Exceeding Abundantly

Above all that we could ask or think! I have always loved that verse! It makes me catch my breath and sends a thrill through me, "Now unto HIM WHO etc.."
Today is a day that I have been privileged to see the exceeding abundant work of our Father.  We received our I-797 on Saturday late afternoon.  This was thrilling, but concerning timing as we could do nothing that day to certify it and prepare it, yet it had to be done this week due to upcoming US and Chinese holidays, and I couldn't take clinic off at such a last minute to start the process on Monday.  After talking to my clinic supervisor, she graciously helped me get all my patients from Tuesday moved to this Monday or next ;) and scheduled an extra nurse for the increased workload.  So while I saw extra pts, my husband took some time from his work on Monday and did the notary and county clerk and was blessed to get an appointment for us with the Dept of State for Wednesday morning.  Tuesday, with clinic cancelled, I drove the three hours over to our state capitol, first thing in the morning, and despite bad weather, God helped me to get in and out shortly after the government offices opened.  I drove back to our town, picked up our boys, and Daniel drove back from work, and we headed to DC, stopping only to make the requisite copies.  It was bad, bad weather all the way, blinding, driving rain, but in the wee hours of the morning, we made it to Fairfax, VA and gratefully turned in at a hotel. (Thank you, Lord for Priceline and smart phones!)  The next morning we headed to DC, had a pleasant and very quick appt with the DoS, (5 minute turn-around with a smile, how is that for a blessing?) and rushed to the Chinese embassy to turn in our paperwork.  We found that they were telling all people there that there would be no more rush (same day) service, but they were glad to get it done overnight for us. ** For other PAPs, I am not sure if this is a permanent change for personal, urgent/emergent hand delivered documents, as the option is still on the website, but the embassy staff did make it sound like this was a permanent policy change, so I would recommend planning for two days in DC.**
  This was a skewer in our plans, but we knew God had a reason, so since my parents live only 3 hrs from DC, we trucked on up to them.  Needless to say, living 12hrs apart as we do, these grandparents do not get as much time with the little guys as they would like, so this was a very fun surprise for them and us.  We are hoping and praying that my father will be able to accompany us on adoption trip, for so many reasons.  The next day, we headed back to DC, got the documents all looking pretty! and headed to Fed Ex, where I spent an unreasonable amount of time, copying, checking, collating and fine tooth combing, this which was to be our very last package of dossier documents to our agency! Poor Daniel, I think the boys were quite a handful, but I must say they were really troopers for this long crazy trip and only needed to occasionally let off a little very understandable steam now and then.
With that over-nighted to our agency, we got in our car and headed back toward home, watching the weather map that showed a bad looking snow storm was coming.  Most of the afternoon and evening we drove undisturbed, though the weather map declared we were at that very moment being pelted with snow.  God was driving the storm before us. Suddenly, my phone rang. It was CCAI, I answered, curious as to why they would be calling at this late time.  Jaime told me that our critical review was done, "yay!" but "I have some really bad news for you, can you talk now?"  Quickly she told me that all our documents that we had sealed in October had an error in that they were all lacking a date on one of the seals from the embassy.  She noted that this was a very serious error and would require all the documents to be returned to the embassy and a correction requested.  We would not likely make our hoped for goal of DTC before the New Year.   We were at a loss of what to do. D and I both had to be back in town for work and responsibility this morning, and we had already left DC.  J said she was closing up the office, but she would be happy to overnight the documents anywhere I wanted.  D and I did not know what to do. Rapidly we discussed options, but all seemed impossible given the circumstances, only two more intercountry mailings scheduled-and next week was inauguration, MLK...the list of impossibles was too long!
J did not believe that the embassy would be able to do any same day corrections.  Our hearts sank.  We thanked her for the info and hung up, puzzled and heart sick.  It seemed, humanly, that our dossier would now have to wait till after the New Year at minimum and get caught in the piles that build over this long, lovely holiday. Suddenly, I thought of my parents! Perhaps they could take the package (today) to DC. I was upset, "be ye angry and sin not" ran through my head, because "it was too late" J had said she was leaving the office and would not be back till Monday.  Daniel suggested (after I had been upset and tearful for a few minutes) that I should call back, even though the office was closed and see if J was still there.
