No Change!

Well another month has passed with another disappointing update, they were only able to match 2 boys this month!  Apparently the 30 to 40 agencies around the world are much vigorous about locking files than in Canada?  Anyway, I am still practicing being patient, but man is it hard!!!

In the meantime over the next month, it is time for us to update our homestudy.  It is hard to believe that it has been a year since we did it.  So that will keep me somewhat busy over the next month with fingerprinting, record checks, medicals, and updating forms.  Since we are updating, now would be the time to make any changes to our request.  We are considering changing the age we will accept to 3yrs instead of 2. 

The reason we chose up to 24months, was basically for attachment reasons, also we want her to have a family as young as possible.  I also have selfish reasons for wanting her to be younger, it makes me sad to think that we missed those first few years.  That I wasn't there when she cut her first tooth, took her first step, to comfort her in the middle of the night or to hear her first word.  I am not sure how to deal with the sadness of missing all of her firsts.  It brought so much joy when our boys learned a new word, or learned to walk, but I am hoping the memories that we will make once she is home, will make up for missing those beginning months/years.  

I am not sure that any training sessions, books or even being a mother already, can prepare you for the many different feelings that international adoption brings.  On any given day, you can go from being frustrated on the length of the whole process, sad for the little ones that sit and wait, mad for the first two and amazed by the support and love you get from others.

I know some day soon all of these feelings will fade away; just as the memory of labor pains during birth;  once we see her sweet face and hold her in our arms all of the hard work will have been so worth it.

Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.  Hebrews 11:1

7-1=Progress

So we did move up a spot in March and are now the sixth family in line for an under 24mo. girl.  The new shared list will be coming out either this week or next and who knows if we will move another spot?!

I was a bit discouraged when I was told from the agency that they figured they would average matching one under 24mo. girl a month, so that would put us into September before we could possibly get a referral. :(  Mind you that could fluctuate in either direction.  They may match 2 this month or none, so it is so hard to say when our referral may come. 

Regardless of when our referral does come, we will still need a substantial amount of funds to bring her home, other fees and an orphanage donation of $5000.

Fundraising over the winter has not been on my to do list.  With constant hockey, homeschooling and with having worked my butt off with previous fundraising, you could say that I was a bit burnt out.  Also, knowing that we do not owe anymore fees until we have a referral makes it seem like I have a bit of time yet.  I also feel like at this point I need to have that picture of the precious little girl that will join our family.  So others can see her and know that they are apart of the journey to get her home. 

This past week I realized that I cannot wait for her referral, I have to continue to fundraise so we will have what we need.  I have had my fathers 1973 Thunderbird on Kijjii for the past year and this week; actually tomorrow; there is a guy coming to buy it.  So that is $4900 going into our adoption fund.  Thanks Dad (Grampy)!!!   I am also continuing my coffee fundraiser and I am still working on some quilts.  If anyone has any other "Easy" fundraising ideas, PLEASE let me know.

I am hoping I can get an update from the agency this month to see if anything has changed, so I shall let you know if I do find out something.  Thank you to all of you praying for our daughter and for our family during our wait.  Here's hoping for a referral sooner than September!

A Mustard Seed of Info!

So if there are any of you that read my blog you are probably wondering what news I may have gotten from the agency on the updated shared list. 

Well lets see, the only update that I have is that the list for March was encouraging!  Yup, that is it!  Mind you that is excellent news compared to last months list which was discouraging. LOL 

So me being me, have emailed FOI a few times to try and get more info on where or if we have moved up on the list, but NOTHING!  So I have been somewhat frustrated feeling like I have a right to know what is going on, but then I try and realize that they are currently busy helping other families that have received referrals.  Our time will come and I know it is coming soon!

So until then I will wait and wait some more and hold on to my mustard seed of information.

*HOPING FOR GOOD NEWS*

This coming week is when our agency will get a new list of available children.  I am hoping that it will be more encouraging news than last month and they will match some baby girls with their forever families. 

I am not expecting it for our family since we are 7th on the list, but I am just hoping to move up a few.  We originally thought it could be around April if the program averaged the same as last year, but that hasn't been the case.  I believe it will be soon, but only God knows how soon!!!

Today we attended a shower for my sweet friend Wanda and her beautiful baby Josie who is 3wks old.  I must saying seeing all of the sweet girl clothes and tiny shoes made me extremely excited to one day dress up a little girl.  Girl stuff is WAY cuter than boys! 

So please be praying for the new list that is to come out this week; that there will be some baby girls matched and we will be that much closer to our little Keely! 

