Christmas Shoot at the Chinese Cultural Center~

This year for our family Christmas photo shoot, we decided to go to the Chinese Cultural Center in downtown Phoenix.  We thought, if Sophie can't be with us, we will incorporate her heritage into our pictures.  I think they turned out great!  Next year, this family of four will be a party of five!

Our Little Love!

Well, a lot has happened since I last posted.  We have our little girl!! Not physically, yet...but she's coming and we can look at her face and dream of the day we get to kiss her all over ;)

It was Hayden's 3rd birthday, ( Wednesday ) September 25, 2013.  Tiffany had sent over her profile for us to look at that morning.  I logged off the computer for work, and read it over.  She was the one, I just knew it.  I looked at her pictures, and studied her profile, all her medical reports and daily activities.  This was a miracle, truly a miracle!  It was such a calming feeling, I remember.  I called Scott, and he told me not to get attached yet~ like that was even possible!

Over the next 24 hours, I consulted with 3 physicians.  First, I sent the file over to Michelle.  She was so excited, as she, too, knew this was our Sophie.  She said, " Em, I think this is your daughter! "  Next was Dr. Nemivant, our pediatrician.  He saw no reason why not to accept her, and gave us a referral for a cardiologist at Phoenix Children's Hospital.  Lastly, Dr. Ochs, our international physician, called us that next evening ( Thursday, September 26 ).  He said she checks out beautifully.  Ahh, what a relief to have 3 physicians, all with the same conclusion~ she is THE one!  One September 26, 2013 * Sophie's 1st Birthday * I called Tiffany and we said, " Yes!  She's our daughter! "

At this point, Sophie was a soft referral, as she had not officially posted to the database as of yet, but was assigned to our agency thru the 1 to 1 partnership with the Xiamen Welfare Institute, in Xiamen, China.  So, we knew she would post to us, but the question was when??  It took just over 3 long months, agonizing months, for her to post.  I was constantly in contact with Tiffany, poor girl.  I was asking for updates, for pictures, for any piece of information I could get.  She had Rocky in Beijing checking with the CCCWA for when she would post...it was an awful 3 months.  We want her here with us, as soon as possible. Period.

Finally, on January 4th, 2014, Sophie officially posted to the database as adoptable.  Tiffany quickly locked us together and uploaded all of our translated paperwork to the CCCWA.  Within hours, we got our pre-approval, which usually can take up to 2 weeks!  She was officially OURS.  Amen.  I cried, as it was such a huge relief.

So, at this point, we are able to send her a care package. We are busy putting this together~ the blanket Mimi made, some clothes, pajamas, a super soft jellycat bunny, hair bows, a Fisher Price purse with keys, toy cell phone, bracelets, Gerber puffs and yogurt melts, and a picture book of our family, as well as a disposable camera to hopefully get some more pictures of her before we get her.

We are over the moon excited for her!  We are prepping her room, had a baby shower, buying girlie stuff...all to fill the time before she is here home with us!

Adoption is NOT for the faint of heart~

Over the last few months, we have been doing a lot of updates and renewals with our home study and immigration paperwork.  This has not been easy.  We had another updated HS with Peggy on April 16th, 2013.  She sent the update into AGCI, and we had a few bumps with getting it back... now, I have to call immigration to extend our expiration date to avoid having to pay an update fee.  This is just the surface of what has gone on...no one's fault in particular, just a bump in the road.  It's frustrating, time consuming, and I just wish we had Sophie here with us. 

I happened to meet Kelly Rumbaugh, the creater of Lady Bugs n Love website.  She was able to help me place a call to an orphange in China last week on a referral.  We were able to connect thru an email, and she felt my heart thru the email.  She has adopted 8 kids from China, and referred me to her post on her blog...

"Adoption is not for the faint of heart. Adoption is a gamble. Adoption has many unknowns and you have to be willing to accept it.  I don't feel it should be this way, but we enter into adoption knowing it will happen this way.

