Settling In...

Well we've been home a little over a week. Jennifer and Taylor start school tomorrow. Emilee starts school Wednesday. Sara and Chuck are due in late Friday night, looking forward to seeing them soon. I just have to post a few pics to let everyone see how happily Jennifer is settling into being part of a family :) Taylor decided that they would be dancers and Jennifer happily complied.

Doing Fine in China

Hi, we are doing great but cannot access our blog. My daughter Sara is posting this for me. We got Jennifer yesterday, she is doing absolutely great. She knows lots and lots of English already, which obviously really helps. She is full of smiles and she and Taylor are having fun playing together. We will try to post later when we can, but may have to wait until we get back home to update with pictures and stories.

A few days to get ready...

We've got one more business week to finish up a couple of work projects that have to be delivered on Thursday. There's a list of errands to run, packing to be completed, bills to pay, etc.etc. This week will fly by.

We took a break this past week end and met Tom's family for a yearly get-together. It was 100 degrees but everyone was a good sport about it and it was nice to see all the familes and the kids who are growing up so fast, even though we were all melting. A picnic in this heat was pretty unbearable, we're thinking of moving to October?

Tom, Taylor and I went a day early and drove down to the beach for a few hours. It was sooo good to be in Sandbridge even for just a little while. Taylor decided she'd be a surfer babe.

OK, more lists to make, don't want to forget anything!

We finally have a travel plan. Plane tickets are very scarce right now, due to the World Expo in Shanghai. Our Chinese exchange student had written to me about this wonderful expo, and I thought it was really cool, til we had to fly right into the middle of the festivities lol. But we have tickets. We'll leave Dulles on 7/31, arriving in Beijing on August 1st, change planes and get into Guangzhou late that evening. Then we'll meet Jenni on Monday! Lots of stuff to get organized, we're working like crazy to get so much done for our business and personally to be able to leave, but it feels really good to have those tickets reserved, at least now we know we have a plane to get on. It is so hard to believe that in less than three weeks we'll actually have our little girl.

Taylor and I are going to Sara's this week end. I want to look at baby things, do a little Penny shopping :) Just think in three months, I'm going to be a grandmother. Busy, busy, year!

Got our CA, we're officially on our way :)

Our travel coordinator called, and things are moving along..we have our CA or consulate appointment set for August 9th. So now our travel plans are official, we leave on July 31st and will fly home on August 12th.

Our travel packet has been FedExed to us and flights are being scoped for us. We have decided to stay at the Holiday In in Guangzhou so I am making reservations this afternoon.

We ran a bunch of errands this afternoon and purchased all the medicine we'll take with us, Advil, Immodium, Pepto, Benedryl, etc. Tom had a cold the last time we were in China and our guide tried to talk him into going to some herbalist and getting some local Chinese medicines, he got well fast!

We have a lot to get done before we travel, the time will fly by as we get ready to go meet our Jennifer.

I got a call this morning from the head of the board of directors for a grant we'd applied for...she interviewed me for half hour. We are praying they give us a grant as plane ticket prices have sky rocketed this past month and we're hoping maybe a grant will help with this increase in expenses. Pray for us that we'll get this!

We are going to have to work like crazy these next few weeks, we'd better get busy!

We just got the call..at 2:15 p.m. on July 6th, 2010 we were notified that we have travel approval. It is official, we are going to China to pick up Jennifer and bring her home! Our agency is getting the all important CA or consulate appointment set up, as the trip kind of pivots around this important date, but we need to start working on plane tickets, hotel reservations, packing! We'll be leaving THIS MONTH!

TA's in the air..

OK, I just saw a post where an RQ member has been told that a new batch of TA's are being sent that could possibly arrive as early as Friday, definitely Monday. Our agency got TA's this week for the people with 6/03 A5's. There are some around the country who've gotten their TA with a 6/14 A5. So with a 6/10 Article 5, I'm thinking we HAVE to get ours by early next week at the latest. This process is so long and hard, you find yourself guarding your heart against excitement because you just get burned out with the pressure. Hard to explain unless you've lived it. Just picture if your 5 yr. old was half way around the world and you didn't know if she had a good dinner tonight, or if she is scared of the dark. I just read to Taylor, we said her prayers together, we giggled, and hugged and kissed. And I thought of Jennifer, waiting, waiting, needing her family. So to see this post about TA's on the way...well it just actually makes my heart beat faster. We WILL be traveling soon!! Stay tuned...my blog may finally have some real news!

