Friday, December 31, 2010

Look at MY Christmas gift

First I got this precious picture of little William Levi XinYong sittin on Santa's lap! THEN I finally sent him a package telling him we are his new family, with our pictures and a stuffed Build-A-Bear doggy named Tristan! Liberty has a matching Build-A-Bear that she will bring when we get him, except her's had pink bows on it's ears while his has a red ribbon around it's neck.
THEN, I received word that our Article 5 was picked up on DECEMBER 23!!

I am asking Liberty's teacher if we can ask for orphanage donations and I will ask at church. I got a letter with some supplies that they are needing from America:
soy formula
infant/children's tylenol
vitamins
xl diapers
educational toys
hmm, I know there was something else, but that was the jist of it.

Libby and I are traveling alone to save money. Not my ideal situation.In fact, I am pretty apprehensive about the whole thing. When we went last time, our agency had everything planned out for us. We were also with a group of people. I think my biggest worry is that I will get sick...again. As we were heading out to go home, with Libby in 04, I got sicker than I have ever been in my life! Strep throat, ear infection, double pink eye, fever, etc, as we got to the Hong Kong airport! A 17 hr plane ride, with a velcro baby-to-momma, a 7 hr layover in SF, a small plane with irritated people that we had a crying screaming baby!  What would I have done if it was just me? I just need to trust God, right? To have Faith. I get so selfish that I forget that it's not Brian's ideal either. He's the one staying home, and, as he put it, it hurts his heart to do so and to send us. :-(



Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Dec.6, 2010

We have been "cabled"! I got the official email and forwarded to my agency and they forwarded it to their contact. I guess that means that Williams visa is being worked on. All I know is the next step now is getting our Article 5 in about 2 weeks and then about 4 weeks receiving our Travel Approval, and then in about 2 weeks from that, gettin our William in our arms, for the rest of our lives.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Got my GUZ# today!

This morning I called the NVC and found out I have my GUZ # so I was able to email them and request an email letter. From what I understand, that should shave a week off the wait time. (Thanks Kenlyn!)

Saturday, December 4, 2010

What a beautiful child!

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

1-800 APPROVED!!!

William Levi XinYong - get ready sweetheart, we are coming to get you SOON!

Please please please let it be in January!


Monday, November 15, 2010

LOA!!

We received notification that our LOA arrived in Delaware this morning! I think it is estimated that we would travel in 9-14 weeks. Not sure, but that's what I'm thinkin!
We'll get the package tomorrow from FedEx and then I will get the rest of the papers, on my end anyway, out into the mail by Wednesday.....if not sooner!

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Happy Birthday Mr. T!!!

                                           Thank you for the use of this pic Sharon!


Yesterday was little Mr. Tristan's 3rd Birthday.

 Sharon, I just want to Thank you for being such a GREAT sponsormom to him! Donna said he was so happy to get your package!! She will post some pics later. YEAH!

 I've been soooo moody and it dawned on me that I was upset for missing his birthday. I tell ya, this adoption is so hard to wait because I love him so very much already. I hope I don't scare him and pounce on him when I finally meet him!

Friday, October 29, 2010

When Delays are a Blessing

"And therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you." Isaiah 30:18




Many times the Lord will deliberately delay that He may be gracious to us. When Lazarus fell sick, his family sent for Jesus. Instead of coming immediately, Jesus waited (see John 11:1-46). He held back until Lazarus was dead. And if you read John 11:15, you'll see that



He said, "I'm glad," because He had something greater in mind.



God waited four thousand years to send the Lord Jesus Christ after He made that promise. But Galatians 4:4 says He came in the fullness of time. Never late, never ahead of time, never in a hurry.



Are you in a waiting game...praying days, weeks, months, even years, for something...and God hasn't answered? Be still and know that in the fullness of time your request will be answered.

:::copied from one of my adoption yahoo groups:::

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

I Love my Dr!