Disappointing Update!

Well, I emailed the agency yesterday, hoping that something exciting had happened, but I was wrong.  This is the email I got in return:   

     This month (list was updated this past Monday) was very disappointing – only a handful of children were posted. We placed only two boys. We were unable to find any girls with minor problems.

     How long to a referral will depend upon how many young girls with minor difficulties show up in the next few months, and, of course, how vigorous the competition is for these children. We have accumulated in the past couple of months a rather long list of families seeking young girls and I expect that the same as happened with the other agencies which means that young girls seem to be increasingly difficult to lock.

So, can you say discouraged and disappointed!!  This news for a 'practicing patient/impatient'  person was not what I wanted to hear, but there is absolutely nothing I can do other than pray.  So I will continue to wait, pray and prepare her room in hopes that we will get that call sooner than later.

"What do you mean, 'If I can?" Jesus asked.

"Anything is possible if a person believes."

Mark 9:23

I have been teaching the boys scriptures the last couple of weeks and this is the one they are learning this week:

"Don't be afraid, for I am with you.  Don't be discouraged, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you.  I will hold you up with my victorious right hand."

Isaiah 41:10 

Nough Said!

 

~Patient Endurance~

ADOPT:  to receive the child of another and treat it as one's own....

WAIT:  to stop until arrival of some person or event, to be temporarily postponed; to be expecting....

PATIENCE:  the quality of enduring with calmness; quiet perseverance....

I wanted to know the Webster's Dictionary definitions of these words so I can visualize mostly what patience looks like.

Overall, I feel I am doing well, (most of the time).  There are the other times when my mind wanders, I over analyze the whole process, and wonder why everything has to take so long.

I know that we haven't been 'officially' waiting that long, but if you calculate from the time that the we officially looked into adoption, was back in March 2009.  Mind you the desire was in my heart long before this. 

When I look back on where we started, I can so clearly see that God has had His hands on our family, how he has changed Chris's heart to be open to adoption, how I so longed for another biological child, but God knew our little girl would not be born from my womb.  He knew that in China there was a woman who would give birth to a baby, she would love her dearly, but in unfortunate circumstances not be able to care for her.  God knew this is how our family would grow and I am so thankful for this.  He has brought us so far and has had His hands completely engraved in this adoption. 

So when practicing patience while waiting to adopt our daughter, I need to remember how far we have come and embrace the sweetness of quiet perseverance.

Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God's will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.  Hebrews 10:36

Exciting Start To February!

The first of January I received an email from Adoption Bug about a T-shirt design contest.  So I thought, why not, I will try and come up with something and send it in.  If your design is picked they would feature it on one of their shirts and give you a portion of the sales to go towards adoption costs.  Well, anyone that has adopted or is in the process knows that any little bit helps.

On Tuesday, February 1st, I received and email from Adoption Bug saying that my design had been chosen as one of the finalists.   WHAT??  Are you kidding me?  I actually had forgotten about the contest and honestly didn't think I would really have a chance anyways, but I guess I was wrong.

So the chosen 7 designs were showcased on the Adoption Bug Facebook Page and in order to win you had to receive the most likes on your design.  I was so excited; posted the news on my wall and encouraged family and friends to vote for my design.  Well it became an Island wide event, friends of friends were posting to their walls and encouraging their family and friends to vote, etc. etc.

Nearing the end on Friday the competition was fierce, but let me tell you what, this community has my back!!  I can't even tell you the work everyone did to get votes for my design, it was absolutely AMAZING!!  In the end my design won by only 7.  Altogether I had a total of 967 individual people 'like' my design. The population of our Island altogether is only around 2500!  Wow!

Words can't even express how blessed and thankful I am to live close to so many loving, caring people.  Even if I hadn't of won, I feel like this was such a blessing that God wanted to show me all of the love and support of this community.

I am not sure if others feel this way in their adoption process, but sometimes you wonder if people get tired of hearing about it, or tire of your fundraising?  I have wondered this; since it is such a long process; and I think this was one way of showing me that people are excited, supportive, and not totally annoyed with us yet.

So THANK YOU so much to everyone that voted, especially the people who posted and re-posted it over and over.  Thank you to those who recruited family and friends who have no idea who we are, but cared enough to help out a friend, we definitely feel very loved and supported.

So if anyone would like to purchase a T-shirt all you have to do is go to www.adoptionbug.com and look for the shirt by Kim Rayner (Where In The World Is Your Heart Calling) or go to the link on the side of this page and check out our other shirts for sale.

