One Year Down! (and a NEWSFLASH!)

This week we will hit the ONE YEAR mark for our adoption process.  Although the journey started in my heart much longer ago, this ONE YEAR anniversary means that we should be at least half-way to bringing our daughter home!  Hopefully the second half will actually be shorter than this.  And I have good reason to believe it might be MUCH shorter....

This week we received an e-mail from our adoption agency that China has just made a new window of opportunity for those who have a LID (remember what that means?  If not read my last post) but are not yet matched with a child.  That would be us.

Before I explain this opportunity, you need to understand this: with a China adoption, your file is in a LONG line in China to be matched with a NON-SPECIAL NEEDS (NSN) healthy child.  You can ALSO, SIMULTANEOUSLY choose to sign up for the Waiting Child (WC) program, which is for SPECIAL NEEDS (SN) kids, which is a short line inside the US adoption agencies.  Because the wait for the NSN is 7 years, and the wait for the SN is under 2 years, you'll likely be matched with an SN kid first.

The interesting news: China has just recently announced that anyone interested in a healthy, NSN, "older child" ages 6yrs-13yrs old, can essentially JUMP THE LINE.  This is  likely due to the fact that a vast majority of adoptive parents have requested a child under the age of 2, and the number of older kids available is becoming overwhelming.  (Maybe they were abandoned at or after age 2 and missed the chance to be adopted as a baby?).  It made me very sad to hear about these perfectly healthy kids waiting for a family!

When we started this process a year ago it was recommended that we keep the "Birth Order" of our children, especially when it came to Evie.  We still believe that it is important that she remain the "first born", for the sake of maintaining peace in our house! LOL.  So we had signed up for a child under age 2.  But when this opportunity came up we decided to discuss it as a family.  Surprisingly, we ALL found ourselves VERY excited about the idea of adopting a child the SAME age as Evie... who is now 6.  The more we thought about it, the more it seemed to just... fit!

Our agency needs to know by this Thursday if we want to sign up for this option, and we plan to pursue it.  We just have to work out the details with our home study agency, who will need to make an amendment to approve us for an older child.  We will also need to file a change with the US Immigration (a lovely $405 piece of paper!) for this approval, but I believe that it just needs to be done before we bring her home, not before we could get a match. 

I have NO idea how quickly a match would come.  It certainly sounds like it could be fast, since China is giving it top priority, but we are requesting one very specific age, and even though we are moving to the front of the line we will still be behind others who take this older-child opportunity and have had a LID longer than us.  We will still remain in the second line as well, for a Special Needs child, so I guess we will see from which direction God brings us OUR GIRL!  :-)

Until then, I'm having a really hard time sleeping!  All this excitement has my brain working overtime!  So I figured since the effort to sleep is futile, I might as well give you all an update so you can join us in prayer on this new unexpected turn in our adoption journey!

You should have seen Evie's eyes light up when she realized she could have a sister the same age as her.  But she understands that we are waiting to see what God will do. Last night she prayed, "Lord, help us to find our China sister, big or small."  Amen!  (Yes, she brought tears to my eyes. So thankful God is preparing her heart for this journey as well).

We have a LID!!!

If I were to name the Top 3 most important moments in the adoption process, it would be:
3- The "Log-in-Date" :when all of your files are into the system in China!
2- Your "Child Match" :when you see their picture for the first time and claim them as YOURS!
1- "Gotcha Day" :the day your child is placed into your arms in China!  Hallelujah! :-)

On April 9th we received word that our Dossier (huge paper packet for the adoption) had arrived in China, and that we should expect to wait about 3 WEEKS for it to be filed with the CCCWA (China's Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption).

Today, just FIVE DAYS later, I got the e-mail that is was done and we are now officially Logged-In to their system!!  Praising God for this quick turnaround!

This is a big deal!!  It means that we now have a Log-In Date (LID), which means that there are twice as many children available to us on the waiting list!  It will make our wait for a match much shorter.  It is super exciting; I was dancing all around the kitchen tonight when I got the e-mail... but it's also torturing me a bit to really have no idea when the phone call with the match might come!  I've heard of families getting it 3 days after their LID, and I've heard of families waiting another 3 months.  It all depends on your place in line (we are 9 months in, which is pretty far, I think) and which medical needs you are open to (we have checked several of the most common ones) so it really could happen any day but I'm trying not to get my hopes up! **update: I talked to our agency and they are estimating it could still take up to 6 months for a child match... kinda bummed, but we are still on track to keep this whole adoption process under 2 years, which is what we knew was likely.  :-)

I know you all are rejoicing with me.  Thank you for your encouragement and prayers!  I love sharing all this news with you! 

