Our Miracle

Miracles in our lives are so amazing, and I always want to write them down so that I remember.    God is good all the time, but moments are not always good. And in those hard moments I find that I really need to focus of the miracles and the good in my life from God.

Our miracle today....we are going to China!!!!!  We have a confirmed consulate appointment.  Despite the delays and the approaching holiday where all government offices in China close for a week, we are on our way.  We will be able to hold our daughter in 3 weeks!!  I cannot believe it.

Would you please continue to pray for us as we make travel arrangements, as we continue to prepare our children at home for the changes that are coming, for our daughter's heart as she also will be facing so many changes, and lastly, the financial aspect of it as we still owe quite a bit more?

Thank you for your prayers and for donating to our adoption.  We are blown away by your support!

Here are a couple more pictures of our little girl...can't wait to share some new ones!!!

Travel and Matching Grant Update

As some of you know, our Article 5 documents were not picked up last Tuesday 2/3 as they were scheduled to be.  When I didn't wake up to an email that morning saying that it was picked up, I knew.... and then we got the call that evening.  Delays.   This is one of the hardest things in the adoption process, but something we are very familiar with as we faced some big delays in our first adoption.  The consulate needed more information.  This is not a usual occurrence, but we were not the first family this has happened to.  So we needed to wait until the necessary information was acquired before our Article 5 could be picked up...which could be an additional 2 -10 days.  It has been 9 days AND we have article 5 pick-up...TODAY!!  The next step in our process is Travel Approval (TA) and then schedule a consulate appointment (CA).  

Sooooo.....When will we Travel?

Here are the details we know, for those of you who would like to try and figure this all out with us...basically, an educated guess as to when we travel. LOL.  The US Consulate (who issues our CA) is closed Monday for President's day and then also closed for Chinese New Year from Feb. 18 to Feb 25.  And the cccwa (who issues our TA) is also closed for CNY Feb. 18 to Feb. 25.  Because of all the holidays and closures, without a miracle, it does not look like we will be able to travel at the beginning of March.  There are positives in all this in that we will get to spend time with our bigs when they are home for their Spring Breaks in March, and I do miss them all so much!  Even though I am disappointed that we will not travel at what I thought would be the perfect time, and I don't understand, I'm choosing to trust God...He knows and understands and His ways are perfect.  

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord.

~Isaiah 55:8

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~Jeremiah 29:11

Just a little more info to help you...because of work, we need to be home 3/22 thru 3/28.  So what are your guesses?  When will we travel?

Update on our Matching Grant

We feel so blessed that so many have come along side us to help bring our little girl home.  With our matching grant through Lifesong for Orphans, we have raised $2500 of our needed $16,000.  WOW!  Thank you so much!!!

16 more days to help us get closer to our goal!!!  

Here is the information about our matching grant if you missed it.  We were blessed with a matching grant through Lifesong for Orphans and our church, Eastview Christian Church.  If you would like to make a donation towards helping bring our little girl home, there are two ways:

1. Donate online

    Located on the right side of our blog is a "donate" button that links directly to Lifesong for Orphans.

         This is a PayPal link and PayPal does charge an administrative fee (2.9% + $.30 USD per transaction)  So your 

            donation will be decreased by the amount of this fee.

2. Give by check

    Please make checks payable to "Lifesong for Orphans".

     In the memo please note your gift preference with "Marcordes #4985"

     Please mail checks to:

     Lifesong for Orphans

     PO Box 40

     Gridley, IL 61744

Lifesong has been blessed with a partner that underwrites all US administrative and fund-raising

costs (TMG Foundation and other partners). That means 100% of your donation will go directly to

the need…helping orphans.

Individual donations $50 or more and yearly donations totaling $250 or more will receive a taxdeductible

receipt. Receipts for donations under $50 will gladly be sent upon request.

Lifesong is a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization.

Thank you also for all your prayers.  Would you please continue to pray for God's timing and for our hearts as we all will have big changes in the near future?

I

New Pictures!!

We have been looking forward to our "final update" for a while now.  It has been 5 months since we got a picture of our little girl and 7 months since we have gotten an update on her size.  Seven months ago we were told she only weighed 26 pounds....tiny!!!  We got our email last night with new pictures and measurements!!  According to the report, our little girl now weighs 35lbs!  She is almost exactly the same size as Sunshine.  Now I can do a little shopping!!!  Fortunately, I will be able to take some of Sunshine's clothes too (which right now she is so excited about sharing her clothes just like her big sisters do...really hoping that excitement continues. LOL).  But travel is getting closer and we are so excited, nervous, excited...did I say nervous?!?!