Thinking about travel...

We should be getting our thoughts together about travel. I need to start making some of my lists (I love making lists, its weird, I know, but they ground me, and I feel so organized when I have them, even when its not true lol). It seems like time is flying by, each day is busier than the last and I feel like I'm running out of time to prepare. Prepare what? I'm not sure. Prepare out home? It needs lots of work but it's not going to happen in this next month. Prepare Jenni's room? Taylor and Emilee and I worked on that today, moving furniture around, trying to see how the room can still be fun and functional with two beds in it. Prepare for our family to change again, not something you can really prepare for, just have to go with what you know and hope for a smooth transition...Prepare our hearts to grow and welcome this new little member of the family...that is my prayer every single day.

There is massive flooding in southern China. Whenever I hear of a natural disaster in any area of the world, it makes me so sad for the people, the families affected by such devastation. Tonight I worry that this recent catastrophe could be affecting our youngest and I pray that she and all the other children in Shenzhen's Bao'an SWI are safe, and we are praying for the many thousands who've lost lives, loved ones, homes. We have an email into our agency, hoping we can receive word that this part of China is safe from the raging flood waters....

UPDATE: We heard from our agency that Shenzhen Baoan SWI is dry and well. So relieved to know our girl is waiting for us safely.

Article 5!

Today we got word that our Article 5 was picked up in Guangzhou and mailed to Beijing. Now we will wait on our TA (travel approval) and I need to start a looong list of all the things we need to be doing to get organized to be in CHINA for two weeks!

Our agency supplied us the tracking number for our A-5 package and I could tell when it was picked up and it was routed from Guangzhou through Shenzhen where Jennifer waits for us, and was delivered in Beijing at 12:35 p.m. China time - the CCAA has the info they need to proceed with our final paperwork approval. We should receive TA in 2 to 4 weeks!

Thinking about travel...

We are waiting on our article 5. Which is just another paperwork step in being given travel approval (TA). So while we wait, I'm thinking about what we can take with us to make Jennifer know we love her, and things she can play with to help with the bonding experience. In the update we received from her SWI, she supposedly said her favorite animal is elephants. So we got an elephant to take along, will have to figure out how to pack her with her big trunk :)

We also have picked up jump ropes and hair ribbons, and picture cards, coloring books etc. Emilee and I named the elephant Summer in honor of the Chinese exchange student we hosted this past winter.

Taylor is planning on taking along a favorite animal along with some baby bottles, clothes, etc. so they can play 'mama and babies'...I'm not sure where we'll have room for actual clothes for us lol

UPDATE!!

We got an update from Jennifer's SWI, with pictures!!!!

Here are some of the things someone from Jennifer's SWI wrote to us about her.....

She is called "Xuan Xuan" (pronounced Schwinn Schwinn)

Her favorite food is: apple (good, she actually didn't say candy YAY)

Her favorite colors are: red, green, orange, white (obviously a girl who needs many different dresses based on her mood that day). Red was listed first, Taylor will say that is her true favorite color because thats what she wants it to be since its her favorite color.

She likes school, she sleeps in her own little bed but in a room with others. This is good, as she will be sharing a room with Taylor so hopefully that will be comforting to her. She has two best friends, Fu Ling and Xin Ming. I will have to post on some boards and see if I can find their parents (hopefully they are being adopted!) so that Jennifer can keep up with her "sisters".

Our paperwork seems to be moving along at a decent pace, hopefully we'll be leaving in a couple months to meet this little cutie!

Another small step

The paperwork progresses. Tonight I called the NVC (National Visa Center) and found out that our I800 was cabled to Guangzhou, to the American Consulate. I don't understand all these steps, it is very confusing and I'm not sure what some of it really has to do with adopting a child, other than it has to be accomplished so I'm glad its being done.

