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!

Patience!

Well this is definately the word I would have to use for the past 4 weeks.  Waiting for Dr.'s, passports, marriage certificate and notarizing.  I must say I have done pretty well, knowing that I have no control how fast things are going to go, so I might as well enjoy the ride.

At this point all of our paperwork is notarized, (thank you God that the lawyer did not charge us for it), and now I have to make copies for everyone and there dog(well not really,but that's what it feels like).lol  Anyway, Chris has to get his final medical for China done on Monday and then...........it is off & out of our hands!!!  I just pray everything is done properly so we have nothing sent back. 

I am not sure how long it is going to take for everything to actually reach China, but hopefully very soon!!

We're Still Here!

Well, we have been waiting and waiting for our paperwork to be sent back to us so we can have it notarized.  The reason we have been waiting and waiting is because one person who needed to sign a piece of document has been on vacation!!  Good for him, but frustrating for me. 

Anyway, apparently he has returned and we will be getting our stuff probably Monday.  We had our passport pics done yesterday and they were as beautiful as ever!lol  So hopefully it won't take too long to get them back.

I called the agency we will be going with the other day just to have an update and was informed that if we were willing to accept a baby with cleft lip/palate that we would get her substantially quicker and possibly under 12months of age. OKAY?????  This was one thing we weren't really considering because of well it was facial and requires possible future surgeries, speech therapy and a lot of dental work.

It sounds really aweful to say you won't accept a baby with this, but I guess we were thinking where we live on GM that she may have enough issues without there being a visible facial scar, etc.  Also, we aren't exactly a step away from a children's hospital that deals with this. 

Yet I have been thinking, researching and asking others on the yahoo adoption groups about this and have gotten very positive responses.  Many say this was not something they first would accept and eventually adopted 3 or 4 kids with clefts and say it is a very managable condition. There are some others though who say less positive things and maybe give you a picture of reality of the condition.  This scares me!!

So, we haven't completely come to a decision yet and have to do a lot of praying about this one, but it sounds really selfish and horrible to say you won't accept a beautiful little baby with a correctable condition.

P.S. I just noticed that this baby is laying on a rag quilt!!  Maybe it's a sign??  This is one of the latest babies that was brought to the Starfish Foster Home in China!  Her name is Elise.
P.S.S. Check out our T-Shirt store and order lots of shirts, PLEASE:
http://www.adoptionbug.com/drawneartotheheartofgod

 

Where Have 12 Years Gone?

This was my first born little boy just a few short years ago, which feels like forever ago.   He has now just celebrated his 12th Birthday and I am so proud to be his mom!  I remember when he was a baby and I couldn't even picture him being an "almost" teenager.  I always wondered what his voice would sound like, how tall he would get and what his favourite things would be.  Now I look forward to watching him grow into a remarkable young man.  His kindness, love for his family, goofy sense of humor and love of sports pretty much sums Noah up.  I am so amazed at watching him with little ones that I know some day he will become a remarkable dad (not for a long time yet though), great sportsman and an awesome person.  I am not sure what to expect in the coming teen years, but I have no doubt that it will be interesting, but for now and for the next year he is 12 and IS NOT A TEENAGER! 

Next!

Yesterday, we received our homestudy report to review and make any corrections before Judy presents it to "the panel", which I believe she said she is going on June 2. Panel is just another stage of approval before everything goes to Fredericton for Provincial Approval. 

Anyway, it was really strange to have our whole lives summarized into 21 pages, but the most amazing and wonderful thing I read was:  
After carefully considering all information available during the preparation of this report, Chris and Kim Rayner are recommended to adopt from China a female child as young as possible and under age two at the time of referral. 
EEEKK!!!!  This absolutely brought tears to my eyes.  Sometimes I can't believe that this is actually happening and that some day in the not so far away future we will have a Daughter, Noah and Isaiah will have a mei mei (little sister) and our parents will be grandparents to a special little girl. (Other than Cass)lol

Did you know: In China there are more than 40,000 orphanages with an estimated 3 million orphans.

 2 out of 5 babies entering the system die.

