Our Journey to Grace

Chinese New Year Celebration!

2012-02-15T19:28:00.000-05:00

In honor of our beautiful Chinese daughter, we started a family tradition of celebrating the Chinese New Year! We put up decorations and dressed her in a red dress which is traditional and had friend rice and won tons! We love our baby so much and look forward to many more years of celebrations with our darling precious gift!

Uncooked Won Tons

Cooked Won Tons!

Here is a little information on the Chinese New Year (thanks to wikipedia :) )

"Chinese New Year is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. In China, it is known as the 'Spring Festival'. It marks the end of the winter season, analogous to the Western Carnival. The festival begins on the first day of the first month in the traditional Chinese calendar and ends with Lantern Festival which is on the 15th day.

Chinese New Year is the longest and most important festivity in the Chinese calendar. The origin of Chinese New Year is itself centuries old and gains significance because of several myths and traditions. Chinese New Year is celebrated in countries and territories with significant Chinese populations.

Within China, regional customs and traditions concerning the celebration of the Chinese new year vary widely. People will pour out their money to buy presents, decoration, material, food, and clothing. It is also traditional for every family to thoroughly cleanse the house, in order to sweep away any ill-fortune and to make way for good incoming luck. Windows and doors will be decorated with red colour paper-cuts and couplets with popular themes of "good fortune" or "happiness", "wealth", and "longevity". On the Eve of Chinese New Year, supper is a feast with families. The family will end the night with firecrackers. Early the next morning, children will greet their parents by wishing them a healthy and happy new year, and receive money in red paper envelopes. The Chinese New Year tradition is to reconcile, forget all grudges and sincerely wish peace and happiness for everyone."

Look out for my next post, the Tales of Life with Four Casts!

Blessings to all!

Tales of Grace

2012-01-21T21:49:00.000-05:00

We have had a quite a fun month thus far, enjoying life and the beautiful Texas weather! Grace is growing in leaps and bounds and her language is increasing exponentially! This coming Monday (which also happens to be the Chinese New Year - celebration pics to come) Grace is going to start casting on her foot to help straighten it out. Please keep us in your prayers for the next four weeks as she will be wearing the cast for a week at a time with one day off over each weekend. We would ask for prayers that this will be a success and for wisdom for the next step as well which may involve her wearing a brace in the months following.

Fun Story #1
Last Friday about 11:45 am (yes, Friday, January 13), I leisurely walked into the garage to bring in a box to take down the Christmas tree (again, yes, I know it is the middle of January :) ). I turn around just as Grace is shutting the garage which is not all that uncommon as she loves shutting doors. Well, this time was a little different. I'm sure you can already imagine where this story is going. She managed to lock the dead bolt on the door trapping her inside and me outside. I drop box to the ground to open the door only to discover that I cannot. I said to myself, "remain calm, if she could close it surely she can open it." (Nope) I tried and tried to get her to understand how to turn the lock to no avail. Ok, I say still calm, I'll try to get her to open the front door. So, she meets at the front door, but she cannot open it either and is then distracted by some toys by the front door and will no longer respond to my knocking/banging on the doors of the house. Now, calm has left me like the gentle breeze whipping around me as I am stuck in the great outdoors outside my house to be replaced by angered panic which may have resulted in my attempt to kick in the door like you see cops do on TV (let me just say . . . doesn't work in real life). After, panic, anger, laughter and prayer, I realize that Grace is fine, take a moment to pray and breathe, consider my options, and head off to find a neighbor who is home so I can call Adam to come home and unlock the door. After knocking on several doors, I finally find a lovely woman who offers me her phone. Needless to say, Adam is on his way home in seconds. I head back to the house to try and find a way to spy on my daughter. The only open window was the back door, so I peer into the house with my face plastered against the window. I watch with a smile as Grace wanders around the house watching Elmo, playing with her kitchen, making fake pizza, etc. Once Adam arrived home and we were inside, she just smiled at us. :)

Fun Story #2
On Monday morning this week while I was getting ready and Grace was watching Dora, she decided to coat her body, pjs and my new bedspread in an entire bottle of lotion. It was really humorous but quite the lotiony (new word I made up) mess!

Grace's First Christmas - ready for all 2012 has in store!

2012-01-03T16:28:00.001-05:00

Christmas was a whirlwind of activity and travel. Grace had four separate Christmas events! It was crazy, exciting, tiring and wonderful! We were blessed and loved by so many friends and family. As you can see from the pictures below, even with the disruption of routine and late nights, Grace is ever the sweet, good natured little girl (well, most of the time :) ).

2011 has been one of the most amazing years of our lives. We were blessed beyond imagination by our amazing God through the additional of our 2 year old daughter, Grace, and in many other ways to numerous to list here. God blessed us through our family and friends and carried us through the highs and lows of 2011. We look forward to seeing His plan unfold for our lives in 2012.

Grace's 1st Thanksgiving`

2011-12-05T14:50:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays because it is not overtaken by so many things that cloud the month of December. Instead, we just spend time with our families, fellowship and reflect on all the amazing and wonderful things God has done in our lives. God has given us so many things to be thankful for it hard to even know where to start, but the blessing that overwhelms me every day our precious daughter, Grace. Here are few pictures of her first Thanksgiving!

"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness." Colossians 2:6-7

Grace's 2nd Birthday - Her First in the U.S.!

2011-11-23T09:55:00.000-05:00

Our darling precious miracle, Grace, turned two years old on November 12! We had a wonderful time with family and friends and are blessed by Grace beyond words! God's timing and plan is SOOOOO much better than ours! Tomorrow we are excited to celebrate our first Thanksgiving with our baby!

Here are few fun pics of Grace's birthday celebrations!

National Adoption Month and Orphan Sunday, Nov. 6

2011-11-04T16:18:00.000-04:00

This coming Sunday is Orphan Sunday and November also happens to be National Adoption Month. UNICEF reports that there are 145 Million Orphans worldwide. This month, and particularly this coming Sunday, provides us with an opportunity to take the time to stop and pray for all those Orphans across the world.

I'm sure you can imagine that this is a topic very near and dear to our hearts. As believers, God has called us all to care for and pray for Orphans and some of us to adopt them. Adoption was God's plan for our life and it has been a blessing beyond our wildest imagination. God took us on quite a journey to come to the place where our hearts were open to adoption, but as we sought God through the trials of infertility, our desires and dreams began to line up with God's and thus our adoption journey began. As we traveled the crazy winding adoption road, God guided us and provided for us at every turn. The first turn was our realization that he had a daughter for us on the special needs list of children in China, and then the second turn, receiving the referral for our darling daughter, Grace, but having to wait 9 months without any new pictures or information which was not easy. Anyone who is interested in learning more about orphans and/or adoption, please don't hesitate to contact us! We would love to talk with your about our journey!

I love how our adoption of Grace is a constant reminder and picture of what God did for us by adopting us. When we choose to believe in Him, He gives us a new life in Him, saving us from us our sin and eternal separation from Him.

Romans 8:14-17 "For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, 'Abba, Father.' The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory."

James 1:27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

Information on Orphans and Adoption:

http://orphansunday.org/
http://www.rainbowkids.com/
http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/
http://www.showhope.org/
http://www.fujiankids.org/
http://www.adopt.org/assembled/home.html
http://adoptionsbygladney.com/html/international/index.php
http://www.adoptionbug.com/

6 Months!

2011-10-24T00:24:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow we are meeting with our social worker for our six month post placement assessment required by China. She is basically just checking in with us to see how bonding is coming along. I can't wait for her to meet Grace and see what a blessing she is! Your prayers for a good time together are much appreciated!

Our October has been filled with many fun experiences with many more to come! I can't believe our baby is almost two! She is growing and changing daily, becoming more independent and saying more and more. Her latest statement is "no way!" She has brought more joy to our lives than we could have ever imagined.

My first birthday with my baby!

Just being her sweet self . . .

Ready to go somewhere, I'm just not sure where!

Cast is Off!

2011-10-10T22:13:00.000-04:00

This has been a busy couple of weeks so I apologize for just now posting these pictures chronicling the removal of Grace's cast. Praise God for His amazing provision and work and for our friends and family who were there for whatever we needed through this leg of the journey!

Before the surgery . . . after the surgery!

On our way to get the cast off!!

Cast Coming Off on Wednesday!

2011-09-25T23:10:00.000-04:00

Grace's cast is coming off this coming Wednesday, September 28! We are very excited to see how it turns out. It will also be wonderful to not have to worry about getting the cast wet and give her a real bath again!!!

Every time I look at our darling Grace, I am again astounded at the amazing provision and wisdom of God. There are even times when I look at her and think, is she really here with us? Has God really entrusted us to raise up this sweet child until the Lord? We waited so long for a child and God is in infinite wisdom has blessed us exceedingly and abundantly.

Tortillas at Alamo Cafe make great pillows! :)

Unexpected and surprising

2011-09-13T16:22:00.000-04:00

Thanks you for all your prayers for Grace during her surgery on Friday, September 2. The surgery to alter her fingers went very well. The doctor was pleased with the outcome, although we have yet to actually see the fingers because sweet Grace has a cast starting at her bicep and covering her whole hand. She did amazingly and exceptionally well, which was unexpected. The doctors and nurses warned us that they take back our little angel to surgery and take off the halo and wings. :) We were bracing ourselves for next 24 hours to be very difficult as she was recovering from the anesthesia and pain, however, you wouldn't have even known that she had surgery a few hours after. She is an amazing little girl and blessing from God beyond our wildest dreams!

