Chung Yi Approved Our Homestudy! Please Pray!

I just received news that the orphanage had approved our homestudy, which is great news; however, without going into too many details that I'm not sure we are allowed to share, we need to wait for one more event to occur before we can officially start the dossier process. Please pray that this will go smoothly and quickly, if it is God's will.

In the meantime, Sam and I are going tomorrow to have more fingerprints taken for our USCIS I600A form. I guess this will give us our FBI clearance. We are also starting to collect the paperwork we will need to submit for our dossier. Please pray for us as this whole process is new to us, and we want to make sure we are remembering everything we need to do. I would hate to get to a point where everything is halted because I didn't order certain paperwork that takes months to acquire.

I miss my little girl and wish we had her here with us this Christmas. I keep seeing little Minnie Mouse t-shirts and things that remind me of her, and I know she would like for Christmas gifts, but that time will have to wait. She absolutely loves Minnie Mouse and pink! : ) Anyways, I am so grateful to God that things are moving along with the adoption process and that we might be blessed with this precious addition to our family. She was such a joy to host this past summer, even in her trying moments when her little lip would stick out and she would fold her arms and look at me stubbornly. It was hard not to laugh. I miss her. Please continue to pray for us and especially for her. Whatever happens, my prayer is that she will know how much our Lord and saviour loves her and that she will be placed with just the right forever family for her that will love her as their own. My thoughts and prayers are constantly with her.

God bless and Merry Christmas!

Announcing Our Thanksgiving Raffle!

Announcing the Winners to Our Thanksgiving Raffle!!!
Well, it's time to announce the winners to our raffle. I cannot thank all those who donated enough for their participation. We were able to raise $560! I think it's a good start on our next set of adoption fees. Here are the winners...

1st Prize (Princess House Pan) : Ray & Shannon

Runner-up Prizes

(1) Santa Ana Zoo Pass for 4 people: The Reynolds Family
(1) Santa Ana Zoo Pass for 4 people: Leah Munoz
Solomon Beads Bracelet & Earrings: Stacy Richards (strange, I know)

Please continue to pray for our adoption process. I just heard back from USCIS today that they received my form and are processing it. It's a nice relief to know that it wasn't lost in the mail. Also, we are waiting for pre-approval from the orphanage in Taiwan. I think our home study has been sent there this week, or it still may be being translated. Please pray that we will be approved by both the USCIS and the orphanage and that it will all happen according to God's perfect timing. Thanks again!

UPDATE TO THANKSGIVING RAFFLE...

It has been brought to my attention that some people would like to enter the raffle, but are not comfortable using their credit cards over the Internet. Therefore, if you would like to enter the raffle by mail, feel free to do so, but make sure we receive it by November 23rd! You can mail it to my office address at 17742 Irvine Blvd. #205, Tustin, CA 92780. Thanks again for all your prayers and support!

*********************************************************************************

I was at the Home Depot the other day and a perfect stranger gave me two passes to the Santa Ana Zoo that get 4 people in each. I thought, "Hmmm, Lord, what would you like me to do with these?" Then, my wonderful co-worker, Angie, who sells Princess House, gave me a gorgeous 15 qt. stainless steel roaster along with a roll of raffle tickets, and the Thanksgiving Raffle was born! Stacy Richards also is donating a lovely pair of Solomon Bead earrings and a bracelet.

Check out the prize descriptions below and enter today by donating through my "Chip-in" to the left. For every $5 you donate, your name will be entered in our raffle. For example, if you donate $15, your name will be entered 3 times. Be sure to donate by November 23rd to be entered in the raffle! All winners will be announced on the evening of November 23rd! Needless to say, 100% of all donations will go directly towards our adoption expenses. Thanks again for all your prayers and support!

Top Prize

(1) 15 QT. Stainless Steel Princess House Roaster w/ Rack

Click on the link to view more information about Princess House's beautiful, high-quality products.

Two Runner-Up Prizes

Two people will be selected to receive a pass to the Santa Ana Zoo that gets four people in! Click the link to be taken to their website for more information on the zoo. Note: Passes expire 12/31/2010, so you will need to use them soon!

One More Runner-Up Prize!

One fortunate person will be selected to receive a bracelet and earrings from Stacy Richard's Solomon Beads collection. Click the link to see some samples of this beautiful jewelry!

Be sure to donate by November 23rd to be entered in the raffle!

To enter just click the orange "ChipIn" button to the left to pay securely via PayPal with your credit card. 100% of all donations will go directly to our adoption expenses to bring Jing-Qi home.

We have raised our USCIS fees!

The Lord has been so faithful! Between neighbors and friends from church we have raised the needed money to send off our I-600A form to the USCIS! Yea! To all the people who have prayed for us or donated, we cannot thank you enough! Please keep praying! It is so appreciated!