My doctor's letter is in China! Woohoo! That was fast! I called today to light a little fire under their butts at the dr's office, and they really did a fantastic job of  getting that thing faxed right over to my agency.
Thank you Dr. Brownell!

Monday, October 25, 2010

Thank you Lord...

....for another opportunity to trust You and rely on You alone for this precious little soul You've put on my heart.

As my dossier is being reviewed, there is another "problem" that needs to be checked. They want a letter from my doctor that states I've never had cancer. That's not really an issue because I haven't. The red flag reared because when I was 21, I had an ovarian cyst removed and they want to make sure it wasn't cancerous. 1985. That Dr is long-retired so I am getting one from my present family doc.

The gal from my agency said it seems like we are getting picked on, but I really do believe it's in God's hands. It's good for me to have to wait on His timing. :-)

Saturday, October 16, 2010

A Quiet Saturday

Well it's Saturday night and I haven't technically heard from my agency this past week except to let me know I am logged in to the system over there. I am assuming that means we are in the clear, that it's only a matter of months until I can hug and squeeze and kiss that precious little face on my boy!!!!!!!!! I believe that I definitely would've been told otherwise, and besides, Diana said things looked good to the gal who is over there getting our paperwork to the officials. Am I just trying to convince myself this? I don't think so. I think he is my son already. :-)
His birthday is coming up at the beginning of November. I sent his a birthday care package through Ann of Red Threads. Here is a picture from her site.

I have alot of plans with Tristan, or Levi, still not sure. I want to visit some of his sweet friends from SF, in CA, in Canada, and down south- by his wonderful sponsor-mom! I want to take him to a  beach house on both sides of the US. I can't wait to have a birthday for him here, and Christmas, and hold him as we worship in Church on Sundays, I want to take Liberty and Levi (doesn't that sound cute?) and any of the big kids too.... to Disney World, and camping. I want to see him smile and hear him laugh.  I realize thats all good, and there will be some not-so-good, but I'll take it all!

Monday, October 11, 2010

LID!!

I just received my Log In Date!!!!!!!! It's Sept. 27! Woo hoo!!

That's good to know a date, but that still doesn't tell me if China accepted our letters. I will find out this week.....hopefully. :-)

I read this quote this morning and it is so true :
                                     No trial troubles the child of God who knows God has a reason for allowing it.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Friday, Oct. 8th

The CC*A opened back up today and we hoped to have 2 letters in by then, one from us and one from our social worker. My agency emailed me at the end of the day and said they received the s.w.'s letter so she got them mailed off in the afternoon. a bit later than we hoped, but in the scheme of things.....
She had talked to the gal in China who is the liason, and she feels things will go ok. She will update me in the next week....

Monday, October 4, 2010

No updates

Thought I'd update that I have no updates. I get the feeling from my agency that everything'll be ok. CC*A (I don't know why people do that, but I always see it done, so I am doing it....go figure) is closed this week, so I don't think I'll hear anythiing until Friday at the earliest.

Thanks for all the prayers!

On a different note, we had a great time visiting Chicago's Chinatown on Saturday! We went with our FCC group on a luxurious bus! Oooooohh, what a way to travel! (jk, I was pretty carsick by the time I got home!) I bought a beeeeautiful large fan to hang on the wall. I'll post a pic when I get a chance later today. I also got Libby a pretty royal blue Chinese dress.

 It was quite interesting to eat there! We went to a dim sum. The waiters walk around with carts full of appetizer-type things and as you take them, they just mark it on your "tab" that is laying on your table (the pic above is the menu). It was very interesting. Not much English spoken, and all I can say is Ni Hao, and Xiexie (hi and thank you). Libby had a major gag reflex goin on!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

DTC and...