A Moment of Epic Proportions

A very significant moment has arrived.  Today I finally received our LAST of 13 documents back from Chicago's Chinese Embassy, and now they each have a lovely little holographic seal of approval!  It is beautiful, and shiny, and reminds me of a happy little mandarin rainbow.  :-)

We had a major glitch with ONE document that kept it at the Embassy for 3 weeks, and if you don't care to hear the boring details just skip this paragraph (I promise I don't mind).  Of all things, it was our marriage certificate!  I "knew" that they required a newly certified copy, which I had obtained a few months ago in preparation, but I didn't realize it had already been 8 months since I got the new copy made... and they insist that your marriage certificate copy is no more than 6 months old.  So, to prove that Curt & I ARE in fact still legally wed, I had to go to the courthouse in the county in which we we married to get a new copy (3 hour drive round trip).  Then we had to take it back to the Sec of State for state certification- the gold seal- again, and send it back to our courier in Chicago.  Unfortunately, the Sec of State had made a mistake on the certification page and it got sent back to us, again.  At this point I was in tears, and had to call Lansing to figure out what was going on.  It seemed like everyone was telling me something different... but we got it sorted out, went back to Sec of State for yet another gold seal, and sent it a third time.  (Keep in mind, every time we overnight documents Express Mail, it costs us $20, and we have to include another $20 in postage for the return.  Therefore, mistakes get expensive!) It still wasn't exactly right, because the Sec of State had put the gold seal on the back of the document this time, not the front where it is supposed to be, but they were able to work around it and get the thing sealed.   I hope it passes all the future inspections now too!

Buried in paperwork!!

After countless hours of preparation, the entire dossier (a.k.a. huge packet of adoption documents) is now complete and ready to be mailed!!  While this is a HUGE milestone, and a tremendous relief, I know there is still a lot of work & a lot of waiting ahead.  But I know I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength!  He has been so good and so faithful, and we know everything is in His hands!!

Tomorrow I will mail this whole packet to our adoption agency in Colorado.  It will go through a triple-review process then get translated, and if there are NO more glitches (please pray for that!) it will be sent to China in 2 weeks!! 

Best case scenario: our file is sent to China in 2 weeks, we get "matched" with a child quickly, do a "short" round of paperwork, then can travel to bring her home about 4-7 months after that.  So, the earliest possible time would probably be this fall.   
Worst case scenario: ....never mind.  Let's just stay positive.  :-) But I'd be thrilled to have her home by Christmas!!

Chinese Visitor & Wedding Excitement

We have had so many exciting things happening over the past few weeks.  It has made time fly by, which is nice when you are counting down the unknown months until the adoption is complete.  :-)

First, we had a temporary daughter from China for 12 days!  The elementary school was running a program for a group of students from China.  They were looking for host families, and I was probably the first to email an emphatic "YES!! SIGN ME UP!"  Several weeks later, the group consisting of 8 students (3rd-5th graders) and 2 teachers arrived in our town.  I met my girl and she told me that she is 8 years old and her English name is "Smile".

 

The kids really enjoyed playing with her, and it was obvious that language barriers are almost non-existent when it comes to having fun!  She spoke minimal English, just basic words and phrases that she had learned in school, but we were able to communicate well enough through my Google translate app and a lot of hand charades.  :-)  I was happy to be able to pick up a few more Chinese words, and she seemed to like hearing me practice my Mandarin.  Evie & I sang our one Chinese song several nights in a row, which happens to be John 3:16, and although I don't think she had ever heard it before she clapped enthusiastically and said "very good!"  I was able to show her the verse in the Chinese Bible so she could read what we were singing.  What a neat opportunity!!

The school had many events planned during their visit, including: bowling & pizza night, open gymnastics time at a studio, an afternoon at a trampoline center, open gym at the school (snowday activities), an inflatables party, a weekend at an indoor water park and snow tubing resort, and a Chinese New Year dinner and celebration.  We also managed to squeeze in a trip to Chuck-E-Cheese and visit the local library for story time.  

