What's next?

I wish I could say that we are now waiting to travel, but that will still take a few more weeks until we can officially be waiting for that.  This next step(s) in the process is new to us, we did not have to do this with Xander.  We adopted Xander before the Hague Treaty was signed by both China and the US, and since that has happened much has changed...mostly more paperwork and more time involved.  Anyway, here is what will happen for the rest of wait for Lyla.

We have our LOA and we must sign it, fill out our I800 (and some supporting documents) and send it to our USCIS officer.  (Are you confused yet?)  The USCIS officer will make sure all the paperwork matches up and give it her approval, that approval (which tells China that the US approves us to adopt Lyla, who is a foreign born child) will be forwarded to the National Visa Center (NVC).  Once the NVC has it in their system they send it on to the US Consulate in China.  At that time they will issue an Article 5, which is what allows Lyla's visa to be issued.  The Article 5 must be picked up from the Consulate and delivered to the CCCWA (China's adoption headquarters).  And then , once that is received we wait for our Travel Approval, which is what says...

COME GET YOUR GIRL!!!!

Now, if that doesn't give you tired head nothing will, so here is the break down and the steps that we will be tracking:
1. I800 Application sent
2. I800 Approved
3. NVC Cable
4. Article 5 drop-off
5. Atricle 5 pick-up
6. Travel Approval

So, it doesn't really matter what each of those things means, just that we have to go in order.  It seems like a lot of stuff, but it typically takes about 10-14 weeks to complete.  We're crossing our fingers and praying real hard to travel in March, but April is more likely.  Watch the dates in the timeline on the right of the blog, I'll be keeping track there.

Oh, also, because we got our LOA our agency requests an update.  So hopefully, soon, we will get some new measurements and pictures of our big girl.  This mama has a closet to fill!

Three little letters

LOA!


Yes!  It finally came, on day 120!  WOW!   I'll give more details later, but that was the most important.  Seriously, we are so close!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, little Lyla!  We love you and can't wait to spend Christmas with you!

Needing to be honest

I promised myself that I would be transparent and honest when it comes to adoption and the journey it involves.  I want people to know the truth, even if it's ugly.  I want to be able to help someone make an educated, prayerful decision if they consider adopting.  So, this is one of those times when I put pride aside and put it all out there.

This wait for Lyla is excruciating.  I go through days where it's ok, and I can convince myself that it will happen, and we will bring her home...eventually.  Some days that is good enough, most days it is not.  When people ask me, "What's the latest on Lyla?"  My insides boil and I want to shout (not at them, of course) and say, "I HAVE NO IDEA!!!!"  I feel like I am on edge all the time, one word away from screaming or one thought away from a flood of tears.  Truth.

Just like all the other families adopting from China our paperwork was updated, authenticated and submitted to the CCCWA.  Just like all the other families our letter requesting to adopt Lyla was heartfelt, sincere and sent to the proper government office where it was matched with Lyla's file.  Just like all other families we got our "pre-approval" which states that China will allow us to adopt her, as soon as all other documentation is reviewed and approved.  Just like all other families we want our sweet girl home as soon as possible.  Unfortunately, unlike other families our paperwork got stuck in one department too long.

We are not the only family who has been plagued with this extra long wait for our LOA.  We have some friends (who are on their way to China on Dec 15th!!!!!!!!) who waited over 120 days for their LOA.  I have met others online who are currently waiting as long or longer than us.  It is still not the norm, but it is happening for some unknown reason.

I believe that God is in control.  I believe that He knows the perfect time for Lyla to join our family.  I believe that this wait is purposeful.  It doesn't make it easier.  Just being honest.

Slowly but...well, slowly

Today it was confirmed that the translated copy of our dossier made it back to the CCCWA.  Shew!  Now, before you get too excited, we still have no idea how long it is going to be until we get our LOA.  At least we know that our dossier is in the right place and it is making s-l-o-w progress.

My new prayer is that we get our LOA by Christmas.  Please join me in praying for that!

Lost in translation

Unfortunately, I am not trying to be silly by my post title.  Our dossier was lost in translation, and thus resulting in our ridiculously long wait for LOA.

