TWO YEARS AGO TODAY!

"Not flesh of my flesh, nor bone of my bone, but still miraculously my own.

Two years ago today, a young mother chose to give you a life and a future the only way she knew possible.  In hopes that one day you would find your forever family who would love you and take care of you.  

We are very grateful to this woman, because she has given us a daughter, sister, granddaughter and chance to love you as our own.  I know we haven't met you yet, but very soon we will be holding you in our arms.  You probably have received our present we sent you and we hope the nannys take lots of pics of you today and that you love your little raggy blankie.

So soon, very soon you will home baby girl.  We love you and can't wait to get to know you and make up for the two years that we missed.

"Never forget for a single minute, you didn't grow under my heart, but you grew in it." -Fleur Heylinger

* WAITING FOR MEI MEI (Little Sister)

Hopefully we won't be waiting much longer.  We are still waiting to see when our LSC gets to China.  Yulin said her brother has been diligently checking and talking with the lady from CCAA(China Centre of Adoption Affairs) and she said once she has it she will do her best.   The agency has really been trying hard to have this work so we can travel on July 22nd.  So I really hope all of our hard work pays off!

We sent her a good chunk of change today to cover our in China Travel and Accommodations, plus the agency fee, translation fee and Visa application fees.  I feel a bit of relief knowing that at least that part is taken care of, now we just have to worry about flights and the orphanage donation.  Which, might I add the money transfer that I did today pretty much took every last penny that we have saved or received in the last few days.  So what does that mean?  That we need to do as much fundraising as we could possibly do in the last week.  I think this Saturday we will have another car wash/ BBQ and bake sale and see how we do and we are also waiting on another donation, but we have no idea how much to expect.  The funds have never really panicked me and for some strange reason they still aren't.  Maybe it is because I am so panicked over whether we are actually going on the 22nd or not that I haven't had time to stress over the $$.

We are so looking forward to finally holding our girl and getting to know her ON THE 25TH of JULY, that I really don't care how it happens, all I know is that it just needs to happen!!  PUSH!!

Roller-Coasters Are Supposed To Be Fun

Well this past week has definitely be one heck of a roller-coaster ride and not one that I am particularly fond of, but this to shall pass! 

So I am going to make a list; mainly for my own recollection of the things and issues that have arose this past week.
1. Received our Visa Application Form through email.  Had to print it off and fill out, (reminder reread directions before filling in all of the paperwork).
So we needed to print off more copies, to find out that we are out of printer paper and this was at midnight!  So we hopped in the truck to my husbands work to reprint the papers.  Home at 12:30.

2. Get on the first boat Tuesday morning, pick up my son along side of the highway from his grandmother, go to my Dr.s appt about shots, then rush my son over to his orthodontist appt.  We then went to pick up a car seat from my aunts and headed back to the cottage.
I dropped him off and had to rush to Fredericton to get my niece's passport photo, to mail with our passports to FOI.  The Fedex shipments leave at 4 and we arrived at 3:50.  Whew another thing done!  Then I went shopping for things for our trip.

3.  LSC still hadn't arrived anywhere and Yulin is afraid that it will be too tight to fit us in the July 23rd group.  We were a bit stressed over this.

4. Called Gentle path on Thursday morning to see if he knew where it was and he said that Elaine had just received it yesterday and he wouldn't get it until tomorrow. OOOKKKKK  we don't have all that time to wait, so I called Elaine myself and she said if I wanted to come to Fredericton to sign it, then we could.  So Chris came up on the 11 ferry and we headed to Fredericton.  There were some issues with Postal services, but we got it figured out and the letter was mailed Friday.

5. Emailed the agency to see if there anyway to fax or email copies of the letter we just signed to China and that the originals would be there by Tues. or Wed.  So Friday morning Elaine sent the email to them with the info they requested.

6.Saturday morning we wake up and have an email from FOI saying Travel Notes 3 and that there were eight families traveling with the July group.  Including us, so this gave me a glimmer of hope.

