Well, yesterday was a hard one! We are all bound to have them right? God was gracious to me through it all - it was still just a tough day. I'm not even completely sure why. Olivia is doing much better (thank goodness - we think she had a bug rather than it being her heart -though we will follow up with cardiology anyway) but now Elle has gotten the bug. Elle loves to love on her big sister so it was almost guaranteed. Not sure why i'm surprised she got it :(. So Danny and I are going on many days/nights with less than adequate sleep - and that always makes things worse.
We got a packet from our agency yesterday that we had to sign every page of to indicate we understand the severity of AnaLei's condition. There were some pages in there that we had not seen. As a mom - I just found them unsettling. Not in ANY way that changes how we feel, now we love her or our commitment to her but rather just things that made me hurt FOR her. I want to wrap my arms around her so badly TODAY! I won't post it now because I would never want to put our adoption in jeopardy but can tell you that in July she was hospitalized b/c she couldn't breathe. Her diagnosis upon admission was 1. acute respiratory failure, 2. bronchitis, 3. CHD -complex (lots of things listed here poor girl), 4. Chronic heart failure. We had never seen the words chronic heart failure. It tears me up inside that she is alone. They say she is a quiet girl who keeps to herself. I am one broken momma! I also hurt for her for all she will endure here while we find out what is really wrong and how to fix it. I hurt for my other 2 girls who want and need their momma by their side. So, yesterday was hard. I cried many tears. Tears for my girls here and tears for the one I love but don't even know.
Please join us in prayer for AnaLei! She is going to need it in the days ahead. Our adoption is moving so rapidly and I believe whole heartedly God is doing this great work. Also, thank you for your giving financially toward our adoption! I can't tell you what it means! We are only about a $1000 from our matching grant! If only it ended there. Our remaining expenses as of now equal about $16,000. God has been faithful and we know He will continue to be. I hate adoptions are so expensive b/c it keeps families who might otherwise be able to open their lives, homes, and hearts to these children. God didn't call all families to adopt, but all children certainly deserve to be in a family and call someone mom and dad. We can't wait to hear those words from AnaLei!
Much Love,
Julie
Friday, January 30, 2015
Friday, January 23, 2015
Peditrican Appointment turned VERY long day :(
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| Olivia having a TON of fun with "fire dog" at her chest xray appointment |
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| Daddy needed to "lighten up" during our vet practice so Olivia decided to treat him with a frozen head piece and scarf :) |
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| Baby Elle taking it all in and just wanting to play with big sis |
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| Standing super still for her chest xray |
Please keep her in your prayers as I just want her to be able to do the things she wants to do without hindrance. I want her to sleep well for her sake, not ours. Anyway - that is just what happened on the fly today. Not in the plans but that is where the day took us. Thank goodness for my precious mom who kept Elle while we were gone on that escapade! Don't know what I will do while she spends almost 3 weeks in Alaska with my sister (my BIL is in the Air Force and they are stationed there).
No news with the adoption. Just hoping to get our fingerprint appointment letter Monday and hope our officer has a softened heart to our case and approves same day so we can get this dossier to China.
Julie
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Praises to Celebrate and Prayers to Pray
Well, as I type this tonight, I want to start with a prayer request. Olivia is always non-stop so we rarely think about her heart condition. She is so active, big personality, and on the go and we just look and think about her as a healthy child. Well, today I am forced to remember that God knit her together a little differently. She isn't just a healthy child with a normal body. She is unique. Unique is good and unique can also be scary. When Olivia runs (as usual) she always gets more winded than the other children - we are used to that. After a bath - her hands and feet turn blue - we got that! When she gets winded - she coughs - again, got that. When she coughs - she often will throw up - been doing that one since day 1 - no problem. But today she has me a little worried. We went to gymnastics as usual and before the warm up was even over (and we are talking 4 and 5 year old warm up - not P90X) - she was completely out of breath. She looked like she had been at it for 45 minutes! I haven't seen her quite that bad before. My dad came to watch her at gymnastics today and that reminded him to say he had noticed her increase short of breath and coughing lately. She isn't sick so within seconds - as any anxiety filled mom - I'm instantly worried something is wrong with her heart. Tonight - it has only gotten worse and I found myself with my face to the floor asking God to heal my sweet baby and make everything okay. I asked him to help me help her if something is wrong. Likely - it is nothing - maybe a viral infection. But b/c she also has severe reflux - I can't tell if it's a wet cough and I automatically worry about fluid in her lungs. Remember - she has no spleen so there are certain things that are VERY dangerous for her and fluid in the lungs ranks right on up there. So, I pray that I worry for nothing. I pray that if it is something - that we find out immediately. I am calling the pediatrician and cardiologist first thing in the morning. Like I said, likely nothing! But I just can't make myself comfortable thinking that - I need to KNOW that! She is getting to the age where she gets self conscious of her throwing up - sometimes even holding her hand up to try and keep it in. It completely breaks my heart and we tell her just to get it out of there. If others ask why she throws up - we have told her to tell them, "Its just how God made me." So anyway - I've gone on about my worries now for a LONG paragraph and again - it's probably nothing. :) If I just keep saying it - it will be so right :) This all makes me think about our sweet AnaLei also. How severe is she? They note she already has severe pulmonary hypertension. So, does she walk around out of breath all the time? Is she cared for and loved and helped? Oh how I pray God is preparing her sweet heart for us. I know the day we meet will be a wonderful day for me and the scariest day ever for her. Adoption is beautiful and wonderful, but it has another heart wrenching side! I pray for her. I pray that despite what our doctors say - that she will be operable (though I don't look forward to the operation) but oh how I pray she is able to have what she needs. And I know what she needs is a heart surgery or 3.
