What is going on in our lives

Alot has been going on since my last post.  We are still waiting for our I-800 provisional approval and as I seem to be noticing a pattern here I will share the pattern with you... Hurrryyyy Hurry get those papers out FAST, overnight them and then.. sit and WAIIIITTTTT!  I seem to find the long lines in the food store and our adoption seems to follow that pattern too.  Some others in the adoption process have surpassed me that were in the same place with me awhile back, but then again there are 2 of us for sure on the exact same track and both of our children are in Jinan, in the same orphanage so obviously our Lord has plans for the two of us to travel together so he is keeping our timelines together.  I certainly thought we would be there by now when we started this process in February, yet here we are with still about 2 months or so left until we travel.     


I have been crazy busy. We have our Just Love Coffee fundraiser going but so far it seems that not too many people we know happen to love coffee, how that is possible I don't even know.  I have applied for every single grant possible out there and so far nothing, but I have not counted out a grant yet, we still have time.  Very soon (actually I am hoping it is tomorrow) I should be starting our new fundraiser.  A dear Sister in Christ has offered 100% of the profits from a Premier Design Jewelery catalog sale (that is 50% of each piece sold) and all of the profits are going towards bringing our Precious Luke home to his family.  We pray daily for our newest son and his brothers and sister pray faithfully for him too, we know he is covered in prayer and just cannot wait until the day we get to wrap our arms around him and see his sweet face. 


Thanksgiving is coming soon and we have much to be grateful for.  I am excited to be spending the Holiday with my family and cannot wait for a blessed day of family and fun and great food. My oldest son, Aaron will be home in a few days from College and we are all so excited he will be here and that we will get to spend some time together as a family again.   My son, Tommy has his last football game this weekend and then Tuesday night wrestling season is starting up.  Tommy is hoping Luke will get here before wrestling is over so he can get to see what wrestling is all about and get the opportunity to meet some of the amazing kids he wrestles with.  I am not quite sure what Luke will think of wrestling but sports are a big part of our lives so he is going to get the chance to see many different kinds of sports and we are hoping he will one day join a team if he so desires.


 I cant believe the Christmas season is almost upon us. I do realize that these last few months of waiting to get Luke might just zip by with all the busy plans of the Holidays upon us.At least that is my hope. The waiting is starting to wear on me so I am hoping that the holidays might just make time go by quicker.  


I will update as soon as our I-800 provisional approval arrives. We are anxiously waiting that day. My poor husband, I page him many times a day from work and I only say one word, "Mail"?"  The dear man is ever so patient with me, but I am sure he is tired of seeing that 25 times a day and I am sure he is wishing our mail came earlier each day so I wont not be able to send that same message so many times in one day.  


What the rest of our journey looks like:

We are currently waiting to receive a Provisional Approval (praying that is any day now).... About a week after that, the National Visa Center will confirm they have cabled our case to the U.S. Consulate in China. After   two  more weeks  an Article 5 should be issued by the U.S. Consulate. An Article 5 Letter states that we are suitable adoptive parents and that our child will be allowed to enter and reside permanently in the United States.

The next step is for the Article 5 to be delivered to the CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs), who sends out our Travel Approval (TA). This takes about two or three weeks. (We are praying for 2) Next, we will have a Consulate Appointment (CA) about two or three weeks after our TA is issued.  We will travel about 10 days before this appointment. We will spend two weeks in China.   As you can see we are not long from travel now and the excitement sure is building!!!!!!!!