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Is that my chubby girl crying??

It sure does look like her! Complete with scratched right cheek. This is from the blog of another family who is in China now. They visited the orphanage and posted some random pics. I think it is her!

She's Perfect!

We were SO excited to wake up to 15 new pictures of Grace!! She is SO cute! She looks very healthy and happy in all her pictures.

Pictures coming soon!

Another email from another mom:


"Hi all!
We went to the orphanage today, and I got pictures for everyone. Everyone's children are precious and I will send the pictures as soon as I can. I can't upload anything tonight, not even pics for our own blog...internet PAINFULLY slow and it keeps stopping before they're uploaded.
Just wanted to let you know to expect them :)"

Happy, happy update!!

We sent a care-package for Grace to be shared with her friends at her SWI (social welfare institute) via a family going to get their little boy at Grace's orphanage. This morning we had the following email in our inbox! We should be getting pictures from her and another mom soon. I am overwhelmed. Thank you Lord!

"Hello fellow mamas!

We visited the orphanage today and got to deliver your care packages!I had my husband snap as many pictures and some quick videos for each child. Unfortunately, this morning I was replacing the 'blank' memorycard into my laptop (its a place holder to keep the slot from gettingdusty) and it somehow slid in incorrectly and now will not come out.So I can't read files off a memory card tonight, and I didn't bring my cord to download directly from the camera. I am SO sorry... we will head out to the store tomorrow to find a memory card reader sohopefully, I'll be able to send them off to you tomorrow. I know thatDonna was able to get shots of every child she had on her list, so I'm sure she'll be sending them along.All of your children look healthy and well loved. The orphanage doesn't seem to have a lot of means... BUT, the children look very well cared for... and my son and Donna's son have been doing amazingly this week. We feel like they were both well prepared andseemed familiar with our pictures and what was happening. I'm convinced that its Half The Sky's influence which is allowing this orphanage to do so much with the little they have... you should be reassured that your children will be well taken care of until you can come and get them. My older daughter came from a SWI which had a lotof means, the place was immaculate and looked wonderful. But many ofthe children coming out of there showed signs of neglect and malnourishment. These children fare so much better, do to the quality care they are receiving. I told each on of your children that their family loves them and will be coming soon. I will send pictures/videos as soon as I can."



One thing you can pray for, the orphanage does not have heat and it is very cold there.

DTC

As of 11-5-10 our dossier is on it's way to China!

Yippeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

Our final peice of paper is at our agency with the rest of our dossier!! We have completed our "paper chase" for now! Now we wait for our dossier to be sent to China (should be soon), wait for our dossier to be logged in in china, wait to receive approval, then there is some more paperwork before we buy our plane tickets and travel. We are thinking April now. In the mean time we pray!

Not "meant to be".

I'm not sure how to word this post. I've heard people use the words "meant to be" when describing an adoptive family. "They were meant to be yours." However I don't believe adoption was ever really meant to be. Death, sin, abandonment, loss, poverty, disease, starvation; none of these things were authored by God, or present before the fall of man. There is no adoption without circumstances that cause me to tremble when I, as a mother, think about them. I believe a better term would be beauty from ashes. Grace. God proving to us again and again that he restores what the locust have eaten. Thank you God for my children and the humbling and awesome privilege of being their mother.

For anyone who is interested in the birth cert. issue. A new bump in the road.

My second birth certificate was hand delivered to the Houston Consulate today and they are now asking to have a copy of my marriage liscense before they'll authenticate it. I am thanking God that we used a courrier to deliver it, otherwise it is likely we would never have seen this birth certificate again either. I hope the copy of my marriage cert. I emailed to her is good enough. It frankly looks like a cerificate someone printed off of their own computer. I know in the grand scheme of things this isn't a big deal, but to me in this moment it is. I want to bring Grace home soon, and I HATE counting the weeks that our trip is being pushed back due to a perfectly good birth certificate. :(

Paperwork Complete!! (almost)

I mailed our (almost) complete dossier to our agency this morning. I would have liked to have mailed it a week ago, but I was thrilled to be finished and sending it on. I just hope it doesn't get lost in the mail. (biting my nails) The birth certificate is still m.i.a. Our agency is trying to reach the consolate in Hous. to find out what is going on. In the mean time I sent a new B.C. out the the Sec. of State in Texas and will send it on to the Consulate a 2nd time (this time using a courrier service) if we don't see our other one in the mail. This could take a week or two or three, even if we pay to expidite it- further delaying our dossier being sent to China. I am grateful that God goes before us and loves Grace more than we do. He knows the perfect time for her to come home, even though our desire is to get her here SOON!