Well, I think it's time to move onto the praise!! One of the things with the adoption I have been most worried about is this fingerprint appointment. Its the last big thing that we have to do on the US side of things before our dossier goes to China. (The dossier is the massive stack of paper people spend 6 months gathering - medicals, home study, police checks, background checks, child abuse checks in every state you've ever lived in, state fingerprints, federal biometric fingerprints, you name it - we've done it - which is why BTW adoptions run up into the $30,000 range - it's craziness!) They send you an appointment letter with an appointment. Well, I know that appointment will not be until mid to late February and my mom leaves for my sisters in Alaska on the 11th, not to mention my baby is critically ill and needs to come home today!! So, I drove to the USCIS field office in Memphis and to prepare for our "walk in" next week once we receive the letter. She tells me there are NO Walk ins anymore! As I begin to cry, possibly like a toddler, she agrees to go ask the person. I give her our doctors letters, her list of diagnoses and she comes out - gives me a hug - tells me to stop crying and they will let us walk in. Glory be to our Great God!! I was speechless and just cried harder (was that even possible?!?!) I think I embarrassed myself sufficiently b/c even the guard at the front hugged me before I left :) I ran to my car (just kidding - it's really a minivan now - I just say car to sound cool) and jumped for joy at the great news. Now - just to get the USCIS to expedite our prints to approval and then bam - time to get this dossier off to China before the 2 week Chinese New Year Holiday where the entire government shuts down the last 2 weeks of February.
So, there you have it. A praise and a prayer request just like my title said :)
Well, I think it's time to move onto the praise!! One of the things with the adoption I have been most worried about is this fingerprint appointment. Its the last big thing that we have to do on the US side of things before our dossier goes to China. (The dossier is the massive stack of paper people spend 6 months gathering - medicals, home study, police checks, background checks, child abuse checks in every state you've ever lived in, state fingerprints, federal biometric fingerprints, you name it - we've done it - which is why BTW adoptions run up into the $30,000 range - it's craziness!) They send you an appointment letter with an appointment. Well, I know that appointment will not be until mid to late February and my mom leaves for my sisters in Alaska on the 11th, not to mention my baby is critically ill and needs to come home today!! So, I drove to the USCIS field office in Memphis and to prepare for our "walk in" next week once we receive the letter. She tells me there are NO Walk ins anymore! As I begin to cry, possibly like a toddler, she agrees to go ask the person. I give her our doctors letters, her list of diagnoses and she comes out - gives me a hug - tells me to stop crying and they will let us walk in. Glory be to our Great God!! I was speechless and just cried harder (was that even possible?!?!) I think I embarrassed myself sufficiently b/c even the guard at the front hugged me before I left :) I ran to my car (just kidding - it's really a minivan now - I just say car to sound cool) and jumped for joy at the great news. Now - just to get the USCIS to expedite our prints to approval and then bam - time to get this dossier off to China before the 2 week Chinese New Year Holiday where the entire government shuts down the last 2 weeks of February.
So, there you have it. A praise and a prayer request just like my title said :)
Sunday, January 18, 2015
Just Words Today
Well, I am not tech savvy enough to connect my phone wirelessly to my computer and pull pictures off so I have no pictures of the girls today. Right now I have to email them to myself, save to my computer and then then upload - is there a better way?? If so, some of you savvy people need to let me know!
Olivia and I didn't make it to church today b/c Olivia wasn't feeling well and wasn't really herself. We could tell she didn't feel great. I don't think anything severe - just a little out of the norm so we kept her home. I felt especially bad b/c Danny was teaching our Connect Class today. He always gets a little nervous about that so I would have liked to have been there to support him.
We had a good week of progress this week with the adoption. On Thursday, I noticed the USCIS had deposited our check we sent with our I-800a - which means they received our paperwork. YAY! That is step 1:). I'm hoping that on Tuesday I will receive our USCIS receipt and then a week later receive our fingerprint appointment. Please be praying that God softens the heart of the officer that is assigned our case and of the workers in the building where we are going to have our fingerprints. This is all b/c the day after we receive our appointments - we are going to "walk-in" to get our fingerprints and just pray that they let us do it. We will then call our officer and as if he will approve same day!! That is a lot of "if" statements :). IF all of that works out - and I can get an email copy of our approval immediately - we will have it notarized and then I will attempt to pull off a trifecta event with the approval going to 3 different people without ever coming back to me - that way we don't lose even a day! IF all of that works out - then we could send our dossier to China by February 6th - a Friday. That would give them a full week to work on translation before the entire government of China shuts down for the Chinese New Year! They do not re-open until Monday, March 2nd. In Julie's perfect world - we would have our LID (log-in-date) before the shut-down. But God would have to move mountains for sure for it to happen.
We also have not yet received our pre-approval :(. When the CCCWA re-opened with it's new system - it had some glitches. They have corrected most of them but the issues that still remain are uploading passport pictures. So, even though we have her file locked - our "pre-approval application" is technically not complete b/c they can't upload our pictures. Oh well - trusting God to work all that out. Can't wait until we get that pre-approval.
