DTC!!

Well, today is the day!  We are officially DTC (dossier to China) and that is something to celebrate.  This is the big milestone that we have been working so hard towards these past 4-5 months.  Six months since we saw his face.  Four months since we officially requested to adopt him.  Hours and hours of paperwork, essays, documents, notarizations, education requirements, physicals, and interviews.  We have been approved, certified, and authenticated by the USA and now we have officially sent everything to China so that they can review and basically give us permission to come and get Zachary.

Look at those pretty little seals from the Chinese Consulate and State offices...can't believe we've made it this far.  Incredible.

We already have PA (preliminary approval) so we know that China is essentially promising that we will be approved to adopt Zachary providing that all the right documents on the US side are sent to them.  We were given 6 months to get these things to China (our dossier) and now here we are 2 months ahead of schedule!  We were told to have everything in by July 3rd, and today we are DTC, so that is thrilling.

God did it!  We made our deadline with room to spare and are that much closer to meeting our beautiful boy.

I don't know if I can express how much effort, energy, love, stress, and anticipation has gone into this moment.  I know I can't express how much we've seen God move in this process...it has been humbling.  Now we wait.  We wait (probably 3 months or so) for China to send our official letter of approval to adopt Zachary (LOA).  Once the LOA comes we go into a frenzy to get everything ready to travel.  Probably three months after the LOA we will be in China meeting our precious son for the first time.

So, thank you for all the support and prayers that have brought us to this point.  We are over half way there!  Please pray that our LOA would arrive quickly, some people wait 20 days and some people wait over 120 days (the average is 70 right now so we're hoping for sometime in July).  Pray that the government officials have no questions or issues with our dossier and that we are approved.  And most importantly, please, please pray for Zachary.  We hope that he is in good health, that he is being loved on, and that God would prepare his heart to meet us.

Yard Sale - Adoption Fundraiser!

Calling all hoarders, pack rats, or people who just have stuff they've been wanting to get rid of....

We need your help!!  

Our family is planning a big yard sale for Saturday May 31st and all proceeds are going to go to bring Zachary home.  We are asking for anyone and everyone to donate any stuff that you might not need or are wishing to give away.  Ice cub tray?  We'll take it!  King size bed?  We'll take it!  Clothes, shoes, electronics, toys, knickknacks, furniture, blankets, tools, exercise equipment, old stuff, new stuff, used stuff, silly stuff, we'll take it!  We will take anything, big or small, and trust that if the Lord wants to sell it then it will get sold!  We will be happy to come pick up and haul whatever you have, or you are welcome to drop things off at our house or the church.  The bigger the yard sale, the more potential for success!

We could also use help with:

• setting up the yard sale (transporting tables/large items, labeling prices)
• possibly running a snack concessions table
• making signs to advertise
• cleaning up

Please let me, Josh or our families know if you want to help or have something to donate.  If you'd be willing, as the date gets closer, to talk up our yard sale, Facebook, tweet, tell your friends and coworkers...that would be awesome.  Thank you!  The location is still to be determined...we are trying to decide if having it at our home vs. another location would be best.

Josh and I have been praying about this and are so excited about the opportunity to not only raise funds for Zachary, but to also reach out to our community about adoption.  We are hoping to print out fliers to give to everyone who comes by that explain the gospel, our adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ, and how this has motivated us to love orphans and pursue Zachary.  Will you pray for us?  Not only that we would have success in selling things and reaching our financial goals, but that peoples' hearts would be open to hear about Jesus and also to learn more about adoption.

We have some big, big payments due next and we are hoping this yard sale will put a dent in the total we'll need in the near future.  Once we get our LOA from china (3-4 months) things will start to move quickly.

We are excited and will have more to say about this yard sale as it gets closer.  If you'd like to help, just contact us.  God is so good to give us family and friends who already care about and love Zachary.  We think about how our son is not just gaining a Mom and Dad, but he is getting grandparents, aunt and uncles, cousins, church brothers and sisters in Christ and so much more.  He is truly gaining a family.   Lots of love to you all!

ps. here's a puzzle update- our hope is to finish it before we get our LOA, lots of pieces left!
We are almost halfway to our goal with $960 raised, wow, thank you! We've still got many puzzle pieces left, as some people have given more than $10 per piece.  We're going to put names on the puzzle pieces for any amount donated...to our funding page or stuff given or donated to our yard sale, it all goes to help bring Zachary home.  Can't wait to see it finished!

