Trip Itinerary

Watch out China, here we come!

6/14         Fly from Columbus to Chicago 

6/14         Fly from Chicago to Beij*ng

6/15         Arrive in Beijing

6/16         Touring Mutianyu Section of Great Wall

6/17         Flying from Beijing to Nanj*ng (Mariah's province)

6/18         Gotcha Day (still Father's Day in the U.S.)

6/19         Adoption is finalized and she officially becomes a Kaminski

6/20         Touring Province with guide

6/21         Visit orphanage and finding spot

6/22         Fly from Nanj*ng to Guangzh*u

6/23         Medical exam appointment   

6/24         Touring with Lifeline group 

6/25         Touring with Lifeline group

6/26         Touring with Lifeline group

6/27         Consulate Appointment and Oath then Shamian Island shopping

6/28         Private van to Hong Kong 

6/29         Receive new American visa and fly home--Hong Kong to Newark                                    

Long plain ride is 15 1/2 hours. Keep in mind we are doing this with a toddler that has never ridden in a car or carseat. Keep us in prayer as we know we will be on the road for over 24 hours to come back.

God has been so good to us. We don't deserve it!     

Honest thoughts

I thought I'd take an opportunity to write a few things that are on my heart as we wait out the remainder of this process. It has been a tough few weeks for me, personally. My heart aches so much to have this little bundle in our arms and in our home. I know and understand that this is all in the Lord's timing. My mere human mind does not understand why this process takes so long. We began this process in December of 2010. But when I compare this process to so many other countries, it is actually pretty quick. I think one of my many faults as a wife and mom is my lack of patience. God has taught me so much in this process. I have learned that no matter what happens, God truly is in control. I knew this before but never experienced it as we have recently. Just when we thought we would never be able to make the next agency payment, God provided.....all in His timing. We have watched this many times in the past 17 months. 

The above picture was the second picture from the update that we requested two months ago. Doesn't it look like Mariah could use a Mama's arms wrapped around her and her Daddy's kisses? She will not know for many years how this journey has changed us as a family. She possibly will never know. I can attest to the fact that we are not the same husband and wife as we were. We have had our hearts' eyes opened to things that we chose to ignore, until now. We did this because it was just plain easy. 

Our Mariah has been waiting for us, for the opportunity of a life she would never have if left in that orphanage.  She was found on the Special Focus list of children on Ch*na's Waiting Child list. This is a list of children that have the lowest odds of ever becoming part of a family. She was truly, the least of these. So how could Jeremy and I see her beautiful picture knowing that she was created in the image of our perfect God and not act? We simply could not. We prayed about her for just a few moments and knew that she was to be part of our forever family. 

Mariah's story is one that we will share with her. She does not have the most beautiful beginning, but we pray that God will create a beautiful remainder of her story. Soon, she will begin that journey. One that was written before the fabric of time.

Here is the beginning of her story that we have not yet shared. Her approximate birth date is December 14, 2010. No one, except her birth parents, know her true birth date and circumstances that surround her birth. Mariah was "found" on January 17, 2011. I have researched many things about this particular day in her province. It was a cold winter Monday in Changzhou. The high temperature was 34 degrees and the low was 21 degrees. 

Maybe you understand even more why my heart aches so much for this baby. She is wanted! She is loved! She is our baby girl who is living in an orphanage. We will teach Mariah what a family is. We will teach her that she is unconditionally loved by her Heavenly Father and earthly family. We will teach her what a mama and baba are, that we will provide for her earthly needs. We will give her a sister that she can share all of her secrets. We will give her three brothers that will protect her. I also have to admit that all of her siblings will spoil this sweetie. They are beyond excited to have her home. Best of all......she will give us the picture of biblical adoption! 