We also applied for mom's and Olivia's passports! :) That is exciting but I'm also a nervous wreck about this b/c we had to send originals off and for Olivia those were the only originals we had! I'm also not 100% sure we sent the correct documents b/c the lady that was helping us wasn't 100% sure either. Guess its not everyday she deals with a family like ours. We will work to re-adopt Olivia and AnaLei once AnaLei is home. A re-adoption will give them each a US birth certificate which will make life much easier on both of them (school, jobs, etc). We have wanted to get Olivia a passport for some time now and this adoption finally made us do it. I just hope it's a passport we get in the mail and not a notice of "insufficient documentation". In most states - you can just go to the local court clerk or vital records department - fill out some paperwork and get a birth certificate. But not in MS :(. In MS - you have to have a lawyer and it costs so much more b/c of that :(. A $200 process will run us most likely over $1000. Just one of those things I guess.
Elle is growing so much! She really is showing the most adorable personality. She adores Olivia - Olivia just isn't adoring her quite as much just yet :). I think that is typical of a younger and older sister. Elle is 17 months old now and learning so much. She imitates very well and mostly her sister- good and bad :).
Life is good - God is great and we are just trying to run to where he has led us. Please pray for us on this journey and thanks for caring enough to read and follow along with us.
Much Love,
Julie
Olivia and I didn't make it to church today b/c Olivia wasn't feeling well and wasn't really herself. We could tell she didn't feel great. I don't think anything severe - just a little out of the norm so we kept her home. I felt especially bad b/c Danny was teaching our Connect Class today. He always gets a little nervous about that so I would have liked to have been there to support him.
We had a good week of progress this week with the adoption. On Thursday, I noticed the USCIS had deposited our check we sent with our I-800a - which means they received our paperwork. YAY! That is step 1:). I'm hoping that on Tuesday I will receive our USCIS receipt and then a week later receive our fingerprint appointment. Please be praying that God softens the heart of the officer that is assigned our case and of the workers in the building where we are going to have our fingerprints. This is all b/c the day after we receive our appointments - we are going to "walk-in" to get our fingerprints and just pray that they let us do it. We will then call our officer and as if he will approve same day!! That is a lot of "if" statements :). IF all of that works out - and I can get an email copy of our approval immediately - we will have it notarized and then I will attempt to pull off a trifecta event with the approval going to 3 different people without ever coming back to me - that way we don't lose even a day! IF all of that works out - then we could send our dossier to China by February 6th - a Friday. That would give them a full week to work on translation before the entire government of China shuts down for the Chinese New Year! They do not re-open until Monday, March 2nd. In Julie's perfect world - we would have our LID (log-in-date) before the shut-down. But God would have to move mountains for sure for it to happen.
We also have not yet received our pre-approval :(. When the CCCWA re-opened with it's new system - it had some glitches. They have corrected most of them but the issues that still remain are uploading passport pictures. So, even though we have her file locked - our "pre-approval application" is technically not complete b/c they can't upload our pictures. Oh well - trusting God to work all that out. Can't wait until we get that pre-approval.
We also applied for mom's and Olivia's passports! :) That is exciting but I'm also a nervous wreck about this b/c we had to send originals off and for Olivia those were the only originals we had! I'm also not 100% sure we sent the correct documents b/c the lady that was helping us wasn't 100% sure either. Guess its not everyday she deals with a family like ours. We will work to re-adopt Olivia and AnaLei once AnaLei is home. A re-adoption will give them each a US birth certificate which will make life much easier on both of them (school, jobs, etc). We have wanted to get Olivia a passport for some time now and this adoption finally made us do it. I just hope it's a passport we get in the mail and not a notice of "insufficient documentation". In most states - you can just go to the local court clerk or vital records department - fill out some paperwork and get a birth certificate. But not in MS :(. In MS - you have to have a lawyer and it costs so much more b/c of that :(. A $200 process will run us most likely over $1000. Just one of those things I guess.
Elle is growing so much! She really is showing the most adorable personality. She adores Olivia - Olivia just isn't adoring her quite as much just yet :). I think that is typical of a younger and older sister. Elle is 17 months old now and learning so much. She imitates very well and mostly her sister- good and bad :).
Life is good - God is great and we are just trying to run to where he has led us. Please pray for us on this journey and thanks for caring enough to read and follow along with us.
Much Love,
Julie
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
A Video of AnaLei and approved for a Matching Grant!
We also have exciting news!! Not only have we been approved to fundraise through Lifesong for Orphans, a Christian non-profit organization, but we have also been granted a $3000 matching grant through Lifesong from a church in Colorado!! We feel so blessed that they are going outside of their church walls to help bring orphans home and put into families where they are treasured children. This means we need to raise $3000 in order to get that matching grant!
I will start putting a link to Lifesong for Orphans for those who feel called to help bring AnaLei home through financial giving. We know that not all are called to give - and that is perfectly okay! Prayer is our #1 need during this process. For those that do want to give - I will attempt to put a link in this post that you can donate to help bring AnaLei home through Lifesong. A couple of things to note - Lifesong is a 501c3 so ALL donations are tax deductible and 100% of donations go to the adoption. We feel blessed beyond measure that God sees fit to give us another child and that some are called to help bring her home through financial help and prayer.
If you choose to donate towards our adoption to bring home AnaLei please ensure you put "Mann #5065" in the info section of the donation site or the for section of a check to ensure it goes towards AnaLei's adoption. Thank you friends and family for your support!
