Still Waiting.....

Here are my boys when we went to Nags Head in August. We went out to play miniature golf one night and they loved it. We stayed there for a week and shared a house with friends of ours and their two children, Haley and Ryan. It was so relaxing. All four of us enjoy the beach so much. I think it's so relaxing just to sit in a chair under an umbrella and listen to the sounds of the ocean. It refreshes my mind and body and it reminds me of just how beautiful this world really can be. The boys especially love rolling around in the surf and jumping the waves as they break on the beach.

On the adoption front, nothing much has changed. We are still waiting....and waiting.....and waiting some more. It doesn't really appear to us that China is speeding up with their referral process as of right now. We have just passed the one year mark for our "Dossier To China" date which was on September 15th and are getting very close to our "Log In Date" of October 13th. As a reminder, China goes by the dossier's log in date and matches the dossiers with a baby in the order they are logged into their computer system. At this time, they have most recently matched dossiers with babies through November 22, 2005. Yes....2005. Currently the wait for us looks like it is going to be AT THE VERY LEAST another 12 months.

Unfortunately, no one in the adoption community can accurately predict what is going to happen in the future. China knows what they are doing but they aren't about to tell anyone. So, the best we can do is try to wait very patiently which is very hard. Personally, I think we will be very blessed to have Abigail home by Christmas of 2008. I tend to believe that we will be travelling to China in Spring of 2009. It's very hard to think about that date, however, because I honestly believed when we started this process that we would have our baby by now. It's very disappointing but I have to hold on to the fact that we believe God was calling us to adopt from China and that He has not changed that calling. In the meantime, we busy ourselves with our boys and their activities and try to put the adoption to the backs of our minds. That seems to be working for the most part right now.

I hope everyone is doing well and I will try to post again soon!!!! God bless!

Welcome Home, Joanna!

This is my newest niece, Joanna. Isn't she sweet!?! My sister, Debra, adopted her from China and just brought her home in mid May. She is the cutest little thing and so very sweet! She is a shy little girl but seems to be adapting very well to her new life and family in the United States. She has a "special need" in that her right eyeball never formed when she was in the womb. However, the doctors here in the US say that they can implant an artificial eye for cosmetic reasons. Apparently, they will be able to design the eye to match her left eye very closely, too. She is still holding on to some of her Chinese language. When she first came home from China, she would just chatter away in Chinese and then giggle! So cute! She is finally starting to speak English and will say entire sentences. We have fallen in love with her and are so happy to have her as a part of our family. Abigail will have one more member of her family that will look like she does which will be a neat thing for her to have when she gets old enough to realize that she doesn't look like her mommy and daddy.

Here's my nephew, Kyle. He is also Chinese but was born here in America. My sister adopted him as her third child. He was adopted when he was just a baby. He is very loving and very boisterous. He will be 3 in August. So, my extended family will have three Chinese babies in it.....if only we could bring our Abigail home!!!!!

A New Year.......A Longer Wait!

Happy New Year! It's been so long since I posted and a lot has happened in that time. Our dossier was completed in September. We received word that our official "Dossier To China" date was September 15, 2006. In October, we received word that our dossier was officially logged into their computer system on October 13, 2006; our "LID". Currently, the wait time from "LID" to "referral" is around 15 months. The term "referral" is when we will receive pictures and detailed information about our daughter. As of today, we have a little less than 12 months to wait. This could, however, change over the next year and either speed up or slow down even more. We are hoping it will speed up, of course!

I have heard people compare the finances involved in adoption to those of conceiving and giving birth to a baby and wonder why they should be expected to "give money" to those adopting. First of all, I must say that we don't expect anyone to "give us money". Secondly, I must point out that when a woman conceives and gives birth to a baby, her health insurance will cover most of the expenses. When a couple decides to adopt a baby, there is no insurance that will help cover the costs. When I gave birth to both of my boys, I was able to take maternity leave from work and still get paid while I was out to facilitate the bonding and attachment process with my infants. When we bring Abigail home, I will use every day of vacation available to me and then end up having to use the Family Medical Leave Act in order to facilitate the bonding and attachment process with Abigail. With FMLA time off, we will receive no financial compensation during the time I miss from work.

You are probably asking yourself, "Why is she talking about this?" I have decided to bring this up because I know that some of the people in our lives have adamantly stated that they think we should be able to afford this on our own or we shouldn't do it. Let me say first and foremost that we don't think that anyone should feel obligated to do anything at all for us where this adoption is concerned. God wants this for our family and when He wants something, it will be done no matter what opposition we face on this earth. We are confident in this fact alone.

With that being said, we also feel that the majority of people who care about us and share our joy in this process will want to support us; whether it be with kind words of encouragement, prayers (the most important thing), or , yes, financially. With the announcement of our adoption plans around Christmas of 2005, we received a card with a check in it from one of our friends who is also a member of our church, unprompted. Her comment when we thanked her was, "I was just doing what God told me to do." Talk about confirmation! We have received random cards in the mail from various family members over the past year with checks in them in support of our adoption. We are EXTREMELY grateful to this and we cannot say thank you enough. Last year at our Craft Day, we raised over $300 with just a handful of mainly friends, my mother, and my mother-in-law and niece in attendance! Every cent of what has been given to us has either been used over the past year to cover the expenses of the adoption or put into a savings account that we have opened in Abigail's name to help cover the next wave of expenses that will come our way later this year. We have had questions recently from some of the people in attendance at last year's Craft Day of when we are going to do it again and so we have another one planned for February 24th.

Please know that Todd and I love you all and greatly appreciate any and everything you all do for us. Your support definitely does not go unnoticed.