Hours away

It's here! We actually leave tomorrow!!

The past week has been a whirlwind. We have literally been working on this trip every minute after work, every night for weeks. Our weekends have been spent in preparation of our home for our newest sweet angel.

Emotions have been out of control! Our family has been blessed WAY more than ever expected. A couple years ago Jeremy and I decided we were going to try to fund Lucy's adoption slightly different. We saved more and juggled finances at home in hopes to do very little or no fundraising. We were successful and had a couple extremely helpful fundraisers but there were some times it felt overwhelming. We never doubted God's plan for us though. I tried to control situations at times but God always proved Himself. The past few months and weeks we have been blessed with the most generous, kind-hearted, true friends! God sent us Angels! And I have been reminded many times about the size of my faith (Luke 17:6) and when I quit trying to control things...His plan worked! And He provided. I never shared about our doubts or overwhelming feelings so to see all the gifts, love, and prayers come in I KNEW it was God! Who else?!

That feeling when you just know you are doing everything God wants you to do because it can only happen by His hands...so amazing. I'm in awe.

Tomorrow will only get better. We embark on another life-changing event.
Please pray with us specifically for:
-our travels
-Natalee as she returns to her home country and old memories
-and especially Lucy as we expect her to grieve for her nannies and friends when she leaves the orphanage

See you from China, my friends!



(Pure excitement a few days ago when we got to tear off the first countdown!)

Much love,
Sarah







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One more step!

I awoke this morning to an email from Guangzhou, China! Our Article 5 was completed and issued to our agency. It is now being sent to Beijing for the CCCWA to process our Travel Approval. That is our final step to Lucy! My heart is bursting this morning!!

TA typically takes about a week to receive and then you travel 2-3 weeks after receiving that. So we are looking at traveling the end of this month or beginning of December.

Please pray with us for each traveling family member (Jeremy, Natalee, my mom, my dad, me) and for Lucy during this time. We have a lot to get done and this is such a busy time of the year.

I have to keep reminding myself to stop and spend time in the moment. I get so caught up in planning and stressing these days that my family doesn't see the pleasant side...just the bossy. And I hate that!! I go to bed with this guilt at night. I know this too shall pass but I really need to balance.

It was wonderful to take off work yesterday to focus on Natalee and her field trip! Gave us some time to reconnect and gave me time to focus on her needs!



Next post should be our travel arrangements!!

Much love,
Sarah


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Approvals

Do you remember your senior year of high school? A few weeks left, jittery feelings inside, trying to mark things of your must get done list, and all while trying to enjoy those weeks!?

That is exactly how I feel again!!

We received our I800 approval last Wednesday and received the official letter in the mail on Monday. Now we are waiting for a GUZ # (case #) from the National Visa Center so I can fill out a DS260 form online. Fingers crossed that will be today. We are also waiting for a cabling letter to forward to our case worker so she can begin the Article 5 process. Once the Article 5 is dropped off in China, it takes 14 days. After that is our travel approval!

We are SO close guys!

The past few weeks have been actively working on Lucy's room. The only thing left for her room is a dresser and a few wall decorations.

Natalee's birthday is next weekend. It happens to fall on an extremely busy weekend (day after Halloween) so we are trying to think of something special for her. Especially because her world is about to change!

Please pray for some specifics with us. Pray for Lucy as God is preparing her for us, Natalee as the attention will now be shared, and our family during the remainder of our process. I have been trying to control things lately and I keep reminding myself to have faith in Him.

"In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one." Ephesians 6:16

When we try to take control it typically doesn't work out. Have faith!

I almost forgot to share...
On 10/8 we celebrated Natalee's 3rd Gotcha Day with us! Here are pictures to compare:






The first picture she was so scared and grieving on her first night with us. The second picture she is a kind, smart, 4 year old posing next to her favorite puzzle she just put together! (At her favorite place to be...Poppie and Nonnie's house.)

Much love,
Sarah

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Baby on the way!

(Post 2 of 2!)

I'm still catching you up...




And we had our fundraiser at Mellow Mushroom!! I snapped a few pictures of some of our friends!! I talked too much and forgot to take everyone's picture. So here are the few I did take. Thanks for all the support! We love you all!































We had such a good time celebrating Lucy and with your help we raised funds! Mellow Mushroom is generously giving us a percentage of the sales! We are thankful for you coming and sharing in that with us! We are blessed with so many kind friends! Thank you.

One week and one day later (yesterday) we received a very important paper in the mail. This is a milestone in our adoption.


This is our LOA (letter of acceptance.) We will be traveling within the next 2-3 months. It will be happening so fast now. We will be preparing for Lucy and our trip. We immediately sent our i800 and i864 along with the signed LOA back to our agency. They will receive those on Monday. Over the next couple months the steps move very quickly. We do not schedule our actual flights until we receive our appointment from the Consulate in China. That won't happen until a few weeks before we need to be there.

Please pray for Lucy as God is preparing her heart. We hope to have our family united by Christmas. My heart is SO happy! Also please pray for our sweet NG. She is returning with us. I don't know if this will trigger any memories for her. AND she has been Mommie's baby for 3 years!


I will try to do better updating as our next milestones are met!

Much love,
Sarah



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Catching up!

I'm so sorry friends. I have failed on my updates. Let me think back...



Natalee Grace started back to preschool and loves it! She is eager to learn and gets pink smilies almost every day (REALLY good behavior!)







Celebrated Grandparents at school!



War Eagle Day at work and school!







We took a trip to Nashville Zoo!

(For some reason I can only post so many publish so many photos in one post-therefore I'm making this 1 of 2!)





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Meet Lucy!

We have very exciting news! We received a referral last Wednesday afternoon and sent our Letter of Intent to adopt her on Thursday morning!

Our adoption agency suggested that we have her medical file reviewed by a physician. Our very generous friend, Dr. Wang reviewed her file the very next morning. He gave an excellent report and told us some interesting details of her background. I am so thankful he's able to read the Chinese file since it is far more detailed!

Today we received our pre-approval and a video of her! It has been such an exciting day. Now we officially begin our wait for Letter of Acceptance (LOA) which takes 2-3 months.

On to the fun part. Meet Lucy Mae...






We are naming Lucy after Jeremy's grandmother Lucille and Mae after my grandmother Frances Mae. Lucy is living in an orphanage in Guangdong. She will turn 2 in January. She is shy but stubborn! We are so in love with her!

I am in awe of God's plan and how He makes the perfect match for a family. My children born in China yet live in a small town in Alabama and I am blessed enough to be their mom!

Keep praying for Lucy and those other babies!!

Much love,
Sarah


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Blessings Abound

Where have I been?! I realized I have not updated on TWO major milestones.

We were DTC Dossier to China on 7/17. It was an expected 3-4 week wait after that...we were told by our case worker. However Jeremy and I had been watching the other families at our agency and their wait typically lasted 2weeks.

On 7/29 I received a phone call that we have LID (log in date.) We are officially in the system in China and are now just waiting on a referral of a child. This is a very exciting time but we need to pray! This is the time we pray for our agency as they search for files for not only our family but several others. Through God's guidance and God's timing they will find perfect matches. Let's just pray them through it!

Much love,

Sarah







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