On a lighter note, our agency will request one update for an adoptive family while we wait and I asked for our official update on Friday. This means our agency will contact the SWI where Jennifer lives and they will ask questions such as her height and weight, what her favorite color is, her favorite foods, does she have any special friends (I'm hoping we can get some names and then I can try to find their families so Jennifer can keep in contact with children she I'm sure she considers as family when she comes home). And if we're really lucky, maybe we'll get some new pictures!

I800...again!

This afternoon we received our corrected I800! Now this important pc. of paper, along with our DS-230, our visa applications, our original LOA, our passports and several other auspicious forms will all be sent to our agency tomorrow. Another hurdle completed, we're one more step closer to our Jenni.

I800!!

Taylor just checked the mail for me, as I watched her pull the mail from the box, I saw that there was a large brown envelope, and yes! it was from the USCIS!! It's our I800 - another huge step in our Hague paperwork to be allowed to travel to meet Jennifer! A good mother's day present! I've just about run out of pictures we have of Jennifer...before long I'll be posting ones we've taken ourselves :)

OK, my happy dance is short-lived. I just read the I800 thoroughly and realize they have Jennifer's birthday listed incorrectly, I'll have to contact the Hague office on Monday and ask them to correct it and re-issue our approval...oh well, another dip in the roller-coaster....

News from Bao'an SWI!!

A couple weeks ago we sent Jennifer a package with a letter from us, a couple pictures, and a big bag of jolly ranchers candy to share with her friends and the workers at her SWI. This morning I got an email from someone there, telling us that Jennifer had received her letter! What a good place she is from, how caring. There are lots of orphanages in China that do not allow any information about the children in them to be communicated in any way. Bao'an seems to have such a heart for the kids they are taking care of and we feel very blessed that Jennifer is being taken care of by such a good group of people.

Here is the message we received:

Dear Deborah and Tom Twark, everything is Longxuan very well. She kept the letter you wrote to her. She recognize some words in the letter. She was very happy to read the letter. We hope that we can meet very soon. Best wishes to all.

We are wondering about the phrase that says she recognizes some words in the letter. We had it tranlated into Mandarin before we sent it so we are assuming that Jennifer/Longxuan is learning to read a little bit? We are just soo happy to know she is getting our letters and knows we are thinking of her every day. We are praying that this communication will help her accept us when she meets us and that the transition into our family will be as smooth as possible.

We received our applications for visas in the mail this week end, its time for us to apply for them, and to tell our agency where we want to stay, how we want to fly, etc. - Its getting real, we're getting close, not too much longer now!!

Our world and hearts keep expanding

One of the neatest things about adoption (apart from the obvious, having two new daughters in our lives) is that we've met so many great people who want to share in our joy and have been put into our lives expressly to make our journey easier, and to help us know how to best go through this crazy process of adopting special needs children.

We were blessed with our Sunday School class holding a pancake breakfast for Jennifer last Sunday and they took up an offering to help with travel expenses. We are working on filling out grant paperwork, trying to launch a line of children's furniture (rocking chair, stools, etc.) and custom plaques/sign work to help fund our adoption as well as hopefully save a little for Jennifer's ocularist needs when she gets home, and we are so appreciative of friends who want to support us in this way, the love we felt was overwhelming. I stood and tried to thank everyone for their caring, I honestly don't really know what I said as speaking in front of more than about two people at a time petrifies me but I hope our class somehow felt the thankfullness we feel at being a part of such a great group of families. We sat by a couple during this breakfast that I've spoken too a bit, but don't know very well. They shared that the husband only has one eye and that he wears a prosthetic, we would've never known! Today he actually took it out and showed it to us, right there in the gym! Amy and Dave are so warm and caring and matter of fact about something we know nothing about, an artificial eye. They told us that they know an excellent ocularist (the person who can make the prosthetic for Jennifer) and some of the steps we can anticipate going through. What a gift from God, to meet people who've BTDT and can offer us advice and support! So again, as we worry that we've gone into territory that we won't know how to navigate, God has put someone in our lives to help us see the way through as we bring Jennifer home, into our family. We look forward to getting to know this family better - they have already been such a blessing to us!

