To make life easier for the trip, we will be uploading and blogging over at Shutterfly. Come along and see what we are up to.
Random Clarity photo blog
See you over there.
Also, I've linked to some of our fellow traveler's blogs to the left. You never know if we might show up in one of their pictures. Follow them for another perspective on the trip.
Big Hugs!
Suzanne
Monday, May 23, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Adoption as a Paper Pregnancy - the unexpected onset of labor (Travel Approval)
Warning: this will really ramble. No...., more than usual.
We got the amazing news this morning that our US Consulate Appointment in China has been confirmed. That is basically the last thing we do before we bring our son home as a US citizen. The rest of our adoption trip is built around that date. Usually one has a minimum of 2-4 weels before one leaves in order to carefully review COMPETITIVELY PRICED itineraries, plan for departure cities that are appealing, gather travel supplies in an orderly and calm manner, ponder & question options - this hotel or that one; this airlines or the other; Newark, Chicago or Dulles? Hong Kong, Bejing, stop in Tokyo?
Not us. We leave in 1 week. Our options are limited and expensive.
We're in a bit of shock. God's not. Thank GOD (truly).
I texted my sister in a moment of panic this morning. She replied:
We got the amazing news this morning that our US Consulate Appointment in China has been confirmed. That is basically the last thing we do before we bring our son home as a US citizen. The rest of our adoption trip is built around that date. Usually one has a minimum of 2-4 weels before one leaves in order to carefully review COMPETITIVELY PRICED itineraries, plan for departure cities that are appealing, gather travel supplies in an orderly and calm manner, ponder & question options - this hotel or that one; this airlines or the other; Newark, Chicago or Dulles? Hong Kong, Bejing, stop in Tokyo?
Not us. We leave in 1 week. Our options are limited and expensive.
We're in a bit of shock. God's not. Thank GOD (truly).
I texted my sister in a moment of panic this morning. She replied:
Be still, my soul, the Lord is on thy side.
Leave to thy God to order and provide.
In every change, He faithful will remain
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.
One of our family's favorite hymns. In case you don't know already, my sister knows what thorny ways looks like. She became a widow & single parent to my beautiful young nephews last summer. She's the baby of our family. She knows panic; she knows unexpected. She knows joy & mercy. She knows faithfulness of a good & loving Father. Our Father.
Joel's Father.
So, He's not wringing His hands. (and I'm trying not to.) I love being His child.
We are beyond excited! This reminds me so much of Anna's (my youngest "Big") birth. We were on the hospital calendar for a C-section... in ink.... confirmed. She decided to come 2 1/2 weeks early. I wasn't ready. The house wasn't ready. I didn't know if I had prepared Audra & Will enough for their sister. I didn't know if I was ready to be a parent of 3 children under 4 years old. But it was time.
It's time. [I need an epidural. Somebody please call Dr. Presley. :)]
I'm weepy, scared, hormonal, THRILLED, ready-to-drop-everything-and-go, not ready in the least, THANKFUL, anxious. And leaning harder into Jesus than ever. Desperate for His parenting skills and grace.
And, in all this, my heart breaks, too. Joel has NO true idea what's about to happen to him. He's going to be taken from the only place and "mamas" he's ever known and handed to us for good. I mean, my Hubby is adorable and all, but he's a STRANGER. We LOVE this little guy, but he has no idea who we are. We've prayed constantly through this "pregnancy" that God would whisper peace into Joel's heart. That he would know very quickly that he is safe with us, HIS mom & dad. We desperately want him to know he can trust us. (BTW, if you've never heard a daddy pray for his child on the other side of the world, you should. Few things in life are that sweet.)
The past couple of days have been the perfect example of the strange parallels of life - a microcosm of our family's last year. Beautiful highs, crashing lows. Love & sorrow. Grief & joy.
By leaving early, we get to see our son sooner, but I don't get to travel with a friend who has walked the journey with us & longs to see her little girl. They must wait a couple weeks. [UPDATE: they get to travel early, too!!! Yea!!] Other friends watch as we pass them up, and they continue to wait for money, paperwork, permission to travel.
Joel gets to come home sooner, but I don't feel quite as prepared here to welcome him to our world. But, in Papa Bear's words last night, "if Joel walked through the front door right now, we'd be OK. We'd set up a place for him to sleep and figure it all out." Comfort, contented sigh.... I love my husband. This is going to be a great, belated 25th Anniversary Trip!!
