Update....

Yup, that's our baby girl :)  She is standing - though it looks like she is resting her elbow on the cabinet behind her.  Still, everything else looks good.  She hasn't gained any weight though - she is still about 22 pounds even though she is 2 years and 4 months old.  She weighs less than Simeon.  I just want to get her home and hold her!!!

Her update also said that she likes to be held and cuddled (yay!) and that she says three words now too.  I am thrilled with both of those updates. 

On the process front, we have our LOA!!!  This is the official Letter of Acceptance that China issues.  We had a PA (preliminary authorization) to be matched with Liliana and apparently they liked our dossier enough to say that we can definitely have Liliana.  Normally, the timeline for travel would be 10-14 weeks from today or so, but I am due in 9 weeks, which throws a monkey wrench into things.

I spoke with my agency today and they confirmed that it is pretty much impossible that she will be home before our next newborn arrives.  There is a big holiday happening in China in early October, so the agency is sending their last adoption group that will get through the process before the holiday.  That group will leave by September 12th.  After that, the next group probably won't leave until October 7th or so and I am due the 8th. 

I am coming to terms with the delay.  I just wish that our home study agency would be willing to move the process along at a reasonable pace after the baby is born instead of trying to drag it out as long as possible.  They keep saying to not rush the process - which normally I would agree with, but I fail to see how spending a few more weeks sitting around and waiting for them to write the report will help me in the process.  Oh well.  It's in God's hands at this point and I do trust Him with the timing. 

In the meantime, there is LOTS going on around here with B.J. settling into being the Assistant Principal and me trying to get lots of things done before Pelah arrives.  Add to that the usual business of life and our days are full.  One of these days I will get around to blogging about our two different weeks at Sandy Cove as well as B.J. and I getting away to Lancaster for a weekend, but for now, I need to get some sleep.  Please pray with us that our home study agency comes around and that God would prepare us for the weeks and months ahead.  God is good!!!

One bright note.......

I heard back from the PA contact and was told that PA has no requirements based on what my agency provided about what type of visa Liliana will come home under.  Woohoo!  I'll take it!!!!!

God is good

I opened my email this morning to find a new picture of Liliana - the first we've received in a couple of months.  She is looking good and starting to fill out a bit so her arms and legs aren't so overly skinny :)  She is so precious and I just want to get her home! 

That's where the frustrating part of today kicked in.  First off, I made some phone calls to the state to find out what, if any, pre-adoption requirements PA had.  The lady started to rattle off so much information of what I would need to do that I was getting overwhelmed.  Fortunately, I have a great agency, CCAI, who was able to provide some clarification that basically said that the information I was given was no longer valid under the Hague convention.  So I went back to the state person and she replied with a very confusing email that I think said that my agency was right.  I emailed again for clarification and am waiting to hear more.

So, while I was already frustrated about that, I figured I should go for broke and request the list of required documents for our home study update that we have to have done after Pelah is born.  Mistake.  I got the document and could just about cry.  Basically, we have to do all the paperwork all over again that we spent 6 weeks gathering in January and February.  New references, clearances, book reports, finances, letters from physicians, etc.  I am so tired of chasing paperwork and now I have the looming due date approaching.  Unfortunately, a lot of it has to happen after the baby is born (references, Dr. letters, birth certificates). 

I know that God will bring Liliana home in HIS perfect time, but it would have been so much easier, in my mind, if things had hurried up and we could have gotten her home before Pelah is born and thereby avoided all of this extra work and expense.  Not to mention the several months this will add to the timeline which will in turn mean that we can't bring her home this year and we'll miss any extra tax credit too (sorry, I worked for a CPA for too long to not think about that one).  I know that God is good and HE knows best so I am choosing to trust that right now - even as I am frustrated and overwhelmed with doing this all over again.

