2 Weeks - A Call to Prayer

This morning I received a phone call from LifeSong for Orphans, an organization that provides grants and interest-free adoption loans.  They are processing our application for an interest-free loan and they had questions about our application.  I spoke with the gal for 15 minutes or so and fine tuned the numbers and dollars and timing we are facing.  She said in 2 weeks they will make their decision about our application!

Will you add us to your prayer list for the following two weeks and ask God for His favor regarding this loan application and that He would provide us the funds we need?  Our remaining expenses are:

$555 - US Consulate Fees - due upon receipt of LOA
$7367 - China adoption Fee - due upon receipt of LOA

It would be my prayer that LifeSong would provide a loan to cover the 2 costs above because they will be due when we receive our LOA from China, which should be arriving ANY DAY NOW!

After that we will very quickly owe travel fees which will be near the amount of $7800 per person.  We'll climb that mountain when we get there.  In the meantime, you can still donate!  Click on the donate tab above to find out how.  Above all...

Please pray for God's favor on our adoption finances by providing us with this interest-free loan from LifeSong, enough to cover the LOA fees above.

Thanks to one and all for praying our daughter home!  You are all a part of her story in a major way!

Pictures!

Today I got a gift I've been waiting for ever since we got our referral -- updated pictures! It's killing me to refrain from posting online, but I will continue to abide by my agency's wishes. The pictures in our referral were dated. I'm guessing they were from her intake day at the orphanage or shortly thereafter. Today's pictures are much more recent. My how she has grown!

While I was literally jumping up and down with joy and spinning circles in the living room with my iPad in hand, there is definitely a bitter side to seeing her face too. I feel the miles and oceans in between us for sure and my heart breaks that she has no clue who we are and how much we adore her. Secondly, I could tell by her sweet runny nose that she has a cold in these pictures. Oh, I should be the one with the Kleenex box cleaning that sweet face! I should be the one snuggling and cuddling that cold away!

We still await a buyer for our home.

We still live in limbo.

We still wait for our LOA.

We still wait to bring our daughter home.

But I am thankful for today's gift. Please praise God for His blessing today!

The Call

I love reading adoption blogs and hearing how others hear their call to adopt.  It's a journey for all of us.  So, share with us the next step as we drive the roads of international adoption.  You've got shotgun.  Jump into the passenger seat of my silver SUV with Nebraska license plates and enjoy the ride.

On a Tuesday morning at the end of August, we're parked in the school parking lot, a few minutes earlier than expected, so we're just sitting waiting.  The kids have their seatbelts unbuckled and are fiddling with carseats and kids stuff in the backseat when my cell rings.  I didn't recognize the number but we had a few minutes to spare before the school bell rang, so I answered it. 

"Hello, this is Brooke," I always answer when I don't recognize the caller ID.

"Hi Brooke.  This is E at La Vida and we actually have the file of a little girl for you to consider," she said calmly.

I couldn't believe my ears.  I know I must have said, "Oh my gosh," "You're kidding," or something like that.  This was the referral call we have dreamed of for over 2 years!  I had always hoped I'd get the call when I was home, with my husband, with the camera in hand, set to video mode so I could have it record every word that I heard, every word I uttered, the reactions on our faces, the tears of joy that we shed.  No such luck.  Jay was at work.  I was in the car.  Sure, the camera was in my purse but was the battery charged?  Sadly, no. 

With awkward giggles through happy tears flooding my eyes, I listened to the details of a little darling in China who needed a forever family.  I heard her age, her birthdate, the day she was relinquished, the orphanage where she has been living, her special needs that have her on the CCCWA waiting child list. 

"Do you want me to email the file to you?" I was asked.

"Oh my gosh, yes!"  I said happily but calmly. 

I was totally on the boarder of screaming with joy and it surprised me that I wasn't shouting from the rooftops.  I just kept giggling and crying, crying and giggling, to which my case worker only laughed herself.  I swear I could hear her smile over the phone.  Oh, the joy she must feel on those days when she gets to announce a long awaited miracle for waiting parents!

Having totally lost track of time, I'm thankful we didn't miss the school bell.  The phone call was quick and I was told to expect the file in 15 minutes via email.  I waited in the school yard with my boys for the school bell to ring and then called my husband immediately as I walked back to my car in the parking lot.  Not even 5 minutes had elapsed.