By His Grace,
Julie
Donate to Bring Home AnaLei
o Individual donations $50 or more and yearly donations totaling $250 or more will receive a tax-deductible receipt. Receipts for donations under $50 will gladly be sent upon request. Lifesong is a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization.
Monday, January 12, 2015
99% chance of inoperability - What does a mother do with that kind of news?
I can barely see through my tears. As I just put my sweet Elle down to sleep for a nap - I found myself sobbing on her shoulder for the sister she has that none of us have met. I have just been told, as I try to make medical plans for when AnaLei's arrives home, that she most likely has a 99% chance of being inoperable. We were told this by medical professionals that we have the upmost trust in. What does a mother do with kind of news? I have the head knowledge of that fact, but my heart refuses to accept it. As a believer, I struggle with the prayer - "God I know you can do ANYTHING and I know that you can heal this precious baby, but also help me accept that you may choose not to on this earth". I can only type it, but not get it out loud of my mouth. At this moment, I am broken. I am broken yet also feel this rage at this ugly world in which we live and I cling to the Savior that has saved us from it. I feel this fierce person coming out inside of me to bring my baby home and pray that as God strengthens my heart - he softens those of others that will make the decision on whether or not to expedite our adoption. You know, as a single ventricle patient, Olivia is said to have "half a heart" yett she is full of life. Well, my newest daughter has a 1% chance, according to those that have read her file, of long-term survival (I don't know what that means exactly - if she can't be operated on I am not sure what her life expectancy is). Will you pray with me? Will you meet me in front of the Father who created her in her mother's womb? Will you kindly pray for God's will for her life and strength for her as she comes home to 1000 medical tests. Pray for our family as we embark on a journey that God is leading us on. I know some people reading this believe we have put "ourselves in this position". Believe me, there is no where I'd rather be that in the middle of where God wants me - even if it's a journey I would not have chosen for myself.
I feel broken hearted, I feel over-joyed for the love of my 2 girls here now that are full of life, and I feel honored that our family, including our 2 beloved girls, that God is entrusting all of us with this new precious girl. She is special - no doubt about it. God's plan may be different than mine and currently I'm not sure that I'm okay with that, but I'm praying that He prepare us for the journey He has put us on.
Prayerfully yours,
Julie
I feel broken hearted, I feel over-joyed for the love of my 2 girls here now that are full of life, and I feel honored that our family, including our 2 beloved girls, that God is entrusting all of us with this new precious girl. She is special - no doubt about it. God's plan may be different than mine and currently I'm not sure that I'm okay with that, but I'm praying that He prepare us for the journey He has put us on.
Prayerfully yours,
Julie
No Longer Sad to See Monday Come
Perception is a funny thing. The way we look at something one day can be totally different than how we look at it the next if our perception changes. We all know that we are sad when Monday comes because our relaxing (ha!) weekend is over. There are songs about sad Mondays and happy Fridays. Now that we are right in the midst of adopting AnaLei - I CANT WAIT FOR MONDAY!!! It means work is happening on our adoption which means we are one day closer to bringing her home. My perception has just changed for now. I'm sure by this time next year - I'll be back to dreading Monday morning just a little :)
We had a great weekend! Leslie, McKenzie and Adley came up for a visit. I always feel bad b/c I put Leslie to work. Do you have that super talented family member that can do everything? Well - that is Leslie for us. She can make things and knows where things should go and how they should go. So I find it impossible to resist the urge to get her to help me. Plus, we were getting new carpet so our house had totally been destroyed right before they came - a perfect time to re-decorate :). Olivia loved having her cousins up on her birthday weekend and I loved having them here. They even brought up a crib for AnaLei that we are setting up now. Olivia will keep her own room and we will put our 2 babies together in the same room.
I was pretty somber Friday afternoon when I found out that UPS failed to deliver a guaranteed package to our adoption agency by 10:30am Friday local Washington time. That meant our I-800a wouldn't get to the USCIS lockbox by Monday. However, to my surprise, our case worker sent me an email late Friday stating that although our package got there in the 11th hour - she was able to walk it into the post office and overnight it to the USCIS. What!?! YAY!!! I was so excited! That prevented us from losing an entire day! As fast as we are trying to go - 1 day is meaningful!
Friday was actually busy for us in adoption land. Our agency was finally able to "lock" Zou, Chun Lei's file and they submitted our pre-approval paperwork to China. Danny and I had all of our documents notarized that are a part of our dossier and then drove straight to the post office and had them sent to the MS Secretary of State for authentication. Once we receive those back - I will go ahead and send those to the Chinese consulate while we wait on our fingerprint appointments. That way we don't have to expedite the majority of the documents and that saves money and time. We will go ahead and send those prepared documents to our agency so they will be ready to send off our dossier to China as soon as we do the entire same process with our I-797 (which is simply our fingerprint approval notice). Whew! It's going to be a busy few weeks as the documents start returning. We count it all joy! It's kind of like labor pains - its hard during it, but so worth it afterwards :).
I also have plans to speak to CHOP this week to begin making plans for what we will do immediately upon AnaLei's arrival. We are praying that God somehow prepares her for what is to come. We feel so bad b/c she hasn't really gone through anything medical her entire life - despite her desperate need to! She will undergo a heart cath no doubt immediately upon returning home and currently we plan to have that done at CHOP. We are unsure for now about anything after that. I will know more after speaking to them this week.
