Well, I have an update, and it's a biggie!  

We received our I-800 approval on Thursday!

What does that mean?

It means that the US Federal government has approved us to adopt two children internationally....

It also means that all of the paper chasing we have been doing to send to China has finally come to an end. 

The pile of important documents that have been sent to the Secretary of State and also to the Chinese Consulate are awaiting their final friend... and then it is off to China!

EXCITED!!!

Haven't posted an update in a while... mainly because we have been patiently waiting.  This seems to be the "theme" of adoption.  

Wait, wait, wait.

Then when you think you are done...

Wait some more. 

We had our fingerprints done for USCIS on January 12th.  

Then more waiting....

I got a phone call Saturday from our case worker at USCIS that said our approval would go in the mail Monday morning!  Wahoo!

So what does that mean?  Well, I have to get my documents to the Secretary of State, then to the Chinese Consulate in Houston to be authenticated and sealed... then they are off to translation and then to CHINA!  

Then more waiting....

But God is so very, very good.  

He has shown His mighty sovereignty.... 

all the while....

...we are waiting. 

and it's ANOTHER BOY!

Well, guess what!  We are getting TWO children! 

We got the call that we had been matched with another sweet little guy on December 16th.  

After much prayer we gladly and excitedly accepted him!

And after a  two week wait...

China sent us our approval letter today!  Yippee! 

Isn't he just a doll?  

 He just turned a year old last month. 

This means that we are getting two unrelated boys, only 30 days apart in age.....

VIRTUAL TWINS!!!

 

Please join us as we pray for these little guys and the whole adoption process!

Woo-hoo!  Happy, happy, happy dance!

It's a BOY!

On October 6th, we got a call saying we had been matched with this sweet, sweet little boy.

 This is the picture we received, along with his medical records and a report from his orphanage.  After much prayer, we KNEW this sweet boy was meant to be ours! 

We had to submit a letter of intent to China along with photos of us and our family in order to "lock him in" as ours.  It was a long wait (a whole WEEK!), but we received word today that this little guy is OURS!!!!

He will be 1 year old at the end of this month.  Here is an updated picture they sent us just a few days ago: 

Josh is jealous of his haircut. 

Words cannot describe the emotions running through us right now.  We are so very happy and excited to get to see the little face that God intended to be ours from the very start. 

We cannot WAIT to hug and hold this little guy, and tell him he is loved. 

I just want to throw my hands up in the air and run around crazy while shouting:  "Yay, yay, yay, yay, yay!!!!!  Praise God!"

Oh wait.  I've done that already!

Link and Drink

This week we are doing a link and drink fundraiser with the fire department.  The local union gave us the money to buy the supplies, and the Chief gave us permission to sell the links, chips and drinks to the firefighters who are on shift.  For three days we are (today is day two) cooking and delivering links and drinks to all of the fire stations to those who ordered them in advance. 

What a blessing this has been! 

The kids have bagged all of the chips and written "Thanks" on the side of all of the bags.  We have even had others who have heard of the link and drink fundraiser and have ordered, too!

I'll update when it is all over our total raised from this fun fundraiser!