AND, as we rejoice, we have 2 sets of friends who grieve great loss & pain. A young man from our former church in Indiana lost his life on Sunday: family, friends, a church devastated. Another young son had an accident on Sunday and suffered a serious brain injury. The family, friends and a community waits and hopes and prays for healing.
Life, in its fullness. How do we live with these extremes?
So, we are (and ask you to join us) lifting the Wilson and Daniel families in their time of sorrow. We pray for healing, peace, comfort, strength and Supernatural relief from the pain for them. PLEASE pray with us for these hurting families. We joyfully thank God for His sweet provision and the blessing of a son for us. We look forward to the Day when all things will finally make sense.
"There are two days in my calendar: This day and that Day." ~Martin Luther
[Thanks for the reminder, SCC. That quote has succinctly revolutionized my days.]
Sorry to ramble. Just wanted to get my thoughts down on paper. Now, I gotta run and pull together my crazy life and GO. GET. MY. SON!!
((Hugs))
Monday, April 25, 2011
Without words.....well, almost.
Me? Without words? Takes a lot to get there for me. Those of you that know me are not shocked, I know. But truly, perfect, even adequate words fail me now to express my ..... see, I don't know what to even call it. Amazement? Joy? Wonder? Gratitude? Awe.
God has provided for us in a beautiful, all-sufficient way. Everything we lacked to bring Joel home has now been provided. We have all the funds we need to travel, get our son, and bring him home. God knows each one of us so well, and he knows who to bring alongside each of us in our journeys. Fundraising is one of the most daunting parts to an adoptive family. It shouldn't be. God has proven himself as a perfect provider over and over - in our lives, our extended families' lives, in our friends' lives as well. One man told me at the beginning of our adoption journey that raising the money would be the easy part.
Excuse me? The Easy Part??
I understand why he said it, and, truth be told, he was right. Compared to walking through the other difficulties that have come up? Compared to preparing to grow our family and prepare for a beautiful child who has many unknown pieces? Compared to the crazy paperwork chase? Compared to WAITING months and months to hold a child we know & so long for? Compared to raising another child for life?
No, raising the money on the front end of adoption is much easier than that. Well, it's all relative. Fundraising is hard; humbling oneself to ask for help is hard; saving and pinching pennies and working extra and selling stuff can be hard. But it is so worth it. We HAD to have help; we HAD to invite others into our story. We are not alone. God raised up a community around us. More people than just US are invested in our son. That's very cool.
And now, we can focus on getting everything ready to travel and ready here to have a toddler living among us again.
So, there, I guess I found some words. We are praising God for his provision. We thank YOU for listening to the prompting of God's heart to help us in this way. We are overwhelmed with joy and peace and amazement at how God loves and cares for His kids and how He allows us to be part of each others' stories.
Together is better. Thanks for walking the journey with us.
(And, in case you are on the fence about adoption simply because of finances, jump into the arena. God owns the cattle on a thousand hills; it's no big deal for him to sell off a few to place a child in a forever family.)
God has provided for us in a beautiful, all-sufficient way. Everything we lacked to bring Joel home has now been provided. We have all the funds we need to travel, get our son, and bring him home. God knows each one of us so well, and he knows who to bring alongside each of us in our journeys. Fundraising is one of the most daunting parts to an adoptive family. It shouldn't be. God has proven himself as a perfect provider over and over - in our lives, our extended families' lives, in our friends' lives as well. One man told me at the beginning of our adoption journey that raising the money would be the easy part.
Excuse me? The Easy Part??
I understand why he said it, and, truth be told, he was right. Compared to walking through the other difficulties that have come up? Compared to preparing to grow our family and prepare for a beautiful child who has many unknown pieces? Compared to the crazy paperwork chase? Compared to WAITING months and months to hold a child we know & so long for? Compared to raising another child for life?
No, raising the money on the front end of adoption is much easier than that. Well, it's all relative. Fundraising is hard; humbling oneself to ask for help is hard; saving and pinching pennies and working extra and selling stuff can be hard. But it is so worth it. We HAD to have help; we HAD to invite others into our story. We are not alone. God raised up a community around us. More people than just US are invested in our son. That's very cool.
And now, we can focus on getting everything ready to travel and ready here to have a toddler living among us again.
So, there, I guess I found some words. We are praising God for his provision. We thank YOU for listening to the prompting of God's heart to help us in this way. We are overwhelmed with joy and peace and amazement at how God loves and cares for His kids and how He allows us to be part of each others' stories.
Together is better. Thanks for walking the journey with us.
(And, in case you are on the fence about adoption simply because of finances, jump into the arena. God owns the cattle on a thousand hills; it's no big deal for him to sell off a few to place a child in a forever family.)