Matthew 18:5 "Anyone who welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me."

~APPROVED!!!!!!!!!~

 

There has always been a special branch on our family tree just for you!

I know this is a few days late, but things have been very busy lately with me starting a new job at Sailer's Landing and a number of other things.

So last Wednesday, May 12th; the day after our 14th wedding anniversary; I picked Judy up at the ferry at 11am.  Well it was supposed to be 11 but the wonderful crap ferry was a half and hour late.  No worries though we had lots of time, she wasn't leaving us until 3.

Our last meeting was very casual, I showed her around our house and she loved our view.  She finished up with Chris's last interview and then just basically asked some more questions.  I can't even really remember what questions actually, so it was nothing too serious.  I had made us a little lunch, and then Chris went to pick up the boys from school.  They were quite upset as you can imagine.(NOT)  If I have talked with any of you before this you knew I was a bit nervous about her talking with the boys, because after all kids will be kids and you never know what they may come out with.  With our boys being almost 12 and 9 they know how to freak you out.  A few different nights while trying to get them to have showers or go to bed at a decent hour, they would threaten us, yes threaten us!  "You wait till Judy comes, I am going to tell her you beat us".  Well you know what it didn't work, I know better and I assumed so would Judy.  Worries aside though the meeting with the boys went really well, as usual they were kind of shy, so they really didn't say much until she started talking hockey with Noah. 

Around 2:30 she started to pack up to head to the ferry.  It was killing me to know whether she had approved us or not, so I said "when will we know if we are approved".  She said, " I would have never went this far with you if I wasn't going to give you my approval."  PHEWWW!  So in a week or so we should be receiving our dossier to proof read and then she will send it off to the NB government.  It should take about a month or so to "officially" get government approval.

I contacted the agency we will be using in Ottawa, Family Outreach International, and had a really encouraging chat with a guy about the waiting child program.  He really can't give us a time frame, but it really might not be that long of a wait. I really hope this will be the case!

So all of my doubts and stress thinking we may not be approved for some reason, was well rediculous.  I feel so priveledged and blessed to be given this opportunity.  Thank you to everyone who prays for our adoption and please continue to pray for a speedy adoption and for our daughter and her caregivers.  I pray that if she is born that she is being well taken care of and if she is not born that her birth mom is healthy and is taking care of herself.  Amen

Now more fundraising!! Prayer for that would be excellent too!

~ BLesSed ~

So I had my GIANT yard/bake/quilt sale on Saturday, and was completely blown away by it.  I went into it thinking I possibly might make around $600ish, but didn't want to over estimate and be disappointed.  I had so many people donate a lot of great stuff, that it looked like it was a 3 family yard sale.

So that morning as I was getting ready, I had a little conversation with myself and God.  I thought: wouldn't it be amazing if I actually made enough to pay for the rest of the homestudy!!  Oh really Kim, it is a yard sale!?  As then I continued to say to God, "I know it is possible with you", but I still didn't want to get my hopes up.(Oh ye of little faith!)  God had a plan!!

So at 10am we opened the doors of the hall and the people came.....A Lot of people came!  I was quite overwhelmed and basically in a panic as people piled up to pay for things, but thanks to Joy and Kim Cruikshank they were great at handling the madness.  So I took care of the food aspect and was perfectly content to do so.  Thanks to Jenni and Terri Parker who also were amazing help!

So as it slowed down, Joy counted the total, she looked at me and smiled and said, "you did really well!! You have over $800 so far."  And this was maybe an hour into to the sale.  I was completely shocked and very happy!  One o'clock came and she totaled the rest and it was over $1200!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. Ephesians 3:20

Got it God!! I knew or I wanted to believe that I knew that God could do this, but He wanted me to KNOW that He could do this!!  So I officially have enough to pay the rest of the homestudy fee!  Praise God, that is such a huge relief.

Oh really Kim, it is a yard sale!?  I am sure God laughs at our lack of faith sometimes and gets really excited at the chance to show Himself to us.

Thanks again to anyone that helped in anyway, and to those that purchased, prayed and donated.  Especially God!XO