AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

 

Can I just say that I'm starting to feel a little overwhelmed??? I've been very busy packing, preparing and I just got back from a business meeting in Lubbock. In just 72 hours at this time we will be somewhere over the ocean on our way to go get our baby girl Kayman! We received an update on Kayman a little over a week ago and I am proud to say that she's growing and looks very happy! My heart was very pleased to see a sweet smile on her face as she was playing with a ball. If the measurements and weights are correct, she should be starting to wear about a size 2T. The update said that she loves to play with blocks and balls and enjoys to dance. It also said she is clever and has a good memory. This mommy can't wait to get to know her and everything she really loves. I am beyond excited to post pictures on this blog as soon as we have our "gotcha" day on November 5th!

I will try to update this blog as frequently as possible while in China, but I've heard several people are having problems with their internet and VPNs.  I'm hoping Jason will be able to get us hooked up with a good connection so we can keep everyone updated as we become a family of four!  My next blog post should be from China! 

Just in case you're wondering, the first picture in this post is some art that I made and have ordered for Kayman's room!  I think it will look great and help her know how special she is and where she came from!

 

Yay!  Here is Kayman's suitcase!  I love seeing all the pink!

Hurry up November!

The last time I wrote in my blog I didn't have an exact date for travel, but now we have round-trip plane tickets to China!  I can't believe it's finally happening.  I still have a month to prepare, but I've started washing all of Kayman's clothes and setting out what I'm going to pack.  We will leave for China on November 1st and arrive in Beijing on the 2nd.  We will get to see a few sights of Beijing and then travel to Kayman's province.  Our "gotcha" day will be Monday, November 5th!  I can't wait for the minute I get to see Kayman's sweet little face.  I have to admit I'm a little nervous about it.  I can't help but wonder what she will do.........cry, smile, laugh or even scream!  I know God has brought us down this path and I believe He has been preparing us for the moment she sees us.  I love her so much and long for her to love us as well!  We did send her a small photo album and toy a month or so ago so hopefully the orphanage staff has been preparing her for her new mommy & daddy and we won't look like complete strangers!  We will spend a little time with Kayman in her province and even in the city that her orphanage is located.  We are hoping to get a tour of the orphanage, but sometimes that doesn't happen.  While we are in her province we will apply for her passport and work on the adoption process and do a little shopping.  I've been told that there is a Wal-Mart in the city we will be in most of that time but I really want to get some souvenirs for Kayman in the Chinese shopping areas.  After we've been there for about a week we will travel south to Guangzhou where we will get Kayman's visa and she will have a medical exam.  Our flight home is gonna be crazy!  Not only will we have a new daughter that we're still getting to know, but we have 4 flights with 3 layovers that are 3-4 hours each!  Our flight leaves Guangzhou at 8 am China time and we arrive in Amarillo 28 hours and 59 minutes later.  They say we actually have to be to the Guangzhou airport by 5 am so you could add 3 more hours onto our day!  I'm thinking all three of us are going to be cranky and tired!  The strange thing is even with that many hours of travel we leave China on November 15 and arrive in Amarillo on the same day!

I just can't help but stare at her referral photos.  I wish so badly I could share them with everyone on facebook and my blog, but we're abiding to the requests of our agency and waiting until the adoption is final.  We've also requested an update on Kayman and are hoping for new weights, measurements and hopefully even pictures.  This is going to be such a great holiday for our family!   

So..........We have a DATE!

Yes, we finally have an idea of when we will travel to China!  It's not as soon as we had hoped, but it will be early enough to get us home to be with Karter for the holidays!  Now we need to go into hyper drive and get everything we want done around the house.  Kayman's room is ready, but we need to repair the roof and then gut and redo a room that was damaged by water.  I know that time will fly getting ready for a new daughter, but I just can't wait right now to hold her and dress her up in dresses and bows!  The agency actually gave us two dates.  They believe we will be on our way to Beijing on October 25, but if everything isn't processed like they hope and we can't get an Embassy appointment when they want we will travel on November 1.  I've already told my brother and he's going to try to come up and spend time with Karter as well as check out our house and take care of animals and things while we're gone.  I'm so anxious and ready to have a little girl in the house.

