Almost a teenager

Her birthday came and went. I would have loved to have given her a birthday hug. She turned 12 on March 21st. Almost a teenager. We did have the opportunity to send her a birthday box, which we did. We mailed it on March 6th and according to the tracking slip, it was received at its destination on March 16th. Not sure if that means it made it to her specific orphanage address, or if it was just received in a general location within China. Either way, we are trusting in the Lord that it made its way to her. We were told that she needed and wanted clothes, so we sent 4 pair of Capri's style pants, 4 matching shirts, a Hello Kitty shirt, and a light jacket. We also sent 2 more disposable cameras, a jewelry box craft kit, a picture album with over 120 pictures of family and friends, a photo magnet with the families picture in it, a birthday card with all of our signatures, 2 reading magnifiers, a Happy Birthday flashing button/pin, and a beautiful necklace that a friend of ours sent us for her. In the photo album, we placed pictures of family members holding "Happy Birthday" signs with pictures of BD cakes/balloons etc. so that she could see what we were saying without needing a translator to tell her.

Finally a LID

Well, I guess I should update. We finally have our LID (log in date). March 5th. This is about 30 days later than we had anticipated. Our agency says it is partially due to the Chinese New Year and the subsequent holiday closing of the CCAA office. But, its all in the Lords timing anyways, and not our own.

Birthday box

Sorry it has been a while since a post. Still haven't heard from our agency in regards to a log in date (LID). Not really worried about it, just very curious. We should have had an LID several weeks ago. On a brighter note, we mailed out a box on Saturday that contained items for Ling's birthday which is the 21st of this month. She will be 12. I printed several "signs" that said happy birthday etc. and had the kids hold them while I took a picture. I did the same for Carolyn and I. We put these pictures as well as over 100 more into an album for the box. We also sent several outfits, some visual magnifiers, a small craft kit, a flashing "happy birthday pin", a necklace from a friend, 2 more disposable cameras and a few gifts for the orphanage director. It weighed 12 pounds and 4 ounces. It actually cost more to mail it than the value of the contents, but that's ok. We also included a birthday card that we all signed. I know that she probably cannot read any of the words on the pictures or on the card, but she will get the idea as the card and the signs had birthday cakes and balloons etc. on them. We really wanted to send a home movie DVD (in the event she had access to a DVD player), but we dint have time to compose one. If all goes well, she should have the box a few days before her birthday. I know we took a chance on sending her clothes, but Carolyn did a lot of research using Ling's latest measurements to estimate her clothing size.

Great News!

Found out this morning that Ling received her care package box!!!! Thank you Lord!! We have been worried that she had not!!! Awesome! Awesome!! Awesome!!! We can now send her a box for her birthday which is in March!!

A small delay

Good news and bad news. First the bad news - I was informed Friday that the timeline for special needs from china is now 5-7 months to travel after LID. That would put our tentative travel between July and August and not between May and June which I originally thought. It now takes 2 to 4 months to review our dossier and roughly 3 months to travel aftewards. I guess the good news is that we now have more time to prepare and more time to raise the remaining finances. Oh well, it's all in the Lords timing :)

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.