There will also be more to come soon on fundraising :). Please know that we know NOT ALL ARE CALLED OR EVEN DESIRE TO GIVE!! Please continue to follow AnaLei's story regardless and pray for us as we follow the call to go. We just pray that God has called some to give - but not everyone we know is! We have applied with Lifesong for Orphans and should find out in a few weeks if we are approved to fundraise through them. They allow people to make tax deductible donations that can only be used for the adoption. There is also a way to give through WACAP just to Zou, Chun Lei's adoption and I will post more details soon on that.
Thanks for reading and for caring enough to still be reading :). It's a crazy road and I know that those of you who ask me about how the adoption is going regret it about 30 seconds later :). Tonight - even Danny said, "I have no idea what you are talking about" as I tried to explain our strategy on sending documents to the consulate. So - from now on I think I will say, "it's good - just complicated" :) At this point - if all is expedited at God like speed - then I think travel could be possible late April but a more realistic timeframe is late May/early June.
Much love to you all! Sorry no pictures to post - we forgot to take any this weekend.
Julie
We had a great weekend! Leslie, McKenzie and Adley came up for a visit. I always feel bad b/c I put Leslie to work. Do you have that super talented family member that can do everything? Well - that is Leslie for us. She can make things and knows where things should go and how they should go. So I find it impossible to resist the urge to get her to help me. Plus, we were getting new carpet so our house had totally been destroyed right before they came - a perfect time to re-decorate :). Olivia loved having her cousins up on her birthday weekend and I loved having them here. They even brought up a crib for AnaLei that we are setting up now. Olivia will keep her own room and we will put our 2 babies together in the same room.
I was pretty somber Friday afternoon when I found out that UPS failed to deliver a guaranteed package to our adoption agency by 10:30am Friday local Washington time. That meant our I-800a wouldn't get to the USCIS lockbox by Monday. However, to my surprise, our case worker sent me an email late Friday stating that although our package got there in the 11th hour - she was able to walk it into the post office and overnight it to the USCIS. What!?! YAY!!! I was so excited! That prevented us from losing an entire day! As fast as we are trying to go - 1 day is meaningful!
Friday was actually busy for us in adoption land. Our agency was finally able to "lock" Zou, Chun Lei's file and they submitted our pre-approval paperwork to China. Danny and I had all of our documents notarized that are a part of our dossier and then drove straight to the post office and had them sent to the MS Secretary of State for authentication. Once we receive those back - I will go ahead and send those to the Chinese consulate while we wait on our fingerprint appointments. That way we don't have to expedite the majority of the documents and that saves money and time. We will go ahead and send those prepared documents to our agency so they will be ready to send off our dossier to China as soon as we do the entire same process with our I-797 (which is simply our fingerprint approval notice). Whew! It's going to be a busy few weeks as the documents start returning. We count it all joy! It's kind of like labor pains - its hard during it, but so worth it afterwards :).
I also have plans to speak to CHOP this week to begin making plans for what we will do immediately upon AnaLei's arrival. We are praying that God somehow prepares her for what is to come. We feel so bad b/c she hasn't really gone through anything medical her entire life - despite her desperate need to! She will undergo a heart cath no doubt immediately upon returning home and currently we plan to have that done at CHOP. We are unsure for now about anything after that. I will know more after speaking to them this week.
There will also be more to come soon on fundraising :). Please know that we know NOT ALL ARE CALLED OR EVEN DESIRE TO GIVE!! Please continue to follow AnaLei's story regardless and pray for us as we follow the call to go. We just pray that God has called some to give - but not everyone we know is! We have applied with Lifesong for Orphans and should find out in a few weeks if we are approved to fundraise through them. They allow people to make tax deductible donations that can only be used for the adoption. There is also a way to give through WACAP just to Zou, Chun Lei's adoption and I will post more details soon on that.
Thanks for reading and for caring enough to still be reading :). It's a crazy road and I know that those of you who ask me about how the adoption is going regret it about 30 seconds later :). Tonight - even Danny said, "I have no idea what you are talking about" as I tried to explain our strategy on sending documents to the consulate. So - from now on I think I will say, "it's good - just complicated" :) At this point - if all is expedited at God like speed - then I think travel could be possible late April but a more realistic timeframe is late May/early June.
Much love to you all! Sorry no pictures to post - we forgot to take any this weekend.
Julie
Thursday, January 8, 2015
Busy, Busy, Busy.... Oh, and did I mention - Olivia is turning 5!!!!
In the world of adoption - there is NEVER a dull moment. All week has been full of steps forward and set backs. I am trying not to get over whelmed but it is difficult at times. The best news of the adoption this week is that we somehow made our timeline of a complete/notarized/fully approved home study TODAY!! YAY! New Beginnings (our home study agency) is overnighting our homestudy to WACAP (our adoption agency) so that they can prayerfully get our I-800a sent off before 3pm tomorrow overnighted to the USCIS for Monday delivery. It will then enter some secret "lockbox" for a week to 10 days I'm told. After that, an officer will be assigned our case and will decide if our AnaLei gets to be expedited by the US government. I am nervous but know God knows when she needs to be home. I am sending 2 doctors letters with our application praying they see the urgency of our girl and her need to be home yesterday! She needs her momma and I need her. The USCIS will then issue our fingerprint appointments. This is extremely nerve wracking b/c my mom is planning to go to Alaska February 11th to visit my sister so I just pray that we are able to complete our fingerprints before she leaves!! We have been working on 3 tracks simultaneously so I know I sound like a crazy person when someone asks me how it's going, but that is actually a very complicated thing to answer. The home study was track #1, pre-approval is track #2, and our dossier documents is track #3. We still have not be able to lock AnaLei (Zou, Chun Lei) as the CCCWA is having technical difficulty with their website since re-opening Jan 5th. As soon as our agency is able to "lock" her file - China will hopefully grant us pre-approval within 2 days to 2 weeks. While we wait for all of this to happen, I have been gathering all of our dossier paperwork. Tomorrow, we will hopefully have it all notarized. Then, it has to be sent to the Sec of State in MS where the notarization gets authenticated. Then, once we have our fingerprint APPROVAL - that gets notarized and authenticated and THEN we can send all documents to the Chinese Consulate. Once they verify our documents - our dossier should be complete and off to China it goes!! Easy breezy beautiful cover girl :):)
Now to the beautiful news that also has me in tears!!! My big, smart, beautiful girl turns 5 years old tomorrow. I can hardly deal with it! She is so excited that her birthday falls on a school day :). I'm taking cupcakes to her class with unicorns (her favorite) and dinosaurs for the boys. She said it's "going to be so much fun" :). As I think about my babies birth 5 years ago - I think about what a mystery it is this side of heaven. I think how the angels must have rejoiced when she entered this world. I believe her life has already brought Glory to God in the Highest! I can't wait to see His plan for her. Though the details of her birth will never be known to us - I rejoice with her birth mother (and father) who gave her life and left her to found quickly and safely for a better life they felt they could not provide. My heart aches as I know they are thinking about her even now. Oh how I wish I could tell them about her. I feel like she probably has her birth mother's eyes and her father's perfect nose. She has their black hair and most beautiful brown eyes. If only they could see the masterpiece they created :). I am thankful to be her mother on this earth. Danny is thankful to be her daddy. We love her more than we could have ever imagined loving another human being. She is our rock. She is our inspiration. Thank you precious Lord for entrusting this precious life to us and may we be pleasing in your sight as we raise her to see you in your glorious light!
I will hopefully post tomorrow that our I-800a is on it's way. If not - I will post tears instead.... Until then.
Some of the last pictures of Hunter :(.
Julie
Now to the beautiful news that also has me in tears!!! My big, smart, beautiful girl turns 5 years old tomorrow. I can hardly deal with it! She is so excited that her birthday falls on a school day :). I'm taking cupcakes to her class with unicorns (her favorite) and dinosaurs for the boys. She said it's "going to be so much fun" :). As I think about my babies birth 5 years ago - I think about what a mystery it is this side of heaven. I think how the angels must have rejoiced when she entered this world. I believe her life has already brought Glory to God in the Highest! I can't wait to see His plan for her. Though the details of her birth will never be known to us - I rejoice with her birth mother (and father) who gave her life and left her to found quickly and safely for a better life they felt they could not provide. My heart aches as I know they are thinking about her even now. Oh how I wish I could tell them about her. I feel like she probably has her birth mother's eyes and her father's perfect nose. She has their black hair and most beautiful brown eyes. If only they could see the masterpiece they created :). I am thankful to be her mother on this earth. Danny is thankful to be her daddy. We love her more than we could have ever imagined loving another human being. She is our rock. She is our inspiration. Thank you precious Lord for entrusting this precious life to us and may we be pleasing in your sight as we raise her to see you in your glorious light!
I will hopefully post tomorrow that our I-800a is on it's way. If not - I will post tears instead.... Until then.
Some of the last pictures of Hunter :(.
Julie
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| Precious Baby! |
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| Olivia and ALL of her animals watching TV :) |
Monday, January 5, 2015
It's Been a Tough Day
Well, I guess I'm going to have to use this blog more an a therapeutic outlet than anything. You may just begin to stop reading but goodness gracious - I've got to type. Today was hard. All the way around - it was a hard day. But God's graciousness did shine through. He is faithful and He is good. One of my favorite verses in the bible comes out of Job. I will have to look up the verse but it's when Job is just in extreme pain and has lost all he had - including his 10 children. It says he was unrecognizable to his friends b/c of his awful skin disease. His wife encouraged him to "curse your God and die". He told her she was a foolish woman and said, "are we to accept only the good from God and not the bad?" I paraphrased with my quotations to the best of my memory at the moment :) Anyway - I think about that verse and story all the time. We gladly accept the good that God gives us but complain incessantly about the bad that comes our way. The bad shapes our faith and gives us perspective of who our God truly is. If we come out on top - He gets the glory for it. Not trying to give a sermon - just what has gotten me through this day.
Let's start the with the really exciting news!!! Our sweet girl's file was released from the CCCWA today :) YAY!! So, our agency sent our pre-approval paperwork that I had completed before the holidays. We should hear something as soon as a couple of days to a couple of weeks. In the meantime - all other paperwork continues. We had our final homestudy today and we hope (fingers crossed) that our I-800a is sent off by Friday. I will try not to be devastated if its not. After we send that off - we will get our fingerprint apt from the USCIS. We are including an expedite letter hoping they show us mercy with our little one who so desperately needs to get home. Even now, most doctors say her pulmonary hypertension likely makes her inoperable from a cardiovascular perspective. Bottom line, we have no idea what that means. We can only hope that "likely" doesn't mean definitely. But either way, we trust the one who is entrusting her to us and He will give us what we need when we need it. We just celebrate her file is finally released which is just one more thing we needed to have happen.
