friends and care packages....

This past weekend, we had a visit from one of my best friends, and her sweet little family. It was the best visit and we are already begging them to come back again. The kids are close in age and had a blast...playing the whole time. I just love my girlfriend to pieces. We have been dear friends for about 10 years and hit it off instantly, as soon as we met. Although we live a few hours apart, we talk twice a day, and spend the entire conversations just laughing, laughing, laughing. We have both suffered the loss of our Mothers at young ages, and just seem at times to be very similar soul sisters. Girlfriends, at any age in life, are truly one of the best gifts you can have....

In other news..in a sort of "Six degrees of separation" way, I found proof earlier this week that apparently the care packages I have been mailing our sweet girl, HAVE in fact been making it to her Orphanage. Each time I send one, I just go on faith that they are actually making it to their destination. So nice of the Postal Worker here to tell me that they were "not track able", when i later learned from a friend, that they ARE indeed trackable. oh well....
Anyway..my proof of their arrival came Monday morning as I eagerly logged on to the computer to view pictures of a fellow adoptive parent from our same Adoption agency who is currently over in Ch*na, and had her Gotcha Day. I was dying to see photos of her precious Daughter! Imagine my surprise when i tune in to see photos of her Daughter wearing one of the VERY scarves that my Mother in law had handmade and that i had included in my care packages..for the Nannies!!! The little girl was wearing it!!! CRAZY!!!
Well, at least I knew that the boxes were making their way to my sweet girl's orphanage.And so..you know what that meant...Yep, another carepackage was going out!!!!
So, we headed to the store to sock up on a few more items to send off one last package, before our arrival to go meet her. We gave it a Valentines theme. Alex picked out a teddy bear and a rubber duck, Nick picked out some socks, we printed off some recent photos of us, made a bag of goodies for the Nannies..and shipped it off. And yes, this time I kept the tracking number!! will be able to follow it there!!
The week otherwise has seemed to D...R...A...G..

 We are STILL waiting for our final travel call. Day 8..but who's counting???
this week we got word that Travel Calls were issued to families on Day 11 of  their wait. So, next week should be OUR week. Of course, you have to throw a Holiday right in the mix to throw everything off. Usually, once you get your Travel Call, you are asked to leave 8 days later....well, Ch*nese New Year is approaching and the Govt shuts down for a week...so no adoptive families are allowed to travel until Feb. 13th.Families who got their Travel Calls yesterday were sealed to leave out on the 13th. We are praying that there will still be spots for us to leave then, assuming our call comes next week. If not, we would get bumped till the next week. I swear, I think right now, if you told me I had to add ONE MORE week to my wait..I'm likely to explode...
We received what will most likely be our last update on our Girl, today. I must admit..I haven't gotten much done since I opened my email and saw her photos. Her report was good. Says she sleeps from 8pm to 7 am ...holla!!!!, babbles, scoots in her walker. I swear, I could just stare into those big brown almond shaped eyes for hours...I love this little girl, who I've never met, so much it hurts.

                                                     
                                                How could you not fall in love with this blessing???

And so.....hopefully next week this blog will be alive with talk of travel plans and flights..
say a prayer for us...would ya???

blessings,
Angie

Last Step!!!

Today our Article 5 was picked up from the Embassy in China. It will be delivered to the Children's Welfare Association. Now, we are just waiting on Travel Acceptance!!!! This week, families with our Agency received theirs in only 11 days! Woo hoo!!
Once we get the email that we have been issued acceptance to travel, Our agency will give us 2 travel options. We will tell them our 1st and 2nd choice..(obviously the 1st being the SOONEST!!). They will call China, confirm those dates..and call us back with the set dates. We will book our tickets that night.
So ready for that call and even more ready to board that plane....

Come on Travel Acceptance!!!

Please Don't.....

In case you are ever tempted....
Please don't..ask us if we are REALLY going through with this...Do you think we would have spent a year of paperwork, sanity, income and prayer...if we weren't??
Please don't....ask us if we "know what we are getting into"....We had no clue what we were getting into when we decided to have our first biological Son, so this time is no different...
Please don't... ask us WHY we are adopting...It's none of your business...well, sorry...OK..I'll be a little more polite..Because we WANT to....
Please don't ....ask us if we are going to "Americanize" her...I don't even know what the hell that means..but I've been asked...
Please don't....ask how we are going to explain to her that she is adopted. That is a private matter that will happen between her and us.
Please don't...ask how our Boys are going to "cope". Seriously?? We have 2 of the most well-adjusted, loving, selfless kids I have even met. We've got this handled.
And please don't...tell us.."Wow, that's noble of ya'll. I couldn't raise somebody else's child"....Great. It's probably best you don't adopt then...

But

Please Do....treat our little girl JUST as you would treat our 2 Boys.
Please Do.....see her as the miracle that she is. A child left to be found, nurtured, CHOSEN and loved.
Please Do......tell my Boys when you see them what amazing Big Brothers they are.
Please Do......pray for us as a family, that her bonding and attachment may come quickly and with ease.
Please Do.....give us time to adjust as a family. We will call less, get out less, socialize less. We may even be a little "snippy". But we promise, it's just for awhile, as we adjust to our new normal.
And most importantly...Please Do.....Pray for ALL of the children, of all ages, all over the world , that don't know the love of a family...

Ants in my Pants..

