LID and Other Stuff

We found out yesterday that our dossier has been logged in to China's system!  Our log in date (LID) is February 28.  Now to start counting the days!

In the meantime, we've been learning as much Chinese as possible before we travel.  It's a lot of fun.  Hopefully we will be able to converse with Samuel more easily than we did with Caylie when she first came to us.  He is also learning a bit of English while we wait.

We have been celebrating Chinese New Year! 

Xīn nián kuài lè!

 新年快乐

And our sweet grandbaby Tessa is six months old!  Isn't she the cutest thing?  I am so glad that we live just a few minutes from them.  Tessa and I hang out while Mama Brittany decorates cakes twice a week.  

That's all I've got for now.  (Hmm. . . saying that reminds me that I still need to post about Caylie's birthday.  Oops!) 

Hopefully I will have more adoption news very soon.  Please keep praying for Samuel's heart as he says goodbye to his foster parents in a couple of days, and as he adjusts to a new caretaker.  And also for us, that God would prepare us in every way for what Samuel will need.  Thank you, friends.

Samuel and Adoption Update - Prayers, Please!

It's driving me a little crazy that I still can't publicly post any pictures of Samuel!  Hopefully that will change soon.  We will be allowed to do so as soon as we have our Letter of Approval (LOA) from China.  I can't wait for you all to see him.  He is such a handsome boy with a beautiful smile!

Our dossier got to China last week, and is now at the CCCWA (China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption).  I'm hoping it is logged in by now, and that we will get our Log In Date (LID) in the next couple of days.  Then we can start counting the days till our LOA, and I am praying they will be short!  Yes, I mentioned this in my last post, too, and I'm sure it is not the last time you will be hearing about it, haha.

Meanwhile, we are still Skyping with Samuel and his foster parents every Friday evening.  The gift of this is immeasurable to us.  When we were in process for Caylie, we never even dreamed such a thing was possible.  It is such a blessing to us to be able to get to know him and for him to get to know us before travel.  It will make things so much easier and comfortable when we finally meet in China.  His foster parents are wonderful Christian people, who care for him very much, and work very hard to prepare him for adoption.  They are extremely gracious and open with us about things Samuel is dealing with and what we should plan for and expect.  We are so very grateful to them.

However . . . due to circumstances, Samuel's foster parents are having to leave their ministry of living and working in his foster home.  (It is a large, church-run group home.)  We got this news on Friday evening when we were Skyping with them, and it absolutely breaks my heart.  Amy and Donald are such precious people, and I don't want to lose them.  I certainly don't want Samuel to lose them.  They have been the ones who have loved Samuel and helped him through the initial trauma of losing his long-term foster parents last May.  They are the ones who have taught him about Jesus and what it means to trust Him and to pray.  They are the ones who have seen to his education and have worked very hard to prepare him for adoption and for his new family.  They love him very much, and it is heartbreaking to me to think of him having to lose them now, when there are still months before we can be there for him.  And it also hurts my heart for them.

 So, please pray for this situation.  Please pray that God would hold Samuel's heart tenderly, and that He would give peace and grace through these next days and weeks.  Pray that Samuel would understand the situation as best he can, and that he would not be hindered any further in understanding that we are his FOREVER family, and will NEVER leave him.  Pray that he would understand that God has a GOOD plan for his life, and that He is always faithful to those who trust in Him, despite what circumstances look like.  We are thankful that the woman who founded this home is coming back to live there and care for the children.  Sandra is a godly woman also, and I know that she loves Samuel.  She is very much involved in preparing him for adoption and teaching him what it means to trust in God.  Please pray for Sandra, as well, that she would have wisdom as she takes on this role, and for Amy and Donald, as they leave a ministry that they have poured their whole hearts into for several years.

A bit of extra fun stuff . . . I am so thankful for two friends who have recently traveled to Samuel's foster home to adopt their own children, and have taken care packages to him in their suitcases!  (Thank you so much, Nichole and Martha!)  We have been able to send him many photos of our home and family, as well as some clothes, toys and candy treats.  And this week a rep from our agency is going to China to visit the waiting children, and she will take yet another package to Samuel!  Such a blessing to all of us.

Thank you for your prayers, friends, for our adoption process and for Samuel.  Our Father's heart is for the orphan, and He continually shows us that in many ways.

DTC!