Today was also Karter's first day of 1st grade in the very school that I attended when I was in Elementary. I was glad he asked us to walk him to his room today because it gave me a chance to see the old classrooms I was in as well as some of the teachers that were there when I was a student. The school looks them same, but for some reason seems much smaller now than it did back then! Here are a couple pictures in front of the school where dad took my picture when I was a student!
  

Wow!!

Wow is about all I can say when I think back over the last few weeks. In my last blog I mentioned that we received our pre-approval in just 2 weeks rather than the 4 that can be expected! Well, now we received our complete approval in just 8 days!! They told us it would take 3-4 months so you can imagine my surprise Tuesday when I was walking around Disneyland and I received an email and missed call on my BlackBerry from Tina at Children's Hope Interanational saying we had received our approval and letter from China! I was a little freaked out because I wasn't expecting it and then Tina said she sent everything overnight to our house. She wanted us to return the documents the next day. Thankfully they didn't have to be so Tina told us to enjoy or vacation and take care of it all when we got home. So, that is what I've done this afternoon. I've been filling out documents, signing documents and making copies. Tomorrow I will send everything by FedEx to Tina and we will be waiting for the next step. I think we should receive a Visa for Kayman in 4-8 weeks and then we should know when we will get to travel to China. I'm excited and nervous as the process continues! I can't wait to see our Kayman Janessa and be able to post her pictures on Facebook and my blog! Since I can't, here are a few pictures from our Disneyland vacation!

I'm in LOVE!

I really wish I could post a picture for everyone to see, but I can't until the adoption is final! I'm so in love with our Kayman Janessa and I can't wait for everyone to see her round little face. She looks healthy to me, but she is very small for her age. She is beautiful and I just want to hold her.

So, here is the process now. We sent in our letter of intent to adopt our little girl on Father's Day. We then had to wait for pre-approval which they say normally takes 1-4 weeks. We received it in exactly 2 weeks! Now, we are waiting for China to go through our dossier more thoroughly. According to the agency this can take 3-4 months, but I read on another blog the normal wait is 59 days. So, yes, we are just waiting again. However, we've decided we better update our home study since it expires in the middle of August. We don't want anything to cause a delay so in just a couple of weeks we will be having another home visit. This always freaks me out, but we always get through it. I'm even more freaked out because our roof leaked and we are working on getting a room redone and the damage fixed. I hate the idea of having the home visit with the house torn up. Oh well, we will get through it like we always have.

Then, after the waiting for the reviewing of our dossier we should receive a packet with our travel info!!! Yay!! So excited. We're getting closer but it's still hard to believe. China is so far away but I want to hurry and get there and love on my princess. I get a little sad when I've worried or complained about it being too hot or I wish I had pizza instead of a sandwich and then I think about my little Kayman in an orphanage. I bet all she wants is a little love! I can't wait to give that love to her.

We know who she is!!

Ok, so I can't publish pictures and I don't really know how detailed I can get, but we know who our daughter is! It is so fun to be able to put a face with the name that we've been talking about for over a year! She looks very healthy with a cute little round face. I'm so anxious to see her in person but I'm also dreading the flight. I absolutly HATE to fly, but maybe knowing that I will be with my daughter I will be ok. Kayman (as we call her), just turned 2 a couple of months ago. We were told that after we receive our referral we should be able to travel in 4-6 months so we should be home with our new daughter before the year is over! I can hardly wait and am on pins and needles waiting for the agency to tell me the next step and the word that our adoption is being processes in China! It's a big step, but now we're back to waiting! Thanks for all the prayers!

.....We're Still Waiting.....

Yes, we are still waiting and no, we don't have any news. The waiting is getting old and sometimes I get very tired of it, but I know God has the timing in his hands. I'm sure He already knows which Chinese princess will be my Kayman Janessa and will show her to our adoption coordinator at the perfect time. We tried calling the agency 4 times today and never got an answer so this is part of my reason for discouragement today.


