Happy Birthday to Me!

Just this past Saturday, I celebrated my 33rd birthday.  Last week, Jeff asked me what I wanted for my birthday.  He said at this point in the year, he had usually heard me say what I wanted and had a good handle on what to get me, but this year he couldn't figure out what to do.  I told him it was because I already got the ultimate birthday present!  I am absolutely loving life!

Caleb had his first of three surgeries to fix his cleft lip and palate this week.  This first surgery focused on his lip and nose.  He handled it like a trooper, but I must say, I really didn't know what to expect and how to prepare myself for this surgery.  I had fallen in love with the little boy that stared at me from my computer screen when we first got our referral on January 24th of this year.

And I fell in love with him all over again as we got to know his sweet personality these first few weeks we've had him at home.

I knew that after saying good-bye to him and leaving him with the nurses when he went into surgery that I would likely not see that smile the same way ever again.  But when they called us into the recovery room that that what I saw was the face of my sweet boy (even though it was screaming at the time). :) I can't stop staring at his beautiful face fully amazed at what the surgeons are able to do.  And, how God lead us to this point in our lives.

As for the surgery and recovery, the first couple of days after the surgery were a bit rough.  Caleb was understandably fussy and we had to feed him with a syringe.  He is so used to having control of his bottle and eating very fast that the syringe was definitely not his preference.  I would say we even saw a little temper in the days immediately following the surgery that we had not previously seen.  We have since been able to bring the bottle back, and he is decidedly happier with that with a bonus of being better eating solid foods.

Through this whole process I have received so many incredible gifts that I cannot begin to name them all.  A very special lady at church gave us a card with some incredible words and a beautiful text that I think sums it up very nicely.

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17 (NKJV)

Home Sweet Home!

Here it is 8:00 am on Sunday morning after being up for about 30 hours straight.  Why am I up when I could be sleeping in and shaking off the jet lag??  Oh yeah...I have TWO beautiful boys laying on the floor in the family room rolling around and playing together!!  I could not be happier!  By the way...both boys thought 6:30 am would be a good time to get up today. :)

The last 48 hours were probably the most stressful and adventurous of our entire trip.  It started when the van came to pick us up at the China Hotel in Guangzhou.  We left about 2:45 pm China time.  We went to the US Consulate first so that Lily could pick up Caleb's Visa package and Immigration paperwork.  We waited in the van while she went in to pick it up.  Then we had a 3 hour ride to the hotel that is attached to the Hong Kong Airport where we would catch our flight home the next day.

However, in order to get to the hotel, we had to go through customs both going out of China and coming into Hong Kong.  I thought this shouldn't be a big deal.  When we got to the China border, we had to get out of the van and walk across the border and meet the van on the other side.  As we walked up to the customs counter, I had Caleb and both of our passports and Jeff was with Sam and had their passports.  If anything, I thought I might have trouble with Caleb's passport or visa.  But, the issue was actually with mine.  The customs official kept looking at my passport picture and then at me, then at my passport picture.  Finally he pointed to the picture and said, "Is this you?"  I said, "Yes, it's me!"  He looked again and then looked back at me and said, "This picture is too fat."  I laughed (nervously, I'm sure) and said, "Well I have lost some weight since I've been here."  He didn't laugh.  He finally stamped my passport and let us cross.  Luckily Sam and Jeff didn't have similar issues.

After we got in the van, we drove up to the Hong Kong border.  We didn't have to get out of the van, but as we approached what looked like a toll booth the van driver opened the van door and a guy with a surgical mask stepped up to the door and pointed a laser heat detecter at each of us and checked our temperature.  It was a very odd experience.  Then another official checked our documents and let us through.

When we got to the hotel, we checked in and they "upgraded" our room to a suite that was a two room suite with two bathrooms.  One room by itself was bigger than any room we had while we were in China.  Too bad we were only spending about eight hours in this room.  When we checked in, the receptionist asked us what time we would be checking out.  Since the hotel was attached to the airport, I told her that our flight left at 9:20 am, so she said that if we checked out at 7:30 am we should be OK.  We decided to check out at 7:00 am to be safe.  It took about 15 minutes to get through the check out line.  By the time we got to the airport, the line was incredibly long.  It was very disheartening.  The line moved incredibly slowly.  We kept looking at our watches and couldn't figure out how we would make it through line and to our plane in time to board.  The line was so long, that we were way outside the little straps that guide the line.  I started praying hard.  I didn't know what I would do if we didn't make our plane home.  Just as we were about to enter the line guide, a representative from Delta came up to us and said that they would be starting another line and that we would be first in that line!  God is so incredible.  After we checked in, we were able to go through a special "family" line at security and then make it through customs to exit Hong Kong.  By this time, we really had to walk fast to make it to our gate.  When we got there, we sat down for about five minutes before they called us to board the plane.

