Tuesday, September 25, 2007


We received our first swatch of material for Faith's Bai Jia Bei quilt. Thank you Aunt Maria! I am anxious to get started so get busy and send me those pieces. I have posted our ONE swatch of material and a picture of some things I have picked up for Faith. Granny bought the ladybug pillow, Thank you Granny. Her room is decorated in Ladybugs but I can't help and buy panda stuff too.


Well, Granny says Faith will be coming soon! She received a phone call the other day and the person was looking for someone named Faith. How crazy is that! Granny says that's a sign and she is coming. I hope she is right!


There are no updates on the adoption. We continue to pray for God's guidance as we consider applying for a Special Needs child.
I will keep you posted.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Panda with Cleft Lip


I can't sleep and now I am watching Operation Smile on TV and can't stop crying. The picture to the left is a baby panda that was born with a cleft lip. Unfortunately the baby panda only lived a few days. But isn't he cute.
We recently decided to get satellite but have the family plan so we don't have many stations but we do get CCTV which is a Chinese/English TV station out of Beijing, China. I saw a documentary on this baby panda a few weeks ago.
There is not much happening on the adoption front. We continue to wait and rely on God's faithfulness.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Our Long Journey!!

I thought I would write a little adoption background. We began the adoption process in November 2005. I was super fast getting the paperwork completed and had our dossier(paperwork) to China in early February. Yeah Me!!! Of course it did not help since referrals slowed down almost immediately after I filed our papers. When we began the process we were quoted 6-9 months after China received our papers we should get a referral. (Getting a referral means we get matched with a child and they send us pictures and a medical report.) While I’m not going to discuss all the rumors but for some reason the referrals slowed down. China makes all the rules and of course they do not share much information with us. As of Sept 7th we will have been waiting for 18 months for our Faith.

There have been some emotional moments along the way. Sometimes we questioned should we continue on this path???? But God always gave us a resounding YES! So, we have had to renew our paperwork, some expired at twelve months, fifteen months, and eighteen months. We have had to renew family education credits which expire every 12 months, including child/infant CPR. Our agency has also had some ups and downs along the way. We have gone through one social worker, two family advocates, a special needs coordinator, and a travel coordinator. There are currently no remaining members of the AHH staff, with which we had direct contact with, from when we started in 2005.

During this long process we have reconsidered the option of adopting a child with a special need. There are so many families waiting for healthy children we began to feel that maybe we should consider adopting a child with a special need. Many of the children which are considered special needs are easily treated in the USA and do not have any further complications. China sends certain agencies a Waiting Children list (our agency happens to be one of them)which list children who have special health needs. Our agency allows anyone to apply for a child and then they review the applications and place the child with the most qualified family. Darren & I reviewed the most recent list and applied for two different children but neither child was placed with our family. The Special Needs application process has been difficult and emotional. We continue to rely on God to help us make the right decision for our family. We are currently waiting for the next list of Waiting Children to be released. We are approved to apply for a child with a congenital heart disease or a cleft lip and/or palette. Again we will review the list and pray for God’s direction on whether to apply for another child.

While we continue to consider the option of adopting a Special Needs child we remain on the regular waiting list in China for a healthy child. At this time the current projection for a referral is probably next spring or summer. Of course there is a chance that China will continue to slow down the referral process or even speed up which would change our projected referral time. We will keep you posted on our progress.

Sunday, September 2, 2007

100 Good Wishes Quilt

Dear Family & Friends,
We are still on the path we began almost two years ago to adopt a daughter from China. Along the way there have been a few bumps and turns but we remain steadfast. During this process God has continued to refine us and prepare us for our daughter. Since beginning the adoption process it has been laid upon our hearts to consider adopting a Special Needs Child. Currently, we are approved to adopt a female with a congenital heart disease and/or a cleft lip and palette.
While we are waiting for the arrival of our daughter, Faith, we are working on a project that we REALLY need your help with. We are creating something called a "100 Good Wishes Quilt." There is a tradition in the northern part of China to make a Bai Jia Bei, or 100 Good Wishes Quilt. When a child is born, friends and family are invited to contribute a scrap of old clothing along with a special wish which is to made into a quilt by the child's mother. It is said that the quilt contains the luck, energy, and good wishes from all the families and friends who contributed a piece of fabric. The quilt is then passed down from generation to generation.
Parents adopting from China have taken on this tradition by creating One Hundred Good Wishes quilts for their children. With each fabric piece that is given to the new parents, a wish for the child is also sent, written on paper so that the child will always know the wishes made just for them.
We are asking you to please participate in this project. We love the idea of welcoming Faith into our arms with a warm blanket filled with love from all our family and friends.
Here is what we would like you to do:
1. Choose ANY 100% cotton fabric that you like. It can be from clothing or from a fabric store. It just needs to be a design and color that you like.
2. Cut two (2) 7" squares from the fabric OR one (1) 7” by 14” piece of fabric.
3. Include your "good wish note" to be placed in a scrapbook that will be given to Faith someday. This can be written on a note card or index card.