Ok, time to update. Last Tuesday night my dossier went to China. I haven't received a LID yet, but I do know that "they" are going through it today. The reason I know is because there is a problem in the homestudy that might disqualify us. I truly trust God to do what is most glorifying to Him. One thing I know, is that God is bigger than anything, or problem that I can dream up. He loves Tristan more than anyone. He wants what is best for him, and for us. Of course in my mind, Tristan (Levi) IS best for me, but I deffer (sp) to my Lord!
I WILL update when I hear. :-)

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Cricket Academy

Today I had a training session for teachers and volunteers for the Cricket Academy here in Milwaukee! I am so excited. :-)
I haven't signed Liberty up for it yet because of the cost, but I found out that if I am a classroom volunteer, she can get her tuition paid for! So September 11, we both are starting our first session! I will be the parent helper in Cricket I, and she will be in Cricket II. That's beacuse of her age, but it is still extremely basic. It will teach us basic mandarin as well as Chinese culture. It was started 11 yrs ago by some families from the local FCC group (families with Chinese children) and has grown much since then. They have classes all the way to adult! I can't wait to bring Tristan there too. All the teachers are Chinese and the class sizes are about 10 students each, so I feel so blessed to be a part of this! It will be amazing!

Friday, August 27, 2010

fingerprints done!

This morning, on our assigned date :-), the 4 of us got our prints done at immigration. Looking good so far.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Passport is here!

Libby's passport came today! Yay!


Saturday, August 14, 2010

Liberty's passport

It's been about 6 weeks since we applied for Lib's passport so I am expecting it to come any day now. I'm a little concerned because I *think* I might've written down the wrong birthday for her. When I put the numerical month down on the form, I *think* I might've put an 8 instead of a 9, but I am not sure. Ugh. I'm sure it's not too much of a biggie, but still.

I went shopping for Tristan/Will/XinYong/? today! It was FUN! I bought him a t-shirt, a flannel shirt (hey, we are in the north woods way up here!), some jeans and a short sleeve, button-down plaid shirt. I was looking for a little play camara, but got him his own little cell phone.

If I can figure out how to put a picture IN the blog post, I will, but I can't seem to figure it out.

Out fingerprint appointments are August 27th at 8 am, so a week to process, a week to authenticate, a week to get to China, so I am praying for a LogInDate Sept 14th (Megan's b-day)!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Just keep swimming

When life gets you down, ya know what ya gotta do? Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming swimming swimming. What do we do, we swim swim huu huu huu hu hoo hoo I love to swimmmmm....
-Dory, Finding Nemo

All I can say is I'm still swimming.......

Friday, July 9, 2010

Yay! Yay! Yay!

Homestudys done!!!!! Woohoo!!!! Ahhhh, I just can't believe how GOOD it feels to have it Done! Completed! Finished! 17 weeks long, man, what a wait. I think it was so hard because every single day is suppose to bring me closer to my little fella, and it was so much of....nothing...
But, now its done!
So, my social worker asked me if she should stick the h.s. in the mail along with all the other forms we needed, some from MAA, and some from her, for the USCIS, or what, and I said "I'll be right there!" So I grabbed my i-800a forms, my check, my express mail pre-addressed envelope and headed over there. Stopped by Brian to get a signature, and overnighted the whole thing to the lockbox in TX! It's there as of NOON today!
Now, I have gotten rather fond of spending some time over at the queen of the rumors, and I have a great tip....well, I think it is a great tip anyway...I am going to get the rest of my dossier certified and authenticated next week and send it on to MAA, then when the fingerprint appoval comes in a timely fashion, which I'm SURE it will, I will expidite that form onward.....straight to a DTC! Oh yeah!
Lets see, I do recall that it's God's will I want, no, make that 'need', no matter what happens, or how long things take.

Friday, June 25, 2010

I think I know his name!

It will be William XinYong Stoiber. I think. I reserve the right to change my mind tho. :-)It sounds odd because I've been calling him Tristan for so long.

