DTC!

Well, in the lingo of Chinese adoptive families...we are happy to announce that we are DTC! That means our agency has finished all the authenticating, translating, notarizing, etc, and has sent our Dossier To China! It'll be a few weeks before we have our "log in date" which is the date China officially enters us into their system. If we weren't going through the Waiting Child Program (special needs), it'd be a few YEARS before we had a referral! But for us it could come any day now. It's just a matter of when a child becomes available that matches our requests. We're hoping for a child under the age of 2, and there are a variety of minor special needs that we're open to.

I don't really feel like I believe we're really this close! I mean if we got a call for a child this week I think I'd panic! But I guess I need to start getting mentally prepared because it's getting more and more real, and closer every day.

We've started a fundraiser selling Money Savings Cards, hoping to raise some money to help with the adoption costs. These cards give the buyer access to shop through a certain website where they earn cash back for every purchase. They even earn the $10 purchase fee BACK when they first use the card! We're hoping to sell 250 of these, which would profit us about $2000. (If anyone is interested in helping us out by buying a card, but you don't know how to reach us, just leave a comment here and I'll get in touch with you. Thanks!)

Continued prayers for wisdom in accepting a referral, and for finances are GREATLY appreciated!

I was reading back through our first adoption journal about when we were at this stage in the process. We had looked at a few other files, and even decided to pursue adopting one of the little girls. But by the time we called our agency, she was already off the list, being adopted by another family. About a week later we got a call about Wang Xin Fang, our little Tabitha. And the Lord knew all along that she'd be ours. Even when we made the very careful decision to accept the other little girl, He knew it was Tabitha that would be our daughter. And He knows who our next daughter will be, even as we worry about making such a big decision. He knows when we'll first see her, when we'll bring her home, and what she's doing right now. Knowing it's all in His hands makes the waiting and wondering a little easier!

From the Mouths of Babes

We've never done scripted prayers with our kids; they just say whatever they want when they pray. But they've fallen into habits, and these are their usual dinner time prayers:

ETHAN--Dear God, Thank you for our food, and thank you for Mommy, Daddy, Jesse, Tabitha, Shadow, and me. Amen.

JESSE--Dear God, Thank you for our food, and thank you for everything in the world. Amen.

TABITHA-- Well, she speaks in tongues and, unfortunately, we don't have an interpreter. =)

The other day Jesse was the one praying, and he said, "Dear God, Thank you for our food..." Then he just stopped, and we all waited for him to finish. After a moment I looked up at him, and he said, "That's it. I'm all dried up."

Heath and I had to work really hard at not cracking up at his comment, but later on I realized that was pretty profound coming from a 5 year old. I mean, haven't we all had times of prayer like that before?

One More Thing . . .

I guess I can also go ahead and let the cat out of the bag. We've decided on a name for our new daughter. Much to the relief of my mom and mom-in-law (who have obviously watched too much "Bewitched" on TV), we are not naming her Samantha, which was one name we had considered. =)

We've decided to keep her Chinese name as her middle name, and her first name will be Rayanna. Heath's middle name is Ray, and Anna goes along with the Hebrew/Aramaic names of our other kids. And it also meets my neurotic needs of having both girls have names with 3 syllables. So there you have it.

Can't wait to introduce Rayanna to you all (once we find out who she is, that is!)

Soon and Very Soon!

We heard from our agency yesterday that they received our dossier and everything looks great! Next they'll be sending it to Harrisburg, PA, for "sealing" and then to New York for Chinese Authentication. I really have no idea what those things mean, but after that we will be "DTC": Dossier to China! So exciting!

I'm a little nervous though because now we are able to start looking at referrals and considering a match. While we've already sent in our checklist of which special needs we'll consider, I feel a bit panicked whenever I think of making that decision. Please continue to pray with us for huge amounts of wisdom and that God would make it crystal clear as to which child He has for us.

The other exciting but nerve wracking thing is that referral to travel time is currently 5 months! Wo! Now I know things usually don't happen as quickly as we plan for them to, but if we were to be matched in the next month or so we could potentially have a new daughter as early as June! I don't think that will really come about so quickly, but the fact that it's a possibility is pretty scary. Especially since we have no idea where the rest of the money's coming from and can't travel until we come up with it! We're praying for God's timing, wisdom, and provision . . . and now we'll wait and see how He does it!

You may notice some new gadgets on the left side of the blog. The thermometer shows where we are in the finances of the adoption, and below that is information on how people can make donations to help us out if desired. I've never done something like that before, but it's a pretty common occurrence on adoptive families' blogs. So we'll see. Maybe with the millions of people in my blog fan base we'll have the money raised in no time! =)

It's hard to believe that it'll be during this year that we'll have another child. I feel like we JUST got back from China with Tabitha!

So exciting, slightly petrifying . . . completely amazing.