Sunday, April 28, 2013

Our 13th wedding anniversary

Tomorrow marks 13 years that Brock and I have been married! The past 13 years have gone by pretty quickly, so many things have happened over the years. We are so blessed to have 3 beautiful children and are awaiting the arrival of our 4th! They are all growing up so quickly. We are all anxious to get Hudson home. It is so hard to know that your son is growing up on the other side of the world without you, without even knowing you. We are getting closer to bringing him home, but it is still too far away.

Several months ago we started a puzzle piece fundraiser. We have this cute kids puzzle of the world, and we were asking for friends and family to sponsor a piece of the puzzle by donating $10 per piece and they can tell us what to write on the back of the piece (their name, a Bible Verse, etc). Once the puzzle is completely sponsored we will then frame it in a two way frame in Hudson's room where he can see both the puzzle and all the loving comments, names of those who helped, etc. We have 81 pieces that still need sponsored.
*What I am asking is, for our 13th anniversary, if we can get 13 pieces sponsored! I don't want a card, flowers, gifts or anything else for our anniversary. You can use the link at the top right of this page to donate through Paypal and leave a note on there of what you would like written on the back of the puzzle piece. If you do not want donate through Paypal, you can mail a check or money order directly to our adoption savings account at:

First Federal Savings & Loan
800 West Lincoln Avenue
Charleston, IL 61920
Attn: Paul Family Adoption Savings Account

We really appreciate the prayers and support. Please feel free to share with your friends and family about our puzzle piece fundraiser, your $10 donation is helping change a little boys life! Its quick and easy and we really appreciate it!

Friday, April 19, 2013

Many updates!

I am behind on updating our blog. I've been locked out for awhile and had to play around and finally was able to get access. So, there has been lots of good things happening!

1. We were officially DTC (Dossier to China) on March 25th! This is when a large collection of very important documents has been sent to China. We have been waiting for this step for quite some time.

2. On April 3rd we celebrated our sons birthday. He turned 4 in China, and we celebrated his last birthday without his family! We had a cake sent to him at the orphanage. They wouldn't allow anyone in to take photos of him enjoying the cake, but we got a picture of the cake before they took it to him and we should get photos of him enjoying the cake once we go to pick him up. This was also an exciting day for our family, as we then let everyone know the name we have chosen for him. We revealed the name with a birthday cake. It was very beautiful and the kids liked the idea!
















The cake that was sent to the orphanage!






                                                             The cake that we had here at home, his name is Hudson Keith Paul!

3. Today, April 19th, we received LID (Log in Date). Our documents have officially been received by China and now they are translating and reviewing our documents. The next step is LOA (Letter of Acceptance). There has been families lately that have gotten this faster, but if can take up to 90 days. We are praying for it to happen sooner.

Also, today I sent out our first application for a grant. We are still over $13,000 short of the needed funds to complete our adoption. This includes our traveling to and from China. We have been fortunate enough to not have to apply for any loans yet and we are praying that we are able to get a grant or two that will help ease the remainder of the costs.

We are still looking at late summer-early fall travel. We can not wait to get Hudson home! We are slowly preparing the house and will complete his bedroom early this summer. He has a cute room and lots of clothes already! As much as I know this is really going to happen, it just doesn't feel that real yet. I'm sure as we get closer to going to China it will. This has been a pretty long process, April 9th marked 1 year since I first saw Hudson and knew he was our son. But, I know that the Lord is with us in this and He is in control.

Thank you for your prayers and encouragement  We appreciate it all! Please continue to pray for our family as we continue the process to bringing home Hudson. If you feel led to donate towards our adoption, please click on the link at the top right side of this page, you can safely donate through Paypal.



Father to the fatherless, defender of widows — this is God, whose dwelling is holy. God places the lonely in families.
Psalms 68:5-6