It is my heartfelt desire to somehow be the support to others who are going through adoption as the friends I count on have been to me (you guys know who you are!). Tomorrow I will start work on a rocking chair and stool prototype and hopefully will have something to show friends soon, to get marketing feedback from my adoptive family community.

And, on a different note, the adoption community is worldwide and yet, actually a small "neighborhood" where everyone kind of seems to know everyone else. Righ now, there is a little girl named Chrissie who has been with her forever family only six months and she had to have major open-heart surgery. It has been really tough, she's been on life support since Monday as a result of her surgery. We are praying for Chrissie and her family as we are hoping for a miracle for them as the doctors take her off some of the life support equipment she's needed and help her look toward recovery and healing.

So many children needing homes...

I am still walking on air from receiving our LOA "early". We frantically finished filling out all the paperwork needed to go with our LOA on Monday night so it would be ready to travel out on Tuesday when the FedEx truck arrived with that very important pc. of paper. I met the FedEx lady at her door, she didn't even get out of the truck. Tom and I dropped our work, signed our LOA, made the appropriate copies and took off to overnight it to the Hague headquarters in TX for our next step to working toward travel. I had made up a box of goodies for Jenni and her friends with a letter and new pictures of us to send out on Monday, telling her we are thinking of her every day, and that we should be in China sometime this summer. So, as we sent off her paperwork to TX, we mailed her package to China, it was such a good day.

Today I am back to work, trying to get caught up on business paperwork that our accountant needs (now!). And all I can think about is the information I read on my adoption support group boards this morning. A new shared list has just arrived and it brings the total of kids waiting on that list to somewhere close to 1700. Just think, 1700 children without moms and dads, 1700 children with no future, no one to tuck them in at night, to clap when they hit a ball for the first time, to exclaim over the fact they won the P.E. jump rope competition yesterday (yay, Taylor!), 1700 children who will never get to go to a special high school event with a beautiful dress and matching shoes and purse (yay, Emilee!). 1700 children who will never get to know that their parents are so proud of them while they wait for their first child (yay, Sara!)

So I sit here, sooo happy that we will be meeting Jennifer this summer, and she will know all about a family's love, she will have a mommy and a daddy, big sisters and a cool brother-in-law that can make sure she knows how to grow up surrounded by fun and security. And right now, there are 1700 children waiting for that opportunity.

LOA!! LOA!!

After only 39 days, we have our LOA, our Letter of Acceptance! I have been praying that we would be able to travel in July, and it looks like we just might be able to do that! It took us 5 weeks to be logged in when most families are logged in within a week or two, so just this week I was imagining someone looking at our file and saying, well, lets get this LOA moving to make up for lost time!

I was running errands, had just come out of the accountant's office when Tom called me and asked me where I was. Well duh, running the errands you sent me on. He says, well Living Hope is trying to reach you. My heart started pounding, NO WAY, I said, don't mess with me. He said, call them, they want to discuss your LOA! So I called and our rep. confirmed that we indeed have this important step out of our way. I ran into UPS and told Texas, the friendly counter guy that I see at least once a week our news, I know he thinks I'm crazy. Little does he know he's the first person I got to share this big news with!

We are now in the last stretches - we must now submit several more forms to apply for TA, travel approval. This time of waiting can take as long as 2 1/2-3 months but I'm hoping we're on a roll and can get our TA by the first of June so we can book our flights, get our CA or consulate appointment in China and go get our girl.

