Travel Approval!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We received word from our agency today that we received TA. They are still working on the dates so I will post them as soon as I receive them. Right now they are trying for a consulate appointment on December 8th. We could possibly be leaving on Thanksgiving! God is good!!! His timing is perfect!!!

Article 5 issued

Hi Everyone,
We haven't posted for a few weeks, but I'm happy to announce that the US Consulate in Guangzhou has issued our Article 5. It has been forwarded to the Chinese authorities and now we wait for official travel approval.

We spoke to Julia this past Tuesday night through Skype and she was in such a good mood! While we were talking with her Adahlyn and Drew came running into the room so I said hello to both of them. The intern helping Julia said it was time for snack, but Julia wanted to sing a song before she left. She sang "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". She sings us a least one or two songs every week!

We are so blessed that she is at New Day! They are teaching her Kindergarten concepts and she told us all the days of the week in English. She has also been working on phonics! Each week she sounds out an English letter and gives us examples of words.

I don't know how long it will be before we travel, but I know all of this is in God's time. Before long, Julia will be sounding out those words in her Kindergarten class at Norton Elementary.

Lord, thank you for blessing us so richly!

One Step Closer

We received really good news today! Our I-800 form was pre-approved by the USCIS and was forwarded to the Consulate in Guangzhou. Our agency thinks that we may be traveling in four to six weeks based on timelines they've experienced lately. We are so excited and I feel a definite need to get my act together. Those of you that have traveled already especially during cold weather, I would love to hear your travel suggestions. Please keep us in your prayers during this hectic time! God will get us through this next phase especially with you guys lifting us up. Also, please pray that Julia will have an open heart to this new journey. Thank you to everyone for all your support and help! Blessings, Michelle

Julia Update

We spoke to Julia the other night through Skype and she was so excited. It was the Autumn Moon Festival plus National Day. She was looking forward to eating mooncake and told us that her older foster sister would be dancing in Tiananmen Square.

She sang to us in Chinese and we asked her if she could count to 10 for us in Chinese. Mark and I wanted to hear her say the numbers in her language. She looked at us like she was offended and told the translator that she could count to 100 not just to 10! She then counted to 100 to show us. We know that she is very smart and we didn't mean to insult her. I love her spirit!

I love this photograph of her too; I wonder what's going on in her mind. I can only imagine!

We're still in the wait mode for TA and with everything being closed this next week, don't expect any news for a while.

LOA!!!!!!!

Well, what a week! To begin with, we decided to host the "Pilgrim Virgin of Fatima" at our house. The Legion of Mary chapter at our church started the program and they bring a blessed statue of Mary to your house for a week. We were the first family to host her and we asked her for her intercession to help bring Julia home. As you know whatever Mary asks her Son, he does. (remember the wedding wine at Cana) She had been here three days and wham! we had our LOA! Our agency was shocked; they were not expecting it so soon. The average amount of days from LID to LOA for our agency is 74 days and we received our acceptance on day 49!

So when will we travel? Our agency hopes by the end of December based on timelines they have dealt with in the last few months. I'm very excited but also a little nervous due to it being very cold weather in Inner Mongolia at that time of year.
We filled out our I-800 paperwork and it was sent on Friday, the 18th to the NBC.

I know several of you readers out there are not catholic and don't believe in the power of Mary's intercession with her Son, but His mother holds a special place with Him. She whispers her requests in His ear in Heaven and He does what she asks of him.

Moving Along

It's been a while since I wrote on the blog so I wanted to update everyone on the latest news. We received a call from our agency last week and they informed us that we have a LID of July 27, 2009! We are getting a little closer to bringing our precious Julia home! Our friend, Lindsay (who interned at NDFH), came home on Monday night and she had so many pictures of Julia and her friends at the foster home. There was the most precious video of them singing, The Muffin Man. When we skyped with her on Tuesday night, she sang that song. We had asked Lindsay to come over so Julia could see her. They had had a very emotional goodbye in China so Julia was very surprised and happy to see her!

Last week, my eight year old daughter, Lydia, and I went to an incoming Kindergarten get-together at the park near our house. We were representing Julia and brought her pictures with us. Mark and I plan to put her in Kindergarten soon after we bring her home. We feel the routine and getting to know new friends will be beneficial for her. We took pictures of a couple of potential classmates holding her picture, then we e-mailed them to NDFH. The next day, we received pictures of Julia looking at her potential classmates!

We feel so blessed that Julia is in such caring, loving hands! God continuously shines his bright light on the kids and their caretakers. I mentioned our friend, Lindsay, who is such a mature, caring teenager. She wrote the most breathtaking article about Julia in the Texas Catholic newspaper. If you would like to read this article, please go to www.texascatholic.com and scroll down to COLUMNISTS. As a result of this article plus God's infinite wisdom and mercy, a pediatric doctors' group has offered their services for Julia's pediatric care. PTL!!! We are so blessed and give thanks every day. Hope you enjoy the article; please pray for the doctors, Lindsay, Julia, and us. God bless!

Incredible Connections Part II

We were so overwhelmed and overjoyed that the parish had responded so enthusiastically! We had the means to bring her home and her file was supposed to come through very soon. But it didn't. God had figured things out way ahead and postponed her file coming through for several months. At the end of October '08, Mark lost his job! Fortunately, our homestudy wasn't finished and we put the adoption temporarily on hold. Thank you Lord for the timing of all of this! We were down mentally, emotionally, and financially, but God said "Be not afraid."

Around the middle of March '09, we were presented the opportunity to buy an established vending business and the SAME week, Julia's file came through to the agency! God is so wonderful and blessed us once again. We started everything up once more and angels here on Earth helped us with several parts of the paperwork. The homestudy was finished so we could apply for the I-800A, and we received approval from USCIS around 40 days later. Paperwork for pre-approval to adopt Julia was sent May 19th and May 26th, we were pre-approved to adopt this precious little soul.

The next big milestone occurred on July 14th when our dossier went to China! I'm am in awe of our God who knows our hearts and moved the hearts of our parish to provide the funds to bring her home. Our parish has at least 4500 in attendance on any given weekend and to know that not only will we be Julia's family, but the whole parish as well. PTL!!! " Our God is an awesome God, He reigns from Heaven and Earth."