Wow, where has the time gone. I didn't realize it had been almost a month since my last post. Things have quiet on the adoption front. Our social worker was suppose to have our homestudy done last week, but it's still not done. We are still waiting for our FBI clearance which they said would be done by the 21st of November. All that to say, hurry up!!! Because we HAVE to have our dossier to china and logged in by 31 Jan in order not to have to redo our immigrations paperwork. We still have to get refingerprinted but are able to extend our current immigrations, meaning not having to wait for a new I797 for our dossier. IF all goes well it will save us an additional 2-3 months of waiting. As always things are in God's hands.
Our month has been busy. Little man had more palate surgery. Actually the "speed bump" surgery where they create a bump in the back of the throat using his tissues to help seal off the throat when he talks. It is suppose to help his speech. So far it seems worse, but that probably has to do with swelling etc. He is also having some sleep apnea issues, due to swelling, that are subsiding as the swelling goes down. This surgery, by far, has been the toughest for the little guy. He always bounces right back but this one has taken a little longer. He is also suffering from a pulled muscle in his neck. They must have had him position strangely during surgery. Poor guy!
Lucky me, I caught a super nasty virus while we were in the hospital and have been down for the count for a whole week so far. To some of you this may not seem like long, but for me it is an eternity! I am the kind of person that likes to be busy, productive and moving. I feel bettter today, so it shouldn't be much longer:)
We sent our sweetie pie, Elizabeth a package a few weeks ago, secretly hoping someone would send us an update - not sure why I was hoping since they aren't suppose to communicate with us. But nothing. I was also hoping at least that our agency would get something from them and forward it to us:( I seriously think the more adoption a person does, the harder the wait becomes. We know what a blessing these kids are and to have to wait to hold and love them is so hard! Thankfully the holiday busyness will help pass some time.
We found out Titus can have Strabisumus surgery to help his eyes not move so much. We left it up to him to decide if he wanted it or not. He didn't even hesitate a second, he said if it will help me, then I want it! We also found out he may not be able to drive afterall. Washington law is you have to have corrected vision of 20/40. His is 20/80. His eye doctor said he feels comfortable writing a letter to allow him to drive in the day time in familiar areas. We of course want 100% safety for everyone so will make that decision when he is in the age of driving. Titus agrees he wants to be smart about it. But what a bummer if he can't drive. It's all he has talked about - he and Caleb:)
Today begins parent/teacher conferences...off to the school house from 1230 until 7 tonight (varied times). The kids are all doing great. Although Adam is starting to realize his cuteness will only go so far and he is starting to learn to "tow the line" along with the other students and at home. The other day his time on "electronics" was up and he was told to go play. He stood in the room and wouldn't go. He laughed, thought he was being funny and wouldn't go. I told him if he didn't find something to do he would be put to work. Something I tell all my kids, especially when they say they are bored. He smirkingly said, ok I work. Little did he know his bathroom was in need of cleaning and was quickly told to go clean it. With much attitude and tears (trying to get out of it) he finally cleaned it. Then he started back with his antics and was told once again that it wasn't cute and that if he didn't find something to do he would work more. He said ok, I work. Instead of making him clean more, I sat him down and explained proper obedience and behavior and that even though he is cute and funny, it isn't cute or funny to disobey and be naughty. I think he understood. But his attention span is very short:) as his teachers are learning:) Live and learn. Love them all no matter what:)
Thank you Lord for your creations...we are blessed by them - now I know what you go through everyday with me:)
PS sadly I have taken no pictures lately...I better get back on board!
November 16, 2011
October 25, 2011
Beautiful Fall Weather is Here!
The Pacific Northwest turned from no summer to almost no fall to almost winter all in a matter of weeks. We have had some nice weather this week though, which is making up for the past few months:)
We decided to take the kids to the pumpkin patch so that Titus and Adam could experience a little American tradition of pumpkin hunting etc. It was very funny! First off the day was rainy and so they wanted to know why on earth we would purposely go outside in the rain to get a pumpkin. Then they couldn't understand why you would want the perfect pumpkin, THEN they couldn't understand why you would want to cut a face out of it! Needless to say all of this was strange to them because they wanted to just eat the pumpkin. Adam made sure he got a huge one so he could eat alot. Titus picked a tiny one:)
Overall I think they had fun even though the weather was bad and the trip was quick. And....we surely enjoyed eating the pumpkin the next day, both baked with brown sugar and butter and some fried with salt and pepper!