Jeremy and I have witnessed how our old desires have dramatically changed. Two years ago we would have told you that we wanted to remodel our 30 year old kitchen. Would that be nice?......absolutely! We also would have told you that we wanted to have furniture in our theatre room. Do we have furniture?.....nope! Bean bags provide seating for the four kids now. We would have also told you that we wanted a deck on our pool, new family room furniture, new windows in the house, eat out more often, and an additional parking space in our driveway. None of that matters now. Those would all be nice, but we feel so blessed to have been chosen to be Mariah's family.  We can live with things the way they are for a few more years. 

"For such a time is this" has been a comfort to me on more than one occasion. When others have questioned our motives, Jeremy has reminded me that this is God's time for us to adopt and quoted this Scripture from the book of Esther. We have received a lot of support and it has been a blessing. Several friends have been surprised by our announcement and accepted it with joy. It took us 16 years to come to this decision! We are simply obeying God. I don't mean that this is simple. It has been anything but. We could have given up several times, but we knew there was a little girl sitting in an orphanage in Ch*na waiting for us. We dove right into the waters that were so unfamiliar to us. I feel like we dove in without a life jacket. Yet here we are. 

Our lives would be so much simpler right now if we were not on this journey. We would have more money. We would not be going back to a baby in diapers then potty training. We would have a newer car for Jeremy with brakes that work (he lost his brakes on his way home from church today). We chose to obey God's leading, after several years. Keep in mind that we ignored this leading for several years. We just could not ignore any longer. God does not ask us to do the simple. He requires us to obey. We would have been miserable if we chose to continue our lives as they were. Instead, we are experiencing God in a way we never dreamed. We are happy! We are madly in love with each other.....still! I see Jeremy as I have never seen him before. He would move heaven and earth for Mariah, a child we have only seen in a few pictures. He has ignited this fire in our other children and encourages them to consider adoption once they are married. Jeremy has already arranged to return to China with Becca when she and her husband adopt. Evidently, her husband and I stay home. Ummm, we'll see!

All of us agree that it is time! We are just praying that Ch*na issues that final approval this week!  

We ask that you pray for several things as we begin this leg of our process:

*Pray that Mariah's little heart is ready to meet us.

*Pray that Mariah is healthy.

*Pray that our flights are not terribly expensive.

*Pray that our four kids here do well at Aunt Tammy's and Uncle Don's.

*Pray that we remain healthy. 

*Pray that my parents remain healthy.

*Pray that we do not suffer terribly from jet lag.

Thank you for your friendship and prayers. 

I leave you with a video that Jeremy put together. This song has special meaning to us.                                           Beautiful!

                                      

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.                                                                                Jeremiah 1:5

A little bit of this and a little bit of that!

I guess this is not as clear of a picture as I hoped, but you can still make out the beauty of these bracelets! A very sweet friend of mine from high school made these for me. I emailed her a while back and asked if she would make part of the gifts for me that we will be taking to China. When we asked our agency how many gifts we needed to take, they told us 10-12 gifts.


These gifts will be given to each of Mariah's nannies, our guide, and our agency's in-country facilitator.


One of the requests I had for these bracelets was for each to have a ladybug somewhere on the bracelet. If you look closely you will see the silver ladybug on each bracelet. That is pretty significant in the China adoption world and I was thrilled to see it!

Here are three more of the bracelets. I did ask for twelve bracelets as I intend to keep one for myself and one for Mariah. The hard part is choosing which two I plan to keep. I have a couple of more weeks before I have to decide.


These beautiful bracelets were made by Marie Hilty. She was a friend of mine in high school. She makes jewelry of all kind and has a business. Thank you, Marie, for quickly making these bracelets and making them unique!


I also thought I'd take a minute and share a little about China and Mariah's provincial city. She is currently residing in Changzhou (pronounced...Chung Joe). As many of you already know, she lives in the orphanage in that city. I cannot wait to take pictures and show you her hometown and her orphanage. The orphanage moved to a brand new location a few years ago and honestly, it is gorgeous! I've seen pictures and other parents have told me how nice the orphanage is now. I believe there are around 300 children living there. She lives with 29 other children ages 0-2yrs.  Her orphanage participates with Half the Sky. This wonderful organization comes in to the orphanage and provides much needed care to these children. They provide physical and occupational therapy and consistent nannies to help facilitate healthy attachments for the children living there.


