Article 5 Wait

Just a quick update of where we are...
December 18: Article 5 was dropped off at the US Consulate in Guangzhou, China.
This process normally takes 2 weeks. Unfortunately, we hit both Christmas and New Year holidays, pushing our Article 5 "pick-up" day until next week.
Once we have our pick-up, the China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption (CCCWA) will be issuing us Travel Approval. When we get Travel Approval, our travel dates are planned and we can leave soon after! We are hoping we can leave by the end of January.
Now that Christmas is over, it is time for us to begin packing and preparing for China!

I love how God is providing as we prepare to go to China...

• Jason and I just finished putting together a crib for Max in Drake's room. Thank you sweet friend who donated this crib, you know who you are :) SUCH a blessing. 

• My sister-in-law gave us her double stroller. We are so thankful for this much needed accessory!

• Another precious friend donated a carseat and pack-n-play. Praises to God for her!

• Max received several Christmas gifts, including a booster/highchair, clothes, toys, books and feeding utensils. A huge thank you to our family for these. 

•  Hand-Me-Down clothes!!! OH SO GRATEFUL... friends, you are awesome!

• Donations--- we received several unexpected checks over the Christmas holidays, and I cry every time. It takes my breath away and the tears just flow. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. I cannot express to you how much it means to have your support.

• Work for Jason- Since Jason started his own business in March, God has provided work. We knew He would, but when you live week to week, not knowing what's next, you tend to worry. It has been amazing to watch Jason over the last year. Projects and jobs just come. There have been times when he's needed to hire help in order to get finished. Talk about overwhelming thankfulness. And thank you, Jason, for working SO hard to provide for me and the kiddos. I admire you and love you more every day.

Most importantly, please continue to lift us up in prayer. My mama heart is scared. I fear that I won't be the mother I need to be for 3 young children. It seems impossible sometimes, because I already have trouble with Anne Riley and Drake. But, God said He will do the IMPOSSIBLE, so I have trust.
I will be posting a prayer list soon as we get ready to travel.
Blessings :)

Referral Video!

I watch this almost daily. It's our referral video of Max. So ready to go get this little guy! Click the link to watch on YouTube. 

http://youtu.be/5VlKqa37eoU

Today we got our Visas for travel as well as our National Visa Center letter. Our Article 5 drop-off should be Thursday!

Our travel is going to be delayed some over the holidays, but we are still thinking we will leave for China by the end of January! Let's hope so :)

Visas and new pictures!

Jason and I are working on our Visa applications, and we will mail those out this week. 

We are waiting on our letter from the National Visa Center, stating they have our immigration approvals and adoption case.  Once we recieve that letter, we can then apply for Max's visa to come home! At that point, we enter the Article 5 wait time of a couple of weeks and then China will issue us a travel approval to come get him. 

Unfortunately, the CCCWA will close down a week after Christmas, so that will delay us a week. 

We are getting so close to travel. I can't believe we will have Max in our arms soon. 

We were able to take over Max's sponsorship a couple of weeks ago. They send quarterly updates to all sponsors. We got our December update along with the last update on file. I was so excited to get new pictures and information about him! Here's our little man.... 

10 months (youngest pic we have): 

13 months: 

My favorite piece of info given is that the nannies put a "bit" of sugar in his bottles.  This little guy is going to be in heaven once he is able to eat some yummy real food! We plan to bring Cherrios, puffs, and yogurt bites! 

Update on Max!

We got an email update! I was so excited, my fingers were shaking trying to open the files!

Oh how I LOVE seeing this big smile! 

We got updated measurements which will help us get prepared for our trip. He has 8 teeth. He is sitting, crawling, and can take steps with assistance. The nannies say he is outgoing and affectionate. 

I am sad they shaved his cute hair, but that's typical in the orphanges. 

Happy Thanksgiving! We are so thankful for this precious baby. 

Thanksgiving

It's thanksgiving week and we have so much to be thankful for. God is so faithful. It's amazing to watch how He works. 

We have a big orphanage fee to pay in the next couple of weeks, and what do you know? We've received several large unexpected donations in the mail. Y'all, I can't describe that feeling... To open up envelopes and find checks in the amounts that you NEED to get your next fee paid. It's truly amazing. And I hear the Spirit say, "Haley, what did I tell you? Why do you ever doubt my power? I am sovereign. I will make this happen, all I ask for you to do is follow along. I will provide everything you need." 

I get so emotional. He is more real in my life than ever before. But I guess that's how this works. When you seek Him, you definitely FIND Him!

Looking back on this blog, it's pretty awesome... Some previous posts... 

