Good news and weird news.... we're in the review room

Well, to my joy, we have discovered that our file is in review. Unfortunately, I did not discover this because it is a habit for the CCAA to inform perspective adoptive parents. Our wonderful family coordinator called and it appears there is a little glitch in our dossier. It doesn't seem to be a very big glitch, in fact, it is a problem involving a mere $3.00. But, to the CCAA, this $3.00 could hold us up or even turn us down. Hopefully it will be corrected by next week, but none the less, it is a glitch.

The delay has not bothered me, which really does surprise me. I think that God showed me so clearly with Elizabeth that the timing is His and not mine. By His grace, I was able to reach our social worker and fax her a copy of the document that was needed for CCAA to review us again. What has bothered me is how I would feel if the CCAA denied us and Ri was not to be our son. Now that is a blow.

But.. I am confident that he is our son and God will work it all out for His glory. Hang in there son, we will come when God is ready to send us!

Happy Birthday Daddy!!! We celebrated Daddy's birthday on Sunday. The kids and I woke up early and made him breakfast in bed. We had hoped to surprize him, but he walked in on us. So after his shower, we made him go back to bed so that we could serve him breakfast. It was a lot of fun. That afternoon, we met our very dear friends at a state lodge and spent the night hanging out together.


Elizabeth is a great imitator. She saw the girls curling their hair, so she picked up the curling iron and tried to do the same. It was very cute.





Do you have any clue what letter boxing is? Well, our good friends gave Mark a beginning letterbox "kit" for his birthday. It is so much fun. It is kind of like a scavenger hunt. You can choose a city that you want to go letterboxing in and search it on the internet. Then, if there are any letterboxes hidden in that city, you can choose which one you want to go hunting for. There are clues given and directions on how to find the letterbox. Once you find it, you journal it in a log book by taking the stamp that you find in the letterbox and stamping your journal log and then take your family stamp and stamp the log that is in the letterbox. Our friends have been doing this since at least August of 2006. They are having so much fun that they wanted us to experience it. We couldn't on Sunday or Monday because of rain, but the kids and I made it an adventure on Tuesday when they had the day off of school. We had a lot of fun.. though we did freeze ... AND we got to the letterbox and realized that we did not have our stamp with us. So, we "stamped" the journal in the letterbox with our fingerprints. We didn't realize we needed a pen either, so we left no note. Oh well.. we are learning!

I have been thinking about our son and wondering how he is. We are praying that the nannies are sharing with him our pictures and telling him that he has a family that loves him. He isn't at the age that he could comprehend exactly what that means, but at least he might begin to "know" what we look like and won't be as terrified when he is placed in our arms. My specific prayer is that Ri might feel the presence of God even as I write this and that when he meets us, he recognizes and feels the Spirit of God within us and be comforted rather then scared.

I have thought about why Ri has begun his life in a way that would be so difficult. He was left at the gates of the hospital when he was only 3 days old. He must have been loved by his family that they would risk so much to lay him at the gates of somewhere that could help him. But.. he was left without a mother or a father to hold him and love him. He was born with a heart condition that caused him to undergo open heart surgery when he was only 11 months old. He went through the surgery without parents to hold him and love him. He had pneumonia and spent 30 days in the hospital without a mom to hold him and comfort him. But.. he was not alone. God was holding him through every moment, every pain, every tear. He was placed for adoption when he was only 8 months old, but no family came forward to adopt him. His chart was reviewed by 3 families, but none felt called to make him their son. I've often wondered why... why would he be up for adoption for so long.. what was wrong and why? Well... I don't know nor claim to understand God. I don't know the exact answer, but I have come to an answer that has given me peace. I believe with all of my heart that Ri was born with a heart condition so that he could become our son. God's plan is that he be our son. Had Ri been born healthy, the chances are very strong that he would not have been abandoned. Had he had a strong heart and still been abandoned, the chances are almost positive that he would never have been waiting this long for a family AND I know for a fact that our family would not have been aloud to adopt him. Our son had to wait because God had not prepared my heart for him. God had to make some changes in my heart to prepare me for a special little guy that was suppose to be our son! Every detail of Ri's life has been orchestrated by God. He loves Ri and has a purpose for his life. His heart condition, his abandonment, his life will used by God for God's glory and for Ri's good.