 

Overall it was a wonderful time with great memories.  Smile was homesick pretty much every night & morning, and was on the phone with her parents during those times (not surprising...she was only 8 and this was her first time away from home!) but she was also having a lot of fun and enjoyed being a part of our family.  I was able to talk to her parents a few times, and we are keeping in touch with her family through a chat app.  They have invited us, her "American Parents", to visit them in China any time. :-)

My favorite memories aren't from the events, but from the random little things... like the surprised "Oooooh!" sound she made when she saw or heard something new or different.  Or the way she had scrambled eggs with toast and loved my home made peach jam, and ended up making a sandwich with those things every morning for breakfast.  And how she made the "peace" sign whenever someone was taking her picture!  And how she had no interest in shopping for anything but books.  But my all-time favorite was when she let me blow-dry her hair.  It sounds silly, but seriously, I was so happy I almost cried because I know that someday soon I will have my own daughter with shiny, jet black hair to take care of, and I could just imagine it so vividly with her standing in front of my mirror.  It was such a blessing to meet and get to know this girl!

The other HUGE excitement we've had recently was the wedding of my brother Eric and his beautiful bride Elizabeth!  We are so happy for them, and it was such a joy for our whole family to share in this wonderful occasion!  Curt was the most handsome groomsmen ever (I know I'm biased, but it's true), and I loved being a bridesmaid and spending time with my favorite group of girls.  Evie felt like a princess standing up there with the flower girls, and Corbin was a cute little ring bearer who was the center of attention on the dance floor all night.  That kid has moves!  :-)  My grandma Marilyn was able to fly up from GA and stay with us for the week, so that was an added blessing for us and the kids to spend time with her!  

(I can't post the professional wedding photos here, but you can look for them on my Facebook page!)

Now life is getting back to it's normal pace.  We have gotten all 9 of our necessary documents notarized (praying it was done right and will be acceptable...there were some questions about it) and now we have 13 documents to get certified and sealed.  Our work is cut out for us, and hopefully won't take more than a few weeks to get it sent to China!  Your prayers are appreciated!

Official "Request for Evidence"

It was mid-November when we sent the I-800a form to the USCIS, mid-December when we were ordered to be fingerprinted at their facilities in Detroit, then in mid-January we received a pink slip in the mail.  Not sure why they use that color...but the form is called the "Request for Evidence" letter.  This means that after looking over our entire home study report they had some questions or things that needed clarification/proof.  Our letter contained two requests: 1) A paragraph added to our home study explaining HOW we are preparing to adopt a child with the various special needs we are considering, and 2) an explanation as to WHERE we were living during the 2 years we both traveled overseas, because each place we lived would require a Child Abuse Registries check.

The first was easy enough, I send our case worker a list of some of the practical things we've been doing to prepare.  For example, researching the hospitals in our area and their specializations, as well as watching several online workshops focused on various special needs and how the children are treated medically after international adoptions.

The second request made me nervous because Curt and I both traveled, separately, to over 30 countries each during the 2 years after high school.  We were doing volunteer work with a missions organization.  I couldn't imagine even TRYING to get background checks for all of those places!  So I sent an explanation and prayed they would accept the fact that we were never in one place for more than a week or two.

Today, 3 weeks later, my breath caught in my chest when I saw the USCIS envelope in the mail.  I was afraid to open it.  It felt like our entire adoption was hinging on ONE small detail.  I finally gathered up the courage and tore into that thing....and much to my delight I read the words "APPROVAL NOTICE".  I was so happy I started jumping and yelling, which made Curt come running because he thought the house was on fire or someone was hurt.  :-)  Nope, just great news!

That means ALL of our papers are ready for the notarization, state certification, and Chinese consulate seal, then we can send them off to China!  Those steps may take several weeks still, but this is one HUGE step in the right direction!!

Celebrate with us and do a happy dance!  :-)

P.S. For the past 10 days we have had a visitor from China!!  I can't wait to share about this experience in my next post.  But first, I get to enjoy her for one more day!

Fingerprinted!

Merry Christmas!  The holidays sure have made this month fly by!  Our entire area was hit by the ice storm and we lost power for 4 days, but thankfully we were able to stay with my parents and got to enjoy spending Christmas with my family. 