December 2013---

October 2013---

 

Meet Max!

Introducing Max...

Max is currently 14 months old, living in an orphanage in Kaifeng City, China. He has been there since he was 3 days old. From the beginning, my biggest prayer for Max was that he was loved and taken care of in the best possible way. God has answered that prayer. Max is living in a "LOCC" Lily Orphan Care Center. This means our agency supports this orphanage. One floor of this enormous Social Welfare Institute (SWI, as they call them in China), is designated as a LOCC.

Thank the Lord that Max was given a home in the LOCC. This means, he has more one-on-one care with nannies, better toys/play areas, and he is being sponsored by a family in the U.S.
Max seems to be very healthy from his medical exams, and he looks to be doing great developmentally. These are the only pictures we were given of him, and they were taken in August (12 months old). His file, with his founding information, daily routine, medical exams, etc. was put together in July (at 9 months old). He was almost 17lbs at 9 months. He was army crawling and standing with support. We were told his favorite toy was a ball. He sleeps on his belly, and usually sleeps all night without waking. He smiles when the nannies call his name and he loves to be around the other little children. 

We are hoping to get an update on him from the SWI very soon! And HOPEFULLY we'll have more pictures to share and maybe a video?! I can't wait to see how big he is now, and if he's walking! I wonder what he is eating? What size clothes do we need?

We can't wait to meet you, sweet Max! Your big sister can't wait to get you home. She keeps asking when we are going to China. She wants you to sleep in her room and she says she is going to teach you how to read and color. I believe you and Drake are going to be best buds!
Mommy and Daddy love you! We'll be there as soon as we can!

Catch up!

Tomorrow makes 3 weeks since we got the call about Max. I've been so busy, I have barely had time to breathe. As soon as you accept a child, you dive head-first into a pile of paperwork! So on top of the adrenaline rush and paperwork, we had a yard sale fundraiser, and don't forget, we have a 2 month and 3 year old!
Yard sales are a TON of work. I spent hours working in the garage, cleaning, organizing, and labeling donated items. We are so grateful for the many family members and friends who donated items for us to sale. We had a successful sale, Praise God! We raised almost $2000!

Here's where we are currently on the paperwork...
The first thing we did was write a "LOI" letter of intent, stating that we wanted to adopt Max. That was sent to China, and they later sent back a "LOA"... letter of acceptance (they approved us to adopt him). Now we are filing form with USCIS and waiting for approval from the U.S. that we can bring Max home. Also, we have signed the LOA, and it will be mailed back to China this week. Things start moving now. We have been given the travel estimate of 9-12 weeks from now. So possibly January? It is totally out of our hands at this point. It is up to China and our government to process all these forms. And of course, we will have much more paperwork to get through. 

The CALL!

At 3:23pm on Monday, October 27, I got a call from our agency. I was in the bathroom with Anne Riley mixing up face paint to practice for her Halloween costume (pirate). Drake was asleep in his bouncy seat. The lady said we had been matched with a baby and wanted to forward his file to us if we were interested. As she was describing in length all his information, my mind was spinning and I could hardly pay attention to what she was saying. I just knew this was it, but maybe couldn't believe my ears... If that makes sense? I was in shock. Especially just having had a baby (Drake is 6 weeks old). 

She said the child was a healthy baby boy and that these matches are like a gift since we are in the Waiting Child program (we were preparing for some sort of medical condition to address when we returned to the States). 

A BOY. I just knew this from the start. And he is SO precious. 

Baby Max. It's so surreal. This blog had your name in it from the time I started blogging about you. How crazy. 

Please let me pause a second to say, Thank You God. All glory goes to Him. 

Max was born just a couple of weeks after we submitted our adoption application and began this journey. 

I can't post much info about him until we get permission and it is official that he is ours. I submitted our LOI (letter of intent) this morning. This is a letter that we wrote to the Child Welfare Dept in China to state that we wish to adopt Max. 

I will have more time to write and post more info later. 

God is good and we are so blessed. 

Drake Thomas Bush

One month ago we welcomed this precious little man into the world. God is so good and we adore this amazing gift He has given our family. Drake was born 2 weeks early on September 14th at 2:56 in the morning. He weighed 7lbs 15oz and was 20" long. So thankful for a beautiful delivery and a smooth recovery for me (Haley). 

Adoption TShirts!

We are so excited about our tshirt fundraiser. Love our "Change One" shirts! We are almost through getting them all delivered and are so thankful for those who supported us by purchasing one. God is good! 

I am currently 36 weeks now in this pregnancy. We are excited and anxious to meet this little one! Had a dr appt today: baby measures 7 1/2 lbs already and I was 1cm dilated. Not too much longer to go!