On a side note, our dossier is essentially done, just waiting for our FBI clearances and homestudy...please Lord let them be done quickly! I hear LOAs after LID are taking up to 70 days...rgh...I want my baby home now!
We decided to take the kids to the pumpkin patch so that Titus and Adam could experience a little American tradition of pumpkin hunting etc. It was very funny! First off the day was rainy and so they wanted to know why on earth we would purposely go outside in the rain to get a pumpkin. Then they couldn't understand why you would want the perfect pumpkin, THEN they couldn't understand why you would want to cut a face out of it! Needless to say all of this was strange to them because they wanted to just eat the pumpkin. Adam made sure he got a huge one so he could eat alot. Titus picked a tiny one:)
Overall I think they had fun even though the weather was bad and the trip was quick. And....we surely enjoyed eating the pumpkin the next day, both baked with brown sugar and butter and some fried with salt and pepper!
October 10, 2011
Busy Week
Wow, I had a busy week this week. I decided to go get a part time job to supplement some of our adoption costs. Well, let's just say it is hard to find a part time job that allows me to only work from supper time on into the evening, and is flexible enough that I can kind of choose my hours. Soooooo, those colorful arches is where I ended up. I worked Wed-Sat nights until closing time, which brings me home at abour 1am. I haven't worked in three years so it kicked my behind. BUT looking at the picture of our sweet princess makes it all worth while. AND I only have to do it for a few months. Thank you Lord, for answered prayers.
We found out this week that our princess is living in major East Coast chinese city with a European couple as foster parents until we come. She was provided surgery through an amazing organization called Baobei Foundation. Everything I have read about them is amazing. I can't wait to finally meet them and thank them in person for what they have provided her. We were fortunate to also have one of our other children live in Hope Foster Home in Beijing. What a difference in the way they bond when they have had that one on one attention from the get go.
Ahhh...now if our social worker would hurry up and get our report done we could get moving forward faster. We do NOT want to miss our immigrations deadline - so we can reuse our already approved immigrations paperwork. The holidays are going to drag on I suspect, while we wait. BUT knowing that our sweet princess is being loved and well taken care of gives us peace of mind.
Our two boys that came home earlier this year, just watched the Jesus movie in Mandarin. They LOVED it. It answered so many questions they had that they seemed like they couldn't figure out how to ask us in English. We do go to church regularly and are actively involved with our church family, so they are piecing it together but it was great to see them light up with excitement over the movie. O
This week we also met with our local school to finally get the resources that both boys need. We started this process about 8 months ago before they came home and have just not felt like they were being considered. We love our school district especially our superintendant, but we were concerned that the boys were being left behind and not given what they need. We are hopeful to be on the right path now. They love school and feel so grateful to be able to participate. The teachers have been wonderful.
We continue to Praise God for His blessings and provision and want to thank all of you out there who contributed to our fund. There is no greater joy than being part of a process to unite a family together forever! Thank you!
We found out this week that our princess is living in major East Coast chinese city with a European couple as foster parents until we come. She was provided surgery through an amazing organization called Baobei Foundation. Everything I have read about them is amazing. I can't wait to finally meet them and thank them in person for what they have provided her. We were fortunate to also have one of our other children live in Hope Foster Home in Beijing. What a difference in the way they bond when they have had that one on one attention from the get go.
Ahhh...now if our social worker would hurry up and get our report done we could get moving forward faster. We do NOT want to miss our immigrations deadline - so we can reuse our already approved immigrations paperwork. The holidays are going to drag on I suspect, while we wait. BUT knowing that our sweet princess is being loved and well taken care of gives us peace of mind.
Our two boys that came home earlier this year, just watched the Jesus movie in Mandarin. They LOVED it. It answered so many questions they had that they seemed like they couldn't figure out how to ask us in English. We do go to church regularly and are actively involved with our church family, so they are piecing it together but it was great to see them light up with excitement over the movie. O
This week we also met with our local school to finally get the resources that both boys need. We started this process about 8 months ago before they came home and have just not felt like they were being considered. We love our school district especially our superintendant, but we were concerned that the boys were being left behind and not given what they need. We are hopeful to be on the right path now. They love school and feel so grateful to be able to participate. The teachers have been wonderful.
We continue to Praise God for His blessings and provision and want to thank all of you out there who contributed to our fund. There is no greater joy than being part of a process to unite a family together forever! Thank you!