7.  Another email stated that they would check on Tuesday or Wed. for our pkg in China and if they found it quickly that Yulin would ask for our Travel Approval to be expedited.  So hears to them finding it quickly.

8.Today Monday, July 11th got an email stating the Purolator tracking # was wrong, so we got a different one that seemed to work I guess. 
Then I get an email from Canada Post stating the pkg that FOI was sending us was going to be delayed for an undetermined amount of time!!!  It's not like we have a lot of time CAnada Post!

So you could say after the last email of something else messing up, I lost it!  There is only so much one can take before you think really, is this how it is.  Paperwork and the Postal Service are the two things right now that are standing in the way of us getting to our daughter who has lived in an orphanage for 2 years of her life.  So ridiculous and unfair, but what can you do other than trust in a God who is SO much BIGGER than any of this nonsense.

We CAN Do This!

You could say today has been a bit stressful trying to figure out what actually needs to be done in order for us to travel in 19 days. 

We currently are awaiting our Letter Seeking Confirmation which was supposed to come today, but didn't.  I just received and email with more paperwork to print off and fill out for our Visa Application and we have to get everything filled out and Fedexed no later than tomorrow!  Whew!

I am headed to the mainland tomorrow for a Dr.'s appt to discuss vaccines and Noah has an Ortho appt., I have to go to Fredericton to get Cassidy's new passport pic for her China Entry Visa, find Fedex before 4 o'clock and at some point I need to fit in picking up a car seat, and try to get items that we need to take with us like.  Are you tired yet?  I know I am and 5:30 am is going to come very early!

All of this is happening so quickly, it is hard to believe that just over a month ago, I was wondering if we would even have a referral this year.  God has done miracles for all of this to happen so swiftly and I am very thankful.  I know in the midst of the stress of planning, packing, waiting and fundraising God has made every part of this process more amazing and such a blessing. 

We're Coming Soon Baby Girl!

I have to remind myself on a daily basis that this will soon have passed and we will have sweet Keely home with her brothers.  All of the planning, paperwork, stress and the running around will be a distant memory.  So I am trying to cherish this time and know it will be so worth it once we hold her little hand and kiss those chubby cheeks!!

CHINA BOUND ON JULY23RD!!

I am still pretty much in shock over this one!  I got home from work yesterday afternoon and had an email from Bob asking if I could call him.  So I did and he said, "China had sent out our Letter Seeking Confirmation and that we should receive it by Monday, and that we could travel in the group at the end of July".......O.K. so that is 3 weeks away???

July 23rd is the date, and when he said that, I couldn't believe it because that is the day that my husband's brother is getting married.  What are the chances of that?  So basically Bob said he would call back in an hour after I talked to Chris, whether we wanted to go with this group or wait until Sept. 14th group.  Of course we want to go,but considering we still have a substantial amount of fundraising to do, the wedding, and flights may be possibly double what we were planning.  Can we do it this soon?

It probably sounds ridiculous to even question going to pick up our daughter sooner than later, but we never expected that it would be this summer that we would travel.  We were told 3 months min. and 5 max.  it will have been less than 2months from the time of referral until we have her in our arms!  Amazing or what?

So all things put aside, we are going to get her!!!!  So we will fly out on Friday, July 22nd and she will be in our arms on Monday, July 25th!!!!!!!  We will return to Canada on Thursday, August 4th and be home on August 5th!

So much to do and so little time, but I know God is in control and I have to trust Him with all of the little details and believe everything will work out great!  Can't wait to meet Princess Keely!  We love you and are coming soon sweet girl!

Her 1st Present!

I sent this pkg to Bob this week so he could get it to our Keely.  He said she would have it for her Birthday on July 14th.  It only cost me a whopping $66 to send it by Same Day Courier because of the lovely postal strike!  It is so worth it though, for her to have pics of us and a little raggy blankie that I made her, also I hope they will take pics with the camera I sent.

I can't wait to get some more pics of her!  I hope they will take some of her when she is not all bundled up for a blizzard, it is so hard to tell how big she actually is.

