Some TLC

Well, I am definitely doing better. This illness has been the worst I ever remember having. Yesterday, a family from church took the boys for the afternoon and another family from church took the girls. David and I had a nice afternoon relaxing (he needed it after an incredibly busy two weeks of taking care of a sick wife!). Then a couple from our church came over to pray for me. We were so blessed by them. I am happy to say that I have had no fever today! Another friend from church brought us dinner tonight. We are so grateful.

So, on another note, it will have been 4 weeks on Wednesday since we had our INS fingerprints. We've been so spoiled with everything else being done in record time that it seems like a long wait. But, we're confident that our I171h will come right on time.

I'm still planning on sharing my other kid's adoption/birth stories, but I'll need a little more time for that. Tonight I am going to bed early!

recent photos

I've gotta say...I just love being a part of this family!!

   

I've got the greatest husband!

Just a short post to say that I have a wonderful husband. I've been up and down with some bug (we now know that it's probably bronchitis) for ten days. David has tirelessly done all that he needs to do, taken incredible care of the kids, plus did some of my tutoring for me. We are grateful that he is self-employed.

I'm hoping to post a bunch of pictures soon. Just got to get this fever down. The Lord is certainly showing me my extreme frailty.

A little bit about us continued (see post, below, for the beginning of this post)

Yana: She is 10 years old and from Ukraine. Yana likes drawing, reading and horses. We adopted Yana when she was 7 years old. I'd like to do a separate post about how each of our children joined our family. She was our surprise child and her adoption was truly a miracle!

Adam: He is 9 years old and even though Yana is a year older than him, he is definitely still the "oldest" child. He likes playing the violin (first year), sports and figuring out difficult problems in his schoolwork. He is a gentle, sweet boy.

Lily: She is 7 years old and was adopted from China at 11 months old. Lily is very expressive and enjoys ice skating, violin (it is also her first year), worship dance and singing. She is a great encourager of her mom!

Jadon: Just turned 7 years old, 3 days ago. We adopted Jadon from China when he was 23 months old. He likes sports and knights and eating. Jadon has a great laugh and is a firecracker in a boy's body.

Grace: She is 3 years old and living (for the moment) in Guizhou, China. From her report, she likes dolls, stuffed animals and playing games. She is timid, has a ready smile and is compliant (oh, we like that!).

Rosemary: She is 11 months old. She likes to sleep in the sun, chase tennis balls and eat anything but dog food (especially kleenex or napkins).

A little bit about us

I thought that I'd give a little bit of information about each one of our family members, for those of you who don't know us well.

David and Sarah:
We're both 37. David is a contractor/carpenter. He does all sorts of remodeling, including plumbing and electrical work. Sarah homeschools our four (soon to be five!) children and also tutors six other children from our church. This gives some of the other moms/families time for prayer and other ministries in the church. We both studied philosophy. We both love to read, pray, and worship. David is re-teaching himself how to play the guitar. We both like to spend time with our kiddos.

Newest picture

This is the most recent picture of Grace that we have received. Doesn't she have an adorable smile?!

The beginning of our journey

This is the first picture that we ever saw of our little Wei, Xiao Li (Grace). The agency that we had used to adopt Lily had just gotten a new list of waiting children. It was a few days before Thanksgiving, 2007. We went to look at her file and were absolutely smitten with her! We just barely started things in motion, and, as David says, "things have been going like a freight train ever since". We are confident that God is in this, and He has already done many amazing miracles to bring Grace home. Here are just a few of the things that He has done.

1) Provided a $5000 grant on the very day that we went to look at Grace's file. It was also the very day that I had determined that we couldn't afford to adopt again from China unless God intervened. He did!
2) Before AAC's new list came out, we had determined that a child born in 2004 would be the best match for our family. Out of 10 kids, 5 of them on the list were born in 2004.
3) Our agency told us to have our fingerprints sent to CBI right away. CBI approval had been taking up to 3 months and was holding up a lot of people. We did this, and got approval in 6 days! Joni (from AAC) said that she had never had anyone get approval that quickly.
4) Joni also told us that because of David's diabetes, the CCAA would probably request a letter from his doctor before we would be pre-approved. But, the CCAA approved us without a letter, right before Chinese New Year.
5) There were only four days between the time when AAC sent in our INS forms and we got approval to go in and get fingerprinted. Plus, two of those days were weekend days! Usually, it takes two weeks.

So, now we are waiting for our INS approval and then all of our paperwork will be sent to China. We are hoping to go and get Grace this summer. This seems unlikely, because of the Olympics in August, but this is certainly not too difficult for our God! He loves to show His grace to His people!