YES.

Our adoption process has been smooth so far, although we know once everything gets to China and out of our hands that strange things can happen.  Still, God is in control.  But the waiting....wooweee the waiting is tougher than we thought.  I've never claimed to be a patient person, but God is showing me that I can't claim any patience at all with this process...every drop of patience I have is from Jesus.  He is cultivating it in me.  Because every bit of myself wants to speed up this process so that we are there, right now, holding Zachary in our arms.  Josh told me yesterday, "You know what....waiting is so hard once you've already fallen in love with his face."  And that's the truth.  We don't even know our son.  We only know his face, and yet our hearts long for him and miss him and we want to be the ones tucking him in at night.  We want to be the ones who catch his giggles and smiles throughout the day.  We want to walk with him through his fears and frustrations.  NOW!  But God is showing us that there is a purpose in the waiting, and that beautiful things bloom out of perseverance.  The other day an adoptive Mom who has been there/done that said to me, "I'm not telling you it is going to be easy, I'm telling you it is going to be worth it."  And so, the waiting and the uncertainty is difficult, but the reward will be huge!  May God help us wait with grace.

"When you say YES to adoption, you are saying YES to enter the suffering of the orphan, and that suffering includes WAITING FOR YOU TO GET TO THEM. I promise you, their suffering is worse than yours. We say YES to the tears, YES to the longing, YES to the maddening process, YES to the money, YES to hope, YES to the screaming frustration of it all, YES to going the distance through every unforeseen discouragement and delay. Do not imagine that something outside of "your perfect plan" means you heard God wrong. God has already said YES to adoption. There is NO perfect adoption. EVERY adoption has snags. We Americans invented the "this must mean God is closing a door" or "God must not be in this because it is hard," but all that is garbage.  God is in the middle of it all.  You know what's hard? Being an orphan. They need us to be champions and heroes for them, fighting like heck to get them home. So we will.  We may cry and rage and scream and wail in the process, but by God's grace, get them home we will."

--Jen Hatmaker (adoptive Mom)

Immigration Approval!!

Our paperwork was approved quickly.  It took 36 days ya'll.  We were expecting at least 60 and told it could take 90.  God heard our prayers and answered them specifically and loudly.  He's been doing that our entire adoption process.  We've had many "no" prayers in our spiritual walk, but throughout this adoption God continues to tell us YES!  Thank you Lord for seeing to the smallest of details...even answering my prayer for a "nice officer" by allowing me a chance to talk to ours.  When I called to check on our status the person who picked up the phone just happened to be our officer...and was completely kind and gracious and gave us a hearty "congratulations!"  This same officer will be handling our other paperwork for Zachary, so it was a blessing to know we got a good one.

One step closer.

We are rushing this beautiful "permission letter from the USA to adopt" out for certification and authentication.  The rest of our dossier has been certified and is at the Chinese Consulate right now getting authenticated.  Once everything gets back to us certified and authenticated (hopefully 2 weeks or so) we will officially send everything to China.  That is the big milestone!

So here's what the process looks like from here:

1.  Authenticate dossier
2. Send dossier to China
3.  Receive log in date from China (paperwork processed)
4. LOA (letter of acceptance that dossier has been translated and we have been given Chinese government approval to adopt Zachary)
5. I800, GUZ, Article 5 (not even going to try to explain, basically a bunch of steps to get Zachary an American visa and get a consulate appointment in China to come adopt him)
6. Travel Approval!

Because this step went quickly it is looking like we have a good chance of getting to Zachary before Christmas!!!  That has been my prayer all along, although Asher prays that we get him before Halloween because he doesn't want him to miss out on all the candy (lol).  Once our dossier gets to China, it is typically 4-6 months later that travel approval is given.  Most of this depends on the LOA wait, which averages anywhere from 20 days to 120 days.  There is no rhyme or reason, some just take longer than others.  So, we truly have no idea when we will travel, but hopefully sooner rather than later.