I was reflecting the other night on how unexpected and surprising life is. Remember back to when you were in elementary school. What crazy dreams did you have? I wanted to be a singer and dancer on Broadway and write historical novels (yes, I really did want to write historical novels. I even have some sample old west stories I wrote when about the 3rd grade, one of which is comprised of spelling words.) Then, by the time I had reached high school, I had modified my dreams to make them more realistic (married with kids and an author of historical fiction novels). As life goes by and those dream are long forgotten, I look back on my life and am amazed at the places God has taken me, physically and spiritually. It never crossed my mind that I would live in Maryland for 8 years and work for the United States Senate. What an amazing opportunity, Lord! God has brought wonderful people into my life who have supported and loved me through every twist and turn of life. Obviously, dealing with infertility was not something I thought about when thinking about my life, but without the pain of that experience, I would never be able to minister to other women experiencing the same thing, and most importantly, I wouldn't have Grace, a gift most precious. Thank you, Lord, for the path you have taken me on and I look forward to seeing where we go together in the future.

Looking Back . . .

2011-08-28T19:48:00.001-04:00

As Grace and I sat on the couch this week trying to cool off after the ants had been cleaned out of air conditioner, my mind flashed back to our first meeting and the hours following. We landed at the Fuzhou City Airport to humidity like nothing I have ever experienced and with an anticipation that I can only compare to that moment before you walk down the aisle at your wedding full of excitement, uncertainty, and fear. As we were ushered out to the car by our guide Helen, we learned that it will take about 30 minutes to get the hotel and then an hour or so after that we would be meeting our daughter for the first time. Helen talked to us on our way to the hotel about the history of the area, etc. . . Do I remember anything from that car ride? NOPE! :)

Then we arrive at the hotel, check in and simply sit in the room, waiting for our life with Grace to begin. It was an extremely weird feeling and the waiting was excruciating. Then, we get the phone call that would change our life forever! We rode the elevator down to the 2nd floor and entered a conference room filled with the sounds of scared children and uncertain parents.

One fear that had been flooding my mind over the past few months was, would I recognize my daughter? The only pictures we had were ones of her from six months old. As I scanned the room, my eyes lighted on a darling and terrified little girl standing off to the side in a Tinkerbell dress. Adam and I looked at each other and instantly knew it was Grace. She was very quiet at first and shy. I got down eye level and tried to talk quietly to her while the caretakers were trying to push her on us saying Mama and Baba and pointing to us. The poor little thing was so scared and confused. While I was signing all the documents that would give us temporary custody of her until we could do the official paperwork the next day, she was sitting on Adam's lap and started whaling. One of the caretakers ran up and shoved a chocolate in her mouth which just fell right back out of her open mouth cry. We were just kinda shell shocked as you can imagine. Then we were ushered off to our room to bond which was basically an evening filled with us trying to entertain her and distract her from the fact that she missed her foster family. It was a difficult night but God carried us and through and it was an experience like no other.

There is much more I could say and I will over the months to come but now on to our important medical update on Grace. This Friday, September 2, Grace will be having surgery on her left hand to make corrections. She will be in a cast for about 4 weeks that cannot get wet to ensure she doesn't get an infection. Please pray for the surgery and the physicians working on her. I will post an update after the surgery. We so appreciate all our prayer partners! You are all such a blessing to us!

We have had a fun August traveling to Florida with Adam for a work conference and then to Oklahoma to see family. I have included a few fun pics below!

Blessings to all!

Busy August

2011-08-11T22:49:00.000-04:00

We love our darling baby! God, we will never be able to thank you enough for blessing our lives with her and entrusting her to us!

We have a busy week and a half ahead of us. We are going with Adam to a work conference in Florida for a couple of days for a little R & R, and then to Oklahoma to see family, including Adam's grandfather who is not doing well. Please keep Grandpa John in your prayers. Then, we have an appointment for Grace at Scottish Rite in Dallas on our way home. Please pray for wisdom for the doctors as they seek to determine the best treatment for her finger and foot deformities.

Clean Bill of Health and Chuck E. Cheese

2011-07-31T20:55:00.000-04:00

Just a quick update on our doctor's visit on Friday. The International Adoption Pediatrician gave Grace a clean bill of health! Praise God for His continued care and provision for our precious gift! She did not have any strange parasites and such :) and is right on track developmentally. They are going to send us her medical file and pass it along to our Pediatrician here in San Antonio as well. Now, we just need to get her into Scottish Rite and continue her physical therapy.

While in Houston, we got to spend time with my cousin, Claire, and her sweet family. We also got to go to her daughter, Avery's, 3rd birthday at Chuck E. Cheese! We had so much fun, and Grace, in her journey to becoming a American kid, LOVED pizza and cup cakes! :)

Grace's Progress

2011-07-28T13:52:00.000-04:00

I realized today as I was sitting at the table eating lunch with precious Grace that I need to be recording some of things she is doing since I don't have a baby book. Where better to record these then the internet?!! :)

Grace's language acquisition is progressing in leaps and bounds. She can say about 30 words, and just think, she heard English for the first time in her life in May! She can identify and say all the parts of the body, make animal sounds and say clear enough to ascertain her meaning other words like snack (her favorite), keys, car, dog, bird, turtle, eat, where, go, bunny, cat, more, etc. She has started to put words together in two sentences. They are "Where go?", "in car" and "Baba's (Adam) car". She has an enormous personality and is very sweet, loving, silly, playful and stubborn (the discipline has begun!). She loves being around other people and kids!

We have follow up doctor appointments in Houston tomorrow and are now waiting to hear back from Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas to have her feet, toes, and hands treated. She will mostly likely be wearing a cast on her foot to straighten it, and we don't have any idea about treatment of her fingers yet. Please be praying that we will get in to Scottish Rite soon.

Pensive Grace

2011-07-28T13:43:00.002-04:00

_MG_3644, a photo by T. Reusser on Flickr.

Thoughtful . . . thank you, Torrey Reusser, for taking some beautiful pictures of our precious girl!

Aldacos (outside our favorite Mexican restaurant)

2011-07-28T13:42:00.002-04:00

_MG_3829, a photo by T. Reusser on Flickr.

Hanging with Baba!

Father's Day

2011-07-28T13:39:00.001-04:00

_MG_3911, a photo by T. Reusser on Flickr.

On Father's Day with Baba

God's Amazing Provision

2011-07-18T22:57:00.002-04:00

We read a passage at church this past Sunday from Proverbs 30 which really got me thinking about God's wisdom and perfect provision and how it far exceeds anything I could ever dream or imagine!

Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined a child such as Grace. She is a pure joy and blessing. As I look at her, I am reminded daily of God's provision and His awesome power and wisdom.

"Second, give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs." Prov. 30:8b

As we moved through the adoption process, there were many times I started to freak out over how we would pay for it all and contemplated all kinds of crazy scenarios. Oh, how my faith was lacking in those moments. You see, God provided, through generous donations of others, the EXACT amount we needed for the adoption! Just enough to satisfy our needs!

Thinking about this reminds me of another event God used in my life to convict me of my lack of faith.

First, picture this scene with me.

Three girls who work for different United States Senators are racing and maneuvering through the streets of Nairobi, Kenya in a cab far different from any they have ever seen. They are deposited at a nice hotel in an area of the city that is presentable but a vast change from Washington, D.C. Seated in the safety of the hotel restaurant, all seems relatively normal for the moment, however, the very next morning their world will be changed forever when they arrive in the Kibera slums to meet with people who have contracted TB, a treatable disease, but due to the fact that they are HIV positive and live in Africa, face possible death unless they receive the TB treatment. The purpose of this trip was to demonstrate to the U.S. Government how just a little additional money could save hundreds lives through the purchase of the TB treatment.

Walking through the slums is something I will never forgot as long as I live. Trash, dirt, discarded, rotting food and excrement cover the ground. Everywhere you turn there are shacks (pieces of metal or cardboard stuck together) that people call home. Men, women and children go about their daily lives around us, never having stepped foot outside these slums. My heart aches for the children we saw playing in the dirt and sewage.

We were scheduled to meet with several different HIV positive people who either had TB and were still waiting for treatment or had been treated so we could see the difference in their health.

We entered one home and were escorted to a dark back room. As our eyes adjusted to the light, we could see a woman lying on a mat on the floor. She indicated with her arm for us to take a seat so we sat down on the dirt floor surrounding her. The first words out of her mouth were, "Praise God for His amazing provision!" This woman, who was HIV positive thanks to her husband's exploits as well as suffering from TB, continued throughout our entire visit to praise Jesus with every sentence. She had absolutely nothing in the eyes of the world, and yet she had everything because she had Jesus Christ. He was all she needed! We had traveled across the world to ascertain how the U.S. could provide more funds for TB treatment and instead were convicted, encouraged and blessed by this woman of amazing and great faith. I will never forget her testimony and smile or that conviction regarding my level of discontentment over so many unimportant things.

How often are we dissatisfied with our life, wanting more or something different because we think we know what we need? How often do we fail to praise God for something He provided because it wasn't the something big we thought we "needed"? I pray that I will be like the woman I met in Kibera, praising God daily for His every provision as I seek to align my thoughts and desires with His.

Summer Fun!

2011-07-11T15:56:00.000-04:00

Just a few pics summer pics for your enjoyment.

Grace's 1st 4th of July

2011-07-04T21:04:00.000-04:00

Today we celebrated Grace's first Fourth of July in the United States as a U.S. Citizen!! We are so thankful to God that we live in a country where we can freely go to China to adopt a baby and bring her back to the U.S. as our child and teach her about God and His amazing Grace!!

She absolutely loves the pool and is making lots of friends!!

Best Anniversary Ever!

2011-06-28T14:50:00.001-04:00

On June 24, Adam and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary.

It has been a wonderful 11 years and we are so blessed by the addition of Grace to our family! There have been highs and lows, coupled with tears and laughter, but God has been ever faithful to us. We couldn't have asked for a better anniversary gift from our amazing God!