Monday, April 11, 2011
Coming in through the FRONT DOOR
Joel has been approved by Immigration! Wahoo! Now we don't have to hide him in the suitcase!! Just kidding. BUT, this is a wonderful next step in the process. In the eyes of the US gov't, we have been provisionally approved to classify this beautiful little boy as our IMMEDIATE RELATIVE. Yep. Pretty cool to see that on another official document.
What next? This is the part I referred to in my last post where the 2 governments get cozy, exchange pleansantries and work together sending love notes back and forth until they agree on when we can travel. Sooooo, about 3 more steps until we get our invitation to the BALL...um, well...airport. Each step = about 2 weeks, so sometime early June, we should be staring our angel in the face! Big Daddy G & I can't wait!
[ok, so I should've probably warned you already, that my posts could get progressively more and more mushy and filled with crazy CAPITAL LETTERS and Exclamation Points!!!]
We are truly in awe of all that God has done, is doing and will do in our family through all of this - fostering, advocacy and now adoption. We're amazed and freaked out that we will have a 3 year old in a couple of months, but we cannot stop grinning from ear to ear. Life is full, crazy, sometimes very hard, and beautiful. God is doing exactly what he has promised:
What next? This is the part I referred to in my last post where the 2 governments get cozy, exchange pleansantries and work together sending love notes back and forth until they agree on when we can travel. Sooooo, about 3 more steps until we get our invitation to the BALL...um, well...airport. Each step = about 2 weeks, so sometime early June, we should be staring our angel in the face! Big Daddy G & I can't wait!
[ok, so I should've probably warned you already, that my posts could get progressively more and more mushy and filled with crazy CAPITAL LETTERS and Exclamation Points!!!]
We are truly in awe of all that God has done, is doing and will do in our family through all of this - fostering, advocacy and now adoption. We're amazed and freaked out that we will have a 3 year old in a couple of months, but we cannot stop grinning from ear to ear. Life is full, crazy, sometimes very hard, and beautiful. God is doing exactly what he has promised:
To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. Isaiah 61:3a
No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. John 14:18
Hallelujah.
Monday, March 21, 2011
LOA, I-800, Art 5 and other gobbledy-goop
We got the wonderful news today that our agency, CCAI, received our LOA today!! Yea! Rejoice with us!! What? You don't know what that means?! (hee hee... neither did we until we got submerged into this process.) Let me explain so you can REALLY celebrate!
LOA is the "Letter Seeking Confirmation of Adopter", or in layman's terms, the paper that asks us if we REALLY want this little man. Ummmm.....Heck to the YEA-YAH! Even though we were pre-approved in September, and China agreed to work with us to adopt our sweet one, it was all pending final approval once they got our dossier and reviewed it. Welp, this is the final approval. (big grins!)
AND, even though US Immigration has already approved us generally to adopt a little one from China, we now file another US Immigration application to bring this specific Chinese dude home. This LOA is part of that immigration application. Hopefully, very soon, we'll have USCIS approval for the 2nd time around.
THEN, the US & Chinese government agencies get together, have lunch, go out for drinks, or whatever they need to do to talk about when we should travel to get said Chinese little dude. Those little friendly gatherings result in an Article 5, Travel Approval (TA) and Consulate Appointment (CA). Each step takes a couple weeks, SOOOOO...we could (realistically, hopefully, prayerfully) travel sometime late May/early June.
ARE WE EXCITED? You bet your sweet bippy we are! Are we freaking out? doing the happy dance? totally distracted? Whoaaa, YES!!
But mostly, we are so incredibly thankful that we have the privilege of growing our family and parenting this beautiful boy. Truly. God has lavishly blessed us with another son. Words cannot contain our joy or amazement at His plan. WOW! We are really With-Out-Words.
OK, so now we get back to work. More paperwork to fill out, more preparations to be made here for a toddler to join this household, and a little more money to be raised!
Saddle up!
Soli Deo Gloria.
LOA is the "Letter Seeking Confirmation of Adopter", or in layman's terms, the paper that asks us if we REALLY want this little man. Ummmm.....Heck to the YEA-YAH! Even though we were pre-approved in September, and China agreed to work with us to adopt our sweet one, it was all pending final approval once they got our dossier and reviewed it. Welp, this is the final approval. (big grins!)
AND, even though US Immigration has already approved us generally to adopt a little one from China, we now file another US Immigration application to bring this specific Chinese dude home. This LOA is part of that immigration application. Hopefully, very soon, we'll have USCIS approval for the 2nd time around.