Encouragement

Sometimes when you are waiting to meet your child that is so far away, it can seem like a dream, like it might not happen, even though you know it eventually will. This week has been one of those weeks that has been discouraging and time has felt like its dragging by. And then on Friday, I met with some friends and one mom who has adopted and knows just how long the wait can feel brought me two outfits, well, actually 4 because she bought matching ones for Taylor and Jennifer! Taylor was overjoyed, she talks constantly how she and her little sister are going to match. She loves to match, she and Sara have had matching t-shirts before, it seems to bring about a real feel of belonging to her. One look at the Christmas dresses brought about exclamations of 'oooohhh'. She said immediately, I have to email Mrs. F, and she did (with my help of course). So, on Friday night, all of a sudden we felt like it wouldn't be too long til Christmas and two little girls in matching green dresses and cute pink tops & pants, thanks to our friend's thoughtful gesture. This morning I wrote another letter to Jennifer and we'll send it off next week, just to let her know she is in our thoughts each day til we have the chance to meet her :)

Scary week

So far this week there are no LOA's showing up and this is strange....I've actually been thinking we could get our LOA by the end of the month and now, nothing, the adoption boards are eerily quiet.

I am getting another letter ready to send to Jennifer, some more pictures, so she will know we haven't forgotten her, we want her to know she is in our heart and thoughts every single day. How long it must be for a little girl, when she's waiting on her forever family to arrive :'( I pray that there is someone who is kind enough to say to our little one every once in awhile, your family will be here when they can....

A positive sign

Today Tom and I were working in our shop and our mail person pulled up. We were wondering what needed to be signed for? It was our packet of information from our adoption agency - all the forms that have to be filled out and sent with our LOA when we get it. For those of you who aren't immersed in a Hauge convention international adoption, once a family gets final approval of adoption of a child (LOA) then there is much paperwork to be done to be given permission to travel. The ironic part is that this extra boat load of paperwork is provided by our government, not China. But it has to be completed, sent to China, it comes back here, it goes back and forth several times and finally we, the family are given approval for travel (TA). Today the packet came with a letter saying, now that you are getting close to your LOA, all this paperwork needs to be completed in order to be ready (so not a day is wasted!). Just opening up this pack of forms made my heart beat faster. In the papers was Jennifer's referral, her official notification that she will be our daughter. So I will fill out more forms, I don't mind, it makes me feel like I'm just one step closer to bringing our little girl home.

I have a friend who encouraged me to think 'outside the box' with raising funds for travel so I am in the process of designing some little step stools to sell - something a child could use to brush his or her teeth, perhaps. I would love to come up with some really cute adoption related plaques, i'm working on these too. Hopefully in a couple weeks I'll share them and get opinions from my friends as to whether they think they might make a good fundraising tool, we may need airplane tickets before too long! I spent one day this week applying for adoption grants, praying maybe one organization will think our story is worth helping us bring Jennifer home :)

Lots of LOA's were issued this week - we could possibly get our LOA by the end of April - that would be just amazing. We need to travel, get back home and get settled in before time for us to become grandparents! Jennifer will become an aunt before her first Christmas with us!

Happy Easter

Today is so beautiful here in Virginia. Spring is finally here, our trees and flowers are blooming, and we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior. Our church service was so moving and full of praise, it just made my day.

Taylor woke up early this morning, so excited, only she wasn't sure why lol. She thinks the idea of a large, human-like bunny coming into her home is bizarre and scary - we don't even go there, but she remembered that there is supposed to be a present in a pretty basket that shows up on Easter morning, so she told me to wake Emilee up and we wandered into our family room to find a basket for her with a pretty little white rabbit and a DVD that she's been wanting for a long time. Emilee got a CD of her beloved Keith Urban and a cool Starbucks water bottle to take to work to cut down on wasting plastic (a green Easter lol).

This week, Taylor has the whole week off so we're lining up play dates with a couple friends and the week will end with a visit to Sara's house. We'll go shopping and we'll buy Sara something new since she didn't get to come home for Easter this year.

I am hoping and praying that there are as many LOA's issued in April as there were in March - if so we'd have ours and move on to the next BIG step - paperchasing to travel documentation. I'm still praying hard for late July travel - anyone reading this is more than welcome to pray along with me!

