After some confusion and information not getting faxed to where it was supposed to get faxed to (what else is new? As many of you saw, Kelly posted this week that “Bernadsky” must mean “delay” in Chinese!), this evening we received the electronic copy of our Travel Authorizations! The clock is now ticking towards our departure date.

First, we need to get our consulate appointment with the US State Department in China. Then, the in-country rep has to work out all the details around getting three girls in two different parts of China. Then we will know our departure date and be able to make all of our flight arrangements.

We would expect that we will be leaving sometime around November 13-15. We should have a much better plan laid out soon. Keep an eye on this blog for updates!

Cameron & Kelly

But I do have more pictures!

One of the dad’s who recently went to China to pick up a daughter from Ali’s orphanage sent some money back so that his daughter’s friends could go to a movie … their first movie ever. Riley was one of those friends. She seems like such a ham! I think she will keep us laughing!

As a treat they went to KFC to eat:

And we got one additional picture of several of the kids at Ali’s (and Riley and Jessie’s) orphanage. We will be there soon!

That is all for now! Hopefully next time I write it will be with TA received!!

Cameron

How often do we, as Christians, realize that statement? God doesn’t need us. He likes us. He made us so that He can enjoy us. But to accomplish what He wants to accomplish, He doesn’t need us.

Earlier this week Kelly received a call from a friend of our extended family. We cross paths with this lady maybe once or twice a year, but when we have been able to have the opportunity spend time with her and her family, we have always enjoyed the interaction. They are a wonderful Christian couple that has a heart for adoptions and have adopted children internationally themselves.

She started the conversation with Kelly asking her how our adoption process was going and, after Kelly gave her a quick update, she asked where we where on our finances for the adoption. This has been the farthest down the road to adoption that we have ever been without the finances in place, but Kelly and I have had a peace that God was in control and would provide. Kelly shared that we had a lot of the funds in place, but not all of them. She then asked Kelly if we had been praying about our finances – the answer, of course, was “absolutely”. I know … you are thinking this lady called out of the blue and offered to donate money. While I am sure she would be more than willing to do that if God told her to, that isn’t what God wanted. That was too easy for Him. He likes to do things bigger!

This lady then proceeded to tell Kelly an amazing story. This lady and her family don’t know their neighbors very well, so last weekend they decided to host a block party at their house. Many people showed up and this family was busy hosting. During one part of the evening her husband was talking to one of the neighbors and the conversation moved towards adoption. As part of that conversation, the husband told this family about us, our history with adoptions and the journey we are currently traveling.

The next morning the wife of that family called our distant friend that hosted the party and told her that after hearing our story she wanted to donate to our cause. She wanted to pay for one of the girls airplane tickets home. Kelly gave them our blog information and hung up the phone feeling blessed that God had moved on someone so distant to us.

Two days later our distant friend called back and told Kelly that the lady who wanted to donate had sent her an email that began with, “I don’t know what to do!” She had spent time going through our blog and felt that God was moving in her heart and that what she had originally planned just wasn’t good enough. She wanted to pay for ALL three girls’ flights!! Tonight we received that check, humbly amazed at how amazingly God has taken care of us through this process.

This donation doesn’t diminish the sacrificial donations that have been made by our family, our friends, and my coworkers. Every donation has been a symbol of God’s favor in this process and a continual reinforcement in our minds that we are doing what God has asked of us! But it still amazing to have God move on someone so many layers removed from us and have them cover such a major portion of this adoption. God doesn’t really need us to accomplish what He wants done. He just asks us to be obedient to what He has called us to do, and He will take care of ALL the details!

We hope to get travel approval (TA) this week and then things will really start speeding up! It seems real now … this is going to happen!

Cameron

Below are two new pictures of Leah that we received today. What a great answer to prayer to see how healthy and alive she looks! It wasn’t that very long ago that we were extremely concerned for her well being, but God stepped in and allowed her to have excellent care in Beijing and she looks fantastic. God new what she needed and for how long and the wait has definitely been good for her.

In addition, we heard this week that we have received Article 5’s for all three girls, which means the only piece of paper needed from China before traveling is the official Travel Approval. We should hopefully receive that soon and will start looking at dates in November! Kelly and I are at that point where we realize this is going to happen soon and are anxious and yet excited over what is going to transpire over the next two months!

Next update should be for the TA’s. Don’t stop praying now!

Cameron

Xanga is updating their site and some of the older posts don’t look correct and a few pictures are missing. Be patient while the process finalizes. Not sure what the time frame is going to be!

While we wait, here is a great picture of Leah at a banquet in Beijing a few weeks ago to benefit Half the Sky and another organization they are working with. It was great to see her looking SO healthy! The time it is taking to go get her certainly has benefited her!

Cameron

So, those of you that follow me on Facebook may remember my rant around this picture:

This is “Hannah” who is from Ali and Riley’s orphanage and she is set to age out of adoption on Dec. 11 when she turns 14.  I complained, at the time, that we couldn’t adopt them all and that someone was going to have to step up and adopt her.  I guess I should have realized at that point, like so many others did, that my visceral response was a pretty good indication that yes, in fact, maybe we can adopt them all.  The feeling I had for “Hannah” when I saw her was not unlike the feelings I had for many of our other adopted children: a deep felt need to make sure she came home … to us.  

It was probably within two days of seeing this picture that I worked up the nerve to ask Kelly if it is even feasible to go get get three girls.  Not only did she inform me that it is (seems that nothing is impossible with God) the truth of the situation was that there were probably not many people who were far enough down the adoption road to get her by her birthday, let alone the fact that we were already going to her orphanage to pick up Riley. 