Here is an update on our adoption:

About 2 weeks after sending our I-800a form we received notices in the mail from the United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS).  We had been happily anticipating our fingerprint notifications (yes, getting fingerprinted by the Feds is exciting... when it means your adoption is moving along!) and the form we got basically stated, "be at THIS location at THIS date and time, or your documents will be ABANDONED."  Yikes!  Thankfully, we were able to be at the USCIS in Detroit on the date they requested.  It was done quickly and efficiently, and was rather interesting to see our fingerprints being scanned and showing up on the screen in front of us. 

We should be hearing back from them in about 4-6 weeks or so.  The I-800a approval is the FINAL document needed for our collection!  Then we just have to get everything notarized, state certified, and sealed by the Chinese Embassy, and our dossier will be complete and we can send it to China!  

When will we be bringing our daughter home?

This has been a very common question lately, and the answer is... we don't know.  We have been told that the entire process can take roughly 2 years.  Some as little as 12 months (not so common) and averaging perhaps around 24 months or so.  The reason the estimation is so hard is because there are so many variables, making each adoption case a little different.  Also, each step of the process seems to have a broad time frame ranging from 3-6 months for each step.  It could all add up to the short end or the long end, but each step we complete helps us narrow it down.  Currently, we are 6 months into the adoption.  If the rest of our paperwork takes about 3 months, we will be logged in with China around Feb-March.  We are hoping to be matched with a child shortly after that, which will bring on another short round of paperwork.  China will have to give us "travel approval" once the adoption is ready to be completed, and we are told to expect only about a 2 week notice of our travel time.  We will make sure to have our packing list ready!  At this point, the earliest we could see being approved to bring our daughter home is fall of 2014.  That's being VERY optimistic...I'm just hoping to have her home by next Christmas!  :-)

We are all content and have peace about the time frame, knowing it's in God's hands.  We pray for our new daughter every day. 

Evie's Christmas present, something to help pass the time until her new little sister arrives!

The 3-Month Form

We received our official home study approval packet in the mail last weekend!!  This is what we were waiting on to be able to mail the next form... our I-800A.  This is sent to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for "Determination of Suitability of a Child from a Convention Country" (basically, to be sure we are qualified to adopt internationally).  Once we receive approval from the USCIS, our entire dossier will be complete and we can notarize each document, state certify them, and have them sealed by the Chinese consulate in Chicago... and then SEND IT ALL TO CHINA!!

I was under the impression we could have the paperwork in China by Christmas... but unfortunately when I looked further into it I found that the USCIS typically takes around 3 months to approve your form.  It could be anywhere from 10-20 weeks!  So that's putting us closer to Feb/March for approval, and then a couple weeks to finish the dossier and mail it.  We could still be "Matched" with a child during that time, but we have a higher chance of a match after our papers are logged into China's system.  It sort of feels like a set-back to me, just because my expectations were a little off.  But then again, even in the beginning I knew this process could easily take 2 years, so we aren't doing too bad in the long run!

As always, I have to remind myself that everything will happen in God's perfect timing!

This week's round of paperwork!

Many Blessings

I've been holding off on my next blog entry, hoping to have some "real" news to share as we wait for the next step.  We are finished with our four home study interviews; they went really well (praise God!) and our case worker completed the 11-page report.  It is currently being reviewed by our adoption agency, and then will be sent to our home study agency's director for official approval.  We aren't worried about being approved... that's pretty much a shoe-in.  What they are really looking for is the right wording so that all the details will match up with our other paperwork, and so that it fits exactly with what China requires.  It's more of a "fill-in-the-blanks" kind of thing, and if something isn't worded right or some numbers don't match up perfectly they will need to make some adjustments before we send our dossier to China.  It's best to catch any errors now; once we send it overseas it will be complicated to make changes to our paperwork.  We expect to be officially approved by next week, and then can finish the rest of our forms!

We enjoyed working with our case worker. 
One of the kids took this pic with their "toy" digital camera- didn't even know until I saw it!

We have had some answers to prayer recently that have been such blessings, I have to share them!

First, I had started watching Craigslist for a second bed for Evie's room.  Although we have several months before it will be needed, I figured I might as well keep an eye out for a good deal.  I was looking for a white wooden twin bed to match Evie's.  I remember thinking, "Wouldn't it be AWESOME if I could find the exact same bed?  That would be a long shot...but if anyone could make it happen God could... dare I ask Him for something so trivial and so specific?"  So I prayed over it, simply asking God to provide what we needed, and sharing my desire for a matching bed, but my willingness to be content with whatever He brought my way. 