Let me explain the best that I can.  When our dossier gets to China it is logged in with the CCCWA (the headquarters for Chinese adoptions) it is then sent to translation and then after being translated it is sent back to the CCCWA for processing.  I do not know if going to "translation" means going to the translation department or another company who does all the translating for them.  Regardless, our dossier was sent to translation and has not been sent back to the CCCWA.

I don't know how long the translation portion typically takes, but clearly ours has taken longer than it should.  Our agency has been awesome and is trying to get to the bottom of our situation.  Unfortunately, the agency representative in China (who has been doing all the calling and asking on our behalf) said that this means that we will still be waiting quite a while for our LOA.

Still trusting in the One who knows more than me!

Still waiting...

Well, this is one of those times when you don't want to be above average.  The average wait time for LOA has come and gone, so now I can officially say we have waited too long!

It's sad because it just makes this whole thing longer, but it is also sad because we won't get anymore updates until we get our LOA.

So we wait...

A strange day

Well, I wasn't sure I was even going to post anything about today.  It is a strange day, but this is the last time October 18th will feel like a strange day.  You see, today is the day we will celebrate Lyla's birthday!  There is no way to know if this is her actual date of birth, but when you choose to adopt from China it just comes with the territory, it's typically one of the many unknowns.

It's a bittersweet day for sure.  Our Lyla isn't here yet, and the Chinese culture doesn't really put much emphasis on birthdays, so most likely today was just another day for her.

When we decided to adopt Lyla announcing her birthday was not an important piece of information, so it was weeks before I mentioned it to my family.  Come to find out, it is my late aunt's birthday (my mom's sister) and I am named after her.  That's is a crazy coincidence if I have ever heard one!

Thinking about today, and the significance it will hold from this point forward I wondered just what we were doing on this date in years past, not realizing that this would be the day we would celebrate our oldest child.  Here is what I found:

*I couldn't find a picture from 2005, but I'm not going to stop looking.  Our old pictures are not dated, but I think I have found most of the digital ones, so there is a chance that I will find one that is close.*

October 16, 2006

It isn't a picture, and it isn't exactly October 18, but on October 16, 2006 we made our "big announcement" that we had started the adoption process.

October 18, 2007 was a Thursday, which means in my former life (or my previous career) I was on the sidelines of a sub-varsity football game.  This picture was from the 19th.

On October 18, 2008 we brought Macey to her first football game.  Texas A&M - Commerce was playing at the Cotton Bowl.

On October 17, 2009 (don't have a pic from the 18th) Macey and I were in California visiting our family.  I found this picture of Macey with most of her cousins.

On October 17, 2010 (again, no pic on the 18th) Macey and Xander and I were just chillin' at home.  For some reason I took a few pictures of them in their PJs that day.

And today, October 18, 2011, Lyla's little brother and sister were happily playing with their stuffed animals after they finished their dinner.

But...

Next October 18th we will celebrate our big girl's birthday with balloons, cupcakes, gifts, singing, family and a whole lot of hugs and kisses!!!

Care package #2

Here are the items that big sister will get in her second care package from us.  It will be in the mail tomorrow.

 There are two outfits of cotton long sleeved shirts and leggings, a red fancy dress, some hair clips and candy.  Our intention is for Lyla to wear these clothes, but we did not specifically ask for them back.  Children share clothes in the orphanage and we hope the other little girls get to enjoy them as well.  We asked that she share the hair clips with her friends and the candy with the nannies and teachers.

The sparkly red dress deserved a picture of it's own.  The dress is covered in sequins and the little jacket is velvet.  In each set of pictures we have received of Lyla is appears as if she is put in a special dress, of sorts, specifically for the picture.  Since the last set of pictures we received involved her looking at a photo album we sent, we believe that the people at the orphanage are very intentional in their photos.  SO, we are REALLY hoping they put her in this dress and take her picture and send it to us in our next update.  Again, we are not asking for this dress back, they may give it back anyway, but I would just as happy if the other little girls in the orphanage got to dress up in it as well!

