Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!
Are You Still There?
11 years ago
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Wishing Joy a very happy birthday
Today Joy turned 9 years old. While we were not together to celebrate as a family, we have had constant thoughts of Joy. Holding to the truth that this is her last birthday spent without the family being together. God has the perfect moment planned when Joy will become our daughter and He saw fit that for his reasons that she still needed to be in China today. As much as I wish her to be home, I rest content in God's Sovereignty. There are times we must let go of our children and turn them over to the Lord, this wait is teaching me to do just that with Joy already, to release her to the her Saviour, knowing he has the best plan for her. She is my gift from him.
Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!
Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Birthday & Visa
Today the paperwork to process Joy's Visa to allow her to enter the U.S. is being dropped off at the American Embassy in China!!!! This is a 2 week process. After that we are just waiting for Travel Approval.
I miss her. How do you miss someone you haven't met? But I miss her. Her birthday is coming up next Thursday and we were able to have a birthday package sent to her. She will find out about us for what we think is the first time. The package includes a translated letter and a photo album with labels on the picture. I love the one that says 'HOME'. Something about seeing that word in HER photo album touched my heart.
Her orphanage was also sent money & agreed to buy a birthday cake & fruit for her class to share on her birthday and we hope to receive more pictures of her.
I miss her. How do you miss someone you haven't met? But I miss her. Her birthday is coming up next Thursday and we were able to have a birthday package sent to her. She will find out about us for what we think is the first time. The package includes a translated letter and a photo album with labels on the picture. I love the one that says 'HOME'. Something about seeing that word in HER photo album touched my heart.
Her orphanage was also sent money & agreed to buy a birthday cake & fruit for her class to share on her birthday and we hope to receive more pictures of her.
Monday, March 19, 2012
A moment of honesty....
Today I'm tired.
Our adoption expenses have increased yet again, another $200. Is $200 a big deal in the scheme of approximately $27,000? Probably not. But I'm feeling as if the invasive nature of this entire process has gotten to me today. I'm ready to have my daughter home, our privacy back, bureaucracy out of our lives and ready to just be a family of seven (7). I am tired today. I am a little cranky. And I'm ready for the end to arrive. Bare with me, it's just a temporary downside of the roller-coaster ride we've been on. I just needed to have a moment to stomp my feet, say 'it's not fair' and then be okay again tomorrow.
Ruth 1:9 says ...Then she kissed them goodbye and 'they wept aloud'
I guess sometimes we just need someone to weep with us. We don't always need to be picked up and put back together or corrected or even encouraged. Sometimes we just need a friend to weep with us and that is what makes all the difference.
Today I just want to weep. And I pray the Lord sends me someone who can "bare one anothers burdens".
I have thought about not posting this. Knowing that within the hour, or at least by tomorrow, I won't feel this way at all. But I have decided to post it because some day someone will read this. And that someone will need to know it's okay to have a sad moment, a bad moment and know that I have already weeped with you and prayed for you.
Our adoption expenses have increased yet again, another $200. Is $200 a big deal in the scheme of approximately $27,000? Probably not. But I'm feeling as if the invasive nature of this entire process has gotten to me today. I'm ready to have my daughter home, our privacy back, bureaucracy out of our lives and ready to just be a family of seven (7). I am tired today. I am a little cranky. And I'm ready for the end to arrive. Bare with me, it's just a temporary downside of the roller-coaster ride we've been on. I just needed to have a moment to stomp my feet, say 'it's not fair' and then be okay again tomorrow.
Ruth 1:9 says ...Then she kissed them goodbye and 'they wept aloud'
I guess sometimes we just need someone to weep with us. We don't always need to be picked up and put back together or corrected or even encouraged. Sometimes we just need a friend to weep with us and that is what makes all the difference.
Today I just want to weep. And I pray the Lord sends me someone who can "bare one anothers burdens".
I have thought about not posting this. Knowing that within the hour, or at least by tomorrow, I won't feel this way at all. But I have decided to post it because some day someone will read this. And that someone will need to know it's okay to have a sad moment, a bad moment and know that I have already weeped with you and prayed for you.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Testing 1,2,3
This is just a test post to make sure I can update Joy's blog from my iPhone. I really do not want to take a computer with me to China. I'd like to travel as light as possible.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Stepping Forward...
Another Approval! After a day of Reflection.
My soul seems restless. ~ I would say my mind is restless which would be true but really it just feels like my entire being is restless. ~ Spring has sprung early, so we are itching to be free of schoolwork/housework and just relax in the breezes of the day. However, that never really happens but the idea of that just makes it hard to concentrate. We are so ready to be done with the WAITING PHASE of the adoption. I am eager every day to hear good news about progress. I check emails and recheck emails through out the day, hoping for news, any news that we have moved a little further along in the process.
Yesterday my Bible Study really spoke to my heart about my wait. Here are a few verses that reminded me WHO IS IN CHARGE HERE!
Isaiah 29:16 NIV ~ You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, "You did not make me"? Can the pot say to the potter, "You know nothing"? (Confession: Lord, you really do know the perfect time for all things here on Earth. You really are still on the throne. You really still are moving mountains that I don't even see, acting on my behalf when I don't even know it. Thank you Lord for all your behind the scenes work.)
Isaiah 30:15, 18 NIV ~ This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! (Confession: I have not been resting nor quiet and that is why my strength is waning. I just have not spent much time talking to him lately. I read, study and move on. I have not been quiet with him in a few weeks.)
Exodus 23:20 NIV ~ "See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared." (This verse was sent to me by our first adoption agency in our first adoption. What a nice reminder it was to see yesterday. In all our waiting, in all our preparations coupled with more waiting, the Lord is heavy at work and sending angels ahead of us and he is preparing the way. Thank you, Lord! Thank you! Without you NONE of this would be possible.)