Unusual around here...

It was surreal to find this among the laundry today.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl

Happy Birthday Grace!

It's 11:00 am on 10-9 in China. Grace is two years old today! We love you and are doing ALL we can to bring you home! Praying you have a special day today.

If you really want to know about Chinese adoption...

this blogpost is incredibly informative:

http://chinaadoptiontalk.blogspot.com/2010/07/amy-eldridge-of-lwb-speaks.html

I wanted to add a quick quote for those who don't have the time or inclination to read the article:

The landscape has changed considerably from the days when Chinese orphanages were filled with healthy infant girls who had been abandoned because of the government's one child policy and the social preference for boys. Now, the orphanages are filled with special needs kids, many critically ill. She reported that 98% of newly abandoned children in China have serious medical needs, which explains why 60% of adoptions in 2010 were special needs adoption.

A Few Small Updates

I haven't updated much because there is not a lot to say. We have been pleasantly busy with homeschooling and life. P had to work in NYC and I got to tag along for the last few days of the trip which was wonderful. Our entire dossier is now out at various Chinese Consulates here in the US being authenticated. We should have it back by next week (we think the 13th at the latest.) Then it goes on to our agency and then to China!! Once it is logged in in China we think it will be little over 5 months until we travel, though that is a guess. Grace's birthday is on the 9th. It's bittersweet. How exciting we have a little girl turning 2!! We wish we could be there to celebrate and feel for her birth mother. I received an email of a letter from Amy Eldridge from Love Without Boundaries, and amazing humanitarian group that works with orphans. She actually thinks sending a care package is not the best thing to do for several reasons, including making other kids who aren't being adopted feel bad and the fact that it's too hard for the nannies to keep up with individual possessions and to keep them nice. So for Grace's birthday we bought 6 pairs of Carter's footie pajamas (both boys and girls) to be shared with Grace's friends and kept at her orphanage. We also sent candy for the kids, nannies and orphanage directer. If you'd like to pray for Grace here are some things you can pray:

1. For her safety and health in the orphanage.
2. That she will be loved and bonded to someone there.
3. That God will somehow prepare her heart for this huge change. That she will be resilient and strong.
4. That God will also be preparing me, P and the boys to welcome Grace home. That we will have wisdom and compassion.

Things that make you go HUH??

(This post has nothing to do with Grace)

We've started making a weekly pilgrimage to My Fashion Secret (aka the Classy Goodwill). I can't believe the deals we've gotten there. New men's coat $2, Gap long and lean jeans $1, authentic UofM hockey jersey $5, etc, etc. The boys always want to go along and buy some cr..I mean toys with their allowance. Last week we bought the game Mousetrap-fun! ("You roll your dice you move your mice, nobody gets hurt"). While we were there I picked up a really cool looking folk art print of the nativity. I was going to buy it when I noticed something unexpected. Who was peeking out from behind the low stone wall along with the wise men and shepherds? Why it's Santa Clause! I had no idea he was there that night, did you? I didn't buy it, but now I wish I had. Maybe it's still there. Stacey and Melissa keep your hands off the Santa Nativity, it's mine!

I am constantly aware that many people have empty arms for many, many years. Some are never filled. My heart really does break for those mommies without babies. It breaks for people who have lost babies. This process (so far) has gone so smoothly and I am left awe struck with gratitude. We are so joyful, and so thankful for everyone that shares our joy. Should I feel guilty then, that I really miss Grace? That I ache to hold her in my arms, squeeze her really tight, kiss her chubby cheeks, smell her hair, watch her wrestle with her brothers and snuggle with her daddy? That I am jealous of the two years we've missed out on, or that I am starving for another picture of her, and desperate to do everything just right so that she can come home quickly? Am I being callous and ungrateful? After all we've only been waiting a few months- a very short minute in the typical adoption time frame. Or, did God place some of these feelings in my heart so that I can already love a baby I've never seen, who isn't kicking me from the inside, but is growing steadily in my heart? Should I tell myself to be patient, or should I quit scolding and allow myself to really ache for Grace?

o-r-e-o

Yesterday I found out that one of my children takes oreos apart and eat just the insides. Today I found out that before they eat the filling they roll several fillings into a ball and eat them. Weird.

Randomness in Detroit.

*We were successful at the fingerprint office today!!! One BIG step closer to bringing our little girl home.

*The security guards at the place gave Paul a hard time.