Low and behold, an exact match came up and it was nearby.  I actually waited a week because the price was a little high.  The price came down.  So I contacted the seller and offered him even less.  He accepted my offer and Curt picked up the bed.  When Evie saw it, she squealed with excitement and jumped up and down.  (Then jumped on the bed).  For the first time she said, "I am soooo excited about getting my 'baby China sister'!  I can't wait for her to come!!"  I think seeing the second bed made it feel more real to her, and gave her visions of staying up late talking to her new best friend.  :-)

God does care about the little things, and sometimes likes to surprise us.  (Check out Matt 7:7-11) "...how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" 
But here's the real kicker... Curt's been working a second job, just something seasonal for a small business owned by a family from church, and had no idea how much his pay would be.  He got his first paycheck the day after he picked the bed up, and -I'm not kidding- it was for the EXACT amount as the bed!!  That is NOT a coincidence, my friends!  I love it when the Lord makes us laugh with his goodness.

Twin beds!  We will have to get the matching quilt soon too!

As if that was not enough, here is the other huge answer to prayer:
We were a little worried about how our paperwork would line up with some changes taking place with Curt's employer.  His job is secure, but his company is changing.  (Henry Ford Hospital Systems will now be directly employing their I.T. workers, rather than using Siemens/Unify as the contract company).  I wasn't sure what effect this would have on our adoption process.  I thought at the very least we would have to re-do some of the paperwork regarding his employment, and at the very worst we would be set back several months to wait for the changes to take effect at work and to get new papers.  BUT... our social worker didn't see any reason to make ANY changes to our paperwork or process because she said that by the time the transition at work takes effect we should already have all of our paperwork in China and already be approved for adoption!!  Plus it's such a small change that it's pretty much insignificant as far as his employment goes.  YAY!!  

And another kicker.... as an official employee of Henry Ford Hospitals, Curt is eligible for Adoption Assistance!  It sounds like they are going to give us $2,000 to use towards our fees!!  (And to think, I was worried! LOL)

Thank you for sharing in this journey with us, and for your prayers and encouragement in both the joys and the struggles!  We will keep you all updated, and let you know when we hear back from our agency about our home study approval!

Home Study Update

It has been over a month since we were assigned our Case Worker, and I'm happy to report that we have now completed THREE of the four home study interviews!  The visits are not at all what I expected; they are actually a lot easier!  We basically sit at the table talking the whole time, answering questions about ourselves.  At first it drove me crazy because ALL of the questions are ones that we have already answered on paper for our home study agency, which took hours to write, and our case worker has them in her file.  But I suppose that was mainly for us to think about the topics and be prepared to answer them with her.  (And if that's all it takes to complete this home study it's fine by me!)  She did take a quick tour of the house and met our kids, but she didn't seem to be inspecting the place and didn't mention or point out anything that we need to change.  So overall, things are moving along great!!  Thank you all for your prayers!

Our most recent visit ended with our case worker telling us that she will spend the next week typing up the report and making sure she has all of the necessary information, and then she'll give us a call to schedule our final interview and sign some papers.  Our home study packet will need to go through several levels of review before it's officially approved, but she was optimistic that we could get our entire paper-chase done and sent to China by Christmas!  SO EXCITED!!

The best part is that once we are "Logged-In" with China (which means they have received our dossier file and approved us for adoption) we will have about 47% more children available to us on the waiting list.  These kids are still labeled "Special Needs" but they are more minor cases, so China figures they should be easier to quickly to match with a family, and requires that it be a "Logged-In" family so that the rest of the adoption can happen swiftly.  This means that our Child Match could come quite soon after that.... maybe even Christmas or New Year's time! 

Ok...I'm getting way ahead of myself, as usual.  :-)   I am so thankful to the Lord for giving me peace in my heart during this time of waiting.  I know that everything will happen in HIS time, which is the BEST time!

A lovely autumn sunset, driving home from my parents' house

Home Study Caseworker Assigned!

With all this waiting, any news is good news!!  We have been assigned a Caseworker for our home study!

This past week has been quite a whirlwind of activities.  After spending 8 days in GA visiting my grandma (a great time!), we drove the 12 hours home and hit the ground running.  I picked up our completed medical forms at the Dr's office and was preparing to mail them to our home study agency when I noticed that they had written CURT'S medical information on MY form, and vice versa!  Ugh.  Simple mistake, and I don't blame them, considering that we had handed them 6 extra forms for our adoption medicals.  But I was in such a hurry to get these forms sent in that it took all my courage not to breakdown in tears!  Of course, after another trip to their office I was able to get the forms re-written with the correct info and get them off in the mail a half hour later. 