Our flight was bout 16 hours in total.  Sam and Caleb both did very well.  Caleb probably slept the most.  Sam didn't sleep until about 2 hours from our destination.  We had really nice seats and a nice young man switched with Jeff so that we could all sit together.

On our 16 hour flight from Hong Kong

Arriving in Detroit, we knew that we would be cutting it close to get through US customs and make it to our connecting flight to Dulles, but thought we would be OK on time.  We quickly made it through the first customs line pretty quickly we found out that we had to go through another special immigration line for international adoptions.  This line did not move so quickly.  There was an extremely long line and only one agent helping this "special" line.  As we stood there, the time to begin boarding our flight came and went.  Our turn finally came and we made it through immigration only to find out that we had to go through baggage claim and walk our checked luggage through customs as well.  After we did that, and re-checked our bags, we then had to go through security again before we could go to our gate.  This whole time I was praying, but had resigned myself to the fact that we had, in all likelihood, missed our plane.  However, once we made it through security, we decided to run anyway.  I'm sure we made a sight running through the airport.  Jeff running with Sam and me holding Caleb as tightly as possible (since I had to take off the baby carrier to get through security) and running as best as possible.  I couldn't keep up with Jeff and Sam, but they kept running.  It's a good thing they did because Jeff got there just before she was going to shut the door, and he was able to get her to wait for us.

In the meantime of getting through customs, Caleb thought it would be a good time to poop after not having pooped for a two days.  I knew exactly when he did it and there wasn't a thing I could do about it at the time.  Not to mention that we then ran through the airport to make it to our connecting flight.  When we finally made it to the plane and sat down, the flight attendant told me that we could use the changing table on the plane as soon as we made it in the air.  This worked out quite well.  Caleb, Sam and I were all sitting together and Jeff was sitting across the aisle.  When I got back to my seat with Caleb after having changed him Sam was crying.  When I asked him what the matter was, he said he felt like he needed to throw up.  I was able to get the barf bag out just in time to catch the vomit.  I'm sure the flight attendant on our small flight was glad for us to be off the plane! :)

When we finally made it to Dulles, it felt so good!  We decided to take our time since we felt like we had been running so much.  However, when Sam found out that we were walking to Mimi and Pawpaw, we had a hard time keeping up with him.  When we got to baggage claim, we were even OK to find out that one of our bags did not make it to the airport. (They should be delivering it to us today)  It felt so good to see Mimi and Pawpaw and Emma.  They picked us up in a limo and we were able to ride home relaxed. They brought us food and I had a Diet Dr. Pepper!! :)

After getting home, we dropped off our "stuff" and then when to Mimi and Pawpaw's for an AWESOME homemade supper.  The boys fell asleep in the car on the way home and we were all in bed by 10:00 pm.  It felt so good to be in our own bed!!

Which brings me to this morning, sitting in our family room on Sunday morning enjoying being home as a family!  As one of our former beloved pastors used to say all the time.....God is good all the time and all the time, God is Good!

Stepping Foot on US Soil for the first time.

Caleb is a US Citizen!!

One Step Closer to Home!

Today was a very special day. We had our US Consulate appointment and took an oath on Caleb's behalf so that he would become a US Citizen as soon as we step foot on US soil. It was a very simple oath, but I could hardly keep tears from streaming down my face as we repeated the words. After we took the oath, they called us up one by one to look at all of our documents. I had a moment of panic because one of our documents was not completely filled out and they would not accept it because it had already been notarized before we left the States. Fortunately, it was one that we could redo at the consulate, it just took a little bit longer. Come to find out, all of the families from America World had to redo the same document. I think it was just a miscommunication between our US Travel Coordinator and our Chinese Guide. It's all fixed now and we are completely finished with all appointments and paperwork. We weren't allowed to take a camera into the consulate, so we just took a picture of the sign outside.