One of the biggest issues at this time was that “Hannah’s” file had not yet been released by the orphanage and had yet to make its way through the Chinese bureaucracy that would even put her in a position to be adopted.  We were a little torn at this point.  Adopting three teenagers at once seems crazy!  (I am beginning to understand that God prefers to operate in “crazy”)  We were certain that our home-study agency would put a stop to such lunacy, right?  Nope.  One phone call later and they sent out an addendum approving us for three children.  We were convinced that our adoption agency would suggest that this idea was fraught with issues, yes?  No.  Well … they did quiz us quite extensively to make sure we knew what we were getting into, but they know us and have ridden many roller coasters with us.  While they haven’t had anyone adopt three teenagers before, they were willing to make a go with us.

We started to feel like this was something that could happen.  Kelly and I began praying that God would show us what He wanted us to do and how He wanted us to proceed.  There was a very large mountain that had to be moved just to get “Hannah”s” file from the orphanage to the Chinese Government.  Then the file had to end up with our adoption agency.  Finally we had to wait on the Chinese Government to review the information and issue an LOA.  With Riley and Leah this process took four months!  That would mean that we would either have to put Riley and Leah on hold until “Hannah’s” LOA came, or we would have to take two trips.  This was all happening while we were still trying to figure out how Leah’s health situation was progressing and neither of those options seemed palatable.

But God said move forward, so we did.  We chose our own name for her … Jessie.  And we began working with our adoption agency and their in-country representative to move the file from the orphanage.  This process continued to move at a glacial pace. Kelly and I talked frequently about how our heart kept moving towards Jessie and yet we were trying to guard it in case everything fell through.  We talked about the potential agony of things not getting completed in time and our having to see Jessie at the orphanage when we picked up Riley and not being able to take her home with us.  That thought seemed unbearable.

A little over a week ago the file was finally moved!  It quickly moved through the Chinese Government and it appeared that we got matched to Jessie on Friday morning.  Then, later that day, we found out that the Chinese Government was questioning if we could match with her because their records said “two children” and we were already matched to two.  The in-country rep assured us that she could manage this and we spent this past weekend cautiously excited about what was going to happen.

Kelly has prayed and prayed for mountains to be moved and, to date, we have already shared some of those mountains being moved with you.  This morning the biggest mountain yet fell into the sea.  Not only did the Chinese Government approve us being matched to Jessie, they issued her LOA to us today and put her on track with the other girls.  A process that usually takes months, God was able to complete in ONE DAY!  That sure helps you realize that you are doing what God wants you to do.

So, today it is official!  We are getting three girls.  I can’t really change the title of this blog, so I hope that Jessie doesn’t mind the fact that her name didn’t get into it.  But she is loved as much as any of our children are!  We can’t wait to bring ALL  these girls home!

So, what to pray now?  Jessie is a little more reserved than the other girls and may have a few more walls built up.  Pray that God continues to knit our hearts with hers, Leah’s, and Riley’s.  In addition, there are a LOT of timing issues coming up and it would really help if we could travel early in November or even late October.  We need to figure out which girls to get first and how the in-country plans will develop.  And, last but not least, God needs to help provide some of the finances.  He has been faithful to provide much to date, but this is a large financial undertaking and we are getting ready for the final drive into the end zone.

Thank you all for your prayers and support!  I believe things will really start moving quickly, so keep checking back to this site frequently and I will try and keep it updated on a regular basis.

Cameron

Well … our LOA’s are ALMOST received.  We have received electronic copies of them for both Leah and Riley and have been able to start submitting paperwork to US Immigration to get things moving again!  We should have the actual LOA’s from Madison on Monday.  This is always a nice part of the process were the bulk of the waiting is done and the clock starts ticking again.  

In the meantime, we received some pictures.  We received one of Leah in the hospital looking VERY good for having surgery not that long ago.

We also received several pictures Riley from another couple who is at the orphanage picking up their little girl (yes, I did feel a twinge of jealousy when I saw them with OUR girl!  Can’t wait to get there!)

The mom told us that Riley proudly showed everyone the picture album we had sent her of our family.  Hopefully God is building inside of her an excitement about joining our family!

Hopefully there will be more news soon!  Stay tuned.

Cameron 

Kelly has been praying that God would move mountains for these adoptions and yesterday several mountains moved!  I will share more a little later, but suffice to say that several issues that have been “stuck” seem to have broken loose and we should hear news in the next little while that I will be sharing with you.  Just wanted to let you know that your prayers are being heard and they are being answered!

Stay tuned …

Cameron

We just heard today (finally!) that Leah is doing well.  She was discharged from the hospital and is eating soft food.  She will be remaining in Beijing until just before we get there, although when that will be is still in question.  China changed to a new computer system recently and the approval letters are coming out very slowly.  It also appears that there is an additional issue in that they system is having a difficult time matching families who are adopting more that one child.  Keep praying!  This process is never easy, but there is great value in the end!

Cameron

In the last update I had stated that we believed Leah had surgery already.  I thought that because the surgeons in Beijing had said that she needed it immediately.  However, we just got word today that she just had surgery and is doing well postoperatively.  The local contact said that she may well stay in Beijing and recover until we get there.  I am not sure exactly how that would work as she has to be in her province for the final adoption process, but we will continue to believe that God has all these little aspects under His control.

It would still appear that our best chance of travel will be in the September/October time frame.  While it sometimes seems like an eternity, in reality it will go by quickly!

Thank you again for your prayers …

Cameron