We are hoping to get our LOA in the next couple weeks (again, could be MUCH longer, but we are still hopeful) and at that time our agency will ask for another update. 

LID!!!

LID!!! LID!!! LID!!!

I can't believe it our LID is 9/1!!!!  It came so fast I can hardly even believe it!

You can all start counting now, we are officially waiting for Lyla!!!!!!!!

This next step is very unpredictable.  I have a good friend who has been waiting for 115 days for her LOA :( and someone else, who's timeline I saw online, recently only waited 37 days.  So there is no telling when it will come.  Averages are about 50 days, so we'll see!!!


SO EXCITED!!!!

DTC!!!

WooooHoooo! Somewhere between here and China is a very important packet of papers! On Friday, August 26 our dossier was sent to China. Yippee! Now we wait for our log in date (LID). That means that our dossier has been received and is officially waiting in line. Oh, by the way, we're still not officially waiting, that come after we get our LID. Hopefully that will be soon, but it can take a few weeks before we know for sure.

UPDATES!!!

Well, Lyla's orphanage did not disappoint. I had a feeling they would be quick in responding and they were. Today we received an update on her measurements and two pictures, taken 8/10/11! Our big girl is getting, well, big! Check her out!

It looks like they are letting her hair grow, or maybe she just needs a haircut. Either way she is perfectly beautiful to us. She looks like she is thinning out, and from the measurements we were given she has grown a few inches in a few months. I will say, measurements aren't always very accurate, but it's all we have, so we go with it.

This next picture made me burst into happy mommy tears. I had mentioned the care package we sent not too long ago. We weren't sure if she would get it, or if they would just put it away somewhere, well...

Our sweet little Lyla looking at us, her family!

What I don't know is if this was the only time she saw this photo album we sent, but honestly, I don't care. There she is, looking at us! I want to believe that the nannies read her the letter we sent that explained who we are and that were coming to meet her in China and make her a part of our family. I want to believe that she got to keep the photo album and that she was read each description on each page, and that she can look at it whenever she wants to. But, in international adoption sometimes reality has to take over, because the rose colored glasses are just not a good thing to hide behind. So, what I DO know is that in this instant, our girl, who lives half a world away, is looking at the people who will love her forever!!!

Immigration approval!

We got our I797 today! We were approved on 8/9 and we received it today. On Monday we will put it in the mail (overnight FedEx) to a courier who will walk it in to the Secretary of State in Austin, Tx. After it is certified it will be overnighted to a Houston courier who will walk it in to the Chinese Consulate for authentication. Then it will be overnighted to our agency in Colorado. Once the agency gets it they will have everything they need to send our dossier to China!!! Then the real waiting begins (you only thought we had been waiting for Lyla for 4 months).

Once our dossier gets to China our best guess to travel would be 4-6 months. Some of the steps are quite predictable, but some are not. Of course, we always pray to be on the short end of average, but God's timing is perfect, so we thank Him even if it's on the longer end!

More on Lyla!

Here is a little more about our big girl! This is the most recent info we have on her, and it was sent at our request, when submitted our letter of intent to adopt her.

April 2011

This is the very first sentence "...is just as smiley and zestful as before."

"...her plump figure grows increasingly cuter and silly."

Plump will fit in quite nicely around this house.

"Everyone who meets her really likes her."

Isn't this what we want people to say about our kids? I love this!

"Firstly, she really is incredibly cute; moreover, she has a sweet little mouth."

In the last report they mentioned her being cute many times, and here it is again!

"...if a child is naughty during a classroom activity, she will strictly scold them."

Macey and Xander have been warned. :)

"She has the demeanor of a leader, and can organize everyone to play a game together."

And this is why we know she will be the best big sister!!!

While we wait we hope to receive some more update on our girl, hopefully some updated pictures will come along with updated info. I'll make sure to let you know!

More about Lyla!

As we wait for some updated info on Lyla, as promised, here are a few more sentences from her background reports. This one was dated March 2011.

"She sleeps relatively soundly."

- You never know how that will change when she comes home, but at least we're starting in the right place!

"...a little girl with a cheerful personality who loves to talk and smile."

