Orphanage Donation and Other Stuff!

Hi friends!

I tell you . . . I cannot look at the pictures in the post below without smiling.  Isn't our girl just SO BEAUTIFUL??  I absolutely LOVE that she is looking at photos of us - her new family -  in both pictures; the top one with a little smile on her face, and the bottom one with her fingers intertwined, as though she is so intent on what she's being shown.  Sweet Caylie girl, we love you so much already, and can't wait to hold you and make you our daughter!

We are getting down to the final steps of our adoption process, and trusting God for the finances for travel, agency fees, orphanage donation, and more.  We know that God has called us to this journey, and we know that He will be faithful to complete it.  We are grateful to those who have reached out to help us financially, and so appreciate their sacrifice and obedience to God.  We want to let those people know that we will be using the funds we have received from our fundraiser and also the very generous and anonymous gift we found on our front step to help pay our orphanage donation.  Everyone who adopts from China must pay this  $5200 fee to the orphanage where their child is from.  And although this is something that is set down for us to do, we are so very grateful to Caylie's orphanage for their care of her through her first four years.  We pray every day for her caretakers, as they love and care for so many little ones; never knowing when another will come, and never knowing when the ones they've cared for will go.  A heart-wrenching occupation, to be sure.

As we get closer, it gets harder for me to wait.  When it was still so far away, it was still SO FAR away!  But now that I know we're going to bring our Caylie home next month, the time is just dragging.  So thankful that God doesn't waste any time - He is always working - and that He is never waiting!  Today I clicked on a friend's blog, and immediately John Waller was reminding me of what I have said I would do - WORSHIP and SERVE our Lord Jesus while I'm waiting!  He knows just what I need, every minute.  :)

Today TWO MORE friends left for China to pick up their children!  Please pray for these families and enjoy the fun of following along on their journey!

Adoption Adventure With Two Little Princesses - My friend Randi's blog.  Her family is bringing home two little girls, ages 6 and 7.

Room In Our Hearts for One More - My friend Paige's blog.  This is their second China adoption.  They have a 5-year-old boy, and this time are bringing home a two-year-old girl.

I am SO excited for them both.  Soon this will be us!!

NEW Caylie Pictures!

Our agency went to China last week, and came back with new photos!  I only have two of them so far, as a preview, but will be getting more soon.  We're also getting new video!  

We had sent another package with them to be given to Caylie and her foster mother.  This time we put in a new outfit complete with lacy socks and hair clips, a disposable camera, some cute fuzzy bunny ears that I couldn't resist from the Target dollar bin, and another photo album with pictures of us, the rooms in our house, the dog, the car, the swingset, her bed - all the things that we want to be familiar to her when she comes home.  And this time I was able to put labels on the pictures in Mandarin!

Here is Miss Caylie looking at our photos and smiling!  And she's wearing one of her new hair clips.  I love her little outfit!  SO STINKING CUTE!!

And here she is again, looking at the photos with Marissa from our agency and wearing the bunny ears!

We are so, so happy that our agency is able to take these trips and visit with our girl before we get there.  That is such a blessing to us.  It was not by accident that God showed me their website with her photo in it back in July!  He knows exactly what we all need, and He is faithful to bring it.

More photos and video coming soon.  Stay tuned!

More Waiting, but Almost There!

Our Article 5 paperwork was taken by our agency's courier to the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou yesterday.  They will ensure that everything is in order for Caylie's immigrant Visa.  This takes a standard two weeks.  On April 24, the courier will pick up the Article 5 letter and deliver it to the China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption (CCCWA).  Then we will wait for them to issue our Travel Approval!  It looks like TA's are taking around 8-15 days recently.  After we get that, we will ask for our Consulate Appointment date which will be the day we finalize our adoption on Guangzhou.  This only takes a day or two.  Then we can book our flights and be on our way!

Clear as mud, once again?  Yeah.

After much prayer and thinking and talking, we have decided to take Keelan and Justin with us.  We feel that it would be much better for Caylie to get to know her brothers in-country, and not just when we bring her into the house.  We want her to feel comfortable with them as soon as possible, while she's becoming comfortable with Jim and me.  And vice versa.  Especially with Justin, we feel it will be better for her brothers to get to know her before we come home, as well.  It will form a more special bond to have them there on "Gotcha Day" and while we are all getting to know each other the two weeks we are in China.  We are very grateful for a financial gift from family which allows us to buy their plane tickets!  (And we will just mush more people into the hotel rooms, haha!)  

It's amazing to think we are almost there.  God grabbed our hearts for adoption last May/June, and introduced us to our Caylie in July.  It has been a long journey!  We are finished with all paperwork (until we get there . . . then there will be more!) and are on to the more fun things, such as buying our sweet girl a backpack and new shoes, and getting clothes and toys and bedding ready.  We are so excited!

For a glimpse of what we will be doing, here are a few blogs from people who are in China NOW!

By Grace Alone - this family is almost finished with their trip, so scroll down for previous entries!  Their little girl is adorable.

