New Babies!

No....we haven't adopted early or anything.  We have baby CHICKS!  Heath's sister Amanda was kind enough to give us eggs to raise, and yesterday they started hatching!  We've been studying birds in science this year, so this was a very fitting experiment.  I'd been praying we'd have at least a few of the 18 hatch, and I was worried they might not.  (I tend to kill every plant I touch, so I was hoping I wouldn't have the same effect on chickens.)  Anyway, so far 7 of them have hatched.  And if you've never seen anything hatch out of an egg, you should!  It's quite an amazing example of God's creation!  They are quite cute, and the kids and Heath and I are really enjoying them.  We're only going to keep them for a couple of weeks, as I'm not ready for full-blown chicken raising yet.  But this has definitely been a fascinating experience!  Thanks, Amanda!  =)

(See my facebook page for a video of one of them hatching.)

Wonderful Weekend!

This weekend has been one of the best I've had in a long time!  For one, the weather has been phenomenal!  Spring started today, but the beautiful weather started Friday.  Bright and sunny, warm and wonderful!

Friday the boys showed up in the living room in their swimsuits ready for a dip in the stream.  They had a blast, despite the fact that it was still technically winter!

 Saturday morning I went to a clothing swap at a church in Frederick and got all this stuff absolutely FREE!!

Saturday afternoon we spent at a friend's house, with the kids playing in their stream and all of us enjoying more gorgeous weather.  (Sorry...no pictures from that.)

Today after church we had a family outing.  We got free Italian Ice at "The Meadows" custard shop, and then we spent a couple hours at our property.  We walked through the woods, the boys found the perfect spot for their future fort, Tabitha "helped" Mommy over all the tough spots along the path, Heath built rock bridges to get us across the streams, and we all enjoyed dreaming of our future home there.  It was such a nice, relaxing family day, and I really had a great time!

I guess I'm a simple sort of person, but this is the kind of weekend that means the most to me.  Enjoying life's simple pleasures with my family.  I feel truly refreshed!

"Every good and perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father . . . " James 1:17

Update on Rayanna!

A few days ago we ordered some gifts and a birthday cake to be sent to Rayanna because she turns one next week!  We also sent some family pictures and some questions for the orphanage staff to answer.  Here's what we found out (some phrasing is strange after coming through translation, but you can get the basic idea):

Her referral included some comments on her medical report which questioned her hearing and mental capabilities.  There were no details or explanation, but it was enough to get her put on the special needs list.  Her caretakers' response when we asked about this was, "We never made the medical exam on her intelligence.  Her hearing is good.  Nannies said she is as lovely and smart as other kids."  A couple sentences translated from Chinese isn't much to go on so we'll try to be prepared for anything, but that is very encouraging!


Does she say any words yet?  She starts to make some sounds she pronounce and studying to talk.


What is her personality like?  She is introvert and quiet.  She is a little scare to the strangers.  This sounds like quite the opposite of our little Tabitha.  Maybe they'll balance each other out and get along great!


What are her favorite foods?  Her mainly food is the baby formula mix with rice cereals. 


The orphanage director said that they'll arrange the birthday party for her with the cake we sent.  We also ordered a disposable camera, so hopefully they'll take a lot of pictures!

It's been almost 3 weeks since our pre-approval, and it's supposed to take anywhere from 1-3 months from PA to get to the next step, our Letter of Acceptance.  Could be coming soon!

Half Way There!

If you notice the thermometer on the left side of this blog, you'll see that we're more than half way to our fundraising goals!  When we started the thermometer we had exhausted our personal resources but still needed to come up with $15,000 to pay for the rest of the adoption.  Since then (in less than 2 months) over $2,500 has been given to us by family, friends, and even acquaintances!  We are so thankful for each dollar given and each word of encouragement shared.  God has also been providing Heath with extra work, which should help us a lot in coming up with the rest of the money.

There have been many times in life where I've panicked about money, but somehow God always provides.  I think this is the first time where I'm actually excited that we're only a few months from the deadline of such a significant amount, and I don't know where it's all going to come from.  I'm having FUN watching God provide!  I was telling my friend Joy the other day that it's been so neat to see God working in this.  If we just had the money sitting around, we would be missing out on an amazing experience:   the experience of seeing the body of Christ work together not only to help us out, but to carry God's love for orphans to the other side of the world.  It truly is a wonderful thing, and I'm excited to see how He will provide every last penny!

Speaking of orphans on the other side of the world, please be praying for Ethiopia.  Their government is severely cutting back on adoptions, meaning so many more orphans won't have families.  There are many people in high places trying to persuade them otherwise, for the benefit of the children.  Please join us in praying for orphans there, as well as all over the world.  God is the one who "places the lonely in families."  (See Psalm 68:6).  Pray that He would intervene and bring more of these precious children into families of their own.

Thanks again for all the prayers, encouragement, and financial support.  We are truly blessed!

Alternative Heating Pays Off

The work of my ingenious husband....

Enough said.

We have Pre-Approval!!!

We have just received our pre-approval letter from China!  This means they've agreed to review our dossier for the adoption of the specific child we've been matched with!  This also means I'm now at liberty to share our little Rayanna's picture:

Isn't she adorable?!!!

She lives in Jiangxi Province, which is in southern China.  (That's right next to Fujian, which is where I went to teach English.  Should be lots of fun if we're there in the sweltering month of August!)

She will turn one year old this month!  That means she'll be less than a year and a half when we get her!   I'm very excited that we'll be part of her life while she's still a baby in many ways.

The kids all say they're excited to have another little sister.  But Tabitha's feelings seem to fluctuate.  She's already informed us that she's not going to share her toys, and she's going to tell Baby Sister, "No, no no!"  Heath and I are fully expecting some all-out girl fights, but hopefully it'll only be a temporary problem.  =)

We still need to come up with several thousand dollars before travel time.  God has graciously been providing already, and we're sure He'll provide the rest of it.  Thank you so much to all of you who have been praying, donating, or otherwise helping us out!  We appreciate everyone's help and support so much!

Our next step is waiting for China to review everything and give us official permission to adopt her.  (This is called LOA--Letter of Acceptance.)  That can take anywhere from 1-3 months.  Once we get that we need to get USCIS to approve our approval, and then we send that approval back to China.  Then we wait for the US Consulate's approval of the approval of the approval.  Once everybody has approved the approvals of the approvals (it's a bit like a tennis game), then China sends us permission to travel, about 3 weeks before we actually go!  So we're figuring August or September will most likely be our travel time.

Hard to believe it's really happening!

Efficiency from the Government?!

Yes!  It IS possible!  We got this email from our adoption agency today:

The U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou China has changed their visa timeline.  Beginning February 28^th, 2011, the Consulate will be combining the document intake process with the oath ceremony, which will allow them to provide next day turnaround for visa issuance and provide an additional day of consular appointments each week.  For families traveling, this means you will be able to go home one day earlier.


This is very encouraging news, since I'm already dreading leaving our kids behind on this trip.  One day shorter makes me very happy!