Changzhou City, Mariah's city, is located about halfway between Shanghai and Nanjing (provincial capital). It is a city that is most known for it's comb factory. Yes, hair combs! We are hoping to take a tour of the comb factory there.  We will also purchase a set of combs as a keepsake for Mariah.

Changzhou is also home to the famous China Dinosaur Park. This park is home to over 50 dinosaur fossils from all over China. It also happens to be an amusement park!  As well as the dinosaur park, Changzhou also boasts one of the tallest Buddist pagodas named Tianning Temple.


Yesterday was just a day of fun here at the Kaminski house. Well, fun for the kids. Jeremy and I worked on getting the pool ready for use while the kids had the garden hose in the front yard. So we snapped a few pictures of the kids playing.






High temps were in the 90's! Very warm and humid.

Then I cannot forget our youngest little guy. The only picture of him playing with the water was not very good. So I'll choose a picture from a few days before. This is typical of what you would see Ben doing on any given day. He is so much fun!


We have decided to stay home this Memorial Day. It is too hard to try to made it back to PA since Jeremy works on Sunday and on Tuesday. That leaves us with less than 24 hours to be with family. A good part of that time would be spent sleeping. It's a little tough to visit with both families and make it back home in time to get everyone to bed at a decent time. We will certainly miss the family reunion with Jeremy's family. I don't remember the last time we were able to be there. Jeremy's schedule is the same every year. We wish it could be different but going home is just not going to work this year since we will be using much of Jeremy's vacation time when we leave for China in just a couple of weeks.

To answer any the question you are probably thinking, we did not receive our date for travel yet. We hope to get that by the end of next week. Then we should know when to book our flights. For the next couple of weeks we will continue to prepare. I realized the other day that our toy room is unacceptable. We have Legos EVERYWHERE! My feet have found many of them as I walk through. Ouch!!! These definitely have to be taken care of before Mariah comes home. 


We received a gift from a sweet couple at church today. The husband picked out a dress for Mariah and the wife chose a beautiful white sweater! This keeps getting more exciting!  

Wrapping Up and Getting Ready!

This past Wednesday night we watched our kids (and Jeremy) receive their awards from our church's AWANA program. I never tire of watching my kids gleam as they receive their awards. To the left here is Kyle receiving his award for his first year of serving in AWANA. Kyle has been faithful to serve with Jeremy (the taller guy in grey)in Gametime. Jeremy is the Director and Kyle was one of his helpers. We are trying to instill in our children how important it is to serve. It seems as though Kyle really enjoys serving others. He has such a great heart!

I believe this was Jeremy's 12th year as well. He has the unique opportunity to have contact with all of the children in our AWANA organization (approximately 60 kids). I love to watch Jeremy with these kids. They seem to be drawn to him. I never see Jeremy walk past one of these kids where they don't come over to him and either wrap their arms around his legs or start a tickle fight! Okay, maybe that is not entirely true. I have often times caught Jeremy starting these tickle fights. It is really endearing. I love that my kids get to witness this as well. Can you see why he is such a great Daddy?

Here is our sweet Mikey receiving his award. This child has truly overcome HUGE obstacles! If you only knew him as a baby. Oh my! He didn't speak until he was almost three. He has Auditory Processing Disorder and Sensory Integration Dysfunction. Basically, he has a lot of trouble processing information received. All information is overload for him. This has proven to be a huge struggle for him in a traditional classroom setting. So, our classroom at home can be on the couch, on my bed while I'm fixing my hair, standing at the kitchen counter, at the basketball hoop, on the deck, occasionally at his desk......you get the idea. He has thrived as a home schooler! 


