From China with Love

LIDs and Doors and so much more!

Step 2: "Logged In Date"

Well I can't hardly believe it. We waited a little bit longer to get our dossier to China because of three government holiday closings (Christmas, New Year's and MLK day). We were thrilled last week when we were finally DTC, but we knew it typically took 3 weeks to get logged in (LID), and with Chinese New Year just a few days away, we were looking at more government closings slowing down our process.                   I was ready to settle in for a "long winter's nap" and check back in come March!

This morning I was enjoying a time of worship, prayer, Bible reading and journaling at one of my favorite places. My phone ringer had been turned off for about 40 minutes when I decided I wanted to look up the Hebrew meaning of something on my phone. And then I saw it. The thing I had read about on many adoption blogs before. It makes your heart skip a beat, but only during this very special time of the adoption process. It was a missed call from my social worker! Not just one missed call, but multiple...and she had emailed me! She had a file for us to review!!!

I quickly and quietly slipped out of the room and went outside into the cool sunny morning to return her call. As I spoke with her, my husband was calling (because she had called him too). We decided, based on the limited information we had about the child, to review her complete file. Before gathering up my things and heading to meet Larry to review the file, I had a woman pray with me that we would have wisdom to discern whether or not this little girl was to be our forever daughter.

In the End...

The general information given about this beautiful little girl was incorrect and after reviewing the file we learned she was much younger than we had been told. She was precious. But we knew she was not to be our daughter. When I talk to people about the fact that we will review files and may have to turn them down, well, they think there could be nothing worse. How do you say, "no" to a needy child? However, God in all his goodness gives us much peace and joy in the process. Families hoping to bring home a little girl age 0-2 often wait the longest. I am confident that this little beauty was matched with another family this very day!!!

Renovation Progress

Last week I discussed the mess that was occurring in my house as Larry and Dad ripped out carpet and put in floors, and ripped out walls to build new ones. This past weekend some drywall went up and three new doors have gone in.

Dad ripping out the double closets

The new hallway a week ago

      These pictures show the new hallway leading into our new master         bedroom, and also the new closet framed out in our new bedroom.

     I was so thankful to see our garage cleared out as we took 4 trashcans and multiple rolls of carpet to the street yesterday! We are looking forward to another productive weekend of house projects in just a few days! Bring on the trim and more drywall!