I am so excited to one day show our sweet little girl all of the love and support our community gave us in order to bring us one step closer to bringing her home.   Thanks Again!!

* WAITING FOR MEI MEI (Little Sister)

We have made it through our first month of waiting for a referral and I have only contacted the agency once. Lol  They said there hasn't been much happening since fall and I think with the Chinese New Year coming up on Feb 3, slows things down a bit too.  It would almost be easier to deal with the wait if we had tons of paperwork to work on, but our work is done other than fundraising and now we wait on God to do the rest.

I know that waiting a month is nothing compared to some families that have been waiting since 2006 in the Mainstream program, so I am not going to complain at all about a measly month. 

In this process I am learning that things don't always go according to my plan and I am not always going to know what is happening at all time.  That is a very hard concept for me to grasp, but I know I have to let go and give control to God.  Sounds easy enough, doesn't it??

I have no idea when to expect a referral; I would love to think by summer that we will see her sweet face; but in all reality I don't know if that is realistic?   For now I will enjoy preparing her room, homeschooling my boys, making more quilts and planning March Break with friends and hopefully keeping my mind busy.

My mother in-law bought the boys t-shirts for Christmas from Adoption Bug that say GeGe (big brother) in Chinese so I though I would take there pic in them.  Also, here is a pic of one corner of her room with the lantern, her panda and a book that our sweet friends gave us for Christmas about a day in the life of China.  P.S. Can I just say that I still can't believe that I have a pink room in my house! 

Expecting In 2011!

I can hardly believe how fast 2010 went and now we are just about a week into 2011, so crazy. 

So I can't help but wonder if this is the year that we will travel to China to bring home our little Keely? That is right that is what we are going to name her.  I have had another name picked out for a long time, but when Cass and I painted her room the paint color was called 'Princess Keely' and we both thought how cute it was.   Cass then looked up the meaning on the internet; (because meanings of names are important to me), and it was {One who is extremely beautiful}.  That made the name even more perfect.  I also thought it was kind of suitable because my name is Kimberlee (Keely) and it seemed that she would be named after me in a sense.  Weird I know, but that's how we roll around here. LOL

Me painting Keely's room(beginning stages)

So that said, I am pretty confident that we will at least get a referral, but I am not getting my hopes too high.  For now we wait and prepare her room, do more fundraising and try not to obsess over it too much. lol Yeah right.

Cass headed back to Montreal on Monday  =0( so the next day we decided to take the boys skiing and met up with friends.  They had so much fun, but it was very cold.  I, myself stayed fairly warm inside the lodge chatting with friends and eating.  We then made it home on the late ferry, tired and ready for bed.

The Boys at Poly

I did finally take the trees down yesterday and let me tell you I don't think there was barely a spill left on the branches, oh well we enjoyed them and it only takes a minute to vacuum the spills up. 

Anyways, I am going to try and keep myself busy which shouldn't be too hard and then before we know it we will get THE CALL!!  Hopefully sooner than later!  I will definitely keep you all posted, but for now HAPPY 2011, may great things come this year!

!!!!!!!!!LID!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have never been so happy to have been wrong in my life.  I just checked my email and apparently we were logged in on December 22, 2010!!  YIPPEE!!  So we did have a log in date before Christmas, we just didn't know it.

We are now officially "EXPECTING" and could receive a call about our little angel anytime!!!  I know it will probably be awhile yet before we actually get a referral, but I am so happy just to be this far into the process.  It is hard to believe that we started this just over a year ago.  Time goes by pretty fast, so I am sure we will see her before we know it.

It is kind of funny that I just finished putting the first coat of paint on her room and thought I would check my email before bed, (as if painting a room full of pink wasn't surreal enough) LOL.

Even though we have done tons of paperwork, etc, etc. and planned for this, it still seems so strange that in the near future we will see the face of a precious baby girl on the other side of the world that will be our daughter.

Thank you God for being so faithful to us in our journey and I pray that you will go ahead of us and prepare the way for the rest of our adventure. Amen

No LID For Christmas!

Well December 25th has come and gone and we never received a Log-In-Date; (which is the date that we are finally logged into China's Center of Adoption Affairs.)  Once we are logged in we can receive a referral anytime after that.  We can't get a referral until we are logged in.

So this means we probably won't hear anything until the New Year.  Which is fine, I was a bit disappointed, but I am fully aware at how unpredictable this whole process is and believe God is in control.

We had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends, made Christmas cookies, watched movies, ate lots of food and opened presents.  There has definitely been enough going on to keep me occupied so I am not sitting impatiently waiting for an email. (I still check it everyday though. LOL) 

Our 13' Grand Manan grown tree

With Cinder and Fuzzy

The boys opening their tv's and me opening my gift from Chinatown.

