Journey: another step complete!

Baby, it's Cold Outside (in Beijing, that is!)

What a busy but great week! The Christmas season is very fun and there seems to be something to do each night. It's been great to celebrate with concerts, together time with friends, and fun time with family! We managed to complete one more step for the adoption this week too!
Part of the I-800A process is getting our Biometrics (fingerprints) done. We get an appointment date from USCIS and have to go to Fort Worth for them to be processed at a USCIS center. We got our appointment date in the mail and it was for January 2nd- the day we return from California. I had read on a message board that some people had been able to do an early walk-in appointment so we decided to try it.
On Wednesday morning we drove up to Fort Worth. We were at the USCIS office a little after 9 a.m. We let the officer know that we would be out of town for our appointment date and we wanted to get our fingerprints done early. They were so NICE! We filled out some forms, got our prints done, and were back home in time for me to finish the day at school.

So what now? Now the USCIS Hague Unit has to go through our application and approve us for our adoption. Then we fill out the I-800 application which is the formal application for David specifically. Our agency told us that the I-800A applications were taking about 50 days to be approved so hopefully by mid January we'll be onto the next step!! I'm hoping the time will fly by and spring will be here soon!!

Journey: to one more trip

Sic 'Em Bears!!
 

Those of you who know us well know that we love to travel. As I was updating our adoption papers for the Waiting Child program I was also planning our 10 year wedding anniversary trip. We were planning on going on a European River Cruise. Well, our plans changed and we're going to China instead and Europe will have to wait for now- which we are MORE than happy with!!
So, when it was announced that Baylor would play in San Diego for the Holiday Bowl we decided it would be a fun Babymoon (a trip taken before parents welcome home their baby). We are excited to cheer on the Bears on the 27th and spend some time touring in San Diego. I'm proud to say we will have been to all the bowl games in the last 3 years. While in San Diego we are planning a trip to the zoo (of course!) and a whale watching cruise. Rich and the boys are going as well and we are looking forward to spending some fun time together. Steve and I are going to spend New Years at Disney Land (even though it's their busiest day of the year)! We are also going to the Rose Bowl parade while in the area. So we are making the most of our trip out to California.



He's growing so quickly!

We don't have any new updates on David. I know that New Day is getting many packages and I'm anxious to see pictures of all the children opening them up- what a fun time!! We're picking out his room color this week and I can't wait to paint his room!! My parents hosted their annual Christmas party today and it was so fun to tell people our story and share his picture. I tried to talk to lots of people today since I know at next years party I'm going to be chasing after a 2 1/2 year old- and I can't wait!!!

Journey: to a new decoration!

"The stockings were hung by the chimney with care..."

 David's stocking came this week and we quickly hung it on the mantle. We love decorating for Christmas and having three stockings this year makes the season much BRIGHTER! David's foster home recently sent 12 new pictures of our little guy, one of which will be featured on this year's Christmas card. When I grow up I want to go be a photographer for New Day, what a fun job that would be!!


My Tri Delta big sis and former roommate and her family are traveling through Texas and we had the chance to see them. It's been a really long time since we've seen each other and she is now mom to 4 boys! It was awesome to visit with her and see how God is working in their lives right now. We talked a lot about our adoption as they have adopted as well. They have a son adopted from Korea. She had a brilliant idea to get a recordable book and send it to David. We found the best book called Under the Same Moon. It's a PERFECT story for us and our son. We enjoyed recording the story and imagine David listening to the story and hearing our voices- how cool is that going to be! So now he'll see our faces and hear our voices. We cannot wait to travel to China to get our little boy!!

Journey: to 16 Months!

 My son is 16 months old today!! I love saying "my son"!! For so long we were prepared to have one child and that child would be a little girl from China. God works in amazing ways though and 16 months ago a little boy was born over 7,000 miles away and God knew he would be our son!! Several people have asked "what about Emily (the name we already have picked out for our little girl)?" We are planning on adopting again! We have to wait though, per different regulations we cannot adopt within a year of bringing David home. We can start the paperwork though and since we know what a process it is, we will start it early! Right now David has a "sister" at his foster home and he loves her very much! We will more than likely adopt via the Waiting Child program again!

The picture for today was from Christmas 2011 when David played Jesus at New Day. Incidentally, I played Mary at some point growing up :) New Day incorporates many holidays! If you haven't checked out their blog, please do!! The pictures from their Thanksgiving feast are precious!!

Journey: to new Friends!

The first picture of David with a buddy from New Day!
6 Months Old

I love New Friends!!

We're still in awe of the news we got this week about David and where he is right now! I've been up late several nights reading blogs, emailing new friends, and searching for more pictures of our little guy.
At New Day each child is sponsored by several people. The sponsorship is used for:
*    Food and Clothing

Basic Medical Supplies

Childcare Supplies

Adoption Paperwork Preparation

Early Childhood Education

Staff and Caregiver’s Salaries*

Facility Maintenance Costs

As a sponsor you choose which child you want to sponsor from their website. The children have multiple sponsors and those children without sponsor receive the same high care as those fully sponsored. The family that sponsors the child receives an email update on their child each month, including a photo! We will definitely be sponsoring a child at New Day!!




David~ 14 Months

David is fully sponsored and I've now "met" two of his sponsors who are now my new friends. It is so awesome to have people share our JOY about David, especially those that have known him for a year. Thanks to the amazing power of the internet, two of David's sponsors found my email address and contacted me. They let me know how much they've been praying for David. They told me how much they love him and how happy they are that he is being adopted into a Christian home. It was also stated repeatedly that New Day is an amazing place. Since they have been sponsors for David since he's been at New Day they have updates for him from each month. I was overjoyed when Emmy sent me all the updates (including pictures). Reading about how he's grown each month as been incredible! As we've prepared for our adoption it has made me sad that I wouldn't have many pictures of him as a baby, well I can cross that sadness off my list :) I am now on the update email list so I'll get those from now on- though hopefully I won't have to get to many as we'll have him with us soon!!
I've also been in contact with the director at New Day. She's been so helpful with questions that I've had about some things including how to get David our care package :) She's been so kind and I look forward to meeting her soon. When we travel our first stop will be Beijing and we are already planning some time to visit New Day.
I took our care package to FedEx to mail and it was going to cost $195 to mail, $195!!!! So, I didn't mail it and asked Karen what was the best way to get a package to David. She said USPS was the best way. Good news is that it is about 1/10 the FedEx cost to mail his package via USPS :) I hope he will get his first one by Christmas!! If you check out New Day's blog they have a picture of all the packages they've been getting for Christmas- love it!!