September 29, 2011
A Week Blessed by God
This week met with wonder. We received several very generous donations which will get us through this first phase of the adoption. And although we continue to "fight" with the IRS (meaning they still don't want to give us our refund, in fact they want to fine us $3000 for our taxes being "falsely filed" thanks to Turbotax - so we write a letter- send "again" the same documents to prove we did adopt and pray they drop the fine and give us our refund before January). Nonetheless we have been blessed by others! God works His will no matter what stands in the way!
We have yet to hear from our new social worker to get moving on the homestudy (which has to be done in the next 90 days) so am praying that phone call comes today. We were assured it will get completed. I hate that our little princess is sitting over there just because people want us to redo paperwork we just did last year and hasn't changed..but alas that is the way it works. Hang on baby, we are working hard to come!
We have all been fighting the virus that is going around causing people headaches, runs and sore muscles..flu like. We are hoping it passes through us quickly. I don't like this season:(
Not much else to share at the moment except that we are grateful our God is good and that He gets the glory for everything!
We have yet to hear from our new social worker to get moving on the homestudy (which has to be done in the next 90 days) so am praying that phone call comes today. We were assured it will get completed. I hate that our little princess is sitting over there just because people want us to redo paperwork we just did last year and hasn't changed..but alas that is the way it works. Hang on baby, we are working hard to come!
We have all been fighting the virus that is going around causing people headaches, runs and sore muscles..flu like. We are hoping it passes through us quickly. I don't like this season:(
Not much else to share at the moment except that we are grateful our God is good and that He gets the glory for everything!
September 23, 2011
Thinking
Today while my kids are at school and my youngest is taking a nap I have been thinking. I know, hard to imagine me sitting still long enough to think. I have been thinking about how amazing God is. Through this past week we have been blessed by His work through many people. We had over $600 donated to our adoption fund, we had many families calling, supporting and encouraging us, and we found a new social worker agency. We were beyond blessed with the same social worker we had over the last 4 years and will miss him dearly. He really became a sweet part of our family - all the kids enjoyed his visits. But God took what was to be a great big change both financially and timewise, and presented us with another agency who is willing to pick up where David left off. God is so good.
We still need about $1200 to make our first payment to our agency to get moving faster to be able to make our 90 day timeline, but I have no doubt that this will happen. Please pray for us and/or consider a small donation. You would not regret helping bring a precious child home to their forever family.
The crazy thing is if the IRS would have just given us our refund this would not be an issue. We are working with them to come up with an agreement as to what refund we should be getting. According to the rules put out by themselves, we should be getting back thousands more than what they are telling us they owe us. So now we draw up another set of papers and send it back one more time for them to see where the error is. This apparently has happened to many, many people. We started this refund process in FEB and don't expect it to be resolved for several more months. But alas, God has a plan!
We would also ask for prayers that our FBI fingerprints get processed in the next few weeks so that won't be standing in our way of meeting our deadline. We have been told it can take anywhere from 6-12 weeks.
Other than that, life continues to be a blessing, kids enjoying school, fall weather moving in, precious friends getting LID and other friends getting their first foster kids. I look forward to what the next week will bring not only in our lives but yours as well.
PS the picture has nothing to do with the post, its just one I love of our 4 year old a couple years ago in October
We still need about $1200 to make our first payment to our agency to get moving faster to be able to make our 90 day timeline, but I have no doubt that this will happen. Please pray for us and/or consider a small donation. You would not regret helping bring a precious child home to their forever family.
The crazy thing is if the IRS would have just given us our refund this would not be an issue. We are working with them to come up with an agreement as to what refund we should be getting. According to the rules put out by themselves, we should be getting back thousands more than what they are telling us they owe us. So now we draw up another set of papers and send it back one more time for them to see where the error is. This apparently has happened to many, many people. We started this refund process in FEB and don't expect it to be resolved for several more months. But alas, God has a plan!
We would also ask for prayers that our FBI fingerprints get processed in the next few weeks so that won't be standing in our way of meeting our deadline. We have been told it can take anywhere from 6-12 weeks.
PS the picture has nothing to do with the post, its just one I love of our 4 year old a couple years ago in October
September 20, 2011
Grab Button
Hi, One of my precious blog friends so graciously made this grab button on the side bar of our blog so that you could take the code and put it on your blog to help us raise money to bring our sweet Elizabeth home. We would sure appreciate it! Thanks!
September 19, 2011
Pre Approval!!
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