Mixed Emotions

"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those crushed in spirit"

Psalm 34:18

I'm sure from the verse you can tell I'm feeling pretty down.  We had a great Christmas and I only broke down once as thoughts of Evan came to my mind. Today though is much different. I think it's been building. In exactly three hours, in China it will be Evans birthday. We are not with him. We do not know when we will be with him. He knows we are coming but does not know when. I'm sure he is wondering what is taking so long.

At some point in the night while we are sleeping our guy will be celebrating his birthday with all of his friends. This year he will have a cake and presents to open. He has a family that misses him so much and would do anything to jump on a plane to bring him home today if they could.

I feel like our agency has let us down. They have poo pooed my questions stating they would get back to me asap. That was well over three weeks ago. We have paid them enough money to answer our questions in a timely manor and with honesty. They have cost us numerous delays in this adoption process.

Now I do believe everything happens for a reason and God is in control. What I do not believe in is incompetence! When the same problems and errors continue to occur with more than one family, then there is a problem that needs addressing. Right now I am angry and sad!

Awesome Friends!

We have been totally stressed about who we were going to have watch the children while we were in China. The Lord showed up in a BIG way last night and it brought me to tears. It was looking like we would have to split the children up and they would have to miss two weeks of school.

Our friends from church came over for dinner last night and she offered to "move her family in" and stay for the two weeks we were gone. Her two children are home schooled so she can school them while our children are at school! Lia will miss no therapies and be with her siblings!

Best thing, we will have peace of mind that our children are receiving awesome care while we are gone! What a relief. Thank you Lord.

Seems we are still waiting on our Article 5. We can not proceed to our TA until our Article 5 is issued. Please pray that we will receive this soon!

Just Have To....

Birthday Care Package

We ordered Evan's birthday care package tonight. His birthday is fast approaching and we did not want to miss out on ordering it with all of the holiday festivities. On January 1st Evan will turn 7 years old. It will be his last birthday without his family! :)

Waiting

How Many Days?

 I've broken down our wait from the time our agency accept our application.

Approved by agency - 2/21/09 = 302 Days
Referral accepted - 3/09/09 = 277 Days or 9 months, 2 days
Sent LOI - 5/29/09 = 196 Days or 6 months, 12 Days
Received LID - 9/1/09 = 101 Days or 3 months, 10 Days
Received LOA- 11/3/09 = 38 Day or 1 month, 8 Days

Wondering how much longer!

So Tired

I am just so tired of all the delays! Apparently our agency has not sent our paperwork to the Consulate yet. It's been two weeks since our file was cabled. Approval is usually given between 6-14 days after the cable is sent. So we could be looking at another 2 weeks before our Article 5 is issued.

Feeling a bit weary in this process.

**Update -Our information was originally submitted a few weeks ago but our in-country staff was then informed that the DS 230 was missing information as they had updated the forms. They have provided this information to our in-country staff and they are working with the consulate to have it processed as quickly as possible. They will follow up again today and let us know what they hear.**

Gearing Up

Not sure when we will travel, I've started gathering items for our trip. Evans clothes are washed and I'm trying to decide what to bring. I think we will start packing his items. His little backpack is full and ready for him to go through. We have enjoyed shopping for items he will need. I think the item we bought that made it real for me was his little toothbrush!

Nothing new to report on our wait for TA. We will be sending him a birthday cake at the end of the month as his birthday is Jan. 1st. Hopefully we will receive pictures. :)

It's Been Awhile

I can't believe how long it's been since I've blogged over here. Bob and I had our midterm in our Monday night sign language class. We both missed two questions out of 30. We are still going to our Thursday night class which is good because it actually keeps us going. We start our Monday night class back up the begining of January.

We are still waiting on our TA. For those of you not familiar with the adoption lingo none of this will mean anything to you but for those of you who are this is where we stand. We received our I800 approval on 11/20 and then the NVC cabled our petition to Guangzhou on 11/27. We are offically awaiting for our article 5 to be sent and then our TA should be sent!

We have started washing Evans clothes and buying some needed supplies for our trip. I can hardly believe that it is almost time to travel. Please pray that we can travel before Chinese New Year. Chinese New Year is 2/14 this year.

We are inching closer ever day!