Work Pictures

I (Chris) wanted to share what I do at work. I have so much fun! Here it is:

Abert squirrel - what a cutie!

Are you going to let me hang around all day or feed me?

Taking the punkin on a walk to get acclimated to outside...

Aaaawwwww...

I really enjoy working with the waterfowl. He pooped right here to tell me his opinion of me LOL

Itty-bitty ground squirrel

Sea gulls in Colorado? You betcha!

This fledgling Blue Jay followed me all over the outside cage one day



This fox had just been brought in and was kept as a pet -
still working on wilding him up & we obviously can't hold him any more.



And this is what Jason does at work. Yawn!



The monster truck that used to be parked in front of our house
was exchanged for something more subtle since SSS is an undercover brother now.



Doesn't this look boring?

I think what I do is WAAAAAAY more fun than what Jason does, don't you?

(((hugs))),

chris

Ephesians 6:7  Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.

Provisional Approval

I was stalking Bill the Mailman today. I checked the mailbox and saw his mail truck down around the curve. We were the next mailbox! Come on, Bill! Then I thought he would think I was stalking him, so I went inside and waited until I heard the truck go by. It took a really loooooooooooong time. He must have been talking to one of our wonderful neighbors or something. Blah blah blah ~ quit talking and hurry up, Bill! What's taking ya! Or maybe I was feeling extra impatient or something... go figure. Anyway, he finally drove by and left a present for us. Our Provisional Approval. Yay!

I spoke to our USCIS officer last Friday and she said she would get to our I800 application first thing on Monday morning. Today we received our Provisional Approval for our I-800, Petition to Classify Convention Adoptee as an Immediate Relative. And, indeed, our officer DID get to our application on Monday, because our approval date was Monday, May 23, 2011.

Woo Hoo!!!!!! On to the next step... email the NVC (National Visa Center) tomorrow...

We'll just keep on smiling... keeping our eyes on the prizes at the finish line...


Proverbs 15:13  A glad heart makes a happy face; a broken heart crushes the spirit.

The Rest of the Process

This next part of the process is confusing to me. I will do my best to explain it, and then maybe I'll understand it too!

We received our LOAs, which are the letters from China that say they reviewed our dossier and are OK with us adopting the kids. We signed the LOAs which tells China we still want to adopt them. So China is OK with us even after they know everything about us, and yes we still want to adopt the munchkins. The LOAs were sent back to the CCAA (now known as the CCCWA) which is the Chinese government adoption agency.

We then sent our I800 forms right over to USCIS. These are the forms that request visas for the boys. When the boys travel with us back to America, they will travel on Chinese passports so they need US visas to be let into our country. Just like we need visas to travel to China on our US passports.

(insert 2-1/2 weeks here to wait for I800PA)

Once we receive our I800 Provisional Approval from USCIS, we can request our visas from the Chinese consulate.

(insert a few days to a week here to wait to be cabled)

Then our I800 Provisional Approval goes to the National Visa Center (NVC). The NVC then electronically sends our I800 PAs off to the US Consulate in Guangzhou, China. This is called "being cabled". After the US Consulate receives the cable, the information is reviewed and our Article 5 is issued.

(insert 2 weeks here to wait for Article 5)

The Article 5 is the US version of the LOA, and it says the US government is OK with us adopting the boys too. That way China knows that the adoption of their orphans will be honored in the US and the munchkins can become US citizens. Our CCAI Guangzhou representative picks up the Article 5 and overnights it up to Beijing. Then our CCAI Beijing representative hand delivers it to the CCCWA.

(don't blink ~ the Article 5 travels fast)

After the CCCWA receives our Article 5.... whew! are you still with me?... then we wait for our Travel Approval to be issued. I am capitalizing Travel Approval because it is the final really cool and totally awesome step. I anticipate this is when we will be the most stressed-out too. Lots of prayers for peace during this wait... The TA says that China has everything they need for us to travel to China and for the boys to return to the U.S. with us.

(insert 2 to 4 weeks here to wait for Travel Approval and to grow an ulcer and gray hairs)

Once we get our TA, then the scramble begins... CCAI requests our consulate appointment. We should hear about the U.S. Consulate appointment within a couple days, then our entire trip is built around that Consulate appointment.

