Dear Levi...

Dear Levi, I can not believe we are actually leaving for China today!  In 48 hours we will finally get to hold you in our arms.   Our journey to you has been miraculous! I can not believe the doors that God has opened to bring you home in such a short time.  But while our wait has been short, your wait has seemed like forever.  For three years you have waited for a family to come. For three years you have watched your friends leave New Day and join their forever families.  In two days, sweet boy, it will be your turn!! Your turn to be held and be called son. Your turn to be called brother, grandson, and cousin!!  Everyone is so excited to meet you.  While our wait was short, it has not easy!!  The first time I saw your sweet face, I knew you were our son.  The first time Daddy saw your face, he said "What do we have to do to bring him home?"    Each day that passed you grew nearer to our hearts.  Each day brought a new possibility that we would see your face on the New Day blog!!  That we would learn more about you. How we wanted to hold you!! How we wished we could just reach through the screen and bring you home.  Each day your name was spoken. Each day you were prayed for.  And Monday's were glorious because we got to Skype with you! How we loved seeing your smile! To hear your voice! To see your orneriness! But they also caused us much concern.   Some days you would breath so heavy and raspy. Your breaths so shallow and short.  Your lips and fingernails bluish in color.  How we worried!!  How it pushed us all the more to get you home as quick as possible.  And now, within 48 hours, we will hold you in our arms!  What a joyful day this will be!!

At the same time, I know our joy, will be overshadowed by your sorrow.  You have already been through so much in your three years. But when New Day took you in, they became your family.  They have loved you so much! They have taught you how to love. How to flourish even in difficult times. They nursed you back to health and gotten you the medical care that you needed to live.  They encouraged  you to press on. To grow and develop into the precious boy that you are. What a wonderful gift they have given you.  I know you will always have a special place on your heart for New Day.   It breaks my heart to know you will yet again experience a loss.   Not just a loss of your birth country and heritage, but the loss of your New Day family.  We are so grateful for all they have given you.  For the foundation they have laid to prepare you for your forever family...for our family. 

Our prayer for you these past 8 months have been that the Lord would be preparing your heart for our family. That He would somehow let you know that we are your Mommy and Daddy. That it is us you have been waiting for.  That even before we knew you were our son, that God would have been showing you our faces. That your dreams would have been filled with visions of us, so that when you meet us,  you will know us.  That He would have been whispering in your ear, "This is your Mommy and Daddy and they are coming."  That He would touch your heart in all the areas that you have grieved, and heal them. That you would find peace and comfort, first in your heavenly Father's arms, and then ours.

We know you will be upset when you leave New Day.  We know you will grieve. We know you will be angry and scared.  Know that it is okay and we love you.  That we will grieve with you. But, know you are home. Know you are ours and we will never let you go. We are your forever family! We love you, sweet Levi! We love you, our son! And, we are finally coming!!  Love, Mommy and Daddy

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."

Psalm 30:5b   "Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning."

Our Intinerary

We leave for China in 4 days! Below is a brief outline of our trip.

October 25th- 7:30PM Leave for China

October 26th- 11:55PM Arrive in Beijing

October 27th- Sight see in Beijing

October 28th- Tour New Day; Fly to Hohhot

October 29th- Pick up Levi

October 30th-1st- Finalize adoption and lots of paperwork

November 2nd- Pickup adoption documents and fly to Guangzhou

November 3rd- Levi's Medical Exam

November 4th-5th- sight seeing days

November 6th- Visa Appointment with US Consulate and Oath Ceremony

November 7th- Pick up Levi's visa and leave for Hong Kong

November 8th- Levi is home and becomes US Citizen!!

We're Going to China!!

My Word!! Today has been a whirlwind!! This morning our agency called and said we had our CA!!! However, it was for November 6th still, meaning we would leave next week. The consulate is all booked up the following week so we travel now or wait until Thanksgiving. Needless to say, we are traveling now. It does come with the sacrifice of spending time at New Day. We will get to go to New Day to pick up Levi on the 28th. This is how his Provincial Orphanage wants it done. The good news is we get Levi a day early!! It just cuts out a stay on Thursday and Friday. But we know the lord has had this adoption from day one and all things we brings to perfection. We have our tickets ordered and will be leaving next Thursday. I will post more later when my mind is clear. right now it is a whirlwind of excitement and thinking of all the things that need to get done in a week!!! AHHHHH, can't believe this time has come!!!!

Travel Approval!!

Travel Approval has officially arrived!!! We are still waiting on our Consulate Appointment to be approved. Our agency is not expecting it until the end of the week. Since they were wanting us to leave on the 24th we are feeling somewhat pressured for time. The kids are off school this week so we would not have much time to gather all their school work. Not to mention trying to get flights set in 4 days. Just a lot to do in 4 days or less. SO, as much as we hated to do it, we have asked that they bump our appointment by a week, which means we would leave on the 30th instead. While I hate waiting an additional 6 days to hold Levi, the peace that I am now feeling is wonderful!!! So, hopefully, the Consulate will agree to our dates!!! Be praying!!

Is It Possible?

Proverbs 16:3 "Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and He will establish your plans."