"Children are a gift from the Lord;
      they are a reward from him." (Ps. 127:3, NLT)

"Then Hannah prayed and said:
   'My heart rejoices in the LORD;
   in the LORD my horn is lifted high.
My mouth boasts over my enemies,
   for I delight in your deliverance.“There is no one holy like the LORD;

there is no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God.'" (I Samuel 2:1-2, NIV)

Doctor Visits and Fun Time with Grace

2011-06-24T10:36:00.000-04:00

God has blessed us over and abundantly with our precious daughter Grace! Parenthood is a wonderful blessing and a precious gift bestowed upon us. We are loving every minute! Today as we celebrate 11 years as a married couple, we are overwhelmed by God's blessings in our lives. It was a long and sometimes very difficult journey to make our family three, but God is faithful. When we wait on Him and His timing, His blessings are beyond our comprehension.

We have been visiting doctors and will continue to do so over the next few months. The international adoption pediatrician found Grace in excellent health and on par developmentally. They are putting together a medical file for her that we will share with our pediatrician here in San Antonio. We started physical therapy last week and will be working on her foot. We still need to see an orthopedic surgeon for her foot and toes and one specializing in hand surgery as well. Your prayers for wisdom in that regard would be much appreciated.

We are so blessed by our friends and family. We had many people visiting Grace and sharing in our joy. Thank you to everyone who has blessed us with meals, presents and prayers!

First Doctor's Visit on Friday

2011-06-01T23:12:00.000-04:00

This blog message will be pretty short as I am exhausted so I apologize for the lack luster entry. However, I will provide you with a few cute pictures. :)

Things are going well as we adjust to life here in the U.S. as a family of three. We are working on discipline and creating a schedule for Grace. My next project is to get to Grace comfortable in the nursery at church and understand that I will come back to get her. She has been sleeping pretty well with the exception of walking up in the middle of the night briefly as she is cutting a few more teeth. We have been keeping busy with family coming visit and meeting new people.

Tomorrow we are going to Houston for her first doctor's visit with the Pediatrician who specializes in International Adoptions. Our appointment is on Friday morning. We need to get her in to see an Pediatric Orthopedist as soon as possible to ascertain how to treat her foot that turns in. Please keep us in your prayers for wisdom as we seek the right doctors and treatment for our darling Grace!

A few Fun Pictures . . .

Mama's First Kiss!

2011-05-23T23:57:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was Grace's first time going to church in the United Stated! It was wonderful being able to take our blessing to church with us! So many people have been praying and supporting us through this process and our gratitude can never be fully expressed in words to our awesome God for His amazing provision and to our wonderful friends and family!

Today was a sad and happy day for us! Sad because Adam had to go back to work, and happy because Suzanne got her first kisses from our baby Grace. Grace had been giving Baba sweet kisses since we were in China, but today Mama got kisses too! It was very hard on all of us though for Adam to go back to work. Grace was very upset when he left and thrilled when he returned as was Suzanne! :) We missed him all day and he really missed being with us!

Your continued prayer for our bonding is much appreciated as we work on getting a schedule set up and letting Grace know that we are not ever going to leave her! We love so much!

Planes, More Planes, and Toddler Jet Lag . . .

2011-05-21T13:31:00.001-04:00

We had quite an interesting journey back to San Antonio. We got up early Wednesday (5 AM) for the 2 hour van ride to the Hong Kong Airport. Driving from China to Hong Kong makes for much quicker entry through immigration. Then, we sat at the airport for another couple hours before we boarded the first of three planes for the day, with the first being the longest! Our flight from Hong Kong to San Francisco was about 11 hours. Grace had several bouts of crying but for the most part did well considering the length of the flight. However, I must add that the gluten free plane food on this flight was TERRIBLE! Anyone for fish on a plane? :)

We landed in San Francisco and had to get through U.S. immigration which was actually extremely easy for us thanks to Gladney and the U.S. Consulate packet. Upon entry, Grace became a U.S. Citizen!! We then had to get our bags and recheck them for the duration of our flights. We had a short 40 minute flight to LA and then a 2 hour flight home to San Antonio!!! 23 hours or so later we arrived home!! Praise God for his continued protection and provision!!

Now, for the really fun part . . . toddler jet lag! We are working on getting Grace to adjust to our time zone which is slowly but surely happening. There is a 13 hour difference so as you can imagine, this has proved to be a difficult task. Finally, last night went a little better. We got her to take a short nap in the middle of the afternoon and she went to bed at 10:30 pm and woke up at 1 am only for about an hour and went to back to sleep! Please continue to pray for all of our jet lag especially considering Adam has to return to work on Monday and get up nice and early!

Coming home!

2011-05-17T21:59:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was our last full day in China. Guangzhou was beautiful; the weather was perfect! Our guide took us to Liu Hua park and saw a lot of Chinese people doing all sorts of activities,, including Tai Chi, ballroom dancing, fan dancing, sing-a-longs, ping pong, and many other things. Everyone stared at Grace and commented on how beautiful she was (which we agreed with!). Afterwards we went to do a little more shopping, then back to the hotel for some nap time.

We had dinner at a great Chinese place. No one spoke English, but they had full color photo menus which made it a little easier, and Adam managed to use some barely passable Chinese to get the order placed. All in all, it was a great final day of this "vacation".

This morning we got up early and had a 2 hour van ride from Guangzhou to Hong Kong. Very soon we will board the plane and begin our long journey home! Estimated total travel time is 22 hours, so please keep us in your prayers as we are not quite sure how our little rambunctious companion will do without the ability to run free.

Becoming a U.S. Citizen

2011-05-16T16:56:00.000-04:00

Today was a very important day for Grace! We got up early and headed to the U.S. Consulate Office housed in a nondescript office building in downtown Guangzhou. We rode up four escalators to reach the floor for adoption processing. We sat in a room with about 10 other families and shared our stories until the Consulate official came out, explained the process and had us all swear an oath for our children stating that all the information we have provided was correct. Next, they called up family by family to turn in the rest of our paperwork and sign one final document! Tomorrow our guide, Jack, will go and pick up her Chinese passport with visa and a package of paperwork that we are not to open. This package will be handed to the U.S. Immigration officials when we enter U.S. soil and from that moment Grace Lihua Meledeo will be a U.S. Citizen!! Sadly, we weren't allowed to take cameras with us to the Consulate so we don't have any pictures.

The rest of the day we just hung out in the hotel because our guide said if there was any additional information needed, they would call us. Tomorrow we have one more day of sightseeing, we get the immigration documents and then we head out early Wednesday for the 24 hour trip home!!

Sightseeing day in Guangzhou

2011-05-15T23:07:00.000-04:00

Our guide Jack took us on a field trip this morning to a place called the Chen Clan Academy (Guangzhou Folk Art Museum). It was a fascinating place, once the house of a very wealthy family in Guangzhou that hand carved all of the intricate architectural features about 130 years ago. It is one of the few locations that survived the cultural revolution of the 1960s, primarily because it was, at one time, the headquarters of the Communist party revolutionaries. Jack knew a lot of the history surrounding the home, and now the government has converted the preserved structure into a museum featuring embroideries, calligraphy, bone/ivory carving, ceramics, and tea. Yes, tea is an art form in China, and we got to experience an authentic tea preparation. Grace loved the tea!

We got to experience another supermarket in China... crazy times! This one was built into a skyscraper and had an underground parking garage with mechanized parking spots that allowed for cars to be stacked to accommodate more vehicles. We got a few supplies for Grace including some rice cookies that are big hit with her (but they seem kind of bland to us).

Grace loves to eat! She gets very serious when food is on the table and focuses very hard when eating. She likes to try to use the utensils, although often times she gets frustrated and goes back to her hands. Before and after meals are usually very rambunctious times. If we are waiting for our food to be served, patience typically goes out the window especially if she sees that she has an audience. Forks are likely to get thrown!

Grace has gotten much more comfortable with us. She is extremely outgoing and not afraid to play, laugh, and run with us. However, this also means she also can get very loud and throw tantrums when she doesn't get her way. She is also very smart and knows how to work the system! She will try to play us against each other, and if she gets in trouble she will try to smooth things over. She will definitely be a handful for years to come!

Medical Exam Day

2011-05-15T17:26:00.000-04:00

Our first full day in Guangzhou started with an early trip to Shamian Island for Grace to get her medical examination, required for immigration to the USA. There were many tears shed during the completely harmless visit, and we got to see a ton of other kids in the process of adoption with their new families. All around our hotel and on Shamian Island particularly, we have seen many many families with newly acquired Chinese children. It's heartwarming for certain.

After the exam, we explored the island a little. It has very interesting architecture and history. We bought Grace some authentic silk dresses to wear in the coming years, along with some other trinkets for her. We got to see some Chinese adults (retirement age) playing "hackysack" with something that looked more like a badminton birdie than the typical leather balls we've seen before. We ate lunch on the island at a place that served American food (we've gotten a little tired of Chinese all the time).

We explored the area around our hotel as well; there is a shopping plaza on the first floor and another across the street that both feature extremely high end shopping: Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Chanel to name a few. We strolled through but did nothing more than window shopping! In the evening we went over to an Irish pub that was recommended by our guide Jack (the Paddy Field) and enjoyed a little Irish charm (served up by Chinese people--we did see the owner/manager who was in fact Irish).

Bath time has gotten much better! She actually enjoys it now, laughing and splashing a little, although she still prefers to stand up. Bed time, on the other hand, has gotten worse. She howls and screams quite a bit when placed in the crib, and basically has to cry herself to sleep. We hope it will be easier when she has her own room and can't yell for us since we are standing right here next to her bed in the hotel.

More updates to come!

Travel to Guangzhou

2011-05-13T21:24:00.000-04:00

Just a quick update: we got Grace's passport yesterday from the Fuzhou police department. They had a little ceremony with the 3 families who were adopting, took photos, and gave us a very nice gift including Chinese literature, poetry, and some DVDs with songs and learning to speak Chinese!

