Monday, September 20, 2010

I love him :)


Just a gratuitous shot of my boy :)

She saw him...

My friend Amy is traveling to Jiangsu to Wuxi, Sam's orphanage, and she was able to see Sam and hold his sweet little hand. She also sent us four pictures and 3 videos. He is even more precious on the videos and he is so.... a part of our family already. I know that sounds absolutely crazy!! But I can see him fitting in so very well with us and I hope that he loves us half as much as we love him already. Once Amy gets home I will post the pics here. We are so very thankful for those pieces of his life. I am greatful that she was able to give us those pieces, as they will be so precious to him as he gets older. She really went out on a limb to do this for us and I am so very very thankful :)

Where O Where...

Where o where have I been you ask? Right here running in a million circles like a cute little hamster on a wheel. Phew!

We got our fingerprint appointment notice and we were able to walk in 22 days early for that, no problem at all! We got our approval 2 days later (WOW!!) and we were able to fast track that piece of paper to the courier and then all of our dossier came back to us last Thursday. I was so emotional to have all of that paperwork in my hands! I took it to the UPS store on Friday to send it off. I checked, rechecked and triple checked everything that I had to send. I hugged it. And then hugged it again, thinking of all of the blood, sweat and tears that had gone into that sweet pile of paper goodness. I handed them over to the clerk and asked her to please be careful with them. I think I was even sweating a bit with the way she was moving them so quickly.
In the end, I did let those papers go. I felt like my child was leaving for college... but I didn't let them go without putting a tracking number on them. And they were safely delivered to Oregon this morning at 10:17 am. Ahhhhh....


Blood...


Sweat...


Tears....

With that said, our dossier will be going to China on Friday. Will then be DTC (Dossier to China) and shortly after the CCA*A will log us into their system. We will then have a log-in-date. At that time we will wait for more approvals and jump through more hoops :) All for that sweet sweet face that I am falling more in love with everyday.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Lots of GOOD things!!!!!!

Well, today we got an update on Samuel! Those pictures almost brought me to my knees! I know that's why you came, so here you go :)



(Hey Momma, Can you come and get me please? Thanks! See you soon!)




And this is what they had to say about my little love...:

What are his current measurements?
Height: 85cm; Weight: 13kg; Head size: 47cm; Chest size: 51cm;

Have there been any illnesses?
He hasn't been sick since the last report.

How is he doing developmentally?
He says the sentence of around three to five characters. He is good at imitating and he enjoys learning from caretakers and teachers. He can feed himself and take off shoes and socks by himself. He tells the toilet need and goes to the toilet by self. He understands adults' direction and he can cooperate when dressing up. He tells people what he wants.

What is his favorite activity?
He likes playing with balls and electric toys


Honestly people. I can hardly contain myself!
And to top it all off... we got our fingerprint appointments in the mail today! Our appt isn't until 9/30 but we are going to walk-in tomorrow and hopefully they will allow us to do that! Please say a prayer for us!!!!
Gonna go to sleep now.... Got some sweet dreams running around in this head of mine :)

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Saved by Grace...

Today I picked Elias up from school right on schedule. He was happy to see me, which was nothing unusual for him. He hopped in the car and buckled up... nothing new. As we were driving away from school I asked him how his day went.
Elias: "It was great mom. You will never believe what I did!"
Me: "What did you do buddy?" (I was kinda scared, I'm not gonna lie!!)
Elias: "I asked Jesus into my heart."
Me: "Elias! That is amazing!!"
Elias: "Did you know that I have been redeemed by the blood of the lamb??"
Me: "YES!"
Elias: "Did you know that all of my sins are washed away??"
Me: "YES!!"
Elias: "Can I play on the computer when I get home? And can I get baptised at our church?"

I love this child with every fiber of my being. I prayed for him like you wouldn't believe. He is so sensitive and kind and loving. I am praising God tonight that his heart was open to accepting God into his heart.

On the adoption front, I mailed out our dossier (minus the immigration) to a courier in DC that will get it all ready for China. Once we get an invite to get finerprints done, we will then wait on the approval. Once that piece of paper comes back to us we will rush that through and then send our dossier to China!!!! We are looking at maybe traveling between January and March... praying for January...

For this adoption, we are having to take out a small loan and we will repay it once we get our adoption tax credit. It is $200.00/month and that freaks me out. We are paying for Elias to go to private school which is totally worth it and I would work 3 jobs to keep him at his school. I know that God has orchestrated this adoption and I have seen some pretty powerful movements from Him during our wait.
I was due back to work on a Friday and they asked me to come in a bit early for my yearly evaluation. (We haven't gotten a raise in a few years, so I wasn't thinking of any of that.) After we went over the paperwork she said that I would get a 5.5% raise. I'm sorry, what did you say? When all is said and done, it comes out to be $200.00/month. The same amount that the loan is for. I chuckled to myself for a second and said a prayer of thanks that His hand still moves me...

Thank you to those of you that have donated, bought sweets and sponsored puzzle pieces. I cannot wait to wap my arms around Samuel and kiss his face. Thank you for helping to make that dream a reality.