Made it to China.

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We left our home bright and early on Tuesday morning.  Coral’s dad took us to the airport and we began our long journey to China.  Both of our flights were just fine.  We were impressed with the number of amenities on our 13 hour flight to Beijing.  We paid the extra money for “Economy Comfort” seats which gave us some extra leg room and better recline in our seats. Not as awesome as the beds first class got, but still totally worth every penny. Unfortunately, neither one of us slept much, but we did have some good time just hanging out together, reading books, and choosing a movie to watch from our personal tvs in our seats.

When we arrived in Beijing we were greeted by one of Andy’s friends and were able to spend the rest of the day with two families that Andy knows from his past travels here.  It was great for Andy to reconnect and for me to get to know them better. Coral has also especially enjoyed experiencing “real life” here in China and going beyond the tourist attractions.

Thank you for your prayers as we continue on this journey.  Here are a few things we would love prayer for in the coming days:

1. Continued safety and health in our travels.  Praise the Lord for blessing us with both so far!

2. That God would prepare our hearts to be parents.  We are excited and also realistic in that the days ahead could be emotional and difficult as we become a family of three.

3. Along those same lines, pray that we would rely on God for strength, patience, perseverance, and peace in all things.

4. Pray that we could have some good quality time our initial days here and be a blessing to the friends we have a chance to interact with.

Travel Approval and Travel Dates

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We had a terrific week!  We received our Travel Approval on Thursday afternoon!  This was great timing as Andy had made plans for us for a bed and breakfast/camping get-away this weekend.  We were to stay at the B+B Thursday and Friday night and then go camping Saturday night. What a great way to celebrate and have some time away before becoming a family of three!

So, everything was going as planned until Friday afternoon. Then, we received a call from our agency with our travel dates.  We were originally thinking we would probably travel sometime shortly after Memorial Day or in early June.  However, due to a Chinese holiday and the availability of agency staff, our agency confirmed that we would actually be traveling much, MUCH sooner than that.  So, our weekend of rest and relaxation quickly became a flurry of travel arrangements, phone calls to family, clearing of the calendar, and crafting of To-Do lists. It became very apparent that we needed to cut our weekend short.  We stayed at the B+B until mid-day Saturday and came back home, skipping the camping.  We had another cold spell that night, so maybe that was for the best??

We have been hard at work since then — organizing JB’s room, compiling travel documents, and completing other tasks that need to be done. It is so hard to believe that we have been in the thick of this adoption process for a year and now the time has finally come to actually go get our child.

We are so excited to be at this point and so excited to welcome JB into our family.  However, in the midst of our joy, we are very aware that there will also be great sadness, grief, and loss felt by JB and the family he has known and loved for most of his sweet little life.  It is wonderful that we get to be JB’s forever family.  At the exact same time it is super crappy that he and his foster family have to experience such pain for that to happen.  We know and trust that God does not waste our pain and he will make beauty from ashes.  Would you be praying with us?

Please pray specifically that God would prepare the hearts of all of us (Andy, me, JB, and his foster fam) for the transition to come.

Article 5!

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We received our “Article 5″ letter from the U.S. consulate in Guangzhou, China!  This was sent to Beijing last Wednesday.  Now we wait for “travel approval” from China, and then we schedule our “consulate date” to go in person to the U.S. Consulate to apply for a visa for Joshua to come to the U.S.

And once we have those two things, we book our tickets!  Just a few more weeks…

It’s becoming real.

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I’ve been thinking lately about what it really means to raise a child with special needs, to do everything you possibly can to help them succeed.  There’s a book that my wife read for school a couple of years ago, and I picked it up the other day.  It’s called Reasonable People by Ralph James Savarese.  It’s the story of a little boy with autism and his adoptive parents that really fight for their son.

Great book!  I like this book for at least two reasons:

  • It’s an adoption story.  These are awesome – so cool to see what led different people to make the decision to adopt.
  • It’s written by a guy.  Let’s face it…guys are outnumbered by the gals when it comes to writing about adoption.  Reading a firsthand account of parenting a special needs kid from a guy’s perspective has been really insightful for me.

In this book, Ralph and his wife Emily start with no children.  They end up offering respite care, then foster care, then adoption to a little boy named DJ.  DJ was not easily able to communicate, and through years of effort and advocacy, they watched him learn how to speak using a computer, enter and thrive in a mainstream classroom, and open up about his difficult past.  Ralph and Emily are not perfect, but they fight for their kid like nobody’s business…because they have to.  In addition, they find allies in the school and in their community to help them raise their son.