*The lady at the desk was less than thrilled that we came early but was accommodating. She said we'd not be able to cut in front of anyone with an appointment. Ten minutes later we where the only people in the place and we got fingerprinted!!

* I was so nervous about going in without an appointment last night that I ate 3 bowls of Lucky Charms. I SO violated the rules of the healthy eating challenge I am in. I drove by a Weight Watchers office in Detroit and thought I should go in to have confession. Paul thinks I am crazy, he was cool as a cucumber.

*My hands were shaking when I put the address into the GPS so I entered the wrong address which took us a crazy way through Detroit. Paul was very patient when we realized we were at the wrong address and had to re enter it. I had to do deep breathing exercises. He asked me why I was so stressed. I told him I was working really hard not to stress, and he said "So, you are stressed about not stressing?"

* We saw a man driving a lawn mower down the road as if it where a car. I hope he was sober.

* Detroit is beautiful and ugly at the same time. It intrigues me. I love the architecture of the beautiful brick buildings, but they make me sad because they are empty and all the windows are broken out. The church buildings are breathtaking. I heard on the radio today that Detroit has gone from a city of 2 million to under 800,000 in the last fifty years. I would love to have seen it back in the day. It must have been something else. I wanted Paul to show me around Detroit, he declined.

*He did take me out to eat at a really cool Thai restaurant in an old brick building. It was delicious. I wanted to go eat Chinese to celebrate the successful fingerprints, but we didn't know of any good Chinese places to eat.

*After our successful fingerprints Paul asked me why I never believe him when he tells me not to stress, that it will be fine. I told him that cognitively I did trust him - I kept telling myself it would be fine, that God is in control, that His timing is perfect when everything goes as I would have it AND when it doesn't go my way. But I still acted like a total loon. I need to work on that.

*My awesome friend Mary schooled and watched my boys today, and they had a great time with her kids.

Why Big Families Might Be Easier

I thought this was a cute article. I don't agree with everything it says, nor do I mean it to be a slight to small families, each has its benefits.


Why Big Families Might Be Easier
by Matthew Archbold Thursday, February 04, 2010 8:29

A woman said to me recently that my five children were very well behaved. It’s one of the best things I can hear so I thanked her. Then she asked me “how do you do it with so many?”
I told her that I don’t think I’d be a very good parent of one child or two. She didn’t believe my answer but honest to goodness, I sometimes think that having many children is easier than just one.
Why big families are easier:
Patience. I never have to teach patience. My children know that I can’t drop everything for them if I have a baby in my arms.

Work Ethic. My children have learned to work because there are always chores to do in a small house packed with little messy lunatics. And they all learn quickly that sometimes they have to clean up a mess even though they didn’t make it.

Humility. My children have learned it’s not always their turn. They’ve accepted they can’t always get their way because other people have to get their way sometimes. They’ve learned that some children are better at certain things than they are.
Foreign language skills. You can learn a lot of Spanish by watching ten years of Dora the Explorer that you just can’t pick up in two. And now with the Diego spin off I’m practically fluent.

Laughter. The children have learned to laugh at the insane non sequiturs of younger siblings. They’ve learned that laughing just feels better when seven people are doing it along with you.
Competition. Do I really need to go into this? Everything is a competition in big families. The children compete over who reads faster, who drinks their milk faster, who gets to the bathroom first…etc. Everything is a competition and they’re all keeping score.

Balance. The floor of the front room of my home is a minefield of toys and childhood paraphernalia. Just walking through the room requires great skill and balance. I’m absolutely convinced my two year old will be a favorite for Gold on the balance beam in the 2016 Olympics. (She might have to lay off the cookies a little but I’ll deal with that later.)

Life isn’t fair. Sometimes you just give it to the baby because you want a little quiet. Not all the time. But sometimes.

Just say “No.” Being able to say “no” may be the most undervalued skill in this world. The need to be liked is pervasive. The need to be cool even more so. Having brothers and sisters teaches children to say “no” about 143 times a day. It’s a good skill.

Praying. They learn that nothing beats praying together as a family.

Nature/Nurture. Having many children has taught me that nature has a lot more to do with who my kids are than nurture. This is helpful, especially when your children misbehave you don’t have to feel bad about it. Just say “Stupid nature!!!” and blame your spouse’s genes.

Namecalling. You can occasionally call your child by the wrong name and still not be considered a terrible parent. They know who you mean just from your tone. Sometimes if you need something done you can call the wrong name and someone will still show up. That helps.

