NEW BLOG - WE'VE MOVED!

We have moved our blog to a new site: WWW.JOYINTHEWAITING.COM 

Please follow our adoption journey there! :) Have a blessed day!

~K
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Lunar New Year Stamp

Who knew I would get so excited over a stamp?! But I love these!  It's customary to take gifts to certain people (case workers, orphanage workers, translator, etc..) when you visit China, and these are perfect! We heard that they really love to collect these, and it's the perfect light weight item for when the time comes to pack. 

 Be sure to share this with anyone you know adopting from China. I also ordered the "collectors pack" for our future child. Now here's praying we actually travel this year!


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Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! We absolutely love learning about Chinese celebrations, and can't wait to create New Year family traditions with our child! Tonight I'm making noodles. We also have chinese lanterns hanging in our home... how fun! 

Here's some info about the Chinese New Year: 

"The Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival as it’s been called since the 20th century, remains the most important social and economic holiday in China. Originally tied to the lunar-solar Chinese calendar, the holiday was a time to honor household and heavenly deities as well as ancestors. It was also a time to bring family together for feasting. With the popular adoption in China of the Western calendar in 1912, the Chinese joined in celebrating January 1 as New Year’s Day. China, however, continues to celebrate the traditional Chinese New Year, although in a shorter version with a new name–the Spring Festival. Significantly, younger generations of Chinese now observe the holiday in a very different manner from their ancestors. For some young people, the holiday has evolved from an opportunity to renew family ties to a chance for relaxation from work." - History Channel. 
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Joy in the Waiting

A lot of people have been asking for updates here lately, so I wanted to share that we are still waiting. All of our paperwork is in China, and we are waiting on a referral (a child's file to look at). This could take 3 weeks, 8 months, or 12 months. We have no clue the timeframe. And that, my friends, is the hardest...

When I read the Word, I realize many people had to wait! Sarah and Abraham? Waited THIRTEEN years for a child. Wow. Here I am getting stir crazy after one year. It's not our time yet, and I'm ok with that.

Last year, I realized while writing a post that I wanted to find joy in the waiting. That's my word for 2015... Joy. Yes, the wait is hard, but I want to be joyful in everything else I do while I wait. I don't want to mope around and be sad, I still want to enJOY this life while we wait on our child. I love Romans 15:13 "May the God of hope fill you with all JOY and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirt." Joy, Peace, Hope, I want to be filled with all of those things, don't you?

Last year I heard speaker Mary Marantz say "Joy is the inner attitude of rejoicing in one's salvation regardless of outward circumstances." Woah. How could we not have joy after hearing that?!

What about you? What are you waiting for right now in your life? A job? A spouse? A baby? Do you have joy in the waiting?

My challenge for you is that you share this photo (or any photo) and use #JoyInTheWaiting! Let it be a reminder to you and everyone that sees it, that you are choosing to be filled with JOY no matter how long your wait, can I get an amen?!




As always, thank you for the continued support and prayers. Please keep those prayers coming! We love y'all!
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Thanksgiving 2014

We hosted thanksgiving this year, and I was afraid it would be a little overwhelming but it went perfectly! We got the ham and turkey, made a few side dishes, and then our family each brought some side dishes and desserts. This way, the responsibility of cooking everything was not left to one family. It really made it easier for everyone, and I think we will do it that way from now on.

This year, we're so thankful to have a healthy family, roof over our head, food on the table, and an adoption process that has gone pretty smooth so far (Casey wanted me to add he is super thankful for ham or anything pig related such as bacon)!

I didn't snap many pictures because I wanted to be present and away from my phone and camera, but here are a few we did catch:



I'm self diagnosed "domestically disabled" so I was very proud of our table...







 OK, I know it was Thanksgiving, but we couldn't help to have little pieces of China around us on the day of thanks. We are beyond thankful and grateful for this journey that God has us on. So we decorated a tree with ornaments we found from World Market. Finding joy in the waiting is my favorite. I love looking at it, and I think our future child will love it one day too... :)






Usually Zack and Casey pull the wishbone but this year Zack's girlfriend Jessica and I got to. I'm not proud of the next few pictures...


That sucker was slick!


 Accidentally hit her in the face, sorry Jessica!



This is my mother and I with my brother, Chris!  


These two <3 I love them...


I love this family photo! 


We hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving full of turkey and naps!
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LID

We found out that on 11/18/14 (one year and 2 days after we mailed our announcement letters) that we are LID! This means our dossier was logged in with China!


 What happens next?

 We can officially be matched with children on the Shared List. The Shared List is a CCCWA maintained electronic and secure listing of adoptable children with special needs. “Shared” means that many adoption agencies can see the SAME children’s files simultaneously. There is a possibility for multiple families to be viewing the information for the same child at the same time. Adoption agencies have the ability to secure, or “lock” a child’s file for review by a particular family simply by submitting the family’s name to the CCCWA.

 So basically, we wait! We wait on our agency to match us with our child. We know that he or she is out there somewhere and that God has already picked out our precious little one. 

 Please pray with us that the wait is a short one, and things continue to move quickly and smoothly. We pray that we are traveling sometime next year to meet our little one! Until then, we will find joy in the waiting... 
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DTC

GREAT NEWS!! Yesterday we got the call that we've been waiting on for so long... we are DTC (Dossier to China)! This is a big step! A week or two after our dossier arrives in China, it will be logged into the CCCWA (China Center for Children’s Welfare and Adoption).  The day our paperwork is logged into the system is when we acquire our next set of acronyms, known as LID meaning Log In Date. Once we are logged in with China and they approve everything, we can then be matched with a child! The matching happens via our agency in Oregon. They get lists of children from their locations in China, and when they come across a child that they feel is meant for us, we will get a referral! 

 We are so excited and grateful for this big milestone. THANK YOU to everyone who has helped us get here so far. We couldn't have done this without you! Please continue your prayers as we enter yet another waiting phase. 

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