Garage Sale Success!

We had our garage sale the last two days and it was so much work! My Mom was great! She stayed and worked the entire time for two days. A few of our neighbors saw we were having it and called us saying they had things to throw in so we were constantly dragging new things in and pricing them. It was very hectic and we are just exhausted but we are pleased with how well it went.

I made a sign reading that the proceeds were going toward our adoption and put a picture of Nathan on it. I met quite a few people who have been touched by adoption in some way.

The most memorable was a couple who adopted a girl from China in 1994. They were one of the first families to adopt internationally from China. We talked for a while and I realized how much the process has changed since then. Some things go more smoothly and some do not.

A man came to my garage sale and got very excited to see the sign. He and his wife brought home their son from Russia last Tuesday. He stayed and talked a LONG time. He was so excited, he ran home to get his son so he could bring him back and show him off. Isn't that sweet?

Thank you so much to our friends who contributed items for our sale!

Birthdays

Nathan is fourteen months old today. We are still waiting for travel approval and I don't know why it is taking so very long. We are hoping it will be today! I wish we could receive an update on him.

My Mom's dog Skye had her puppies last night while she was here at our home. It is so fun having new little lives around. These puppies will still be here for Nathan to play with when he comes home.

I just realized that when we go to China, Mom will have TEN dogs at her house!

Update

For anyone who is tracking our progress, we still are waiting for Travel Approval (TA) but our case worker said she saw something with our name on it and it is being worked on. I feel better that at least our dossier is not lost somewhere!

Virginia said a lot of people are inquiring about traveling in October so CWA is checking into getting the guides and the hotels they would need. I am glad they are already thinking this way since I intend to make an issue of it when we get our TA.

I got a call from my brother James in Iraq yesterday. They are letting him go early and he should be home by the end of the week! I am planning a barbeque on Sunday to celebrate.

Developing Patience

More pictures of Nathan's Room! We still haven't received word on our travel approval yet but we are staying positive. Every delay is a blow and I will admit that I am not always the most patient person. I have, however, seen many times in our lives how God has allowed us to be disappointed so that we will wait for what He has planned for us. Sometimes when I feel like despairing I remember how very blessed we have been in our lives. It is not hard to trust God when you believe that He wants you to be happy and blessed. Ron's answer to every harship is always, "Hmmm...we must be getting ready to get blessed."

In the meantime we will get as much work finished around the house as possible. Yesterday we started leveling the lawn which is not a fun venture. I will attempt to get several trees planted this fall. The harsh summer proved to be tough on our yard.


Here are more pictures of Nathan's room. The baby quilt is what we based the room's theme upon. The dresser is an antique we repaired and painted.











My friend Lauren painted a piggy bank for Nathan. She painted a little ladybug on his backside which I think is adorable. The little ladybug family was made by Jennifer and Garridy her son for the baby shower. I love spending time in Nathan's Baby Room.

Bad News

I have some bad news. Last Friday we were told that even if our travel approval arrived soon, we still would not be able to travel to China to get Nathan because there are no appointments open at the American Consulate in China until November. What this means is we cannot go get Nathan until November.

This was a terrible blow to us and we were bitterly disappointed but we are trying not to let ourselves stay down about it. We will never get back those two months of Nathan's life that he will spend without us but we know that when we get him, it will cease to matter.

The one thing we will find the most helpful is finally having a time frame. The not knowing is one of the hardest things to endure -- harder than waiting. Our agency is positive November will work for us so that gives us a goal. In the meantime, we will work on projects that we didn't think we would finish before Nathan came home.

Shower of Blessings

Yesterday, I was honored by my friends with a shower for baby Nathan who is "on the way" although we need to go get him!

It was a beautiful shower full of lovely details! I have such artistic friends! I didn't get pictures of all who were there. Mom and Jennell came with me and we had such a good time.

Thank you Jan, Lou, Dawna, Lauren and Jennifer for all of your hard work and creativity!

I received so many lovely gifts at the shower and by friends and family who couldn't be there. It is wonderful to have so many people waiting to celebrate Nathan's homecoming with us.

We Finished Nathan's Room!

Nathan's room is ready for him to move in! Now we just need for the travel approval to hurry up and get here! The crib set has a theme of lambs, bunnies, and birds so we painted them throughout the room as well.


I was unable to load very many photos so I'll post more later.
Ron made the wall unit which has great storage. I bought wooden bins and painted them the same colors as the walls. We decided to customize the theme a bit by adding our dogs into the mix. Under the tree are Liberty and Ranger. Sergeant Major is chasing a lamb. Trigger is chasing a bunny.



Ron is taking a break and imagining Nathan playing in his new room.

Another Photo

We received the orginal photos of Nathan that were sent to our adoption agency. In the full size photo you can see how tiny his little hands are but he is lost inside his outfit so we cannot tell what size he is.


We also received this photo with the red background. He does not look happy in this shot!