Spying. My children have learned that they can’t get away with anything. I have spies who look a lot like them who are willing to drop the dime on them for anything. Even at school I’ve got a child in just about every grade. If they do something I’ll hear. That keeps them nervous. And I like keeping my kids a little nervous.

Friendship. The children have many friends. They’ve got girly friends, crying friends, fun loving friends, consoling friends, and crazy friends. And they all have the same last name. And they’ll be there forever for each other. No matter what.

Love. I think my children have learned to love because there are others around them to love and who love them. I honestly can think of no better way to teach children to love than siblings.

A Public Service Announcement

Yesterday I mailed some documents to the Chin. Consulates, today I mailed a grant application to Show Hope (Steven Curtis Chapman's organization). We've made numerous trips to our local P.O. Yesterday the lady asked if I was adopting because I didn't want to go through the pain of labor and delivery again. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

I've only given birth twice (Will and Ben where a two-for-one). Neither time was a bad experience at all. Now being sick to my stomach and throwing up for three months each pregnancy, I could do without. But, adoption is definitely not the easy way out. Especially for those who are organizationally-challenged control-freaks as I am. The paperwork is unreal, and it has to be perfect. You aren't supposed to remove any staples, and I am stressing because the Secretary of State in Tennessee removed a staple and re stapled a document. I was supposed to mail my Show Hope documents in a 8x11 in envelope, but the guy at the post office insisted it needed to be in an express mail envelope, now I am stressing over that. I need to let those things go, in the long run they aren't a big deal, they can hold up the timing of this adoption, but ultimately God is in control. Our finances and budget have been gone over with a fine tooth comb by our adoption agency, the Chin. govt., our home study agency, and each of the grant applications I apply for. We've been questioned numerous times about our faith, our parenting styles, our reasons for adopting, and our marriage.

I am not complaining, I understand that this is done for the safety of the children being adopted, and that is a good thing. And what we get in the end, a precious child, is worth every single hassle, just as having morning (all day) sickness was worth it!! I would do both again 1,000,000 times! Since the fall, there is no easy way to have a child. I just wanted to give a PSA about what not to say to a prospective adoptive parent. Especially one who, unlike us, has dealt with years of infertility before deciding to adopt.

Finally a little news!

We received notice to have our fingerprints taken in Detroit. We don't think the date given will interfere with Paul's work travel, but we are still going to try to get in early. The sooner we are fingerprinted, the sooner we get our dossier finished, the sooner we get to travel to get Grace. Thanks to everyone who prayed! We still could use prayers that we will find favor with the Detroit USCIS office and they'll let us get fingerprinted on Wednesday. Then, we scramble to get some more paperwork completed and then wait some more. I think I would walk over burning coals right now to see a new picture of Grace. I keep scouring the Internet for a picture, but so far no luck.

wo ai ni mommy

http://www.pbs.org/pov/woainimommy/

Did anyone happen to watch the PBS documentary last night about Chinese adoption? It was about Faith, who was adopted at age 8 from China. Paul and I watched together and I am still processing it. It was very well done, but parts of it were almost excruciating to watch because you feel so badly for her. She had a really tough time leaving behind all that was familiar and learning to live in a new place. It's a must see for anyone adopting internationaly, especially an older child.

An Exerpt from Grace's File

"She can say “baba”, “mama”, “shu shu” (“uncle”), and those kinds of simple titles. She is clever and can look at adults and see their expressions. She does what she wants to do. She can understand praising words and critical words. She can accurately point to all five facial features in a picture of a doll, and she knows the names of all the other children in her class. If she drops her shoes, she knows to take her shoe and put it on her foot. She pushes the toy car around the activity room, running quickly. Sometimes she helps the other children pick up the toys. She can walk all around while holding a hand, but she is scared if you let go of her hand and she won’t dare bravely walk on her own. As long as you give her a little help, she can bravely walk ahead. She likes to mimic things adults do. She is also extremely polite; when guests leave she will say goodbye. Sometimes when she is naughty, people like her even more. She likes to play with toys with the other children, and she gets along peacefully with the other children."

It warms my heart every time I read it.

School kicked my tail today so to top it off, because my house wasn't trashed enough, I decided to make playdough with the twins. I love making playdough, and I love the playdough stage. I'm so excited I get to have a preschooler one more time. Will thinks Grace will be a great playdough maker, and will probably make Chinese dragons out of playdough. They talk about Grace a lot. They know that China is exactly 24 hours ahead of us it's cool that at bedtime we can pray for her as she's waking, and at breakfast for her as she's going to bed. Sam figured out today that dad and mom are going to be exhausted after traveling to China for two weeks and then back.