Even though our "journey" began over a year ago when A's picture appeared in my inbox, our real journey begins when A is home.  We are so excited to finally get her home, to hold her and love her, to protect her and take care of her....JOY!  But there is another side of adoption that is hard.  We are taking our little girl away from all that she has ever known...for 6 years...sights, sounds, smells, people, food, etc.  Nothing will be the same for her and for her, that will be so hard.  As hard as I try to imagine how that must feel, there is no way I can know.  I don't know how she will react, but I do know she will grieve and I do know that there will be some time needed for her to learn that we are her mommy and daddy and we love her.  It will take awhile for her to trust us and this is why we must be the only ones who meet her needs for several months....the only ones who hug her, hold her, rock her, feed her, put her to bed, and so much more.  I will explain all that another time.  Right now, I want to rejoice in the fact that we are another week closer to bringing her home!  Our Article 5 should have been picked up today, and we hope to hear something about travel in the next 2 weeks.

Thank you all for your prayers and donations.  Your support is such a blessing to us!  Will you please continue to pray for us and our little girl?

And now to share some of our new pictures.....

Another Step Closer!!!

If you are here, more than likely you received our very late Christmas card in the mail or you saw my FB post...as not many people know this blog exists. I have to admit that I am not very good about blogging, but I am committed to at least share where we are in our adoption process so that those who are praying for us and/or have decided to donate in helping us bring our little girl home, can follow our journey.  Thank you so much for taking the time to look us up.  We are so excited about bringing home another little girl and hope that you will share in that excitement.

So here's our new news...Monday was MLK Day....no school, banks closed, no mail.  I was sad there would be no mail because we were waiting for our cable letter.  We need this to complete the next step towards bringing our little girl home.  Checked our email and...........we got an email from the NVC with a pdf of our cable letter....We could move to the next step!  So as is common routine with adoption...we hurried up and sent the letter to our agency so we could wait some more.  AHHHHH!   

Our next step is the Article 5 process, which allows our daughter to get a visa.  This step should take exactly 2 weeks from the time our documents are dropped off.  Drop-offs usually occur on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays.  I'm really hoping and praying our documents were dropped off yesterday, but our agency only gets notifications on Fridays,  and our social worker is out of the office for the rest of the week...so we will wait a few more days to find out.  

On August 24th our little girl celebrated her 6th birthday.  We were able to arrange to have a birthday cake sent to her and were blessed with some great pictures.  Thought I'd share some with you!

Isn't she the sweetest?!?!  This has been the longest wait and we are so ready to get her home.

We could really use your prayers on this last leg of our wait.  Would you please pray...

1. that we would get to travel at the beginning of March, as this would work the best for the care of our children at home while we are away.

2.  that our finances would all fall into place as we get closer to our last big payment.

3.  for our little girl's heart as she is faced with so many changes in her little life when we enter it. 

 

4. for our young one's at home...that they will be able to share mom and dad and know that this little one is not replacing them (a real fear for one of ours).

Finally, if you would like to help in bringing our little girl home, I have placed a "donate" button on the right side of our blog that links directly to our matching grant from Lifesong for Orphans. 

And last, but not least...today is our oldest daughter's 20th birthday!  How did that happen??   We love this girl to pieces and are so blessed by her!  We love you, Belle! You are beautiful on the inside AND the outside!

Getting Closer!

It's getting more and more real...we are getting closer to bringing our little girl home!  Today was our travel call with our agency.  It was scheduled for 1pm to 4pm.  I thought that surely it would not be that long.  What could they possibly talk about for three hours?!?!  BUT...it was and we received so much valuable information.   Not only did they walk us through the steps of what our trip would look like, but also what it might look like when we return home and the things we need to do when coming home.  I love being prepared and I feel more than prepared.  But I also know, from experience, that adoption can bring along all kinds of things that no one can ever prepare you for.

We received our I800 last Saturday and are now waiting for our cable letter....hoping it will come next week.  We are on the final stretch!  We also got word this week of our matching grant through Lifesong for Orphans.  Our church has partnered with Lifesong to provide an Adoption Matching Grant of $2000 to help bring our little girl home!

Christmas was so fun this year...having the big girls home from school for a month and our oldest home for a few days before he had to head back to prepare for his Bowl game....and then a trip to Miami for the Orange Bowl!   T-mac was playing in the Orange Bowl, and we were not going to miss it!  It took us 23 hours to drive down but was so worth it!  What an incredible experience to end the year on and they won!  So the year ended with fireworks...literally!  And the weather was incredible!  The little girls keep asking when we will get to go back...swimming in the ocean and a pool in the middle of winter will do that to you!

Fun times over the last month...