- Aw!

"She likes to express herself, every day, like a chirping bird, talking endlessly."

- And this would be my all time, favorite description of our girl! Ahahahahaha!

Today as I sat on the computer Xander came over to see what I was doing. I was reading the We Are Grafted In blog post for the day, and it had a picture of a street in China. He asked what that was and I said it was a picture of China. We do a lot of talking about China, we like to talk about Xander being born in China, and Lyla was born in China but she is still there until we can go get her. We talk about Mommy and Daddy will go to China and Macey and Xander will stay home with Nana and wait for us to come back. I learned, through our adoption with Xander, that these little ones understand much more than I originally thought, so we are forthcoming with everything.

Anyway, it's interesting what thoughts these two add when we mention China. Xander has called Lyla on his pretend phone to talk to her, he has mentioned that he knew Lyla when he was in China (he did not, but I love that he sees a connection), so you never know. Today's comments from Xander brought tears to my eyes. After he saw the picture of China on the blog he said, "I want to see Lyla pictures." So, I found them on the computer and just started a slide show so they would rotate through all the pictures we have. Then he began to say, "China is far away from our house. We need to go there. We have to walk there." I said, "Oh, you think we should walk there?" "Yes, we need some shoes. And Lyla needs some shoes." You could see his little wheels turning, "And Lyla can walk."

I know you are thinking, oh Allison, you are over emotional. But here is what this little conversation meant to me, it was the simple, innocent thinking of a child, that all we need to do was walk to Lyla, and she needed some shoes too because she needed to walk to us. It was as if he was trying to figure out how we could get to her, or how she could get to us. I love their simple solutions to things, and believe me, if I could just put on shoes and walk to Lyla I would do it in a heartbeat...with some cute 2 year olds following close behind!

Care Package #1

I titled this care package #1 because we fully intend to send Lyla at least one more package, if not two, depending on how long it takes to bring her home.

Items included: Candy to share with her friends, photo album (photos below), disposable camera for pictures of her and her friends, tea for the nannies, Hello Kitty toy, bouncy ball that lights up and a letter (telling her a little about us and that we are coming!)

This will most likely be the first time that the orphanage and Lyla hear that she is being adopted. There is a chance that she may not get the items we sent, usually they are delivered and given to the kids, but there are instances when that does not happen. Mostly, we hope she receives the photo album, so she can be familiar with us when we get there, and the letter telling her about us and how we can't wait to come to China to meet her and bring her home.

Here are the pictures included in the photo album.

Getting to know Lyla

I thought it might be fun to start sharing some of the things we know about Lyla with the rest of you folks! Since she is our big girl there is a lot more that we know about her than we knew about Xander before we got him. In her file she has "background reports", these are in paragraph form and it is a description of daily life and some milestones that the child has reached, it also can give a glimpse into personality.

I'll start at the beginning, and quote a few lines of the description of Lyla from the first report. We've received a total of 3 background reports, and as we wait we should get some more, so I'll share as we wait.

*side note: these are actual quotes and the Chinese to English translation isn't always perfect

From a report dated September 2009:

"..., likes to be in the classroom and play room with teacher and kids to play games, she is cute, likes the outdoor activity,"

In her orphanage there is a program called Half The Sky and she is a part of the Little Sisters program. From what I have learned it is similar to a preschool setting, I'm not sure how much time she spends there or how often she attends.

"sometimes she is obstinate and impatient"

Oh, no.

"she likes the noise environment"

Oh, good!

"she is cute and likes to be cuddled by adults"

Um, second reference to her being cute and my Mommy heart is smiling big time, because I like to cuddle too!

Baby steps and surprises!

So today we got fingerprinted. It is a step that we have to complete, and one that Kevin and I have perfected in the 4+ years that we have been involved in the adoption process. We have been fingerprinted 2 times for FBI clearances and 4 times for USCIS approval, I actually had an extra time in there because one of mine didn't take, so I got to redo them. We have been the to immigration office so many times in the past few years that we have now made friends with the guard/clerk. She has been there every time we have come in and today I made small talk with her while she was looking over our paperwork. On our way out the door she said "See you next time." Hahaha! I bet she will!