We lost our precious 17 year old peek-a-poo, Hunter, today. I got him when I was 19 years old :). He was my first man, first child, first dog, first love and today we had to put him to sleep as the most humane way to let him die with dignity. He was the best dog in all the world. Olivia doesn't know yet. Danny and I went together this afternoon. My heart is broken over his loss. It was one of the hardest decisions we've ever had to make. He started showing signs of aging years and years ago but he's just kept on keeping on. Lately though, he's gotten progressively worse. He can barely walk on our hardwood and paces for hours, when he's not sleeping. He threw up twice today even. He was getting worse and worse and it was the best decision for him. Danny and I will talk to Olivia about it in the coming days. She loves him dearly and he was always so good to her. She would dress him up and pretend he was her patient. My neice McKenzie used to do the same thing when she was little :). Elle just loves to hit, I mean pet, him. :)
Today was tough for more than just that, but for now, let's just leave it at that. You will get tired of reading it and I will get tired of re-living it.
To end on a positive note - we believe we have finalized our sweet girls name :)
AnaLei Marie Mann (that is pronounced "Ah-na Lee")
We all had a part in naming her - even Olivia :) We can't wait to show her the physical love we already feel for her emotionally.
Love to all,
Julie
Okay, okay - one more sweet picture
Let's start the with the really exciting news!!! Our sweet girl's file was released from the CCCWA today :) YAY!! So, our agency sent our pre-approval paperwork that I had completed before the holidays. We should hear something as soon as a couple of days to a couple of weeks. In the meantime - all other paperwork continues. We had our final homestudy today and we hope (fingers crossed) that our I-800a is sent off by Friday. I will try not to be devastated if its not. After we send that off - we will get our fingerprint apt from the USCIS. We are including an expedite letter hoping they show us mercy with our little one who so desperately needs to get home. Even now, most doctors say her pulmonary hypertension likely makes her inoperable from a cardiovascular perspective. Bottom line, we have no idea what that means. We can only hope that "likely" doesn't mean definitely. But either way, we trust the one who is entrusting her to us and He will give us what we need when we need it. We just celebrate her file is finally released which is just one more thing we needed to have happen.
We lost our precious 17 year old peek-a-poo, Hunter, today. I got him when I was 19 years old :). He was my first man, first child, first dog, first love and today we had to put him to sleep as the most humane way to let him die with dignity. He was the best dog in all the world. Olivia doesn't know yet. Danny and I went together this afternoon. My heart is broken over his loss. It was one of the hardest decisions we've ever had to make. He started showing signs of aging years and years ago but he's just kept on keeping on. Lately though, he's gotten progressively worse. He can barely walk on our hardwood and paces for hours, when he's not sleeping. He threw up twice today even. He was getting worse and worse and it was the best decision for him. Danny and I will talk to Olivia about it in the coming days. She loves him dearly and he was always so good to her. She would dress him up and pretend he was her patient. My neice McKenzie used to do the same thing when she was little :). Elle just loves to hit, I mean pet, him. :)
Today was tough for more than just that, but for now, let's just leave it at that. You will get tired of reading it and I will get tired of re-living it.
To end on a positive note - we believe we have finalized our sweet girls name :)
AnaLei Marie Mann (that is pronounced "Ah-na Lee")
We all had a part in naming her - even Olivia :) We can't wait to show her the physical love we already feel for her emotionally.
Love to all,
Julie
Okay, okay - one more sweet picture
Sunday, January 4, 2015
Great Time with Family
Just found this draft that somehow never got published back in 2011 :) Oh so precious!!!
Relaxing at Home
I hope everyone's new year was wonderful and relaxing! We have had a quiet weekend at home and lots of time with our sweet girls. Olivia wants to play horses 24-7 and Elle just wants to be with Olivia. Olivia always asks if it is Elle's naptime because she really just likes playing horses with mom :).
During the adoption process, weekends are hard b/c you know nothing is getting done to bring your baby home. However, as I have reflected on God's word this weekend - I have to run when I can and relax in His presence and peace when I can. We are on His timeline so there really is no reason for me to worry (so why do I tend to constantly?!?!). I am enjoying blogging again - it is an outlet for all these feelings that get bottled up.
I will update as things get going again which I hope is fast and furious starting tomorrow. We have our final homestudy and my prayer (and I've been told it's to big of one) is that our I-800a is sent off to the USCIS by Friday afternoon. After that - it apparently goes into a lockbox for 7-10 days where it won't be touched. I am sending a letter of expedite with it as well as an overnight envelope back to me so they will prayerfully see the urgency. The I-800a is how we get our appointment for our biometric fingerprints - which is what we have to have to send our dossier to China to get officially approved into their program.
We are still awaiting the release of Zou, Chun Lei's file from the CCCWA and pray it comes this week so we can lock her and get pre-approved. We have completed all of that paperwork and now just waiting on her official file.
Anyway - thanks for reading all the details! It seems like crazy talk unless you are in the middle of it. Even when I read about someone else's adoption - I totally forget and get lost in all the processes.
