Extraordinary Blessing #1

June is a 2 yr. anniversary for me and I wanted to share with you about its significance... and then I thought I should really share several extraordinary stories from our adoption journey.

So here's a quick 'preface' and then the first story:

Preface:

We moved to our new, old, house in Sept. 2004.

We decided we wanted to adopt January, 2005.

We attended a Family Life Seminar in February, 05 and surprise! They discussed adoption!

We chose our China only adoption agency, recommended by Family Life, in February, 2005

We were accepted at CCAI March, 2005 and began our paperwork.

Or should I say, we began the nightmare of:

haphazard instructions from the US on paperwork they require for us to adopt; government stamps that still said 2004 and needed to say 2005 to be approved by the next US official; US government offices that said they could only stamp half of my 14 papers - for 14 papers I would have to go to another location - and when I arrived at that location they said I had to go back to the first location or needed a special slip from the first location or they had no idea why that person sent me to them or they did not know where I needed to go but was definitely given incorrect information; and let's not forget those uncooperative officials in my own town that said it was a shame I had to jump through so many hoops to adopt - but they were the ones making me jump through those hoops - and still today I get confirmation that those hoops were not necessary and what was really going on is they didn't want to do the work.

What should have been an exciting time was not exciting at all...in fact it was terribly stressful and exhausting. In May, 2005 it started to lead me down a path of thinking...'God - what are you trying to tell me? I was so sure you wanted us to do this...'. I started faithfully talking with Him about many things that had come to my attention like - I cannot find anyone in this town that has adopted internationally or a person of Asian decent. As I poured my heart out to Him over our paperchase...and that I really felt we needed a friend who had at least adopted internationally and lived in our community b/c I didn't want to be alone...and I didn't want our daughter to be alone. I waited with great anticipation for an answer and day after day passed with no sign God had even acknowledged my concerns...and then...

Story #1

Our last step was our international fingerprints at immigration. We applied for our 171H form which allows us to bring an orphan into the US and to get that form we had to be fingerprinted. They sent us our appointment in the mail; we had no option of what day, time or location and received about 2 weeks notice. We had a 1:00 appt. on a weekday, and it was an hour away from where we lived. It specifically said to arrive 10m early. So we arrived at 12:45 for our long awaited "appointment" and we were handed a number; Alan was 74 and I was 75. We took our seat and they called the next number - 28! WE COULD NOT BELIEVE IT! As 1hr waiting turned into 2 and then 3hrs; we felt thwarted. Just before my husband’s number was called, a Caucasian couple walked in and sat down. Trying to see their papers with no luck, moments later I noticed them trying to look at my papers! So I asked if they were adopting and they were! From China! We stayed and talked with them for awhile and then the question arose “…where do you live” and they live in our neighborhood! All of us were stunned...and thrilled to have met.

If you read this post and your are waiting, paperchasing or you have been praying for something and haven't heard from God on it just yet...I hope that the series of stories I will share over the next few weeks, from our adoption journey, brings encouragement to you...

Our 5th Last Vacation Without Mattie

Below are some pics from vacation!
We had a good time other than these bug bites I thought I had when we left here, turned out to be poison ivy when we got to FL. So, that was a bummer but such is life eh?
We set out to take 1 week off and head to FL, and then take a few extra days when we got back working on the house...that turned into 2 weeks off for me. I am stunned at what I am finding I did when we moved into this house. We were SO busy with things unrelated to moving at the time, that I stuck this here and that there. Geeze. So, I feel like I've made little progress this last week and still have so much left to do! I'm glad I'm doing this before Mattie gets here. Otherwise it would be many more years before it was done and I'm realizing what a point of frustration this has been over the last couple of years for me! No sense in carring it into the next decade!
This is where we stayed - and right after a 2 hour storm there was a rainbow hugging the Saratoga Springs Resort! It was a perfect rainbow and easy to see - gorgeous!

Mattie's mommy and daddy!

While this is not a pretty Walt Disney World Photo - this is the beginning construction on the Animal Kingdom Villas! We are SO excited about these! More photos of the end result below...

These photos were taken from an Animal Kingdom Villa balcony! When you get up in the morning you look out and WHAHLAH! Animals roaming just outside your room!!

Look how close the Giraffes are!


We can't wait til these are done! Apparently they will also have private safari rides for those staying in the Concierge Villas.
I think Mattie's going to like the vacations Daddy takes her on...I know mommy sure does!

Sugar and Spice with Snips and Snails

We went to the Asian Festival - and look who we ran in to!

This is the sugar and spice and everything nice picture...

