So Very Thankful

Where do I begin? The Lord's blessings have been poured out on our family since we chose to follow His call to adoption. It's hard to believe that Caleb has been home with us for two years already. Our lives are so much richer because he's our son. We are so thankful God hand-picked him for us.

Although I was hoping we would have PA or confirmation of our dossier transfer by this time, I am still so thankful that we have seen Madeline's face. We know who she is. And for now, this small glimpse into her world fills that part in our hearts that longs to bring her home. We still can't wait to send her a care package and get updated information. But for now, we are grateful for what information and photos we have and hope we can soon share her precious face with all of you here. It's hard for me to blog about something and not share a photo. So enjoy my precious Thanksgiving blessings below.

Patrick and Caleb, my Thanksgiving treasures

Good news

We have spent the better part of the last three weeks trying to sort out the transfer of our dossier from our old agency to our new agency....and today, we got some good news! Our new agency's China coordinator is actually in China right now and has received the "green light" to have our dossier transfered from our old agency to our new one!!! Even though this news has been anticipated, it is exciting to hear it nonetheless. Once she arrives back in the States, she will send our old agency the information they need for the transfer to take place. Our old agency has been extremely helpful during this process, as they have done this before. They want to ensure all "I's" are dotted and "T's" are crossed so that the transfer is successful and goes off without a hitch. We are thankful for how thorough they are being, as too much has been invested to lose over a simple oversight.

On another note, we are still waiting for Pre-approval (PA). This is a preliminary approval China gives families who request to be matched to a particular waiting child. As soon as we get PA, we will be sending Madeline a care package, just like we did with Caleb. I am getting really antsy about this. But I'm trying to sit tight and be patient.

And after three years of collecting dust, my sewing machine has been put back to work! I bought some adorable dress patterns to make Madeline some cute summer dresses. I've already made the cutest little skirt with a flounce. And it just warms my heart to imagine her wearing it. ***sigh*** I'll have to post some photos once I finsih them. Until next time...

Exciting times

These last few weeks have been filled with lots of excitment. I know I'm a little late, but I still wanted to post about some Halloween fun. Caleb wanted to dress up as a fireman this year. He loved wearing his costume, even though it was so terribly hot! Our little local library put together a nice party for the children. They had games and snacks. Caleb had so much fun bowling and playing bean bag toss. He really worked up a sweat! Baba took him to the mall on Halloween, but he just wasn't interested in getting candy.

As usual, we waited until the last minute to get our pumpkins. Last Friday we walked over to the church across the street and let Caleb pick out two pumpkins: one for him and one for Madeline!

That's right...one for Madeline!!!!!!!!!

Last Friday, we accepted our precious daughter's referral. We still have some kinks to work out because she is not listed with our agency. That is the reason we have been so cautious about announcing our acceptance. But we are hopeful during this next week that we will have everything taken care and we can proceed quickly with her adoption. Otherwise, we will have to re-do all of our paperwork. We certainly hope it doesn't come to that, but we're willing if we have to.

So.....about Madeline....we can't post her photo yet until we have preliminary approval from China to proceed with her adoption. But I can tell you a little bit about her. She's almost 20 months old and waiting for us in Jingmen City, Hubei. She was born missing her left arm below her elbow and is just as cute as can be. We hope to travel late spring/early summer to bring her home. We are so blessed to be adopting her. Caleb is as excited as can be. He's already talking about all the things he's going to show her, like how to buckle her seatbelt and put on her bike helmet. It's just precious.

I can't wait until I can post her pictures, but for now I will share with you some from last week.

My little fireman

Caleb enjoying hot cocoa with Baba

Pondering in the pumkin patch

Caleb with his and Madeline's pumpkin