Legacy of an Adopted Child

Dave has a coworker who was adopted from Korea as a baby. She gave him this poem the other day at work.

Legacy of an Adopted Child

Once there were two women who never knew each other.
One you do not remember, the other you call Mother.

Two different lives shaped to make you one.
One became your guiding star, the other became your sun.

The first one gave you life, and the second taught you how to live it.
The first gave you a need for love. The second was there to give it.

One gave you nationality. The other gave you a name.
Once gave you a talent. The other gave you aim.

One gave you emotions. The other calmed your fears.
One saw your first sweet smile. The other dried your tears.

One sought for you a home that she could not provide.
The other prayed for a child and her hope was not denied.

And now you ask me, through your tears,
the age old question unanswered though the years.
Heredity or environment, which are you a product of?
Neither, my darling. Neither. Just two different kinds of Love.

~Author Unknown

I-800 Approval!! YIPPY!!

We received our I-800 approval in the mail yesterday. Our agency will now send another set of papers to China and immigration will cable our approval to the US consulate in Guangzhou. Once the consulate signs our second LOA it will be sent along with the other paperwork to the CCAA. At that point we wait for the CCAA to issue our official Travel Approval.

One step closer to our boy! I just can't wait to squeeze him and love on him.

A Trial Run

As most of you already know Dave and I will need to be in China for approximately two weeks to finalize Toby's adoption. While I am so excited to meet him and experience some of China's culture, I am also nervous and sad to leave the three kids for so long. I know they will be in good hands while we are away but the mommy in me still feels apprehensive.

Well this past weekend all three kids got to spend the night with Grandma and Grandpa Schoel. This was a first for Lucy to spend the night. They all did so well and had a blast. Grandpa brought them home yesterday and everyone was very tired from all the fun. Dave and I got to enjoy a night away together at a local hotel. It is my way of taking baby steps in preparing for our trip. We really are so blessed to have family and friends who are so willing to help and love our children.

We hope to hear soon that our I-800 has been approved. We appreciate your continued prayers for our growing family.

New Picture!!

I got the most wonderful surprise today. Our agency emailed us with a new picture of Toby as well as new measurements. This is the first picture we have of him standing up on his own. I wonder if he'll be walking by the time we travel. He's 13 months old in this picture.

I-800 is Sent

We had to finish up a few more hours of required parent training for our adoption before we could send in our immigration paperwork (I-800). It was sent off yesterday afternoon by our agency and now we wait for USCIS to process it. It can be a somewhat time consuming process so we pray that we do not hit any bumps along the way. We can monitor the process to some degree but there is nothing we can do to make it go faster. We will keep you posted on how things are moving along.

It's been about 2 weeks since I sent Toby's care package to him so I'm really hoping he's received it now. I will just have to accept that I will not know until we see him.

Thanks for your prayers and support!

More about Tobias

I thought I'd share will you and little more about where Tobias is currently living. He is in the City Welfare Institute of LuoHe, Henan. Within the orphanage is a special area called the Lily Care Orphan Center. These Lily Care rooms have been built by our agency and are designed to provide the best possible care for special needs infants and young toddlers. The nannies have received training in how to best take care of these little ones. Toby is currently living in the Lily Care room at his orphanage but we are unsure of when he was moved there. We are guessing he was about 8-10 months old when he was moved to this area. We are grateful for the care he is receiving while we wait to bring him home. I received a few pictures from the charity department of our agency of the Lily Care room while it was under construction as well as some pictures of some of the kids living there. I was so excited to see some with Toby in them. Each time I see a new picture of him my heart aches just a little more that I can't hold him yet but I'm so pleased to see him looking healthy and strong.

The first picture is of the Lily Care Room under construction. The second one is the nannies playing with the babies. The third one is Toby and one of his friends. Toby is on the left.M

LOA!!!

We are so excited to announce that we received our Letter of Acceptance from the CCAA (China Center of Adoption Affairs) this past Friday. We are one step closer to our little boy! It came in record time as well. Only 21 days from our Letter of Intent being sent. We are now busy getting all our immigration paperwork ready to send out so we can move through the next stages of the process. Before the CCAA can issue us a travel approval (TA) we will need to do some immigration stuff on the US side. At this point it looks very promising for us to leave sometime in the second half of August!

Please continue to pray for Tobias as well as the rest of our family as we prepare to bring him home soon.