I did.
She was.
She would.
Of course.
 (thank you, Lord for making me set up a fed ex account back when I thought I didn't really need too.) Then, Daniel began looking to see if we could find a fed ex office near us (somewhere in the boonies as our family would say) to send my father our passport copies, examples of correct sealing etc. We found one. It was closing in 2 minutes. They suggested another. We rushed there and sent off the package and got back on the road, praying. Up till this point the roads had been clear and no traffic, so we were able to do all this running around with no problem.  I called my parents and my father was happy to take on this ticklish task of running to DC and seeking a solution. Thank you, Abba!
The roads stayed clear but the snow on either side increased.  Finally, the traffic ground to a halt. Parked on the interstate, we were grateful that Daniel had filled up the tank at the last fed-ex stop.  We spent most of the night parked for a hour or so, suddenly traffic would start and we would rush on, no sign of the reason of delay, and then again, the traffic would suddenly condense and park for a couple hours.  Finally, we decided, tiredly to try the back roads if we had a chance at an exit...I cannot countenance this decision as having the slightest rationality to it.  If the interstate, which was quite clear could not move...! Daniel had been sleeping, while I watched for movement in the traffic. When it came, I pointed out that according to my phone there was a critical access road that paralleled the interstate. What did he think? We got off.  We looked at our map.  The critical access road looked very small and unlikely to be fully plowed, we were in the mountains.  We opted for some country(state) highways instead. As we drove these roads, I noticed a small dot on the map directly on our proposed route "Highest peak in the state of X" Uh Oh.  Should we turn back?  But the snow was so high, that the only way was forward. Trees were downed everywhere. The road wasn't that bad...and then it was. The plows had passed that way. Brave plow drivers! But they had only plowed their best around the trees that blocked up to 75% of the roadway.  Lots of snow remained.  Creeping along at no more than 15- 20mph we did sharp hair pin turn after hair pin turn slowly ascending the mountain.  The mountain stream on one side had become a raging and furious river tearing trees out and bearing them down (last night was the first time I have seen real waves in a stream!) and the tiny rivulets down the mountain side had become roaring waterfalls that sprayed across the road like fire hydrants.  On the other side the valley dropped down down and in places the edges of the road had given out, crumbling and tumbling down the living storming mountain.  We had to maintain enough speed to not slip and yet I was constantly afraid that we would hurtle either over the cliff  or into the raging waters.  This was all at 2 and 3 and 4 and 5 in the morning.  Finally we reached the peak, and if possible I felt that the road became worse, how I hate hairpins downhill on a good day!  I was so exhausted I could hardly keep my eyes open, but was trying to stay awake to help Daniel.  Thankfully the boys slept peacefully. Daniel is an amazing man.  I have always known that, but watching his nerves of steel last night, his calmness and skill, I am so thankful for him. He threaded around trees on steep grades maintaining the center of the road always alert. We were praying all the way.  When we finally crawled into the tiny town at the base of the mountain, there was no doubt to us that A. We didn't deserve to be all in one piece! and B. That God is very merciful! Our lives are in His hands. There were still lots of windy mountain roads (one is never quite out of the mountains around here) till the interstate, but finally we found a partially plowed grocery store parking lot and were able to sleep for an hour. Then back on the interstate, where the traffic was light, but the car in front of us immediately spun out on black ice.  We decided this time that wisdom was the better part of valor and pulled off at the next exit to rest till the sun had been up for a while.  Eventually we were able to get back on the roads, and though there was still black ice and thick fog, we were able to continue slowly and steadily.  Around 8 my mother called to let us know that they had received the fed-ex packages at 7:40 and my father was heading out to DC.  We made it home safely.  Around 1:50 my father called to say that not only had he made it safely to DC, but that the embassy had, after discussion with him, graciously and willingly corrected the seals on the spot!!!!! He had them all in hand! He was taking them to Fed Ex!  To use an over used expression--MINDBLOWN!! Definitely today, yesterday, all of this is Exceeding abundantly above all that we could ever ask or think!
So at this moment, God willing, our documents are on their way to our agency, and J says (God willing) we should be DTC next Friday!