THEN, the US & Chinese government agencies get together, have lunch, go out for drinks, or whatever they need to do to talk about when we should travel to get said Chinese little dude. Those little friendly gatherings result in an Article 5, Travel Approval (TA) and Consulate Appointment (CA). Each step takes a couple weeks, SOOOOO...we could (realistically, hopefully, prayerfully) travel sometime late May/early June.
ARE WE EXCITED? You bet your sweet bippy we are! Are we freaking out? doing the happy dance? totally distracted? Whoaaa, YES!!
But mostly, we are so incredibly thankful that we have the privilege of growing our family and parenting this beautiful boy. Truly. God has lavishly blessed us with another son. Words cannot contain our joy or amazement at His plan. WOW! We are really With-Out-Words.
OK, so now we get back to work. More paperwork to fill out, more preparations to be made here for a toddler to join this household, and a little more money to be raised!
Saddle up!
Soli Deo Gloria.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
So thankful
A beautiful little boy a half a world away was examined by a wonderful orthopedic surgeon from Nashville, Tennessee. In the Chinese orphanage. Out of all the children who live there. Tender touch; encouraging prognosis. And images were captured to share this extraordinary moment with his eagerly waiting forever family.
And then, the beautiful little boy got a package from his eagerly waiting forever family.
~A stuffed horse that belonged to his big brother~
~Warm socks for sweet, small, toddler feet~
~Fleecy sweatsuits for the cold days of winter that remain~
~"Thank You" chocolates for nannies who hold him until we can~
Items we chose... and touched... and prayed over were placed in his uncertain, scared hands.
Now, we wait...
...and pray that his precious heart is comforted somehow by his Heavenly Father with the knowledge that he also has an earthly father, mother, brother & sisters that love him dearly and are coming soon for him.
...and desperately hope for fast processing of all remaining paperwork by 2 governments.
Timeline update: We were logged-in (LID) to the Chinese government agency that processes adoptions (CCAA) on February 15, 2011. Our long-held hope of traveling in April is not realistic at this point. There are still several steps before we are invited to travel to pick him up. Estimates are that travel should happen approximately 4-6 months from LID, but we are really, REALLY, REALLY praying & hoping that we can travel in May. Our angel's birthday is in June; we'd love to have him knitted in to this crazy family before then.
This is God's Word on the subject: "I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.
Jeremiah 29:11 (The Message)
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Happy Chinese New Year!!
Hoping to get a package to our little guy for Chinese New Year. Some friends are travelling to the motherland in a few days, so we hope they can somehow get it to him.
It's been fun to read about the traditions surrounding this most important of all Chinese holidays. For starters, it lasts 15 days. FIFTEEN DAYS!! And the country all but closes down for nearly a week - government, post office, many businesses - to party! Fireworks, dumplings, new haircuts, decluttering and lots of days off to play & visit with family & friends! These people know how to celebrate.
What this means for us:
I need a personal assistant or life coach to sort out my life and give me a list of things to do in the proper order. But just not any help will do. I cannot sift through all of the stuff piling up in my head, so I'm looking for someone who can go inside my mind, extract all the info they need, organize it and give me a plan. If I have to explain anything, I'll be halfway there or I may just confuse everyone. Maybe I need a MOMMY to just give me my list of chores for each day. Seriously, there are balls in the air that I didn't put there and have no idea how they got there, but they are giving in to the law of gravity and falling one by one all around me. I don't know where to even start most of the time.
But, I digress.....
God is showing up around every corner (and near every dropped ball!!) to encourage, bless, provide & care for us. We are grateful for the timely reminders that He is faithful and good - answered prayers, shared stories, surprise donations to our adoption, good friends who encourage & walk with us. Someone shared these words yesterday to encourage our friends, the Hooks, in their long, long, long.......adoption journey to their daughter. I know these words were intended for them, but they were balm for my soul, too. If there is anything that makes a heart grow faint, it is knowing that your child is on the other side of the world where you cannot get to her (or him.)
It's been fun to read about the traditions surrounding this most important of all Chinese holidays. For starters, it lasts 15 days. FIFTEEN DAYS!! And the country all but closes down for nearly a week - government, post office, many businesses - to party! Fireworks, dumplings, new haircuts, decluttering and lots of days off to play & visit with family & friends! These people know how to celebrate.
What this means for us:
- Little brother probably has a new buzz cut. It's traditional for good luck to get haircuts (really SHORT ones in the orphanages!)
- One extra week to get our dossier ready to send off since the mail wasn't going anywhere anyway. It's with our agency & ready to go as soon as they resume mailing to China (maybe this Friday????!!!)
