We are so excited to let you all know that on Tuesday our agency received our LOA (Letter of Acceptance) from China. This is the letter that states we are okay with China and officially approved to adopt Charlotte. This letter usually arrives 70-90 days after you send in your Letter of Intent. Ours came on day 89-not a moment to soon! Our signed LOA should arrive back in China on Monday. We hope to get our official Travel Approval in the next 2-3 weeks so that we can leave on Nov. 1st But no matter how you look at it we should be traveling in November. We can't believe the time is almost here. Thank you so much for your continued prayers. We will keep you updated as to when we will be traveling for sure.
I have included another new picture of Charlotte. She is pulling herself up on chair in this picture. She must be a strong little girl.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Monday, September 17, 2007
More Pictures
I received a new picture of Charlotte today. The wonderful lady that updated me before, went and checked on her and took this picture for us. Here is her e-mail.
Dear Carla,
Hi there i went to day to see her and she is doing very well.
I took this photo and she was sleeping so soundly,i went back to see her before i left and she smiled at me when i said mummy is coming soon .
This photo was taken to day at 3 pm.
Love sandra
This was a needed boost to get us through the rest of the wait.
UPDATE:
We received another picture of Charlotte from a family that visited her orphanage in July/August. They told me that she was crawling around looking very sure of herself. Check out the pic below.
Dear Carla,
Hi there i went to day to see her and she is doing very well.
I took this photo and she was sleeping so soundly,i went back to see her before i left and she smiled at me when i said mummy is coming soon .
This photo was taken to day at 3 pm.
Love sandra
This was a needed boost to get us through the rest of the wait.
UPDATE:
We received another picture of Charlotte from a family that visited her orphanage in July/August. They told me that she was crawling around looking very sure of herself. Check out the pic below.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
New Photos
Friday, August 3, 2007
Lateset News and Finding Ad
We are still moving along with more paperwork to bring Charlotte home. We need to have a home study update completed because in Virginia your home study can only be 1 year old at the time of adoption. We also need to have our fingerprints done again for Immigration. Luckily, we get one free extension so we do not have to pay for that again That change just took place on July 30th! We have also through the help of Research-china.org located Charlotte's finding ad. In China, when a child is abondoned, the orphange must run an ad in the local paper, an attempt to find the child's parents or family before they are placed up for adoption. Charlotte's ad was run on January 20, 2007 (she was already almost 7 months old.) The finding ad reads: Yangchun Hua Sha, Female, On June 27, 2006 she was found at the gate of the Yangchun City Welfare Institute. She has small eyes, a little hair and a cleft palate and lip. Claim unit: Yangchun City Welfare Institute.
We think she is probaby 5 or 6 months??? old in the photo. I have also included a picture of all the entire newspaper page, look at all those beautiful children who need forever families just like Charlotte. Keep those prayers coming for us and Charlotte. We still have quite a bit of $$$ to raise for our travel expenses. We have applied for one grant and are working on another now. So your prayers for financial needs to be met as well would be wonderful. We will keep you updated
We think she is probaby 5 or 6 months??? old in the photo. I have also included a picture of all the entire newspaper page, look at all those beautiful children who need forever families just like Charlotte. Keep those prayers coming for us and Charlotte. We still have quite a bit of $$$ to raise for our travel expenses. We have applied for one grant and are working on another now. So your prayers for financial needs to be met as well would be wonderful. We will keep you updated
Thursday, July 12, 2007
The Call
I posted this on my yahoo group through my agency. That group has been a wonderful source of encourgement through this journey. I wanted to share the story will all of you as well.
Hey Guys,I have been wanting to share a story with you all about our referral but needed to wait a little while for everything to sink in. But I wanted to share with you how God has worked in our lives and through this journey. So here goes. When calls started the last week of June, we had not heard anything. From going through previous batches I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that Charlotte was not in the batch. I was sad, but since the day I turned this entire process over to God he has continued to bring me peace throughout. So I cried and prayed and hugged my husband and prepared for another 3 month wait. That same night I received an email from Lisa Cox a member of our yahoo group. She said she felt led by God to contact me. She was praying for all of us waiting and the picture of my family on our website kept coming to her mind. She searched her favorites list (don't we all have lots of blogs on ours too:) and found our website. She really felt that God was telling her that Charlotte was being prepared for us, she didn't know if that meant now or not but she had to let me know. But still no phone call. The next day one of the special friends I have made through the yahoo group e-mailed to let me know she had gotten a call. I was really excited for her family but still no call for us. So I knew it was not meant to be even though we had been praying to get to travel together. That Thursday I was sitting in the movie theatre with my son Ethan waiting for Surf's Up to start. I had just silenced by cell phone when I felt it vibrate. I looked at the # and it was a 703 area code. I could not believe it. It was Lauren and she was giving me info on a little girl. I was in total shock. I called my husband and told him to meet me at home when the movie was over to open the email together. Now don't get me wrong Surf's Up was a great movie, but boy was it ever LONG!!! I did not want to tell Ethan yet, since we still had to read the file, get Dr. opinions and pray over this little girl. My husband and I finally got home and opened the e-mail. Wow it was so much to wrap our heads around. You have this picture of what your little girl will look like and then you actually have a picture. Doubt started in on us immediately, can we really do this. Can we go through the surgeries with her, how will Ethan react, what will our families think and on and on. Now I will back track just a little, a few days earlier (before the call) I asked Jay to write an update for our website. In his reflections he talked about the song Bring the Rain recorded by Mercy Me. I even wrote a post about the song and how it was really speaking to our hearts. We lead worship at our Church and started practicing the song. On the Thursday we got our call we had Praise Team Practice. We were going through Bring the Rain and the sun was shining. All of a sudden I looked up and it was raining, with the sun shining. Jay and I looked at each other and knew that God was nudging us. I also during these couple days talked to Sarah Strand, who adopted little Esther last November with a cleft lip/palate. She was so wonderful. She really helped me see that we could do this. It is so awesome how God puts people in your path for very specific reasons. We continued to pray and over the next day God calmed my heart and I knew that this was our Charlotte. Jay knew too, and before we even met with our pediatrician we had already made our decision. It is so wonderful to know that God chose her and crafted every moment of our journey this far and will continue to do so. Every detail scripted so that we would know his plan. We would know without a doubt that he had given us the desires of our heart. We can't wait to see what the rest of our journey will bring. We know that we are going to blessed beyond measure by this little girl.I wanted to reaffirm for all of us that God is in control of our journeys. He has already chosen our children and he will reveal them to us in his perfect timing. How Great He IS!!!!! It is so hard on certain days to wait, but I sing over and over in my mind "Bring me joy, Bring me peace, Bring the chance to be free, Bring me anything that brings you Glory"Jay and I pray for all of us everyday. And we can't wait to see what God has in store for each of our families.
In Him,Carla L.
Hey Guys,I have been wanting to share a story with you all about our referral but needed to wait a little while for everything to sink in. But I wanted to share with you how God has worked in our lives and through this journey. So here goes. When calls started the last week of June, we had not heard anything. From going through previous batches I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that Charlotte was not in the batch. I was sad, but since the day I turned this entire process over to God he has continued to bring me peace throughout. So I cried and prayed and hugged my husband and prepared for another 3 month wait. That same night I received an email from Lisa Cox a member of our yahoo group. She said she felt led by God to contact me. She was praying for all of us waiting and the picture of my family on our website kept coming to her mind. She searched her favorites list (don't we all have lots of blogs on ours too:) and found our website. She really felt that God was telling her that Charlotte was being prepared for us, she didn't know if that meant now or not but she had to let me know. But still no phone call. The next day one of the special friends I have made through the yahoo group e-mailed to let me know she had gotten a call. I was really excited for her family but still no call for us. So I knew it was not meant to be even though we had been praying to get to travel together. That Thursday I was sitting in the movie theatre with my son Ethan waiting for Surf's Up to start. I had just silenced by cell phone when I felt it vibrate. I looked at the # and it was a 703 area code. I could not believe it. It was Lauren and she was giving me info on a little girl. I was in total shock. I called my husband and told him to meet me at home when the movie was over to open the email together. Now don't get me wrong Surf's Up was a great movie, but boy was it ever LONG!!! I did not want to tell Ethan yet, since we still had to read the file, get Dr. opinions and pray over this little girl. My husband and I finally got home and opened the e-mail. Wow it was so much to wrap our heads around. You have this picture of what your little girl will look like and then you actually have a picture. Doubt started in on us immediately, can we really do this. Can we go through the surgeries with her, how will Ethan react, what will our families think and on and on. Now I will back track just a little, a few days earlier (before the call) I asked Jay to write an update for our website. In his reflections he talked about the song Bring the Rain recorded by Mercy Me. I even wrote a post about the song and how it was really speaking to our hearts. We lead worship at our Church and started practicing the song. On the Thursday we got our call we had Praise Team Practice. We were going through Bring the Rain and the sun was shining. All of a sudden I looked up and it was raining, with the sun shining. Jay and I looked at each other and knew that God was nudging us. I also during these couple days talked to Sarah Strand, who adopted little Esther last November with a cleft lip/palate. She was so wonderful. She really helped me see that we could do this. It is so awesome how God puts people in your path for very specific reasons. We continued to pray and over the next day God calmed my heart and I knew that this was our Charlotte. Jay knew too, and before we even met with our pediatrician we had already made our decision. It is so wonderful to know that God chose her and crafted every moment of our journey this far and will continue to do so. Every detail scripted so that we would know his plan. We would know without a doubt that he had given us the desires of our heart. We can't wait to see what the rest of our journey will bring. We know that we are going to blessed beyond measure by this little girl.I wanted to reaffirm for all of us that God is in control of our journeys. He has already chosen our children and he will reveal them to us in his perfect timing. How Great He IS!!!!! It is so hard on certain days to wait, but I sing over and over in my mind "Bring me joy, Bring me peace, Bring the chance to be free, Bring me anything that brings you Glory"Jay and I pray for all of us everyday. And we can't wait to see what God has in store for each of our families.
