We Are LID!

I am writing with some very good news. An email from our agency confirmed that we are officially Logged In with China. Our log in date (LID) is 10/27/06. This LID is very important and you will hear me refer to it many times. As China matches families with babies they do this systematically according to your log in date (LID). So far they have matched families with babies that have a log in date before August 9, 2005. If the wait stays the same we will have 14 months between now and our match with our baby. However, in the internationl adoption world, nothing is stable and this wait can increase even more or actually decrease (which is what we are praying for). So we will patiently watch the adoption boards to see where China is in their placement of families. In the Bible Isaiah reminds us "But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:31 Our hope will be in the LORD and we will be pressing on each day as we anticipate the arrival of our precious forever daughter.

Congratulations

"Congratulations! Your dossier has been delivered to the CCAA." That is what the email said from our agency Monday evening. Such exciting news to know that our dossier has reached it's final destination. It seemed to take us a little longer than others to compile our dossier, not to mention the incredible slowdown from the USCIS. But all the work and waiting has paid off to know our dossier has finally arrived to it's home. Our agency will notify us sometime in the next four weeks of our offical log in date. That will be the date the CCAA goes by to match us with our child. Right now they have only matched dossiers with a log in date before August 9th of 2005, so obviously we have quite a ways to go before we will be matched with our third daughter!

Six months later...

Six months ago we oficially began our adoption process with acceptance of our application and orientation with our agency. Six months later our paperwork is complete and made it through a critical review with our agency. We passed with flying colors and according to someone at our agency, she hasn't seen to many dossiers that were done correctly. So maybe all those hours I poured over every little detail paid off! Our dossier is now in Colorado and is being translated by the Colorado office and officially mounted according to China's requirements. That will take between two and three weeks and then it is off to China. I will be notified of our DTC (dossier to china) and then hopefully shortly thereafter we will have an LID (Log In Date) with China Center for Adoption Affairs! Yeah, we will be celebrating that day with some Chinese food! After that, we will settle in for what is to be expected as a very long wait. Currently the wait is fourteen months from your LID to getting your referral. It is expected to go up to eighteen months and honestly, could even go higher. But will will wait because we only want everything to happen in God's timing, not ours.

Faith

Before we began this process I often wondered how it feels to be in the midst of an adoption process. In many ways it is very similar to being pregnant; the worries of the health and safety of your baby, the range of emotions and the worry about finances are among the similarities. Just like a pregnancy, an adoption, an international one at that, is a journey of faith. Your child, your money, your paperwork are in the hands of a foreign government that controls who they allow to take their babies and how many babies to give over to international adoption. Currently things have slowed down so much in the China Adoption process that they are referring babies at a snail's pace. The referrals haven't stopped, they have just dramatically slowed down! A huge rumor floating around the international adoption world is that China is getting ready to implement some new regulations on people adopting from their country to try and decrease the number of dossiers coming into their country. We have finished all of our paperwork and the documents are back from Houston. Everything is official now and they next step is to send our dossier to our agency. Along with our agency we have to pay our second agency fee and our first China Center for Adoption Affairs fee. This is a pretty large sum of money and we currently do not have all of it. So we are faced with a decision. We can hold onto our dossier until we have saved up the money. With this decision we run the risk of China changing some of their regulations and requirements that may or may not affect us. Or we can send the dossier to our agency with the need to temporarily put some of the cost on credit so that we can possibly have a log in date before the new regulations are in place. Please pray for us we seek God for an answer and that we can be at peace with whatever direction we choose. This truly is a journey of faith!

Documents complete

A sweet lady who understands the adoption process works at the post office and saw my documents arrive today from Houston. She gave us a call to let us know they were there if we wanted to pick them up and of course I did! They are complete, Praise the Lord! More later...

Pray, pray, pray

Hey to all you who may check in every now and then! I am asking for a specific prayer right now. In my anxiousness to send all our paperwork to the Chinese Consulate in Houston to be authenticated, I forgot one little tiny piece of paper that really should not matter in the whole scheme of things, but might. I see it as minor so please pray with me that the Chinese Consulate will see it as minor also. I should have included a copy of Jeremiah's passport photo page with the other hundreds of documents and it slipped through the cracks. My prayer is that they will go ahead and authenticate the documents even without his passport page. If not, then I will more than likely have to mail everything again (which is not cheap) and I am also running close to the deadline of some of my documents expiring. So just pray that everything goes through! Thanks!

20/10

Many things have taken place since the last time I posted. I turned 30; or 20/10 as a dear friend shared with me. I had a wonderful evening having dinner with friends, nothing complicated. That seems to be my new theme for the 20/10 years, nothing complicated. I want to simplify my life. I don't believe God is complicated. His salvation, his love, his mercy and grace, all are given to us; nothing complicated. I recieved my first bit of good news in my 20/10 years; my I 171-H (or I 797 as is written on the form) arrived in the mail as I was leaving to go away for the weekend. I was so estatic I almost hugged the mailman, but restrained. The following Monday I had it notarized and certified by the county clerk and on Tuesday I took all my documents to Atlanta to the Secretary of State office to have them certified. On Wednesday I put them in the hands of the USPS to be deliverd to the Chinese Consulate in Houston. If all goes well (and please pray it does) this will be my last step in the paper chasing process. We are hoping to now be LID by the first week of October. Georgia football tickets also arrived in the mail. I mention it only because I found it quite entertaining to see men that usually are laid back get so excited and call all their friends to discuss their seats (the same ones they've had for years), the new regulations and start discussing what animal will be sacrificed (cooked to eat)at the first tailgate. A male ritual of some sort? And they think women are silly!

Reflections

Today is Wednesday, August 2. In three days I will be thirty. I don't really know what to think about it. For the past two years I have been anticipating my thirtieth birthday, knowing that my dossier can arrive in China meeting the age requirement. But with the USCIS slowdown in processing my paperwork, all my ideas about when my documents would arrive in China have changed. But isn't that kind of how we want it, not our way but God's. On many occasions I have felt him telling me, 'See what you have done Robyn, now let's watch and see what I can do! Just let me.' Everytime I think I've done something well, I feel God telling me, 'If you would just let me have the reins, I'll show you what I can really do'. I think that is the only way to go with this adoption, is to let him completely control it. In all honesty, there is nothing I can do to control it. So I am sure there is a greater plan in the delay getting my dossier to China. About turning thirty. I'm a reflective person and I've thought back over the past thirty years and the life I've led. I have nothing to complain about, it's been a good life. But what have I really done for the Lord? How many people have I led to Christ? How am I furthering his kingdom? These questions have begun to haunt me and I want so much to glorify him in all that I do. I want to serve him and work diligently for him. Right now, most days I feel like I just exist, barely getting through the day. But that is not what Christ intended our life to be, there is so much more. Pray with me as I truly seek his will for my life and our family. Missions, Christian service in the business world or working in the ministry? How does God want my family to serve him? Not my will, but may your will be done, Lord.