Next Month

Another month has past and the update is that China matched log in dates through July 12, two days before our log in date. As far as I can find, there aren't any waiting families on July 13 so baring something strange, sometime next month, we will see pictures of our sweet baby girl! I really felt sure that we were going to be included this time and I think we were all very disappointed that we didn't find out where GraceLin is last week but it's all in God's time. That baby girl has been chosen for this family for a very long time.

We are enjoying the last two weeks of summer day by day and letting the house become a complete disaster. As always, summer has gone by way too fast! Carter is going to miss his big brother so much when he goes back to school. I don't know who will miss him more because when Parker is in school, Carter is going to look to me for his entertainment and I'm just not as much fun. :) Parker is going to miss Carter too because he is always so anxious to get back to him after he's been away doing something fun this summer.

Until next month...

Five Year Anniversary and Happy Birthday!

Today is not only Carter's birthday but it marks the 5 year anniversary of our wait for Gracie! It's hard to believe that we have prayed for and waited for this little girl for so long but the fact that we will very soon have a face to go with the name is surreal!

Our big boy Carter is 2! He moved into a big boy bed just a few days ago and thinks he's big stuff now! He loves sleeping next to his big brother and having some freedom! So many happy moments from today but this picture shows the highlight of Carter's day I think. He ate his slice of cake and then pulled the entire cake over to himself and started digging in. Once he got his fill, he said, "I wan bwow! Mama, Mama, I wan bwow!" Once we figured out that he wanted to blow the candles again, he had a field day. He must have blown out candles over and over for a half hour! He cheered for himself each time he accomplished it! Each time we lit the candles, he had to remind us that they were hot! What was left...

Not Yet

A new batch of babies were matched yesterday and we are not in the group yet. We first felt sad about that fact but then realized that we now have another month to get ready. We really haven't done much at all to Grace Lin's room. The room and bathroom need to be painted and the closet is piled with things I've stored there. I would also like to get the kitchen painted and finish the cabinets we started in our bathroom three years or more ago:) We are also taking a family vacation this coming week and I think it would have been hard to focus on just enjoying the boys and our extended family if we were thinking we should be home getting ready to travel. You gotta look a the positives right?

We went to the courthouse in Eatonton today to order passports for the boys. The reason we hadn't done this before is that we didn't have Carter's birth certificate until Tuesday! We all had to be present to get the boys passports ordered. Amazing how nice it was to walk right in and get sweet southern hospitality - there are lots of good things small towns! The fact that we did not get a match this time around allowed us to order their passports without expediting them too.

Praying for a match at the end of July or early August!

Pre-Placement Packet

We got our pre-placement packet last night from CCAI! One step closer to the reality of getting our match information for baby Gracie. This packet gives us a document to complete so that CCAI knows how to contact us on match day (phone numbers, calling order, address to overnight the packet...) If we aren't at the beach the day we get the call, we will hop in the car and drive down to CCAI to pick up the information, pictures from China. This packet also asks us to start thinking about our travel - order passports NOW, plan for things like a dog sitter, buying gifts to take to China, etc. We have done very little to prepare so here we go! Over-joyed!!

Thoughts on THE wait!

First of all, Parker has been waiting very patiently, without a doubt that his baby sister will eventually be here! If you don't know the story - Parker one day in the car told us that he wanted to fill all of the seats in the car with kids (6 seats). We disagreed for a little while telling him that he might have to settle for a little sister. He said, "OK, a brother and a sister." We all know how that turned out. :)

Carter has no idea what it means that Gracie will be coming home soon or why there is an extra car seat in the garage and giant teddy bear in her room - he just thinks they are there for his enjoyment! Dad and Mom on the other hand - it has been a roller coaster ride of emotion, frustration, hope, learning patience, do we buy a crib, paint a room, etc. We just received great news this weekend that the most recent batch went through June 30th! 14 more match days until they get to our date and we see pictures of that precious baby girl! I don't know what that means for us except that we are much closer. Based on history, we are probably at least two batches away. OR, they could match us in the late June, early July group. God knows and His timing is better than anything we could plan so we are trusting Him (not that it has always been easy or will ever be)!