PS One time when I was teaching I had an evaluation by my principal and I was exhausted. Paul stayed up very late making tons of playdough for me to use. He's the best.

First Day of School!

We had a great first day of school! Pictures forthcoming! The boys had banana splits for breakfast (hey fruit and real ice cream couldn't be any worse for you than poptarts right?) They opened up their new school supplies, and worked through our schedules well. I read three chapters of Homer Price (great little boys book!) and we are getting ready to top it all of by swimming with friends. We had a few bumps in the road. One child got sassy with me wailing over an MP3 player. One I handled really well, the other I had no idea what to do. Other then that things went really well, I think we all had fun while learning.

Planning and the Next Thing on My List

I had a weekend to myself to plan for our school year while Paul and the boys spent time with Grandma. This was my 4th annual homeschool planning weekend. My friends Stacey and Deborah - fellow homeschoolers- joined me again to plan on part of the day Saturday. We had a great time eating, laughing, walking and planning. I spent the rest of the weekend in solitude, which was wonderful for a time, but I was really happy to see the men on Sunday afternoon. I seriously don't know how I could do it without these planning weekends it's amazing the thinking and praying and wrestling with decisions to be made that can happen when given some uninterupted quiet time. I felt like I finally had clarity on some issues that had been frustrating and stumping me for a very long time.

Now that I have delt with our upcoming school year I feel free to work on more adoption stuff. The next thing I need to focus on is filling out applications for grants. They are daunting for some reason, and I would appreciate your prayers. I have some beautiful necklaces that my sister made just for me to sell to help with adoption costs, and some other fund-raising ideas in the works. Through all the paperwork I don't want to forget that we have a very real little girl waiting for us in China.

What I don't always tell.................

I posted the last post kind of toungue in cheek. I meant it to be funny, and actually I really do say that when people ask. But my conscience has gotten the better of me. The truth is I did teach that many children (and at times more) and honestly, I think I did it well. But as Jodi or Shannon or anyone who worked with me will tell you, it wasn't easy - AT ALL. There where many times I complained and sometimes I even cried. I loved the job, but I didn't love it every minute of every day, and I made lots of mistakes. It's the same with homeschooling. I truly feel called to homeschooling (for many reasons maybe someday I'll get into that), and I think I do a decent job of it - I'm not going to give it up because we are adding another child to our home. But it isn't easy - AT ALL. As any of my homeschool buddies would tell I complain. As Paul would tell you, sometimes I cry. I love the job, but I don't love every minute of every day. And I make LOTS of mistakes. So by the grace of God I plan to homeschool five chidlren, and my prayer is that he will give me the wisdom and strength to do it well - and maybe I should be little more humber too :). Because, in my own strength and pride I would (and have) fallen flat on my face.

My standard answer..........

whenver I am asked how I could homeschool five kids:


"My last year of teaching I successfully taught 15 precocious preschoolers, at least 9 of them with autism. I can handle my own five. " :)

For Fun.....

This picture made the adoption file.

This one did not.

Waiting.............

We are in another waiting stage. I am not good at waiting. But, waiting is probably good for me. We got a text at 1:00am saying our USCIS paperwork had been recieved and was on it's way to being processed. Why they sent it at 1:00 in the morning I am unsure. Then they sent an identical text about 5 minutes later, after I had fallen back asleep. Maybe they think it's a good idea to prepare me for having to wake in the middle of the night again after several years of kids sleeping through the night. The government...sigh.

Must.Stop.Buying.Girls.Clothes!

They are so cute and so hard to resist. I have been getting really good deals. Today I bought CUTE jeans from the Children's Place at Goodwill for 50 cents. The Classy Goodwill for those who know what I mean, not the normal one ;) they where the half off color. Last week I couldn't resist a clearance shirt at Old Navy that said "Daddy's Sweetheart." I think buying clothes makes it all more real to me. I need to take a picture next week of all the clothes we've been given and bought and the super cute comforters my mom bought us.