Today our dossier is on it's way to China!  In adoption talk, we are DTC - Dossier To China.  With our process for Caylie, it took nearly 6 months to get to this stage, but this time is has only taken 4.  We are so thankful for the way things have been done without (much!) delay this time around.

Now we will wait for our dossier to be logged in to China's system (LID), then translated, and then approved by the Chinese officials.  Then we will be sent our Letter of Acceptance (LOA).  Last time God told me that our LOA wait would be 35 days.  Yep, He really did.  He whispered it in my ear on the day we were DTC and reminded me of it throughout the process.  And guess what.  It WAS 35 days.  You can read about that HERE.  It was a truly amazing God thing, and we will never forget that miracle day.  This time I am praying for 35 days again.  Whether God will do that, we don't know, but we know that He certainly can if He wants to!  Either way, we know we will get to China and meet our son on the very day that He's had planned from the beginning.

In the meantime, please pray that God would be working in Samuel's heart.  He needs healing from trauma and peace for his spirit.  These things can only come from The One who alone is Healer and Redeemer.  Please pray also for Jim and I, that we would be equipped to parent Samuel in the way that he needs, and that we would hold tightly to God no matter what.  And finally, please pray for our children at home, that they would be prepared for the changes that are coming, and would have hearts of compassion for their new brother.

Thank you, friends.

Happy Birthday, Caylie!

Caylie JiuChang is 6 today!

She's always happy with Kitty and Frozen.  

Tessa and Uncle Keelan

Mei mei and jie jie.  

Happy Birthday, sweet girl.  We love you!

Caylie's Kindergarten Field Trip!

Caylie's Chinese kindergarten took a field trip to the Joyous Chinese Cultural Center in Denver.  It was lots of fun and the children learned several new things, and got to practice their Chinese with people other than their teachers!

They learned how to do a traditional Chinese dance.

They learned how to do Chinese paper cutting.

They learned how to make dumplings.  Yummy!

And they played a fun game for prizes!

These are Caylie's teachers.  They are all so great with her.  We love them!

Happy Birthday, Taylor!

Our oldest son Taylor is 22 today!  He is doing great, working full-time as a book processor for Goodwill, and we are so proud of him!

Sammie dog wanted in on the present-opening action. 

Yummy cheesecake.  I don't know why he isn't smiling about it!  

We went out for dinner at a Japanese steak house, but my pictures from that are on my old phone, and I can't get them off!  Hopefully I can figure that out.

Happy Birthday, Taylor!

Samuel's Adoption Update

During the adoption process, there are several times that we are waiting expectantly for envelopes that look like this to appear in our mailbox!  This one is my appointment for biometrics (electronic fingerprinting).  USCIS received our initial application (I800a) on December 31.  After our fingerprinting - done on Tuesday of this week - we anticipate that our approval will come in another couple of weeks.  Please pray that there are no problems with our application or with our fingerprints.  Sometimes there are additional questions that they have or the fingerprints are not quite to their liking, and these things slow down the process.  None of that for us this time, please!  As soon as we have this approval, there are only a couple more steps before our dossier can be sent to China.  We are anxiously waiting - some of us more patiently than others - for that day!

But while we are waiting through this tedious process, we so SO VERY THANKFUL that we have the opportunity to Skype with Samuel and his foster parents every Friday evening!  This is a blessing that we never even dreamed of when we were in process for Caylie.  Samuel's foster parents are Christians and they speak English and we love them already!  They are making the task of getting to know our new son and understanding his needs so much more easy than it would have been otherwise.  We feel God's hand all over these events and see Him working so much in our boy's life.  He is shy with us, but we still have several more months for him to get to know us and to feel comfortable talking and even trying out his English!  Our boys here at home help him to feel at ease by being silly in front of the camera with goofy hats and funny faces.  I always know when Keelan or Justin is behind me doing some crazy thing, because Samuel will be laughing on the screen in front of me!  It's a lot of fun, and we love to see Samuel's beautiful smile!  (I can't wait until I can post his pictures here!)

Please continue to pray that God would prepare Jim and me to be the parents that Samuel needs, with much wisdom and grace.  Please pray that our children here at home would be prepared for the changes in our family, and that they would have compassion and grace for their new brother.  And please pray for Samuel's heart, that he would be learning to know and trust us, so that love will blossom and grow.  And also that he would be learning more and more of who God is and how much he is loved by Him.

Thank you, friends, for taking this journey with us.