Nathan's Birthday!

Today is Nathan's first birthday. We could not be there to share it with him but we have ordered a cake to be delivered to his orphanage for him. It's nice there is a service available that will do that for us. We had a celebration here at home for him with lots of good wishes for him. Our thoughts are on how different next year will be for his second birthday. We are still waiting for our travel approval and the sooner we get it, the better.




We didn't need to eat all that cake so we shared it with our dogs and Mom's dogs who are having a play day at our house. They have no idea what the cake is for but they really enjoyed it!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY!! WE LOVE YOU!!

Pre-Approval!

We received the phone call on July 6th that China gave us their preapproval (PA) to adopt Yang Fu Guang! This makes it official that China has accepted our offer to adopt him. Virginia thought it would take a couple of months to get the PA but it is one month to the day that we first saw him and said that we wanted him for our own.

Now we have to wait for our travel approval (TA) . Virginia estimated that this would take another three months, however, since we have had our dossier in China for such a long time, she stated it could be sooner. We are hoping for sooner of course! As soon as we get our TA, our agency will schedule our travel and we will be off to get him! We need to start packing!

In the meantime we are decorating Nathan's room. Ron finished building the shelf unit and it looks great! I have already filled it partially. We still need to finish our decorating but this is the quilt on which we are basing our theme.

What happens now.

This is another picture of our little man. I told Ron that since his outfit matches the original baby's room, we could just leave him in the pink room. I probably don't need to write that we are painting a room blue and green. I will try to explain what happens in the process now. I admit that I find it very confusing myself.

If someone was just starting the process and chose a baby from the waiting list, it would take five months for to be able to get him. We have had a dossier in China since December so we should be farther along in the process. Just how far along depends on how much time it takes them to find our dossier since it is mixed in with the people who went the regular referral route. From the time they locate our dossier and give the "okay" for us to adopt him, we will then have to wait for travel approval. Right now travel approval is averaging about 45 days. After travel approval, our agency books our travel arrangements and we leave in about two weeks.

To summarize, if they found and approved our dossier today it would still be a couple of months before we travel. That is unless, God has other plans which is not unusual. I hope this explains why we are so vague when people ask us when we are going to get our little boy.

Pray with us that we will not have to wait long and that God will give us patience while we wait.

We Have Been Matched!

Ron and Julie have been matched with a child. Here is the big surprise...it's a BOY!

His name is Yang Fu Guang and he is ten months old. He lives in the Yunyang Chengxiang orphanage in the Yunyang province of Chingqong, Sichuan, China. This is the best photograph we have of him at this time.

We are so thrilled!

We had been discussing going back to China in a couple of years and adopting a son from the special needs list. God had other plans. We saw Guang and felt like God was telling us that he is the one for us. So we will have our son first. We are very happy! Ron is already planning baseball practice.

We will save all the pink stuff for a little girl in the future and start making plans for our little guy. I don't mind at all getting to decorate another baby room.

We are thinking he looks like a "Nathan" but are not totally decided on his name yet.

Please pray with us that our travel approval will come quickly and we will be able to get our baby boy soon. We are very grateful to finally have a timeline to plan for. All the waiting will be worth it when we get our baby home.

Our Newest Additions

Liberty and Ranger

We adopted a Blue Merle Shetland Sheepdog a couple of weeks ago. She is a charming little girl. She loves Mulan and chases her through the house. She is getting along well with the other dogs and enjoys being with Ron and I most of all. We have named her Liberty. Liberty has ended up being quite the wild little thing so we decided to keep one of the puppies from the recent puppy litter we had so they can keep each other company. We have named him Ranger and he is a mellow little guy who looks quite a bit like his father, Sergeant Major. Liberty and Ranger are the best of buddies.

Our Fur Children

These are our babies. We are looking forward to introducing them to our little girl. The dogs, at least, will be thrilled.

This is Trigger our Jack Russell Terrier. She is five years old and a Mama's baby. No critter is safe in our back yard with her on patrol.



Sergeant Major is our Shetland Sheepdog. He is four years old and obsessed with playing ball. He's also Daddy's boy.


Molly is our three year old Tabby cat. She spends the majority of her life sitting in our bathroom window watching birds.

Belle is a one year old long-haired Tortoishell kitty. She's very talkative and loves to purr. We adopted Mulan and her at the same time.

Mulan is a one year old Himalayan kitty. She looks like a prissy thing but she's actually a clumsy goofball who makes us laugh every day.

Waiting

A ladybug landed on me today. Ron and I were standing in the checkout lane of the Lowe's garden center. I'm sure the cashier was confused as to why I was so excited. According to adoptive moms, a ladybug sighting means your referral is coming soon.

We are still working on the baby room but it is technically ready for our little girl. We still have a great deal of things to buy. I'm not certain if shopping makes the waiting easier or harder.
I found this piggy bank at a tea room and just had to have it!

