We have possible dates for travel!!

We heard from our agency yesterday on possible dates for travel. We still aren't to the point where we can book our flights or anything but we are getting close. We hope to have our Article 5 picked up tomorrow in China and taken to the CCAA(Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs) by Monday, and then we wait for Travel Approval and then we can make our US consulate appointment. Ok, so onto our possible dates...well, our agency sent us an email saying that families travel on Thursdays based on when appointments are once you arrive, so with that, the ONLY date we can travel in April is the 7th! China has different holidays throughout the month of April where offices are closed, etc. so that rules out anyone traveling any of the other Thursdays (April 14th, 21st or the 28th). If we don't get our stuff in time (Article 5, Travel Approval, etc.) then the next available date to travel is Thursday, May 5th. So, we are tentatively planning on the May 5th date for us to travel to get our precious Anna!!

Oh and one other thing we have to do is have one more home study visit with our social worker and that is scheduled for next Thursday, March 3rd, so pray that all goes well (and neither girl wants to make a 'toy gun' for her...LOL-if you've read all my posts up til now you will know what I'm refering too ;-)

I'll keep you posted on when we hear more so you all will know exactly when we leave for China!

Thanks again for your continued support and prayers!!
~Melissa

Good News and Bad...

Well, the good news is we got new pictures of Anna Wei Wei today! We sent her a care package just under 2 weeks ago and Jenny sent us pictures today! She is wearing the outfit we sent her, along with playing with an Elmo camera we sent too, and looking (and listening) at the book we sent her. It's one of those where you record yourself reading the book so we all took turns reading the book. Now Anna has pictures of her family as well as a recording of our voices! I know I'm a little biased but she really is so STINKIN' CUTE!!

Now, onto the bad news...we got an email saying our papers we expedited to China 2 weeks ago just arrived to the Guangzhou offices today! We were told they arrived in Bejing on the 27th or 28th of January and were taken to Guangzhou on the 31st, but now we find out that wasn't the case and they didn't get them until today. So, all that to say it's possible that this 2 week delay will also delay us going to China! So, after getting those pictures of our baby girl today makes us want to get there that much sooner, only to find out it may be later!

But like I posted as my status on Facebook, I know our God is bigger than paperwork, or our adoption agency, or even the Chinese Government so if it's HIS will for us to get there sooner, He will make it happen! I just have to trust in Him and know when we go to get our precious daughter that is when we are meant to be there to get her!

Hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we do! ~Melissa

God has done it again!!!

Yesterday, Monday, February 7th started out as an ordinary day; I woke up, got dressed, ate breakfast, took Avery to school, then headed to the gym to do a class at 10:00 but since I got there early I brought my bible study book to read and work on. I then did the class at 10:00, went to the grocery store, went home to unload groceries, ate lunch, and then I uploaded pictures to Walmart for my upcoming scrapbook retreat, etc. In the late afternoon when I went to check our mail that is when my ordinary day turned to an absolutely extraordinary day!!! You see what I found in our mailbox was an envelope that had Reyes Family written on it and that was the first and only handwritten thing that I saw. As I opened it up there was a beautiful 'Congratulations' card inside that was blank and inside the card there was a sheet of paper with a typed message saying that God had given them this money and He told them to give it to us to help with our adoption travels, along with some bible verses typed on the paper as well, and with that message there was a cashiers check for a VERY GENEROUS amount of money. In fact, I'm still in AWE of the generousity of this person (or people) that donated this amount of money anonymously to us to help us with our trip to China to adopt our baby girl! I truly am speechless and just can't seem to stop the tears from flowing every time I think about it!

Let me back up to earlier in my day when I was at the gym working on my bible study for this week. The study we are doing is by Priscilla Shirer and it's called One in a Million: Journey to your Promised Land. I'm on week two and the part that I was working on talks about how we all go through difficulties in our lives, or what she calls them 'The Wildnerness' but we've got to journey through those to get to where God wants us to be, just like how Moses led people out of Egypt to a better place, Canaan. They could have gone a different way, but God knew the way they needed to go that was best for them. Anyway, there was a part that asked us to list the toughest part about our 'wildnerness journey' we are going through and how we see God's part in it, and the FIRST thing I listed was 'money for our adoption'. I think that is why I can't seem to stop the tears from flowing because I didn't know how my day was going to turn out with God's part in my wilderness. Nor did the person or people that generously gave us that money have ANY idea that very same day I had put down 'money for our adoption travel' as our wilderness but only GOD knew exactly what was going to happen!! So, yes, GOD has done it again and has provided for us with this adoption in ways I just didn't think were possible! Which is silly right?  Because with God ALL things are possible!!

Just had to share this amazing story with all of you! Thanks to everyone for your support and your prayers! I really wish I knew who it was that donated the money, so I could thank them personally, but I know that is not what they wanted because they wanted God to get the glory, as it should be so...THANK YOU GOD for this amazing gift!
In Him,
Melissa

Our papers are in China!