Now we wait for the I797 approval from the USCIS, the one that says we are allowed to adopt a foreign child. Once we get this we send it, with our homestudy and our adoption petition (asking the Chinese adoption officials for permission to adopt Lyla and promising to love and treat her like our own) to China. Then we wait again. Hopefully all of this stuff will be on it's way to China before the end of August, that can be your prayer for us!

And now to the surprises! I am a member of a huge adoption forum on a blog called Rumor Queen. It is a great place to get advice, support, complain and make friends, seriously, I really have friends that I have met there. Yesterday someone noticed that Lyla was from Jiangxi and emailed me to ask what orphanage because she was adopting a little girl from an orphanage in Jiangxi. It happened to be the same orphanage, our girls are the same age and we have chosen the same American name for them! CRAZY! It gets even crazier, she had two pictures of our girls posing together, SO COOL! So she sent them to me. They were taken about a year ago, which is really cool because we have some pictures of Lyla from late 2009 and from early 2011, but nothing in between, so now we have some from late 2010.

It was just enough excitement to give me hope that this adoption really will happen. Sometimes during all the waiting it seems like there will never be a day when we get to hug her for the first time, but today put a big smile on my face and more hope in my heart!!!

Hi there!

I just wanted to pop in and say, "Hi!"

We sent our I-800A form off the to the USCIS office for approval on June 14. In this step we get approval from the US government to adopt a foreign child. We will wait for our appointment to get fingerprinted, and then we wait for the actual approval, this will take about 2 months. Please don't confuse this with another form we have to fill out later, where we ask the US government to give us permission to adopt a specific foreign child. Many times it feels like you are doing the same thing twice, or three times, but we know if we follow the rules we will have Lyla at the end.

One of those days

I'm having one of those days when thinking of Lyla brings an empty feeling to my heart. Before today I have spent many days dreaming of meeting her face to face, kissing those sweet chunky cheeks and finally holding our little girl for the first time. Mostly, those days are fun, happy and full of anticipation. Today is the first day that I am aching for her, I mean really aching. I don't know what it is about today, but when I look at her picture I get sad, sad that she is not with us, and sad that I'm not sure when she will be.

Please don't feel sorry for me, I am blessed beyond comprehension. I've got two very active two year olds who keep me on my toes. If they were the only two children God was going to give me, I would be SO lucky, truly! But there is this strange feeling, when a child, that you know will be yours (well, actually she already feels like ours) is half way around the world and you can't get to her.

Before Macey was born (before we knew she was Macey), I didn't have these feelings. I think it was because I didn't know what I was missing. She was to be our first child, so we didn't know what to anticipate. Sure, I wanted to know if we were having a boy or girl, I wanted to hold our baby for the first time, I wanted to know what he or she looked like, but I didn't ache for her. Maybe because she was literally with me...all the time! Waiting for Xander was just pure joy! There were days when I longed for him to be home, in fact there were many days like that. See, I knew what I was missing. I had one at home, who was his same age, and I could look at her and realize that he was doing the same things, only half a world away. Watching Macey made me excited to think of the things that Xander was going to add to our family once he came home. Counting down to bring Xander home was fun and exciting.

Waiting for Lyla is different. I am so busy, although I think about her and pray for her every day, I just don't get caught up in all the waiting as easily. We have speech therapy to attend, fights to break up, gymnastics to go to, fights to break up, play groups, fights to break up, and somewhere in between all of that we have to eat and sleep.

So today caught me off guard. One of the scary parts is that we are only at the VERY beginning of our wait. I anticipate this will not be the last day like this. While looking at her picture I cry while I smile, and I pray the same prayer that I prayed over Xander, "Lord, help her to know, in a way that only You can, that she has parents that love her."

Boring, yet exciting!

So, this is only note worthy because it seemed to relieve a little stress from me. Our home study visits are finished! All documents (except one, which I will deliver to our social worker on Monday) have been gathered! The report is VERY close to being completely written! This means that we are SO close to submitting our I-800A! To all of you not in the adoption community, and do not know what I am talking about, this is a big step in the right direction. We have to submit our I-800A in order to complete our dossier, which is the big pile papers that China wants, so we can adopt Lyla.

