We have some exciting news from our worker at
Lifeline today!!!

We are officially
LOA!!!

On July 24, she gave us the great news that we were officially Match Reviewed.
This process only took 4 days, she had anticipated it would probably take a couple weeks.  At that time, she told us to expect our LOA (Letter of Approval)
to arrive from China in 1-2 weeks…
It arrived today –
4 days later!!!!

At this point, we can anticipate traveling in 2-3 months…
2 months is the end of September!!!
We have a lot to do in the next few months!

(Warm chocolate cake definitely helps when working on US Immigration forms
after 10:30 at night, just saying.)

On another note, people are often curious when we will travel, how long our trip will be, and how much the China adoption process will cost from start to finish.
Today’s news and events of last week are great reminders that we just don’t know.
Dear friends of ours have been in China this month to bring home their new daughter.  They anticipated staying the expected two weeks and traveling home last Thursday.  They found themselves unable to leave the country, even though everything that China requires had been completed.  They along with many other families did not have VISAs for their newly adopted children.  Due to a computer problem in Washington DC, no VISAs were being issued by the US Consulate in China (or anywhere else in the world).  The hold up meant several more days in country (additional expenses incurred for food, lodging, plane tickets that needed to be changed) before being able to start their trip home around dinner time tonight, which will be early in the morning on Tuesday according to their time there in China.  Sometimes things happen slower than expected, sometimes they happen more quickly than expected – we hope to be prepared and grateful in any circumstances,
either way!

“…give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
1 Thessalonians 5:18

Last week we participated in an
outreach to the refugee community here
in our city.

Although not directly related to our adoption journey,
it really gave us a feel for being in a different
context than we are usually in…
dear friends are in China right now…
We can’t wait to get there!

We have added some pictures from the week to the
“About Us”
page.  Many of them were on Facebook already,
but you may want to take a look!
*smile*

For (if we are) in Christ Jesus,
neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything,
but only faith activated and energized and expressed and working through love.
Galatians 5:6
Amplified

This week we are participating in an outreach with our church, but I just had to take a few minutes and share this story of God faithfully encouraging us and providing for us.  We are so grateful!

Many people have asked us questions concerning how much contact we are able to have with our Lucy Joy, what we know about her life right now, and if she knows we are coming.  These are all great questions, and often people look very surprised when we answer, “We don’t know.”

I have been combing the internet for information about Chinese adoption, travel in China, Baoji City, Guangzhou… Jason has detailed knowledge of these places from studying google maps.  Recently when we received new pictures of Lucy as part of an update from her orphanage, even though he has never been to China, Jason recognized the park she was in!

Sometimes in a Facebook group I am in or on a blog people will post pictures of their child along with other children who have not yet been adopted in hopes of advocating for them, helping them to find a family or perhaps find the family who is matched with one of the other children or who has perhaps adopted one of the other children.  We have 6 photos of Lucy, that is less than one per year of her age and they are all probably taken in the last 2 years. How many pictures do you think you might have of your 8 year old?  I could probably not even count how many pictures we have of each of our other children by the time they were eight!  As we have traveled this path to bringing our daughter home, each and every little bit of information and each and every picture has been a gift, a treasure to us and something that we can use to help tell her story with her, give her a history.

Last week, someone posted in the Facebook group I am part of that they had been to Lucy’s orphanage in March and would be returning in October.  She invited people to message her if they would like to know if she had met their child.  I decided to try, it was possible… I messaged Kelly, included a picture of Lucy Joy, and her reply was,

“Yes!!!! I met her!!!”

She kindly offered to speak with me on the phone and then graciously spent over an hour of her time speaking with me.  Imagine, out of 300 children at the orphanage, she had met and spent time with our daughter!  She was able to share with us that the orphanage has received word that we are coming and that Lucy knows she has a family.  God is so good, thank you, Lord!  Not only did we get to know more about our daughter, but she also shared valuable information about that will help us navigate our time in China.

We hope to be in China in October, but if we cannot be, perhaps our Sparrow will be able to participate in this amazing project called Their Vision is Valuable.  Please take a look, they are in need of sponsors to make this happen!

Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm.  Nothing is too hard for you.
Jeremiah 32:17

Spencer has written a blog post about his experiences with adoption.
It has been featured here:
Teens Interceding for Orphans
Be sure to click over and read it!

Wisdom from our social worker, Meagan,
at Lifeline Children’s Services…

“While it is important to try and process as much education as you can before Lucy Joy gets home it is good to remember how you will implement that education. It is through the power and strength of Christ that your family will be able to implement those resources and education in a way that brings glory to Him. I love adoption because it is the perfect picture of what Christ has done for us. He sought us out and pursued us even though we fought and pushed away. That is exactly what you will be doing with your sweet daughter and it will definitely take Jesus being in the equation like you mentioned.”

We are so excited!
After only 10 days,
we have our LID or “Log In Date”
which means we have been logged into China’s computer system.
This should have taken 2-3 weeks!

The most exciting thing about this
is being able to send some questions to China asking for an
update on the information in Lucy Joy’s file.
It was recommended that we send 5-10 questions.
We chose the following:

May we see videos and photos?
How tall is she?
How much does she weigh?
What or who makes her the happiest and what or who makes her the saddest?
Does she have a nickname?
Why was her name chosen?
What is her favorite food and drink?
Who is she closest to?
How does her special need affect her right now?

We should be able to travel about 4-6 months from now!

If you would like to help, you can read about our fundraising efforts here:
Lucy Joy’s Puzzle Project