We made our way to the airport, said goodbye to our first guide Helen who was very very VERY helpful; she even found a friend at the airport to "take care of" our excess baggage weight limit! This would have cost us almost $400 because of their severe restrictions.

We had to sit at the airport for a few hours, and this made for fun times entertaining Grace. Some girls thought she was so cute they wanted a picture of her. Or maybe they just wanted a picture of the white people with their Chinese baby. :)

We got on the plane and Grace fell asleep just before take off. She didn't wake up until after landing, so I guess we'll count our first plane trip as a success. Our new guide, Jack, picked us up at the Guangzhou airport, took us to our hotel (Garden Hotel Guangzhou), helped us check in, and we went right to bed.

We have to take Grace for her medical checkup this morning. Should be no big deal, but we know it's never fun to go to the doctor so we're taking along some of her favorite custard pie treats for afterward. We haven't seen much of Guangzhou yet, but it appears to be much more international so we should maybe get a little more variety in our diets today finally.

We miss home!

Adam and Suzanne

Another outing in Fuzhou

2011-05-13T13:56:00.000-04:00

First of all, we wanted to thank everyone for their great comments. We appreciate all your excitement, encouragement, and prayers, and we are so glad you are all on this journey with us. We cannot see the comments here in China, but they have been passed along to us and bring joy to our hearts!

Today we spent the morning at an ancient Buddhist temple, the only remaining temple in Fuzhou of the original four main temples. It was originally built over 2200 years ago, but it has been renovated several times since then. Many of the people there were fawning over Grace, telling us how beautiful and clever she was, and commenting on how lucky she was to get a chance at a better life through adoption. We certainly hope that is the case, but we as parents are the ones who feel blessed!

It poured down rain while we were there; it reminded us of the rain you always see in the movies that looks ridiculous, but apparently here in China it does exist! We also got the chance to see the exterior of the children's welfare center (the orphanage) where Grace was found and lived for a short time. The building looked nicer than we expected and they are even building a large expansion housing unit that looks very nice.

We had some great Chinese food ordered by our guide from a restaurant nearby and delivered to our hotel room for lunch. Because of the rain (and also Adam has been a little sick the last two days) we decided to stay in for the afternoon and rest. Dinner was at the Japanese restaurant in our hotel, which was also delicious.

Bath time has been getting increasingly better day by day, and although she still doesn't want to sit in the water, she didn't cry and was actually curious about the bath toys and the bubbles. She even laughed some as we poured the water over her head. We think she likes the warm water and the splashing.

Although she didn't cry much, getting to sleep for the night took quite a while, so pray that tomorrow goes well as she may not get her regular nap time. We are checking out of the hotel around 2pm, heading to pick up her Chinese passport, and then off to the airport to fly to Guangzhou. It could be a long day!

Panda World!

2011-05-11T10:17:00.000-04:00

Today our adventures in Fuzhou took us to Panda World! It is very close to our hotel and houses some of the most famous Panda Bears in China. We had a grand time looking at the Panda Bears even amidst the worst humidity we have ever experienced. Of course, the bears live on all these different levels so we were climbing up down flight after flight of stairs to see them in the crazy heat and humidity while Grace ran about excitedly. She is a bundle of energy and loved the animals! We can't wait to take her to the zoo in San Antonio!

We were all pretty exhausted and hung out at the hotel the rest of the day. Our guide, Helen, ordered us food from a nearby restaurant so we got to try some different food. It was quite delicious, and of course, Grace loved it!

Tomorrow we will do some more sight seeing and bonding. We aren't entirely sure what we are doing tomorrow, but according to the weather reports it is suppose to be cooler! Friday we will receive Grace's China passport and then head Guangzhou for the U.S. portion of our adoption so we can get Grace into the U.S.

As always, your continued prayers are much appreciated for bonding as Grace is still grieving the loss of her foster family.

Bonding Day

2011-05-10T10:06:00.001-04:00

We just finished up our second full day with Grace. There were no required outings today, and it was recommended that we keep things low key and allow her to become more comfortable with us. So that's what we did! Most of the day was spent in the hotel room. We got out for two separate walks. First, we went for one just before lunch around the lake area that is in front of our hotel, although it was extremely humid today (again) and really almost unbearable. Twenty minutes was really all we could stand, and Grace was clearly hot, tired, and hungry. So were we!

We had a good nap (especially Adam), played with some toys, and sang some songs. We went for another walk in the evening before dinner, and it was much nicer with a breeze. This time, we went behind the hotel to a little garden area with some ponds and bridges. Grace was very full of energy and had to be held tightly because she was running so fast. We took a piggy back ride on daddy's shoulders and went to the hotel's Japanese restaurant for dinner.

All of the hotel staff loves to see Grace bounding around the halls. She loves to climb the stairs in the lobby as well. All the waitresses in the different restaurants have been playful with her and think she is very cute. She loves to eat (especially noodles, just as we were told, but also asparagus), and can be quite the ham at the dinner table. We are doing our best to not laugh too much at her antics, because she clearly loves the audience and will get more and more rambunctious if allowed!

Tomorrow we are off to Panda World, which should be exciting!

Grace is Legally Ours (according to the Chinese Government!)

2011-05-09T18:32:00.000-04:00

Today was an exciting day for us! We got up, had breakfast, and immediately headed out to the Chinese Civil Affairs Office of Adoption Regarding Foreign Persons where we met with Orphanage workers and Adoption Officials. We signed and put our fingerprint on several documents stating why we wanted to adopt Grace and how we would take care of her and never abandon her. Then from there, we went to Office Notary Office to sign more documents and at that moment she became our child forever according to the Chinese Government!

To celebrate, we took another hair-raising ride to none other than Wal-Mart! Yes, they have Wal-Marts in China, but let me tell you about the driving over here. It is truly the craziest and scariest experience we have ever had in a car. First, I would like to note that there are no car seat laws, or driving laws for the matter. Driving lanes and turn signals? Who needs them? Seriously crazy stuff, cars going every which way and people walking into front of cars without cars even slowing down, crazy bike and scooter riders every where!

After all this, we got to spend the afternoon relaxing, bonding, and resting. Grace took a great nap (Adam, too!) and then we played some more. We would ask that you continue to keep her in your prayers as she is grieving the loss of her foster parents. She does so well most of the time, but has moments where she gets very sad and upset.

Tomorrow we get to relax the whole day! We will do some sight-seeing on Wednesday and Thursday and receiver her Chinese passport on Friday before we head to our next destination.

Our lives with Grace begin!

2011-05-08T21:42:00.003-04:00

I know a lot of you have been looking for an update, and we apologize that we didn't get one posted on our first day with Grace. It was a pretty hectic day!

We woke up very early (still not completely recovered from jet lag) and headed to the Hong Kong airport. It was a beautiful drive via taxi and there was absolutely no traffic, so we got to enjoy the island scenery. The Hong Kong airport is one of the coolest airports we've ever seen. The plane ride was short (about 1:30) and very empty. We were on a large plane (2-4-2 seat setup) that was maybe 25% full. They served us breakfast even though the flight was short.

Customs and Immigration were much more stringent than they are in the US and Hong Kong, but we got through without problem and our guide, Helen, met us outside. She and our driver (a man whose name we didn't get) took us on the long drive from Fuzhou airport into the city. The city is very mountainous (actually the entire province is as well) and the airport is out by the coastline, while downtown is about 40 kilometers inland. Needless to say, it's a very large city (around 10 million in the metro area), but actually relatively small for China. Helen told us a lot of interesting details about the region and city, and told us Fuzhou is known to be a place that (for now) is easy going.

They took us to our hotel and we checked in and got cleaned up. We ate lunch in one of the three restaurants which was serving a Mother's Day buffet. Probably quite a bit different than the Mother's Day lunches many of you had, but the food was great! Suzanne enjoyed the stir fry and the pork ribs; Adam ate a lot of the eel and the dumplings. Adam had a little nap after lunch (thanks again, jet lag).

At 3:30 (right when Helen told us she would be calling), we got the summons to come down to the third floor of our hotel. We were so excited that we forgot to bring some of the required stuff! We got off the elevator, and no one was there. However, we could hear some baby noises coming from just down the hall. We went down and saw mass chaos. Helen was there, along with a photographer, three workers from the orphanage, a woman from the adoption organization, and two other families. We looked around a little, and Helen pointed to the corner indicating that Grace (or Rongzhi as they are still calling her) was there. We turned and saw our little baby girl standing and looking a little bit confused. They had dressed her in a pretty green Tinkerbell dress. We sat down by her and did our best to project calm and warmth toward her. They made us get a quick photo for the records of the whole family, and then we had to get busy with the initial paperwork.

Adam held Grace on his lap while Suzanne was signing documents and passing them down to him. Grace was pretty upset at this point; we found out that she had been in foster care the entire time, just having been taken out of that family the same morning. She cried and was not consoled very well by snacks or toys. She continued to howl and cry when we got her back up to the room, but eventually (thank you, Wendy!) we piqued her interest with the stacking cups. The tears ended! We played all kinds of games with stacking cups for hours.

There were some more tears at bath time and a lot more at bedtime, but overall things are going better than expected. Please continue to pray for our bonding with her.

Things we've learned:

1. She sleeps like a crazy person! I was awake several times throughout the night, and she was in a different position every time. Sometimes her feet were propped up against the crib wall.
2. She really does not like bath time. Please pray for this.
3. Her finger deformities look worse now than the photos from six months, but she seems to have adjusted just fine. No problems picking up multiple cups with the same hand. She is definitely right handed!
4. Her club foot is not nearly as bad as we expected. I'm not even sure it's going to require any surgery. Of course we'll still be going to the doctors to have it checked out, but she walks and even runs just fine.

Everyone is awake now! We have to take her out of the hotel today; adventure awaits!