 

Lily, our guide, will pick us up at the hotel tomorrow afternoon at about 2:45 and we will head back to the consulate to pick up Caleb's Visa and then we head strait to Hong Kong. So, now we have free time until we have to check out of the hotel tomorrow at 1:45. We will probably visit the pool one last time and do some last minute shopping. Then we'll pack tonight and tomorrow morning. We are so looking forward to going home!!

Gotcha Day Video Link

               

Crazy Day!!

The boys (feels so good to say that!) were really tired from traveling yesterday and they both slept in. Therefore we had a little bit of a late start. Since we didn't have time to go down for breakfast, Jeff and I decided to have a little Starbucks. :) Real coffee tasted very good! Our big appointment today was an appointment at a medical clinic to fill out all the medical forms for Caleb's US Visa application. What an experience! The picture does not do the chaos justice. We'll have to show you the video when we get home.

 

We arrived shortly before 10am. We stopped at a small baby store to have their visa pictures taken. Then off to the clinic. Since China just recently celebrated a national holiday, the clinic was extra busy with families who were adopting from China. I must say that I was amazed at the number. I would say that there were no less than 25 other families at the clinic doing the same thing we were doing.

The medical appointment consists of three parts. Height and weight, ENT check and overall check from what they call Medical and Surgical. We had to wait in line at each station. It was very loud, babies crying everywhere and hardly a place to walk. In all honesty there was not much to the visit and we didn't really glean any information from it. Caleb did not have to get any shots however because we signed a form saying that we would be responsible for getting them within 30 days of returning to the states.

After that appointment, we stopped at the Chinese Wal-Mart to pick up more diapers, formula and wipes; then we headed back to the hotel. Once there, we were able to take a walk and eat lunch before we had another paperwork appointment. While I took Caleb to work on paperwork, Jeff was able to take Sam to the pool. Sam had been looking forward to that for days.

Tomorrow we have a day of relaxation and shopping. There is a very beautiful island where the US Consulate is which has a lot of nice shops. I'm looking forward to it! We are certainly enjoying our time in Guangzhou, but are still looking forward to coming home.

Will be posting our "Gotcha Day Video" soon. Thank you for your continued prayers!

PIZZA!!

The topic of food has been a frustrating one for us. When we are with our guide, we have had some really good meals. He is able to take us to nice places and order for us. However, when we are not with our guide, getting food is very hard. It's hard to know what is good and where we should go. One of the other families told us that they had discovered a Pizza Hut. When we heard about the Pizza Hut, we knew that we would try to make it there for Sam's sake. One of the receptionists at the hotel wrote down the Chinese characters for Pizza Hut. So Jeff went with the mom from one of the other families to try and catch a taxi for us to go. As they stood out on the sidewalk, they were able to stop several taxis, but none would take us to Pizza Hut. To top it all off, it was raining outside, so they got soaking wet in the meantime. Finally the gave up and we ended up eating peanut butter and jelly in our room.

According to our guide, today is intended to be our "day off". A chance to rest and relax and do things on our own if we wanted. Since we had the extra time, we thought that we would try to walk to Pizza Hut. We set out at about 11 o'clock. We made good progress, but I'm pretty certain that we were not going the most direct route. We have become pretty used to having folks stare at us as we walk down the street. Some will even come up to us and try to ask us lots of questions in Chinese. Our adoption agency was aware of this and they gave us little cards to bring with us that described what we were doing in China and that we were adopting Caleb. As we were walking, we were approached by a couple of nice ladies who began to ask us questions. Luckily I had one of those cards in my pocket so I pulled it out to show them. Immediately the began to smile and give us thumbs up. We were somehow able to communicate that we were going to have Caleb's cleft fixed and they seemed very appreciative. Jeff decided to ask if they could point us in the direction of Pizza Hut. She got a huge smile on her face and said with a very thick accent, "aaahhhh, Pizza and coffee! Come, come..." She began walking with us and we quickly realized that she was taking us to Kentucky Fried Chicken. So, we corrected her and made sure she understood Pizza. She then brought a Police Woman over that she seemed to know and began talking with her in Chinese. They soon figured out where we should go and said we needed to get a taxi. They hailed a taxi for us and explained to the taxi driver who we were and that we wanted to go to Pizza Hut. They tried to pay him, but he wouldn't let them and we told them that we had the money. However, once we reached our destination, he would not take our money either. What an amazing gesture!