TShirt Fundraiser

We are excited about our adoption tshirts! Love them! 

LID!

Well we are officially "logged-in" in China! At this point, we wait on a call that we've been matched to a child. So the real waiting begins now! It will be longer than we first expected because we have a baby on the way. Timing is in His hands! 

Dossier To China!

Great news! Our dossier has been mailed to China. Super happy to get this email today. It should take around 3 weeks for it to be "logged-in" once in country... Meaning we will be in the system to be matched with a child. So exciting, even though I know we will be delayed with this pregnancy, our part is finished until we need updates made. 

Made my day!

Recieved email from our agency today. They finished critical reviews of our dossier and everything was perfect! It is headed to be translated into Chinese before it will be mailed to China in a few days. I could cry! So happy to have this step behind me. 

Praying over mail?

So I've never prayed over pieces of mail that I've sent until this adoption process. Praying that God would protect my very valuable pieces of dossier documents. If they got lost or damaged, I would need to start over and I would have a breakdown. A serious one. 

So, once again, this morning I prayed over our last (hopefully) package sent to our agency containing the last half of our dossier. Trusting God will protect them while in route to CO! 

I will celebrate when I hear they made it to their destination and that we get word that everything is correct! 

Faith

Didn't want the feeling of this moment to pass before I could quickly type a blog entry about what just happened...

I just retrieved the mail and found a check for adoption costs that will cover our next group of fees, that will be due next week when we turn in our remaining dossier documents. 

Overwhelmed right now of God's faithfulness. He is providing. I knew He would, but sometimes moments like this hit me like a brick of emotions. His timing, although sometimes confusing to me, is impeccable. Just a reminder for me today, to just keep on trusting and fixing myself on Him, and the rest will take care of itself. Ahhh... God, You are so good. 

Verse from last night rings so true-

"Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1

We are approved!

Yesterday we received a very important piece of mail... Our USCIS approval of us to adopt from China! So excited. We have 5 documents to "seal" over the next 2-3 weeks and then our few remaining items will be sent to our agency for dossier review. Yay! Not much longer!

Long-Overdue Update

Sooo much has happened since my last post. I keep putting off another post, and the updates are getting longer and longer.

On the adoption end:
We had fingerprints made at the USCIS office on March 11. We are still waiting for that little (but oh so important) piece of mail to arrive that says we are approved to adopt. Once that arrives, we'll have a few more items to notarize, seal, and get to CCAI. That and some photographs should complete our dossier!

Jason quit his job at the bank on March 14. He has started his own lawn maintenance/landscaping business. After much praying and feeling led to do this, it has been a huge step of faith, and I have loved watching the Lord provide work for him. It has truly been awesome to watch. Prayers are being answered and I am so excited to see what the future holds for his business. More on this to come!

And lastly, the big news is out that we are PREGNANT!
I was completely taken by surprise on this one. God's timing is crazy sometimes. I really thought (and maybe because it sounds good to MY plans) that He was holding off a pregnancy, because of the adoption. I was hoping one day, after adopting, we could have another child. God saw differently, and thought now was a good time. It looks like we'll be pushing the adoption back some. I have no idea what this will look like in terms of timing!
We are due the end of September. Anne Riley will be 3 y/o by then. I am almost to the 15 week mark. We have had 2 great sonograms so far, with another scheduled for the 16 week mark. Everything is going smoothly, praise the Lord!
We are so excited about this new little creation. Feeling so so blessed.
I do have to be honest though... at first, after the shock, I had to go through some weird feelings... and I still do. I very much LONG for my Chinese baby. When you are in the process to adopt, it can be compared to being pregnant with that child. You dream, pray, think about that child constantly. I am sad that I can't get him home sooner than we had planned. But, I know that God has a certain child chosen for us already, and the timing of this pregnancy, will not change any of that. We will have to be patient and wait on the Lord.

I am excited about our future. We have a LOT going on! That is all for now :)

I800a form mailed out

Excited to have this little form on its way to Texas! This is our last big step. We are hoping to get it back within a couple of months. 

Also, 8 dossier documents mailed to our agency!

Homestudy is here!

Exciting day for me. I've been waiting since September to get my hands on this stack of papers. We can move on to our next step of filing our USCIS form next week! Homestudy approved ✔️

Homestudy Review

Finally got some updates. Our homestudy has been sent to Colorado for review. We should have it back within a week or two! That means we can start our USCIS approval process! I was told this part can take up to 3 months, possibly. We will pray for sooner. I am still hoping to be done with our dossier in March! Ready to be on that wait list!