In my mind I thought we would be doing good if we could submit our I-800A by the middle June, and it looks like that will happen! Our social worker is going out of town on June 15th and her goal is to have everything ready so we can submit it by then, yippee!!!!

No official documents in hand, no approvals received, but a little less stress for Mama to carry around!

One small step

That's what adoption is, right, one small step after the next? Well, except that initial HUGE LEAP that you have to take to actually get started, the rest feels like itty bitty baby steps all taking you to that wonderful day when you actually get to hold the one you have been waiting for.

It's such a wonderful moment, all the time and effort and prayers you have put in. Waiting and waiting for this new addition to wrap their arms around you and look at you and smile. While everyone watches and smiles with wonder and amazement. (insert large amounts of sarcasm)

Oh wait, that's in the movies, real life is more like this. You are rushed to a room, filled with a bunch of people, you reach for your child who screams bloody murder clawing at the person holding him begging them not to let go. Only to keep screaming when you finally get to hold him and eventually slap you in the face because he really thinks you are horrible. Ahhh, what wonderful moments! :)

Reality, it's not always a pretty picture, but so important when it comes to adoption. Our home study update was today and part of a social worker's responsibility is to paint a realistic picture of what life may look like with the child you are waiting to adopt. Not always pretty, but very real and very necessary. Our social worker is incredible. We have had the same one since we started in 2006, so truly, she is our friend more than our social worker. She is honest and supportive, really the best at what she does. So today, she had to tell us some of the reality.

Yeah, we had thought of some things, but we had also neglected a few things. Do these things change our mind? NO WAY! Just cause us to rely on the One who brought us here a little more. Our social worker is a believer, what a wonderful thing to have in common with her! So when we talk about God bringing us here, and the fears we have, but knowing that if God brought us to Lyla, He will bring us through anything we have to face with her, tears fill her eyes. She gets it.

So, with a few more things to add to our list of things to do, and one we can cross off, our home study is on it's way to completion. Each small step brings us closer to Lyla, and causes us to fall more in love with her.

...Even if she follows in her brother's footsteps and slaps me in the face on that wonderful 1st day! :)

Now that the shock has worn off...

I think my head has stopped spinning from our whirlwind trip to CA. Now I can spend some time filling everyone in on this HUGE new journey we are (have been) taking. Crazy, right? I couldn't agree with you more.

You know God has a way of surprising us, and this was one of those times. Let me start by saying that I have been praying about our next adoption since about December, wondering why God had put the desire to adopt again, on my heart. Kevin literally told me I was crazy when I told him of this desire. I'm pretty sure the comment was something like "We can't handle the two we have. Why would we want to add one more?" Truthfully, I couldn't answer that question and I agreed with him. But, I couldn't get the desire out of my heart.

In the world of China special needs adoption there are MANY blogs, yahoo groups and forums that advocate for the children who are waiting. Some have been waiting a long time, some have serious needs, all of them are children who need to know the love of a mom and dad. So that's where my search began.

I joined groups, started talking to people who knew more about these kids than I did and asked God what was I supposed to do about this. I knew that there was no way that Kevin was going to agree to it, and that he would never sign any paper that said we were even considering, so I did this all on my own. Occasionally I would find a sweet face (well, I found lots of sweet faces!) and show him a picture hoping to get a response. I would rarely get anything but an eye roll or a glare, he is a man of few words. :)

Fast forward to March. I had looked and looked and then I came across a sweet girl who had a serious heart condition. I was actually just reading about her and Kevin saw her over my shoulder and said "Who is that?" I told him the name she was given by the agency representing her and then told him she was 6 with a heart condition. It was then that he said "What do you think about adopting an older child?" Hm, honestly I had NEVER even considered it. Not that I was opposed to it, but it had never crossed my mind. I learned a little more about this sweet girl and found out that her heart condition was VERY serious, something I didn't feel like we were ready for. But she would never leave our hearts. She was the reason we began looking at and praying over older children. We found out later that she had another family wanting to adopt her. Door closed.

