Early Thanksgiving present!!

Cindy from our adoption agency just emailed me. She told me that our dossier was sent to China today(11/24)! Yay!! So, now we wait for it to be logged in and she said things should happen quickly after that. Keep in mind that "quickly" in the adoption world is not always the same as "quickly" in real time! Of course, God can make things happen at lightening speed, and that is our prayer.


Brian just told me that he wants to watch "Mu-wan" which in "Brian speak" is Mulan.


Emily lost her second tooth yesterday and reminded me several times to put the tooth under her pillow. (I had a hunch why she was so insistant.) When she lost her first tooth a couple of months ago she gave me her fifty cents to put towards the adoption. This morning she did the same thing. She has such a loving heart!

Abby is constantly trying to figure out new ideas for fundraisers! Such seweet kids we have!

I pray that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and that we spend time thanking God for all the blessings we have.

Beth

Christmas fundraiser!

A friend from our church suggested a fundraiser. I know some people donate to a good organization/cause in someone's name and then they can give a "A donation has been made in your name" card. I know it is getting late in the season to start this but if anyone is interested in this fundraiser I will print out a card to be given.

"A donation has been made in your name to help adopt Adam. Adam is an 11 year old boy living in China. The Smith family wishes you a Merry Christmas."


If you know of anyone who would be interested in this fundraiser please pass on our blog address.

Beth

AMAZING!!! Please pray for the Kambergers.

The following is from a blog for a family who is adopting a 10 year old girl from China. They now feel led to adopt a 13 year old boy who turns 14 on December 12th. He has to be adopted by that date or he cannot be adopted internationally. This family adopted a child from Adam's orphanage in 2007. If you'd like to follow their journey the blog address is http://www.afamilyforchristina.blogspot.com/

"Two weeks ago, on October 30, Dick and Cheryl Graham with Bringing Hope to Children advocated for a boy rapidly approaching his 14th birthday. We have been in process to adopt Christina DuJie since August and had just recently sent in our I800A after an extended wait for our Home Study. I don't usually open these emails, but was moved to see what the situation was. The moving has not stopped.

We are now PreApproved to adopt Zhang LuShi in addition to DuJie and are trying desperately to give this child a home. His 14th birthday is December 12th .... just 4 short weeks away!! China is willing to do whatever it takes to get this child a family. Our agency, CAWLI, is doing everything THEY can to expedite this process. And we see days flying by with little to no time to raise the money needed to bring these children home or give USCIS the time to process our case.

I am asking for TWO things from this fantastic adoptive community:

First - PRAY for God's will to be accomplished - if He is pleased to place LuShi in our home, then He can pave the way through this seemingly IMPOSSIBLE short time period to do so. Pray for USCIS to be moved by compassion or whatever it takes to truly push this file through. China is willing to have everything else in fax only and even to let us travel without TA in hand.

Second - help us is ANY way feasible and within your power to get to China and give this boy a chance. There is a chipin right here on this blog and a purse fundraiser (done by the lovely Kelly R!) at http://www.hopeandhealingfororphans.blogspot.com/ . We could use frequent fly miles to help get us there and back or help with our stay at the hotel. Spread the word to any groups you belong to!

LuShi is from Linfen, Shanxi and has urinary incontinence and was diagnosed to have a tethered cord 2 years ago (tho he has no history of spina bifada). He has only been allowed to go to school the last few years after LWB stepped in to support the cost of adult incontinence pads. There is no surgeon in China that feels skilled enough to do his surgery. He is nearly 14 and I am sure growing like any other 13 year old boy!! That cord could snap at any time, leaving him in a worse place than he is already in.

John and I are willing to do whatever the Lord desires regarding LuShi - we want to give him the opportunity for family, support, love, expert medical care and the chance to be told there is a God who loves him very much. Could you or your coworkers be looking for a great compassionate giving idea for the Christmas season? What a gift this would be for LuShi who has been overlooked for far too long. And what a story to tell him in future days of the support and love of a huge adoption community who KNOW what a true miracle this would be!!"


Beth

Dossier being authenticated!

Our dossier was received last week and is now being authenticated! I'm not exactly sure what all "authentication" includes but I know it is sent to the Chinese consolate to get some more of those offical gold seals! It is also translated at this point, I believe. This process takes 3-4 weeks.

Have a great day everyone!

Beth

Letters to my children

I got this idea from another blog. I think it is a great idea!

Dear Abby,
You are my firstborn child and you have a special love for those who are hurting. I love how you are quick to make a "get well card" or a picture for those who need a smile. You can get frustrated with your brother and sister but are quick to be their champion! I love you!!

Love,
Mommy

Dear Emily,
You have such a sensitive heart. Your "I'm sorry" has a sincerity that amazes me. Sometimes your tears come so easily that it frustrates me but your compassion was truely sent by God. Thank you for all of your hugs and kisses!

Love,
Mommy

Dear Brian,

You have such a quick mind! It's hard to believe you're only 3 years old. God has given you a gift to figure out how things work, I can't hardly imagine where that will take you. Sometimes I'm worried you'll dismantle something really important! Hopefully you won't do that until you can put it back together. You really are a snuggle-bug!

Love,
Mommy

Dear Adam,

I haven't been able to hug you yet, but I pray that day comes soon. One day soon I will meet you and start the journey to learn who you are. Right now I know that you have freckle on your cheek and when your eyes are sad I want to hug you and hold you until the sadness goes away. I will continue to pray for you and love you.

Love,
Mommy

145,000,000

145,000,000 is an estimate of the number of orphans worldwide.* When I see that number I am overwhelmed but then I realize that behind that large number there are children. Children who live in orphanages, foster homes and on the street. These children need us. They need us to pray for them, they need us to help provide food, clothing and basic necesities. They also need some of us to provide LOVE. Some of us are called to be parents to these children, some of us are called to embrace them in prayer. I don't presume to know what God is calling you to. I know that God has called our family to adopt Adam and possibly another child(ren) someday. (Mark is working on me!)

I ask that everyone who reads this blog will pray that God will open their eyes to His plan for them. That could be to pray specifically for an orphan, help financially support an orphan/orphanage, help out an adoptive family or to adopt a child of your own.


My dearest prayer is that our church will one day have many families who have welcomed adopted children into them.

*(This data is from UNICEF for 2008)


Beth

Pre-approval!!

We heard from our adoption agency that we have our preapproval to adopt Adam! This tells us that China knows that we want to adopt Adam and that they are considering us for his family! Also, we know that noone else can request to adopt him! Yay!!!

Beth

One year later

One year ago our family saw Adam's picture and heard about him for the first time. In that year we have decided to move forward to adopt Adam, met with a social worker to start the process, we completed a formal application, met with our social worker so she could write up our homestudy. We have applied for adoption grants. We have worked on our dossier and worked on our dossier and worked on our dossier! We traveled to Dover twice and we submitted our dossier to our agency. Then we were told that our medical forms for our dossier had to be rewritten so they will be within the 6 month window. So, after two weeks we had our medical forms and the kids and I traveled down to Dover, again! :smile: On friday I overnighted the final documents for our dossier to Grand Rapids, Michigan. Now I am working on our "LOI" which stands for Letter of Intent, which is a form that our agency will send to China to match us to Adam.

I know that we've gotten a lot of things done in the LONG list of things that need to get done. We still have alot that needs to get done but everything that we complete takes us that much closer to meeting our son!

Please continue to keep us in your prayers. There are alot of things that we have to finish to complete this adoption. We also need to raise alot of money, we should find out this week about one of our adoption grants.
Well, gotta go take care of Brian who is getting pudding out! :sigh: