Big News, Big News, and Even Bigger News!!!!

First of all, a huge THANK YOU to everyone who participated in our raffle fundraiser, either by buying tickets or making meals!  Your gift means so much to us.

All in all we raised...drum roll please....

$1920!!!!

That's amazing!  

What is also amazing is that we have been approved for a $2000 matching grant through Lifesong for Orphans!  This means that when we raise $2000 by December 31 they will match it! (this does not include the money we have already raised through the raffle) We have also been approved for the Both Hands project!  We will be getting you more information next week on how you can donate to our matching grant or be involved with our Both Hands project.  Such an exciting time for us!!

Also....

In a very short amount of time we have gotten our 797, which is an important piece of paper, and submitted it for all it's things it has to do.  Next step?  DOSSIER TO CHINA!

I'm not sure if that means anything to you, probably not - but it does to us!  Your dossier is your final stack of paperwork that goes to China, from that - they can approve us.

That happened today!!  Today our dossier was sent to China and will probably be logged in by the CCCWA (Chinese welfare system) in 3-4 weeks!  After that we wait 2-4 months (insert sad impatient waiting face here) for our LOA our Letter of Acceptance from the Chinese government, the final piece of paper that officially approves our match -  Why a Letter of Acceptance?  Does it sound like we missed a step???

It does because:

THE MOST EXCITING PART IS.....

We've been matched with a child!  We have a little boy waiting for us in China!  He has a name and an age and we have a picture and everything!  Now that our dossier has been sent to China he will be notified that he has a family, although he's little so he won't know for sure what this means - but we can send him a photo album and cards and even a CD for him to listen to at bedtime and naptime!!

oh be still my heart and make this time fly.

Now, I'm sure you have a lot of questions (most of which I can't answer over the internet), so I'm going to do my best to give you the answers you need to know.

How long now?  Well, we still don't really know.  Most likely between 6-8 months.

Why so long?  There are still a lot of paperwork processes to work with.  Lots of children are waiting to join their families, and we've just jumped in line.

Anything you can tell us about your little boy?  Not much online :)  I won't be sharing pictures of him on here, releasing his name, or anything else personal about him during this time and our post placement period.

Thank you so much for all of your understanding and excitement!  Thank you also for partnering with us in our adoption!  Many of you have expressed your desire to partner with us in this financially, we are so so grateful for you.  For all of you who are praying for us, thank you thank you thank you!  We need so many prayers right now as we navigate paperwork, time, finances, and preparing to bring home our little boy.

Lifesong for Orphans Advocate Blogger and Orphan Sunday

If there is one thing that has changed over this past year and going through this incredible journey to bring home our son, is that my heart for the orphan is only growing.

Out there, in this great big world is a little boy, sleeping alone in a crib tonight, in a room full of cribs he sleeps.  Who will rock him to sleep?  Who will soothe his tears?

I think of my little one often when I hear this song by JJ Heller -

This world is unfortunately full of orphans.  Full of little ones, like mine, that are alone tonight.

I'm going to be honest, I'm a terrible blogger.  You already know that.  I can hardly remember to write, but I've made the decision to partner with Lifesong for Orphans to be an advocate blogger.  One more way I can reach more people to bring awareness to orphans,

You'll notice I've added a new button to the side bar -------->

And every so often you'll get a new blog post from me, sending you to Lifesong's page.

Please, get involved - hear the cry of the fatherless.  Not everyone can adopt, but everyone can do something. (quoted from Orphan Justice)

My first Lifesong advocate blogger post is about Orphan Sunday!  Coming up on November 2, check out this post to see 4 way that you can get involved!

4 Way to Engage in Orphan Sunday