Saying "YES"

It has been two and a half years since I've written in my blog....too long.  Last I wrote, we had just received our court date for our first trip to Ethiopia to meet LindyLou.  She came home in May and we completed one of the fastest adoptions in history...not really, but it felt like it. Belle graduated from high school two days after we got home and then we worked at settling into a new normal.

We decided to home school L the first year and she caught on to English much more quickly than we had anticipated.  The tricky part is that conversation English has come quickly, but learning the vocabulary and terms used in school and everything else that goes with it is hard and slow.  It's amazing how much vocabulary children pick up as they grow.

Chesswava graduated from high school this year, and now, we have three kiddos in college...crazy!  Way back when we had 4 kids under 5, I dreamed of all the fun we would have.  And we did!  Being so close in age, they were so close and always had someone to play with and got along amazingly well.   I never knew how easy I had it when it came to siblings getting along until now...which is another story.  Anyway, the problem with having our first 4 so close together (and I didn't think of this back then), is that they all "leave the nest" close together.  One day they were all here and the next thing I know, I'm wondering when we'll all be together again.  I know that's just part of growing up and I'm so proud of them all, but I sure do miss those evenings of dancing around the family room together to "Jock Jams".

Fall is a crazy season for our family.  T-mac is still playing football for his school and we'll watch him on TV tomorrow.  It's been a hard year of injuries this year but we love seeing him play and thankful he has not had any injuries that have completely kept him out of the game.  Belle continues to play the flute in marching band.  With a new band director have come several changes and she looks forward to possibly being able to travel to London next year.  Chesswava started her first year in college, is playing soccer and loving it.  She is at the same school as Belle, and they both are having a wonderful time there.  Nice to have both of them not too far away and at the same school.  B-man is playing football for his high school again this year.  So needless to say, there are many games to attend between the four of them.  We decided to home school LindyLou again this year to move more at her pace and make sure she is grasping what she needs to grasp.

And that brings us to our new news of saying "YES".  I was on a mailing list through Lifeline Children's Services called Wonderful Waiting Kids.  I would get emails every so often and sometimes I would open them and pray over the kiddos that are waiting for a mommy and daddy and sometimes I wouldn't (I was blown away and very saddened with the number of children that are in need of a family and are just waiting...and waiting).  In December, I happened to open one of those emails and there in front of me was this sweet, sweet face staring back at me.  Our youngest was with me and asked about her.  She prayed for this little girl and I just had to inquire.  B and I had not even discussed another adoption, but I just had to know more.  I received an email back that same day saying that another family had her file on hold.  Prayed a prayer of thanksgiving that this sweet child already had a family pursuing her.  So we continued on with life as usual and on February 11, received an email which would turn our world upside down.  An email asking if we were still interested in looking at A's file.  I hadn't even said anything to B about it because I figured I had gotten God's answer with that email in December.  B and I started doing a lot of praying and lots of research.  This was a different country, different needs, and our plate was already full and overflowing.  We still are looking for that "new normal" and maybe ours hasn't come because we are still experiencing so many changes with kiddos going to college.  It didn't make sense.  Why another adoption?  Why another child?  We already have six.  And that's just it...it doesn't matter the number.  B and I love children.  Every child is precious and deserves a family.  Deserves to know the God who created them and loves them.  God called us to this and we are answering that call.  We said, "YES!!"

Court Date

Oh, how I wish I had time to write more on my blog.....sigh....  On March 1st we got our court date.  It will be on April 10th.  We are so excited that things are moving along smoothly so far.  So needless to say, I have been trying to get ready for our trip.

We have booked our flights and B-man is going with us this first trip.  I am so excited for him to see the beautiful country where his two little sisters are from.  He is beyond excited.  So now it's on to getting his shots done.  B and I are still good from our last trip, so all we needed to get were malaria meds.  Right now I am trying to shop for donations...which it seems that the older kiddos at our agency's TH need clothes and shoes.  I've also been gathering things to send to our daughter until we can bring her home.  We have had 2 families send us pictures of her already and it is such a blessing.  I love her beautiful smile and can't wait to be able to hold her!

The other part of traveling is getting everything ready to run smoothly here at home while we are gone.  That is the part that overwhelms me.  I know our big girls will do fine, but this will be the first time B and I will both be gone at the same time and I worry about our youngest.  I know the grandparents are excited about this time with their grandkids though.

Our newest exciting news is that we have a positive recommendation letter already!!!  Although it's not a guarantee that we will pass court, it's a necessary piece that was missing when we went to court for our first adoption.  We waited 7 LONG weeks for that letter to arrive so we could pass court.

I stand in awe with how smoothly everything has gone so far.  We still have a long ways to go and we still could hit some major bumps in our journey but God is doing great things and hopefully we will be able to bring our daughter home soon!