We are so excited to have this step behind us and will truly celebrate once we get our dossier to China.  Our documents need to be approved for authentication and then safely travel back here and then to China without any issues.  Then it is all out of our hands and we pray for the Chinese government to officially approve our request to adopt Zachary.  Keep praying for us, we feel your love and support each step of the way!

Sing A New Song

And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.”  He answered, “I tell you, if they were silent, the very stones would cry out.” - Luke 19:39-40

This coming Sunday is Palm Sunday, and then of course Easter follows.  This time of year happens to be one of my favorites.  The sun is shining, temperatures are warming, the mornings are peppered with bird song, and nature bursts into color.

All of it is a testimony to the fact that we we serve a God who is very much alive!

I grew up as a Seminary kid.  We spent 8 years between both of my parent's Masters degrees at Southern Theological Seminary.  I remember that time of my life more than any other, it is such a huge part of my childhood memories.  I sat in on theological classes, learned more about doctrine than any eight year old would want to know, and got to watch my Mom perform some of the most beautiful sacred music.  But my absolute favorite was when Mom took us along to her choir rehearsals.  The Seminary Choir was amazing, I remember thinking they sounded like angels from heaven, all blending in perfect harmony.  I would lay in the pews in the massive balcony and listen to them sing, learning all the lyrics and harmonies right alongside them.  Mom would often laugh as Jenni and I would sing all her songs back to her in Italian and German, we had heard them so often!  I still remember the foreign lyrics to these songs all these years later.

One song that has stuck with me all these years is a song called "Then Will the Very Rocks Cry Out". It was sung at Easter time, and Easter was always very special at our house.  Not because of the easter eggs, or baskets, or ham dinner.  But because of the music.  I remember driving to church on Easter morning at the crack of dawn for the sunrise service, foam curlers in my hair, listening to my parents sing at the top of their lungs.  Easter for me is "Then Will the Very Rocks Cry Out".  It is "He Takes Away the Sins of the World".  It is "Easter Song".  It is "Was it a Morning Like This".

We would crank up the stereo on our dark Easter morning drive and sing loudly with praise, "hear the bells ringing, they're singing, Christ is risen from the dead!"  We were joyful, and as a kid I understood the source of that joy was Jesus Christ. 

As we grow and get older it is easy to lose that joyful innocence that childhood lends.  There is a lot of hurt and suffering in the world, we begin to understand and resonate with the suffering that thursday and friday before Easter represent.  The cross is suffering, and we understand the gravity of what Christ chose to do for us.  There is a time to mourn.  There is a time for grieving and sadness.

But let us never lose our joy!  Because on Sunday He defeated every ounce of suffering that the world will ever throw at us.  He is alive and the wonder of that still makes me want to break out in song every morning.  It is easy for the suffering, pain and even the regular routines of life to silence us.  Maybe for only a season, maybe longer.  But our silence does not mean that there is not a reason for joy.

The song the seminary choir sang on Palm Sunday is taken from the bible verse above, Luke 10:39-40.  In it is the lyric "If we keep our voices silent all creation will rise and shout.  If we fail to praise you Father, then will the very rocks cry out!"

Do you see the incredible things Jesus just said?  If we are not singing his praises then the very rocks of the Earth would cry out his praises, He is that deserving!  And that is why I love this time of year.  Because every bird song, every flower bursting into bloom, is creation singing the praises of its creator.  He is alive!  He rose from the dead and overcame the world so that one day we will sing his praises in Heaven, forever.  And until then, let us never grow weary of singing him a new song.  Through the pain, the long days, the worries and fears, let us cling to the promise of Easter.  We have a God who was not content to leave us in our mess and chose to not only meet us in it, but take it on as his own.  Because of that we have hope, forgiveness, new life...joy.