When it came to AWANA and completing his books, I honestly dreaded the thought. By the time we finish school for the day, he is mentally fatigued. He has concentrated so hard throughout the day that there isn't much left. But he is a determined child!! I only helped him a little. It was all him that decided to work a little bit in his book several days a week. He worked so hard and learned 109 verses this year! Micah, Mommy and Daddy are so very proud of you! We knew you could do it.

Here is our sweet Rebecca with her wonderful teacher, Miss Billie, and Miss Billie's daughter, Miss Shanna. Rebecca LOVES these sweet ladies! Miss Billie has been the ever dependable babysitter for us. She has been there when I went into labor with all of my kiddos. She kept Kyle and Micah for a couple of days while we were in Morgantown waiting to see if Rebecca was going to survive her early birth. Miss Billie also watched my older three kids when we went to the hospital in labor with Ben (over night...again!) Miss Billie was the ever faithful friend calling to check on our dear Ben while he had surgery in Columbus. She is very special to us! We all love her. Rebecca moves up to the next T&T class next year. Thank you Miss Billie for loving us as you do. Thank you Miss Shanna for loving on Rebecca too!!

Lastly, we have Ben. Here he is with his Sparks teacher, Miss Mary. There were days when I think Ben thought the sun rose and set because Miss Mary. Ben was so blessed to have Miss Mary! But I would be remiss not to say he felt the same for Miss April and Miss Lyn! What a blessing for a mom to leave her child in their classroom knowing how much he/she was loved. Miss Mary was so good when Ben was sick this past fall. She offered to come over to our house to listen to him so that he could finish his book this year. She never had to because he was determined to get it done!  One thing we all learned about Ben is he is more determined the "sicker" (yes I just used that word) he is. He completed his book and was only a few verses shy of completing the review! No wonder this child has stumped his doctors! He is one lovable spitfire! Ben is a child that really needs hugs and kisses from me. I am more than happy to oblige.

Okay now, isn't this doll adorable? I ordered this doll for Mariah and it came in the mail this past week. We plan to take this with us to China in her backpack! It is a soft Asian doll with adorable black yarn hair with a ponytail on each side. I know it is a little hard to see but she is a cutie pie!


We continued our shopping this week in anticipation of our trip. I am so thankful for other adoptive parents who have recently returned from China. They have given us priceless advice. I am hoping not to have too much culture shock upon arrival in China (gasp). These parents have done a terrific job! I went out and bought bug spray.......for those of you that don't know, I have terrible reactions to bug bites. Oftentimes I develop cellulitis as a result of scratching in my sleep. So for Mariah's sake and my own, we are armed with bug spray and Afterbite (anti-itch medicine). We also purchased sunscreen (for Mariah), our Boba baby carrier, a new memory stick for our camera, a new battery for our camera, a new battery for our video camera, diapers, long sleeve jammies (she is used to being bundled), and a couple of more pair of shorts with cute shirts. I honestly don't believe we will ever be done shopping for this trip. To answer your questions.....yes they do sell this stuff in China. We just don't read Mandarin! Since manufacturers are different, we would have no idea what we were purchasing.


This week begins our wait for Travel Approval. This is the very last step! Once we received that, we can book travel. Travel Approvals are coming in at around 2-3 weeks. I am still praying for the possibility of travel and return home before June 28th, Becca's 10th birthday!
  
I asked Rebecca if we had to be in China for her birthday, would she prefer her birthday to be celebrated before we leave or after we get back. She said before. When the boys asked why, she told them that she didn't want Mariah to feel left out. So she thought if she celebrated before, then Mariah would never know. What a sweetheart!


Love beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things; endureth all things.                                                                              I Corinthians 13:7

Mother's Day 2012

Happy Mother's Day!

