Finally DTC!!

The Lord is my strength and my song; He has given me victory. This is my God, and I will praise Him - my father's God, and I will exalt Him! Exodus 15:2

Finally, we can breath a sigh of relief! We are officially DTC today! For those of you who are not familiar with that term, it means we are Dossier To China. Our dossier consists of all the documents that are needed by China to process our request to adopt. We started collecting and processing these documents in early September, 2009. There are 15 original documents that were processed at local and federal levels as well as copies of passports, extra passport pictures, multiple signed agreements, and six family photographs. On another wonderful note, we have also received word this week that we are the recipients of two additional grants! How awesome and faithful is our God!

Some new pictures

The dear lady from Spain has sent us more pictures of Ling. Here are three of the better pictures. She actually sent about 10 or so and some are as recent 30-45 days ago. She looks so mature! It's hard to believe she is only 11 years old. The picture of her in the blue sweater is reportedly from November of 2009. The one where she is sitting on the side of the bed is from March, 2009. The picture of her in the white pullover is from February, 2009. These dates might not be accurate, but are probably close.

So far away

Here is a map of China for those who are unfamiliar. Ling is in the Jiangxi province. Bella was from Louyang in the Henan Province (just above Jiangxi).

Blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. Jeremiah 17:7

We brought our need to Him, and He answered. We have been contacted by yet another grant agency (Christian based) that has generously agreed to give us a $4,000 no interest loan that we don’t have to pay back until the middle of 2011!! This is another example to how God will take care of us, if we but ask! Our 15 documents have been priority mailed to the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC and to the Chinese Consulate in New York for authentication. We hope to have them back in 10-15 days. We can then overnight them to our agency to send off to China!