Like I said, I don't claim to understand God. The only thing that I do know for a fact is that ALL things work together for the good. That is biblical and a fact. I know that God has a plan for Ri because in the book of Jeremiah, God states it! Jermeiah 29:11 says: For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."

You see... God has a plan for our little boy!

log in date...........yeah!

We just received our offical log in date. It is 12/27/06. Our dossier was sent to China on 12/22/06, so it was a very quick turn around! Our LID (log in date) is a very important date. That is when "time begins ticking". It is from this date that we can begin anticipating our TA (Travel approval). I am told that it will take 2-4 months to receive the TA. After that, it will take 1-6 weeks before we actually travel. Realistically, it could be April. The average time has been 3 months for the TA and then 3 weeks for travel. On the early side, it could be late March, on the late side, it could be late May or early June. We are hoping for late March or April or late May. We need to avoid the first week of March because of Jacob's battle of the books competion. We need to avoid March 13-16 because of Emily's OGT testing. Spring Break is March 26-30 (between March 17 and then would be wonderful!). The month of April is good, but the beginning of May is testing for Sam and Jacob.

On 12/30/06 we sent a care package to Ri. It was exciting to be able to send him something. Unfortunately, we had to limit the amount of things we sent, but it was fun thinking about him. I sent him a warm, snuggly blanket... similar to Elizabeth's. She loves the feel of it, so I wanted him to have one too. We also sent him a warm blanket sleeper and some long john sleepers. He is getting a brand new pair of light up shoes. Elizabeth was fascinated by her pair of light up's. We included some socks, a cookie monster sweatshirt to match his sisters, a pair of jeans, 2 books that have plenty of "boy" pictures, a musical toy that Elizabeth picked out (and loved), plenty of candy for the nannies to share, some snacks for Ri to share, a camera for the nannies to take pictures of Ri and those he loves, a journal for the nannies to leave a message for Ri to read when he is older and a photo album with each of our pictures so that he can play with and carry around all that he wants to. Mark has a friend from work who is from China. She has been precious to us throughout Elizabeth's adoption and now throughout Ri's. She was kind enough to translate a letter for us so that the orphanage would know how much we love our son and can't wait to hold him and how thankful we are for their role in caring for him.

The bad thing is that he will not recieve it until late January or mid February. THe cost of shipping to China was so expensive that I sent it the most economical way. That's ok, the thing I really want him to have is our pictures. But our agency was incredible and has already sent him a photo album with pictures of us. It is not one where he can drag around, but it is one the nannies can "read" to him everyday.

I am anxiously awaiting new pictures of our little guy. I don't know when they will send us some, but I am confident it will be before we leave.

Happy Birthday Ri!

My baby is turning 2 today. I am trusting that this is his last birthday to ever be without a family. We are thinking of him today, loving him, and wishing him a beautiful day. May God whisper His love into his ears. Happy Birthday my precious son. We love you and are counting down the days until we can hold you in our arms!

Dossier to China... TODAY!!!!!

hOORAH!!!!! I just received an email from our family coordinator sharing the good news that our dossier is officially approved to send off to China. In addition, I found out that because Ri is considered "special needs" due to his heart condition, we will be logged in immediately. I thought it would take a month before we had a log in date. That means that things will be even quicker then we thought. The time frame begins at the date of log in. So... the 2-4 months before we receive travel approval begins, quite possibly, on Monday. So, we could be traveling to China as early as March. More realistically, I beleive it will be April or May.

Dossier to China... this week?