Dear Grace,

Dear Grace,
In 6 months or so (Lord willing) your whole world is going to change. Two strange people are going to come and take you away from all that is familiar. You are going to be really scared. I don't know how you'll respond; if you will scream and cry, or totally shut down. Sometimes it only takes a few hours to get used to the idea, other times it takes much, much longer. I can't lie though, it won't be easy for you. You will lose your nannies and all your friends. You will lose your familiar surroundings, your culture and your language. Everything will seem so strange and unfamiliar. We are praying that somehow God will prepare you for this huge loss. You'll go from being one of 600 to one of 5. You will have wide open spaces to run in, clean air to breath and clean water to drink. You will have all the food you could ever want. You'll have your own room which is already filled with clothes and toys from friends and family who can't wait to meet you. You will have 4 big brothers to wrestle with and who will be there to defend you, you will have seven first cousins to play with, 3 aunts and 2 uncles to watch over you. Including greats, you'll have six grandmas and five grandpas to spoil you rotten. You'll have a church that values children, and many, many wonderful friends. And, you'll have a wonderful daddy who will keep you safe and provide for and love you, and a mama who isn't perfect but who already loves you ferociously and can't wait to have a little girl. We promise that we won't forget the loss you have suffered and will do our best to help you heal, even when it gets hard.
Love,
Mama

I thought it would be fun to share some of the pictures we are sending in our dossier. Of course we want to put our best foot forward. However there are MANY more pictures that show our less then perfect sides here are two pictures:

Here is a picture of our family for our adoption file. I know J is cut off a little and W looks scared, but do we look acceptable? It was taken last year at Myrtle Beach.




Here is a picture that was rejected from the adoption file. It was actually taken by our neighbor in order to be included in the file - but didn't quite turn out the way I had hoped. I don't know what in the world J is doing to S in this picture. Nor do I know what type of manual labor P was doing before this picture was taken to cause him to sweat so profusely. One good thing that came from this photo is that I now know I should wear a little make-up and brush my hair for all future adoption file pictures. :)

What I Did on My Summer Vacation:

Right now we are in the process of compiling our dossier to be sent to China. A dossier is a stack of papers about two feet tall that divulges all your most private information to the adoption officials.

In June and July we Completed or Gathered:
Medical Exams for entire family.
Financial Statements
Police Clearances
An adoption petition
Birth Certificates
Marriage Certificates
A Homestudy
Employment Verification
Non-Employment Verification (For me)
Passports
Lots of pictures of us


This morning I overnighted:
Immigration Paperwork (You have to wait for your homestudy report to be completed and approved before you can send this in.)

So now we wait for an invitation to get fingerprinted. We are praying (and would appreciate prayers) that this comes before Paul has to be somewhere for work.

After we receive approval from Immigration we will have all of these papers notarized (we've already done most of this.) Then they must be sent to the Secretary of State to be certified (already did a lot of this too). Next,they are all sent to the Chinese consulate to be authenticated. Then we send it all to our adoption agency and they go over it all with a fine tooth comb and FINALLY it is all sent to China!

I haven't fully grasped what happens after it gets to China. I will be familiarizing myself with that process soon. BUT it is said that once you are logged in you travel in 3-5 months!!

We are hoping to be logged in by early October.

(Bless anyone who read this post.)

Our Adoption Timeline:

May 20, 2010: We decided for sure we wanted to start the adoption process.
June 5, 2010: After much research we chose CCAI as our adoption agency and sent in our application.
June 10, 2010: CCAI accepted us into their program.
June 14, 2010: We saw Grace's picture on CCAI's Waiting Child photo listings and chose her to be our daughter!! - For anyone who might be interested this is where our adoption differs greatly from most, and why it has gone so much quicker than usual. The wait for a healthy baby from China is currently four years. However there are many older children and children with mild to more severe special needs available at all times. A match with a child with special needs can take up to a year - but often is much quicker. We absolutely fell in love with Grace through her pictures and reading her file. Even if it wasn't for the wait, we would have gone this route.
June 28, 2010 We received pre-approval from China.

Gift of Grace

I've attempted to start this blog many times but for some reason or another I keep putting it off. Everyone knows that every good adoptive parent has a blog! I must be lacking. But, I do want to have something that I can read to remember this journey and something for Grace to read when she is older as well as away to keep friends and family informed. I am an open book most of the time, but for some reason sharing feelings and not just facts about this adoption has been difficult. Honestly, ten years later, reading the daily notes I was required to keep during our first adoption is difficult. Adopting makes you vulnerable in so many ways. I think I fear that if I show weakness I will be a poor representative of large, adoptive, homeschooling, southern transplant, strange families everywhere. But, the truth is I am weak. I don't deserve to be blessed with another child anymore than I deserve to be blessed with my four boys, my husband or my salvation. All of this is by God's grace - nothing that I did or can do. He is strong when I am weak. The further we get in this adoption the more I appreciate the significance of the name we chose for our daughter and the gift of abiding in God's grace.