Life on the rollercoaster

Last week was an exciting week, the paperwork pushers seemed to be moving at a good pace, and LOA's were coming in fast and furious. Based on the number received by so many, I calculated that we could get our LOA by the end of April, and that would let us travel in late July. This week, they are trickling in very, very slowly and there is another Chinese holiday next week that will cause them to have Monday off so the rollercoaster just bottomed out again. And I am back to hoping for August travel. This is why I should stay off the rumor boards (but I just CAN'T stop myself from peeking to see where we might fall in the 'big wait'). The uncertainty is the hard part. It would be so much easier to cope if we had a definite waiting time and knew when we might be allowed to travel, then we could fit all the other puzzle pieces of life around this time, but its just not that way, and I guess, really life in general isn't that way, so we'll just keep doing what we do, til we know something different.

Lots of LOA's!

This week has been a banner week for LOA's (letters of acceptance). This important step means that the Chinese government agency responsible for reviewing all the paperwork sent to China has completed their review and you have been officially asked to be your child's parents!

This is very exciting! I am on a group that charts activity and based on this week's activity, if the present pace were to continue we could get our LOA by the end of April! And then, we could travel in the summer before Taylor and Emilee have to return to school! I'm daring to hope! I'm praying for an April LOA.

Nicole, are you watching!!!?? You are no.33 on the RQ list! I am no.46! Look at all the pink, girl, we are getting closer by the day!

The long wait

I'm still on the theme of living for today - Once a family receives their LID, or log in date there's absolutely nothing to do regarding bringing your child home but wait. It doesn't do any good to fill out any more forms yet, although I may print out out a couple we'll need once we're notified of our LOA (letter of acceptance) but on average it's taking 77 days from LID to LOA and we are at day 7. That's 11 weeks from LID to LOA so we've waited 1 week and have another 10 to go. And that's if things go according to average. I don't even let me mind go to the place where some people seem to languish in the twilight zone of dossier review even longer. So, I keep telling myself, be joyful, be joyful, be joyful.

I am joyful that our oldest daughter and her husband are expecting their first child! Tom and I are going to be grandparents! I am totally full of joy about that! They are going to be rockin' good parents. I am joyful that our 17 yr. old just got back from Guatemala this morning around 1:45 a.m. and her first words spoken to me as she walked across the parking lot when I picked her up was "I'm going back". She left part of her heart in Guatemala and I know that she will go back and work some more for the children she met there. I am joyful that she has just landed a good part time job at a time when they are so hard to find and grateful for a friend who spoke in her behalf to give her the edge to be noticed in a large pool of applicants. I am joyful for our 6 yr. old who says something outrageous every day, her wit and insight just crack me up and keep me on my toes. And I am oh so joyful for a husband who is my best friend, he is so selfless, and solid, he keeps me grounded when I become scattered, he works so hard for his family.

This wait will be long, but we will have a beautiful spring, and a fun summer. A friend today graciously offered to take us swimming with them and I am so looking forward to the opportunity for fun in the sun with the kids. So I will look forward to sharing all this joy with Jennifer one day.

LID! LID! LID!

Life is good. We are logged in, let the real wait begin! I feel like I learned a true life lesson this week. I have been frustrated at a system I have no control over, a program that at times seems to have no coherent functioning and it's made me angry. And that serves no purpose. And I think I needed to learn the lesson that I'm not in control so I just need to lean on the One who is and enjoy each day life brings so that when we meet Jennifer she will know that she is in a family full of joy. Our agency has worked hard this week to make sure we were logged in and I so appreciate their tireless efforts. We have a log in number, they are going to keep on until they get us an official log in date but its one day this week so we know now that we are looking at approximately 6 months more of waiting while paperwork gets moved back and forth, back and forth. I am hoping we can travel before school starts, that is my new prayer.

But we are officially in the game :)

Update: Our agency has notified us that our official date is March 11, 2010

Learning to Wait

Waiting is hard, really hard. We've been waiting for 5 weeks to be logged in to China's system and still no word. And this has really gotten to me, I feel so frustrated, our case is not moving forward. Our child sits waiting on us, another month passes.

Emilee is taking a photography class at our church and I ride with her because Taylor likes the children's activities that are held on Wednesday evenings. Last week a couple friends invited me to a group called Mom-to-Mom and its for, well, you guessed it moms :) who can learn from each other how to be strong for their families, and to be a place of support and uplifting for each other. Last week was nice, I really enjoyed it.