We should travel one to two weeks or so after we receive our TA.

So this is why I know not even God can help us to travel in June, and He will have a tough time getting us there in July but we're praying...

Average temperatures in Guangzhou, China in July and August... 90's to 100's and 80%-plus humidity. Yuck! Bring it on!!!!!


Matthew 7:24  Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock.

Nesting

What do you do when you are expecting two babies? You eat for three, of course! And you nest!

We have been in nesting mode for a couple months. We decided to start early! We have been rearranging our house... We've given away furniture, moved our dining room table to the front room and made it bigger, moved our office desk and associated thingys to the basement, started baby-proofing, and we have decorated the little boys' room and the big boy's room.

We had a dilemma when we started thinking about decorating the munchkins' room... how do we decorate their room without making #1 feel like he was getting the bum deal? We decided to let Josh pick a new theme for HIS room! We moved his transportation theme to the munchkins' room (it will be new for the little boys' anyway) and let him decide what he wanted for his NEW room.

It took him all of 3 seconds to decide... here it is:

Can you imagine that #1 picked a Lego theme? What a surprise! Our son is ADDICTED to Legos. I know we're not alone...

Anyone know of a Lego Anonymous meeting we can attend?

The clock has Legos glued all around it, his lamp has Legos glued all over it, and see the big bricks on the wall that Jason made? Josh has minifigures sitting on each one... the bricks are the perfect size shelves for those guys!

Here is how the munchkins' room turned out:

Pretty cute, huh?  I never ever thought we would need our crib again, let alone TWO cribs...


Psalm 103:2  Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me.

Yes! We all have American names!

First, I want to give a little shout out to our neighbors.

HOWDY NEIGHBORS!!

We have great neighbors, have I mentioned them yet? They all know Bill the Mailman too, so I think they appreciated the Bill the Mailman post. They have our blog now and read it now and then so there ya go...
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Also I changed the "comment" setting so anyone can comment now (sorry Mom)...
So no excuses, people! Everyone can comment now whenever the mood strikes!
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We had only one winner of the "What's different here" contest (yay Amber!). David officially has a middle name ~~~ Michael!!! (Can you tell we're "into" biblical names?)

Way to go, Sergeant Secret Squirrel! Thanks for FINALLY choosing a name for the kid ;-)

So we have #1 son Joshua Thomas (We both liked Joshua, and Thomas was my dad's name)

And we have #2 son David Michael (Jas chose David, and Michael is my birthday-buddy uncle's name)

And then there is #3 son Samuel Kenneth (I chose Samuel when 1 Samuel 1:27 kept coming up for me early in the adoption process(thus the title of our blog), and Kenneth was Jason's dad's name)

Have a peaceful day!
~Chris


1 Samuel 1:27  For this child I prayed, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him.

Hmmm, what's different here?

Can anyone find the change on our blog page???

Want a hint?

Ya, not gonna give any hints ;-)

Any ideas? Anyone?

Good luck!


Daniel 12:1  At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered.

Mother's Day

It's spring here in Colorado! We have been enjoying the tulips and daffodils, the green grass, and all the a-MA-zing smelling flowering trees... I love spring because when God's creation "wakes up" at this time of year, it reminds me to reflect on how amazing life is. I especially love our life because we have God at the center of our family now. I can't imagine life without the Lord ~ He is real, He is personal, He is powerful, and He is active. He is always there with us.

He blessed us with our son, Josh. Today is Mother's Day, and I love being a mother. I think back on the 6 years we have had Josh in our lives, and I can't remember life before him.

Five years ago this month we started trying to grow our family. Josh was 14 months old and had just stopped breastfeeding. I was still working as a 911 dispatcher part-time. It feels like a loooooong time ago in some ways. Trying to grow our family has stretched us and taught us some hard lessons and we have gone through some really really rough times. Our marriage felt like it was on the rocks at times. I was so so so ANGRY at God. Why give us six babies only to take them away? Why not just let us NOT get pregnant at all? Why not take away the desire to have more children from our hearts?