We were able to make it to Pizza Hut and had good salad and an amazing cheese pizza! It tasted so good! Sam ate several pieces. After we were finished we were able to walk back to the hotel. Even as we were walking back to the hotel, another older lady started walking with us. It's almost like these ladies were sent as our guardian angels to make sure that we were able to make it to our destinations safely.

At the risk of sounding repetitive, I know that your prayers are keeping us safe and helping our trip to run smoothly. Thank you!

 

 

A Day of Sighseeing

Breakfast in China is very interesting. We eat in the hotel every morning and they set out a large buffet. The interesting part is that it looks like most other meals with the exception of a few American breakfast food items like bacon and cereal. Yesterday I was holding Caleb, so one of the hotel workers offered to help me fix my plate. They had a chafing dish of fried eggs, so I asked for one. Without asking, she immediately put soy sauce on it. I wasn't sure if I would like it, but took it anyway. It turned out to be quite good. They also had, what I call, the Chinese equivalent to mock hamburger. It was actually very good and reminded me a bit of home. I mentioned to Jeff how much I liked it and looked for it this morning. I was disappointed because I couldn't find it. So, I just filled my plate with other things and went to sit down. Before I knew it, the lady that had helped me yesterday appeared with a small plate full of my Chinese mock hamburger! I have no idea how she knew that I liked it or that I was disappointed that I couldn't find it. I accused Jeff of asking her to get it for me, but he said he had no idea. What a sweet gesture!

It was raining this morning, so the original plan to go to the zoo was changed with a plan to go to a local history museum. It was actually quite interesting and our guide, Steed, was very knowledgeable and made the tour very interesting. Next we went to the Yellow River and walked through different parts of the riverside park to see local sights. At one location there were some female army officers that were having their picture taken. All throughout our trip, locals have been fascinated with Sam and 2 other little boys that are here with one of the other families. Often there are requests to have their picture taken with them. These female army officers were no exception. They immediately called them over to have their picture taken with them.

We have two more days in Gansu and then we head out to Guangzhou where we have all of our US Consulate appointments. As interesting as this has all been, I'm ready to come home! Please continue to keep us in your prayers!

 

 

Gotcha Day!!

My intention was to post our Gotcha Day blog yesterday.....but, wow...what a long, busy, emotional and exhausting day.  By the time we had a moment to sit down with the internet, we were all about ready to collapse in bed.  So now I sit in our hotel room with my three boys this afternoon after our Civil Affairs appointment this morning (and a 2 hour nap) and I'm ready to post.

Gotcha day started at 4:30am.  Not that I could have slept any longer anyway.  We had to repack our suitcases to the Chinese Domestic Flight weight limits.  We headed down to breakfast at 6am and were out to the airport to catch our flight to Lanzhou, China.  Lanzhou is the capital city of the Gansu province which is where Caleb's orphanage is.  After we boarded the plane, we waited for an hour on the runway before we took off.  As we drew closer to Lanzhou, our hearts began to pound because we knew that it wouldn't be long until Caleb was in our arms.  However, once our plane landed and we met up with our Gansu guide, Steed, it was still an hour bus ride into downtown Lanzhou.  On a side note, driving in China cities is quite harrowing!!  Steed did an excellent job filling us in on the local culture and history, but it was very hard to concentrate on what he had to say.  All I could think about is when we would see Caleb for the first time.

After arriving at our hotel, we checked in and had 10 minutes to drop our luggage and head out to the local department store to pick up last minute supplies like formula.  This store is called Vangard which is the Chinese equivalent of Wal-Mart.  Oh my!  It is a three story store which is probably 1000x more stimulating that Wal-Mart.  You have to see it to know what I'm talking about.  After searching for about 30 minutes for needed supplies, we walked back to the hotel.  We arrived at 2:45pm and were told that the babies would arrive at 3pm.  Because there were three families receiving babies, they were looking for a large place for us all to meet our new babies.  The only place available was the area outside of the elevators on the floor where our rooms are.