But last night blew me away, I believe everything happens for a purpose and I believe I was invited to this group so that I would hear last night's speaker. This woman is a friend, I am honored to know her, she is a doctor, a professor of education, published in her field and she is a mom. She talked last night about the influence a mom has on her family. She spoke about being joyful always, about praying without ceasing, and being thankful in all circumstances. And she talked about waiting. On how hard it is, and how we can and must rely on God as we wait. There is no way to describe what an eloquent speaker she is but she cut through everything I've been feeling and it helped my heart so much. She shared special scripture verses - Isaiah 30:18, Lamentations 3:21-26. Then I really stepped out of my comfort zone and shared with the women at my table how hard it is to know you have a child a world away and be powerless to do anything about it but wait. And a friend at the table shared the verses Psalms 62:5-8. I've met many people who do not understand how you can love a child you've actually never met. But these friends so get it and validated my feelings that I've been having lately. And finally, as I left to pick up Taylor, I ran into another friend who asked me how our adoption was going. I did not go into any detail, I just told her we were waiting and it was really hard. And she said, hold on a minute, and she got out her Bible and opened it up and read to me.

"I will climb my watchtower now, and wait to see what answer God will give to my complaint. And the Lord said to me 'Write my answer on a billboard, large and clear, so that anyone can read it at a glance and rush to tell others. But these things I plan won't happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, do not despair, for these things will surely come to pass. Just be patient. They will not be overdue a single day." That is His promise. Everything will happen when it is supposed to. I feel so much better, that everything happens as it is supposed to. We have Taylor because everything happened in the timing it was supposed to. How could I ever forget that?

So we wait for our LID and it will be issued on the day it should be. And then we will wait for our LOA and we will celebrate big time when we get that! And then we'll wait some more for a few more steps and then we will travel to bring Jennifer home at the exact right time. And I commit to trying to be more joyful while we wait.

I want something to blog..

The days tick by. We are waiting on our LID and it's been over a month since we were DTC (dossier to China) and nothing. Our agency is getting their Beijing contact to ask the powers to be in China if we have been logged in but just haven't updated our "status"...no word. I am so worried our file has been just layed aside somewhere and nothing is happening while our little girl wonders why its taking so long for her family to come get her. And Taylor asks daily when will we get to go and all I can tell her is "hopefully by the summer" and I worry inside that this may not be true.

I saw tons of robins this morning when I took Taylor to school and the signs of spring bring me such great joy and at the same time there is a yearning for time to stand still until our paperwork can be processed and we can move forward as a complete family.

One more time

As many of you know, Tom and I are blessed to have three wonderful daughters. Our oldest is married to a great guy. They are busy with their lives, their jobs, renovating their home, watching over their dog, cat, and four chickens. Our second is zooming through her junior year of high school and can't wait to finish high school and start on her own personal journey through college at Libery University. Our six yr.old (from China) is doing well in kindergarten, learning to read and asking every day when will we be able to travel to China to get her little sister. Therein lies the reason for this blog. Our fourth daughter, Jennifer.

We have been working on a name for Jennifer for quite some time. This child has had at least a dozen names and we've tried them out for a period of time and then discarded each idea. We have finally agreed on Jennifer and I think it fits her.

Jennifer is waiting for us at the Bao'an SWI in Shenzhen, China. She is now 5 years old. She looks happy and well cared for and we are so appreciative of our little one waiting for us in a place where there is obviously people who care very much for the children.

This is all well and good but we still want to travel NOW to bring her home. She is getting older every day and she needs to be with her family. We have done all the paperwork required and it has been sent to China where it waits for review. We are DTC 2/3/10. We are anxiously waiting for a LID, that is the date that our paperwork is officially logged into China's system. We are hoping that it has already been logged in and we just haven't been notified because a lot of people in China have been on vacation for the Chinese New Year this past week.

It's going to be a long spring, bring on the sunshine, warm weather and summer when we hope to travel to bring our girl home