And after a beautiful day of reflection, on March 15th, God was indeed at work behind the scenes. Little did I know our approval from the National Visa Center was processed that day. We received the good news today, the 16th. The cable/email went to the U.S. Embassy in Guangzhou China today. The liaison for our adoption agency will be filing Joy's Visa Application with at the Embassy next week. Our part is done. We are now finished with all paperwork and waiting on Visa Approval. It's a 2 week process and then we wait just one more short wait for Travel Approval.
The clock is ticking and it's not a New York Minute. It's not a Mexican Minute. It's a God Moment. He is and has prepared the way for our waiting sweetie to come home. And in His perfectness, I will rest.
~~And as a side note, I really did feel at peace today but not until after a sort of frustrating moment. A little "blurp" happened where our approval had the wrong spelling of Joy's Chinese name and our agency was closing early and not going to get our file to China today. It's been delayed until next week. But then I got an email from my mother. The email was just to tell me that the she was able to secure the cabin we always go to for Thanksgiving. I sighed a sigh of relief because I realized in that moment that I won't be going to the cabin without Joy. She may arrive a week early or four weeks late, but she won't be in China forever and soon, very soon, she will be here and our family will be complete.~~
My soul seems restless. ~ I would say my mind is restless which would be true but really it just feels like my entire being is restless. ~ Spring has sprung early, so we are itching to be free of schoolwork/housework and just relax in the breezes of the day. However, that never really happens but the idea of that just makes it hard to concentrate. We are so ready to be done with the WAITING PHASE of the adoption. I am eager every day to hear good news about progress. I check emails and recheck emails through out the day, hoping for news, any news that we have moved a little further along in the process.
Yesterday my Bible Study really spoke to my heart about my wait. Here are a few verses that reminded me WHO IS IN CHARGE HERE!
Isaiah 29:16 NIV ~ You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, "You did not make me"? Can the pot say to the potter, "You know nothing"? (Confession: Lord, you really do know the perfect time for all things here on Earth. You really are still on the throne. You really still are moving mountains that I don't even see, acting on my behalf when I don't even know it. Thank you Lord for all your behind the scenes work.)
Isaiah 30:15, 18 NIV ~ This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! (Confession: I have not been resting nor quiet and that is why my strength is waning. I just have not spent much time talking to him lately. I read, study and move on. I have not been quiet with him in a few weeks.)
Exodus 23:20 NIV ~ "See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared." (This verse was sent to me by our first adoption agency in our first adoption. What a nice reminder it was to see yesterday. In all our waiting, in all our preparations coupled with more waiting, the Lord is heavy at work and sending angels ahead of us and he is preparing the way. Thank you, Lord! Thank you! Without you NONE of this would be possible.)
And after a beautiful day of reflection, on March 15th, God was indeed at work behind the scenes. Little did I know our approval from the National Visa Center was processed that day. We received the good news today, the 16th. The cable/email went to the U.S. Embassy in Guangzhou China today. The liaison for our adoption agency will be filing Joy's Visa Application with at the Embassy next week. Our part is done. We are now finished with all paperwork and waiting on Visa Approval. It's a 2 week process and then we wait just one more short wait for Travel Approval.
The clock is ticking and it's not a New York Minute. It's not a Mexican Minute. It's a God Moment. He is and has prepared the way for our waiting sweetie to come home. And in His perfectness, I will rest.
~~And as a side note, I really did feel at peace today but not until after a sort of frustrating moment. A little "blurp" happened where our approval had the wrong spelling of Joy's Chinese name and our agency was closing early and not going to get our file to China today. It's been delayed until next week. But then I got an email from my mother. The email was just to tell me that the she was able to secure the cabin we always go to for Thanksgiving. I sighed a sigh of relief because I realized in that moment that I won't be going to the cabin without Joy. She may arrive a week early or four weeks late, but she won't be in China forever and soon, very soon, she will be here and our family will be complete.~~
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Immigration Papers Approved!
We're in the homestretch now.....
Our i800 Application for Joy to Immigrate and be considered an immediate relative (and immediate citizen) has been approved!
Just a few more steps to go....!
Our approval has now been sent to the notorious *middle man* known as the National Visa Center, which simply emails that approval to the US Embassy in China. The approval should arrive at the Embassy by next Friday, the 16th. ~At that time the Embassy will take about 2 weeks to process our visa application for Joy. ~ And finally 7-14 days after we have visa approval, China will send us an invitation to travel known as TA.
Traveling in May is on the horizon!!!
Our i800 Application for Joy to Immigrate and be considered an immediate relative (and immediate citizen) has been approved!
Just a few more steps to go....!
Our approval has now been sent to the notorious *middle man* known as the National Visa Center, which simply emails that approval to the US Embassy in China. The approval should arrive at the Embassy by next Friday, the 16th. ~At that time the Embassy will take about 2 weeks to process our visa application for Joy. ~ And finally 7-14 days after we have visa approval, China will send us an invitation to travel known as TA.
Traveling in May is on the horizon!!!
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
One Step Closer
As the Chinese Embassy handed me my travel visa today, I hugged my husband and shed a little tear. The security guard looked over at us and said "this must a little victory moment"...yes, very much a victory moment. I'm really going to get her. She's really coming home. And that is Victorious!
In just a few weeks we will be able to set the actual dates. We are still praying for quick processing of Joy's immigration papers and our Travel Invitation to follow shortly thereafter.
In just a few weeks we will be able to set the actual dates. We are still praying for quick processing of Joy's immigration papers and our Travel Invitation to follow shortly thereafter.
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