We love you all and thank you for your continued prayers and encouragement.

-Adam, Suzanne, and Grace

Hong Kong!

2011-05-07T09:17:00.001-04:00

The first day of our trip is over, but it's our last day without Grace! We didn't sleep well on Friday night, which made for an interesting sightseeing day, but we managed to stay (mostly) awake until bedtime. Hopefully we will be on a proper sleep schedule now!

We were up so early that there was nothing to do when we got out. We had to eat breakfast at a 24 hour McDonalds! We walked over to Mong Kok but there were no shops opening until 11am (except for a lot of hardware/construction supply stores). Very odd for a Saturday. We decided to head to downtown Kowloon and check out some of the sights there. We walked around the harbor area and saw the Walk of Stars (the HK version of the Hollywood Walk of Fame). It is EXTREMELY humid here, although it was not too hot most of the day due to some cloud cover.

We took the ferry across to Hong Kong island, explored a little, had a traditional Chinese lunch (gluten free!), and rode a crazy bus ride up to the top of The Peak as it is called. That's where the first picture was taken, overlooking Hong Kong island and Kowloon across the water. It was quite breathtaking.

After the even crazier bus ride down the mountain, we returned to Kowloon and went back to Mong Kok for some shopping and to check out the Ladies' Street Fair. As we exited the subway, we were met by a throng of people larger than either of us had ever seen in one place. The second picture was taken at the street fair, and it really does not do the crowd justice. There was no personal space for a continuous six city blocks. Finally, we went down to eat at Nomad's (as recommended by Amanda Jordan). We were a little surprised to find out that it was right in the middle of the "Bridal district"... no, there weren't any signs indicating that it was the bridal district, but there were at least ten wedding dress shops and no fewer than four wedding consulting agencies.

We walked several blocks back to the subway and took our ride back to the hotel. Both of us were nodding off at this point, but we got back safely and will have a taxi waiting for us at 6am to head to the airport for the next leg of our journey: Fuzhou! We thank you for your continued prayers as we should be receiving our little Grace tomorrow. Specifically, pray for the bonding process to go as smoothly as possible. Further updates will be coming soon!

P.S. No one ever mentions how bad Hong Kong smells. IT IS BAD.

Greetings from Hong Kong!

2011-05-06T18:36:00.001-04:00

The trip was very long, but also fairly uneventful. No problems aside from the delay in Chicago. We got to our hotel after a couple of train rides and a bit of a hike. We haven't seen much of the city yet, but it is very beautiful and clean. We are anxious to get cleaned up after our long trip. The hotel is nice, but our room is small and has twin beds! Also, we have a glorious view of a building under construction from our window.

Tomorrow we will do as much sight seeing as we can in HK, and the next morning we get up early to fly to Fuzhou and meet Grace!

We will try to send another email tomorrow, or at least post some updates on Facebook.

Thank you all for your continued prayers!

Suzanne and Adam

Traveling to China!!!

2011-04-27T16:39:00.003-04:00

Dearest friends and family,

First and foremost, we thank God for His amazing provision and guidance through this long journey. His faithfulness has been demonstrated to us time and time again! How awesome is it that He is allowing us to take Grace Lihua (the Chinese middle name we have picked out which means "beautiful flower") into our arms for the first time on Sunday, May 8, 2011 (Mother's day)!

Your love, support, encouragement and prayers have been amazing. As it says in Romans 12:15, "Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn." Throughout this long journey from infertility to our introduction to Grace and then the long wait to meet her, you have all given us such encouragement and hope and for that we are eternally thankful and grateful. God has blessed us greatly with wonderful friend and family!

Here is a brief itinerary of our trip in China:

May 5 leave for Hong Kong
May 6 arrive in Hong Kong
May 7 Travel to Fuzhou
May 8 - Meet Grace in the afternoon!!!May 9 - 13 Chinese Adoption process in Fuzhou (Fujian Province)
May 14 - 15 U.S. Adoption process at U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou (Guangdong Province)
May 16 Visa appointment at 10:00 am
May 17 Visa is issued
May 18 Return to U.S.

We are going to China to get our baby!!! Your continued prayers safe travels and transition as a family are much appreciated!! Please pray for Grace and wisdom as we seek guidance from doctors upon our return for treating her club foot.

We got our travel documents today!

2011-04-21T23:03:00.000-04:00

Praise God we got our travel documents today! All we need to do now is get the U.S. Consulate appointment set up in China and then count back 10 days from that to schedule our flights!

Thanks for all your prayers and support! We are so excited and looking forward to traveling to China to pick up our daughter!

Her room is ready and waiting. We just need her in it!

Quick Update

2011-03-31T23:59:00.000-04:00

Dear Friends,

We have a quick update! The U. S. Consulate completed the Article 5 letter that was required by the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) in order to complete processing our paperwork. It was fedexed to them yesterday, and now we are just waiting on the CCAA to issue our travel documents! Please pray that they will process our documents as quickly as possible.

Also, next Tuesday, we have a lengthly conference call with Gladney regarding our trip to China. We will go over our trip itinerary and all the details surrounding our travel and day to day events.

Blessings and love to all!

"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.'" (Jeremiah 29:11-13)

Prayer Partners and our Awesome God!

2011-03-28T23:07:00.002-04:00

To our Faithful Prayer Partners:

We will never be able to express the extent of our gratitude to all our friends and family for their prayer support throughout this amazing adoption journey. The end of our journey is finally in sight, and I almost cannot believe it! We have a few specific requests we would ask for prayer over the next few weeks.

1) Prayer that the U.S. Consulate will issue the Article 5 letter this week to the Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA).
2) Prayer that the CCAA will issue our travel documents quickly so we can schedule our trip and bring Grace home!
3) Prayer for the preparation of our three hearts as we become a family.
4) Prayer for wisdom upon our return as we seek treatment of her club foot and hand and toe deformities.

Please know that you are all in our hearts and prayers!

God's Amazing Provision

I am currently reading Mary Beth Chapman's book, Choosing to See. It is an amazing book about her life and their family's struggles and journey with a good part of the book focusing on their decision to adopt. Reading their story and seeing God's direction in their lives reminded me of how God has continually worked in our lives through this adoption process, directing our steps and providing for us in more way than we could have ever imagined. As I look back on our journey, I see God's fingerprints at every turn and stand in awe of Him! I wanted to take a moment to give Him all glory and praise and honor! You alone are God!

Psalm 86:1-13

"Hear me, LORD, and answer me,
   for I am poor and needy.
Guard my life, for I am faithful to you;
   save your servant who trusts in you.
You are my God; have mercy on me, Lord,
   for I call to you all day long.
Bring joy to your servant, Lord,
   for I put my trust in you.

You, Lord, are forgiving and good,
   abounding in love to all who call to you.
Hear my prayer, LORD;
   listen to my cry for mercy.
When I am in distress, I call to you,
   because you answer me.

Among the gods there is none like you, Lord;
   no deeds can compare with yours.
All the nations you have made
   will come and worship before you, Lord;
   they will bring glory to your name.
For you are great and do marvelous deeds;
   you alone are God.

Teach me your way, LORD,
   that I may rely on your faithfulness;
give me an undivided heart,
   that I may fear your name.
I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart;
   I will glorify your name forever.
For great is your love toward me;
   you have delivered me from the depths,
   from the realm of the dead."

Updated information on Grace!!!!

2011-03-17T16:02:00.000-04:00

Today we received updated information on Grace! We did not receive any pictures yet, but we got lots of good information! Praise God! We can't wait to meet her!

I will now have to exchange some clothes. :)

Mar 17 2011

Updates of Liu Rong Zhi (GRACE).

Height: 79cm - conversion = 31.1 inches

Weight: 13.5Kg - conversion = 29.7 pounds

Head circumference: 48cm - conversion = 18.9 inches

Chest circumference: 52cm - conversion = 20.5 inches

Foot Length: 13cm - conversion = 5.1 inches

She can wave bye-bye, and say the some words like Baba ( Father) Mama (Mother)

Nainai ( Grandmother ), Ayi ( aunt), etc.

She walks in short distance, because of her club foot, she easily falls down on ground.

She understands some meaning of words like No, Pick Up etc.

Sometime she wants to feed herself.

Another step in the process completed!

2011-03-12T12:18:00.000-05:00

God has been demonstrating His power and provision in so many ways through our adoption process.

Last Saturday, we received the approval to classify Grace as our child when entering the U.S. from Immigration. Next, we needed a letter from the National Visa Center (NVS) notifying us that our case had been forwarded to the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, P.R.C. I emailed the NVC on Thursday evening and by Friday morning I had a scanned copy of the letter from them ready to be submitted to the U.S. Consulate via email. Our case worker had said this step could have taken 3 weeks just like the document from Immigration. Both letters came in a week!! Praise God!!!

What steps remain in the process? Now, the U.S. Consulate will issue a letter called an Article V letter that will be sent the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA), so that the CCAA can issue our travel documents. Our case worker said it usually takes about 3 weeks for the Article V letter, so please join us in praying that God will work and that this letter will get issued in a week! Next, the ball in the CCAA's court, which she said can take anywhere from 3 to 6 weeks. Please pray for speed once our documents reach the CCAA.

Once we receive travel documents from the CCAA, we need to travel to China within 90 days, so we will schedule an interview with the U.S. Consulate which will fall at the end of our trip to China and then we can make travel arrangements!

Please pray as well that we will get an update and couple of new pictures of Grace. Your prayers mean so much to us, and we are so thankful for all of our wonderful friends and family and your support through this process!

"For you make me glad by your deeds, LORD;
I sing for joy at what your hands have done.
How great are your works, LORD,
how profound your thoughts!"
Psalm 92:4-5

Exciting News!!

2011-03-05T14:02:00.000-05:00

I have two pieces of very exciting information! First, we were informed last night that Grace received her pillow!