Have a great week! Olivia's 5th birthday is Friday!! I think I will cry :)
Much Love,
Julie
During the adoption process, weekends are hard b/c you know nothing is getting done to bring your baby home. However, as I have reflected on God's word this weekend - I have to run when I can and relax in His presence and peace when I can. We are on His timeline so there really is no reason for me to worry (so why do I tend to constantly?!?!). I am enjoying blogging again - it is an outlet for all these feelings that get bottled up.
I will update as things get going again which I hope is fast and furious starting tomorrow. We have our final homestudy and my prayer (and I've been told it's to big of one) is that our I-800a is sent off to the USCIS by Friday afternoon. After that - it apparently goes into a lockbox for 7-10 days where it won't be touched. I am sending a letter of expedite with it as well as an overnight envelope back to me so they will prayerfully see the urgency. The I-800a is how we get our appointment for our biometric fingerprints - which is what we have to have to send our dossier to China to get officially approved into their program.
We are still awaiting the release of Zou, Chun Lei's file from the CCCWA and pray it comes this week so we can lock her and get pre-approved. We have completed all of that paperwork and now just waiting on her official file.
Anyway - thanks for reading all the details! It seems like crazy talk unless you are in the middle of it. Even when I read about someone else's adoption - I totally forget and get lost in all the processes.
Have a great week! Olivia's 5th birthday is Friday!! I think I will cry :)
Much Love,
Julie
Thursday, January 1, 2015
2015 Should Be Exciting at the Mann House
As we drive home to MS from our visit in Alabama - I am reflecting on God's goodness. Life is certainly not always easy - sometimes it is just plain hard. But our God is bigger than our current situation and His plans are so much higher than ours. I am writing this as much for myself as anyone else :). Danny and I are so incredibly excited for Mann girl #3 to join our family (name still in debate) but we are also so incredibly scared!
BTW - So far the names options are as follows:
Sophie Lei
Ana Lei (Olivia has picked this one and yes it is pronounced "Ana" like the little sister on frozen) - gee, wonder where she came up with this name :)
Danny's middle name is Lee and Lei is already part of our sweet girl's Chinese name so we want that to be her middle name for sure.
Since our hearts have been stirred to adopt this sweet girl - we have worried about it all! Worried how we will manage with 3 children versus 2. Worried how we will get her the medical attention she needs while meeting the emotional needs of her AND our other 2 precious angels. Where will we have her treated? Traveling to CHOP will get crazy expensive so not sure that is an option, while we must consider them because of their incredible cardiac standing in the nation. Many think we are crazy and maybe we are. If we allow ourselves to think to hard about what is happening - we are overcome with fear. So, we try to just rest in His goodness and the knowledge that He has put this path before us and He will be faithful to see us through. He is a God of details and I am oh so thankful for that.
Our newest daughter's advocacy name is "Ella" and we think about her ALL THE TIME! We pray for her every single night and pray God is preparing her for us. Olivia was much younger when we adopted her so I am nervous how much our sweet girl will grieve given she will have just turned 3 when we finally get to wrap our arms around her sweet body.
We are prayerfully considering how to fundraise for a portion of this adoption. Now that I am staying at home - we want to ensure I am home with her to get her through her medical milestones like Danny was with Olivia. We have applied with Lifesong For Orphans and are waiting to see if we are approved for tax deductible donations. More to come on that if we are!! We know many don't understand what we are doing and not all are called to go, but many may be called to help others go and that is our prayer with this adoption. We know He has called us to go so we are praying He has called some to give :)
We covet your prayers during this time. We should have a complete homestudy this coming week and then we wait for our biometric fingerprint appts with the USCIS. We are working for every step to be expedited because she needs to be HOME!!
Here are some photos from our trip to Alabama :)
BTW - So far the names options are as follows:
Sophie Lei
Ana Lei (Olivia has picked this one and yes it is pronounced "Ana" like the little sister on frozen) - gee, wonder where she came up with this name :)
Danny's middle name is Lee and Lei is already part of our sweet girl's Chinese name so we want that to be her middle name for sure.
Since our hearts have been stirred to adopt this sweet girl - we have worried about it all! Worried how we will manage with 3 children versus 2. Worried how we will get her the medical attention she needs while meeting the emotional needs of her AND our other 2 precious angels. Where will we have her treated? Traveling to CHOP will get crazy expensive so not sure that is an option, while we must consider them because of their incredible cardiac standing in the nation. Many think we are crazy and maybe we are. If we allow ourselves to think to hard about what is happening - we are overcome with fear. So, we try to just rest in His goodness and the knowledge that He has put this path before us and He will be faithful to see us through. He is a God of details and I am oh so thankful for that.
Our newest daughter's advocacy name is "Ella" and we think about her ALL THE TIME! We pray for her every single night and pray God is preparing her for us. Olivia was much younger when we adopted her so I am nervous how much our sweet girl will grieve given she will have just turned 3 when we finally get to wrap our arms around her sweet body.
We are prayerfully considering how to fundraise for a portion of this adoption. Now that I am staying at home - we want to ensure I am home with her to get her through her medical milestones like Danny was with Olivia. We have applied with Lifesong For Orphans and are waiting to see if we are approved for tax deductible donations. More to come on that if we are!! We know many don't understand what we are doing and not all are called to go, but many may be called to help others go and that is our prayer with this adoption. We know He has called us to go so we are praying He has called some to give :)
We covet your prayers during this time. We should have a complete homestudy this coming week and then we wait for our biometric fingerprint appts with the USCIS. We are working for every step to be expedited because she needs to be HOME!!
Here are some photos from our trip to Alabama :)
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