- Good excuse to have Chinese food ALOT in the next 2 weeks. (meh....who needs an excuse?)
I need a personal assistant or life coach to sort out my life and give me a list of things to do in the proper order. But just not any help will do. I cannot sift through all of the stuff piling up in my head, so I'm looking for someone who can go inside my mind, extract all the info they need, organize it and give me a plan. If I have to explain anything, I'll be halfway there or I may just confuse everyone. Maybe I need a MOMMY to just give me my list of chores for each day. Seriously, there are balls in the air that I didn't put there and have no idea how they got there, but they are giving in to the law of gravity and falling one by one all around me. I don't know where to even start most of the time.
But, I digress.....
God is showing up around every corner (and near every dropped ball!!) to encourage, bless, provide & care for us. We are grateful for the timely reminders that He is faithful and good - answered prayers, shared stories, surprise donations to our adoption, good friends who encourage & walk with us. Someone shared these words yesterday to encourage our friends, the Hooks, in their long, long, long.......adoption journey to their daughter. I know these words were intended for them, but they were balm for my soul, too. If there is anything that makes a heart grow faint, it is knowing that your child is on the other side of the world where you cannot get to her (or him.)
It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed. (Deuteronomy 31:8)
Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer. From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe. I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings. (Psalm 61:1-4)
Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer. From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe. I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings. (Psalm 61:1-4)
Thankful and waiting,
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Life is nuts; "baby's" first smile.
Wow, 6 weeks goes by FAST when you are ...... stressed & running around....and you thought I was going to say, "having fun". HA!
Life is full, crazy, busy, stressful. We are in a huge season of transition as we move in-laws close to help them (and let them watch their 7th grandchild grow up!!) In the interim, I have loaded my plate way too full, so I'll soon have to re-tool and reorganize my schedule, commitments, home ("workspace"), etc. Most days, I can manage to keep hope & joy alive, but some days I simply cannot. And, never on my own strength. God is good to stay by and care for this weak little girl of His!
We are in the "2nd trimester" wait for this amazing gift to our family. How I wish I could say we are further along & nearing travel for him. When we started out, I just believed that we could (possibly, with a lot of luck, paperwork cooperation & a sprinkle of fairy dust) travel in mid to late March to bring our angel home. I quickly realized that April was more realistic - still hopeful & optimistic, but doable. Even though I'm still praying & working toward April, we may very well not be able to travel until May or June. Do I believe God's timing is perfect and that Joel will come home at the exact right time? YES. Is it hard to accept that it may be summer? YES, TO INFINITY!!!! In the scheme of our lives, 4-5 more months is not much, but 4-5 more DAYS without my son seems too long.
So, to keep me going, God has given us an update on our precious little guy, and we continue to pray that he will be protected, safe & continue to grow healthy. He sure is growing in our hearts!! Oh, the mystery of how we love our son/brother, and we've never even met!! Part of that update included pictures - our first glimpse of his adorable smile. Enjoy..... (oh, and keep praying!!)
Life is full, crazy, busy, stressful. We are in a huge season of transition as we move in-laws close to help them (and let them watch their 7th grandchild grow up!!) In the interim, I have loaded my plate way too full, so I'll soon have to re-tool and reorganize my schedule, commitments, home ("workspace"), etc. Most days, I can manage to keep hope & joy alive, but some days I simply cannot. And, never on my own strength. God is good to stay by and care for this weak little girl of His!
We are in the "2nd trimester" wait for this amazing gift to our family. How I wish I could say we are further along & nearing travel for him. When we started out, I just believed that we could (possibly, with a lot of luck, paperwork cooperation & a sprinkle of fairy dust) travel in mid to late March to bring our angel home. I quickly realized that April was more realistic - still hopeful & optimistic, but doable. Even though I'm still praying & working toward April, we may very well not be able to travel until May or June. Do I believe God's timing is perfect and that Joel will come home at the exact right time? YES. Is it hard to accept that it may be summer? YES, TO INFINITY!!!! In the scheme of our lives, 4-5 more months is not much, but 4-5 more DAYS without my son seems too long.
So, to keep me going, God has given us an update on our precious little guy, and we continue to pray that he will be protected, safe & continue to grow healthy. He sure is growing in our hearts!! Oh, the mystery of how we love our son/brother, and we've never even met!! Part of that update included pictures - our first glimpse of his adorable smile. Enjoy..... (oh, and keep praying!!)
Hi....I'm Joel....go ahead and take the picture. :)
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