TA CAME TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was interpreting in my 7th period Math class and I had been waiting with baited breath for a phone call or an email for something to say that TA is here or not!  I heard my phone vibrate and got so excited I couldn't breath!  My student and I just kept looking at each other laughing, as I told him that my phone was vibrating and was hoping it was my Adoption Agency with good news!  The teacher took a breath and I ran to my phone and saw it was my adoption agency phone number and they left a voice-mail.  As soon as the teacher took another breather I asked her if she didn't mind but I needed to leave the room for a minute so I could check my message. She is well aware of what we have been waiting for and told me to run out of the room down the hall a bit to get service and call.  I called and got the news we have been so waiting for!  I have never been so excited to hear Lydia say " We got something in the mail for you today!!!!"  of-course being the crying fool I am.... I burst into tears and couldn't speak for a minute!  They are putting in for Possible CA on 1/25/, 1/26, 2/22, 2/23 and 3/1   I am of course praying for 1/25  or 1/26 I should know within 24-48 which of those China has approved!  4others from my agency all got TA too!  I am now praying for my sweet sister Daleea to get hers so we can be in Jinan together to get our babies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Praise the Lord for miracles now I just need a few more miracles before we can go! Greedy aren't I?  We need the 25th or 26th and we need the rest of our funds!!!! SO excited to know that by Wednesday at the latest I will know which day we will finally behold our new son!!


I will post CA as soon as I know it! Thank you Lord for helping us through this whole process and we pray for your loving hand to guide Luke's heart to comfort so that he will not be full of fear when he sees us and he will KNOW that we are his parents and that he is loved and so safe!  Going to celebrate with my hubby and kids and try to come down off cloud 9 and then start some serious praying!!!


It is not as impressive as it is in real life, but this what we have been waiting for!!!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I am waiting for Tomorrow.... it is only a day away!!!!!!

Tomorrow is day 14 of our TA wait and the rumored day of the landing of the TA's in America!! I  am praying hard we get ours tomorrow or this week at the last and then that we can get a CA (Consulate Appointment) on the day we are hoping for!  We are still heavily relying on the Lord and our Faith for the rest of this journey.  I certainly wish money was not an issue but unfortunately with Tom not being able to find work and me working at a school for a special services (lowest paid around) we just don't make a ton.  We are praying for Gods provisions and we know that HE has this all worked out!  I am praying to be able to post that we have our TA tomorrow.  Then I will have to submit 5 CA dates and then we wait to see which one the Chinese Consulate approves us for (there are a specific number of appointments and since my guy is not an infant my CA must be on a Tuesday or a Wednesday and we are hoping to get one before Chinese New Year.)  I am asking for the dates of 1/25, 1/26 (with us leaving 2 Fridays before that on 1/14 or 1/15) then 1/18, 1/19 (with us leaving 2 weeks before on 1/7 yes this Friday I am hoping to leave the 14th as this Friday will be nuts but I will do it if I have to!) then I am asking for the 1st possible CA after Chinese New Year and that is 2/22 (with us leaving on 2/11)   Please pray for our family as we have a lot of over come right now.  As one friend said we are trying to part the red sea with the Egyptians behind us.. Oh Lord we need your help!


Thank you for your prayers and I am praying I have some news soon!
Tracy

Day 14 of our TA wait is Monday

Well guys Monday  is day 14 of our TA wait and we are praying so hard that it comes in this week! Tom and I have been working like mad on the house since my break started and we are trying to get the rooms all organized and ready to go! We have been cleaning house too! Why not organize and get rid of things we don't need and De-clutter while we are in cleaning mode and Luke isn't here yet.  We have Luke's suitcase all packed and ready to go and we have everything we need ready except our clothes. So we are totally into getting ready mode. I have contacted a travel agent about our tickets to China and gave her some possible dates we are hoping to travel. Got some prices for different options. I am now trying to get in touch with the travel agent that our adoption agency has us use for our in China flight and our hotels, guides and any in China transportation needed. I have not been able to get in touch with them but realized my Comcast is not allowing some emails from China to go through, some are coming through and some aren't. So I emailed from my yahoo and we shall see what happens. I am making lists for my father and mother in law for when they fly in from Texas to watch the kids. Tommy has a TON of wrestling the 2 weeks we are hoping to be away (he has a ton for the next 3 months so it wouldnt matter when we went) but I am making a list of what times and places he needs to be at! Also a list of all the normal everday things that need to happen to make our house run and get our kids where they need to be.  Sure hope they knew what they were getting into when they said they would come stay with the kids when we go away! So excited for what is to come! Please pray with us that we receive our travel assignment (TA) this week and that the Good Lord will help to provide the funding needed to bring our son home!
I will surely be updating as soon as I have news of our TA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Getting so excited it is amazing!