Second, with great expectation, I approached the mail box today as I do every day, praying that today would be the day we would receive our approval letter to bring Grace into the US from US Center for Immigration Services. What did I find today? The approval letter!!!!! Praise God for his goodness in providing us this document extremely quickly!

Thank you to everyone for your prayers! We now send this document to China to get travel documents, then we will set up a date to meet with the consulate and get our trip dates established. Please continue to pray for the remaining steps!

Blessing to all!

Care Package for Grace

2011-02-18T14:35:00.000-05:00

We are so excited that we have the opportunity to send a care package to Grace. The majority of people we talked with recommended we send a pillow with our picture on it. It is going to be sent to her in the next few days! Here is it.

Please pray that she will receive it without any problems and that they will provide us updated information on her and new pictures. We did learn that she is walking really well which is such a blessing!! Praise God!

Immigration Paperwork on it's way (Happy Valentine's Day!)

2011-02-14T15:29:00.001-05:00

We sent our package off to immigration! Please pray for a speedy process. Our package included quite a bit of paperwork as you see from the list below!

I – 800 Application

I-864W Application

Copy of I-797 Approval Notice

Copy of Letter Seeking Confirmation from China for Adoption of Liu Rong Zhi

I-800A Supplement 3 Application (due to New Home address) and $360 Check

Copy of Original Home Study and Updated Home Study reflecting New Home Address

Copy of English and Chinese Referral Paperwork on Liu Rong Zhi

3 Certification Letters from our adoption agency, the Gladney Center for Adoption

Happy Valentine's Day to all our friends and family. This is a February 14 I will never forget. It will be forever embedded in my mind as the day we sent off the important paperwork to USCIS to received the final approval from them to bring Grace home!

It also reminds me of the wonderful unending unchanging love of our Father. He adopted us as His children. What a beautiful on a day like today!

"For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba,Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children." Romans 8:14-16

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39

Waiting . . .

2011-02-09T23:04:00.000-05:00

As we wait for paperwork to be processed so we can bring Grace home, we have peace knowing that God is taking care of her and will bring us together in His perfect timing. Time and time again throughout this process, He has demonstrated His ever constant presence and has provided for us at every turn on this journey.

For all of you who are waiting on the Lord's perfect timing, here are some verses we have found comfort and encouragement in:

"For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." 2 Cor. 4:17

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble." Ps. 46:1

"Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." I Peter 5:7

"And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You." Psalm 39:7

"Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you." Is. 43:1b-2

"The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever." Is. 32:17

"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint." Isaiah 40:31

"Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us." Romans 5:3-5

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you." James 1:2-5

Blessing to all our wonderful friends and family! We love you and are so thankful for you!

Letter Seeking Confirmation is here from China!

2011-01-31T22:46:00.000-05:00

We have some exciting news! The Letter Seeking Confirmation from China has arrived. This is their official letter saying they have approved us to adopt Grace. Now we move on to a the immigration paperwork phase.

Prayer requests:

1) Please pray for a speedy process. We have to submit a home study update (because we moved into a house) to immigration along with the I-800 paperwork which will allow to bring Grace into the country.

2) Prayer that we will get updated pictures and information on Grace. Our adoption agency, Gladney Center for Adoption, has been requesting updates, but their hands are tied legally from actually going to the orphanage or foster home to obtain pictures. We are going to use a lady who has a service in China. She will create a pillow with our picture on it to take to the orphanage for Grace, and she can try to get pictures or health updates.

3) Pray for Grace and us as we prepare to become a family!

Blessing to all our wonderful friends and family!

Nothing New to Report About Grace

2011-01-13T14:51:00.001-05:00

Dear Friends,

Well, it has been a busy couple of months, but nothing new report about Grace. We are still waiting for the letter seeking confirmation from China and an update on Grace. It is very hard to wait for new information and pictures of her. We are praying daily that we will learn something new about her soon and how she is doing or see new pictures of her. She is now 14 months old and the only information we have on her is from when she was 6 months old. Your prayers would be very much appreciated.

God has provided for us in amazing ways over the past year. Several people have generously donated to our adoption, and God supplied funds which provided us with the ability to finally purchase home. We just moved in this week and are very excited to bring Grace to her new home! Our new address is 20610 Gathering Oak, San Antonio, TX 78258.

Friends and family have been wonderfully supportive through this process, not only with prayers and kinds words but gifts as well!

We are so blessed and trying to keep our focus on our heavenly Father and His plan and timing in the this process.

"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" Jeremiah 29:11

Blessings to all!

Grace's B-day Party!

2010-11-19T19:03:00.000-05:00

Happy First Birthday, Grace! We love you and can't wait to hold you in our arms! We are praying that the remainder of our paperwork will come through quickly and smoothly.

Happy 1st Birthday, Grace (Rongzhi)!

2010-11-12T07:51:00.000-05:00

Our precious baby Grace celebrates her 1st birthday today! She was left at the Welfare State office on November 14, so the doctors estimated she was about 2 days old deeming her birthday as November 12, 2009. We think of her and pray for her daily and can't wait to receive our offical adoption paperwork from China, so that we can move forward with the immigration paperwork and prepare to travel to China to get her. Praise God for His infinite wisdom, grace, and plan for our lives that included our precious baby Grace.

Pre-Approval received . . . Waiting on Final Approval from China

2010-10-31T16:28:00.001-04:00

Wow, it has been a crazy past few weeks! We had several visitors (my mom, Adam's dad and step-mom, and a good friend from MD) as well a few adoption things to take care on top of a busy month at work for both of us.

On the Adoption Front:
I had travel back in time to the 1990s to obtain a letter regarding an extremely minor eye surgery I had as child to reassure the China Officials that I am capable of caring for a child. :) After all that, we received our Pre-Approval on October 11, so now we are waiting for the official approval letter. We ask for your prayers for a quick approval!

God has continually blessed us greatly through this process and demonstrated again and again his loving provision for us. We were blessed to receive two very generous donations to our Life Song account!

Meet Grace

2010-09-19T17:29:00.000-04:00

Dearest Friends and Family,

"A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families . . . " Psalm 68:5-6a

God has brought us a precious little girl and we would like to introduce her to you. It will be about 6 months before we hold her in our arms but we are so excited to know she is the one God has for us!

Meet Grace (Rongzhi)!

They have estimated her birth date as November 12, 2009 and she is from Fuzhou City. She is from the special needs list and has some deformities of her fingers and toes. A pediatrician, who specializes in international adoptions and health, reviewed her medical file with us regarding her health, development and bilateral finger and toe deformities. She believes Grace will have no problem adjusting and learning how to use her hands and feet but will refer us to pediatric orthopedic and hand surgeons as well as a physical therapist to work with her to ensure she has full use of her hands and feet.

As I mentioned, it will take about 6 months for us to get over there due to quite a bit of remaining paperwork. We would ask for your prayers for a smooth and trouble free process. Following is the estimated time line of the remaining events as I understand it:

First, we will receive our Adoption Pre-Approval (one to two weeks from Friday).
Then, the Chinese Adoption Officials will review our dossier (2-3 months) and send a letter seeking confirmation from us that we will proceed with the adoption.
Next, we have to receive our I-800 Approval from U.S. Immigration (another month).
Then, we need the Article V Letter from the Chinese Consulate in China (another month)
Finally, Travel approval, visa interviews etc. (3 to 8 weeks)

Prayer Requests:

1) Prayer for the safety and health of Grace and for all three of us as we prepare to become a family.

2) Prayer for a speedy paperwork process as we wait for our little girl, that there would be no problems with the paperwork and for our patience as we wait.

3) Prayer for sources for the remaining funds needed for our adoption. For more information on this, check out our Adoption Finances Page.

We have decided to call her Grace after Hannah's story in I Samuel 1. While I was dealing with infertility, God used Hannah's story to encourage me and we wanted to always be reminded of God's grace, love and provision. Her Chinese given name is Liu Rongzhi with Liu being her last name. We would like to keep her Chinese name as a part of her name to instill in her a love and understand of her culture and heritage.

Blessing in Christ,

Suzanne and Adam Meledeo

"Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him." Ps. 37:7

2010-09-04T22:57:00.002-04:00

This was quite an exciting week for us! We talked with our caseworker regarding our adoption, and we received the following update. Our paperwork is in China being translated so we are just waiting for it to be completed, and the notification that they have logged it into their system. As soon as we receive our log in date, our caseworker can start looking for matches for us on the waiting child list. Apparently, there are about 2000 children on China's waiting child list just waiting for their forever families and the baby God has for us is most likely on that list right now or about to be!

It is an exhilarating, crazy, exciting and scary thought that we could possibly receive a referral within the next couple of months. The journey to this point has been long and arduous, filled with sadness, fear, uncertainty, excitement, faith, praise and love. Working through infertility was the first leg of the road, with the decision to adopt and paperwork process being the second leg. Now we are about start that third and final leg of this voyage which will end with our baby in our arms. God has led us down this path for many reasons, with one especially close to my heart, infertility. If you know someone who is walking that path or are walking it yourself, please feel to talk with me about it. God led me to write a Bible study on this issue, and I would love to share it with you and encourage you through the Holy Spirit.

Now, I suppose you might be wondering how the referral process works in China, let me share. :)

Our caseworker will peruse the rather large list of children looking for ones that match the profile we have laid out. We are looking for a child as young as possible (most likely the child will be between 8 to 10 months old at the time of referral) with a less severe special needs like limb difference, club foot, or hand or foot deformities. Once she sees a child that she thinks would be a good match for us, she will put the child on hold for us. We then have 72 hours to consult with a special international adoption pediatrician regarding the child's medical history and treatments, pray and decide whether or not we will accept the child. Once the decision is made to accept a child, we will then proceed forward with a little more paperwork and await the date to go pick up our baby, which takes up to six months typically.