I was running errands around town (feeling a little sorry for myself) and a couple of songs came on my Sirius radio that helped me remember God is still in control.


First: Natalie Grant - Your Great Name
Verse 1:
Lost are saved; find their way; at the sound of your great name
All condemned; feel no shame, at the sound of your great name
Every fear; has no place; at the sound of your great name
The enemy; he has to leave; at the sound of your great name

Chorus:
Jesus, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain for us, Son of God and Man
You are high and lifted up; that all the world will praise your great name

And Second: Jeremy Camp - I Still Believe
I still believe in Your faithfulness
I still believe in Your truth
I still believe in Your holy word
even when I don't see, I still believe


These lyrics were what I needed to hear today. Just because I don't see anything happening doesn't mean God isn't working out the details for me. I have to believe in his faithfulness and paise God and his name even in my confussion and lack of understanding. I know there will still be days that I wonder like today, but I just need to remember I AM NOT IN CONTROL!

Now that Kayman's room is pretty well complete, I've attached some pictures! We are very pleased with the finished product!


(Notice the pink ceiling.)


(Jason found an old frame that I updated with pink paint. We then had glass put in it and we attached a vinyl saying on the glass that Jason made for us.)


(This has a couple more frames we updated as well as a table I added tulle to to make a tutu table!)


(Here is a mirror we found and updated with the same pink paint It looks really different from its original state to the finished product!)


(Here is my quote from Cinderella about miracles. Our agency we used for Karter was called Little Miracles International (LMI) so we have always called him our little miracle and firmly believe he is just that! We started Kayman's adoption with LMI, but they aren't licensed in China so we are actually completing the adoption through Children's Hope International, but I'm sure Kayman will be our little miracle too!)

Giddy with Girly Stuff & Little Boy Birthdays!

I am getting so excited as our guest room turns into a little girl's room! Pink, turquoise and all kinds ruffles and frills is what is filling the room. About all we have left is to install the new crown molding, baseboards and finish some little decorations. This is so much fun. Karter even helped pick some of the pink paint and stuffed animals for the room. Every night before bed he prays for his little sister and that God will bring her home quickly.

Karter helping paint his sister's room - The turquoise paint in the room is much brighter and prettier than any of the pictures show. I guess that's what I get for taking the pictures with my phone instead of a real camera!

The bed and curtains in the new room


Quote that we thought was fitting: We've always called Karter our "little miracle" since he was adopted through Little Miracles International. Kayman will be our second little miracle. And yes, both of the miracles has taken some time!

We are getting closer and closer to our fundraising goal! We have a possible grant that may come through quickly as well as my 2011 bonus that will get us close to the total amount needed for this adoption! Woohoo!! Thanks God for making this happen. When we started we had no idea how we would come up with this much money a second time, but God did it again! If everything comes through like we expect we should be only about $2,000 short of our goal.

We also had some great news this week from our agency. There are only 2 or 3 families in front of us waiting for a referral. The next set of available children should come out in about 5 weeks and we hope our little girl will be in the group. We are very anxious to see her picture.

This has been a BIG month for Karter too! He turned 6 on January 10th and then lost his first tooth this past Tuesday. Well, I guess it wasn't his first tooth to lose but it was the first tooth lost the correct way rather than knocking one out! The funny thing is that it is on the same side that the other two he knocked out is on. He has a large opening on one side. He was so upset when the tooth was loose but he pulled it himself and was very excited to see what the tooth fairy brought!

Karter just after he pulled his 1st tooth!

We took Karter to eat Mexican food and he couldn't wait to tell them he was celebrating his birthday so he could wear a hat, have them sing to him and give him dessert!

Karter with his biggest birthday gift - Yes, I think we had a moment of insanity when we bought them, but Karter LOVES them!

Karter on his birthday morning - He woke up to a room with balloons!