Christ is Risen, He is Risen Indeed!

Mail

When I checked the mail yesterday we had an envelope from the "Department of Homeland Security:  Adoptions."  I was all excited that it was going to be our I-800 approval (the last thing we need before we can send in our next batch of documents in order to get our travel approval).  It was on the official green paper that our I-800A approval came on, so I when I opened it I was still excited.  But, alas, when I started reading it I found out it was only notice that they had received our form and were processing it.  It's supposed to take 2-3 weeks, so it could happen anytime now.  We've got everything else together in an envelope, ready to be mailed the second we receive the approval!

Getting excited!!!

Inspiring Quote for Stay-At-Home-Moms

“It is not difficult to see why … the female became the emblem of the universal. … Nature …. surrounded her with very young children, who require being taught not so much anything as everything. Babies need not to be taught a trade, but to be introduced to a world. To put the matter shortly, woman is generally shut up in a house with a human being at the time when he asks all the questions that there are, and some that there aren’t. It would be odd if she retained any of the narrowness of a specialist. Now if anyone says that this duty of general enlightenment … is in itself too exacting and oppressive, I can understand the view. I can only answer that our race has thought it worth while to cast this burden on women in order to keep common-sense in the world. … How can it be a large career to tell other people’s children about the Rule of Three, and a small career to tell one’s own children about the universe? How can it be broad to be the same thing to everyone, and narrow to be everything to someone? No. A woman’s function is laborious, but because it is gigantic, not because it is minute."

~G.K. Chesterton

Insurance Approval!

Hallelujah!!!

We just found out that we have insurance approval for Tabitha's surgery!!  This is a big answer to prayer in so many ways.  The most important thing is that she'll be done with this surgery before the next adoption.  And now we can go ahead and make plans for Cincinnati next month.  Wow...only a month away!


So, she'll have some testing on Friday, May 13th, check into the hospital on Sunday, May 15th, and the surgery will be on Monday, May 16th.  She'll need to stay anywhere from 4 to 10 days after surgery, depending on how fast she heals and whether or not she has a colostomy.  Then she'll have to come back on June 3rd for a post-op visit.  Lots of time in Ohio, but at least it's a drivable distance away, not so far that we have to fly!  Please thank the Lord with us for the insurance approval!  

Her surgery is called posterior sagittal anorectovagino-urethroplasty (PSARVUP).  Feel free to look it up or email me if you want details.  But basically they'll be repositioning all her "parts".  She currently has no possibility for bowel control; after the surgery she might or might not.  It is definitely our prayer that she will have bowel control, but I'm trying to be prepared to handle either outcome.  Also, she might have to have a temporary colostomy after surgery, depending on how healthy the tissue is.  The colostomy would give everything more time to heal before being used.  But that is really, really, REALLY not something I want to deal with.  So please pray that it wouldn't happen, or that God would pour a whole lot of grace on me to be able to handle that.  Because right now I really don't feel like I can.  On the other hand, if she doesn't have a colostomy, she won't be able to eat for 7-10 days, and would be "fed" through an IV.  That doesn't sound very pleasant either.  


Right now the plan is for Heath to go out with her the first few days, while the boys and I finish up some things here.  Then he'll come home to be with the boys/back to work, and I'll go out to be with Tabitha for the second half of her stay.  It won't be the fun family trip it was last time...just a long hospital stay.  It's not really a fun thing to be looking forward to, but I'm so thankful for the insurance approval and that we can get this over with!  

Please be praying for Tabitha.  She's old enough to remember and understand somewhat, but still not able to express herself verbally very well.  So it's kind of hard to have a real conversation with her about it.  Plus, not knowing what the outcome will be as far as colostomy or not, bowel control or not, it's hard to explain the reasons for it.  And of course, the recovery will probably be rough on her.  She's a tough little girl, so hopefully she'll handle it well.

Thanks for praying with us and supporting us with all this! 

We have LOA (LSC)!

We have just received our official letter from China:  "Letter of Seeking Confirmation from Adopter."  This is China telling us that we've been officially matched with Rayanna.  Now we have to sign it to say, "Yes, we really want her."  We can also now file our I-800, which is the application to the US Government:  "Petition to Classify Convention Adoptee as an Immediate Relative."  Once that's OK'd, we send the US approval and the signed letter back to China.  Then we get approval from the US Consulate in China, then China officially invites us to travel to come get our daughter.  About 3 weeks after that, we GO!

So I was just doing the math on the estimated time frames for all of that.  The LOA came on the fast end of what's expected!  So, if everything else went super fast we COULD travel in June.  BUT, it'll probably be July.  And I'm going to emotionally plan on August so that I won't throw a hissy fit if we hit delays.  :)

There are a couple important things this summer that we'll need to work around (Taylor-Side Family Reunion and Cousin Beth's wedding), so hopefully there won't be any complications with any of that.