When you are adopting, think of these few things...
- I will love my child no matter what.
- I realize there may be more issues to handle than what is in the file.
- I realize these children did nothing to make them the way they are...they were born into an unfortuate situation and given less than they deserved for whatever period of time they were without a family.
- You cannot control many of the unknowns of adoption.
- You can prepare yourself as much as possible by educating yourself about the effects of being in an institution.
- Your child is not cured just because they have had surgery.
- You can prepare yourself by realizing that bringing a child into your family thru adoption will be very hard. It is not rescuing the child and making everything ok. It is taking them from everything they know and removing them from what they feel is security and home. It will take a long time for them to acclimate to your home, family and our country.
- Your family may go thru some rough times and it affects the other children in the home as well.
- Your trip to get your child will be exhausting and full of difficult times. It's not a vacation.

Once you wrap your brain around all of this...Strap your big girl panties on and stand tall...
- You are about to do one of the hardest things in your life with the biggest blessing on the other side.
- You are about to be the hands and feet of Christ to a child.
- You are about to show others the possibilites of infinite love for a child even if they are not "yours."
- You are about to show other in your family, church and community what unconditional love is."

I don't think it could have been said better.

The Year of the Snake~

We have come to a new Chinese New Year, the year of the Snake! Again, this year, we ate a Chinese Food dinner in honor of the holiday.

This 2013 year of Snake is meant for steady progress and attention to detail. Focus and discipline will be necessary for you to achieve what you set out to create. The 2013 year of Snake is the Water Snake. Water Snakes are lucky with finances, they always seem to have money flowing their way. They are adventurous spirits and love to take risks. They are also very intelligent and often a wellspring of creative ideas.

( Im ) patiently waiting...

This past photo shoot for our Christmas pictures was a lot of fun.  Although always stressful, Daisy captures amazing moments!  We were in Cave Creek, Arizona, between two cowboy bars.  We took our pictures in front of this really old, yet cool-looking truck.  The boys had fun on the truck...until Scott told Connor there were mice running around in the front!!  Anyhow, the pictures turned out great...and the only one missing was our little girl.

Altough our little girl was not there with us presently, she was in our thoughts...

Kisses in the Wind~

This past weekend I was talking to Kami about our adoption and how things were going.  We both realized that our girls will probably be about the same age when ours joins our family.  You see, we have about 1 and 1/2 years, they say, before we bring our little girl home.  She will probably be about 2 years old at that time...which is how old Addison will be!  We are praying for this to be true, as it will be so good for our little girl to have a friend her age right next door ;)

The next day, I was looking at several other blogs, and came across this poem/prayer.  I thought it was perfect, as our daughter is probably already born~

KISSES IN THE WIND

I hold you in my heart and touch you in my dreams.
You are here each day with me, at least that's how it seems.

I know you wonder where we are... what's taking us so long.
But remember child, I love you so and God will keep you strong.

Now go outside and feel the breeze and let it touch your skin...
Because tonight, just as always, I blow you kisses in the wind.

May God hold you in His hand until I can be with you.
I promise you, my darling, I'm doing all that I can do.

Very soon, you'll have a family for real, not just pretend.
But for tonight, just as always, I blow you kisses in the wind.

May God wrap you in His arms and hold you very tight.
And let the angels bring the kisses that I send to you each night.

~Unknown

Log-in Date~

I got an email from Tiffany stating our dossier was sent to China on July 5, 2012.  It was off to Beijing to be submitted to CCCWA and to expect a log-in date in 3-4 weeks.  Our official log-in date with CCCWA was July 19, 2012!!  We are now in the database...what a huge relief, as we have been waiting for this date to come since September of last year ;)

Here are the packets of our dossier went sent over to China~

Also, with this being done, we found out the wait for a healthy baby girl is now 6 years.  So we have considered a special needs child.  With much thought and discussion with Michelle, we decided on a little girl with a hole in her heart~ either a VSD or ASD.  So, we will wait....impatiently....