So, as you can see, there is much that can happen over the next few weeks!

Friends, we ask for your prayers for the following:

1) Prayer for the safety and health of child and for all three of us as we prepare to become a family.

2) Prayer for us for wisdom and guidance as we receive referrals.

3) Prayer for sources for the remaining funds needed for our adoption and for wisdom as we seek those funds. We have applied for a grant from Show Hope (Steven Curtis Chapman's Foundation) which takes about 6 months for notification of whether or not you received a grant and for an interest free loan from the ABBA Fund (they do not give out loans until right before you leave for China). Additionally, Life Song for Orphans has offered to set up an account for us for people to make tax deductible gifts.

Immediate Need: $500 for the international pediatrician and $4,000 to our adoption agency at the time of referral acceptance
Right before heading to China we will need another $10,000 to $12,000 (depending on travel costs) to cover all the adoption fees in China and to get us over there to pick up our baby!

We have complete faith that God will provide and are excited to see how He does. We also can hardly wait to see the child God has for us!

We are so appreciative of your prayers! Praise God for His perfect and awesome plan!

Waiting . . .

2010-08-23T22:06:00.000-04:00

As we wait to hear back from our caseworker regarding the completed translation of our dossier, I started thinking about the word "wait" itself. As an English major, you will have to forgive my affinity for linguistics and the derivation of words. :) One of my favorite dictionaries is Webster's 1828 Dictionary (thank you CHA for introducing me to it back in the 9th grade!). I love looking at how Webster defined things because he always made biblical references.

What I find wonderfully beautiful about the word "wait" is its rich depth of meaning. It is so much more than just sitting around waiting for something to happen. There is a whole element to it that refers to service and submissive attendance. So in the midst of my lament over the fact that the next few months will be filled with waiting, God gently reminded me that instead of waiting for something, I should be ready to serve and attend Him! Once I take my eyes off the issue or trial (i.e. infertility, will I ever have a child, etc.) and place them on my ever faithful and loving Father, His wonderful plan and desires for my life become my desires, and I can serve Him as I was created to do and point others to Him. Of course, this is a day by day, sometimes moment by moment, refocusing on Him, and I am so thankful for all my wonderful brothers and sisters in the Lord who are lifting us up in prayer!

"To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)

http://1828.mshaffer.com/d/search/word,wait

WAIT, v.i. [The sense is to stop, or to continue.]

1. To stay or rest in expectation; to stop or remain stationary, till the arrival of some person or event.

2. To stay proceedings, or suspend any business, in expectation of some person, event, or the arrival of some hour. The court was obliged to wait for a witness.

3. To rest in expectation and patience.

All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. Job 14.

4. To stay; not to depart.

Haste, my dear father, tis no time to wait.

5. To stay; to continue by reason of hindrance.

6. To lie in ambush, as an enemy.

Such ambush waited to intercept thy way.

7. To wait on or upon, to attend, as a servant; to perform menial services for; as, to wait on a gentleman; to wait on the table.

To wait on,

1. To attend; to go to see; to visit on business or for ceremony. Tell the gentleman I will wait on him at ten oclock.

2. To pay servile or submissive attendance.

3. To follow, as a consequence; as the ruin that waits on such a supine temper. [Instead of this, we use await.]

4. To look watchfully.

It is a point of cunning to wait on him with whom you speak, with your eye. [Unusual.]

5. To attend to; to perform.

Aaron and his sons shall wait on their priests office. Numbers 3, 8. Romans 12.

6. To be ready to serve; to obey. Psalm 25. Proverbs 20.

To wait at, to attend in service; to perform service at. 1 Corinthians 9.

To wait for, to watch, as an enemy. Job 15.

Dossier Off to be Translated!

2010-08-11T16:55:00.000-04:00

I sent the Dossier off today via FedEx to our case worker with Gladney! She will then have it translated into Chinese (which she said takes about a month), and then it will go off to China to be logged in to their system. Once we have our log in date, she will begin to look at the waiting children lists! My prayer now is the translation of the documents will go smoothly and quickly so the documents can be logged in in China! :)

Life Song for Orphans did not have any money to spare right now for loans allowing us to see God provide in a most unusual way! He provided me with a crazy amount of new clients last month providing us with enough extra money to cover the costs of the dossier translation! Praise Him for His wonderful plan!

God's provision and Update

2010-07-24T18:51:00.000-04:00

Quick Update:
I mailed a copy of the Immigration approval form with my notarized statement of authenticity to the Secretary of State of TX for authentication on Monday and it arrived today (7/24/10). I will mail it to the Chinese Consulate on Monday for their authentication. Then, once I receive that back from the Consulate, I will send all our information to our caseworker. She will then go over all the documents and have them translated into Chinese. Once that is completed (which she said typically takes about a month), the documents will be submitted to China and we will received a log-in date. And the really exciting news?! Once we receive a log-in date, she can begin to look at the waiting children lists for a child for us!!

God has been using the adoption process in my life to demonstrate to me His love and provision. He has been with us every step of way, but has recently chosen remind me that it is all according to His design. As we have struggled over the past months to save money for the adoption, cover our monthly expenses, and navigate all the paperwork, He has been ever faithful to provide for our needs in so many ways. About a week ago, several people told me that they had specifically prayed for our finances and timely return of paperwork. Our awesome God answered those prayers as only He can by allowing our immigration form to arrive just a week after our biometrics fingerprinting was completed (which is exceptionally fast for the Federal Government), and we heard from Life Song for Orphans that they would be making a decision about our loan within a couple of weeks which perfectly coinsides with when we will need funds, coincidence? Of course, not! God working? ABSOLUTELY! I cannot thank and praise God enough for all He has done for us!

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts. . . .
So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it."
Isaiah 55:8-9, 11

Approved by USCIS to Adopt a Child from China!

2010-07-17T17:48:00.001-04:00

After a lazy afternoon of sitting on the couch, I decided to go check the mail. What do you suppose was waiting for me in the mail box only a week after we had our fingerprints taken? Our approval form to adopt a child from China from the USCIS! Last week we also received all the documents back from the Chinese Consulate. Now all that remains is for me to get this USCIS document authenticated.

Additionally, I spoke with Life Song for Orphans and they are processing our application for a loan. We should hear from them in a couple of weeks!

I know that many have been praying for a quick and smooth process. Praise God for answered prayer! It is so exciting to see Him working in this process in His timing!

USCIS Biometrics Appointments Set

2010-07-05T23:38:00.000-04:00

Things are moving along for us in the process. Just a few things remain to complete our dossier for China. Our Biometrics appointments for USCIS are schedule for Friday, July 9. Once that is complete, they will finish processing our paperwork. We are also waiting on the Chinese Consulate in Houston to authenticate our documents. We are getting very excited at the prospect of completing the dossier!

Thanks so much to all for your continued prayers and support!

Paperwork Haze and Coffee Lovers

2010-06-21T17:56:00.000-04:00

I just found my way home after wandering around today in a paperwork haze. I spend all day yesterday and today putting together documents for the Chinese Consulate and for loan and grant applications. I have now returned from the post office after mailing 11 documents to Chinese Consulate. Those documents are now in God's hands!

To all you coffee lovers out there, check out our Just Love Coffee Adoption Store! Every bag of coffee purchased provides $5 towards our adoption.
http://www.justlovecoffee.com/MeledeoAdoption

Quick Adoption Update

2010-06-20T01:17:00.000-04:00

We received a letter from the US Center for Immigration stating they have received our application and are processing it. They will be sending us a second letter which will provide the details for our second round of fingerprinting. Additionally, the Secretary of State of Texas returned our 9 authenticated documents to us which I will be mailing this week to the Chinese Consulate in Houston for yet another round of authentication. I also received a notice from the post office to pick up an express mail letter which should be our returned Kansas birth certificate for Adam (yep, Adam was born in Garden City, KS) from the Chinese Consulate in Chicago.

I am also putting together documents for three loan and grant applications which I hope to mail in the next couple of weeks. We are applying for interest free loans with Life Song for Orphans and the ABBA Fund as well as a grant from Show Hope. Please keep us in your prayers as we seek to raise funds through God's guidance. There are other ways to raise funds which we are prayerfully considering and would appreciate any ideas people have.

Blessings and Happy Father's Day! Hopefully, Adam will be celebrating his first Father's Day this time next year!

Paperwork in the Mail

2010-06-08T22:10:00.000-04:00

Over the past several days, we mailed off several things. I put the immigration paperwork in the mail on Friday. According to our case worker, it has been taking about 60 days for USCIS to process adoption paperwork. I am not holding my breath for 60 days; it is the Federal Government after all. :) It is in God's hands now.

Yesterday we mailed Adam's birth certificate to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago for authentication and about 10 documents to the Secretary of State of Texas for authentication. Thus the waiting process begins . . .

I am also trying to work loan applications and various other things needed to complete the Dossier for China.
We would appreciate your prayers a smooth and speedy process.

Thanks so much for all your prayer support!

Thoughts . . .

2010-05-26T16:10:00.000-04:00

As I sat by the pool today, reading The Lost Daughters of China by Karin Evans, so many thoughts flooded my mind. I have been struggling lately, on an emotional roller coaster so to speak. I have days where I trust God without hesitation, then I have days where I go rushing down the steep slope of that shaky wooden emotion roller coaster, thinking the adoption will never happen, we will never have the money for it, I will never have a baby, etc. It just seems unreal and so far off on those days when I take my focus off our Lord and His plan and try to do things on my own. Then today, as I was sitting there reading this book, it was glaringly obvious to me that a life without Christ and His hope and promise of a child whispered in my heart several years ago was no life at all. While the book I am reading is quite good, the author is in desperate need of our Savior. She shares her heartaches, fears and joys through the adoption process with no real hope. She turns to Buddha and misguided fortune tellers, muddling through life without Christ. I am SO thankful for my Lord, my relationship with Him and the opportunity He has presented to us to share His sacrifice and love with a our baby waiting in China.