Well, the Autumn Moon Festival officially ended Sunday, so businesses in China opened Monday!! All our documents were delivered to the CCCWA on Monday as well. Last week was a LONG, HARD week knowing all our stuff was ready on the 29th for CCCWA but had to wait to be delivered until the 8th!!! But once again, God had this! I contacted Our agency Monday just saying I was excited that today was the day our papers would be delivered for our TA to be granted and Tiffany responded back that she would check with Rocky to see if CCCWA agreed to expedite our TA. Well, Tuesday came and went; no news. Wednesday arrived and I received an email from Tiffany saying our TA was basically done...just waiting on one more signature and that will have it this week!!! THIS WEEK!!!! This has got to be the fasted TA ever and we thank God for opening the doors for this to happen!!! So, sometime Thursday or Friday we will have TA! Our agency is going to work with us to get our Consulate Appointment while our TA isis route to us. This will save some time as well. Once this appointment is made we can set our travel date and arrange our flights!!! We are praying we can leave around the 30th!! Can't wait to tell Levi on Monday that we are coming soon! Please be praying with us that the Lord would be preparing his heart for our family. That he would not grieve too hard and that he would know how much we love him already. That he would not be scared. That he would just feel the Lord's embrace and comfort during this huge transition. Also pray for Samuel. That the Lord would be preparing his heart as well. That he would love his new brother and that they would bond wonderfully!

OH. MY. WORD!!! Tiffany just emailed and we may be leaving the 24th!!! She is waiting to hear!! Stay tuned!!!

Blessings in Disguise

Psalm 111:1-4 "Praise the Lord! I will thank the Lord with all my heart as I meet with his godly people. How amazing are the deeds of the Lord! All who delight in him should ponder them. Everything he does reveals his glory and majesty. His righteousness never fails. He causes us to remember his wonderful works. How gracious and merciful is our Lord!"

The last few days have been crazy...and emotionally draining. We received our NVC last Wednesday. In record time...2 days!! We have had wonderful support from our Agency, as well as, our congressman's office. Our papers were sent to China with the NVC cable and arrived Monday to our contact in GZ, who was to drop it all off to the Consulate on Tuesday. Well, Monday we woke up to an email from our agency saying we forgot to sign the second page of our DS-230 and that the consulate would not accept this without the signature. We scanned a copy of the page with the signature to our agency, who forwarded it to China. Then we overnighted the original to AGCI for them to send to China in case the consulate would not accept the scan. Normally, they will not accept copies. I was heartsick thinking I had delayed our journey possibly by two weeks. One week for the new papers to arrive and the second week because China is on Holiday and everything shuts down. Tuesday came and we did not hear if the consulate accepted the scan. Wednesday came....still nothing. I emailed AGCI and they felt no news was good news, but I didn't want to lose more time. So I emailed our congressman, who got right back to me saying she would contact the consulate for an update. So, this morning I woke up to a WONDERFUL email form the consulate stating we had in fact received our Article 5!! God is good! Not only did my mistake not hold us up but we received it in 3 days!! We thank the Lord for His Grace and for removing blocks that could have delayed our travel! And for Heather and Tiffany, who so willing have helped us expedite our adoption!

We are now waiting for our Travel Approval. This normally takes 3-4 weeks, but with the Chinese holiday coming up this next week, we may be an extra week. We will see. God may have other plans!

AGCI just emailed and it's even cooler than I thought! I guess when Jack droppped off our papers, the consulate agreed to accept the scanned signature, but said the Article 5 would not be ready for pick up until October 16th.  Jack requested an expedite and they said, "they would think about it."  Well, two days later the consulate called Jack saying they would expedite our case and that the papers were ready for pick up! Praise God! The papers are now on there way to Beijing for our Travel Approval!   

Time Draws Near

"Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a real blessing." Psalm 127:3

Our travel planning is drawing near. We received an email today letting us know our immigration paperwork has been reviewed by the USCUS in Texas and is now on its way to our USCIS officer in Missouri. We are figuring she will get it on Monday or Tuesday and she has agreed to process it immediately. Once she has approved it, she will send it to the National Visa Center. Then we wait for the NVC letter of approval, which we should receive within the week, and lastly, the article 5. Then Travel Approval will be issued by China. We are talking weeks folks, not months!

We are excited and scared all at once. We can't wait to meet our son and hold him. To welcome him into our family. Yet, in our excitement, Levi's world is going to be turned upside down. For two and a half years New Day has been his family. He has had two sets of nanny's who he's called "Mama." They have loved him, held him, carried him, tucked him in bed at night, and played with him. They have watched him reach milestones we have missed. Celebrated his birthdays. They have sat up with him at night, rocking him back to sleep. They have spent months in the hospital while he was recovering from his first heart surgery. They took an underweight, sickly, baby boy in at 7.5 months old, who is now thriving in spite of his serious heart condition. He is definitely loved. I can't imagine how Levi is going to feel leaving his home that he knows. Going with people that he has only skyped with a few months, not speaking their language. Traveling half way around the world to a new country with strange sights and sounds. Strange foods. We pray that the Lord would be preparing his little heart for our family. That he would know that we are his family. We pray that our other children would be prepared for their new brother and that they transition well to their new roles. That they would develop a special bond with Levi, as they did with Samuel. And, we are so thankful that the Lord placed Levi with New Day! He would not be alive today without the care and love that New Day has provided. We will continue to keep you all abreast to our happenings, and still hope to travel in October!