Progress! I see progress!

Good things are happening this week on the adoption front! 

I am excited to share that after 9 LONG weeks of waiting for our case to be assigned to an immigration officier, it has happened!  We anticipate that tomorrow we will have approval to bring a child into our country! 

The dossier is a group of documents about our family that are sent to China.  This includes our homestudy, birth and marriage certificates, employement varification, criminal back ground checks and a few other things.  Each of those documents have to be notorized and the authenticated by the Sec of State in the state they were notorized in.  They are then sent to a Chinese Consulute to be authenticated.  There are several consulates throughout the United States.  Each state is assigned to a specific consulate.  While most of our documents originated in MO, our birth certificates and Jeff's employment letter did not, so they had to go to different locations then the majority of our documents. 

Seven weeks ago I sent off 3 documents to be authenticated by the proper Consulates.  Today we received 1 of the 3 documents. I am so thankful to have that document and know that it is not lost!  I am not sure why it took so long to get the seal on the back of the State Authentication, but what is there to do!  I am hopeful that the other 2 documents will be back soon! 

What's next?  As soon as we get our letter of approval for immigration, we will take it along with several other documents to the Sec of State's office to be authenticated.  We will then send all of the documents to a courier service in Chicago.  She will take them to the Consulate and then return to pick them up when they are ready.  That whole process will take 10 days!  Then off to our agency they will go, to be forwarded to China!

So that brings you up to speed on the adoption front!  On a different note, I would like to share with you a passage of scripture I read a few days ago.

2 Samuel 22: 31-37 "As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is flawless.  He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.  For who is God besided the Lord?  And who is the Rock except our God?  It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.  He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights.  He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a blow of bronze.  You give me your shield of victory; you stoop down to make me great.  You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn."

 

The feet of the deer interested me.  A female deer can place her hind feet in the exact place that her front feet just stepped.  They can do it without being even an 1 inch off.  In the same way, we can step exactly in the path that God has for us.  After we make the right steps, we can stand in confidence!

 

I don't know where you are today.  Things might be going great!  There are others that might be struggling to see what God has in store for you.  I pray that you will let God be like the front feet of the deer, so that you can step in the very paths that he has prepared for you.

 

Why Adoption? Why China?

Many have asked or thought why are you adopting?  I thought I would take a few minutes to share my heart with you.
First, the need for adoptive parents is HUGE!  There is a need here and all around the world.  It is so sad to me that there are over 140 million orphans in our world.  While most are not available for adoption, there are thousands that are. 

Some have asked why are we not adopting domestically.  There is no doubt that there is a need for adoptive parents for the many boys and girls that are in the US.  The majority of children that are placed for adoption through the foster care system are adopted by their foster parents.  We simply don't feel God directing us to be foster parents at this point in our lives.  The wait to adopt a child without being foster parents is very lengthy.  We also believe that we should not adopt a child that would interupt our children's birth order.  Sam is almost 18 months old, so we are adopting a child that is younger then he is. 

The next question we have been asked is why are we adopting from China?  The first thing I will say is that both Jeff and I have a real love for the Asian culture.  Before we decided on China I did a great deal of research about other countries.  Many countries are far more costly and require a lot more time spent in their country.  We had to factor those things into our decision.  There are also many counties whose adoption processes are not very stable. Some only adopt older children and then others that we don't fall within the given criteria for adoption in that country.  With all of that in mind and our love for the Asian culture, China was the right country for us. 

I am going to close where I really should have started.  The most important thing in our lives is Jesus.  Our desire above all else is to be obedient to God.  There is no doubt that my first encounter with orphans, while I was a teen was the the starting point of God preparing me for adoption.  I am so thankful for the things that I have experienced and the confidence from God that this is the right choice for our family!

A verse that has become very dear to me is John 10:10  "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."  Our lives are full... they are blessed and I am confident that our obedience to God will fill us to overflowing!  Oh, what a feeling!  

Do you trust Him?

Proverbs 3:5-6 says Trust in the Lord with all you heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.

As you may or may not know, I like to have a plan and I like things to go the way that I have planned them.  Well, things so far have no always gone the way that I have planned.  There is no reason to give for why Jeff had to have a biopsy to find out that nothing was wrong, other then that I need to trust that God has a plan that is far greater then my plan. 

What are you going through that is unwanted or unexpected?  Are you trusting in God for direction an guidance?  If not, I can't express to you how much of a difference it will make in your life!

Before we left Arizona to head home after Christmas, we had to buy new tires and get some repairs done on the van.  We didn't expect that expense.  This week we had a very costly plumbing issue that had to be repaired.  Through it all, while sometimes kicking and screaming (not really) I have down deep in my heart the peace that we need to trust in God. God will make a way for us to bring our precious daughter home from China.

I can't say that I have this mastered but I can say that my focus is on Jesus and His plan is far more perfect then mine.

On to adoption news..... Documents have been sent to 2 Chinese Consulates for authentication and more will be sent soon.  We also received our finger print appointments and were able to walk in early to get them done.  I hope that going nearly 3 weeks early will speed up the process of immigration approval.  We just have to wait and see.

Please see my earlier blog about our coffee fundraiser and go out there and buy some coffee, if you have not done so already!

