LOA

We received our "Letter of Seeking Confirmation from Adopter" (LOA) on Wednesday! (This is the letter from China that we have to sign to confirm our intent to adopt these children).

The next step is further approval from the US government. We sent off for this but it takes at least three weeks. According to our caseworker, November is a good date to have in mind for travel. We are trying not to get our hopes up, but at the same time, we are working on preparing the best we can. Next blog post we'll post pictures of our current work in progress...their bedroom!

Please pray that we can bring home Daniel and Matthew in November! Since Wednesday we have all had the realization of "WOW! THIS IS REAL!" Please pray that Daniel and Matthew are being prepared for this same realization!

DTC!!!

We are "Dossier to China"! 

Today we just got news that our dossier is on its way China! In a few weeks, our dossier will be processed by the Chinese government.

We only have a few more steps, but each can take a long time. It will still be several long months before we can go get Daniel and Matthew. Please pray for them and pray for us and pray for our paperwork. We want to get them so badly and it is hard to wait! We love you Daniel and Matthew!

Approval Notice

It is an exciting moment when this comes in the mail!

Now we send off our last dossier documents to be certified in Tallahassee and the Chinese consulate in Houston! It is a lot to gather and research but we hope to have it off today! 

Please continue to pray for us and the boys! 

Racing Against Time

Dear Friends,

Yes, I am writing about this again. Yes, this time I am pleading.

This little one is aging out in less than one year. 10 months to be exact. 10 months.

We desperately want him to be adopted. He desperately needs a family.

I recently read that the average life-span of a aged-out child in China is 10 years from the time they age out. Ten years. We cannot let this happen to this boy. We cannot. It is unjust. It is wrong.

Please consider, seriously, adopting this boy. Yes, you. Do not let finances deter you. This is a child's life we are talking about. Finances will come. God provides. Do not let a feeling of ineptness deter you. This is a child's life. God will enable you.

Please, please get the word out about this boy! Please help us find a family to adopt him!

And please pray! This is a race against time. God alone can send a family for this child.

Dear Blog Friends,

For the last several weeks, we have had no news. We completed our homestudy and spent several weeks having it reviewed. This process took longer than expected. Finally, though, we sent off for USCIS approval. This is the approval from the American government to immigrate our children from China. Then we waited again. A letter from USCIS came stating that everything looked alright after the preliminary review. Whew. That meant very little to us, but at least it wasn't bad news.

A week passed. On Wednesday we received our finger-printing appointment letters in the mail. The appointments were scheduled for the week we are on vacation many hours away from the office we must go to. Thankfully, my husband took over and called USCIS to reschedule (I personally was opting for just missing vacation, but he is braver than I). They told us we could come any day. We went this morning nearly two weeks before our scheduled appointment. Those are two weeks of extra time we need. I am thankful we could go early. Tensely, I am counting the days until August 7th, the date China has given us by which we must have all of our paperwork in China.

Even though I know there isn't anything on anyone's record, it still it nerve-wracking to have our history reviewed by the federal government, especially when two boys in China are depending on us. If anything goes wrong, it affects Daniel and Matthew who are nervously waiting for Mama and Baba just as we are nervously waiting to go get them.

On the other side of things, my two youngest are laboring faithfully to raise money so they can go to China too. The older ones want to go, but, unless we travel before September (which is humanely impossible), college and work will prevent this. Julia and Joshua are selling things on Amazon and Craigslist and doing chores around the house. Julia also keeps us stocked with printed pictures of Daniel and Matthew to hang around the house. It is hard, even with the pictures, to wrap my head around the fact that these two are our sons.

Please pray that we will receive our approval quickly. This step in the process can take as long as three months, three months we don't have to spare. 

We're Waiting, They're Waiting

We are in the process of...waiting. Waiting on things we don't have the power to speed up. It is hard to wait. But, we're using our time as wisely as possible. We have Chinese to (attempt to) learn. Our first box of books about Chinese just came in.

But, this blog post is not about us. Not this time. It isn't even about Daniel and Matthew. It's about them:

Foster brothers to our Daniel and Matthew, these two boys are 13 and 12. The older one has external ear deformities and some hearing loss, though someone who recently visited the orphanage said he was perfectly able to keep up with the conversation. The other one (the 12 year old) has second degree cleft lip/palate with a nose deformity. Both are healthy, happy boys. The older is more quiet and reserved. The younger is described as funny.

Let me reiterate, they are 13 and 12, which means they will age out soon. At age fourteen they will be unadoptable and will be put to work in factories or put on the street...at fourteen. They will have no future and no family. Because of their facial deformities, they will be social outcasts. This is their reality. It isn't a bad dream, it isn't a "maybe", it is what the future has in store for them and this future is one year away for the first boy and two years away for the second. Don't be fooled by what sounds like a long time, it is a short, short time for an adoption to be completed.

They need a family. Desperately.

They need hope. Desperately.

They are running out of time.

Do not walk away from these pictures, look at those faces, look hard. They are real little boys. They are real little children who have never had a mother and a father. They are real boys who have never had a family all their own. And, what's more, they might never have a family. What we take for granted, they might never, ever have.

Let your heart break for them. Don't close it to those boys. Your heart needs to be broken. This is injustice. No child should live without a family. This is a tragedy and just because it happens to millions of children, doesn't make it any less wrong or any less painful for the children themselves.

Please consider these boys. I mean exactly that, consider adopting one or both of them. Consider whether your family could be their family. Consider this prayerfully and carefully. You can contact me for more information. If you do not feel called to adopt these boys, please, please pray to God for these boys. Pray they will come into a loving, Christian family and please pass the information about these boys on to anyone and everyone.

Our Children in China

Sonia Martin is back from China! We are blessed beyond measure that Sonia was able to take Daniel and Matthew our packages and take us some new pictures.

Sonia with our boys 

The boys look at their gifts from Mama and Baba in America

We are so blessed to know more about our boys. Sonia described Matthew as fun-loving and nice, cute and playful. I can totally see that! Look at his face, precious, absolutely precious!

Matthew Roe

Sonia describes Daniel as easy-going, a man of few words, an old soul, generous and kind. Daniel (we have heard from many sources) is artistic and makes amazing things out of paper. I can see that too. He looks like the ideal older brother. Wise, handsome, thoughtful, gentle.

Daniel Roe

They are precious, aren't they? They are beautiful, aren't they? They are wonderful, aren't they?

They are 8,000 miles, away.

They are many months away. Yet...

they are so, so very close to our hearts.


A few facts about our boys:

Daniel

Favorite food is hot dog

Favorite colors are black and red

Favorite subject in school is computers

Loves music


Matthew

Favorite color is red

Favorite food is hamburger

Favorite toy is a yo-yo

Is maybe a little competitive?

Our handsome, handsome boys. Please pray that they will be able to come soon! We have completed the homestudy and are having it reviewed. We will soon be sending off for USCIS approval.