Happy Easter!

Christ has risen indeed!

We attended the Easter service yesterday afternoon at our church so today was a laid back kind of day. The kids looked at their Easter baskets, we ate a big breakfast, cleaned up the house, had a nice lunch, and Zachary held an Easter egg hunt for the girls.  We celebrated Kristopher's birthday too since his birthday is tomorrow.

Photo 1: Alyssa tastes a Peep for the first time.  Photo 2: The girls posing after the Easter Egg Hunt.  We had to do it in the girls' room because it was raining.  Photo 3: The girls saw the Easter Bunny yesterday.  Photo 4:  The kids humoring me with a photo or two.                                                          
                   

                    

                                                  

                           
                                       

Good News

Yesterday I said the only thing that could make last week better was to get news on our tax refund.  Last night I was starting to worry it wasn't going to come in time.  We really need it to bring the boys home.  Guess what?  This morning I woke up and decided to check on it one more time. We will be getting it next week.  So very thankful!  God has been so good to us this go around.  It has felt like we are truly following his plan to bring the boys home.

I800 Approval

We received confirmation today that our I800s were approved yesterday on my grandmother's birthday.  My grandmother is in heaven with my mom but hopefully they are rejoicing with us.

The only thing that could have made this day better is if our tax refund would have showed up as approved.  Hopefully soon.

Time for more photos of the boys.  These are from their second birthday.  I saw these soon after their second birthday.  I think an advocate sent them a cake and got an update.  At the time we had just received our LOA for Alyssa.  Even at that time I dreamed of bringing them home.  Who would have guessed that a little over a year later we would be getting ready to bring them home.

Edited to add:  I was scrolling back through the blog and saw that I had posted these photos previously.  Lucky you, you get to see them again.

I800 Approval Almost

Our officer looked over our I800 application today and saw no problems.  Since we are reusing our I800a from Alyssa she has to send it on to one more person to review.  She said she would get it back tomorrow and mail it out Friday.

This and That

Last documents sent off to Washington D.C. to be authenicated. Normally we would already have finished but with Dallas not going we needed to do a Power of Attorney or 6. Better too many than not enough.

Our officer said to call tomorrow afternoon for an update on our I800. Hopefully that means approval and we can move to the next step. May 16 is still a possibility at this point. We need to have completed the next 3 steps(or 2 depending on how you count) by April 12 for this to happen.

We are in the process of relocating the 4 youngest kids. All of them are changing rooms. The house is a disaster right now. All of their beds are in their new rooms but all their clothes,toys,books, etc. are not. Once completed we can move on to the boys' room. Still a long ways to go but we are getting there.

Another Secret Pal Gift

This gift was from another secret pal in a different group.  It is so precious!  Praying it brings me the good luck I need to make my new plan come true.  Shhh...the new plan is to leave May 16.  I know it is a little optimistic but I truly believe it can happen.  If not then I make a new plan.  Either way I love my new pin.  Jacob is the red ladybug and Caleb is the black ladybug.

Secret Pal

Yesterday I received a gift from one of my Secret Pals.  I love it! The plan is to wear it until the boys come home.  There is a heart for each boy.

Happy Birthday, Gracie Mei!

Today is Grace's eighth birthday.  We have been counting down the days for weeks.  We woke up this morning full of excitement.   Then it hit, Grace's stomach starting hurting.  She said she felt okay and wanted to go to school.  Even though I knew better I let her.  A few hours later I got the call that she had thrown up.  Another Braxton down.  Everyone except Nicholas has had some version of this virus.  But poor Grace sick on her birthday.  Since picking her up from school she has had a few good hours but mostly wants to just lay down.  I promised her tomorrow we would have a spectacular day if she felt better.  We would pretend tomorrow is her birthday.  She doesn't even feel like blowing out her candles and having cake tonight.  So let's pray that tomorrow is a better day.

                                     Grace before she started feeling bad.

          The awesome cake that Zachary made that we will enjoy tomorrow.

One of the Best Text Messages Ever

The letter the I800 applications wrote to the lockbox must have worked.  Guess what we received today!  Our stress has definitely lessened.   Moving on now....

Mr. Lockbox at USCIS

Dear Mr. Lockbox at USCIS,

Tomorrow two applications should be scanned, given a receipt date, and sent on to Missouri.  Please don't reject us!  We promise we are right even though it may appear we are wrong.  If you let us get to Missouri it will all be straightened out there.  If you could kindly send a text to the people that filled us out as soon as possible it would be greatly appreciated.   They are on pins and needles waiting.

There are two little boys in China that having been waiting a long time for a family and a family waiting impatiently to bring them home.  They love them so very much and need this part to go smoothly.  If you reject us it could delay their meeting by weeks.  Please don't allow this to happen.

Please..please..please..Mr. Lockbox!

Thank You,

Two I800 Applications that so desperately want to make it Missouri

Jiaozuo CWI, Henan, China

This is where our boys have spent the first 3 years of their life.  Hard to believe within a few months we will be there.  I am going to request to visit their orphanage.  It would be wonderful to meet the ladies who have taken such good care of our boys.