So my adoptive nesting instinct must be working, as I am feeling the need to clean and organize like a loony bird heheh. I also got the suitcases out of the closet and am starting to make my "Official lists" I cant believe it is almost here and soon we will be on a plane to China! Someone on one of the groups I belong to posted that she got a message that her TA is being delivered on Monday and her Article 5 pick up was the same as mine. Of course that does not guarantee that mine is coming Monday or next week at all, but it sure gives me hope that it can happen! If it wasn't so snowy and icy out I would be outside doing a cool dance! (well in my mind it would be cool but Lord knows what any onlookers would think of my dance! heheh).  My husband and I looked at each other tonight and broke into instant giggles at the thought that we are going to be parents again real soon.  We cant wait to meet Luke and start to get to know him. Is he shy? Outgoing? Funny? What are his thoughts and his likes and dislikes... How fast will he pick up ASL? What will he think when he sees Tom and I for the first time and I start signing to Tom what is being said in the room? Will he understand that Tom and him are both Deaf, but that I am not? I cant wait to wrap my arms around him and hug him so hard but I dont want to scare him the first time we meet either, but whew it is going to be hard to not do that and to not bust into tears. I am finding it hard to sleep the last few days as the anticipation is getting to me, I cant even imagine how much I am not going to sleep when we find out we have TA and start making flight plans and such.  I already put in my papers for my leave at work and we will adjust dates as needed. My leave starts Jan 7th but I know that will be changed, we just had to give a date to be submitted to the school board and we gave the earliest possible date. 

 AHHHHH I am soooooo excited!!!!!! I am praying for some pictures of Luke to be sent to me this week from the package we sent to him with Angela at Lady Bugs N Love, she has been amazing for us and really goes out of her way to get something for my guy, since he is older she has done some special shopping for him.  Ok I am going to try and get some sleep so tomorrow I can get working on the gifts for the orphanage and dignitaries on our trip and get some more organizing at home and for the trip done. We have a ton to do and finally I can say not much time to do it in and for once that really feels good!  Here we come Luke, Here we come!!!!!!!! It wont be long now.... We are still in dire need of prayers for funding for the trip. We dont not have the travel funds needed yet and are just finishing paying off all the adoption agency fees. So please pray for us as we trust in the Lord for the provisions needed for the trip to China!!!!!! 

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from The Worrell Family! We are so blessed this Christmas Season! Thank you Jesus for being our Lord and Savior! You are the reason we celebrate today. We spent the last 2 days with our loved ones and had an amazing Christmas.  We took some pictures to commemorate our last Christmas as a family of five. We are thinking of our Luke on this day and hoping he got the care package we sent him and praying to get a few new pictures of him as we wait for our TA. Merry Christmas to all! 

Officially on our TA wait!!!!!!

Well we are officially waiting for our TA and we are coming to an end of our wait!  We are busy with the hustle and bustle of Christmas and my oldest, Aaron, is home from College during his break! We are excited to celebrate the birth of our Savior and cannot wait to just spend some time together as a family and hopefully not have to run all over creation and we will just be able to relax a bit as we gather our thoughts and whits about us this holiday season, plus prepare for our travel to China.


My daughter just asked me "Momma when is my brother Luke coming?" I told her I am not really sure, but it will be soon. Her response " Momma, why cant Santa go get him, you know his Reindeer are super fast, he tells them "Giddy up" and they go super speed, if he can deliver presents to everyone in one night then he can bring my brother to us for Christmas right?" Who wants to be the one to tell her NO? Not me!!!!!!

Tommy has his and Luke's bedroom halfway set up, we were going to set up bunk beds, but the room is big enough for two twins across from each other. Tommy has a small table with a light set up in between the beds so him and his brother can see to "sign all night long and you wont even know we are awake.. until we laugh that is heheh, then dad still wont even know we are awake hahah!"  that boy sure is smart in creating his Deaf friendly environment.

We are truly blessed beyond a shadow of a doubt in our lives. We have been crazy busy lately with our jewelery fundraiser (which was a very nice success and we are hoping to have the funds from that come in soon :) and we have been blessed by some others with donations, plus I have worked myself to the bone.....I am now back down to 1 job as of this past Monday,(well 2 if you count full time mommy!) I was grateful for the extra work, but I am so exhausted and was so stressed it was a lot for me, on top of all that I do at church with interpreting on Sundays, interpreting our Thursday night Deaf bible studies (what a rewarding and incredible time that turned out to be and I cant wait for my new son to become a part of that) and teaching ASL on Tuesday nights for family night at church, plus preparing interpretations for 2 Christmas plays was a TON!!! 