I can't believe we're getting this close!  We still need to get her room finished, find baby clothes, find the rest of the money, and make sure we're ready!  I feel like with Tabitha's adoption I was just waiting and waiting and so frustrated with how long it took.  This time I feel like it's FLYING by!  The process has gone a little faster this time, but I think we're just 10x busier than we were before and haven't had time to get fully ready, let alone impatient!

One of the major things keeping us busy is Tabitha's medical stuff.  We're still waiting for insurance approval for her surgery scheduled for May 16th.  Please continue to pray we get that, because otherwise she probably won't be able to have the surgery before the adoption, and that will just make everything so much harder.

God did answer a prayer about insurance today though.  Last week we received a bill from the hospital for over $9,000 that wasn't being covered by insurance.  Lovely.  That didn't include the doctors' bills and wasn't even surgery or anything--just some tests!  Anyway, we knew we had insurance approval and they should be covering it, but I was imagining this big long battle and many hours on the phone and all that.  But Pam at the Colorectal Center (who had helped us get the insurance approval originally), called the insurance company for me, found out it was a mistake, and said that they will get it fixed.  And I didn't have to do anything!!!  If you knew how much stress the thought of those phone calls was adding to my life, you'd know God just sent a wonderful blessing through Pam.  =)

Another prayer request is that we applied for an adoption grant from The Lydia Fund.  It would be a great help if they say yes!  But of course, there are many adoptive parents applying, and some might need it even more than we do.  So my prayer is for wisdom for the people making the decisions, that God would direct them to make the best choices about the money.

Oh!  I almost forgot!  Now that we have LOA we're allowed to post whatever information we want about our daughter!  So Rayanna's Chinese name is Feng Hao De (fung how duh).  Her new name will be Rayanna Haode Runkles.  Her birthdate is 03/21/10.  (Ethan's is 10/21/03, so I thought that was pretty cool)!  She was believed to be found on the day she was born, so her birthdate is probably exact instead of an estimate.  She lives in the Fengxin Welfare Institue in Jiangxi Province.  AND WE GET TO MEET HER IN JUST A FEW MONTHS!!!!

Jesse & Jesus

Well, when Ethan accepted Christ it was all on his own and I was surprised to miss out on the "big moment" and hear about it later.  And now . . . . it appears Jesse has done the same thing!

We were working on his Awana Cubbies activity, where he was supposed to draw a Bible.  When he was done he showed it to me.  It was a Bible with a picture of Jesus on the cross.  I told him I thought that was the most important story in the whole Bible, and he said, "I know."

In the past he's always seemed to understand the basics about Jesus and salvation but never showed any desire to make it personal.  This time, I asked him why he thought that was the most important part of the Bible and he said, "because He took away our sin."  So I asked him if he had asked Jesus to take away his sin, and he said, "Yeah, a long time ago when nobody could hear me."

I asked him a few more questions about it, and he does really understand that Jesus died in our place and we are forgiven because of what He did.  Then he prayed the sweetest little prayer.  "Dear God, [hesitation] I mean . . . dear Jesus, thank you for dying for me.  Please take away my sins and help me follow you."  Then I told him I was very excited that he's a Christian and we'll all be together with Jesus forever.  And his response was, "Yeah, I can kind of feel Him in my heart now."  =)   Gotta love those Christianese sayings that kids take so literally!

The faith of a child is so precious.  I had to bite my tongue not to try to go through all the theology, soteriology, eschatology, etc., to make sure he understands everything.  I tend to want to complicate things.  But I know that while God certainly wants us to seek to know and understand Him better, He also wants us to have the simple trusting faith of a child.  Such a wonderful thing to witness.

Now we have both of our sons "in the fold," and I'm very excited to watch them grow and see how God directs their lives and continues to draw them to Himself.

Shout joyfully to God, all the earth; sing the glory of His name; make His praise glorious.  Say to God, "How awesome are Your works!"  Psalm 66:1-3

Hurry TA!

We just found out that China is once again making adoption harder.  I don't understand why, but it seems they keep adding requirements.  The new application requirements won't affect us since we're already logged in, but it might affect our post-placement requirements.

Right now, China requires two post-placement reports (one at 6 months and one at 1 year).  If we get our Travel Approval before the end of July we'll be in on the old system (even if we travel in August).  But if we don't get approval by then, we'll have to go by the new rules which require SIX post-placement reports, the last one being FIVE YEARS after bringing the child home!  Also, they would require 8 photos, a doctor's evaluation, and a teacher's evaluation with each report.  Ugh.  I'd like to think that once we bring our child home we're pretty much done with paperwork, agency fees, etc.  But if we don't make it under the deadline we'll have to do all this.  Worth it of course, but just one more hassle.

So, join us in praying for smooth sailing with the rest of our processing and for Travel Approval before the end of July!!