My boys were spoiled as usual and got everything they wanted, (except Noah said he didn't get an Ipad, I said get a job and buy it for yourself next year) ;0)

Cass was home from Montreal and of course had some presents for me from Chinatown, and she bought some adorable clothes for our little China girl, who will definitely look adorable in them.

I am so in love with this lantern!

I think this week I am going to start painting what will be 'her' room so that should keep me busy for a day or two. Then I have some quilts I will try to finish before school starts again.  Hopefully very early in the New Year I will be posting that we have a LID.

So Happy New Year, I hope that 2011 will be a year of wonder, love, happiness and that great things will come to those who patiently wait.

~ MERRY CHRISTMAS~

I came across this video today that someone had posted on an email and I just had to share it.  For every family waiting for their child, it will definitely bring some tears when you watch it.  I can only hope and pray that by next Christmas we will have our little girl home!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy8RW6aHXWQ

Moving Right Along!!

     Well me being me, couldn't wait any longer for FOI to contact us to let us know when our paperwork was sent, so I emailed them today.  Apparently our documents, as of today were sent back to NB and then will be forwarded to China from there.  

     The agency director said it should be in China by the end of next week and we should have a log in date within two weeks.  So basically putting us directly around Dec. 24th for our LID!!  MERRY CHRISTMAS OR WHAT!

     Something else very exciting is; as it stands right now we are 7th in line in the set of families requesting a baby girl under 24 months.  SEVENTH!!!!!!!  Mind you we have to be logged in first before we will get a referral, but hey we are seventh.  

     The agency said that the competition for under 24month girls is very vigorous across agencies around the world so they have a difficult time predicting how many such children they will be able to match in a given month.  Over the last year, they have averaged about 2 placements a month. 

     So in keeping along the same track, that would hopefully put us getting a referral in APRIL???? Fingers crossed, eyes, toes and anything else that you could possibly cross!  

     I know this process is very unpredictable and things can change in an instance, but God's plan and timing is ultimately what I need to focus on.  He knows the exact date and has specifically picked our baby girl for us and we just have to wait on Him.  Whether it is 5 months from now or 18 months.

    Also, I am literally so excited to think that she is already in this world right now, especially if we get a referral as soon as April. 

     God I pray that you keep her safe, warm and healthy.  May the nannies love her and comfort her when she is crying so she feels that someone cares.  Just until we come, and then she will know the love of a family that prayed, waited and loved her before we even seen her sweet face!   Amen

December??

Well, our paperwork is currently going through the authentication process at Family Outreach International in Ottawa.  I am not 100% clear on what that exactly means, but I do know that that is the last step before it is sent back to the NB government and then forwarded on to China.  YAY!  The authentication process usually takes 4 to 6 weeks to complete so I am hoping and praying that before Christmas that everything will be in China. MERRY CHRISTMAS! (I hope)

I received our first substantial invoice from FOI and sent them a good chunk of change which takes care of what they are doing in Ottawa and the translation of all of our documents once in China.  I have never been so happy to get rid of that much money in my life!  

Now that our paper cut days have passed, and we are now in the waiting mode, sending money seems to be the only thing you can do that helps you feel included in the rest of the process. I would like to have the agency on the phone constantly so they could walk me through everything they are doing, but I would imagine they may find that annoying?  So we wait and wait some more and I hold myself back from emailing or calling everyday. 

God give me strength, the wait will be worth it!! 

TEN YEARS AGO TODAY!

This little bundle was born.  I can hardly believe that it could possibly have been that long ago.  I can remember bringing him home for Noah to meet him and he was sooo excited to see his little brother.  He would wake up the first few days we were home and ask immediately "me see Isaiah, me see Isaiah".  Seems like it was yesterday.......but obviously it has been 10 years.

Isaiah the animal lover!

Isaiah the brother!

I could never have pictured  or imagined that Isaiah would have grown into the thoughtful, caring, hard working and determined young man that he has become.  He has is an old sole at heart and just seems to know how to do things that most kids his age wouldn't know anything about, like how to build tables, tree stands, camps and how to fix things.  Oh and save money, can that kid ever save his money.  He sets a goal of what he is saving for and he will do odd jobs and collect bottles until he saves enough.

Saved the $ for this!!

Isaiah doesn't love to read or do school work, but I believe he is a scholar in the "real" world where sometimes the smarts of a book are out-numbered by hands on "life".  He loves to know how things work and his favorite channel is the discovery channel and shows about real life and hard work.

