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.

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)

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

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…

7 Month LID

Well, we have been Logged in with China for almost 7 months now and we started this journey almost 13 months ago. Where are we now? Well, we all know that we are waiting to meet Charlotte but I have also learned some important lessons in this last year. God has really used this journey to teach me so much. I am the kind of person that is extremely organized, everything is planned out down to the second, and when a kink is thrown into "my plan" I get very anxious about it. I have always been this way, as my mother likes to remind me, and I have a son who is this way as well. He always wants to know "so what is the plan for today." But through our adoption journey so far the overwhelming lesson is "there is not a my plan." God is definitely in control and I have to give in to his will. No matter how much I want to change this, or do something else, or ask another question, I can't make the process faster or more efficient. No matter how hard I try:) But, it has been good for me. I find myself more and more just saying, go with the flow Carla. It is all in God's hands and all you can do is pray about it and lean on him. Actually, what a burden that is lifted off of me. It is not my "problem" to fix, I don't have to come up with answers, or a more efficient way of completing the task. God will do it all for me-how awesome! We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that our Charlotte is out there, we just have to be patient and wait on Him. Thanks for taking this journey with us and for your encouragement and prayers. We appreciate it more than you know.

The Big Question

And the answer to that question is unfortunately no! There are a couple of things that we do know however; there are more families on the Special Needs list than have been in the past. And it will all work out in God's timing. We are praying that God will bring her to us as soon as possible. In my last post I am sure you could tell that I was a little down in the dumps about the wait. This is a roller coaster ride after all, but Jay said something to me that has really helped. He said, Carla you keep saying it is going to take forever for her to get here, it is going to be 2 years before we see a referral.......but you are forgetting that God is HUGE! He can do anything! So instead of praying to get through the long wait, let's start praying that he brings Charlotte to us now! He can do it, we just need to have faith in Him. I have felt so much better concentrating on those words and every night we pray as a family (Ethan included) that God will bring Charlotte to us soon! I read on our agency's Weekly Update that AWAA will be receiving a small batch of new Special Needs referrals in the next few weeks. This is an unexpected batch and there is a very real possibility that Charlotte is not in those referrals but we are fervently praying that she is, and if she is not we will contine to wait upon the Lord. The biggest lesson that God has taught us through this process so far is is to Be Patient, Trust in Him and He will give you the desires of your heart according to his perfect plan. So continue to pray with us that Charlotte comes home soon!

Log In Date!!

I received an e-mail yesterday with our official log in date from the China Center of Adoption Affairs. Our LID is 11/06/2006. We are now "officially" in the wait. Here is the e-mail we received:
Congratulations again!

We have received confirmation that your dossier was logged into the CCAA on November 6, 2006. Right now the wait time between your log in date and referral is approximately 14-15 months and increasing. Please note that if you are adopting a special needs child this time frame does not apply to you. Wait for special needs families from the time the CCAA receives your letter of intent to the time you receive a travel letter is about three months. If you have any questions or need anything during the wait time, please feel free to contact your Family Coordinator.

Blessings,Lauren Barnett
Dossier Coordinator


Jay and I filled out the Special needs application about 3 weeks ago, to let AWAA know that we are open to certain special needs. Since we are on the interested families list we will most likely get a referral earlier than 15 months if a child comes through the SN list that is a match for us. We are praying that God leads in the right direction. We are now on the Healthy Child and SN lists so we will patiently wait to see what happens!!!!! In the e-mail it references a letter of intent. What happens is that if a SN referral comes to our agency and we are matched with that child. We review the file and if we accept the referral we then send a letter of intent to China stating we want to adopt that SN child. Then approx. 3-4 months later we will receive travel approval and go to get her. We are in it for the long haul, and so happy that you are all on this journey with us.

DOSSIER TO CHINA!!

DTC:
October 6, 2006

We are officially DTC (Dossier to China) today. I got an e-mail from America World with our fedex tracking number so that we can make sure it arrives in Bejing safely. What an answer to prayer that we were able to finish our dossier in just 5 months. We were lucky and blessed so many times along the way. It takes some families 10 months to get everything done. We are so excited to begin our long but well-worth it wait. We will continue to update, thanks for checking in on us.

Also Ethan and I are starting a book for Charlotte. We are going to add stuff to it as we wait and then she can have it when she finally gets home. We painted our first entries last night. Check out the picture below.