First Baby Shower

Yesterday we had Anna's first baby shower! Aunt Julie (Happy Birthday, Julie!) hosted a wonderful shower in her home!! We had such a great time getting together and celebrating Anna. Thanks to everyone for all of the wonderful gifts ... Anna really got some cute, fun things ... all much needed too!! (click on images to see larger)

Anna's crib arrived yesterday and our neighbor (thanks, Monty!) helped us haul it home. After church today, Greg is going to try to get it put together. I can't imagine what it's going to feel like to see her crib all set up! Her room is starting to come together - we'll get some pictures posted soon.

A little about Kunming, China

Kunming is the capital of southwest China's Yunnan province, a primarily agricultural province of 45 million. The Yunnan province is roughly the size of California, Yunnan borders Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar (Burma), Guangxi and Tibet autonomous regions and Guizhou and Sichuan provinces. Kunming has a population of five million and is located in one of the world's most geographically, ethnically, biologically and linguistically diverse regions.

Kunming is known as the "City of Eternal Spring". The average highs are in the 60s and lows around 50. After spending a few days in Beijing which will be in the 30's (probably colder with the wind) most days, the week we will spend in Kunming will feel great!

Kunming has become a major tourist city in China. One of the biggest draws for tourists coming to Kunming (other than the great weather and clean air) is the city's ethnic diversity. Yunnan is home to over two dozen of China's official 55 ethnic minorities.

There are many attractions to see in Kunming and while I'm not sure yet what our itinerary will be, one place we would love to see is on the outskirts of the city, The Stone Forest. The Stone Forest, with its limestone columns reaching as high as 40 meters (131 feet) is one of the more unique geographical phenomena in China.

Another place that I'm pretty sure we will get to see is Green Lake Park, which is in the city's center. It looks like a great place to take Anna for an afternoon stroll! Can't wait!!!!

L-O-A, baby!!

Our agency called at 12:30pm today to let us know they received our LOA in the mail today!!!! Greg and I had joked that we might get it this week, but I don't think either one of us really expected to!

Our agency is overnighting our LOA today, so we'll sign it tomorrow and overnight it back and they'll send it to China on Friday!! This is the 2nd of the 3 approvals that we need before we can travel ... our final approval (Travel Approval) should come in 2-4 weeks and then we'll travel 1-2 weeks after that!

We painted Anna's room this past weekend. We'll try to post pictures soon. Luckily we're pretty much done with our Christmas shopping, so I can focus on shopping for everything on our packing list now!

Hope you all have a great week!

Happy Thanksgiving

We have so much to be thankful for this year! God is good!!

"In Process"

Our agency called this morning to give us a status update! According to their online system, our case is now showing as "in process". What does this mean?? Basically it means that the CCAA has pulled our dossier (which means that they found it after being over there for 3 years, whew!) and are now in the process of working on our LOA (letter of approval).

Our case worker said that people at this point typically receive their LOA within 2-4 weeks! When our agency receives our LOA, they will overnight it to us, we sign and date it and overnight it back to our agency, and they send it back to China.

The quicker we get the signed LOA back to China, the quicker they will process our TA (travel approval). The current average from LOA to TA is 2-4 weeks. Once we receive our TA, our agency will get us a Consulate appt. and make our travel arrangements and we will travel in 1-2 weeks!

It feels like we have a million things to do between now and then! Better stop typing and get moving!

Thanks to everyone for all of your sweet comments and emails. They mean the world to us and we're saving all of them to show Anna someday!

Here she is ...

This is the very first picture we saw at 4:35am on October 21, 2009

She is about 5 months old in these pictures and will be 11 months old this Saturday. Her files say she is outgoing, has a ready smile, is fond of music, likes to be teased, cries loudly when unhappy (ha!), has a good appetite, and likes to be held. We just can't wait to scoop her up and hold her tight.

This morning our agency called to say they had received our Pre-Approval from China! Now our dossier will be moved to the review room ... since it was already reviewed in Aug. 2007, the hope is that this stage won't take too long. So, the next approval (1 down, 2 to go) we are waiting for is our LOA (letter of approval). This might take anywhere from 4-8 weeks to arrive. Please pray for a swift and smooth process!

We are now free to send a care package to our little girl - planning to get crackin' on that this afternoon!

Adoption Awareness Month

November is National Adoption Awareness Month. We are so excited as our church will be celebrating for the first time this Sunday!