We had Noah's party tonight with 14 kids, they played ball hockey at the rink, came back to our house and ate cake, ice cream and chips.  Then they went to play predator outside (which I guess is basically hide and seek in the dark) , then my dear husband set fireworks off from our deck????  Yeah that is what I thought, but it was raining so he said the house wouldn't catch on fire??!!  All said, I think our now teenager had a pretty good couple of days.  Even better he used his new wooden baseball bat in last nights game and he got a homerun first thing!  Happy Bday or what?

Tomorrow we are planning a Car Wash, BBQ and Bake Sale to help with our final adoption costs.  It gives rain, but I figure Keely has to get here rain or shine, so we are going to brave the weather and do it anyways.

Mom To A Teenager!

Wow, that is hard for me to write!  I can't believe that my first born is 13?  Not sure where those years have gone, but I am sure they were wonderful. lol

Noah I am so very proud to be your mom, and I hope over these next few years that you will take it easy on your momma.  My hope is that you would continue to grow and mature into a man that loves the Lord, your family and that you would never doubt just how loved you really are.  I pray that you hold strong against peer pressures, and that you would be someone that others respect and look up to.  We love you so much and can't wait to bring little Keely home to meet such an awesome big brother.

Happy 13th Birthday Noah!!! We Love You!

Application Approved!

I received an email today stating that China officially approved our application to adopt Huang FuGe.  We knew if we had come this far, that we surely wouldn't be turned down, but still that doubt can pop in there and make you question yourself.

So now we wait 1 to 2 months for a formal invitation to travel to China.  Once we have received our offer, we then will travel approx. 6weeks or so after that.  So we are assuming it will be early fall that we will be packing up and bringing our girl home!!! Yippee!  

 

Donations for Keely's Orphanage

I have set up a new fundraiser to help with the donation for Keely's orphanage.  I know there are a lot of things going on for people and funds are tight, so I was thinking that if I could get 1200 people to donate as little as $5 then the donation would be covered.

When we had the Adoption Bug T-Shirt contest, the amount of support from my community, friends, family and friends of friends was unbelievable and that was just for a T-shirt contest.lol  So now since we see the face of the beautiful girl that is to be our daughter I am hoping the excitement and support will be even greater.  So if you feel you would like to help us just click the donate button.  Any little bit helps, thanks so much!

Here Is Our Girl!!!!

I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. 1 Samuel 1:27

We Have a REFERRAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know I pretty much can't believe it myself.  From the news that I received on Tuesday, I pretty much had lost hope that it was going to happen this year.

So how did this happen you ask?  GOD!  There really is no other explanation.  We were 4th???  The probability of locking an under 24mo. girl with a minor medical condition was virtually impossible???

On Thursday, May 26th, I had just sent our updated homestudy off and had a little yellow sticky note saying there would be changes made to our profile.  Meaning we were willing to up our age to four and were considering other medical issues, but God knew my heart was for under 24mo. and knew that we weren't going to have to change a thing.

On Friday morning, at 10am I received THE CALL from Judy Urquhart(our social worker).  I assumed she was calling to schedule a meeting about our homestudy, but instead she said " I have a child proposal for you"!!!!!  WHAT??? After that moment I am not exactly sure what she said other than she is 22months old, her Bday is July 14, 2009 and she is beautiful.  Then I received the email of our girl with four pics of her and a lot of info.  Her name in Chinese is Huang Fu Ge:  Huang is the first Chinese character of Huangshi city(where she was found), Fu is the first Chinese character of the welfare institute that she is in, and Ge are you ready for this means: PRINCESS, that is the hope for her to live life like a princess! (It actually said this) So Keely's room is painted the color Princess Keely and I planned on using part of her Chinese name as her middle name.  So her name is Keely FuGe so she actually has princess in her name!

When we first started this process I prayed and really wanted God to give me one of those stories that was way too coincidental and to give me something that so I would know that this was HIS doing, and that He definitely did!

