We can't wait to have a sister!

Madison Claire, Age 6

Caeden Michael, Age 3

Rudy Charles, Age 2

Hooray! We have reached a milestone today by mailing in our home study to our agency here in Kansas City. It was a great feeling to take that envelope to the post office this morning! The agency will now read and revise the documents, send certain items back to us for changes, and then submit the study as the first big step completed in this process. In the meantime, we will have our home visit in September, and begin working on our Dossier. The Dossier is many of the same documents, but require a notarization, certification, and authentication process for each of them. (In short, you must send them all over the country and have them signed and resigned by important people such as the Secretary of State and the Chinese Consulate).

On a more personal note: the kids are getting very excited about this process. Madison has been helping me organize the copies necessary for each part of the process. Caeden finally seems to be understanding what is going on and often says "Leila is going to be my baby sister!" Today in the car, I was telling Caeden that we were going to the post office to turn in important papers in order for Leila to come home. He replied, 'I'm going to be Leila's big brother. And if she decides to jump, I'm going to catch her.' I'm not sure where he is expecting her to jump from, and why this same sentiment doesn't apply to his very cute and adorable 2 year old brother, but it was sweet nonetheless.

I decided to post a little poem I wrote for Leila when we first decided to adopt. Please remember that I am not gifted in this area, but I do think that it is a clear picture of Jason and my feelings at this time.

Leila Grace

Maybe you are but a twinkle in His eye. If this is true, you can be assured you are the apple of His eye, and you can trust that He has been thinking about you since time began.

Maybe He has already knit you together in your mother’s womb. If this is true, you can be assured that He has created you in His image, and you were crafted with a purpose in this life. Your mother may already be wondering, “What will be the fate of this child?” while you, dear one, grow each day, closer to your debut in this big, confusing world.

Maybe, you lie in a hospital nursery, while your sweet mother cries in the next room. Maybe she wonders “why?” Why must she part with the most beautiful gift she has ever been given? Does she feel the loving hand of God on her shoulder?

Maybe you lay sleeping in a basket…on a roadside…in a marketplace…or on a soft bed in a crowded room. Do you know that you are already loved?

Wherever you are, Leila Grace, your Creator is with you and loves you more that you can imagine. He is crazy about you, do you know that? And somewhere, halfway across the world, waits your family.

Until we meet, sweet baby, I pray that the God of both of us will hold you in His loving arms until He places you in mine.

Love,
Mommy

Welcome!

This blog is for the purpose of keeping our friends and families updated on the status of our adoption of a little girl from China. For those of you who do not know what has been happening over the past several months, here is a quick update:

Jason and I have known for a long time that we wanted to adopt someday. Jason's heart had always been geared toward international adoption, whereas I originally thought we would have foster children, and then follow the path towards domestic adoption. However, after praying about adoption and going to a seminar together last fall, as well as witnessing several of our close friends adopt from China, God made it so clear that international adoption was what we should pursue. I find it so awesome that God changed my heart to line up with my husband’s heart, so that we were of one mind in this great adventure.

Last winter, we began obtaining the necessary paperwork but placed everything on hold until we moved into our new home. We did not want to have to duplicate any parts of the home study process. We moved in May and in July, officially 'signed on' with America World Adoption Agency, an amazing Christian adoption agency that we learned about through our church. (www.awaa.org). At that time, we began the 'paper pregnancy,' as it is called and are now ready to turn in our home study packet.

The home study process itself has been amazing. I never knew how many documents were necessary, not to mention disclaimers, agreements, autobiographies, child abuse reports, references, physicals...just to name a few. Although the process has been a lot of work, the listmaker/organizer in me, has loved every minute of it. Jason teases me because although the agency does a fine job of giving us checklists and timelines, I find it necessary to make my own checklists, spreadsheets, and databases.

By next Tuesday, we will have all forms necessary for Step One of this process, and will mail our form to our agency here in Kansas City. We will then wait to have the actual home visit, which should occur mid-September. We will keep you updated during the process over the next several months, and we anticipate flying to China next Spring or early Summer. In the meantime, we would ask for your prayers in terms of finances and patience with all the paperwork. Most of all, we ask that you would pray for this baby, wherever she may be at this time. We have requested a 6-18 month old girl, and we'll name her after my Great-Grandmother, who was such a wonderful role model and one of the Godliest women I've ever known. Her name will be Leila Grace, and we can't wait to meet her!