If you have a minute, check out this video from the orphansunday.org website:

Orphan Sunday from Christian Alliance for Orphans on Vimeo.

We're baaack ... with news.

It is with great joy that we bring you some exciting adoption news …

Last Wednesday morning (10/21) at 4:30am, we awoke to a phone call from our agency telling us we had been matched with a little 10 month-old girl in China. In a daze we stumbled across the hall towards the glow of our computer to open an e-mail, and through our bleary eyes saw the sweetest, most beautiful face of a little girl named Jinwen, born on December 14, 2008 in the city of Kunming, Yunnan province.

Our hearts instantly melted.

We anxiously submitted a formal “Letter of Intent” to bring her into our family forever. We now have a series of steps we must take (formalities), and hope to travel to China in January or February to meet our daughter and bring her home (please pray for a smooth process!). We have been asked by our agency not to send pictures over the internet until we receive our official approval. So, unfortunately, it might be a couple of weeks before we can share a picture on-line. We have chosen the name Anna and will keep Jinwen as her middle name.

When we started this adoption process nearly four years ago, we felt deeply that this was GOD’s will for us to grow our family … though, at times, our persistence has felt more like stubbornness than faith. The journey hasn’t been an easy one. But last week we were humbled, discovering how worthy GOD is of our obedience and trust. When we already had so much to be thankful for, we were given the ultimate gift … a child to call our own.

Over the years, so many of you reached out to us in such significant ways, and gave us the boost that we needed to hang in there. On a few occasions in particular, during some of our most fragile times, we were blessed with experiences that served as powerful reminders that GOD was present … and we were loved. HE has prepared us for this very moment and for that we give our thanks and praise.

We will do our best to keep everyone updated. Thanks again for your continued thoughts and prayers.

Love,
Greg & Laura

Kisses in the Wind

We hold you in our hearts and touch you in our dreams.
You are here each day with us, at least that’s how it seems.
I know you wonder where we are … what’s taking us so long.
But remember child, We love you so and God will keep you strong.

Now go outside and feel the breeze and let it touch your skin…
Because tonight, just as always, We blow you kisses in the wind.
May God hold you in His hand until we can be with you.
We promise you, our sweet girl, we are doing all we can do.

Very soon, you’ll have a family for real, not just pretend.
But for tonight, just as always, we blow you kisses in the wind.
May God wrap you in His arms and hold you very tight.
And let the angels bring the kisses that we send to you each night.

~Unknown Author~

Signing Off (for now)

With not much happening in our adoption world for a while now, the blogging tank is running a bit empty... So, after much consideration, we have decided to take an indefinite hiatus. Our plan is to return when the time feels right.

We want everyone to know how much we appreciate you keeping up with us through this journey so far and for all the love and encouragement you've given us along the way.

Have a good summer and take care! Until we blog again...

Greg & Laura

Rain, rain go away...

Here is what our backyard looks like this afternoon....



The rain gauge reads 4.5" so far today...

21 Months

Our paperwork has been logged in for 21 months now.

This month the CCAA referred 8 days, from 1/13/06-1/20/06. This brings the current wait up to about 29 months...the wait is basically increasing a half a month to a full month each month.

Here is a great graph by another blogger showing the trends over the last few years...you can see how drastically things have changed .

The next couple of months should be interesting. The Olympics start in August and there is still no clear answer with what is going to happen with adoptions during that time. Some agencies are telling their clients that everything will continue on as normal just no travel to Beijing during the Olympics. Other agencies are telling their clients that there will be no travel during August. Some agencies are even staying that travel approvals and referrals will be affected in the months surrounding the Olympics. It's probably safe to say that the Olympics will have some effect but since the CCAA has not given any official word, we still don't know how it will affect the waiting parents.

Now then, where did I place that crystal ball....

8 Years Ago Today...

Home again, home again....

We made it back from our trip and had a wonderful time!! We weren't at all ready to leave and are already talking about when we can go again. Some of the highlights were seeing the Mayan ruins, swimming in a cave (looked like a scene straight out of The Goonies), and taking a wave runner out on the ocean. Click here if you would like to check out a few of our pictures.

Hope you all are doing well and had a nice Memorial Day weekend. We're looking forward to this Sunday when our friends Joel & Misty will have Garrett & Isabel baptized!

Gone fishin'

Our flight leaves at 6am in the morning...

Talk to you all when we return next week!

This time next week...

we'll be here....