We have not been successful to this point at growing our family physically ~ there are still only three of us in the house ~ but we have grown so much closer to our Lord. He is a God of amazing grace and forgiveness and love beyond what our pea-brains can even imagine. It is only NOW after all the heartbreaks and difficulties and challenges that we have some perspective. (That 20/20 hindsight thing, eh?) He is with us through our hard times and during these hard times is when we grow closer to Him.

Yep, that's us.

He had to break us in order to build us up in Him.

So he didn't take away the desire to have more children because He has a plan. His plan for us is two munchkins on the other side of the world. This most assuredly was not our first choice and we probably wouldn't even consider adoption if we were able to have more biological children, but God knew that. I will also be forever grateful for the miracle of our biological son. He is a miracle gift from God. Now that we're here in the middle of adoption-land and getting closer to meeting our new sons we know this is exactly how our family was meant to grow. And with our perspective, we know yes we finally get to have more kids but we also know this is so much bigger than us. We see a little more of the big picture, a little more of His plan, but certainly we're seeing just a glimpse of His story. And we're OK with that. We love where he's taking us with this new life of ours.

Because, really, who wants to read the last chapter in a book first?

Happy Mother's Day to David and Samuel's China moms. We will always remember you and your sacrifice and your gift to them and to us. We know you wanted a better life for your sons, one that you were not able to give them. You chose life for them, and we pray that you have peace in your hearts.

And Happy Mother's Day to me since I am going to be a mommy again ~ twice!!!

Thank you, Lord!!!


2 Corinthians 12:9-10  But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Updates on the Munchkins!

We received an udate on Samuel last week ~~ yay God! According to the report, he has grown nearly 3 inches and almost two pounds. He's now about 30 inches tall and weighs 18.7 pounds. We are trying to picture what that looks like... we'll be borrowing some friends' kids to measure them soon :-).  The report also says Samuel had a cleft lip repair surgery scheduled, but he had a cold and a fever so they cancelled the surgery. Will he have his lip fixed before coming home? We don't know. He is getting stronger and likes to walk around and doesn't like to be held (developmentally appropriate for a toddler, eh?). The report said he fell over and hit his head (as you can see in the picture). He is not afraid of strangers and smiles all the time. He is smart, and a cute and lovely boy. Here Samuel is with his foster granddad:

We didn't get an official update on David via our adoption agency, but last week I (Chris) did get to meet the American couple who knows David. Wow. I was in awe. They are my heroes. Jason and I can feel God's hand in bringing us together, and we have been blessed. Here they are (they have the cutest son):

They shared with me that David is a sweet, quiet boy who smiles easily. He understands what you say when you speak to him. He is not aggressive like so many of the other kids at the orphanage. They seemed surprised that David was over 3 years old, and guessed that David would be about the same age as Samuel when they heard Samuel was 19 months old. They also shared bunches about life in China and in David's city, and I am still in awe that I got to meet our angels. I believe we'll have an ongoing relationship with them, and THAT, my friends, is super-cool. Here is a random picture of David from a couple months ago:

Romans 8:31-32  What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?

LOAs!!!

The LOAs are here!

The LOAs are here!

Yippeeeeeeee!!!! (insert jump and click heels together here)

Many many thanks to our friends and family who are praying for us and the boys.

So as soon as we get our USCIS paperwork sent off in the next day or so, we are 11-15 weeks from traveling according to our adoption agency.

Holy cow! Pinch me, is this real?!?!?

So let me check my calendar. This means our plane to China lifts off sometime between July 20ish and August 17ish. So I know that I heard my voice SAYING we'll travel in July or August, but it feels so real now. You mean they won't just be pictures on our wall anymore? They will be like actual real people here in our house? wow

I can't think straight to share what the next steps are. Not that I would be able to explain this part anyway ~ the next steps are confusing to me so I'll take 'em one at a time. Our favorite FedEx man will show up tomorrow with our LOAs, and we'll sign them and drive them back down to our adoption agency on Wednesday with a few other forms and a few more checks. More on the next part of the process on another bloggy day...


2 Corinthians 4:7  We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are
like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.