We received the approval from the NVC (National Visa Center) last week so Jaime emailed that to our agency, Great Wall, and they fedexed it all (along with our I800 approval) to China. They received it there this past Friday and now we wait for them to deliver that to the US Consulate and go from there. The next step is for them to issue an Article 5 which takes two weeks and then our TA (Travel Approval) and for us to make the appointment with the consulate and make our travel arrangements. This will more than likely take place in the next 4 weeks and then we hope to go 4-6 weeks from that, so we are still on target to travel to China at the end of March/early April!

We mailed a 2nd package to Anna Wei Wei this past Friday. In it we sent her a book where you record yourself reading the book, so her entire family (Daddy, Mommy and 2 sisters) all took turns reading the book. Can't wait until she gets it and then she will not only have pictures of us, but will also become familiar with our voices! ;-) I'm hoping Jenny, the lady in chage of the place she is at now, will send more pictures of her with the book and other items in the care package. If she does, I will post them on the blog as soon as we get them!

In the mail yesterday we received the hard copy of her 'finding ad' so we have the picture, it's translation, AND a copy of the actual paper that has her ad in it. For those that wanted to know the translation on what her finding ad said it reads...'On August 3, 2009, an abandoned baby was found at the gate of the Shengfang Town Government in Lianhua ("Lotus Flower") County.
Name is An Wei Wei
A Girl
She was born on July 25, 2009
Characteristic of body; She has a round face, a little hair, and a cleft palate and lip.
-That is how it was listed exactly so that is how I posted it!

We'll keep you all posted as we know more! And as always, thanks for all your prayers!
~Melissa

Anna's finding ad

When a child is abandoned in China, they are usually left in a very public place where they can easily be found. There are numerous reasons why children (especially girls) are abandoned. Sometimes it has to do with China's "one child policy" or, the Chinese culture which places a higher value and gives preference to boys. Other times, children are born with special needs and the parents simply aren't able or can't afford to care for them. Knowing this, they leave their child in a very public place where they know they will be found, placed in an orphanage and hopefully adopted into a loving family that is able to care for them.  When a child is found, their picture is placed in a "finding ad". These ads appear in newspapers and is a way for the government to be sure that somebody isn't looking for the child, perhaps a relative.

We are fortunate to have received Anna's finding ad. Some of you may know that she was found on August 3rd, 2009 in front of a government building. Amazing that her parents left her there. We don't know why. We hope that they left her there hoping that Anna would find her forever family. A family that will protect her, care for her and love her like crazy. They may never know for sure, but she did find that family, or I guess you could say we found her.

It's updating time...

Ok, sorry I haven't updated in a few weeks, I really do need to be better about that, don't I?? (don't answer that Amy ;-) So, here I am updating...let's see where to begin?? Let's start with Christmas break a few weeks ago when we took the girls to get their passports. It really is an awesome story of how God is such a BIG part of our adoption process down to the smallest of details...Well, we needed to get our girls' their passports over the 2 week break from school while they were off. A few days before we took them to get their passports, a sweet friend of ours from church had emailed to me saying she was touched by our story and wanted to donate some money to help with our travel funds to China. I was so touched that she wanted to help us, but at the same time hesitant to let her so I didn't send her our address right away. Well, a few days later what did we get in the mail? A check from that sweet friend for the EXACT amount of what the girls' passports and passport photos were going to cost us!! Later she had told me, after I didn't send her our address, she just 'happen' to be looking in a place she never looks and what was in there?? Our address I had given her a year earlier that she had forgotten about. If that isn't the hand of God in this journey I don't know what is!!! Just so amazed by God's blessings in all of this!

The next step in this process is waiting on our I800 approval (the US immigration saying we are ok to adopt Anna Wei Wei) and we got that approval this past Friday-yippee!! So, now we wait for them to send that approval to the NVC (National Visa Center) and then both of those will go to China and soon after that is when we receive TA (travel approval) and will make our Chinese consulate appointment. We are still looking to travel to China to get Anna in late March/early April!! We are so busy getting ready for her, and can't wait til the day we go to China to get our baby girl!!

We also spoke with the lady where Anna is at right now and as of now we are unsure if Anna Wei Wei will go to a foster home or not. Originally she was going to go to one but I guess now that we hope to be there in 2 months that might be too much moving her around so she is hoping Anna gets to stay with them at the home she is at now. I trust she knows what's best for Anna so if she says that is best for her, then we hope that is what happens as well.

I think that is everything that has happened thus far in this journey since the last time I posted. Oh and if you didn't see the last post where there was a picture of our precious Anna, look below at the last blog entry on January 5th to see her!! Can't wait to squeeze her up!

Thanks again to all of you who are lifting us up in prayer throughout this journey, we absolutely are feeling those prayers!
Love,
Melissa

We've got new pictures!

Late last night, we got an email from the director of the home where Anna is staying. They received our care package in the mail and sent us some pictures of Anna wearing the PJ's we bought for her while playing with the toys and looking at the photo album we sent her. Melissa was really excited when we looked at the last picture. As you can see, Anna is looking at one of our "family" photos and is pointing right at Melissa...

Good stuff!