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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Moving right along!

We are coming up on DTC in the next few days. Since things are moving right along we are trying to get our final costs of total adoption and travel in. We need approximately $5400 to complete everything. Jeremy and I thought we could try something new and offer several fundraisers from now until we travel. We have some really great ideas so stay tuned!

To start us off I have (4) jute handbags available and I'd love to monogram initials/letters of your choice on them! $15 ea. I have (1) tan w/black scarf tie available and
(3) aqua available. The handbag has a zipper closure and one pocket on the inside.
Let me know if you are interested!



(Different views of each color handbag)


"Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in every situation because this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Much love,
Sarah



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Grace

Grace means "the love and mercy given to us by God because God desires us to have it, not because of anything we have done to earn it."

KEEP GOD FIRST!!

Our I800A was approved on 6/18 (my Dad's birthday!) but now just waiting on the actual letters in the snail mail. Jeremy received his yesterday so fingers crossed mine will be today. Next step is that our Dossier will be sent to China. (DTC) The process has been taking 2-3 weeks lately. After this we will be getting logged in to China's system. That might take another 2-3 weeks. Then finally we will be at the point of this process to receive a referral of a precious child.

I'm already finding times of weakness when I long for my child and anxiety when things don't happen on my timeline.

Lord, I need You
Oh I need You
Every hour I need You
(Chris Tomlin)

I really need to get it together and quit time lining again! I said I wasn't going to do it this adoption. And I fell right back into it. I need to get on God's timeline and trust that there are reasons for every day and minute when we haven't received a document or an email.

Much love!
Sarah

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Be Still

"The Lord will FIGHT for you; you need only be still." Exodus 14:14

I have a ton to talk to you about!

First I will briefly mention a subject that was too painful to blog a couple weeks ago.  Haley moved home with her mom.  Which is what we always wanted to work towards!  I don't want that statement to be taken wrong.  We just wanted it to be the appropriate time.  We knew it was coming so we were somewhat prepared.  She was more than ready.  Her mother had mentioned this to her for the past month and a half so Haley began shutting us out of her life.  Things in our household became quite difficult because she distanced her relationships with us.  It was sad and painful.  Because Jeremy and I have had training and extensive reading relating to this type of situation through the adoptions we were familiar as to why she was showing us this behavior.  Never enough to prepare your feelings though!  All I can say is please love on every foster parent you know!  They are truly amazing people.  We had her for 6 months and she was our child. The day she left hurt me but to her it was an exciting day as she was able to reunite with her mom.

(right before she left)

We had our yard sale this past weekend!!  It was a HUGE success.  We can't say thank you enough to all of you for your fabulous donations!  My generous aunt and uncle let us use their yard for the sale and their garage to help store the abundance of items for weeks.  We spent the past couple weeks pricing in our garage and their garage.  My parents, cousins, aunts/uncles, brother & sis-in-law, nieces, friends helped us for days until late at night to make this sale happen.  The multiple nights of rain (mass amounts of down pour!) did not stop us.

NG testing the items out!

  

The night before came and so did the rain. It didn't stop until 8:00 or so.  I felt so discouraged!  I thought to myself...we have an entire garage full, an enclosed trailer full and we have to be completely set up by 7:00 a.m. tomorrow.  HOW????  Oh and rain expected all weekend so we have to set the yard sale up to be rain ready.  Our crew came together and got everything moved around for us.  We sent everyone home by 10 and Jeremy, Drake, Mikayla and I worked through the night.  We were able to complete a lot but not finish. The trailer had not been emptied and still had boxes and boxes packed away.  Family started to arrive Friday morning to help us and so did the buyers!  We worked and unpacked ALL day!  There was not one minute on Friday that we were without a customer.  I could not believe it.  And no rain either.

So many customers!  See all the boxes of DISorganization??!!  Drives me CrAzY!

 Around 4:30 p.m. we tarped our merchandise and Drake and Mikayla spent another night outside protecting our items.  Saturday morning came early for us to have another successful day. We were prepared by Saturday though.  We had rearranged the setup, all items were out on tables, everything was organized! Rain held off and we even had "buck a bag" from noon until about 2:30.  That helped move the final merchandise.  At the end of the day we were only left with less than a truck load of items!  We donated those items to CCC and done for the day at about 4:45.  Then the rain came.  God fought for us!

We made $2515.21!!!!!


THEN we received this in the mail...