Reading this story really brings me into the reality of what it could mean to be a father of a child with special needs.  Joshua has not been diagnosed with autism, but we don’t yet know what caring for him will entail.  We have taken several preparatory classes and read many books, but for me it’s finally sinking in:  Life is going to change for us.  That is both exciting and scary at the same time.  (thankfully, usually when I’m scared, Coral is excited, and vise-versa)
Also thankfully, we are not alone…our church recently started an “adoption” group, and we are hearing of new families at our church who are adopting (or thinking of adopting)!  We also have great support from family and friends.  Finally and ultimately, we believe that God has placed us here in Joshua’s life for such a time as this (see Esther 4:14), and that his hand is at work in protecting and guiding us every day.
It’s exciting.  But it’s still scary.
Just a few more weeks…

Progress and a New Name

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This adoption train keeps on moving! We received our I-800 approval (the U.S. gave us the official ok to adopt JB) on 3/28 and we got our letter stating that the National Visa Center received notice of that approval on 4/4.  We are just three steps away from travel!
Provided things continue to follow the same course, we could be traveling to China in June!

Praise the Lord for bringing us this far! We trust he will carry his plan out to completion.

Part of our I-800 paperwork required that we officially document what JB’s name will be once he is a part of our family.  Since we shared that information with the government, we thought it would also be appropriate to share it with you.  This will also give us all some time to practice his new name.  I mean, name changes can be hard.  Did you ever have a time when your former high school teacher told you it was now ok to call them by their first name?  And do you remember how weird that was at first (or still is)?  Or do you remember (you married ladies) the first time you had to sign your new name after your wedding day?  Also weird (but cool, let’s be real).

Andy and I thought and prayed for a long time about changing JB’s name. We considered why or why not we should change it and read about the experiences other families had in this area.  We decided, that as JB’s parents, we wanted to choose a name for him just like we would for a biological child.  We wanted to choose a name that had meaning and linked JB to our family forever.  Therefore, we have decided to name him:

Joshua Michael 

We love the story of Joshua in the Bible and how “Joshua” means “saved by God.”  God has clearly had his hand on JB from the beginning and we felt like “Joshua” reflects that well.
JB will share the middle name of Michael with Andy and Andy’s dad. We felt that passing this name down to JB was one way that we could signify that he is forever a part of our family.

Of course, we realize that in the midst of this that JB already HAS a name — a name that DOES have meaning.  And we certainly do not want to diminish that at all.  While “JB” is not part of his legal name, we are certain that “JB” and all of its variations will continue to be terms of endearment for this child.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support in the midst of this journey! We know that this is just the beginning and we are thankful to be surrounded by such a loving, caring community.  Please continue to pray:

* That we can make it through the remaining steps of this adoption without any hiccups.
* That we would, indeed, be able to travel in June.
* For an abundance of patience, peace, love, and grace in the attachment process.  We hear this can be a really rough season.  Pray we would be fueled by God in the midst of it.
* That God would be glorified in the midst of this process and beyond.

He is Risen!

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He is Risen Indeed!

A year ago at this time, Andy and I were set on pursuing the adoption of JB, but had not yet started the paperwork process.  We were just beginning to learn about the road we were about to take (really, we still are!).  We were just learning about adoption — not the paper-chasing, homestudy process — but about adoption in light of the gospel. As we reflect on the death and resurrection of Christ this weekend, this truth of our adoption resonates in a deeper way.

But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”  So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.
Galatians 4: 4-7 

We were abandoned, despised, rejected, unwanted, sinful, rotten, discarded, completely disconnected from God.  And God –the creator of the universe, Abba Father, the One true God — could have left us that way. But he didn’t.  He loved us SO much, desired relationship with us so much, and wanted us so much, that he sent his own Son to die to pay the ransom for our sins.  He made us his children.
Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God,
    stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:4-6

To say that I feel so humbled, thankful, and blessed by this is a huge understatement.
“Oh, praise the One who paid my debt and raised this life up from the dead” (From “Jesus Paid it All”)

High/Low. And some BIG news!

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We have a small group that meets in our home each week.  We usually start our time together sharing our “highs and lows” (also known as “happies and crappies”).  This is an opportunity to share the best and worst parts of our weeks with one another.  Usually, finding ONE thing to share in each category is plenty, but this past weekend Andy and I had SEVERAL “happies and crappies”.  Thankfully, it all ended with a HUGE “happy” by Monday morning.

High: I got to spend the weekend in Madison celebrating a dear friend who is about to get married!!

Low: On my drive home I got a migraine and had to take a little nap in a gas station parking lot.

High: Andy finished painting JB’s room (!!) . . .

Low:  . . . . Only to discover the “home improvement” store made a mistake with mixing the new can of paint.  It is VERY obvious which places were painted with the wrong shade of blue . . . .

