Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!
I pray the Lord blesses you abundantly in the New Year. Thanks for following our adoption journey.

Snow Days

It's been so fun to be "trapped" at home this time of year. Our good friends, and our neighbors, who are also good friends, came over today for fun in the snow, and fun inside by the fire. Here's some pics.

*Here's the News....

Alright, so now I have a few minutes to write and wanted to let you know that we are moving forward with China. We are very excited about. For the first time in a long time, things actually seem to be moving forward MORE QUICKLY than we expected. Because we had just updated our home study for Vietnam, our social worker was able to surprise us by having our China home study done in two days!! We expected this to take at least a month, not really knowing that it didn't require all new paperwork. That was a huge praise!

We are going the special needs route with the China program through our agency, Faith International. This route works much different than the route for healthy children, where the wait is as long as 3 years now. Our whole process from now until we have the child home could be 9 months, or even less since our paperwork stage is progressing quickly.

We have done some research on what kinds of special needs we are open to. We are using the term "minor correctable special needs" in our paperwork, and can be more specific with our agency. They will then help us find the right child for us based on the age and special needs we have requested. The most common special needs that we are open to are cleft palate/lip, minor physical deformities like missing or extra digits..., sight or hearing weakness, skin conditions, minor heart conditions, Hepatitis B.....We are still requesting a girl, under the age of 2.

Our immigration forms are being sent to the US Consulate today. It is perfect timing because our Vietnam approval expires soon and we were needing to update our forms anyway. Anyone can have one free update and one free change of status, and you can do both at once. So, we are updating and changing our status to China, and will wait a few weeks for approval. Once we have our immigration approval, and all of our paperwork done, our dossier goes to China and our agency will start looking on the special needs lists for our child! Most of the paperwork we have done before. The most time consuming are things we need other people to help with - our medical reports, and employment letters..... The stress of paperwork is adding to the busyness of the season, but it's a good stress.

The Lord has given us peace about this, and is open doors along the way. Now we need Him to provide the funds, and help us find our daughter.

We are not giving up on Vietnam. If things open again soon, we may have to delay our Vietnam adoption, until our first daughter is home and adjusted. It would also be an even bigger financial stretch to do two adoptions, but if this is what the Lord has for us, He will provide. Liv is still in Vietnam, and I won't give up looking for her until the Lord tells me to.

We need a nickname for our Chinese daughter, and may have to start a new blog, since this one is obviously rather Vietnamese. Some nicknames we have brainstormed are: Pearl, LIA (Love in Asia - LIC just isn't cute, and LICh is worse:) and Mei Mei (which means little sister in Mandarin). Any other suggestions, or votes?

It is so great to see an end to this long wait for our next child in site! I have hope, and am also trying to guard my hope for fear of trials like we've had with Vietnam.

*We Have Exciting News

But sorry - you have to wait a little longer to find out. And, don't get too excited, it's not a referral.

*Another Christmas....

I was just wallowing in adoption self-pity when I decided to blog. Entering our blog and finding my last post titled "Thankful" makes me feel even more guilty for my attitude. I want to be more optimistic and hopeful.

Last year at Christmas time, we hoped and prayed and dreamt of having Liv home by this Christmas, or at least seeing her face by this Christmas. I had planned to make her stocking some time this year - it would be red. I have the material, but it can wait another year.

Lord, we are tired of this wait. Please fill us with hope. Please guide our steps, and bring our child home soon. Please guide us to her. Please protect her and comfort her - surround her with love. Prepare us for each other.

Train Ride

This weekend we had a fun family outing. Koen got to go on the "Santa Train" - his first real train ride in his memory. He and Keith really enjoyed all the train stuff. The ride was short, but really the perfect distance for a two year old. At the destination, we skipped out on the Santa pics due to a long line, and enjoyed refreshments and a jumpy house. My mom and sister joined us.

Sitting on the train - wearing the santa hats I made them.

Even monkey got to come along.

Mom, Laurie, Koen (crying, I don't remember over what), Me and Keith

Thanksgiving Recap

I am having a hard time coming up with a way to express how our Thanksgiving was. Keith's mom and sister came up from Oregon to join my Mom and sister. My dad stopped by briefly. Keith made the turkey and gravy, and I did the stuffing and roles. Koen kept us pretty entertained, but he knew he was the center of attention.

All in all, it felt a little empty. My Grammi is too old and difficult to take out of her nursing home, so she was not present for the first time in my memory. And, Liv was noticeably missing as well. We have all had a rough year, and although I am thankful for many blessings even during the recent trials, we didn't discuss what we were thankful for, which is usually our tradition. I guess we just weren't in the mood.

The weekend was full of family activities. Enjoy the pictures.

It's become tradition to head to a local nursery in search of the perfect family photo for our Christmas card. These weren't the selected photo, but it will be unveiled later this month.

Koen and his Grandmas