Raising funds Please Help!!

After many prayers, we have decided it is time we ask for help!

The estimated cost for Lily's adoption is $23,000 to 25,000. We felt we would be able to cut back spending and save to meet this goal. But, a few months into this adoption we found ourselves having to each take a substantial pay cut. Lily has VSD (heart condition) it has been repaired in China but it may only be temporary fix, She may require another heart surgery. We have no idea what Lily's medical bills will be when we bring her home, but we know by experience they could get to be overwhelming.

So we decided to ask for help collecting the orphanage fee it is $5,200.00. This fee is paid to the orphanages to help care for the children still waiting for families and for the new babies and children who will need care. It seems like a small amount when I think about the fact that Lily had surgery to repair her heart and has been cared for, for 3 1/2years.

We humbly ask, Please help us to bring home Lily, by helping us raise our orphanage fee. Your donation will help the next child who needs care receive it.

Thank you!!!!

6 years old!!!

Kai turned 6 yesterday!! it is so hard to believe!!

The kids did a great job making their pumpkins!

Thank you Amber (Jacks best friend) for making Kai's birthday cake. She has started her own cake business. We loved it!!!

Joyful, kind, loving, happy, loves to sing, loves to color, loves to laugh!!!

These are the words I would use to describe Kai. If you ever watch a funny movie you want to sit by Kai, He makes it that much better with his laughter! Everyone wants to be around him, he spreads joy by just being himself!

We love him sooo much and are so grateful and humble that God choose us to be his family!! I look forward to seeing What the Lord does with Kai's life and the impact he will have!

Enjoying the fall

I am really enjoying this fall!! The colors don't get much better than they have been. I checked with Nicole to make sure our dossier went to China and it did. I had planned on checking with her in a month to see what our LID (log in date) was. But she said to check back with her in 2 weeks and she would see if she could get it then. I also went on one of the yahoo groups I have belonged to since we adopted Kai and it is showing the average so far for 2009 is 80 days from LID to TA!!! That would put us in China in Feb!!! Chinese New Year is Feb 14th and is usually at least a week long. These are examples of my mind working on things I have no control over. Now I better get my butt in gear and figure out what the bedroom situation is going to be!!

DTC TOMORROW!!!!!!

Take a look at this! No not the mail box...

Yes the lady bug!!! on my mail box today and what else came today... my papers!!!!

In the adoption world lady bug sightings usually mean things are going to happen!!! and they did!!! Nicole said she almost kissed the delivery guy for me!! I am sure for her sanity too, now I will be off her back for a while anyways!! But not to long!!! She said she will be sending my Dossier to China TOMORROW!!! wooohoooo!!! I can not believe that the lady bug was on the mail box too...

a nice walk sunday

Kai and I went for a nice long walk on Sunday it was a perfect fall day!

This turned out cool. I was trying to use my small binoculars as a lens to take a closer picture of the bald eagle. (wrong end!)

If you look close you can see him between the trees sitting on a dead branch. this was the best picture I could get. Maybe next time!

We are so blessed to have this wetland maybe 2 or 3 miles from our house!

Not a great pic of me but he is soooo cute! (self taken)

Lots of wollybears with very little black... does that mean short winter or long winter???

And fun we had!

My nephew James, Kai and my friends son Cade! The little rascals return!! We even had chants of Woman haters club and a paper football flying over a wall and landing in a deep fryer. But only when we met Mike for dinner later...

What would put such excitement in these faces?

Bubbles lots of them!!

This is a frightening scene... I really don't want to think about it, but as quickly as they are growing up it wont be to long before motors are added to this picture...

Kelly and I were in the original but we are not as cute as these guys!!

The pictures do not do this Justice. This is a swamp with hundreds of pumpkins sticking up out of the water some spin around, some drop down out of the trees it is quite a site as the reflect off the water!!!

This is really a sweet picture, but then we went to get a bite to eat...

We had these three silly boys and added a big instigator!

Who taught them many things...

in fact I think he showed them most of the things you should NEVER do in a restaurant.

Thanks Mike for the "you Never do this" demonstration!

By the way did you remember to tell them???

=)

I LOVE FALL!!

Need a little sun to rise and shine

Driving the boys to school we get to see the most beautiful sun rises!

It has been rainy and cloudy and we could use some sun shine it makes things seem not so bad!

This is one of my favorite trees!

Soon the deer will be making regular stops to this trough to feed for the winter!

The beginnings of leaves changing...

Resting

One of the last bean Fields not harvested.

I have few words this week as our documents did not make it to China...

After many emails I have found out what should have taken a week, has taken much longer. The consulate has stopped expediting paper work that is mailed to them. What this means is it has taken since the Oct.1st and we will hopefully get them back Oct.19th. I am not even sure I have words to describe my emotions frustrated, sceptical, disappointed, impatient, sad... It is hard for someone not going through it to understand. So here I am at the start of another week end, weekends take on a new feel in this waiting process, knowing nothing is getting done and just wanting Monday to come for people to get back to work. With all the rain and clouds it is hard not to be gloomy.