We will keep you posted! The next matches will come out in 4 to 5 more weeks.

Filling family time

We really have been seizing moments every chance we get with the kids. As usual, spring time gets crazy between soccer and school activities. It didn't seem so overwhelming to me this year because I tried to just put things into perspective and not cram in things that didn't fit like painting rooms, etc. We did a few of those fun things but not many. Adding in a surgery or two helped me to just drop the non essential things too. :) We went to the beach as a family, Carter and I had the extra blessing of going again with my dear friend Cindy and precious kids Wyatt & Cora Leigh, we picnicked and went to Washington DC for a few days; we played in the snow and in the green grass and visited Grandpa's farm where Parker is in his element. Parker knocked out his two front teeth and had them replaced within two hours. We counted our blessings and prayed for Gracie and God's plans for a hope and future for our children. Here are a few photos...

Parker trying out the snowboard his cousins gave him.

Carter loves oatmeal!

FARM

Back

Yard

Pure

Joy

Waiting for Gracie

So, I've been told that it's time to start blogging again since we are really approaching time to receive our match from China meaning that we will find out who or baby girl is, where she is, how old she is, and anything else that is known about her! Gracie - we have known her first name for years. John and I both liked the name but over the years the word Grace has more and more meaning. Grace means, according to the dictionary, elegance or beauty and favor or good will. According to God's word, Grace is what we receive from Him because of what Jesus did on the cross for us - regardless of our deserving or non-deserving lives. We cannot earn God's grace; it is freely given to us. John and I have not done anything to deserve the gift of a daughter but we will be given the blessing and privilege of responsibility for raising her.

For those who don't know the history or how that works, here is the scoop:

About 5 1/2 years ago, we decide to explore the world of adoption after realizing that we probably weren't going to be able to have another child the old fashion way and we (I) really wanted a larger family. Along the way, John came around to wanting a larger family as well! :) As we started researching and considering adoption, I felt more and more lead to it. Although we didn't give up on the old fashioned way completely, we started to have a heart for a little girl in China who we did not know! We started our 'paper chase' in February of 2006. I won't bore you with all of that - lots of digging in files, meeting with a case worker, visiting government offices and 'we still have to do what?...' Finally, our paperwork was complete and ready to ship to China on June 14 and China officially accepted us as a 'waiting family' on July 14, 2006. Back then, the 'when will we get our little girl' time frame was 12 to 14 months from the time China accepted us. Here we are 5 years later and our wait time is nearing it's end and we soon will be celebrating the newest member of our family and all adjusting to life together.

How does it work? When China accepted us as a waiting family is called our log in date (LID). Everyone who is waiting for a little child, has an LID. Each month the Chinese officials take the list of babies available and the next batch of waiting families and match them in LID order. As soon as we were official, we started watching those matches each month and they started immediately slowing to an almost halt! They were matching about three days in a month's time. We quickly began to realize that if they kept up that slow pace, this was going to be a LONG wait! And it has been but we have loved that little girl and prayed for her and her birth family daily since then. Over the last year, China has been matching an average of about a week's worth of logged in families per month. Currently, they have matched through June 20, 2006 - only 3 weeks, 3 days away from our magic date!! We anticipate that we will receive a match around August of this year.

Receiving our match means that they will send us a profile and picture of a little girl who is available for adoption and then we have to accept. Once we say, 'yes, this is our daughter' we begin another paper chase to get ready to travel. We have to have US government approval to go get her and bring her home and we have to make the travel arrangements. This process will take 5 to 8 weeks. That seems like it will be the longest part of this wait to me but I hear that it's a whirlwind and goes by very quickly.