The Larger Puzzle.

Our puzzle fundraiser continues to be an amazing blessing and
 we've been steadily adding pieces to Logan's panda bear puzzle.

But we have a larger puzzle we've been steadily adding pieces to as well, 

our journey to Logan's "gotcha" day.

And we've just completed another piece of this puzzle!

Our Hague Documents have been sent to China!

 This begins the next phase of our process, our Article 5.

The Article 5 letter lets the China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption (CCCWA) know that Logan's immigration file is complete for the adoption.

The last piece of the Article 5 puzzle is our cable from the National Visa Center (NVC). The NVC cable will be sent to the US Consulate in Guangzhou, China.  This is approval of our visa petition for Logan.

Once the CCCWA has received and reviewed our Article 5, they will then issue our travel approval and we'll begin to make our travel plans!

This has been an incredibly involved process and each new step comes with many details.  However, we don't look too far ahead, because if we do we can easily become overwhelmed.  

We focus our prayers and efforts on each individual step and we try not to worry about the next one.

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself."
Matthew 6:34

God has been in full control of this journey from the start 
and we truly know, without a doubt, 
that He has the remainder of our trek completely mapped out.  

Puzzle Results: Weeks 10 & 11!

Another 28 pieces were added to Logan's puzzle!

718 sponsored pieces!

The puzzle is almost 75% complete!

Soon Logan's framed puzzle will be hanging on our wall.

I think about him being here, showing him his puzzle.

I can almost see his little fingers tracing each piece.

I see him pointing to the names on the back.

I'll tell him the meaning behind the names,

about the love, the prayers, the support each of you

selflessly gave to him...

before you even knew him.  

Thank you.

 

Another Step Closer.

We completed another exciting step in our journey this week.  We received our I-800 back from the Immigration Department.  The I-800 is our "Petition to Classify Convention Adoptee as an Immediate Relative", simply put it's our approval from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to adopt Logan.

From this point, we should be in China in eight to twelve weeks!  It's hard to believe we're nearing the end of our journey!

 

Siblings.

So much time, effort and prayer is spent on the adoption process

that sometimes we forget that this will be an incredible transition

for Olivia, Julia, Ross and Ella as well.

A week ago the kids had the opportunity to attend a seminar

at the agency where our home study was done.

 The title of the seminar was "So I'm Getting a New Sibling?".

The seminar gave the kids the opportunity to talk

and learn about how this transition will effect them,

what it will be like to be a trans-racial family,

and how they can help Logan during his time of transition.

 

We are so thankful that the kids had the opportunity

to attend this seminar.  They came home even more excited

about their new little brother!

Yard Sale Update!

Our yard sale fundraiser completely exceeded our expectations.  Not just with how much was raised, but also with how God provided in so many more ways.

We woke to dark skies and rain on Thursday morning.  We had planned on opening the sale at 10:00 and already had potential customers driving by at 8:30.  By 9:00 we knew we would have to delay opening, so our new plan was to open by noon.  As 11:30 approached the weather outlook still looked bleak and we weren't sure how we would be able to get everything out quickly enough once the rain stopped. (Yes, I was feeling a bit panicked.)

As the raindrops began to fade, a large group of homeschooling friends all arrived at about the same time.  The Lord had provided just the right amount of helpers at just the right time.  Everyone pitched in and we had the yard sale set-up just in time for the arrival of our first customer.

God's provision was seen throughout the three days of the sale.  We were incredibly busy all three days!

Here are some of the highlights...

 

 

We had an amazing amount of items for sale!

 

The kid's concession stand was a huge success!

 

Tim and I wore shirts that said "mom" and "dad" in Chinese.

 

The girl's shirts said "older sister" and Ross's shirt said "older brother" 

in Chinese.

Are you ready for the grand total?  We couldn't believe it!  We were completely speechless...

$1,600.00

Endless thank yous to our precious family and friends...  

Everyone who prayed us through this yard sale process,

All those who donated items,

Each of you who helped with pricing,

The families who showed up just in time to help us set-up on Thursday,

Our check-out helpers,

The concession stand helpers and barbecuers,

Our friends who dropped off wonderful baked goods, shrimp fried rice and other goodies for our concession stand,

Everyone who helped with selling,

All those who stopped by with their support during our sale,

And our clean-up crew.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

We are completely humbled by your generosity and thoughtfulness.

What an amazing testimony this yard sale has been!  God is so faithful and He is completely providing for Logan.

 

Yard Sale Day!

It's here, day one of our yard sale!

And so is the rain.

But, God is sovereign, He's in control and we have no worries.

We only have a slight delay

and a little rain.

So, here are the updated times for the sale:

Thursday (rain delay today) 12:00-6:00

Friday 10:00-6:00

Saturday 9:00-4:00 

We would love to see some familiar faces.

So, stop by for lunch.

We'll have the grill going

and look forward to seeing you!

Yard Sale Week!

This is the week!

It's finally arrived, our yard sale fundraiser!

Our garage is overflowing with blessings...

 We never expected to receive this many donations.

There is so much that we will need to use the entire garage

as well as a large part of the driveway to display all the items.

A fun addition to the sale will be our concession stand.

We'll be selling grilled hotdogs, water, pop, chips,

candy, cookies and popcorn balls!

The kids are really looking forward to running the stand.

The dates and times for the yard sale are:

Thursday and Friday 10:00-6:00

Saturday 9:00-4:00

A very BIG thank you to everyone who donated items.

We appreciate your generosity more than words can express.

If you have a moment, please stop by the yard sale.

It would be wonderful to see some familiar faces!

Visa Paperwork.

This has been a paperwork week.

 I'm working on our visas for China.

In order to travel to China and complete our adoption,

we will need Chinese visas.

These will allow us to travel to China and spend

two and a half weeks there as we receive our sweet, little guy

and finalize our adoption.

This is what we'll receive once our paperwork has been processed.

 

The application process has been a little daunting,

but I'm working with a wonderful woman in China

who has been incredibly helpful;

she truly has a heart for what she's doing.

Also this week, we had a little "hiccup" with our I800 paperwork

with our government. (It was an error on my part.)

But, once again, the Lord was at work!

With the help of a wonderful woman at the Department of Homeland Security,

the error was corrected within a day's time.

Our week of paperwork is slowly coming to an end

and each form that we complete,

brings us one step closer to Logan!

 

Puzzle Results: Weeks 8 & 9!

What a beautiful site!

 

After adding the sponsored pieces from the past two weeks,

we were in complete awe over how the puzzle has progressed.

Nine weeks ago we put together the first two pieces,

they read "mom & dad".

And now the puzzle looks like this!

  Weeks eight and nine.

238 puzzle pieces added!

690 pieces sponsored total!

The mother and baby panda are almost finished.

And soon this journey will be finished and we'll be holding

our sweet son in our arms.

THANK YOU!