Anxiety. Nervous energy. Idle thoughts.
That pretty much sums up what's going on around here. We are leaving for China next month. We just don't know when. For those of you who know me, know I am a planner. I like my calendar. I like my dates highlighted. I like PLANS. And so this whole Adoption process has tested every bit of patience I have. There were so many steps, so many milestones along the way, that we knew we would be waiting MONTHS for. Send in this application..wait 2 months, Send in the next application...wait 3 months. Well, now we are approaching the LAST step..which brings us down to WEEKS..and it's killing me. I have longed for this little girl for over a year, seen her face for 3 months...and I'm done. I want her HOME. I want to know her, hold her, smell her and keep her with me..but still we wait.
Tomorrow our Article 5 is due to be picked up from the Embassy in China. It has been there for 2 weeks. It will be delivered to the CCCWA (Children's Welfare Association), where we will wait for them to issue us our final Travel call. These calls were coming in 22 days, then 17 days, and most recently, families yesterday received theirs after only 11 days. Oh Lord..PLEASE let that be us!!! Once they issue our Travel Call, we will officially know WHEN we leave. Chinese New Year is coming up next month, and so the Gov't offices will shut down for almost a week. Because of the closures, our Agency will not allow any families to fly out until Valentines Day. It is our specific prayer, that our Travel Call is issued anytime before the closure on Feb. 6th, and that we are able to secure a travel date of around Feb.14th. If the call doesn't come in time, or we don't make it into the Feb.14th travel group, then we should leave the following week. I am preparing my heart for this, just in case. BUT, if trends continue, we feel that the 14th is very do-able..And so ,we wait for the email that says IT'S TIME!!!
We were also told yesterday that the Orphanages have sent updates on the sponsored children (we are paying for Mia's sponsorship in her Orphanage). They said they are working  hard to translate them and families should get their child's updates very soon. And so, i am constantly hitting "refresh" on my email. I am dying to see a recent photo. Someone yesterday actually received a 30 sec video of their little girl!! Oh my word, i would just die!! I think a video would do me in!! (But' I'd take it!!!)
And so now, we just wrap up our final things. I am going to get my travel vaccines next week (OUCH!), researching airlines, buying last minute things like travel gear, bottles,, buying her PINK carseat, etc..
If you pray, while it may seem like a silly request, would you pray that our Call comes before Feb. 6th and that we are able to secure our trip on the 14th? Everyday that we are away from our little girl, is a day we worry about her........

blessings,
Angie

Getting ready for our girl

This past weekend, my Step-Mother through me an amazing shower, to help us celebrate and get ready for our sweet girl! It was nothing short of PERFECT! It was everything I could ask for...PINK, PINK, PINK! All things girly..right up my alley!
The theme was "Fill the Suitcase". And so some people brought us all the things we will need to pack with us, as we will basically LIVE out of a suitcase for at least 15 days...yikes!! We got tons of travel items, travel toys, clothes, personalized items...this little girl already has more than she could ever dream of.
The day was bittersweet as my thoughts drifted to our girl. Wondering what she was doing...if she is hungry..is she being held??? In one sense, it's hard to celebrate when you try to imagine what she is going through and doing at the very same time that we are all having fun and laughing...but I just lean on my faith and reassurance ....knowing that , "There may be pain in the night, but JOY comes in the morning"
We each released a balloon with our wishes for Mia...sure hoping she could feel some of that love from here.

here are some pictures from the shower!

I'm not sure who is luckier.....this sweet girl, who is joining such an amazing family, or Us...who is gaining a sweet blessing from afar.....
let's just say we are BOTH equally as blessed...........

Thoughts on a year past....

Well, 2013 is officially here, and I am sitting reflecting on the past year.
We have had an extremely blessed, happy, fulfilling year. What more could we ask for?
Everyone who was with us the year before, is still with us now. We have not had to say "goodbye" to any loved ones. We have all made new friends, strengthened bonds that we already had with family and friends and we are thriving as a family unit. It couldn't get more perfect...unless Daddy was retired..lol..
The Boys celebrated their 4th and 7th Birthdays, we made our first(of hopefully many)trips to Disney World, we traveled to see out-of-state family, soaked up the sun every weekend we could in the Lake. Alex got to "tube" for the first time. Nick lost his first tooth, Alex learned how to write his name...ya know...the things that are like icing to a cake.
My family has been blessed with so much. We have a warm, comfy home, a strong loving relationship, an amazing relationship with God....I simply could not ask for more.
We are so happy that last year God layed the desire to adopt on our hearts. While I think I have always been drawn to the idea;it was last year when the desire was really brought to the forefront..and there was no denying...this was how we would find our little girl. We are so grateful to have heard his calling, and to have had the courage to act on it. Here we are, nearly a year later from acting on that urge, almost waiting for our final travel approval. God has moved mountains and given us a Daughter...and that is one of the biggest blessings I will take from 2012 and carry into 2013.
Rather than elaborate on the happenings of our past year, here are a few snapshots from 2012!

Our year was amazing, our hearts were full and our blessings were abundant....

Here's hoping to another spectacular year!!!!

many blessings,
Angie

Legacy of an Adopted Child

Once there were two women who never knew each other,
One, you do not remember, the other you call Mother.
Two different lives shaped to make yours,
One became your guiding star, the other became your sun.
The first gave you life, and the second taught you how to live it.
The first gave you a need for love, and the second was there to give it.
One gave you a nationality;the other gave you a name.
One gave you the seed of talent;the other gave you an aim.
One gave you emotions;the other calmed your fears.
One saw your first sweet smile;the other dried your tears.
One gave you up-thats all that she could do.
The other prayed for a child and God led her straight to you.
Now you ask through all of your tears the age old question through the years;
Heredity or environment-
which are you a product of?
Neither, my darling-neither-just two different kinds of love.