It's TIme!!!!!

We are awaiting the final word about travel dates and our consulate appointment, but we are expected to receive our TA in the next few days!!!! And, we will more than likely be in China meeting our sweet girl in mid-September. . . just a couple of weeks!!!!! It is difficult to wrap my brain around the fact that we are finally going to be united with our little girl. . . who has lived in our hearts and minds for the last 4 years! And, she is about to be with us in person--for now and forever more :) !! It almost feels like a sweet recurring dream that you wake up trying to remember in detail and pray that you dream again each night----all of a sudden becoming real!

There are really no words to express the emotions. This four-year journey to our daughter is finally taking us to the next step!!! Uniting us with her at last!!! :)

Thanks to all who have followed along our journey over the years! I will be having much more to post soon!!

Thank you, Lord!!!! :D

Hip Hip Hooray!!! We Got our LOA!!!!

Well, it finally came!! We received our LOA (Letter of Approval) from China granting us their permission to adopt our sweet girl!!! The letter is stamped 6-28.2011, and we received the news on Friday, July 1st!!!

Mei Li!! It is official now. We are going to be your parents!!!

Now, we have some final Immigration and Visa steps to take and prepare for travel! We hope to travel in 2-3 months!

What beautiful news to receive on the 4th of July weekend!!!! We will receive an update on our Mei Li very soon!

I'm about to bust wide open! Can you tell?

Thank you, Lord!!!! It's been a LONG 4 years. . . but, certainly worth the wait! :)

LID!!!!!! May 11, 2011!!!!!

Yayayayay!!!!! Just got word that we have our LID. . . May 11, 2011!

We have been told to expect our LOA (Letter of Approval) in 2-4 weeks??? Then, from LOA, travel should happen in 2-3 months! So, if all goes according to plan. . . we could travel to get our Mei Li in August or September!!!!

Can't wait!!! Fingers crossed for a quick LOA!!!! :)

More Treasured Photos and Info on our Sweet Mei Li!!!

Our Mei Li is Thriving!!!!

Tah-Dah!!!! You Gotta Love Me!!!!

We are counting our blessings at the White House!!! This time of waiting. . . going on 4 years, now since we began our HS and road to adoption. . . has been filled with so much time of "silence" and "unanswered questions". It began to feel, many times, as if we would never meet our daughter. . . like we were standing out in the middle of a barren desert with no road in sight and nothing but miles of nothingness around us as far as we could see. So, we just "stood". . . waiting for direction... for a road to appear... And, we stood there a long time. But, last September, our road finally appeared. We met our daughter for the first time through the pictures in her file. And, we began the next leg of our journey to her. There were still many unanswered questions. And, we, for many months, didn't have any more news or updates on our sweet girl. But, at least we knew our road. And, we kept putting one foot in front of the other to get to her.

Within the last month, we have "stumbled upon" this amazing Yahoo group of Shanghai families. And, through these families who are bonded together with one commonality. . . we all have children we are bringing home... or have brought home.... from Shanghai. And, most of our children are in the same orphanage and know one another. Through this beautiful group of families, a window to our daughter's world has opened. And, lovely pictures and "eye-witness" updates of her health and well-being are being given to us. I have to tell you, this is like manna from heaven.

Thank you, Mary Beth, for these recent pictures!!!!! And, thank you for telling us what you saw with your very own eyes about our daughter while you were in Shanghai last month!!!! She tells us that Mei Li is overflowing with personality, is incredibly happy, is playful and full of joy. . . and that she walks and runs and gets around beautifully!!! What wonderful news!!!!!

Without further delay. . .

No words. . . just look :)

I don't think she's full of mischief. . . do you??? ;)

Her shirt says it all!

Mei Li loves visitors!! She is "not" shy, I hear :)

Pure joy!!! And, never lacking for expression. . .

I wonder what she is thinking about here.

Mei Li and her friends :)

Mei Li with her classmates

That candy must taste good!!