God's Provision

Today, as I was heading out to do errands, I saw the mailman walking down the sidewalk and decided to wait for him so I could save him a few steps in this heat.  He handed me a stack of mail that was mostly things destined straight-away for my recycle bin, but since I had an appointment to catch, I threw them on the van seat and headed out.  While waiting for a rather long red light, I flipped through the mail quickly to see if there was anything of interest.  There was.

Two letters down was a letter from Show Hope, which, if you have done any reading of my blog, you know is the place that cared for our Liliana for about eight months.  We had applied for a grant from them, even though we were sure there were plenty of other grant applicants with at least as much need as we had.  A few weeks after we applied, they blessed us with a bunch of resources for our adoption preparation and lots of resources from Karen Purvis (another great person I have blogged about here).  I had told B.J. at that time that if that was all we received from Show Hope it was more than blessing enough.

I opened the letter, preparing myself for a 'We regret to inform you...' opening.  Show Hope has many, many applicants and can usually, at best, only fund 50% of the qualified applicants.  Here is what the letter opened with:

Dear William and Rachel,

On behalf of Show Hope and the donors who make our grants possible, 

we rejoice with your family as you step out in faith to experience the miracle of adoption.

(It really is a miracle by the way!!!)

Thank you for allowing us to be a small part of your adoption process.

 We are pleased to inform you that you have been awarded an adoption

assistance grant in the amount of  $......

WOW!!!  Show Hope gives grants that range from $1,500 to about $5,000 and while we didn't get a huge amount, every little bit helps when you are trying to figure out where $28,000 or so is going to come from.   It was such a bit of encouragement and such a huge blessing.  

To be honest, there are times when you just have to wait in the adoption process.  There is nothing you can do but wait.  There are also lots of times when I look at the total amount we need for this adoption and I really wonder where it is going to come from, but God so gently reminds me over and over again that He is the one who called us to this adoption and so I can trust Him to provide the resources it will take.  It is so good to rest in His arms and it is also really cool to see the different ways He is choosing to provide.  Show Hope is now one of those ways and we are again blessed by their ministry and the way they are caring for the least of these and fulfilling part of James 1:27.

Bit of an update...

So, what's been going on for the last two weeks or so? In a word, lots - hence my silence on this blog.

First, our dossier was delivered to China on June 20th and logged in the next day, which is almost unheard of. That was so exciting, but now there is nothing more I can do except wait and pray for a really fast Letter of Acceptance. Then there will be more to do. That being said, we are gearing up for a really cool project called Both Hands. We are working to build our team of people who will join us in asking for support while we all work on a widow's house for a day. It is such an amazing ministry and we are really excited for it. If you want to join our team, feel free to let me know :)

On the home front, I have been busy wrapping up the school year for Elianna and brainstorming with B.J. to vision cast and choose/design curriculum for the upcoming year. I have also been doing end of the year assessments which has allowed me to see just how far she has come in the past year. It is very gratifying, encouraging, and exciting to see documented growth. She continues to amaze us with how quickly she picks things up.

 Janaya is making nice progress with learning her letters and how to write them and her counting skills are showing nice growth as well. Her handwriting and ability to remember and identify letters was confounding for a bit - especially with how quickly she picks up everything else, I couldn't figure out why she was struggling to remember the handful of letters we had learned so far.  I was trying all sorts of games and multi-sensory lessons and not making any progress. Then I was talking with B.J. and realized that this is part of her vision condition having an impact. She functions so well that it is easy to forget that her visual acuity is still in the "legally blind" level. All of these books we have read and words she has been exposed to aren't really giving her the leg up that it normally would because she doesn't see the letters on the page. She can point to the words, but she hasn't noticed that there are letters that make up those words. Once we figured that out, we focused on getting her books with much larger print and having her find the letters that she knows. She is making nice progress since then, and I am very encouraged by the fact that we were able to figure out the issue. There have been a few more vision-related issues, but because she is being home-schooled, her teachers know her well (;) ) and know how her condition manifests so they can adjust the lessons appropriately. Her desire to learn to read is very strong and I know it is just a matter of time.

