Monday, May 25, 2009
NEW UPDATE!
We came home from a Memorial Day picnic at the Fishers to find a new update on Mei! She seems to be doing very well! They report that she has been much more active lately and enjoys playing with her friends and brother! We did not know she had a brother. Not that he is a biological brother. We are assuming he is also a foster child. They are usually placed in pairs. We are happy she has a little one to interact with. We will be adding him to our prayer list. We hope that he will also be adopted and if so, we hope to find out who his adoptive parents are. We are so thankful for a positive report with specific information about things we have been praying about.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Gratitude Thursdays
I thought we would start the habit of taking time each week to express the things we are thankful for as we endure this challenging wait.
We are grateful for:
1. Answered prayer:
As you can see on our prayer list we had been praying for pictures of Mei's foster family and we now have a picture of her foster Mom! We are still unsure if she has any foster siblings and we already have a picture of who we think is her foster Dad but this new picture we received in an update is such an answer to prayer! We will need to help Mei say goodbye and pictures will help in this process. Of course we are hoping for more and the chance to meet them in person in China. But for now, Yeah God!
2. Time with Cole, Julia, Cody!
Any new addition to the family can be challenging. We know, we have done it three times=) Although everyday we have to wait to bring home Mei Mei is difficult we are considering it a blessing to be able to spend focused time and soon summer fun with Cole, Julia, and Cody. (Cody is at the moment in the creek bare naked except for water shoes)
3. Time to prepare:
There is sooo much to do before our trip. We must rearrange and redecorate the bedrooms along with many other household projects. We are still learning a lot from adopted parents and other resources about cl/cp and what to expect when adopting a toddler. The list of "things you want to get done before the baby arrives" is very long!
4. Amazing resources:
I am trying to start a life book for Mei and it is amazing how much I already know about her past. It is such a wonderful thing to be able to collect these things for her. The way the Internet connects people is amazing! We have found pictures of the orphanage she lived in along with very detailed descriptions of the building. We found her name it various places showing that she needed to be sponsored for both her lip (2007) and palate surgeries and then that her sponsorship was paid in full. We found pictures of her recent palate surgery and the man we think is her foster Dad. We have received updates and have a pictures of her foster Mom which was an answer to one of our ongoing prayers. We found out that there are documentaries that have been made about the city she lives in. They give glimpses into everyday life there and when she is older she will be able to see what life in her city in China was like. I could go on. It is not going to be a life book it will be a life bin!
We are grateful for:
1. Answered prayer:
As you can see on our prayer list we had been praying for pictures of Mei's foster family and we now have a picture of her foster Mom! We are still unsure if she has any foster siblings and we already have a picture of who we think is her foster Dad but this new picture we received in an update is such an answer to prayer! We will need to help Mei say goodbye and pictures will help in this process. Of course we are hoping for more and the chance to meet them in person in China. But for now, Yeah God!
2. Time with Cole, Julia, Cody!
Any new addition to the family can be challenging. We know, we have done it three times=) Although everyday we have to wait to bring home Mei Mei is difficult we are considering it a blessing to be able to spend focused time and soon summer fun with Cole, Julia, and Cody. (Cody is at the moment in the creek bare naked except for water shoes)
3. Time to prepare:
There is sooo much to do before our trip. We must rearrange and redecorate the bedrooms along with many other household projects. We are still learning a lot from adopted parents and other resources about cl/cp and what to expect when adopting a toddler. The list of "things you want to get done before the baby arrives" is very long!
4. Amazing resources:
I am trying to start a life book for Mei and it is amazing how much I already know about her past. It is such a wonderful thing to be able to collect these things for her. The way the Internet connects people is amazing! We have found pictures of the orphanage she lived in along with very detailed descriptions of the building. We found her name it various places showing that she needed to be sponsored for both her lip (2007) and palate surgeries and then that her sponsorship was paid in full. We found pictures of her recent palate surgery and the man we think is her foster Dad. We have received updates and have a pictures of her foster Mom which was an answer to one of our ongoing prayers. We found out that there are documentaries that have been made about the city she lives in. They give glimpses into everyday life there and when she is older she will be able to see what life in her city in China was like. I could go on. It is not going to be a life book it will be a life bin!
No LOA =(
Well the group of families from our agency that are adopting along with us all got LOA's today. We did not. There is certainly not anything to worry about, ours will come, but since we were a little behind the group in the overall process it will take longer. We had hoped this would not be the case. Anyway, it can still come any day now. There is no advanced notice. So, keep praying for our LOA to arrive soon so we can travel this summer.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Updates/Travel
The new picture is from an update we received from Love Without Boundaries. They do monthly updates and pictures. We should receive April's update soon. We have not yet received our LOA (Letter of Approval) which is the next step in the process. After the Letter of Approval arrives our TA (travel approval) will come about 1 month later and then it will take a few weeks to finalize our travel plans. As time goes on we get deeper and deeper into the summer so please pray we get the LOA soon.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Finally a picture!!!
Embarrassingly I needed to watch a video tutorial to finally add this photo! My goal was to really try to do it myself without calling Fred!
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