The home study agency received our entire packet of paperwork on Wednesday and it spent 3 days in review with the director.  This morning, Monday, I got an e-mail that we have been assigned a caseworker and she should be contacting me "shortly" to schedule our home study and interviews!  I have no idea what "shortly" means.  Hopefully just a day or two.  I also have no idea what the home study really entails... I guess we will find out! 

Thankfully there is enough happening at home to keep me busy this week, so I'm only obsessing over the adoption about 10 times a day instead of 100.  :-)  Evie started kindergarten and is LOVING it.  She has a Chinese session each day with their Mandarin instructor, who is Chinese herself, and I'm kind of jealous!  I want to go too!  Instead, Corbin and I are watching Kai-lan on Nick Jr.  :-)  But we can tell each other "I love you" in Mandarin now. 
  

Wǒ ài nǐ!

Please pray for us this week, that our caseworker moves quickly and that we find favor with her!  Also for Evie's school experience and our new routine at home.  Thank you for your support!  It's really encouraging to have family and friends joining us on this adoption journey!

A Quick Trip and a Call

About 2 weeks ago we were looking at the calendar and decided to squeeze in one last trip before Evie starts her first day of kindergarten. I have been wanting to visit my Grandma Marilyn in Georgia but was a little hesitant about taking the kids on a 700-mile drive.  I'm glad we decided to go for it! The drive went fine, we are having a great time, and it's been good for me to take a break from the adoption paperwork, especially since there's not much more I can do at the moment.

We are half way through our stay here and have enjoyed spending time with Grandma, visiting the Georgia Aquarium, and eating at some fun restaurants!  

The Varsity diner- downtown Atlanta

Today I got a call from our Doctor that our medicals are signed and ready to be picked up!  YAY!  As soon as we get home we can deliver the packet to the agency and get our home study rolling!  Thank you, Lord!  I'm so excited to be able to take the next step on this journey!

This little girl was in front of us at the dolphin show and she was very interested in Evie. She made me dream about meeting my new daughter and bringing her home!  I had to sneak a pic!

Please pray for safe travels home and for our home study process to go smoothly! Thank you, friends and family, for your encouragement and support! 

Waiting and Wondering

I know that we have a long process ahead of us that includes a lot of waiting.  I know that everything will happen in God's time.  I know there will be days that are harder than others, but I didn't expect one to come so soon.

Our Dossier (the biggest bunch of paperwork for China) is already almost done, just waiting for our immigration form.  Our immigration form is ready to be sent in, but it is waiting on our home study.  Our home study is ready to happen, but it is waiting on our medical forms.  Our medical forms are sitting in an office waiting for a signature, and they have been for over a week now.  Because it's Friday, and because we will be on vacation next week, that medical form won't make it to our home study agency for almost 2 weeks.  I was REALLY hoping to deliver the medical forms today so the reviewing could happen next week, and have the home study process begin as soon as we get back.  I guess I shouldn't get my hopes up about the time frames for anything in this process; it would probably save me from a lot of disappointments.

Curt is much less emotional about the waiting, which is good for me.  He keeps reminding me to look at the bigger picture and not try to micro-manage every document of the "paper chase".  I know I'm a control freak and I don't like leaving the task sitting on someone else's desk, but I don't have a choice.  All I can do is pray for peace to reign in my heart, and that means letting go!

Another difficult part of the waiting is not knowing anything about our baby.  How old will she be?  What size shoes will she need?  What season will we be bringing her home to?  Will she need bottles, or sippy cups?  Wow.... am I in the nesting phase?!  I almost cried in the store today because I kept seeing things that my little China girl might need, or an outfit that would look really cute on her, but I can't buy much until I know more.  But, I do have hope in my heart because God has proven Himself to be faithful over and over, and I know that the answers WILL come, and I will have plenty of time to prepare for her arrival!

It helps to count my blessings, especially the two little ones that I am already able to know, and hold, and hug!  Corbin just came to my side and started singing that Barney song... "I love you, you love me, we're a happy family, with a great BIG HUG and a kiss from me to you, won't you say you love me too!"  Yep, I love my kids!  All three of them!  Thanks for the hugs Corbin, I needed them.  :-)