I will answer them before they even call to me.  While they are still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers! Isaiah 65:24

Then we had to have her file looked at by a medical Dr.  Her only medical condition if you can even call it that is, her right leg is slightly shorter than the left because of muscle or ligaments in her knee????????  Are you kidding me!!  Another testament of how awesome God is, she basically is a healthy smart little girl, who is already walking and going up stairs so her little right let isn't slowing her down at all.  In the future she may or may not require a minor surgery to release the tension in her knee, but other than that everything is great. The Dr. did say that an Orthopedic surgeon would have to really assess her info. to say for sure what she may need done.  Ok, so who lives with and is a Nanny for an Orthopedic surgeon in Montreal???  Cassidy!!  Another God moment!!  So she asked him if he would look at her file and he did, and basically said if she were to require a surgery it would be very minor!

Is anyone seeing yet how much she was meant to be our daughter???

So when you ask will we be bringing her home?  Three months at the earliest and five months at the latest.  So our Keely will have a family this Christmas and she will only celebrate one more birthday without her family. CHINA HERE WE COME!

Thank you all for all of the support and please continue to pray for the rest of the process, our girl in China and for the funds we need to bring her home.
Pics and a video to follow soon, you won't believe how precious she is!

Update!

This month our agency matched two young girls with cleft lip/palate.  We were informed that there are currently 3 families ahead of us with similar requests.  That was very encouraging to know that we are 4th, or so I thought until I read the rest of the email.  This is the email I received:

Kim;

The placements this month were for girls afflicted with CL&P. There are three families ahead of you that would accept a girl with similar age and med condition parameters as you.

By far, the most common request is for young girls without CL&P. This is a worldwide phenomenon which results in vigorous competition (among 70 to 80 agencies) for such children. We have seen the  intensity of the competition increase rapidly month over month. These young girls are now visible on the list for less than a second.

It is hard to get a fix on the number of young girls without CL&P that are posted each month but it is likely in the area of 15 or 20. It is really impossible to say how long it will take to resolve our list of families seeking these children.  Nowadays, the attempt to reserve a young girl rarely succeeds.

Bob

Ok.......... can you imagine for less than a second that these girls are visible and the attempt to reserve a young girl rarely succeeds????!!!!

Is it just me or does this NOT sound encouraging?  So the question is: How patient are we??  Should we up our age to 3 or 4 which would only slightly make a difference, do we accept cl/p when we live in a remote location, far away from surgeons/speech therapy, etc.   

In the next few weeks we will be meeting with our Social Worker to update our homestudy. (I can't believe that it has been a year) So the decision will have to be made whether we will change our request or continue to wait possibly another year or 2!  

I really want to give God control in this situation.   I would love to sit back, not stress and wait for His miraculous works to take place, but it is so hard to do.  I actually am not even sure how to even start to go about it.  Ultimately I want what He wants and I want to make the right decision for our family.  God knows the little girl that will be our Keely, and I really pray that he gives me the wisdom and peace in whatever decision we make.

 

A Fun New Job!

So this past couple weeks, I started my own at-home business that I am very excited about.  I joined Send Out Cards as an Independent Distributor.

Send Out Cards has given me the opportunity to create super personal, from the heart cards, with pics,etc; (You will never throw out a card again, believe me!); all for about .58cents stamped and mailed.  I can do all of this without leaving the house.  If I need to send some sort of gift for an occasion, then the option is there for that as well.

Anyway, I am very excited at the possibilities that this company is creating for others to follow their promptings, to keep in touch with loved ones, business associated, long lost friends, etc.

Social Networking has created impersonal relationships and connections that consist of virtual cards and flowers.  That's o.k. for awhile, but occasionally people want true thoughtfulness and relationship. 

So if anyone out there in Blogger world wants to create there own home business just by getting others to send love and cheer through greeting cards, just contact me.  www.kimberleerayner@hotmail.com Or if you want the opportunity to send cards at wholesale costs or to just send one card at a time for $2.99 postage included.

It is so fun and easy and blesses people.  What could be any better than that?

www.sendoutcards.com/gotlove

www.socretail.com/126863

I am hoping this will keep me busy while waiting for Keely, so far so good. =0)

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!!