On Our Way

thursday we sent our Letter of Intent to China. we were told it would take two to four weeks to get translated, reviewed, and accepted or denied. this is the document requesting the little girl we were preliminarily matched with last month. it has to say her stats, why we want to adopt a Chinese child, our family's support network/structure, our care plan for dealing with her transition to an american family and difficulties she may have due to her Cerebral Palsy. basically we had to plead our case as to why we would be the perfect match for this child.

then we had to write it all again for our referral letter, but that HAD to state we will not abuse her or abandon her. really? abandon her? after all that we are doing to bring her into our family. i thought that was a given. who would do that a second time to an already abandoned child? i had to add that promise in after the agency sent it back requiring us to do so. i complied because i had to, but know i really was opposed to writing it at all. writing it seems like an admission that it is a possibility, but i still promise not to do it. no one is taking my child away from me once she is officially ours. no one will ever hurt this child while i'm alive. that is more of a threat than a promise. watch out mama bear is here. 

ok enough soap box oration

now for the good news.......

our pre approval came back on tuesday. just five days after we sent it in. china said yes, they will read our dossier to adopt this particular child. WOOHOO. those prayers for speed are working. we may be able to beat that october 1 deadline after all. keep up those prayers for speed.

THANK YOU HOLY SPIRIT FOR FLYING OUR LOI THROUGH SO QUICKLY

the other amazing thing is that we got our official match on our daughter's 10th birthday. happy birthday big girl. next year we'll be together to celebrate.

so, because she couldn't be here to do it with us, we celebrated both E's 11th birthday, which was monday, and "jiara's" 10th birthday. here's a photo from a party a family member threw on tuesday. notice "jiara's" picture on the table between E and A.

here is a photo from the family party her father and i threw for E on sunday. E made her cake

our now 11 year old E is so sweet. after tuesday's surprise party, on the drive home, she said she felt a bit bad, because it wasn't her birthday anymore, it was her sister's. guess she is completely on board with adopting a sister. i found it hard to drive through my tears. tears of gratitude, tears of joy, tears of missing our daughter who is 8,000 miles away, tears of hope, tears born of a multitude of blessings.

GOD, THANK YOU FOR MY AMAZING CHILDREN AND THANK YOU FOR ALLOWING US TO HONOR YOU THROUGH THIS NEW JOURNEY. PLEASE WATCH OVER OUR CHINESE DAUGHTER WHILE SHE WAITS FOR US-LET HER KNOW OF YOUR LOVE AND PROVISION