I will choose to enjoy my boys and this fall weekend and I will pray Monday bring good news that our Papers are back and our documents are off to China!

Guess I had a few words after all =)

Fun with FCC

We had a great time with our FCC group on Sunday. We went to a farm and had lots of fun.

Pony rides don't have the same affect after riding a horse on his own last year!

And here are Ham and Cheese! My awesome boys who are growing up WAY TOO FAST!!!

Not sure we are ready to see these guys yet! The wicked weather guy is saying we may see a wintery mix by the end of the week. Last year at Halloween it was really warm and didn't even feel like fall. Can we meet somewhere in the middle!

Praying our documents come from the consulate and go to China today!!

PLEASE!

Still not DTC

Mike asked me what are you taking pictures of "the beginning of fall" I just love to see all the changes right now It just amazes me! I am trying to get a good picture of the cat tails.

And look at the awesome clouds!! This looks fake but it is not. I do post allot of cloud photo but I have to take advantage now, in a few months it will be gray skys for about 3 to 4 months here. Winter is a coming and it stays gray for soooo long.

well enough of that...

I am disappointed to say that our documents did not get sent to China this week. I emailed Nicole and she said she did not get them back from the consulate yet. While I am really bummed and I cant believe it has taken this long, the pictures really have kept my sanity. If I had not gotten them I would be a mess! I just can not wait to love on my beautiful baby girl! I still have not gotten an update, but seeing the pictures tells me lots. She looks good,and not sickly so pray her heart continues to stay healthy!! She is not smiling but in all the pictures we took of Kai for the first month he had the same expression. "what are you doing?" but yet he was always smiling. I have her pictures everywhere, and each time I look at one I think she gets cuter!! I am still praying to get her before she turns 4 at the end of March. If things don't get held up and stay on schedule it can happen. I am being told after our documents go to China DTC, it usually takes 2 weeks to get our Log in date LID, but it takes about a month to find out what that date is. So IF we our DTC next week(pray) that means we could be LID by the end of OCT. and then it is 2 to 4 months to get Letter of Acceptance LOA and from what I can tell it is taking 2 to 6 weeks to get TA and then travel with in the next 2 weeks. It is possible but if things keep taking so long it could be April or May. When I picked the name for this blog it had to do with when we accepted her referral in May NOT when we finally hold her! I was hoping for 9months of waiting please lets not make it a year. SO could we please hurry up!!

Sorry!

For all you out there going through this, if I am not correct on my insane calculations, Please correct me in the comments!! I have analyzed this on a daily basis but SOME times we only hear what we want to!! So please set me strait so I don't corrupt any other waiters out there. =)

Have you seen how beautiful my Lily is!!!

I GOT PICTURES!!!!!

I have no words!! Just happy tears!! She is so beautiful!!!

She is ok!!!

Thank you LORD!!

So far...

Ok so here it is in a nut shell...

5-11-09 On a Yahoo group someone posted that AAC had received a new waiting child list. I went there and saw my sweet Lily's face! I requested her file.

5-14-09 Accepted her referral after reviewing her medical files and talking with the Doctor.

6-11-09 Received IA (initial approval) AAC can finally send me the dossier packet.

6-18-09 Received the packet!

7-17-09 Sent Dossier to AAC

7-28-09 Had to redo med, LOI, and financial notary date wrong.

7-29-09 I-800A was filed

8-4-09 Received papers back had them redone and back in the mail to AAC

8-11-09 AAC sent them to be Certified and Authenticated

8-14-09 Received fingerprint appointment

9-8-09 Fingerprints done

9-14-09 Received letter from USCIS needing more info on home study ;(

9-18-09 AAC received updated home study and will overnight it to USCIS on 9-21-09

9-21-09 Sec. of the State rejected marriage cert. stamp on back wrong (county wont have new stamp till 29th)

9-25-09 Overnighted new marriage cert. made a few calls and found a way to have it done with out new stamp!

9-30-09 Received approval from USCIS

It is really hard for me to believe that our dossier is not in China yet. GGEERR!!! It was almost a month before I got IA and could even start the dossier. One month to do the dossier. Two months fixing a date, a stamp, and a few words left out of the home study (they left out that they did the update in our home, so "in home" are the words).

It is the Autumn Moon festival in China right now so things are shut down for a week or so.

What we are hoping for now is that our Documents will be sent to China next week and they will be waiting for them when they get back to work. Lets pray that they will be refreshed after their break and things will move quickly! What we need then is LID. With Kai's adoption we traveled 4 months after we received LID. Please continue to pray for her heart to stay healthy!

Please pray we get to be with Lily on her Birthday 3-21-09!