Log In Date

We received a gift today from our adoption agency to celebrate our dossier getting logged into the Chinese government office. It is tiny Chinese dress. Our Log In Date (LID) is 12-9-05.

We also have some sad news. The Chinese government is overwhelmed with adoption applications right now and does not have enough babies that are "paperwork ready" to adopt. Our agency said it could be August or September before we get our referral. We are trying not to be dismayed by this news since everything is a part of God's plan to get us to our daughter.The good news is that so many people are interested in adopting these children. Please pray that the wait will not be too long and we will be trustful of God's timing. And pray for our daughter! We both feel certain she is alive in China at this time.

A Precious Gift

For a Christmas gift to Ron and I my sister Christine drew this sketch of baby hands holding a ladybug. I was a total surprise and we love it!

I had told Christine that I am not sure of the origins but the ladybug is considered a symbol of Chinese adoption. When you spot a ladybug, it means your referral is coming soon.

I get teary-eyed every time I pass by the picture. I cannot get the image to upload but with the picture was written in Chinese "Mother, Father, Daughter, Family"

Dossier To China!

Our dossier was sent to China on November 7th. This is a huge step in the adoption process. All of our work is finished. What happens now is that the dossier must be translated into Chinese and then will be sent to all the appropriate agencies for approval. Once it is approved, they will send it to the Matching Room which is where they match the parents to one of the babies they have waiting. When they find the right baby for us they will send us a referral. Then we get our approval to travel to China and go get her.

Right now we know we know we have six to seven months until we get our referral and then can travel about four to six weeks after that. So it is official that we are "expecting!" We had waited until our dossier went to China before we did any shopping or decorating of the babies room so now we get to do the fun stuff. We went shopping this past weekend looking at cribs and baby bedding. Ron is making some of the shelves and we are refinishing some furniture for the room so we won't have to buy too much but it is fun to shop anyway. I ordered our crib bedding today and it is pink pink pink! :)

Where we are now in the process.

We have completed our home study and have been approved by INS to adopt a foreign orphan. All of our paperwork is in the process of being authenicated by the Chinese consulates. When we get these documents back (probably in a couple of weeks) we will be able to send all the approved documents to our adoption agency.

From there our agency makes sure there are no problems and then sends our dossier to China where it will be translated into Chinese and then will go to the departments that choose a child for each couple. The referral takes about 6 months from the time the dossier is sent to China so it is a huge deal to get it sent off.

We are very close to DTC (dossier to China)! When we send it off, we will start decorating the baby's room.

Right now, we are working very hard to get the outdoor projects such as fences and gardens finished on our home since we know it will be harder to find the time to do them next year.

Our Family

Allow me to introduce you to our family!

Ron and Dad

From Left to Right: Julie, Penny, Chip, Mom, Sam, Ron and Brent.

From left to right Back: Sharon and Jennell, Mom and Dad. Jennell holding James. Mom holding Aaron. Front: James and Christine, Hannah, Daniel, and me.

My entire family lives in Oklahoma near us.
My older sister Jennell is a church receptionist and her two boys are Daniel 11 and James 7.
Younger sister Sharon is a police dispatcher and her two kids are Hannah 7 and Aaron 6.
My brother James is the youngest. He is in the Air Force and is stationed at Tinker AFB. His wife Christine and he have been married for two years.
Mom, Helen, moved to OK this year after my Dad died. She loves living near the grandkids.



Ron's older brother Sam is a businessman and he lives in NC with his wife Penny and their sons Chip and Brent.
Younger brother John and his wife Shawna just got stationed in New Jersey with the Air Force.
Parents Sam and Marion also live in NC. Ron's Dad is a retired Air Force Senior Master Sergeant and spent 20 more years as an air traffic controller so they are enjoying a well deserved retirement.

Ron and Julie

Ron and I have to be so serious in our jobs that we make up for it in our playtime by having fun. We love Disney and the zoo and almost anything outdoors. We spend a lot of time with our dogs. We just built a house and we are spending the entire summer putting up fencing and landscaping the property and doing all those things we won't have time for when our daughter gets here. We moved in during the adoption process and that caused a few glitches but we got through it. Our house was designed with our daughter in mind and, of course, has Disney in the decor.

A Long Process

Ron and I started the adoption process in September of 2003. We had been wondering about it for years. We went to a Steven Curtis Chapman concert and he talked about the "Miracle of Adoption" as a testimony since he had adopted a little girl from China. We felt so strongly this was what we should do that we started the process of looking for an agency.

Without going into all the details, I will tell you that it is a time-consuming process. Because we both were in the military and moved around so much, tracking down the documents was a challenge in itself. When we started this process, we truly did not know how we were going to pay for it but believed that as we obeyed, God would make the finances possible. We have been blessed financially and are still wading through the paperwork but it is going! As of September 2005 we are waiting on documents from INS and the Chinese Consulates to return to us so that we can move forward in the process.