This means we are scheduled for our Biometrics Fingerprinting!  Another step in our Dossier process.  We are going Friday to Birmingham for our appointment.  So excited!  This was the only thing we were waiting on other than the I-800a in the Dossier process.  When we had this process for Natalee's adoption it wasn't so easy.  My fingerprints are hard to read.  They unfortunately do not show up.  The first did not take so I had to return.  They told me to use Corn Husker's or some lotion like that to help moisten my fingertips.  I have been using "Working Hands" every day for months in preparation for this appointment.  Let's hope this has helped!

Please pray with us for some specific requests:
1.  Haley in her transition in her new home life
2.  Our adoption agency and all agencies involved during this paper process
3.  God's perfect timing and our hearts as we understand His timing
4.  Referral as we near that in the next few months
5.  friends traveling to meet their child in China next week!
6.  unspoken for my bff <3

Much love,
Sarah

Let's play catch up!

Last week started with Haley's 4th grade graduation from West Morgan!



Our 1800a was overnighted to the USCIS on Tuesday. I immediately started applying for grants and working on our checklist of items for our dossier. We are almost finished with those items to mail to the agency. The only issue that we don't have yet is Natalee's passport. We are getting that processed this week and having it expedited will take approximately 3 weeks. I somehow dropped the ball on that and thought we had more time. Procrastinator here!

We ended the week with Natalee's end of the year ceremony at our church preschool. She didn't cry this time and she even sang for a couple of the songs. I was one proud mom!



Our yard sale is going to be HUGE! We filled our entire garage and moving it to my aunt and uncle's house and filling theirs too! We are so thankful for the donations. Jeremy, my parents, and I worked and worked all week and weekend sorting and preparing for the sale. Now on to pricing! Beyond blessed! Can you help us spread the word?

5/29 & 5/30
1404 Runnymead Ave SW
Decatur, AL 35603

Prayers for your week to be as abundant as mine!

Much love,
Sarah


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Through Prayer and Petition

This has become so apparent to me this week. I love how God shines on His time not just ours! We received the phone call on Monday! After several weeks going back and forth making changes to our Home Study, it is finalized and approved. We were so eager to get the next step (Immigration) in process so we had actually already filled out paperwork and compiled important documents. All we had to do was receive the call, sign and date the docs, write a check, and drop in the mail. And we did! So we are excited to say we are already in process for our dossier. Even though I was ahead of the game, the agency still has tedious work on their end so it takes time :)

Thank you for all of your yard sale donations! We are so blessed with amazing friends!! We have a packed garage. I mean floor to ceiling! It is still on schedule for 5/29 and 5/30 at my aunt and uncle's house. We also plan on having a Mellow Mushroom fundraising day in June. More details on that soon.

Much love!
Sarah


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Instilling Gratefulness

Gratefulness has not really been a problem for me. My parents were not rich but they were not poor. I honestly never knew what type of income we had growing up. They provided our needs and we didn't want excessively. They taught that gratefulness goes hand in hand with responsibility and respect.

We are trying our best to instill this trait in our home as well. We've had years of the constant prompting of "Thank You's" and sending cards. I must say it feels so good when we are in public and someone does something for NG and I hear her say the words! My insides scream "Yes, Yes, YES!!" You know the feeling!

It's been a bit more difficult with Haley. She has much prompting and still has difficulty convincing to be grateful. I haven't quite pin pointed the issue there but there is always the fact that she spent 10 years in different environments before our home.

I say all this to lead back to this...these are basic necessities for our children. I have learned the importance of this as a parent. I can only imagine if these simple traits are instilled to a higher standard AS toddlers and children, then would Baltimore be in quite the mess? Maybe, maybe not. It all starts with what we teach our children. Parents have to be involved! It may not always work but why not spend every minute you have with that child trying.

Keep God first!

Much love,
Sarah

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Struggles are real!

The past week has been TOUGH! We all have them. So I'm not going to dwell. I am going to say it means the world to cry your heart out and look up and see your friend crying with you.

How did Jesus do it? He healed sick. He made blind see. He cured those that had never walked before and watched them walk away. He made deaf hear. Yet people still harassed him, beat him, yelled at him, and treat him so unfair. He never stopped loving them all. He hung on the cross being tortured and taking his very last breath but still loved.

I am in NO comparison of Jesus. I do wish everyday to be more like Him. All of our decisions throughout these processes (caring for our niece and adopting again) have been faith based. We have not made a decision without praying and making sure it is God centered. So we know every decision is right at this time. For some reason we are struggling right now. God has His plan and will see us through but it sure hurts in the meantime. And I am having a very hard time loving on those hurting me. I'm easy to forgive but not as easy to love. I'm telling you Jesus is awesome.

