Show Hope 10 Year Celebration

still waiting... LOA

We are on Day 44 waiting on our Letter Of Acceptance- full approval by China for our son.  With each new day the "wait" is becoming much more challenging!  Oh, how I remember the growing impatience of waiting on each of the girls to be born.  I just have to believe the "waiting" is also growing a deep love inside my heart, to a little boy who God has orchestrated to be our son!  The time is moving really slow these days but the love is so strong and so real.  I've started playing out in my mind the many different ways our first seconds with him might be...

plays- softball- and fishing!

The month of May has been busy with the girls, which is a wonderful blessing when you are waiting and needing to be preoccupied!  Rachel was in our church spring play and Alaina has started her 2nd season of softball....

   

                                                                                   
              ......and Maddie had a great day of fishing with her dad and grandad, they caught more than they could count!

a lot happening around here❤

April...has been a pretty spectacular month for us, just as March. 
1)We had numerous friends from college and from different periods in our lives/marriage who contributed to our adoption financially. It's been such a sweet, sweet blessing to see who God continues to use in this journey to bring home our son.  It's really an incredible blessing. 
2)Our dossier arrived in China, we formally did our acceptance submission to China for our son, LOI.  
3) Only one week later we received Pre-Approval of our son. 4) We have chosen a name for our son, Luke O'Neil Perry. 
5) We received 2 new updated pictures and a video of our son walking.  He looks like he's doing well and his orphanage is colorful and has many toys.  It relieved us to see the happy, bright things in the room with him.  We can post pictures of him after we receive full approval-LOA.  

the fundraising and orphan awareness continues...

2nd Annual Orphancare Auction

March 14th,  We helped with the 2nd Annual
Orphancare Auction at church. Our agency
coordinator, Bethany, came as a resource to
those attending.  What a blessing Bethany has
been to our family!  The girls have fallen in love
with her.  Many members at our church helped
with donations, set-up, and contributing to the
evening.  We were told it was a great success, and
definitely a sweet evening for our family:)

Craig finishing up with the dollhouse bookshelf as a

donation for the auction event, he and his dad built together!

Authentication day and submitting dossier (#2) to China

                March 13- I800a approval came two days ago.  Today we went to the Sec. of
       State's office to complete our final step and submitt the dossier to agency (for the 2nd time)! It should be in China within 2 weeks.  God reminded me of this verse: Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, and thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  (So thankful that God is so faithful and generous with His love to us). 

Secretary of State's Office getting dossier authenticated!

UPS Store mailing dossier to agency!

We got a referral!

March 5th-  WE GOT A REFERRAL- here is our son!! 

(Pic posted-8/24/2013)

In such a short amount of time we have had so many things happen.  It's almost unreal for us.  As these last few weeks have passed I've been longing so badly to see the face of our sweet baby... today that happened, HOLY COW!  A phrase that we've heard numerous adoptive families say is, "hurry up and wait," and this holds so true with this adoption journey.  After 16 months in the process- today we know who our son is, wow!   We have a pretty busy, exciting SPRING ahead of us;) and we are ready.  Thank you Father!

This month we also mailed the USCIS PACKET (x2) getting closer!

birthday girls

Feb 12, 2013- We celebrated Alaina and my birthdays this weekend ;)  My birthday wish this year is to be matched with our son and to bring him home.  We received a phone call from agency and all documents have been reviewed and dossier is almost complete. We are approved, officially, for the Waiting Child program- China, and had our conference call!!  Hooray!  We are starting to talk about boy names.  Some that we are thinking about right now are:   Jake, Jude, or Luke.. oh, to pick a name for a child.  I've been told the significance of a name is extremely important in the Chinese culture.  We shall see.  Jude means praise and thanks-  Jake we just like- and Luke was going to be each of the girls names, if they were a boy... Luke did write the majority of the New Testament.  We want a one-syllable, strong name.  My hesitation with Luke is that he would be Luke Perry, and yes, I grew up with 90210...hmmm

the birthday girlies

 

 

Excitement and determination!