So, here we were, three families standing outside the elevators waiting for the ding and the opening doors.  Dads with cameras in hand, moms holding back the tears.  Then that sound of the elevator ding that caused our hearts to stop.  Out walked the orphanage director and three nannies, each holding a precious bundle.  They were all quiet, not certain what was about to happen.  Then they called our names and placed our long awaited baby in our arms.  What a moment!  It is impossible to describe.  There I am with tears in my eyes, holding my new baby boy!

The orphanage workers gave us all a rundown of the babies, their personalities and their schedules.  Caleb had all the gifts that we had sent him previously and they gave those back to us to bring home with him.  The also gave us the bottle that he typically used to eat.  We could very easily tell that Caleb had been well taken care of and that all of the babies were well loved by their nannies.  The director and nannies also presented us with a photo album that they had put together for each baby.  We presented them with gifts of appreciation as well.  It was such a precious moment.

Here is our first family photo:

We brought Caleb back to our room and had about 30 minutes to introduce ourselves before we had to head out and have our official family picture taken for completion of the official paperwork.  When we got back to the hotel, we had about 15 minutes to come back to the room and make a bottle before having to meet with our guide to sign initial paperwork.  Then we headed back to our room where our guide met with us individually to change over our money for the orphanage donations.  By the time that was said and done, we were ready for bed.  Mind you it was about 7pm.  We were able to Skype with Mimi and Amy so that they could also meet the new family addition, but poor Sam was completely worn out and had already put himself in bed.  After getting off of Skype, we were about ready to settle down for the night as well.  Caleb fussed briefly, we laid him in the crib, turned the lights out and he was fast asleep.  Believe it or not, he slept through the night, no problem and was awake bright and early at about 4:30am this morning.

Today we had our Civil Affairs appointment where all of the official adoption paperwork was completed.  We triple checked all of the documents and wrote our final signatures.  After signing the documents, we finished by placing a red thumb print on each of our signatures.  Then Caleb had to put a red footprint on several documents.  It's official!  He's ours!  Another special moment!

We exchanged email addresses with the nanny so that we can share pictures and updates after Caleb has his surgery.  Then headed back to the hotel to rest and bond as a family.  Steed is coming this evening to bring the finished paperwork.  The rest of this week will be taken up with sightseeing and shopping.  I think we may have some other official appointments throughout the week as well.  Then we'll fly out of Lanzhou on Friday and head to Guangzhou, China to have all of our US Consulate appointments.  Although I know we have a lot of important things to do, I have to admit that I would be ready to fly home tomorrow.

Things could not have gone more smoothly for us and I know that it is due to your prayers and support.  Thank you so much!  Please continue to pray for us as we complete our appointments and head home.  I'll continue to send updates and pictures.....

We're here!

We're Here!

Well, here I am sitting in my hotel room in Beijing, China and I can honestly say it hasn't fully hit me yet.  We had a long day of traveling yesterday....or should I say today....I'm a little confused.  I had a brief moment when we were about to go through Customs at the airport where it began to sink in and I got a little teary eyed, and then a Chinese security guard began herding us to the correct line and I refocused on getting through Customs and finding our ride to the airport.  

The flight to China was fairly uneventful.  Sam slept a for a while on the flight and was also very excited that he was able to watch Cars2 and Rio.  There were so many choices for him that we never even had to pull out the DVD player that we brought.  We met up with another family that is traveling with America World.  They are from Georgia and it is so nice to be traveling with them.  They brought their two sons who are  2.5 and 8 years old.  I think Sam is going to get along well with them.  We met our guide at the airport in Beijing.  She is great!  Her name is Lily and she has a lot of experience with leading groups with America World Adoption Agency through Beijing.  She told us that she goes to the orphanage where Caleb is often and helps out.  She said that she likely helped him "get checked in" at the orphanage when he was a newborn.  She told us that it is a very nice orphanage that recently built a new facility and has a very kind director and nannies.

It is about 5:30am here currently.  We head down to breakfast at 7:30 and then leave at 8:30 for Tienneman Square, the Forbidden City and the Great Wall.  We're in for a busy day.  Then we have an early Sunday morning flight to Gansu where we will meet Caleb for the first time.  Gotcha Day!!  Hopefully I'll be able to post pictures soon.  I can feel your prayers and it really means a lot.  Please keep them coming.

Pinch Me!