Yippee!!! The paperwork from the Consulate arrived in our mailbox yesterday afternoon! We have been praying all last week for it to come in time to make it to FTIA by Wednesday. The Consulate indicated to expect 20 business days processing time. I mailed our paperwork to them, regular mail... not expedited, and they did not receive it until 2 weeks ago exactly! What an answered prayer! It's when God does this kind of thing that I almost feel like He is reminding me that this little boy is His plan for our life. Sometimes I struggle wondering if I just love this little one and want him as a son, or is this God's plan for our family. Not that loving him and wanting him as a son is a bad thing, but ultimately, the only thing that matters is God's plan. I've walked long enough with God to realize that when God is the one who has made the plan, not me... it will be fine. When I am the one making the plan, it usually isn't the best thing!

Anyways, I have overnighted the dossier to our agency. They will review it completely and if it is all ok, they will send it to China on Friday. In adoption terms, that means we are DTC! Our DTC will, hopefully, be 12/22/06. The Log in Date is the crucial date. That is the date that China will log us in. It is the date that the next timeframe begins. From the LID (log in date), it will take 2-4 months for us to get our TA (travel approval). Once we get the TA, it will be 1-6 weeks until we travel. It usually takes about 3-4 weeks to have a LID. So, I figure that the earliest we will travel will be April. I am guessing that we might travel in May, but really possibly June. Hard to think of waiting 6 months to hold our son. But... God is in control and His timing is perfect. Whenever I doubt that, I just look into our sweet Elizabeth's eyes and am reminded of perfect Gods' timing truly is!

Making a Quilt for Ri

Mark asked me the other day if I was going to make a quilt for Ri. I said, probably not (thinking about my time and energy these days).... and to my surprise, he seemed sad. All he said was "poor Ri". I guess that is all he needed to say, because now I am going to make a quilt for the little guy. Elizabeth really likes hers, though they are not the one she is attached to, but she knows they are hers and she wants them on her bed.

So.. if anyone would like to be a part of his quilt, we would love for you to send us some material. The size ends up being a 7x7, but it might be easier for you if you just sent a quarter of a yard. Along with the material, please send a note with it written to Ri. I will put it in a scrap book (probably a digital one... I am so much better at digital pictures then scrapbooking in an album. It does not need to be fancy, I may even type what you wrote onto a photograph of the piece of material... so don't worry about what it looks like. I think I will make the deadline February 1st. That way I have some time to put it all together.

Let me know if you are interested and have questions!

It is with great joy that we introduce to you, our son, Liu Ri Chen. We have officially received notification that China has preapproved us to adopt this little guy. He is waiting for us in the Fuijian Province, in Xiamen. He will turn 2 on January 3rd.

Now it is another period of waiting. Our family coordinator called us on November 28th to tell us that China had approved us. On the 29th, Elizabeth and I went to Columbus to have our paperwork state certified. On the 30th, we sent the final paperwork to the Chinese Consulate in New York City. We are told it takes 20 days to get that paperwork back. I can't remember how long it took for Elizabeth.

But... we just found out that the fees will be increased $130.00 if our dossier does not reach China by January 1st. That means that our dossier needs to be into our agency by December 20th. Once again, we are relying on God to work out the details. Either that our paperwork gets here in time or that He provides the finances needed. Humanly speaking.... I am really hoping He chooses the paperwork :)

THis is a map of China. I have circled the provinces that the kids are from. Elizabeth in from Chongqing, it is more centrally located. Ri is from Fujian Province which is more southeast.



I know that when I first started into the adoptiong process, I had no idea about China or about the many provinces. It was always interesting for me to compare when kids came from. This map is showing where Ri is waiting for us. I just zoomed in on Fujian Province so you could see.

Introducing Liu Ri Chen.....
This precious picture was taken on November 29th. He weighs 22.2 pounds and is 31.5 inches tall. He is 22 months old, almost 23 months.

This is a picture of our little man back in August, when we first began praying about adopting him. He is 19 months old.





This is Ri in March, 2006. He was just 14 months old.