Simeon has been amazing us with his ability to memorize Scripture -especially considering that he really doesn't talk yet.  He sure loves to do the motions though!  He loves to be close to mommy and likes to cuddle and read - though running around and getting dirty and messy are also favorite past times. He is very good at getting his wishes known and he loves to help mommy and daddy around the house. I always love this age!

Below are some snippets of our school day pics - enjoy :)

Definitely working the fine motor skills :)

Taking her task very seriously..

Lots of fun :)

Math time

More handwriting practice

More math

Gluing the turtles in the math counting book

Good thing he likes to read along with his sisters :)

Also, here is the link to Both Hands' video if you want to check them out.

Exciting Week

I found out on Tuesday of this week (6/12) that my dossier review was complete and everything was outstanding.  It was like getting a gold star on the top of a term paper :)  I didn't realize until it was all done and approved how much of my mental energy was being spent for the past 6+ months on keeping track of paperwork and getting through the paper part of the process.  The best part was that the review was supposed to take 9-11 days but it only took 4.5 days!!!  What a blessing!!

On Friday, I got the news that the translation was complete and my dossier is on its way to China.  DONE! (with this part anyway).  What a gift.  It usually takes 3-5 days to get to the central adoption agency in China and then about 3 more weeks to be officially "Logged-In", but we are one giant step closer and that is a praise.

On another note, we found out last Friday (6/8) that we were approved to do a Both Hands Fundraiser.  I have been passionate about this ministry since I first heard of it several months ago.  Basically, we need to raise a team of 10-15 people who will, in turn get supporters for their work (kind of like a walkathon) only they will be working on a widow's house.  It is James 1:27 being lived out perfectly.  One hand for the orphan, one hand for the widow is their slogan.  We are praying for this fundraiser and right now, specifically for a team of passionate, dedicated people who will commit to helping make this project a success.  If you think of it, please pray for us as we work to develop a team and choose a widow to help.  I so love this opportunity and would love to not only have a great team and really bless someone in need but also raise money to complete our adoption of Liliana.  If you want to help, let me know!

If you want to know more about Both Hands, click here.

I Will Hide God's Word In My Heart

One of many things that my mom did a GREAT job on when we were kids was helping us to memorize scripture.  She knew that the younger the child the more easily they can memorize things and pick up key truths.  I know so many passages of scripture because of her work and commitment to helping us learn God's word.  All too often, we focus on learning A,B,C's and counting and reading and colors and how to dress, etc. but we overlook what scripture has commanded us to do

These words which I am commanding you this day

shall be on your heart.

You shall teach them diligently to your children,

and shall talk of them when you sit in your house,

and when you walk by the way, and when you 

lie down, and when you rise.

Deuteronomy 6:6ff

I have done scripture memorization with my kids for a couple of years now - off and on and going in spurts of consistency.  When I saw this book suggested on a blog, I thought it would be the perfect addition to our family.  I would have a bank of 26 verses we could learn and we could tie them to the alphabet too!   

We have been fairly consistent with learning the verses with this book.  Since I am usually done my lunch while the trio is still eating, it gives me something to do.  We learn the verse with motions, which they help me come up with, and there is always a great application story to help the kids learn the truths that are contained in the scripture of the day.  The only drawback I have found to this book is that sometimes they only give a portion of the actual verse, so we have tried to learn the whole verse whenever we could, instead of just the snippet.

While Simeon was a part of what we were doing, I really wasn't focused on him learning the verses (since he was only about 13 months when we started), so I was shocked when one day he started doing the motions with us!  This is my little guy who still doesn't talk consistently, but here he was doing signs for the verses!  

My mom was right.  We truly underestimate what young children are capable of learning - especially when it comes to God's word.

Below is a video of him doing his favorite verse.  Ignore the goose egg on his head and the food all over him.  We had just finished eating... :)