In Him,Carla L.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Referral!!!!
We received our referral on June 28th. Our Letter of Intent was sent to China on 7/5/07.
Here is the info we have about Charlotte:
DOB: 6/25/2006 (She just celebrated her 1st birthday)
DOB: 6/25/2006 (She just celebrated her 1st birthday)
Once we have the appropriate paperwork done we will post her picture. She is a CUTIE!!!
She is in the Guangdong Province of China and has been in the Yang Chun Social Welfare institute since she was abandoned at 2 days old. Her file says she is closest to her caregiver and likes to bury her head in your chest when being held (how sweet!) She does have a special need as she was born with a cleft lip and cleft palate. She will need surgery for both once we return from China. We have already met with our pediatrian and he feels that other that the lip/palate she is very healthy. We have also sent her info on to a craniofacial specialist to review so that we can be ready to move forward when we return. Again I will post her picture soon, but for now know that we are so excited that God has chosen us to be the parents of such a special little girl.
In Him,
Jay, Carla and Ethan
She is in the Guangdong Province of China and has been in the Yang Chun Social Welfare institute since she was abandoned at 2 days old. Her file says she is closest to her caregiver and likes to bury her head in your chest when being held (how sweet!) She does have a special need as she was born with a cleft lip and cleft palate. She will need surgery for both once we return from China. We have already met with our pediatrian and he feels that other that the lip/palate she is very healthy. We have also sent her info on to a craniofacial specialist to review so that we can be ready to move forward when we return. Again I will post her picture soon, but for now know that we are so excited that God has chosen us to be the parents of such a special little girl.
In Him,
Jay, Carla and Ethan
Monday, June 25, 2007
So Far....Jay's Reflections
Dear Friends,
What a journey this has been so far. As God prepares us for the time when Charlotte joins our family, I wanted to take an opportunity to reflect on where we are so far. My what a journey it has been! Carla and I were talking recently about how resolved we've felt lately. Through this long process we have truly realized that God’s timing is perfect. He does things for the sole purpose of bringing glory to Himself, and what a celebration it will be when He tells us to go get Charlotte! Every day we become a little more at peace with God’s perfect will for us (even though we are still anxious, especially when we hear about the possibility new referrals!). Many of you know that Carla and I lead worship at our church, Messiah UMC in Chesapeake. God always puts songs in my path that speak directly to my heart. Lately the song He has blessed me with is “Bring the Rain” by MercyMe. In the last few years, as God has brought us along in this journey through infertility, IVF, and now the miracle of adoption, it is clear to me that God is truly using our lives to bring glory to Him.
Praise God for the journey.
Jay
Bring the Rain - MercyMe
I can count a million times people asking me how
I Can praise You with all that I've gone through
The question just amazes me, can circumstances possibly
Change who I forever am in You?
Maybe since my life was changed, long before these rainy days
It's never really ever crossed my mind
To turn my back on you, oh Lord, my only shelter from the storm
But instead I draw closer through these times
So I pray…Bring me joy, bring me peace, bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there'll be days when this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to praise You, Jesus, bring the rain
I am Yours regardless of
The dark clouds that may loom above
Because You are much greater than my pain
You who made a way for me
By suffering Your destiny
So tell me what's a little rain
So I pray…
What a journey this has been so far. As God prepares us for the time when Charlotte joins our family, I wanted to take an opportunity to reflect on where we are so far. My what a journey it has been! Carla and I were talking recently about how resolved we've felt lately. Through this long process we have truly realized that God’s timing is perfect. He does things for the sole purpose of bringing glory to Himself, and what a celebration it will be when He tells us to go get Charlotte! Every day we become a little more at peace with God’s perfect will for us (even though we are still anxious, especially when we hear about the possibility new referrals!). Many of you know that Carla and I lead worship at our church, Messiah UMC in Chesapeake. God always puts songs in my path that speak directly to my heart. Lately the song He has blessed me with is “Bring the Rain” by MercyMe. In the last few years, as God has brought us along in this journey through infertility, IVF, and now the miracle of adoption, it is clear to me that God is truly using our lives to bring glory to Him.
Praise God for the journey.
Jay
Bring the Rain - MercyMe
I can count a million times people asking me how
I Can praise You with all that I've gone through
The question just amazes me, can circumstances possibly
Change who I forever am in You?
Maybe since my life was changed, long before these rainy days
It's never really ever crossed my mind
To turn my back on you, oh Lord, my only shelter from the storm
But instead I draw closer through these times
So I pray…Bring me joy, bring me peace, bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there'll be days when this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to praise You, Jesus, bring the rain
I am Yours regardless of
The dark clouds that may loom above
Because You are much greater than my pain
You who made a way for me
By suffering Your destiny
So tell me what's a little rain
So I pray…
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