All of the blessings we have received aside...... we are still thousands short on the money we need to go get Luke. We will not be able to get our Travel Approval (TA) if we do not pay all of our fees within the next week or 2.  Then we need to come up with the money for the actual travel itself. I have applied for several grants and have not gotten any, but I am praying that there is a chance we can still get a grant and God will show favor on our family to help get our son home! It is a huge kick in the pride to have to ask others for help and ask for donations and fund-raise, but from what I see in the adoption community it is pretty much the norm.  I wish it wasn't so expensive to bring a new son into our home as I am sure if it wasnt we would do this again.... I am going to see what I can do to help set up an adoption ministry in my church (hmm I know of at least one lady in church that has the same goal..... ahem right Terry?) to help others who might have the yearning to adopt and the income to take care of another child daily, but not the $24,000 - $30,000 needed to bring home a child. I know before Luke even walks into the hotel room on our Gotcha day that he is already a huge part of my heart and that he is 100% for sure my son.  My children are so excited and pray daily for their brother to come home.  Luke has already been a part of our daily lives before he even touches American soil.  He is already an integral part of our daily routine.  


We are asking if anyone feels led to help us out in our journey to bring our son home... to go ahead and do so..... we still have our coffee fundraiser going at www.justlovecoffee.com/TheWorrellFamily   we would also appreciate any and all prayers as we head into the home stretch and are trying to scrap out these last funds, of which we still need a very large amount. 

We just had Angela at Lady Bugs N Love send Luke another care package for Christmas and we sent him a winter jacket (which we are hoping he will be wearing when he comes to us, this way we dont have to bring one or buy one in China), plus jeans, a camera and film, about 25 pictures of our whole entire family (Granparents, Aunts and Uncles and our HUGE dog too!), a remote control car and also a short letter to Luke.. I will add it on here! We are pretty sure he wont understand any of the letter, but we pray that somehow he will get that we are coming soon!  We are hoping to get some new pictures of him with this package as well. We havent had a new picture since August! 

our letter to Luke Xinhai:

Xin Hai,

We are hoping to travel to China to meet you very soon and bring you back home to meet the rest of your new family. Daddy and Mommy cant wait to come to Jinan to see you. Back here in New Jersey we have your bedroom all ready and you will be sharing a room with your brother, Tommy. Your 2 brothers and your sister are very excited to meet you and to start to get to know you and play and play and play with you! We are hoping to be in Jinan either January or February at the latest. We know it is soon that you will come to be with us. I am sure you are nervous, but please know what we will always love you and will help you to try and adjust to America as soon as possible. Dad and I have been learning some Chinese Sign Language (CSL), it is a very nice language, we both like it a lot. Many signs in Chinese and American sign languages are similar. We think you will be able to learn American Sign Language (ASL) very fast. We hope you enjoy the jacket we are sending you as we know it is very cold where you are and we hope it helps to keep you warm during these cold months. We had our first snow in New Jersey yesterday and it is cold here too. We hope you enjoy the toy we are sending too. We think you will have fun playing with it. We are hoping that you are able to understand our letter and understand that we are coming soon to get you and bring you home and that we will always love you and protect you and promise to always be here for you. We wanted to let you know that we have picked an American name for you, your name if you like it, will be Luke Xin Hai Worrell. We love you and cant wait to meet you.

Love,
Daddy, Mommy, Aaron, Tommy and Paige

Article 5 was picked up!

Our Article 5 was picked up today! Yahoooooo.  We were cabled 11/24 so we have had a long wait for Article 5 and my nerves are wearing thin.  Getting the news today that our Article 5 was picked up sure helped me out some.  We also sent Luke a package for Christmas and sent him a new letter, some new photos with all of our family members included so he can hopefully recognize his Nan, Pop, Mom-mom, Granma, Pop-pop and Aunts and Uncle when he arrives in the USA.  We also are having a winter jacket sent to him so he will have one there when we get to him and sent a remote control car.  We are expecting pictures of the care package soon and will post pictures real soon. It was amazing to be able to write to him and let him know that we WILL be there soon in Jinan, China and we WILL get to bring him home soon!  The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter!


Now we are waiting for the all amazing, stupendous, fantastic, terrific.. TA!!!! That is our travel approval that allows us to finally make a Consulate appointment and get on a plane to get our son. They are normally 2-3 weeks after Article 5. There is a SMALLLLLL, ever sooooo smalllll chance that we can possibly make it out of here by Jan 14 or 15th to make it to China in time to bring Luke home before the Chinese New Year. IF we do not get approval and fly out by Jan 14 or 15th we will not be able to travel until mid February to bring him home as Chinese New Year shuts everything down for awhile whilst they celebrate their big holiday! Please pray with us we get approval in time to head out in a few weeks, prayers will definitely be welcomed and appreciated!
This momma needs to bring her son home, NOW!!!!!!!