Jan, 2013- paperwork, paperwork, paperwork- for dossier and for Waiting Child Program.. thankful today that I was a social worker in my former career :0 

preparing for our baby

                                         

 Craig's father, grandad, built our son's bed- we are starting to plan- with caution!  December was full of yummy food, fun with family and friends, and much, much paperwork.  We will have to redo a dossier and necessary paperwork.  However,  this mommy has done it recently and ready to get her baby- i'm getting'er done=)

from Honduras to China, that's our story!

Well, we have reached another December (7th) in this journey to bring home baby boy!  The girls are getting anxious to have their brother and we are equally ready to know- something.  I'm longing to just know who this little guy is- who I have prayed for for so many months- and that we have began planning for and starting to fall in love with-- it's really incredible to think that you could be so in love with a person you haven't even met yet.  I can parallel so many different steps in this to pregnancy... I just long to see his little face.  I remember very vividly doing the same thing with each of the girls- longing to see them, smell them, hold them and love them... i'm one sappy mommy.  We've started the paperwork for the China Waiting Child program.  The paperwork begins ONCE AGAIN, yay paperwork!

Celebrating the big "10"

November 27th, Rachel's 10th b'day!  She finally got her ears pierced=)

We also received word that the Honduran adoption authority went on strike once again in October.  We think we should inquire about the China Waiting Child program.  What a roller coaster this last year has been, but time and time again, God continues to show us His hand in His plan... His ways are definitely higher than ours.,we CANNOT comprehend the magnitude of God's plans in how He will bring us to our child...

when we do not understand our circumstances we absolutely can trust in the magnificent Sovereignty of God, our Father!

Cross-country, Endurance (on numerous levels), and bday celebrations!

May-August
An uneventful summer with adoption progress, I guess no news is good news, right?
~when we are weak, He is strong.  James 1:2  2 Cor. 12:9,10 are a great Word right now.



September......... we celebrated Maddie's 12th birthday and finished up Maddie's 1st Cross Country season .....(and still no news ;( on paperwork in Honduras).

Yay---- Maddie!

 

Submitting dossier-#1

                April 27, 2012- We submitted our dossier to Honduras! What a milestone
                and huge relief... friends, family, and most of all Our Father have blown us
                away with love, support, encouragement, and giving- BLESSED.

 My sweet friend, Karen, joined me for this exciting day:)

Mailing the dossier to our agency!

Biometrics Appointments at USCIS

                                        March 8- Getting our fingerprints done for I800a
                                                     to submitt with our dossier, hooray!

This adorable little guy created much panic!

Feb 2012- It has been a busy winter of paperwork, appointments, fundraisers, and MORE paperwork.... and after a busy day of homeschooling we came downstairs to discover Pepper ate Craig's passport, YES, he ATE his passport, just as we are about to apply for I800A ;( a sad mommy I am...

Getting physicals for dossier- all for ❤

Jan. 2012    ....and the paperwork/physicals begin. The girls getting their physicals, this is definitely a family affair :)

Christmas, excitement, and the paperwork begins

Dec. 25-26, We told our families and shared with them the video that God used to affirm that He was calling us to adoption (Depraved Indifference, Eric Ludy).

We are so thankful for HIS promises!

Dec. 5th, 2011  We were given a verse- Numbers 23:19 God is not human, that He should lie, not a human being that He should change His mind.  Does He speak and then not act?  Does He promise and not fulfill?  ...a verse that we will cling to through this journey with so much uncertainty, decisions to be made, $ to raise, and a child to bring home. 

We officially started the adoption process with this first step,and ....,"start(ed) spreading the news."

Monday, November 28th,  We completed the application paperwork with America World to start the adoption process to bring home our child.  Throughout this week we began sharing the news with different family and friends.  We sent out Christmas cards with a letter telling family and friends of our wonderful news.  The girls are thrilled!

...and our story begins

 November 6, 2011
     After praying for more than a year, and God speaking to me through His Word, about my adoption by God- through Jesus-  He spoke very clearly to Craig that now was the time to start the process of bringing home our son...

....and so our thoughts, prayers, and "Letters of Luke," begin,
                    our journey to bring home our son!