Article 5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our Article 5 was picked up at the US Consulate today and is on it's way to the CCCWA in Beijing to await Travel approval. Praying it comes in the next two weeks or less!! BOYS WE ARE ALMOST THERE!!

He is Risen, He is Risen Indeed!

(poor Judah did not want to cooperate today)

What a great day! Time with church family, hearing the message and reminder that Jesus died and rose again, fullfilling God's plan for hope and salvation! What more can one ask for!?

We enjoyed a nice morning eating brunch with church family, then off to an egg hunt at our house for joint families with our son and daughter in law and extended family. The kids were great! We hid over 140 eggs and they hunted them until they were too tired to look anymore. Not sure if they even found them all. Then off to my sons MIL/FILs house for more food and fun times. What a blessing this day has been. I only wish we had our daughter, SIL and granddaughter there for the pictures....by the time they were able to come we were too stuffed to take photos!

What would have made it better? Having our two boys home with us! But thats okay because they will be home soon enough and there are always more parties.

Thank you Jesus for your sacrifice so I can have hope in you!

Bless My Soul!!

The lovely family who sent me pictures of Adam, just sent me an update of their interaction with Titus.

They said that when he found out someone who might know his parents were visiting the orphanage he ran directly to the office to meet them. They told him we are trying hard to get there in the next month and that we loved and missed him. When they left he ran over to them to make sure they knew he also missed and loved us! How sweet! He must also be getting very tall - they said they joked with him that he will be the next Yao Ming!

They promised to send notes on their interaction with Adam when they get a chance. I hope they were able to get some new pictures of Titus as well. Either way, I am pleased with any bits of news:)

Praying we hear about our Article 5 on by Wednesday at the latest!

May God bless each of you on this special weekend where we celebrate the fulfilled promise of God's son, Jesus, rising from the dead!!! HE IS RISEN!!!

Pictures of Adam!

Today I was hoping to hear about our Article 5, but it looks like we aren't going to. BUT it was still a great day. There is a wonderful couple in country right now adopting their son from the same orphanage as our boys. Her parents were able to take the train to the orphanage and tour. They said the staff was very welcoming and wonderful! They let them talk to our boys, among other children who were being adopted and also take pictures.

They were told, and shown where Adam goes to school. It is a school outside the orphanage with other visually impaired children. I will attach pictures of him at school that they sent me. They said he is very bright despite his visual impairment and that he can write and draw very well! That is food for my soul! We were concerned about his vision and how he would learn, etc...and we are prepared for whatever we need to do, but just to know and see him at school made me feel so much better. I can't wait for him to come! I also can't wait to see pictures of Titus!!

I don't know about you, but I think they are pretty darn handsome!

Now to go to bed and dream and pray that Article 5 comes asap!!!

A break from the wait

Even though I have more than a million things to do before we leave on our trip, hubby and I decided to go away for the weekend and enjoy a marriage conference that is just about us - no kids:) I love my kids and actually hate leaving them, but hubby is #1 and usually gets whats left of me so it's time he gets me all to himself for at least a couple days :) (as well as mommy needing daddy to herself:)

It is nice to have adult children that can step in an babysit for us. Thank you Nicole and Josh! When we go for our longer trip Jake and Tiff are stepping in:) Thanks you two!! What a blessing it is to have grown, mature, loving, Christlike children! I hope the younger ones follow their lead.

Back to the waiting game, no word whatsoever on our Article 5. IF they made it in time it should be picked up on 20 Apr and delivered to CCAA but if not, then it won't be delivered until the 26th. Obviously we are hoping for the earlier than the later, with the holiday in China coming up at the end of the month. No time to waste!

God is everywhere:)

I have taken the last few days to ponder not only how amazing God is, but the fact that he is right there beside us as we go through this adoption. We were blown away at the support of everyone who gave towards Adam's orphanage fee, especially the large confidential donor. It is amazing what God's people can do when they work together to see God's plans fall into place. I can't wait to be able to pay-it-forward! We had a rough week this past week. We went from being cabled, to thinking our paperwork was delivered to the Embassy, to finding out we were missing the DS230 for Adam. Somehow our agency forgot to have us do it, and I never thought about it, even though we did it with Titus. So on Wednesday afternoon as I was heading out the door, our agency called to tell me they needed that form ASAP. I dropped what I was doing, signed it and took it to FEDEX. I paid the normal price of "you will need to get an extra job to ship this out" and had it merrily on it's way. At least that is what I thought. Because I went to a place that has FEDEX pickup, and they aren't an actual FEDEX store, they filled out the form based on the address I gave them, instead of me filling it out. I never double checked...yes you know where this is going. Next day, I check and it says it was shipped to different part of Colorado! Our agency is so sweet, they offered to drive around and find it, but FEDEX said it was going back to a sorting facility and would be delivered the next day (friday). I started praying, as well as begging my friends on facebook to do the same thing, and lo and behold, it arrived at our agency on thursday, the day it was suppose to arrive - needless to say our agency shipped it out right away to Guangzhou. Now of course we are praying it didn't delay us and that the Embassy will expedite it. God in action again! Next issue that all PAPs probably were aware of was the possibility of government shut down, which could affect the Embassy processing our paperwork...but God had that all under control too! Isn't He amazing!!?? You may wonder why I worry about a few days here and a few days there, well remember I am going to volunteer at a foster home and don't want to have to fly home for 2 weeks to turn around and go back again. My agency is working hard to help us out so I can stay there. I obviously want God's will to prevail, but I just can't help getting involved:) You think after a few adoptions I would catch on! I guess I better do what I do best - go to sleep and dream of my boys!

Travel Blog

No, we aren't quite there, but almost! While we wait to travel I thought I would share our travel blog site that we will be using when we do travel. http://www.racetochinatravel.shutterfly.com/ I was hoping we could use our blogger site but it sounds like it's blocked there. If you want to follow along there once we travel, feel free. Until then I will continue to use this site. I still can't get over the blessing everyone has been to us by donating to Adam's orphanage fee, praying and encouraging us. I especially want to thank Vicki -the Min mom...who without her encouragement and obvious faith in the endless power of our God and Father we wouldn't be where we are today and to our anonymous donor for feeling God's calling to ensure Adam's fee was paid in full!

NVC Letter

The golden NVC letter is finally here! I was told we were cabled on Thursday 31 March but couldn't get anyone to give me a copy of the letter on Friday. Ok, it's true, I emailed them 3 times, once on Friday, once on saturday and once Monday morning. Within minutes of my Monday morning email, in came the letter via email from the NVC. I of course forwarded it straight away to my agency but haven't heard they received it yet. I also heard many TAs came in today so they are probably rushing around doing those. Now we will wait about 2 -2 1/2 weeks for our Article 5 and then anywhere from 2-4 weeks for TA. I pray they are both on the short end because I really don't want to have to fly home for two weeks to turn around and fly back again. I could manage to stay an extra week since I will be volunteering in a foster home which is reasonably priced to stay in, but cannot afford more than that and my husband taking all the time off of work. Time will tell....God is in control! Today is rainy - imagine that! Springtime in the Pacific Northwest:) The kids are on springbreak and making a mess of my house, oh well. We got our oldest son moved out of the room the two boys will share, cleaned it up, made the beds with their new comfy pillows and comforters. I think they will really like it. Tomorrow we will brave the weather and try to go to Northwest Trek, an animal sanctuary. We have lived here 10 years and never been. The kids should enjoy it.