My home study is still being processed. :-( I get this fear that after falling in love with Will, something will happen at the last minute and he will get ripped out of my life! Oh my, I couldn't bear that. God's Will be done.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Pampered Chef Fundraiser

An update for my Pampered Chef fundraiser....Our total party numbers are almost $400! Wow! I have never had any kind of "party" that was that large. I highly recommend this one! Woo! Ok, from what I understand, I will receive 15% from the consultant, and then 15% from the company. Altho that seems like so much so whatever we make is good with me.
This week I will get Lib's passport, and if Josh goes, his as well.
PRAYERFULLY, our homestudy will be approved my MAA this week!
Oh please Lord, let us quicken our paperwork.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Parent Training!

After being parents for 22 years, we are required to take 10 hours of parenting training! :-) We finished it up this week, and it is geared toward adopted children, so we did learn some new things, which is nice. Alot of it was applicable to Liberty, who was adopted 5 yrs ago. Also, our homestudy was sent to our agency yesterday afternoon!WOOHOO! It's only for the first 'look-over' so it could still be a couple weeks before I can send off to USCIS for our fingerprinting appointment.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

First Real Fundraiser

Last Thursday through today we held a rummage sale. It raised $200 towards our precious boy! Thank you to our friends and family who donated! We live in a very quiet area, Joey and Josh call it "the sticks", so it wasn't busy, but Ryan and Kim said we can haul everything over to their house in August for a weekend rummage and I bet we do even better over there.
Our neighbor, Mr. H., brough fudge over, and sat here and packaged it on Friday (to keep me company! :-) )and we sold it for $1 for 3 pieces. I bought a box of candy Bars from Sam's Club, and sold them for $1 each AND Liberty and I made refridgerator magnets and asked .75 each!

I'm not a very creative person, but I am excited about raising money and working towards a goal. I find it takes my thoughts off this long wait too. :-)

I am also having an online Pampered Chef show. The consultant is giving her commision and instead of receiving product for the hostess gift, I will get another 15%!

Here we come baby!!!!

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Oh Boy!

More pics of that sweet little boy have arrived on FB! How blessed I am to have that open for me! So many many parents never get to see updated pictures of their precious ones while they are in the orphanages, but I have soooo many! (Thanks to S.Z and S.B.!)

Thursday, May 20, 2010

One small step forward

I talked to my social worker today and she said she might be able to get my homestudy off to my agency on Monday! A very smalllll ray of hope in my day today! Praise God! :-)

Friday, May 14, 2010

No news..........

Well, nothing from my social worker yet today. Boo hoo. It's been 10 weeks from our 1st meeting with her. For some reason, the child abuse clearance from one of the counties we've lived in (we've only lived in two!), just is taking really long. My sw called them on a bunch that were taking long, and they got those in, but ours didn't come. That was last Friday. I hate to call her all the time and bug her but I will probably give a call today sometime. We had a problem last week with an old arrest of my hubbys. I didn't declare it, cuz I didn't think it was an actual arrest. Our last adoption we did declare it, and when we had to get a letter from the police, they didn't have any paperwork on it and acted like we were crazy for having them write a letter for us. So this time I assumed it was nothing. Well, it wasn't then it looked like I was trying to lie about it. I really really wasn't trying to hide it. I mean, I even have the same social worker who did the homestudy. That would be pretty, ummm, brainless to try to lie about it. But I feel really bad about it. I actually have to admit that it was kinda........brainless(!) of me to think it wasn't there. But that's what I thought. !!! I know! I almost ruined my chances to adopt Tristan!! Hey, maybe I should name him Chance?

God is faithful!

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

VACTERL Association

Looks like RDu has what is called VACTRL association. My pediatrician thought so when he first looked at his paperwork. So did the International Adoption Clinic when I had them reveiw it. It is very interesting, and overwhelming, to read about all this that "might be". I'm on a few yahoo groups re:this as well to try to get as much info as I possibly can. It's hard to know what I need to prepare for because I haven't seen any sort of medical info past the age of 11 months for him. I emailed 2 different people at the orphanage but haven't heard anything back. Well, I did, but not from the doc or about his medical condition.
That poor little punkin. It seems like we will be spending quite a bit of time at the Cinncinati Childrens Hospital because they have a specialty clinic that is well known for their VACTERL work. Here's some info I copied off the site...

