LOA is in the House

He says it was the first time someone has asked to take his picture. I thanked him from the adoption community. Did I sit on my couch for 4.5 hours awaiting his arrival? Uh, yes. Did he show up on time? Well, no. Did my scanner on my computer work as it has the past six months when it came time to sign it and scan it to Lifeline? Uh, no. Was I left at home without a way to the church so I could fax it? Well, yes. Someone had to go pick up the littles at school for me because, as I said earlier, I couldn't leave for waiting for the Fed Ex man. Did my LOA get signed and faxed to Lifeline? YES! Am I going to celebrate tonight? Oh my, yes.

Now, that I can breathe for a minute, we must move right along to visas, power of attorney for Tim, travel documents, travel meeting, etc., etc., etc.... This will all be a distant memory real soon and that is why I would like to document all the small stuff that we sweat so that others might not feel so crazy when they re-act as I do and forget the big picture.

Happy Birthday, Chaning!

Tomorrow for us/Today for her our little girl turns 4. Thousands of miles away from us, our daughter is celebrating. Tonight, we celebrated for her as well. Although our hearts are heavy that she is not with us on this day, we know she is being loved on and cared for until the day that we can wrap our arms around her. What better way to celebrate than for us to receive our LOA today. We literally did not find out that it was here until about 9:00 p.m. tonight. You gotta love spam email or cyberspace, take your pick.

This means that we will travel to bring Chaning home in about 8 to 10 weeks from now. This is our last leg of the adoption "wait". We were able to share the news with the kids tonight and little Carson's face just lit up like a light bulb when the words, Chaning will be coming home soon were mentioned. These kids are going to love on her to the point that we may have to make sure she is given her space to take it all in once we return home. Carson has always been the baby of the family and is sitting on GO to "teach" his baby sister all that she needs to learn.

Many of you have asked how Julia feels about the upcoming addition of Chaning. Julia starts each and every day asking how long it is until Chaning comes home and you can already see the love in her heart that she has for her baby sister. She is so nurturing. She is also so tomboyish. Watch out, Chaning.

Chaning, we hope you have a wonderful 4th birthday and cannot wait to celebrate all the rest of your birthdays with you. You are so loved! Oh, and your cake was really good!

Final Fundraiser for Chaning!!!!!

Let me just preface this post by telling you GOD is GOOD! It blew us away when we walked by faith to adopt Julia and every time we needed to distribute funds, they were there. We only had to raise under half of the proceeds needed when adopting Julia.

This time around, we knew we would have to raise just about all the funds to adopt Chaning and again, every time we have needed to disburse funds, they have been there. We started out needing almost $27k and now we are down to needing around $3,500. Yes, you did not misread what I typed. How did this happen? All I can say is this is a lot bigger than we can wrap our minds around.

Let me just say, I am/was a very prideful person who does NOT like to ask for anything. I'm the person who cannot say no and loves to help anyone in need but doesn't like to ask for help in return. I have to be in control of everything around me or else I wig out and feel lost. BUT what I learned through Julia's adoption is that people are very kind and do truely care and want to give from the heart and that IT IS NOT ABOUT ME...AT ALL!!

What I have learned through Chaning's adoption is that if you are obedient to what God is calling you to do, He will provide the means. He just wants us to trust in him and share our faith with others. The amount of people that have come forward to help in some (any) way with this adoption is unbelievable.

We are now starting our 4th and final fundraiser. No, we have not received our LOA so far and we are getting a little restless in regards to that but we know His timing will be perfect and this will be a distant memory. We have had a wonderful friend that is allowing us to do a giveaway of a wonderful 3 days/2 nights package to Callaway Gardens located in Pine Mountain, GA. It sleeps 8 people and you can book upon availability. This allows you access to the Cecil B. Day Butterfly Room and the Gardens. It is a wonderful place for bike riding and making family memories. This is valued at over $500.

Tickets are 1/$10 or 3/$25.

I am not doing a chip in button at this time but you can contact me at pfdchin@yahoo.com and I will get your tickets to you. The drawing will take place on Saturday, May 15th. Video will be posted on blog showing winner. Tickets will no longer be sold after Friday, May 14th.

You can read about Callaway Gardens: http://www.callawaygardens.com/

Again, we would like to thank those of you that have poured your heart into helping us and also praying us through this journey. Oh, and "Why China?" Because that is where God placed our second daughter.