"I got it," he answered. 

No, "Hello."  No, "Hi, Hun."  No, "What's up?"  He had received the email and opened it in the midst of a webinar he was listening to by himself in his office.  I'm guessing he probably didn't get much out of the session!  He just said, "I got it."

I raced to my waiting email and saw it with my own eyes.  I saw the picture of a round faced baby girl with fuzzy black hair and chubby cheeks.  I read her name and hoped I was pronouncing it correctly.  I read through the English translation of all the info our caseworker gave to me over the phone.  I read the medical report.  Then I talked to my husband, who under the circumstances of our upcoming move to California, sounded quite hesitant.

"What do we do?" he asked.

His hesitation worried me.  I couldn't say no to this child unless God closed the door.  Thankfully, Jay didn't want to say no either.  But we discussed the issue of his new job in California and our house for sale and our lives and stuff still in Nebraska.  How can we make this happen? 

We quickly decided a talk with our agency was in order.  Over the course of 24 hours while we had this little darling's medical files reviewed by our pediatrician and our doctor neighbor, our agency decided that we could pursue this sweet girl even in the midst of our move.  So, we began the preliminary paperwork, due in a quick 48 hours to our agency, to lock this little one in for our family.  What a whirlwind!  It was a twister that left us busy, hurried, exhausted with one of those "good headaches" by mid-afternoon.  Our Letter of Intent (LOI) was submitted immediately to our agency who had it translated and then sent overseas.

On September 5, we received our preliminary approval that basically means at a glance, it looks like this little one will be ours.  China now pulls our dossier and goes through it with a fine toothed comb then hopefully they issue us a Letter of Approval (LOA) in the next 1-4 months.

In the meantime, we're praying for a miracle in the form of a house sale, or maybe not.  See, if our house sells quickly, then we won't have to delay our daughter for too long.  We'll have to update paperwork in California, but hopefully we can do that quickly while we await approval from China.  If the house sells after we get final approval from China, then we risk delaying her, maybe even for quite some time while we update paperwork at that time.  At the same rate, perhaps this is the reason our house hasn't sold at all.  Maybe we're going to get our daughter first.  It's hard to understand.  But it is what it is and God has it all under control.

We honestly don’t know how to pray or how to ask for help or advice.  We just need God to show up and show us the way to California and to China.  Would you pray He makes the path clear to us so that our daughter’s best interests are met?


And just as an editor's note, we will not be giving you our daughter's name, location, age, special needs or anything personal.  We will not even post a picture.  While we want to share this with you immediately, our agency has the best interests of the children in mind and asks their clients to sign a confidentiality agreement.  Rest assured, when she is legally ours and in our arms in China, we will post all the fun details!  Thanks for respecting us, our agency and our daughter!

LID!!!

My Facebook status today posted my 10 year anniversary!  And I also posted that a nice anniversary gift would be a contract on our house or our LID in China.  This evening I was shocked to actually get something we've wanted for so long...

We’re on the list!  Our dossier has been received in China and we have our Log In Date (LID)!!!!!  On August 9 our dossier was officially logged into the China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption!  The “official wait” now begins and I’ve updated the ticker above.  Now it’s just a matter of time until we are matched with our daughter.  Our agency says they’ve never had a family wait longer than 6 months for a referral in this particular program.  They are hopeful we’ll go much sooner because we’re open to different age ranges and a long list of special needs.  Yet I proceed with caution because this adoption has not followed anyone's expected timeline.

So, happy 10 year anniversary to my husband!  I wonder what the next 10 years will hold, but I think it will include a trip to China at some point!

Go, No/Go

Do you remember this dialogue from Apollo 13?

-Apollo 13 flight controllers, listen up. Give me a go, no/go for launch. Booster.
- Go.

- Retro.
- Go.

- Fido.
- We're go, Flight.

- Guidance.
- Guidance go.

- Surgeon.
- Go, Flight.

- EECOM.
- We're go, Flight.

- G.N.C.
- We're go.

- TELMU.
- Go.

- Control.
- Go, Flight.

- Procedures.
- Go.

- INCO.
- Go.

- F.A.O.
- We are go.

- Network.
- Go.

- Recovery.
- Go!

- Capcom.
- We're go, Flight.