Here I raise my Ebenezer

Hither by Thy help I've come

 And I know by Thy good pleasure

 Safely I'll arrive at Home

I-800A approval! and a catch...

We submitted our I800A mid November, and got fingerprinted December 10.  Due to some recent postal delivery issues in our neighborhood, we had become concerned (I was plain worried) that our approval might have been lost.  So, after consulting with our agency, I gave USCIS a call, and immediately got a very friendly person who was happy to help look it up! Apparently we have been approved! Praise God! So very, very thankful to hear this! The only catch is...our approval letter is not here yet...and the mail has already come today, chuckles...

When the letter arrives, DV, I need to get a copy of it notarized, then certified by the county clerk, then certified by the state, then authenticated by the US Dept of State,  and finally a sealed by the Chinese Embassy.  This is the last document for our dossier, and then, God willing, it is off to China! (the homestudy will be traveling with it too, as cost wise I was waiting to do them together.)

Now we need to decide if I should take it all to DC myself, or use a courier. Courier service takes at least a week, and therefore is much slower, but, its a long, long drive! Last set of documents we did ourselves and it was very smooth and super quick. Hmm.

Christmas gifts and waiting...

We have had a busy, happy, sick ;) holiday season, with much travel, many runny noses, sore throats and fevers...
I am certainly thankful that the boys (though still increasing the price of stock in the Kleenex market) are on the mend.  The day after Christmas, we got an update on one of our boys! So thrilling! The last update from our agency was in June, and I knew not to expect any updates, that they are just an unexpected treat if they happen...so what a treat!  They sent pictures with the update and best of all in the pictures Little Lion is holding a toy we sent back in August!! I don't know if it just arrived or if he got the rest of the package...but it was thrilling to know he had something I picked out for him.  It made him seem closer to see him holding something that not too many months ago, I was holding. What a special blessing from the Lord.
The waiting continues.  I was really hoping that getting our fingerprints early would mean maybe getting our I800A approval in 2012, but no word yet.  I know the holidays do slow things down, but every day when we check the mail and there is no word my heart sinks a little.  They have 90 days to process, and I believe we are at 45 days. I am just not sure if that is 90 business days... that makes it a lot longer! I have seen families get their approvals as quickly as 1 day after fingerprints and often recently as quickly as 1 week after, but that is not our story, so I need to learn to be content.
Despite all the sickness this has been a joyful season of remembering our precious Saviour's birth, and I am grateful for it.

Biometrics have been captured!

One more step done! On Monday, I cancelled my clinic, my husband took time off work and together with our nanny and our two little guys we made the trek to our assigned USCIS office for our fingerprinting appointment.  We drove out at 6AM and twelve hours later we were home! :)  For all you other adoptive families, take heart! We did NOT spend all twelve hours in the USCIS office! Most were spent on the road in torrential storms and bad traffic :) Then, we stopped by the CCAI office that handles our side of the US  and got to meet Chaunda and Jaime and drop off all the dossier paperwork we have so far! That was fun, and a relief! I kept dreading that somehow in our crazy home someone would manage to pour jam on the dossier or catch it on fire...just saying!  Now we are just missing the sealed I-797 (what we got fingerprinted for ) and the fully sealed homestudy. So thankful to be this far.  The slowest part in this process has definitely been the homestudy, though we turned in all our paperwork first week of August and got our visits done in less than two weeks and supplied all supporting financial documentation. The homestudy wasn't completely written by our agency till late November.   I can't give any helpful tips on avoiding this delay, as there were no issues with our paperwork, homestudy visits or background checks.  Our homestudy agency seemed to have us on the back burner, probably not intentionally, and I tend to try to not bother people...perhaps I should have been more insistent!  Finally, after nearly 3 months of little being done, I did start to call and ask, and, thank God, they got to work on the report and processed it! So now we are in the process of immigration approval (parent side). I need to daily remind myself that God wants me to trust Him in the timing of all this, and my attitude is important! I heard this song yesterday by Third Day and it brought tears to my eyes. 
THIRD DAY:  Merry Christmas

 

The "Whys" (a very brief and short version...)

Sometimes (okay, lets be honest, most of the time!) when people hear we are adopting they look at me like I am crazy...I can just see the thoughts racing through their brains: "Did I hear correctly, did the mom standing at my counter with the double stroller just say 'we are adopting two toddlers'???"  Then I get the "oh! You mean you are adopting these two!" (pointing to my stroller), I:  "oh, no, they are not home yet! we are adopting internationally, these are my two other sons!" :)  (and I go off and chortle to myself, all the while contemplating that indeed, they are right...I am probably stark raving mad...)
I'd like to give a little background to why we are adopting,  and as I'm obviously no great blogger ;) here is an excerpt from an email we sent to family

"First then, our reasons for adopting. Probably the core reason is that the Bible makes it clear that God has a special love for orphans. We do want to be passionate about the same things our Father is passionate about. Of course, the Lord is passionate about many things, but a love for children is something specifically that God had been working in our lives. We have wanted to adopt for a very long time (long before we were married). We know that we love children very much and we wanted to make a home for a child who would not otherwise have a family. When the Lord moved us to our current location, he put us with a lot of other Christians who are passionate about adoption. That brought the desire back to the surface and got us to researching it in more detail. We found out that in many ways right now is an ideal time to adopt for our family. Some of those are:

• Big Brother and Little Man are young, this will give them a chance to grow up with their adopted brothers as a natural part of the family.
• We have a tremendous number of resources to help us right now, with many families around us who have adopted and friends who are adoptees.
• In international adoption, there are lots of rules about how many children you are allowed to have when adopting, how much money you must be earning, age of parents, length of marriage, etc. We are in what may be a narrow window to meet these requirements.