What is VACTERL association?
VACTERL or VATER association is an acronym used to describe a series of characteristics which have been found to occur together.

V stands for vertebrae, which are the bones of the spinal column.

A stands for imperforate anus or anal atresia, or an anus that does not open to the outside of the body.

C is added to the acronym to denote cardiac anomalies.

TE stands for tracheoesophageal fistula, which is a persistent connection between the trachea (the windpipe) and the esophagus (the feeding tube).

R stands for renal or kidney anomalies.

L is often added to stand for limb anomalies (radial agenesis).

Babies who have been diagnosed as having VACTERL association usually have at least three or more of these individual anomalies. There is a wide range of manifestation of VACTERL association so that the exact incidence within the population is not exactly known.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Names, hmm

Well, as I waaiiit for my paperwork to get to the next stage, I think I should really figure out what to do about this little fellas name. They gave him an English name, Tristan, but I don't think he is called by that. (Sharon??) And it's meaning is "sad". Hmmmm. They call him RDu, meaning, he's the second child from Duchang SWI to be at Shepherds Field, where he lives. His Chinese name is Du XinYong, which means "brave or courageous as a second nature" (from what i understand anyway). That would be cool if I could find an English name that means bravery.
My 6 yo daughter suggested Levi. That's cute. My 16 yo son said "Triton". I don't think so Josh. Some others: Daniel(Danny) or David (Davey). Benjamin (Benji?),Matthias (gift of God),

Any one have a suggestion for me? I Love looking at names!

God is! (I like to end with a wonderful attribute of God, and this one just "fit"!)

Monday, May 3, 2010

Are we ALMOST there yet???


Waiting, waiting, waiting. Will it EVER end? I have the nicest Social Worker. She is so sweet and she's a loving, adoptive mother herself, and I am being a big pain in the butt to her. Sorry Deb! In my state, we have to have a child abuse clearance in each county we've lived in since we were 18. I have only lived in 2 different counties so we figured this wouldn't even be an issue. One of my clearances hasn't even come back yet!! Ugghh! It's been 9 weeks. I am just praying that the Lord would speed my paperwork up and I can get my little Tristan before the year ends!

God KNOWS the outcome! How awesome is that!!

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Grace



God has given me so much grace in my lifetime. He has forgiven me of so much. He has been extremely merciful to me. It is through my wonderful Savior that I have the family that I have. I am so amazed that He cares so much and that He has been with me through my turbulent life. I don't know why I am amazed though, He is almighty, He is from-the-beginning....of EVERYTHING, He actually CREATED the molecules and atoms to create everything else, and He is all-powerful. He really is in control of everything. God loves my little Tristan. He was with him during his surgeries. It breaks my heart that my sweet little man didn't have a momma or papa there to greet him when he came out of his operations. But, aside from the caregivers who were there, he did have our one-and-only Savior there with him.

My God is merciful! Thank you Lord!!!

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Our reason for This Blog

I decided to use a blog to journal our adoption of this sweet precious gift of God into our family!

I first saw Tristan on a gals blog who advocates for orphans, The blog is called cornbread and chopsticks and she does a wonderful job!

I fell in love with him from the beginning and asked my agency, Madison Adoption Associates, to find him for me. After some work, they emailed with his info and we began the infamous paperchase!

Right now I am waiting for my homestudy to get finished so I can ship it off to immigration.

I have been so blessed with this little boy so far. The orphanage where he is is doing a wonderful ministry for these special children and through Tristans sponsor, I have more information on him than I could have ever imagined. I have over 200 pictures, as well as a bit of video and plenty of ways to be in contact with them.

For this adoption we are trying to fundraise. It's very intimidating for me but there are so many families out there who have done this before and are willing to share their experience, what worked, what didn't. Next month we are having a rummage sale. I've sold some things on Ebay and Half.com. I have lots of homeschool books to sell and 2 book sales that I will be participating in this month.

God is so gracious!