Finding the Other End of Our Red Thread - this family amazes me.  They are in China with a brother's family, ALSO adopting at the same time!  God really orchestrated that one!  So cool, and two cousins are getting to know each other before they are even home.  They have also been in China for a few days, so scroll down!

Wahe's World - this family is just leaving for China TODAY!  Follow along for all their adventures!

I will try to post more blogs as online friends are leaving to pick up their children.  So fun!  

Please continue to pray for us, friends.  We are trusting God for the finances for our trip, orphanage donation, final agency fees, and more.  We know He will be faithful, as He has been all along.  Please pray also that God would be preparing Caylie's heart, mind, and spirit for the day she will leave all she knows and become family with us.  And please pray that God would continue to grow an uncommon love in our hearts for her, before we are even there.  So thankful for His Spirit that will accomplish these things and more.

"The One who has called you is faithful, and He will do it!"  ~ I Thessalonians 5:24

Every. Single. Minute.

Verse 1:
Lord I come, I confess
Bowing here I find my rest
Without You I fall apart
You're the one that guides my heart

Chorus:
Lord, I need You, oh I need You
Every hour I need You
My one defense, my righteousness
Oh God, how I need You

Verse 2:
Where sin runs deep, Your grace is more
Where grace is found is where You are
And where You are Lord I am free
Holiness is Christ in me

Bridge:
So teach my song to rise to You
When temptation comes my way
And when I cannot stand I'll fall on You
Jesus, You're my hope and stay

Updates and Stuff

Our I-800 was approved by USCIS on Thursday, March 28 and we received the hard copy two days later on Saturday.  This allows us to classify Caylie as an immediate relative.  So thankful that there were no delays with that process, and I appreciate the kindness and helpful attitude of our officer both times we have dealt with USCIS.  Our file has been sent to the National Visa Center, and once we are approved by them, they will send our information to the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou.  We are on the final steps, friends.  It will still be a few more weeks, but right now we are planning to meet our daughter toward the end of May!  And since it's finally April, I can say NEXT MONTH we will have our Caylie JiuChang with us!

Yesterday as we celebrated Easter and our Risen Savior, I couldn't help but think about NEXT year.  Next Easter Caylie will have been home close to a year and will know about Jesus!  I can't wait to begin to teach her how much He loves her and to share to joy of this day with my little girl.  God is orchestrating awesome things, and making all things new.  Adoption begins with loss and grief, but it is a story of REDEMPTION and HOPE.

Please pray for Jim and me, as we come closer to The Day.  We ask our Father every day to grow an uncommon love for Caylie in our hearts before we even meet her.  We know that by His Spirit, that love will grow, and IS growing!  How could we even do this without Him??  So grateful for His Spirit and His Word that work things that seem impossible to the world.  He is so good!  Please also pray that we will have wisdom in parenting and teaching our daughter who is coming from a hard place that we cannot understand.  We need Him to direct us at every turn and to give us compassion and understanding for our sweet girl.  Thank you, friends.

Please pray also that we would trust without wavering about the finances for our adoption and for our travel.  God has blessed us to very much already  - many thanks again to those who have helped us financially! -  and we know He will be faithful to the end!  We also need prayers for wisdom in finding the best flights and hotels.  We know our Father will guide us in all of these things.  This was HIS idea afterall!  I don't need to worry!

So What Happens Next??

Friends, we can see the end.  (Which is really The Beginning!)  With the steps that have yet to be taken, it looks like we will be able to travel to China in late May or early June.  Right now we are awaiting approval from USCIS for our I-800 application.  We were approved previously to adopt one child and bring them into  this country; now we will be approved to adopt our specific child and bring her into this country!  This process should take around three weeks.

After our I-800 is approved by USCIS, they will send our information to the National Visa Center.  The NVC will enter our information into their system and then send our file to the U.S. Embassy in Guangzhou, China when our petition is approved.  At that time our agency's in-China rep will carry our hard-copy documents to the embassy, as well.   The consulate will ensure that everything is in order and will issue our Article 5 letter.  The in-China rep will then take the Article 5 to the CCCWA (China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption) and we will wait for them to issue our Travel Approval!
Clear as mud?  Yeah, it's taken me awhile to understand it all, too.  And mostly I just smile and nod and do what I'm told!  But we're getting there!  Please pray with us that these things will be done without any unnecessary delay.  We know that our sovereign God has orchestrated this journey, and He has planned the exact day for us to meet our daughter. 

In the meantime, our agency is making another visit to the orphanage in a couple of weeks.  We  have sent another care package to be given to Caylie, and can't wait for her to receive it.  I included another photo album with pictures of our family and things around our house, complete with Mandarin labels!  (Haha . . . I used Google Translate, so I hope they make sense!)  We are planning on having new photos and video from this visit, as well!  We are so grateful that God pointed us to our agency (link is at the top right of the blog).  They have been wonderful.  

VIDEO!

Friends, I want to share with you a couple of VIDEOS that we were given of Caylie back in November after our agency's visit to the orphanage.  I was not allowed to post them here until we had LOA, but now here they are!  I'm putting the post back in November where it belongs, so please click here to see our cutie girl!