Thank you everyone for your love, support, prayers and words of encouragement!  They are so valuable.

Much Love,
Jennifer

Adoption Fundraiser!

Do you love coffee or do you know someone that does?  This is the perfect opportunity to buy
some coffee and help our adoption process.

Please visit http://www.justlovecoffee.com/TheStones and shop for coffee!  For every bag
of coffee you purchase $5.00 will be donated to our adoption.  We will also receive a donation
for other items that are purchased.

Please also share our website with your friends and family!

Thank you for helping us with our adoption!

Jeff, Jennifer and the boys!

Progress, Progress, Progress

Our homestudy was completed and mailed to us in Arizona, so we were able to apply for immigration approval on Dec 27th.  We will now wait until we are given finger print appointments and then we can actually walk in early to be fingerprinted. 

In addition, we have gotten 3 of our documents authenticated by the appropriate Sec of States and they are soon to be sent off to the appropriate Chinese Embassy's. 

We are a bit behind where we wanted to be at this point, but we are confident that God has the right child for us and that if we were on our time table we could have missed out on the perfect blessing for us. 

God is so good and I feel blessed to be on this journey.  I am excited to see God work!

We have the Medical Form and are now praying for another family going through adoption!

Yesterday, Dec 17th I took Jeff's medical form to leave for the doctor to complete when the biopsy results were sent.  I spoke with our doctor's medical assistant and she said she will have the form completed by the end of the day.  She knew that we had been delayed and wanted to help us get going again.  She then shared with me their desire to have a baby and their 5 1/2 years of infertility.  They are in the midst of an embryo adoption.  We talked and cried a bit.  As I left the office I told her that I would be praying for her and her husband.  With in 5 minutes of us getting home I received a call that our form was complete and we could pick it up at any time.  Of course I went and got it!  We have the last piece to the homestudy puzzle. 

Tonight as I write, I am so thankful to God for the blessing of our 3 children.  I hurt for Jessica and her husband, and pray that they are able to have a baby.  I also think of all the children in the world who don't have a mommy and a daddy.  As our boys pray each night they pray for their baby sister and that God will keep her safe and healthy. 

I see God's goodness in the midst of our delays and am thankful for the time I had to talk with Jessica today.  Had we not had this medical delay I likely would have never known about Jessica and her husband's situation and would have not know to pray for them.  What a great reminder to me to trust even more in our Father's plan!   Who do you know that has a prayer need?  Have you stopped to listen as people you meet share a need?  If not, I would encourage you to.  You will be glad you did!

God has a plan!

It has been several weeks since I last posted.  I wanted to catch everyone up on our adoption.  To start with, I want to share a few verses with you that is so fitting for what we have experienced in the last weeks. 

Ephesians 3:14-20 says:  "For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.  I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.  And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.  Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!  Amen."

On November 15th Jeff had his doctor appointment for his adoption physical.  That morning he had a weight gain that was unexpected.  It brought us to our knees.  We prayed that by 3 PM when he weighed at the doctor he would be below the weight he needed to be to meet China requirements.  He made it.  To God be the glory.  He went for bloodwork on Tuesday morning and was scheduled to go Thursday to have his tb test read and get the form signed.  We were then going to have our home study complete and sent off to immigration before the cost increase the following Tuesday.  Thursday morning the nurse called and sad that Jeff's PSA (prostate) test came back high and he needed to see a urologist.  They had an appointment scheduled for him on Dec 1st, nearly 2 weeks away!  I was able to find an appointment the next morning with another Urologist.  He did an exam and didn't find anything of concern, so he wanted to redo the PSA blood test on Monday.  The Monday after Thanksgiving we received the news that his PSA level had gone up again!  He needed a biopsy.  The nurse said they do biopsy's on Friday's and Monday's.  Jeff would need be off some of his supplements for a week before the biopsy but they were scheduling weeks out.  We didn't want to wait weeks to know what was going on.  Once again, were on our knees praying that God would open an appointment for us on December 10th.  I was prepared to search for another doctor if it was not possible to get it done before Christmas.  When the scheduler called on Tuesday, she said we have Friday, December 10th at 3:15!  THANK YOU GOD for hearing our prayers!

Through out those weeks we never doubted God was in control and that His plan was better then our plan.  We just had to trust that no matter the outcome we were safely in God's arms and He had a perfect plan!  Were we nervous?  You bet!  Were we asking why this was happening?  Maybe not Jeff, but I was!  Even in the mix of emotions our confidence was in our Lord God! 

The doctor was running behind and didn't start the biopsy until nearly 4 PM!  He found nothing of concern on the ultrasound.  That was great news!  Yesterday the phone rang and the doctor called to say that there was inflammation but no cancer!  PRAISE THE LORD!  God is Good! 

In the midst of waiting we had no choice to be reminded of  "how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

So for an update on the adoption process... we will pick up Jeff's Medical form on Monday and will have our homestudy complete on Thursday and will be able to apply for immigration before the end of 2010!  We are going to Arizona for Christmas, so we will take Jeff's birth certificate to the Arizona Sec of State office for authentication, rather then mailing it.  That will save us a little money. 

In the midst of the rush of the last few weeks, I am so thankful for the prayers of so many and for our faith in a great God.  He has sustained us and reminded us time and time again,  "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!  Amen."