High: Andy discovered some slight leakage in our basement and was able to get it taken care of before things got too bad.

Low: In the process he slashed his hand on a screw in one of our downspouts and needed six stitches.

High: Andy gets many Man Points for said stitches.

For the most part, all of these things have been resolved (well, not the paint, but we’ll get there) without too many tears or gnashing of teeth.

Then, THEN (!!) We finally make it to Monday morning and receive a great “happy”:

We got our Letter of Acceptance!!

This means that China reviewed our dossier and gave us permission to adopt JB!!!  What a great way to start the week!

Tuesday we received another packet of paperwork from our adoption agency.  Our next step is to apply for the I-800 (which is a petition to the US to adopt a specific child from a Hague Convention country).  Andy made quick work of that paperwork and mailed it today!  We are still on track to bring JB home this summer.

In the midst of highs and lows of the past few days, I have been reminded many times, in many ways, of the love, faithfulness, provision, and power of God.  He is continuing to pave the way for us on this journey.  I trust that he will continue to do so once we return to the US as a family of three in a few months.

Zephaniah 3:17

“The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing”

 

 

 

Happy Birthday!

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Right now, half way around the world, our little guy is celebrating his golden birthday. To celebrate in a small way here, I made some cupcakes– I mean, a lot of cupcakes. I figure it’s good practice — I was out of regular cupcake papers, so I had to use valentines day ones. I was also missing an ingredient, but was able to find a creative substitute. AND I managed to get frosting ALL over my hands. Think extreme finger painting. But that is just real life –right, all you moms out there? Either way, it was a great joy to mark this special day, and to know that JB ‘s foster fam is celebrating him too.

In other adoption news, here is what we have been up to:
1. Waiting: Thanks, Captain Obvious. We sent in our dossier to China on January 11th and got our Log in Date on January 17th. It takes about 2 months to get to the next step, which is to get our Letter of Acceptance. We hope to get that within the next couple of weeks.

2. Calculator: We found this great Internet forum  where other waiting families share the date they get to each part of the paperwork journey. One family created a calculator to help you figure out when you will get to the next step. It hasn’t given us any brand new news necessarily, but it is great to actually see all that data put together to make predictions and track patterns.

3. Learning: We have been reading a few adoption books (The Connected Child by Dr. Karyn Purvis) and have ordered a few more.  We are continuing to follow other families’ blogs on their adoption journeys.

4. Nesting: Fun! We have a list of things we want to do in our home before JB gets here. We have been slowly working through that list and just painted JB’s room this weekend. My mom and I also started making curtains for his room too.  These are the fun projects.  Other projects, like cleaning out our storage area, are not so fun, but still good to do. Who knows when that will get done again in the future?

5. Planning: We started contacting schools last week. Crazy – we will barely have him in our home and then he will have access to school services. More research on schools and doctors to come.

Thank you for your prayers as we continue to progress toward bringing JB home!

Learning New Things

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This adoption journey has given us the opportunity to ponder and learn a great many things — and we have only scratched the surface.  In an attempt to share those things with you, our amazing community of friends and family, we will try to post some of things that have been helpful to us, so that you can ponder and learn alongside us.

First up is a video we first saw on our placing agency’s website.  It focuses on the fact that kids with special needs are indeed treasures that also need the love and security of forever families.  The label “special needs” can be scary, but I can tell you first hand that kids with special needs are full of life, joy, laughter, and hope; and are a beautiful reflection of the hand of God — just like any other kid without such label.  This clip is a little long, but worth it to see all of those cute faces and hear some honest testimonies of families who have already gone down the road of adopting a kiddo with special needs.  I know a ten minute YouTube video can feel like an eternity, so I challenge you to just check out at least the first two minutes.

Dossier to China!

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Today we reached a significant milestone in our adoption process.  Our dossier has been sent to China!  A bundle of papers filled with our life story is on its way to the other side of the globe.  Throughout this whole journey it has been very clear that we really have no control over how things progress.  That is challenging and humbling.  Sure, we can fill out our paperwork promptly and be proactive with some things, but we have no control over how fast we move through each step of the process.  That is especially evident now.  The paperwork is done and we are now left to continue the important task of preparing our hearts and home for this little boy.

Will you pray with us?

Pray our documents will get to China safely and quickly.

Pray for favor with the officials that will read them.

Pray for good communication between US and Chinese officials.

Pray that things will continue to move forward.

Pray for JB and his rockstar foster fam.

Pray that above all we will be trusting the Lord, surrendering to His will, and resting in His peace and faithfulness.  He is so good to us and has graciously answered so many prayers in these past eight months.  To God be the glory.