Very Possible Change of Plans

That I800 form is haunting me.  I do believe it is going to rejected at the lockbox.  This wouldn't be that big of a deal but it can take weeks before you even know it is rejected.  We can't resubmit the form until we know it has been rejected.  Our only chance is if they push the application through but send the money back.  We owe the money and it is the correct amount but they may think otherwise.  Even this will slow down our process but not near as much.  Everyone else who had an application that reached the lockbox and sent in the text notification form has received their text.  We have not.  Not a good sign at all.

Thank goodness we received our LOA so quickly.  I am already sick to my stomach thinking about this.  If it had happened later it would have been much worse because it could have ruined any chance of travel during the summer.

So we wait....

God May be Laughing at My Plans

Finally the story behind our LOA.  Monday began as any other day.  I saw a few LOAs trickling in.  Many were less days from LID than typical but none quite as low as ours.  I really didn't expect ours would come in but was hoping it would be soon.  I thought if ours did come in I wouldn't get the email until late in the day.  Imagine my surprise when about 2:45 I checked my email and we had LOA.  I was in shock!! Nicholas, my 17 year old, said he had never seen me that way, I was walking around with  my mouth wide open repeating over and over again "Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, we got our LOA."  Thirty Eight days was the least number of days I had ever seen and ours came at 33 days.  Yesterday a couple came in at 26 days.  That is amazingly fast!

Once the initial shock wore off I announced to all my adoption groups.  Didn't even have time to do a creative LOA photo.  Lots of paperwork to do.  Monday- 2 I800 applications to complete and review and review some more.  This were sent via Fedex Tuesday morning along with a copy of our LOAs and additional paperwork to USCIS.  Once it reaches our officer she will make sure everything is in line with the previous application and homestudy approves us for the needs of the boys.  We have a great officer so I feel confident once it gets to her we will have a quick turnaround.  I am concerned our I800s won't make it past the lockbox though.  The lockbox checks to make sure all the documents are in order.  Ours are but our case is complicated and happens rarely so it may be rejected due to one box that should be yes and no but we could only pick one box.  If it is rejected we may lose some time.  Our officer doesn't think it will be but I really think it will be returned to us. Time will tell.  Tuesday- the boys visa applications.  Seems simple but we had to keep redoing them.  Wednesday-gathering paperwork for our new post placement agency since the last one closed.  Another added stress because I am afraid somehow it is going to slowdown our process.

If you remember the plan I posted last week I said my plan was to leave on June 13.  Since we received our LOA so quickly I am now adjusting my plan to leaving May 23 with a slight possibility of May 16.  Of course if we have problems with our I800 getting through the lockbox my plan will be adjusted again.

I love when God laughs at our plans and they are far better than I could imagine.  Even though we still may have a delay with our I800 application his plan was far greater than mine.  I would be even more stressed if we hadn't received our LOA so early.  At least now I know worse case we would be traveling on my old plan.

Now the reason it took me so long to do LOA photos.  I had to consult with my creative team(Zachary) and he had a busy week at school.  Finally last night he was able to decorate cakes for me and help me take photos.  I think he did an excellent job.  I told him we need to plan ahead for TA so we can post the photo right away.

Giving all these worries to God.   It is out of my control and I need to trust in him.

As of 3/11/13 we have...

Post Coming Soon

A post is coming soon.  Just don't have time to get it together.  Too much paperwork the last couple of days.  Hopefully tomorrow I can finish some things up and post.

I will say God is good all the time!  His plan is far better than mine, more than I could have possibly imagined!

Ephesians 3:20

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,

Day 32 and Names Chosen

Day 32 - We should be at least halfway there.  For my plan to work we need to be more than halfway there. LOA really needs to come before the end of March.  Time will tell.

We finally chose names for the boys.  Jacob Nathaniel is named after my mom, Jacqueline and Caleb Jonathan is named after my Aunt Joanne, my mom's twin sister.  We decided on Jonathan because we knew we wanted a Jo name after my Aunt and it sounded the best with Caleb.  Jonathan was one of the names we originally did not like but after discussing it more we changed our minds.  I suggested Nathaniel because I like the name and it was a 3 syllable name like Jonathan. Dallas liked it.  I didn't even realize until later when I wrote the names one below the other that both names have Nathan in them.

I know I posted these photos but since they are 2 of my favorites I am posting them again.

                                                    Jacob Nathaniel

                                                   Caleb Jonathan

My Plan

I like to have a plan. Now I have one....I will be leaving for China on June 13, getting the boys on June 17, CA on June 24, and home on June 26. No we don't have LOA yet and are only day 29 of the wait. This is based on our journey to our daughter, Alyssa, last spring. There is the Dragon Boat festival June 10-12 that I had to configure into my plan too.  Just praying God likes my plan and makes it happen.  

Still Waiting....

Day 27