In about 12 hours from now we will be leaving for the airport to head for China!  God certainly works in mysterious ways!  Just two weeks ago today, I was writing on my blog in frustration and discouragement because we hadn't received word about when we might travel.  Less than a week later, five days to be exact, I get phone call from our travel coordinator asking if we could be ready to travel in a week in a half.  I just need to remember that God has our best interests in mind and as hard as it is to do, sit back and let him do his thing.  Today, one of the other mothers on an adoption listserv that I belong to posted to following text:

 "I am still confident of this:
       I will see the goodness of the LORD
       in the land of the living.
 Wait for the LORD;
       be strong and take heart
       and wait for the LORD."
                         Psalm 27:13-14
This brings me back to the control and patience issues that I have written about previously in my blog.

Also, as we prepare to leave tomorrow, I can honestly say that I feel your prayers.  I think I can speak for Jeff and say that we are overwhelmed and extremely appreciative of all the love and support that has been expressed to us.  Jeff took these pictures earlier today...cards of encouragement and support.

Thank you so much for everything.  Next time I post it will be with pictures of our new son!

Patience is a Virtue

Growing up, I remember my mom telling me on more than one occasion, "Patience is a virtue and must be cultivated."  Unfortunately, my garden of virtues is in some serious need of work and is becoming overrun with weeds.

The time for traveling to China is drawing near, yet it still seems so far away.  I am not patient.  I cannot put into words the emotions that are running through my heart right now.

• I'm overjoyed that I will meet my son soon.
• I'm excited for the adventure of going to China and learning a new culture and experience.
• I'm nervous about all the paperwork and official appointments that will happen while we are there.
• I'm worried about the financial responsibilities.
• I'm disappointed that we haven't received our travel approval yet.
• I'm nostalgic as I pull out all of Sam's old clothes and toys to get them ready for Caleb.

All of these emotions crash together and overwhelm my soul.  Have you ever been so overcome with thoughts and emotions that you don't quite know what to do with yourself?  You can't sit still, but you can't make your self get up and accomplish anything either.

People have told me that it's like the last month of pregnancy before delivery.  But, I can tell you that it is not.  At least not in my experience.  When you are pregnant you can be in a room by yourself, but you are not completely alone.  Your baby is there with you.  You have some sense of security when you feel the baby move in your womb.  You can speak to the baby and find comfort in the fact that he can hear your voice even though he may not understand what you say.

Caleb is not here.  When I'm in a room by myself, I think about my son that is on the other side of the world.  I wonder what he is doing and if he has gotten a hug today.  I don't have that same sense of security because his care is out of my hands.  I have no sense of control.  And, I become overwhelmed.

I stand back and look at my garden of virtues so overcome with weeds, and I hardly know where to start.  Then I remember...I know this Gardner who is in complete control.  He knows how to get rid of the weeds and cultivate the virtues.  All I have to do is unlock the gate and let Him get to work.

He also knows Caleb and His arms are long enough to reach the other side of the world and surround Caleb with love.  He is in complete control.  And, He is cultivating patience......

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth shakes and the mountains slide into the sea, though oceans roar and their waves foam, or the mountains sway in the bottom of the sea." Ps 46:1-3 (The Clear Word)

Please pray for us while we are waiting....

So Close But So Far Away

Even though we have not received our official travel approval, everything is still on track for us to travel to China in October.  Things seem to be moving a little faster now that we have a light at the end of the tunnel, but it still seems like such a long time!  I can't wait to have Caleb in my arms!  I can't wait to learn everything about him....what he likes, what he doesn't like, his sleeping habits, his personality.

While we continue to wait for our travel dates, we're going to try to raise money to help with the expenses invovled in bringing Caleb home.  For now we have decided to sell coffee.  Please visit our web site, http://www.justlovecoffee.com/TheLums.  We will receive $5 from every product sold to put towards our adoption costs.  Thank you so much for your continued support in our journey!

Children of God

How blessed we are to be the adopted into the Family of God!

"Those who are guided by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.  The Holy Spirit does not enslave us and make us fear.  But, through the Holy Spirit, God has adopted us and claimed us as His own.  With our deepest emotion, we may call Him Father.  The Spirit Himself, with our new spirit, confirms that we truly are God's children."  Romans 8:14-16

The Best Laid Plans...