Mei Li, practicing the air-horn. :)

Our precious little girl!!! Can't wait for you to come home!!

Thank you so much, Mary Beth!!! What treasures you have given us while we wait!!

New Pic of our Sweet Mei Li!!

Just look at this smile!! This photo was taken by someone who travelled this month! So glad to see her happy :)

DTC on Friday April 22nd! :)

Good news! Our dossier if officially "authenticated" and was sent to China last Friday, April 22nd!!! Fingers crossed that it all moves faster than expected. But, we've been told it should be about 5 months until we will travel.

Thanks for following our journey to Mei Li! :)

Part 2: The Journey: A Left Turn off the SE coast of China

So, we had begun our adoption journey!! We had heard God's voice loud and clear. He had confirmed His call on us to adopt. He had confirmed that we were to go to China. And, we took the plunge to "go forth" to China with anticipation and excitement. We had no idea we were just taking the first step of what would become a 4-year journey. Perhaps, that was best left a mystery! ;)

We began the homestudy. . . the meetings. . . the cancelled meetings. . . the rescheduled meetings. We did our education requirements. It was truly like we were going to get our Master's degree. Classes, books, online coursework. . . For those of you going through the process. . . you are chuckling right now because "You KNOW" what I'm talking about. ;) Even when we sprinted through all of the educational requirements and paperwork (and MORE paperwork). . . THEN the hard part came. We had to WAIT on fingerprints to come back and child abuse and neglect clearances and medical reports. And, when I say WAIT. . . I mean WAAAAIIIT. It was delay after delay. . . and every bit of it was outside our control. It took 5 months for my husband's fingerprints to come back. And, we couldn't move forward with our homestudy OR adoption until it was back.

While this waiting period was underway. . . we were busy taking our classes, knocking out everything we "HAD" control over. And, that is when we began to learn how long the China "healthy child" adoptions were taking. The wait time was growing from 3 years . . . to 4 or 5 years. Geoff and I were sick to our stomachs thinking that we might all (Anna Grace too) have to wait 4 or 5 years for Anna Grace's sister to come home. AG would be close to 10. . . a HUGE age difference between them. And, HOW MANY times would we have to re-do and update this paperwork in the meantime??? We were frustrated. But, we knew that God had pointed us to China. . . so we continued to move forward.

It was February of 2008 (we had begun our HS first of Oct. 2007), and we were sitting in Dr. Chambers' IA clinic workshop, and we sat down next to the Coueys. We instantly made friends, and we learned that they were adopting from Taiwan. They shared all about their agency, the process, the wait-time. . . and all of a sudden we saw a wonderful opportunity that might allow us to adopt much sooner than 4 to 5 years. And, for heaven's sake, Taiwan is just off the SE coast of China. . . less than 100 miles!!! And, the children are Asian. That was still staying within God's plan, as far as we could see. China even still considers Taiwan to be a part of China. . . although Taiwan begs to differ. It was "just" a suburb of southern China. Right, God???

After some discussion and thought and prayer, Geoff and I decided to change our course (last second. . . because our HS had been completed for China and our SW was ready to write it up and send it off for all of the US clearances). And, we asked her to write it up, instead, for Taiwan. This Taiwan road should take less than a year. People were getting to travel for their child, at that time, in about 6-8 months from the time they went on the wait list. The babies were 6-9 months of age when they came home. It all appeared to be a better choice. We only had to get our HS cleared on the U.S. side; then, we could go on the Taiwan wait list!! We expected to travel in under a year. Things were looking up!

So, we were OFF to Taiwan!!! That is about the time I created this blog. Thus, the URL name. :)

We were about to learn three things:

1. All that glitters is "not" gold.

2. a Left turn off the coast of China, even for less than 100 miles, was not what God had called us and confirmed for us to do.

3. Even in a desert, God can make blessings overflow.

Thanks for following!