(Left to Right) Madalyn, Whinnie, Whinnie's nieces (front), Sharon, Me, Patti, Elisa, Lee Ann and Mesa.

The snips and snails and puppy dog tails picture #1(Left to Right) Isaac, Cobie, Ben, Adam, Denny and Alan

Picture #2 as sugar and spice want to join in, with snips and snails:

Picture #3...still trying
Picture #4, the best we can do for the fellas...

This was the first time Elisa and Mesa met each other!

Here's some pictures Mesa took....of Mesa

It's sort of like putting a puzzle together. If you glue them together just right, it's like one big picture!
Here's one Mesa took of Alan - we're enlarging it into an 18x24 and putting it above our fireplace mantel

And last, but not least - Ben and Isaac...how sweet! This may be one of my favorite photos of all time! The Asian Festival was fantastic!! We saw a bunch of our friends and didn't see hardly any of the festival!

We couldn't have had a better day!!!

What We Will Do Now

I really thought CCAA would cover at least 8 or more days this time...actually, I was thinking our worse case scenario was beginning of July.
I have been saying we're about 90 days away from our picture of Mattie since January....why? Because that's really what I thought. I thought we we would have her picture in March...then we thought April, then May, then June and now July looks dismal.
OK, I'm just going to say it flat out. We hurt.

So what I do at this point becomes a choice; it's not a feeling or a way of thinking. Denying how I feel is not honest, and trying to think differently is just fooling myself and setting us up for more disappointment. This is what it is; it makes no sense, it stinks, and it hurts. But there is that One thing that keeps me going...the same One that blesses so many things I do and has brought so many new friends into my life during this journey...and I can't imagine those people not being part of my life.
The following describes well what we've been doing these last few days...

God, my God, I cry out

Your beloved needs You now

God, be near, calm my fear

And take my doubt

Your kindness is what pulls me up

Your love is all that draws me in

I will lift my eyes to the Maker

Of the mountains I can’t climb

I will lift my eyes to the Calmer

Of the oceans raging wild

I will lift my eyes to the Healer

Of the hurt I hold inside

I will lift my eyes, lift my eyes to You

God, my God, let Mercy sing

Her melody over me

God, right here all I bring Is all of me...

So hold me now

I will lift my eyes to the Maker
Of the mountains I can’t climb
I will lift my eyes to the Calmer
Of the oceans raging wild
I will lift my eyes to the Healer
Of the hurt I hold inside
I will lift my eyes, lift my eyes to You

by Bebo Norman and Jason Ingram

The Time Line

Here's the prediction chart for our LID.

[Edit -typo below. CCAA would need to cover 11/07/05-11/17/05 for us to get our picture beginning of July. I typed 11/02. Sorry. Edit date: 6-24-07]The bottom of the below chart shows the calendar days CCAA covered for the May/June referral batch

It's Official - Nov. 7th 2005

China adoption goes by your Log In Date (LID), that is the date they receive your paper work/dossier that you want to adopt. China sends referrals once a month. We were LID 11-17-2005. So as of today, CCAA has referred everyone who has applied with them up to Nov. 7th 2005 ie this is the cut off date for this months referrals.

They covered only 6 calendar days this month. 6 days. I still am having a hard time swallowing, but it's better than I was feeling a few hours ago.
Next month CCAA will send another batch of referrals. The question is will the next batch, June/July referrals, include LID 11-17-05?

I will update the history chart and our prediction chart soon.

May Referrals!

The West Coast started receiving referrals!!!!!!!!

The cut off? It might be November 7th...but stay tuned as all the storks have not landed yet!

All the stomach nausea and anxiety is almost over - until this time next month. This is the equivalent to morning sickness I think...

More Pictures Of My Friends Daughter Annie!!

Click HERE to see

NEW pictures of Annie!!!!

Click HERE for the first photo Jami received of Annie 5/2/07

Click HERE for different pictures Jami received of Annie 5/3/07

If you did not link to Jami's blog to see Annie last month at referral time - you MUST see this precious girl! Her cheeks remind me of our friend Brooke when she was around Annie's age.

Also, this is what we expect too; one photo when referrals come and then the next day we will receive @ 2 more by FedEx. Jami is very blessed that Annie is in foster care so she has received 'extra photos' of Annie that many families do not receive! We do not know if Mattie will be in Foster Care or in an Orphanage...our prayer is she is well cared for.

Who's Jami? She lives pretty close to us, she is with our agency CCAI, and she is one of my friends who received a picture of her daughter in the last batch of referrals.