"'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,' says the LORD. 'For the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, hat it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.'" Isaiah 55:8-12

Home Study Completed

2010-05-16T20:22:00.000-04:00

A big piece of the adoption paperwork puzzle is now complete! The social worker has finished writing the home study, and after a few edits, will be mailing us official copies this week. This means we can submit our paperwork to immigration. Also, now that we have the home study document, we can apply for adoption loans and grants which will prove quite helpful.

The journey through infertility to God's direction to adopt was and continues to be a long one, but we continue to keep our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. It is through trials like these that God demonstrates His awesome strength and our incredible need for Him. He so longs for us to give Him complete control and how often do we play tug of war with Him over things in our lives, thinking there is something we can do to remedy the situation. When we are weak, then He is strong! God has a plan to bring a child to us; it may not be in the way I thought it would be, but we will trust Him, because His is plan for our lives always far exceeds our wildest dreams and imaginations. Praise Him for His great and awesome love for us!!

Working on Dossier Documents

2010-05-08T23:58:00.002-04:00

Just a quick update for everyone!

I have been working to get together a list of documents needed for the dossier which will be sent to China. I have the following notarized and certified documents:
Letter of intent to adopt from China
Certified Birth Certificates
Certified Marriage certificate
General Physical Examination document
Financial Statement
Employment Letters for Adam and myself
Good Conduct Certificates (these documents took us on an exciting trip to the Bexar County Sheriff's office and detention center!)

Once our caseworker has looked over all these, I will then send these documents to Secretary of State for authentication (hopefully early next week).

Our homestudy should be ready soon as well which means we can send in our immigration paperwork.

Please pray for smooth going with all the paperwork and for us to continue to trust God and his timing.

Happy Mother's Day to all!

Social Worker Visit and more paperwork!

2010-04-18T22:41:00.000-04:00

The social worker came to visit with us last Monday! The visit was great and consisted of us chatting for about 4 hours about us, our families, views on parenting, etc, while also covering things we need to be aware of when we bring home our new child after displacing him or her from their environment (plus a 24 hour plane ride). Now the social worker will put together the home study document which will be included in a dossier (a collection of documents for China).

What is the next step you ask? PAPERWORK MADNESS!! :) We now are going to be gathering together medical and financial documents, employment letters, birth and marriage certificates, and my favorite, the certificate of good citizenship (from the police). All these documents have to go through a stringent and almost unbelievable authentication process. They have to be notarized, verified by the Secretary of State, and authenticated by the Chinese Consulate. Also, we have to file paperwork with immigration, so we can bring a child into the U.S.

Once our dossier is complete, translated and in China, we will receive a log in date. Then our adoption agency will start looking at children who match our profile!!

Prayer for this week specifically, aside from sanity while I am nativigating the paperwork craziness, is that I can get the medical document sorted out and property notarized by the doctor.

Blessing to all!!

Prayers and the home study!

2010-04-01T13:54:00.000-04:00

Our home study with the social worker has been scheduled for Monday, April 12!! Please be praying for us as we get the house ready. The movers arrived this past Sunday with our stuff from Maryland, and we still have much unpacking to do! We have a storage unit which will help with the excess, but you should see the place, such a mess. :) We are excited and nervous and covet your prayers for us!

God bless you all as you celebrate our glorious risen Lord this weekend!

"Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures," (I Cor. 15:1-4, NIV)

Home Study coming soon . . .

2010-03-19T17:56:00.000-04:00

So, I have sent in lots more paperwork, and we should be hearing from our home study case worker in approximately the next 30 days! However, there is still much to do. This coming Tuesday we are going to get fingerprinted for the back ground checks. This will be my first fingerprinting, is it weird that I am excited? :) What really excites me is the fact that we are completing different steps in the process. I love having a check list that we check things off as we go along with each check mark bringing us closer to our baby! I also love seeing how God is working through it all. Our baby will be a precious gift from Him.

First Round of Paperwork in the mail!!

2010-03-02T16:19:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we talked to our caseworker and she recommended that we get the paperwork for the China adoption in ASAP even if there is missing info. We now know who our insurance is with; we will just need to get them our numbers and verification that they will take on our baby as soon as we get that information.

So I spent yesterday afternoon getting it together and mailed it today! It consisted of several legal documents acknowledging our understanding of the risks with adoption as well as our agreement to work with Gladney, our lengthy application with tons of info on us, copies of our passport, birth certificates, marriage license, and my personal favorite, the vaccinations records for our kitties! There, of course, is still more paperwork to do, so more fun times to be had with documents. It is also my understanding that they will begin our home study next.

Blessings to all!

Update

2010-02-24T17:14:00.000-05:00

Friends, I realize it has been a while since I have posted an update on the blog. The main reason for this is that there is not really anything to report at the moment. I have not been able to proceed with any paperwork because we have been waiting for our new health insurance to be activated. We can't start turning in the paperwork until we have that on the forms. Please pray that it will come through soon, so we can actually get started. It is so hard to wait on just that after we have already been waiting for so long for a child.

Thanks for all the prayers! We appreciate it so much!

Adoption Update

2010-01-15T12:31:00.001-05:00

Friends, we have made some big decisions and changes to our adoption process after much prayer and discussion. With the Taiwan adoption on hold, potentially a two year wait, and considering the fact that we are required to own a home which just isn't possible for us right now, we felt we should look at all our possible options. We discussed these with our caseworker and she said that another option for us would be to do a dual track adoption. This means we would stay on the Taiwan list, but while we are waiting, we can pursue the adoption of a special needs child from China. There are 1000s of waiting children and the adoption of such a child can happen in about a year. The interesting thing is that when we began to consider adoption originally, everyone I spoke with about adoption from Asian countries had pursued a special needs adoption. They expressed to me their joy in adopting these precious waiting children and the fact that there is nothing fear. So these children have been on my heart, but I thought, there is no way we could follow that path. Well, apparently God had other plans, because after we prayed about it and considered it, it became apparent that God was opening this door to us through the delay of the Taiwan adoption and other things. They do not require you to own a home and one of them is meant to be our child.

So we are beginning the paperwork as we speak. I look forward to enthralling you all with the exciting tale of adoption paperwork!

To learn more about special needs adoption in China, check out the following websites. The vast majority of them tend to have clef lip or palates, among other things.
http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/index.cfm and http://www.rainbowkids.com/

Thanks again to all our supportive friends!

Conference Call Update

2010-01-05T22:34:00.000-05:00

Well, we had a conference call with Gladney today, and they basically gave no additional information. So, as it stands, our adoption is still on hold while things are being investigated in Taiwan, and there is a possibility that the organization being used by Gladney for infant adoptions could stop doing adoptions all together. Since we are already at the bottom of the list, we are going to start looking at our options. Please continue to pray for wisdom and guidance and that we will trust God and His timing and plan for us.

Possible delays in the adoption

2009-12-19T10:18:00.000-05:00

I have a quick update. The Taiwan agency that Gladney works with in country is having some problems with the Taiwan government. Therefore, there could be delays in the adoption process. We will have more information after a conference call on January 5, so please keep us in your prayers for wisdom and patience. This can be a very discouraging process. We are also looking at buying a house here in San Antonio (as required by Taiwan for the adoption) and would appreciate prayers for wisdom for that as well.

Have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Goodbye Maryland, Texas Here We Come!

2009-12-03T10:54:00.000-05:00

I am writing this message as I am finishing up my last day as a Senate Staffer. It is a bittersweet moment for me, so many people I will miss, yet exciting to think of what God has in store for us in San Antonio. We are heading out of town early tomorrow morning with the two cats and two cars. Please keep us in your prayers as we are traveling and getting settled.

One of the first things I need to do upon arrival in San Antonio is get working on the paperwork for the adoption! More to come on the exciting thrills of filling all that out!

To all our Maryland friends, we will miss you immensely and appreciate your friendship and encouragement so much!

Join us on our adoption journey!

2009-11-24T10:03:00.000-05:00

It's an exciting and bittersweet time for us as we prepare to leave one home in Maryland and head to a new one in San Antonio. God has blessed us these past seven and half years with wonderful godly friendships and a church that is inspiring and encouraging. We thank God daily for all He taught us and are so thankful for the life long friendships we have made, who we know will be supporting us in their hearts and prayers throughout this journey.

Now, let me go back a few months and fill everyone in on our adoption journey. After years of trying to have children, working through infertility and coming to the realization that God has children for us, just not through the regular method, we decided on our nine year wedding anniversary (June 24, 2009) that adoption was our plan A and God's will for our lives.

Of course, the next question, you must ask yourself on this journey is where to adopt from, domestic or international. Well, after prayer, research and a lengthy discussion, we settled on Asia. I have always felt that I would adopt from an Asian country and Adam has a great interest in Asian culture so it made sense. We looked at the waiting lists, the different countries programs and adoption agencies and settled with Taiwan through the Gladney Center for Adoption based in Forth Worth.

How does the program work you ask?

Taiwan's Infant Adoption Program - We are on the waiting list as of August 2009. They estimate 12 to 18 months for the process (we ask for prayers as we wait!). Once an infant is available to us (typically at about 2 weeks old), they will send us pictures and medical information for what they call a referral, and we decide whether or not to accept the referral. Then, the waiting starts again as the court dates are set up over the next six to eight months. During those months, we will continue to receive pictures, videos and updates from the adoption agency and foster family and we are also allowed to send presents and pictures of us. Once the court date is set, we will go to Taiwan to get our baby!

So what is the next step right now? Lots and lots of paperwork once we get moved to San Antonio and the purchase of a home.

I will update throughout the process on this blog at least once every couple weeks (don't hold me to that) with where we are in the process.