Isaiah the Fisherman!

 So am I worried that he doesn't love to read or sit for hours and write a story??  NO, when I see him outside for hours on end piling wood, building things with his own two little hands, or taking care of little ones and being so helpful in whatever way he can!  I am not worried at all.  I AM INSPIRED!   So here's hoping your day was special and I pray that you continue to grow into the wonderful man I know you will become.   HAPPY 10TH BIRTHDAY!

Isaiah with two of his favorite people!   

XO

Not Much To Tell

Well I guess you could say that I am officially a blogging slacker, but I really haven't had a whole lot of info to blog about.

Our paperwork, is still at the agency in Ottawa.  From the sounds of it, everything should be in China by December.  After that FOI says they keep at China to get us a log-in-date quickly.  Once we are logged into their Waiting Child Adoption program, then we are "Officially Expecting". So here is hoping that we will be logged in before Christmas.

Our agency currently has 12 families waiting for babies, they currently have been matching 10 babies with families per month, but they also have 10 new families join the program per month.  So our social worker told us to expect a 18 to 24 month wait.  I am definitely terrible at math equations, but that doesn't seem like it would be that long of a wait or am I crazy?  Maybe they give you the worst case scenario so you won't be disappointed?

All I know is this process is so unpredictable and everything takes sooooo much longer than you think it should, but it will all be worth it in the end when we are bringing home our little Starfish.

A Busy Few Weeks!

The past month has been extremely busy and some new things happening.   First off I made the decision to homeschool my boys.  Noah who is in Gr. 7 pretty much has been begging me for the past year or two. Isaiah who is in Gr. 4 detests school anyway, so going into homeschooling knowing that he would be done his work at lunch time without homework at night was definately a selling point.

So I will not lie and say it is always easy and wonderful, because it isn't and I have no problem whatsoever sending them back to public school if I have to.  For now though we are trucking through and taking one day at a time.

As for our adoption process, our paperwork has been sent off for a few weeks now and I just recieved word today that it made it to the agency in Ottawa. FINALLY!  They then arrange it how China will accept it and send it back to Elaine in Fredericton who then sends it straight to China.  I am not really sure why the agency doesn't send it, but I don't care as long as someone does and soon. lol

In the mean time the fundraising continues.  I just had another GIANT yardsale, which was a lot of work and my house looking like hoarders for weeks, but it was worth it.  With the money we made from the Adoption Sunday on Sept 5th and the yardsale money, we will have enough to pay the first fees to the agency which is over $3050.

I am also doing a coffee fundraiser over the next year, that hopefully will bring in some funds.  As for yard sales, I don't think I will be having another one for quite a long time.

Does This Mean We Are Officially Expecting?

Well, finally today after waiting for about 5 or 6 weeks, I sent the last document that was to be sent.  That was Chris's medical form.  So hopefully things will move along full force now.  These are the next few steps:

1. Gentle Path receives the medical form and that gets put with the rest of our dossier.(Tomorrow)

2. It is then sent to Elaine Babineau who gives it a stamp of approval and sends it off to our agency in Ontario.(Hopefully within the next week or two)

3. The agency then sends the documents off to China. (I will gives this a couple months?? =0) But who knows if everyone is done their vacations for awhile!)

4. Then we wait, raise $$ and wait some more and raise more $$.  They say it could be 18 to 24 months, but I am going to believe that it won't be that long.

So our part as far as paperwork is finished!  Our part or I should say my part of being creative and finding ways to raise the funds is just beginning. 
I am going to have another yard sale along with a car wash and barbeque on September 25, so hopefully this will go as well as the previous one.  I am also starting a coffee fundraiser too with help from some friends. 
So continued prayers and support are greatly needed and appreciated.  Thanks everyone for helping and donating to bring our daughter home someday soon!!

All children come from God, for some the journey home just takes a little longer.

I LoVe ThiS FaMiLy!

Thanks again Green family for everything!!XO

ADOPTION SUNDAY

     Tomorrow at our church, our friends Nathan and Marion are having an international adoption awareness/fundraising Sunday for us. Nathan and Marion live in Virginia with their three boys and two months ago adopted a beautiful little 3yr old girl from Ethiopia.  
     I am so grateful that they are willing to take time out of their family vacation to help us with our adoption.  
     We also have friends in Quispamsis whom were the first to buy t-shirts from our Adoption Bug fundraiser.  They just brought their little girl home from China a few months ago.  
     Thank you to everyone who helps in any way!