Praise Report! RA arrived!!!

Oh My! We are just bursting with JOY to finally be able to announce that TODAY we received our official approval (RA- Referral Approval) from China to adopt the precious little boy that we said "YES!" to adopting 2 month ago.

It's official! We have a new son!!!!!! His file is "locked" for our family!

Introducing...........Our precious little China treasure, "Shao Bo"  This is the referral photo we first saw of him. A sad little boy with a huge yellow teddy. We were giddy with excitement and a little nervous when we got the email and first opened the attached file. But as soon as we saw his darling little face, our heartsd melted! We felt nothing but pure love and compassion. 

It's hard to explain the feeling. I just wanted to scoop him right up and comfort him with the love of a mommy. The kind of mommy nurturing he has never known.

Our hearts all said "He's the one!" The kids pleaded "Lets get him!!" We couldn't stop gazing at his photo. Trying to imagine the story of his little life.
That night I could hardly sleep. Rain pounded on the window.... all I could think about was poor tiny babies, abandoned and alone. What did he feel as an infant when he was found all alone? Who rocked this sweet treasure when he was teething, comforted him through his cleft lip surgeries. Did he have a caring nanny or was he alone and afraid.
Suddenly having a face to the one we had been praying and waiting for made the pain of his losses and hurts so much more real.

How we wished we could rush and bring him home!

Only a few days after we accepted his file, we were delighted to receive a few updated photos, along with weight and measurements.

We have decided to name him.......

Javonn Tyler 

Sweet Treasure! You dont know it yet, but you have a family coming for you! You are CHOSEN!!
You are WANTED!! You have a daddy and a mommy who cant wait to protect you, fight for you and shower you with love!
You have a big brother who is beyond excited to have a brother to play with. He is already saving up treasures he is sure you will want to play with.
You have two sisters who will love you.

God destined you to be part of our family. And we are so excited to get to know you! 

(Love the little PINK shoes!!!)
It looks like his orphanage is a colorful cheerful place. But no matter how nice the facility, every child needs, and deserves to be part of a family!

We are praising God that the the RA arrived sooner than we had been told to expect it. We are praying for God's continued favor on the immigration paperwork that we send off tomorrow. The day we send it off is when the ticker starts till when we can expect to get travel approval. They say to expect 10 wks for the I800 but I'm praying for a shorter process.

It feels unreal that we are being sent travel information. It really hit me today that this is FOR REAL!!! We are going to China!!!
Still not 100% decided whether to take the entire family or not. We need to get the kids passports expedited   because they need to start the process of getting visas for all who will be flying.

Our agency is AMAZING!! They take care of every little detail. And walk us through every single process we are unsure about. We have nothing but Good to say about them for the 2 yrs we have been working with them!! 

I found this note written by Karilee . As you can tell, even they are dreaming about our big upcoming trip!

So much to start preparing for! 

We pray daily that God will tenderly prepare "Javonn" for the drastic events that are about to rock his little world. I am praying that God even gives him dreams of us so that when he see's us we wont be terrifying strangers but instead he will have a subconscious (supernatural) feeling of "I've seen these people before.. I know them!!" God is so tender... I know he will tenderly carry him and us, through this process.

Disappointing news

So we have been waiting...and waiting, hoping and praying that every day we will hear that China issued our RA (Referral Acceptance) for the little guy we are hoping to adopt.
Our immigration packet has long been ready and waiting...  to stick in the mail the day we get the RA. We "thought" that the I800 (immigration) would be our last biggest wait time...that is, until today...

Perplexed why its taking so long we call our agency. What we were told was a bit of information we did NOT want to hear! How we missed this tidbit of additional facts, I dont know, But neither Steve or I recalled hearing about it so it came as quite a shock when we were told that oh actually, we are still waiting for our dossier to be translated, and by the way, that takes THREE to FOUR MONTHS!!

You have got to be kidding!!! I tried hard to hold back the tears! This is such a disappointing news.  I seriously felt like having a hissy fit like my 2 yr old does when things dont go the way she planned.

Ok. Take a deep breath ES! (Quite a few in fact!) Somewhere deep inside, underneath all the disappointment, I know the truth that God is in control, and His timing will be perfect.

So how things are looking... Our dossier was Logged in (LID) November 28. That means it arrived safely and is logged into their system. From that date they expect it to take 3-4 months to get it translated.(please dont ask me why it takes that long to translate!!!) After that they will review it and since our EA (Electronic Acceptance) is already there & we already have requested a specific child they should issue our RA within a week of review.

THEN..............when the long awaited RA arrives we send off our I800 and that typically takes 10 wks.
So with this additional waiting they said our projected travel time would likely be June or July, instead of April as we had been gearing towards.
I will continue to pray every day that God's favor will speed the process. I dont want to  run ahead of God's perfect timing, but "IF" increased waiting is just a bunch of politics and man made red tape than I know my God, who parted the red sea, is also able to part the "red seas" of red tape, mountains of paperwork and endless months of waiting that the devil loves to use as a tool to prevent children from entering God loving homes.
Thank you Jesus that you defend the weak, the helpless. And the You, Lord, set the solitary in families.
As I continue to wait, I long for my heart to be broken in deeper measures for the things that break His. To really learn everything He wants me to learn in this season.