Our passports arrived last week in the mail! We can now officially both leave the country, just don't tell Brock, he is sooo scared to fly! Our pictures look like mug shots, we were told we couldn't smile, then later at the post office we were told we could smile, oh well, I wasn't going to redo the photos just so we could smile.
Just over a week ago I was contacted by a parent who happened to be in China adopting from the orphanage where our son is, she had a chance to shoot some video of our son and take some pictures for us! I was so shocked and thrilled at what I was able to see..and hear! We heard our sons voice for the first time! He says mama and baba (dada in Chinese). He also blows us kisses, sings us a song and takes a bow. I've watched these little videos several times and can never get sick of them. The new photos were great, he is looking handsome as always, with that same cute smile!
A few days later we received a receipt for our immigration approval. Which stated our documents were in the lock-box and sent to the local USCIS office and we would next get a letter stating when and where we were going to get our fingerprints done.
Another day or two and we got an update from our agency on our sons measurements and weight! And they also sent 2 new photos! This was a New Years gift from the orphanage to the Lifeline adopting families. We were glad to see his new measurements, it shows he is growing some since his last measurements!
And then another day or two later we got a letter with our fingerprint appointment date and time! We are so happy that this date is just over 2 weeks away from now, so we don't have to wait too long. Now we have to wait for the approval and processing of our fingerprints.
Once our immigration approval comes through, we then wait for authentication for our documents, then they will be ready to send our dossier to China!
We continue to ask for prayer with this process. We pray for speed in getting the next several steps completed. We have done everything needed, we are just waiting. I know that this is all in Gods timing, and I just hope his timing is a little sooner than later. We pray for direction when it comes to the financial aspect of the adoption. We have raised and contributed around $10,000 now. We are roughly $20,000 short of what the whole process should cost. I know that the Lord will provide, I just pray that He continues to lead us in the right direction. We have a few grants that we are preparing to send in and hope to get some assistance from those. We also have a few fundraising ideas that we hope to put to work soon.
We also ask that you pray for our son. Pray that the Lord is preparing his heart for his family. We know this is going to be a major change for him, we do not expect him to just jump into our lives and be happy we adopted him. We understand that this is the only life he has known and that while we may not think it is ideal to live in a large orphanage, it is all he knows. He has friends that are like family, nannies that have cared for him that are like his mother. It will be emotional for him too. We pray for guidance from the Lord on how to help our son through those emotions and fears he may experience.
And we thank the Lord for leading us to our son. There is no other way that we would be in this process without the Lord guiding us along the way. We also thank the Lord for loving and caring friends and family who have prayed for us, who have offered us advice or listened to our stories and who have contributed in one way or another to us for the adoption. Thank you!Here are a few of the wonderful surprises we have received in the past week or two!