But why China? We first researched foster care adoption here in the US, but due to the nature of foster care adoption, we felt it was not appropriate for us while we have small children already in the home. We then looked into domestic infant adoption, but realized that there are many loving families who are eager to adopt a healthy baby from the US, and we knew we wanted to adopt a child who had little chance of a family. So then we began researching international adoption. Conservative estimates of the need show that there are over 130 million orphans across the world (see UNICEF's report 2008). However, in many countries there are also legitimate concerns about child trafficking or unethical adoption practices. After serious research, it appears that China has both a significant need among their orphans who have medical and or special needs and the government is working hard to avoid child trafficking. In addition, we have many, many Chinese friends, which has given us a love for the Chinese and their culture. I (doctormommy) grew up among the Chinese, and consider it to be a home culture.
After settling on China, we then began to research in more detail the specific needs of the orphans there. We found out that some 90% of all prospective adoptive parents are only willing to accept a healthy baby girl. Others have opened their hearts to accept a girl with special needs, but the boys with special needs are statistically the least likely to be adopted (any country, any agency!) and are left with little hope of ever having a family. God leads each family differently, but again our goal was to seek out the children who needed help most, and we love little boys! So we pursued adopting a boy with special needs.

We should insert a note here about the adoption agency we are working with, as some of you have expressed concerns about stories you have heard about unscrupulous agencies. We researched agencies carefully as well. We found that Chinese Children Adoption International (CCAI) is consistently rated the highest among adoptive parents. The Chinese government also rates them as the number one agency working with Chinese orphans. CCAI also works hard to care for and provide opportunities for children who will never be adopted. Finally, CCAI, has the among the lowest fees of any agency (their fees are also published up front and they do not add any hidden fees later), this is because they are genuinely committed to finding families for orphans, not just skimming money from parents.

So in April of this year we began the application process. Our agreement was signed, paid for and accepted on July 10th along with a list of special needs (Medical conditions) we were willing to accept. At that point, we got started on compiling our adoption dossier (a huge collection of legal documents) and applying for our home study (we had been able to do a little of this prior to approval). The general process for special needs adoptions is the preliminary application, followed by home study and dossier, and after all of that is done, a family begins to wait for a child match. We were told that a child match generally took between six months to two years. Imagine our surprise then, when on Friday, July 27th we received a call from CCAI! They had a 15 month old child who had been up for adoption since he was a couple months old. However, we were the first family who had listed his need as one we would be able to consider. We spent the weekend researching Little Lion's  file and praying about him. Our agency would have given us more time, but we were confident that the Lord intended this precious boy for us. We called the agency on Monday, and a week after we sent in our letter of intent, We received pre-approval!
Before CCAI had called us, we had been looking at another child on their list that we thought would be a good fit for our family. After accepting Little Lion, we still couldn't get Little Monkey off our hearts. After considering and praying about him, we asked to see his file on Sept 7th. We reviewed his file very carefully and consulted with many physicians and other adoptive families. We spent another week praying about Little Monkey and seeking advice. We came to the conclusion that while we know adopting two children at once is a tremendous amount of work, and while Little Monkey's needs appear to be very extensive, we believe that he too is our son and that the Lord has called us lay down our lives and our comfort to extend His love to these two precious boys. We received pre-approval for Little Monkey, 8 days after our letter of intent"
For us it has been a whirlwind...as a physician who has cared for many children in the foster system, I originally thought years ago that this was where we would find our children, and maybe someday it will be! What a big change then to go to adopting internationally "one infant" to "hmm, make that two toddlers!"  However, for us this is the exact right place we need to be now, and we feel so honored and privileged to be pursuing adopting these amazing little boys! 
PS: What about those bloggy names??? Well, our dear nanny dubbed the 4 boys, and so far they have stuck...we will see as they grow! 

Chuāngkǒu làzhú

Chuangkou lazhu: literally "window candle" a sign of welcome home, a light that says "come in, there is warmth, there is shelter". But for us it also says, "we'll keep the light burning till you get home!"  This is a peek in our window where the light shines till our sons get home.