Although my mom might find this amusing...Jeff and I have always been planners.  Even before we met, we had a certain path that we planned to follow.  School, degree, job, marriage, kids.....  The first four stages came through without a hitch.  And I'm still amazed at how the new physical therapist graduate from Syracuse, NY found his way to the small county hospital in VA for his first job.  Every time I look back on it, I see God's hand in bringing us together.

Samuel Paul Lum came along just as planned.  This was just confirmation to me that Jeff and I must be pretty good planners.    We had often discussed through our dating and early marriage years that three children seemed like a good number and things seemed to be moving right along.  So, in 2008, when Sam was almost two, we moved on to the next expected step of having another child.  However, when a year went by and no pregnancy, a hint of concern began to creep into my mind.  I began praying in earnest because surely God's plans were the same as mine.  I wondered why he was making us wait so long.  But, at a year and a half when I found out I was pregnant, I thought, "God must have been just trying to teach me patience."

At eight weeks pregnant, right before Thanksgiving, I knew that bleeding wasn't normal.  But, I was in denial, nothing could be happening to this baby.  This preganancy was all a part of the master plan.  Surely God would not allow for anything to happen to this precious new life.  By the time Thanksgiving came and went, I really didn't feel much like being thankful.  The baby was gone and our plans seemed to be shattered.  Again, I asked the question, "what must God be trying to teach me?"

After a ruptured appendix (definitely not a part of my plan), many doctor's visits, ultrasounds, fertility treatments and procedures, the news came that if we were going to continue on the path that our planning had lead us, we would have to get pregnant artificially and even then there was no guarantee.  Needless to say, that news was devastating.  How could this happen?  I mean, we had plans.  Things had been going so smoothly.

After a couple of months, thoughts of adoption starting popping into my head.  I'm not sure where they came from.  I had always been aware of adoption, but never really thought about it for my family.  I had plans you know.  But, for whatever reason, it kept coming up.  I started doing research on the internet, looking for information, agencies, etc.  I came across America World Adoption Association web site.  I'm not even sure what lead me to click on their link, but I did.  What I read there touched my heart.  And before I knew it, I had filled out a form for more information.  Soon after getting the information in the mail, I bumped into my good friend and cousin Cristy at Camp Meeting.  In her arms was the most precious little girl that she and her husband had recently adopted from Rwanda.  As we stood there talking, I discovered that Cristy's family had used an agency none other than America World.  I thought, "God, what are you trying to tell me?"

Jeff and I began to talk more seriously about adoption.  What would this mean for our family?  Would we be able to afford it?  We found out that America World was holding a seminar in Charlottesville.  How convenient.  So we went.  A little boy adopted from China greeted us at the door.  His name was Samuel.  We sat there listening to the stories of adoption.  Asked questions.  We felt an incredible tug on our hearts that this was the right thing to do.  And, not only was adoption the right thing to do, but adopting through China's Waiting Child Program for children with special needs.

We filled out the application and began the paper chase, otherwise known as the paper pregnancy.  Being in the health care field I thought I could handle paperwork.  Surely they wouldn't throw anything at me that I couldn't handle.  Boy was I in for a suprise!

When we finally turned in our waiting child application, I anxiously waited for the phone call that would let us know that we had a referral.  For those of you who are not familiar with the process, this is the phone call that lets you know that you have been matched with a child.  However, we still had a lot of our dossier to complete.  In fact, our Home Study was still in the works.  So, when I asked our family coordinator when we might expect a phone call, she very gently said that we had a while to wait yet...a couple more months in fact.  So, needless to say, when the phone rang exactly one week later, I was not expecting the voice on the other end to say that there was a little eight month old boy waiting for us.  I didn't know what to say.  Very shortly after the phone call, I was staring into the face of a beautiful baby boy on my computer.  What was God trying to tell us?

After we recieved the referral, we had 10 days to respond regarding whether or not we would accept the referral.  In all honesty, I had no hesitation.  I knew that little Qing Fu Jun was waiting for us.  We needed to go get him.  Now, many documents (and long stories) later, we have recieved approval and will hopefully travel in mid October.  Almost exactly a year after starting our journey to adoption.

As for all the times I asked, "What is God trying to tell/teach me?"....I think I have discovered the answer in a Bible verse that I'm just now beginning to better undertand...."For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord..."