Launch control, this is Houston. We are go for launch.


I think you could just as well substitute adoption lingo in there and it would work quite fittingly. Allow me a little fun here…


La Vida this is Collins. Give me a go, no/go for Adoption.

- Application.
- Go

- Birth certificates
- Go

- Employment letters
- We’re go, Adopt

- Financials
- Financials, go

- Medicals
- Go, Adopt

- Background checks
- We’re go, Adopt

- Photos
- We’re go

- Passports
- Go

- Homestudy
- Go, Adopt

- Payments
- We are go

- I-797
- Go

- Authentication
- Go!

- DTC
- We’re go, Adopt

China, this is Collins, we are go for Adoption!

Going through my checklists just reminded me of the movie. So, anyone wondering what DTC is? In China adoption lingo, it stands for Dossier To China. Friends, we are go adoption! As of TODAY our dossier has been launched and is on its way overseas. God speed, dossier!

Our agency has already been looking at partial lists of waiting children to see if any would be a potential match.  If they find a little girl who seems like the perfect fit, they can lock her in before our dossier is even registered in China.  But in order to look at the full list of waiting children, we need to wait for our dossier to be received and logged in (estimated to take 2-4 weeks from today).  Please see our Prayer Request page for new requests!

Everyone Counts

For those of you who might want to read what I wrote for Jay’s message at church this weekend, here it is, complete with pictures that were up on the side screens.  The series they are in is about obscure Bible characters and Jay taught about Cornelius and how he was a Gentile among the Jews, someone who would have been considered an outcast.  One of our new church’s values is that everyone counts, no matter what.  Jay asked me to write a piece for him about how the value of everyone counts plays a part in our decision to adopt a child with special needs.  Jay had to cut a bit of it for timing purposes, but this is the full version below.  I hope you enjoy.

Everyone Counts

The night I first met Hilary at a Scooter’s Coffeehouse on 84^th Street in Lincoln was one that changed my family.  Introduced to her by a good friend of mine, Hilary shared pictures of her daughter adopted from Kyrgyzstan.  Oh, that sweet face with the chubby cheeks that your lips would get lost in if you kissed them!  And believe me, you wouldn’t be able to resist puckering up and laying one on each satiny cheek.  I listened to a proud mom’s story as I flipped through the photo album that she always kept in her bag for precisely these moments.  A dozen or so pictures into the album and I was alerted to the difference.  Sweet baby Anara was born missing the tips of some fingers and toes and for that reason she could have been unwelcomed in the Kyrgy society.  By the grace of God, she was placed in an orphanage, her adoption file listed online, only to be found on the other side of the globe, by my new friend who knew this little baby girl was the missing puzzle piece to their family.

From that night on, I knew my heart had been melted, destroyed, crushed by the reality that people in this world deem others as misfits. How could someone say no to such a child as this? It happens every day. Day after day I receive an email or two, sometimes 12, I kid you not, from agencies trying to place orphans with medical needs that label them unworthy in their countries of origin. How my heart agonizes over their faces. If I could only bring each of them home! Countless times I have sat on the stool in my kitchen staring at the computer screen with the image of a child I so desperately want to help, call my own and I just sit sobbing with my head in my hands, tears falling onto the keyboard. Twice I have nearly dumped our adoption plans for two of these children because I couldn’t get them out of my brain! Their faces are forever etched into my memory. All I can do for these children is pray and the awesome thing is that God answers prayer. When I’ve called back to inquire about these 2 particular children, God had found them a forever family. More sobbing. But this time, tears of gratitude for families who accept these children and give them the care and the love they absolutely deserve.

Jay and I have been surrounded by people in our lives that even our own American society would stop and stare at, completely ignore, deem useless, but in God’s eyes, they count!  We have a friend Carmie in Chicago with Tourette’s Syndrome. Carmie has a list of ticks a mile long including raising his arms above his head, jumping straight up and trying to fly like Superman, doing “the swim” dance, even flipping people the bird. You can imagine the stares he’d get for that one! But Carmie could clean and worked on the Facility Set-up crew at the church we grew up in. He had time for anyone and everyone who wanted to stop and chat. If you needed prayer for anything, Carmie would be praying for you without a doubt. Carmie counts.

