make sure I had everything in order. I will have to share sometime about the way Lisa and I met... another red thread story for sure!

So, here I am at 8:40 posting and loading pics to share with all of you. Thanks for reading this and following along on our journey.

LOA!!

It's official... the Chinese government issued the Letter Of Acceptance of our adoption of Abbey
The Fed-Ex man should will deliver it today, Mike and I sign it, Fed-Ex it back to our agency, then.... it goes back to China. Whew!! So I am in WAIT mode... again, this time on the FED-Ex man. Yes, I am tracking it.
CCAI (our adoption agency) also issued our Travel Packet which details our upcoming travel to China. The paperwork never ends!! More agreements, waivers, medical releases, etc. I got really nervous last night reading through all of it. I have so much to do before we travel!! Please pray that I remain somewhat 'calm' through this craziness. We wait over 2 years... doing nothing but waiting and praying...then BAM... I need to have everything done YESTERDAY!

Hang on to your seats.. we are headed to one of the last BIG hills on this roller-coaster ride called adoption. Pray I won't throw up... ha

Share

I really need to sit down and post about the week that led up to our referral, but just have not had time to do it. I do want to share some more photos of our sweet Abbey.

She is from the Luoyang orphanage in Henan, but we have been told that she is currently in Beijing in a private foster home called Amazing Hands. It is obvious from her pictures that she is being loved and well-taken care of. I will share more about her medical needs in a later post, but for now just please keep her in your prayers. I can't wait to kiss those cheeks and see that smile light up the room!

It is with great joy...

that we introduce you to our daughter....Dang Xue Yuan

Her birthday is Sept. 14, 2009

she is from Luoyang, Henan Province, PR of China

I can't say much, but...

our lives have once again been blessed by the "stork" that traveled all the way from China straight into the heart of this waiting momma! I promise to share more just as soon as I can.

Thank you Lord for this blessing.

Faith... and lack there of

This last week has been one of the most emotional, frustrating, and exhausting weeks of my life. If there ever was a time I needed my faith in God it was this past week. Nothing went as planned, nothing happened like I thought it would, words were either too few or too many and it seemed the tears never quite dried up. I tried so hard to give it up to HIM. I told myself over and over that HE was in control and that HE would make everything happen according to HIS plan NOT mine. But I never got past the feeling of being completely LOST and so totally at the mercy of others.
At one point I thought to myself...God is looking down at me and thinking "oh you of little faith. After all I have done for you..." Then I began beating myself up for not having the kind of faith I knew I owned... it was just buried under all the anxious and scared feelings that controlled my thoughts. How is it that a turn of events, a conversation, or a look can turn us into putty in Satan's hands? We then go down the road of fear,doubt, desperation, anger and tears. I know that my life is in God's hands, but Satan did have a turn this past week at attempting to take my heart to that place called hell.

Thank you God for not giving up on me. Thank you for showing me light in the way my husband and children told me"it's going to be OK". Cody even brought me chocolate-covered almonds one afternoon and said "Mom this will make you feel better... chocolate". Oh how I love that boy.. I mean young man. Please continue to pray for me and our famiy as we trust in God to lead us on new journeys. I will share more about this journey soon.

It's now September

September is always busy for us. Mike's birthday is the 6th. He turned 40 something again this year! Matthew celebrated his birthday on the 8th. He is now 11!!! I looked back at his baby pictures and wow... how many chins did my little guy have? He has grown into such a sweet, tender-hearted, crazy and fun-loving young man. He definitely keeps me on my toes and has a sense of humor that makes me smile ((most of the time))

Let's see what is on the agenda for the rest of the month...
Matthew's weekly football practice, weekly football games, Cody's Friday nights at football games, birthday parties for Madeline to attend, Chinese school starts on the 25th, dance once a week for Madeline, etc. etc. etc...