In our house at Easter we do the normal Easter things.  We paint eggs, we stuff Easter baskets, we go through the Resurrection Eggs.  But I hope that our kids remember the joy.  The joy of Christ and his resurrection shining in us.  When Mom and Dad run through the house singing "He is Risen, Hallelujah!" at the top of our lungs I hope they won't just think we're weird or funny (which we totally are), but that they'll know the reason why we want to sing.

Asher, Laurel, Zachary- I pray your lives are filled with music and the joy of praising Jesus, at Easter and always.

Do Not Be Discouraged

I'm going to be honest and admit that this past week has been a bit disappointing for us.  We got our fingerprint appointment in the mail for immigration (yes this is the third fingerprinting and FBI background check we will have completed for this adoption) and it was much later than we were hoping for.  Sometimes, you are able to walk in early for fingerprint appointments and many people have had success doing this to speed up the process.  Josh and I were planning on using the kid's spring break week as a time to catch up on adoption paperwork (stray grant applications, getting the dossier ready to mail) and to walk in early for our fingerprint appointment and hopefully speed up the approval process.

And then the stomach flu hit.

As I was laying on the floor, cradling the toilet after throwing up for the umpteenth time, all I could think about was the fact that we were going to miss our chance to walk in early the next day.  That our dossier documents would continue to sit on our desk, waiting for us to take them to be overnighted for certification.  And heaven help us, how in the world would we survive illness like this with three kids?  When the kids get to complaining I always try to tell them to search for things to be thankful for and then to pray for the needs of others.  When we keep our minds on ourselves it is easy to get overwhelmed.

But I admit that I was feeling a little bit discouraged and self focused.

People with the same receipt date as us had walked in early for fingerprints and had been assigned officers, passing us by in the process.

Our dossier did not make it into the mail before the weekend.

We ran out of checks.

We could barely get off the couch.

And then a few days passed.  The sun was shining through our windows.  My Mom (recovering from her own stomach flu) dropped off snacks and much needed diapers.  Josh's Mom made sure that we were ok and offered to brave the flu if we needed her to help.  My wonderful in-laws surprised us with soup and cake on our doorstep at a time when I had just discovered there was nothing to eat for lunch.  Family and friends called to check up on us and ask if we needed anything.  We started feeling better and the kids started smiling and laughing again (by the way, Josh is an incredibly amazing and helpful husband and daddy, even when he's super sick!  If there was a vomit patrol award he would win it...He's. the. best.) We are incredibly blessed.

God used this moment of weakness and set backs to show us that there is nothing we can do on our own.  When I try to carry on in my own strength my body breaks down, my heart begins to get discouraged, I can start to lose hope.  But when I lean into God's strength I am reminded that I can relax.  I can rest in his grace.  He has it under control and it will all work out according to his purposes.

It is a beautiful day today.  We're a little bit behind with our paperwork chase, and we're not going to be on the fast track with our immigration approval.  The stomach flu was terrible and no, I don't ever want to deal with that again, much less with three kids.  But we will.  That's a fact!  We will see the stomach flu again.  We will most likely see a lot worse than the stomach flu, life is just like that. The stomach flu is small potatoes compared to what a lot of people are dealing with, right? Our adoption journey will continue to have bumps and delays, hopefully small, but who knows.  And yes, when I think about all the days that stand between now and holding Zachary sometimes it is so overwhelming it is hard to breathe.

But then I remember God's word from Joshua 1:9- Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."   

Do not be discouraged- your family and friends are praying for you.

Do not be discouraged- someone is bringing you a meal in your moment of weakness.

Do not be discouraged- every step of your adoption is perfectly timed.

God is with us, alive in us, strengthening and giving us courage for all that lies ahead.  What a promise!  Do not be discouraged.

Puzzle Update

The other day Asher asked how many pieces we had for Zachary's puzzle and if we could start putting it together.

So we went ahead and got the puzzle out and put together our first 13 pieces- it was awesome! 

People have been so generous.  Thank you.   Please know that we do not expect anyone to give us money.  But people have asked us how they can help and we hope that this is a fun way to see our progress towards bringing Zachary home :)