I worked in our catering kitchen with a gal named Barbara Jean.  She had been born with multiple physical deformities that left her face lopsided like a Picasso painting and she had hearing and mental incapacities as well.  But Barbara Jean could serve!  She’d tray up hundreds of rolls and wrap hundreds of potatoes in foil for our evening dinner service.  She had love for the rest of the staff, a love of her Savior, and she had an echoing laugh that Jay and I have burned onto the CD of our minds.  Barbara Jean counts.

After years of struggling with unexplained infertility, our friends in North Carolina were blessed with their first biological baby boy.  But shortly after bringing home this miracle from the hospital doctors noticed something wasn’t quite right.  Months of testing led to a diagnosis of severe hearing loss.  Baby Matthew was almost completely deaf in 1 ear and suffered what the doctors diagnosed as profound hearing loss in the other ear.  Although we’ve never met him because they live so far away, we see pictures of this darling blonde haired, blue eyed boy on Facebook and in their annual Christmas letter.  Matthew has a smile that could just about make all the bad stuff about our world fade away.  He loves  anything with a steering wheel and can’t go anywhere without a fireman’s hat, a typical, normal 4 year old boy today.  Matthew counts.

My list certainly doesn’t end there and I could name probably a dozen additional people whom God has used to grow my heart.  He has clearly been preparing us for a special addition to our family by surrounding us with people who might be overlooked, judged, unloved.   While I know we will get stops and stares, whispers and even harsh words spoken about us, I will follow what God has called me to.  And I pray that my daughter’s story will open up doors of acceptance, soften hearts of insensitivity and flood our communities with compassion and love for one another because everyone counts.

Twice as Long -- Why Should I Expect Anything Different?

Oh where, oh where has my dossier gone?
Oh where, oh where can it be?

I spoke with our agency today and my dossier is still out for Authentication.  They originally said it would only take a week, maybe 2, after they receive my final form from USCIS.  Once again, that time has been doubled.  We still need to get that dossier to China before we move.

But never fear… our house hasn’t sold yet.  I’m not Catholic, but I’m about ready to bury a statue of St. Joseph in my yard!  Anyone have one I can borrow?  We’ve dropped the price yet again (despite knowing we’re at the right price because other homes in my neighborhood are selling) and that hasn’t even brought in any more showings.  Not one.

And just when you think matters can’t get any worse, Jay’s back is getting bad again.  Need to find a new doctor in CA and schedule another steroid shot.  With a move pending, now is not the time for surgery.

Oh, but wait!  It can get worse!  Jay was in a car accident last weekend and our Corolla was totaled! Thankfully he’s OK, as is the other driver and his passenger.  The car engine still runs great but the entire front was crumpled – bumper, hood and both quarter panels.  I don’t even want to see a picture of it. Although it wasn’t the first car I ever had, it was the first car I bought on my own, without the help of my parents, after graduating college.  I did the test driving.  I did the negotiations.  On.  My.  Own.   So, it’s hard to see it face an ugly demise.  It was a 12 year old car and the damage done is more than the car is worth, so it's going to the junkyard.  And wouldn't luck have it, we insured it for liability only in order to cut down on monthly bills with hopes to save more for the adoption.  Adopting families, heed my warning!  It might cost more to insure your older model car with collision too, but in my very recent experience, it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than digging into that savings account for a new (used) car!

The timing of this could not have been worse.  It all makes us depend on God even more.  Just when I thought I had enough in the savings account for our next adoption payment when we get our referral, we’re going to need those funds for a replacement vehicle instead.  I know God will provide for the adoption because He’s been faithful to the very penny of every amount we’ve needed to send thus far.  But gosh, this is just so unfair!  I’d really like one thing to start going right.  Is that too much to ask?  The house selling, the dossier being sent to China, my husband’s back pain to be solved (permanently), finding a house easily in CA (note the oxymoron in that statement) – I’d really love for something to go right.

OK, enough of my moaning and whining.

Stay tuned for Sunday’s post.  Jay is giving his first message at our new church.  He asked me to write a piece for it and I absolutely loved doing it.  Although for timing purposes, he had to cut parts of what I wrote, I’ll post the writing in its entirety here, complete with photos.  The subject matter ties into our adoption as well as one of our new church’s core values.  I think you’ll enjoy it.

See you Sunday.