We are now trying to save for the "Referral Phase" of our adoption expenses. We will need to raise $8000. There is a wonderful sister in Christ who is selling jewelry and other various items on her "Making Footprints" website to help raise money for families that are trying to adopt. 30% of the proceeds will go to our adoption fund if you mention "Jing-Qi" when you purchase. Thank you again for all your support!

Putting the Finishing Touches on our APPROVED Home Study!

I just received word from our social worker that our home study has been completed and was APPROVED! Yea! She has forwarded it on to the person that will be translating it into Chinese for a final review, but we should have it by the end of today or Friday. I am so excited that we are almost done with the home study phase of the adoption process. It's nice to feel like we are moving forward. Although we are completely new to the whole adoption process, I hear the next step is to send in our completed home study with our I-600 A form to the USCIS. I have completed the form and am ready to mail once I receive our actual home study. We need to send in $830 to the USCIS when we submit our form. Our wonderful neighbors have already donated $288 to go towards our fees, but we are scrambling to come up with the rest so we can mail our form. Please pray that the Lord will provide the funds for this. Also, if you are able and would like to contribute, please click on our chip-in button to the right. All money will be sent securely via PayPal. Thanks for all your support!

Announcing the Christmas Frenzy!

Gift Giving with Purpose...


Now that the Richards' family has their sixth little bundle of joy home, they are putting their adoption efforts into helping other families, like ours, to fundraise to help bring more children home to their forever families. I'm amazed that they still have the energy to come up with these fabulous ideas, but am very grateful for their help. They not only are responsible for beginning our journey with Jing-Qi, but now they are helping us continue along that journey. Wow! Thank you Lord for the work you are doing in and through this precious family. Please check out their Christmas Frenzy link to the right and below to see what other two-fold blessing gifts you can give this Christmas!

Click here to check out what the Christmas Frenzy is all about!

Our Journey Begins

"In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps."   - Pro 16:9 

What a work the Lord is doing in our family! I stand amazed and in awe of how much our Heavenly Father loves us! Children certainly are a gift from God. They are His reward, but I often feel unworthy of such a priceless reward, yet He has already blessed me with two very unique and treasured girls, and seems to be about to bless us with another. Overwhelming is His love for me! 

Sam and I started this year with no plans to expand our family. Sam was laid off almost two years ago now and has been working tirelessly on getting his own photography business off the ground. I had been focussing on home-schooling my oldest daughter for the first time. I had always had an unspoken desire to adopt, but didn't see the Lord leading my family in this direction. Meanwhile, Emily happened to choose to learn Mandarin for her foreign language. Due to Sam needing to keep July open for photographing weddings, our usual two week family vacation in July got moved to August. Then, an email was sent by a very dear sister in Christ sharing that Nightlight Christian Adoptions was in need of families to host children from Taiwan and Russia for just a couple of weeks in July. It was already June, and they still didn't have the families they needed. I forwarded the email to my husband and started praying. I never mentioned it to him in conversation, but a very dear brother in Christ did. Next thing I knew, Sam was telling me that we could host a child if I wanted. Joy!

 I figured it would be just for the two weeks, but then my little Jing-Qi came. I think it took about 2 to 3 days for me to become attached to her. She followed me everywhere those two weeks she was here, and I felt like I had a third "little shadow". My new and very faithful little friend brought much joy to these two weeks as I watched her come out of her shell, try new things, and smile more and more. One time, when she and Christina were playing with the hula-hoop, she asked me to try. I tried to explain as best as I could, considering the language barrier, that I simply could not hula-hoop. She persisted, so I thought I better explain with actions instead of words. I picked up that hula-hoop and gave it my all. Emily, who was watching, starting cracking up, knowing my hula-hooping limitations. I watched as Jing-Qi walked over near Emily shaking her little fist and saying something angrily to Emily in Chinese. Then, she walked back over to me with a proud smile on her face, like she was my great defender. I couldn't help but smile. Then, as the two weeks passed, we came to the end of her stay. She would point to the day on the calendar with the plane on it, indicating that she was to return back to Taiwan, and say, "Jing-Qi bye-bye. Uh-oh!" Agony! 

It was horribly hard to part with my new little precious gem, but I'm comforted with the thought that the Lord will bring her home to us through adoption. Today was her birthday. We mailed her a card to say "Happy Birthday". Next year, I hope to celebrate with her in person. We are still in the early stages of our adoption. Please pray that our home study will be approved.  I am told we probably still have another 6-8 months to go until we can bring her home, if everything goes well. Please pray that we can bring her home according to our Lord's timing and for provision for the adoption process. We extend our deepest thanks to you for all your prayers.