I keep saying each day will get better but it hasn't quite yet. Please pray with our family.

This verse was one of my daily verses I received last week. Very appropriate!



Much love,
Sarah

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Listening to God

My little Nattie Grace comes to us with a new answer to every situation.

"God told me!"

Why do you want to go to school during spring break? Why do you burp so rudely out loud? Why do you want to jump on the trampoline in the rain? Yep, same answer every time. "God told me to!"

As we drive past the yards that have burned away the grass and weeds for Spring, NG says "Mommy that grass is black because God makes all colors!" Yes!

As she's terrorizing Haley in every single possible way imaginable and then she's caught..."God wants me to" NO!!

If it were only easy peasy to hear God. Over the years it has become more natural for me as I grow in my Christian faith. I believe the stronger Christian you become the easier it is to recognize what God wants. We all know the basics that are expected of us as He tells us in the Bible. I'm talking about those life changing decisions that you have to make throughout your life. The most amazing part is that God initiates it and He sees it through. I tell my girls all the time. God is our one constant! We can always count on Him.

So when you feel the tugging at your ear and your heart just pray. God has some important news. Or you can always come ask my Nattie Grace, she and God are quite tight and he tells her to do everything!

Oh and for the important adoption stuff:
Our case worker's supervisor has been swamped but our Home Study will be approved by the end of the week. We jumped ahead and already began immigration paperwork. We are still working on yard sale but possibly moving it back to June. I spoke to mgr at Mellow Mushroom and we will have a fundraising day there! We are deciding the day and will let you know. He will give us a percentage of all the receipts turned in that day!

Have a fabulous Easter!

NG celebrating Chinese NY at church 2/15


Much love,

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Let It Go

Have you ever raised your hands praising Jesus? At church, home, mission trip, conference, just giving HIM all glory? It is the most amazing feeling. Let me just tell you!

I can remember as a 5 or 6 year old sitting in my grandfathers very small, very southern baptist church on the back pew. As he was preaching, very powerful and loud during sermons might I add, the older generation would yell out and raise their hands. I very quickly squirmed in Mom's lap nervously thinking something major was about to happen. Well major things were happening! Only I didn't start feeling it til much later in life. I am always so moved by our music at church. Week after week I lay my problems at His feet but Sunday mornings I have that opportunity to sing to Him about all He has done for me, us. When I close my eyes and feel that moment and hear those words naturally my arms raise. Arms raise and the tears flow uncontrollably every time! The weirdest thing. It reminds me of a Pez dispenser. You pull back the head and out shoots candy! :)

Next time you are at church, home, trip, anywhere giving Him praise try lifting your arms. It gives you a feeling like you are letting go of all and giving all to Him.

With that being said, we are constantly praying for patience. Please pray with us. I am really working on letting it go and giving it all to God. This is His plan and His timing so no need to be anxious.

I spoke with our case worker last Thursday and she said within the week our Home Study would be finalized and we begin the immigration process. We have already received lots of items for our yard sale. Thank you!!

I'll leave you with a picture of some anxious girls ready for a new little one :)

Much love,
Sarah


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Here we go again!

Last Sept we made the announcement that Natalee will be a big sister! Jeremy and I began the adoption process with Lifeline again and it has been busy ever since. The complete process will be very similar as Natalee's adoption. The only differences were a few easier steps (that we didn't have to duplicate) during our Home Study process. We have completed our HS and it is now being reviewed and approved by our case worker's supervisor. This could take up to 3 weeks. The timing is critical as China's requirements of us and our Home Study are detailed. The preparation of our dossier is next.

During this time our niece, Haley, came to live with us. It started out temporary for the month of December until her mother could find a home. She is now staying with us for an indefinite time. Haley is a very sweet, shy 10 year old girl. We are now in process of transforming Natalee's room to Haley's room and moving Natalee to share with her baby sister. The transition has been a challenge but I'm learning that it's not my way, it's God's way. I never quite understand why God chooses me to take on certain tasks/challenges but I learn that if I lean not on my own understanding and truly walk by faith...it all works out!

Soon we will be starting to apply for some grants and begin fundraising. Our first fundraiser is planned for May. We will be having a yard sale. If you'd like to help us by donating items, we would greatly appreciate it! The yard sale has always been successful for us in the past thanks to all of you! We have also discussed an online auction. If you have any other ideas, let us know!

(BTW-I made the decision to keep the blog name the same. After all, it is by grace we are here and given this opportunity!)

Much love,
Sarah

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