Later that month another little girl caught my attention. She was strikingly beautiful and I really wanted to learn more about her. Kevin had given me permission to get more info, so I did. He still was "ready" yet, but the fact that he was willing to learn more was great. I couldn't stop looking at her, but Kevin couldn't say yes. A few weeks went by and after some deep conversations about what God had laid on my heart we agreed to have a Dr review her file and figure out what our response would be. I called the agency representing her and was told that another family had decided to adopt her. Door closed.

I was heart broken. I thought she might be "the one." How could God let her slip away. Since my goal is to be honest on this blog, I will tell you that I actually prayed that the other family would change their mind so she could be ours. Kind of embarrassed by that, but just being honest.

So I kept looking. All of a sudden the sweet girl with the heart condition appeared on someone's blog. Apparently that family who was going to proceed could no longer do so. Kevin and I wondered what we should do, we knew we didn't have much time, as her condition was serious. On one of the forums I was a member of this little girl had been prayed over and talked about for months, and another family came forward and made it very clear that they were going to adopt her, and nothing was going to stand in their way. Door closed.

God had a way of closing doors that He didn't want us to go through. Since December I had been praying that Kevin and I would be on the same page and that He would make it clear what we were supposed to do. With each child that we looked I asked for clarity, and each time He provided. What an awesome God we serve!

On April 19 I saw a picture of our sweet Lyla! She was listed with an agency called CCAI. I read a brief description of her and sent this picture, which was along with her profile, to Kevin to ask if he minded if I asked for her file. I think my comment in the email to him was, "She looks crazy enough to be in our family."

That started our week of prayer over our decision to adopt her. I told you I was going to be honest, so I will say I didn't have the "moment" when I saw her like I did with Xander. I didn't "just know" and that made me nervous. We committed to pray over the weekend, which happened to be Easter weekend. I prayed, rather begged, God for clarity! I need to know, I wanted there to be no doubt, I wanted Kevin to feel the same way. That's all I knew, it was comfortable. Well, as we know, God does not promise things will be easy, and sometimes, many times, we move on faith. This was one of those times. In all the situations before God had closed a door that He didn't want us to walk through, and there was no closed door. Was that my confirmation, it hardly seemed like clarity, but it was all I had.

I heard a few things from God while I prayed. I heard Him say trust only me. It was the emphasis on the "only" that got me. I had spent a lot of my time researching, questioning others and myself, so this was a big lesson for me. I kept feeling like God was telling us to keep going until He closed the door. But how could I be excited if I was waiting for this door to be closed? Then, after our week of prayer, Kevin and I finally talked about all God had been telling us. I don't remember exactly what Kevin said, but it was something like "I knew she was ours when I read her file." My first reaction was pure JOY! We had found her! Then I thought to myself, "WHAT!? YOU COULD HAVE SAVED ME A WEEK OF STRESS IF YOU WOULD HAVE TOLD ME THAT!!!!" But nope, this week I spent praying and pleading with God was so I could learn something. Thank you, Lord.

The week that followed brought the confirmation that I was looking for. We were able to use our current social worker, when we thought we weren't going to be able to, which will save us time and money! Kevin was blessed with a raise, actually two! We got a VERY positive update on Lyla! All of these things came to us within a few days of each other and with tears running down my face and hands raised I thanked God for the clarity I had been asking for.

A New Big Sister!

Introducing.....

Lyla Elizabeth!

We are busting at the seams to introduce you to Macey and Xander's big sister. Since we've been in California we were able to tell our families in person, so now we would like to tell ALL of you.

I'll make sure to give you all the details later, but in the meantime enjoy the pictures of our sweet little Lyla!

LOI sent today!

Well, it's not the first step, but it is a big one. Our letter of intent, to adopt our sweet Lyla was sent today. That means China knows we want her to a part of her family! I have so much to say and share, but now is not the time. Anyway, you've already read that part, because you are probably reading this after we have made the big announcement.

Here is where we'll keep you up to speed on how the process is going.

Here we come LYLA!