This was the card that was waiting for me when I came down to the kitchen this morning. How sweet. In case you cannot see the print, MOTHER is the acronym and this is how it reads:

• Miracle-maker, 
• One in a million, 
• Teacher and giver of 
• Hugs by the zillion,
• Eager to help you, 
• Reach for your star

.....She loves you just the way you are!

Jeremy is the first one up on Sunday mornings (4:30 to be exact), so I am certain he put the card on the kitchen table for me to find. I overlooked it for breakfast with the kids but noticed it as I was helping Ben put his shoes on for church. I am a very blessed mommy and wife. I have a wonderful husband and great kids! Don't get me wrong, they are kids but they are terrific kids and I love them to the moon and back! They have come up to me and hugged and kissed me countless times today...even my boys. They wish me a Happy Mother's Day as they offer those sweet hugs and kisses. Today, I welcome those peanut butter kisses from my dear Benjamin! (Usually, I ask him to go wash the layers of who knows what, from his sweet little face because.............he is a boy!)

This Mother's Day is bitter-sweet for me. I have four of my five sweet children here in our home, but one is half-way around the world. The helplessness one feels is sometimes unbearable. I just want her here but I know that the Lord's timing is ALWAYS perfect. It is impossible for me to wrap my mind around the "whys" in this process. I just rest assured in God's promises to me. He is my source of strength. 

I am very blessed as I sit here today. I was raised by wonderful parents. My mom is a woman that always put her children above any of her own desires. She truly sacrificed for her five children. I even see it now as she sacrifices for her grandchildren. Thank you mom for being a godly example to me. Thank you for showing me compassion. That has ignited the flame that began the journey we are on right now. Having you teach me how to hang clothes out to dry is where we heard that radio broadcast for the first time. That radio program is where the seed was planted and has grown for over 20 years. Thank you for dropping everything to help bring our little girl home to her family and for  coming to China with us. I love you mom! Thank you for being such an awesome Grandma to all seventeen of your grandchildren!

My Grandma Smith is no longer here. Four years ago this month, my Grandma went home to be with our Lord. She was met there by my sweet Granddad. Grandma had the most awesome fried chicken recipe! I have tried countless times to replicate that recipe (no specific measurements and the spices used were well.....whatever spices we had on hand). I cannot match that recipe. My mom can do it, but I fail. Grandma lived with osteoarthritis. I took her to the orthopedic doctor once when I was still in high school and that doctor told me that Grandma was living with immense pain. But due to her age, she was not eligible for a knee replacement. You could hear Grandma's joints creak as we helped her stand. The disease meant the grinding of bone on bone, very painful. She now is pain-free!

I also have three other women still living that have influenced my life. My Grandma Bash is one of the strongest women I know. She faced some of the most difficult circumstances a person can endure. Grandma faced persecution for most of her life as a young person. You see, she is Jewish. Her parents immigrated here from Hungary. She went to college but had to drop out as a result of the persecution she faced. She married outside of her faith, which is against the way of Jewish culture. Her strength may be where I get some of my gumption. Grandma gracefully watched as my Grandpap passed away ten years ago. She is an excellent seamstress and I was honored to have her make the dresses for my bridesmaids......16 years ago.

Then I have my dear Mother-In-Law. LaRue has always made me feel like an integral part of the Kaminski family, junior, as my Father-In-Law puts it. She loves me and shows me in many ways. She loves on our kids and they adore her. When they come for visits, she always wants to help. I feel like she is another mom to me. On our visits to Pennsylvania, she tries to make our visits special. She loves to make our favorite meals for us to eat while there. For a child who has difficulties with change and sensory issues, Micah is blessed to have her, as are we all. Thank you for your love and admiration for all of us. I only wish I could have known you my whole life. Although I have known you now for over 21 years! I am blessed.

I also cannot forget Jeremy's Grandma, Claire Leard. As you may have guessed, our Mariah Claire is named after this sweet woman. She is the only grandparent on either side of our families without a namesake. We only thought it was time for that honor. We are all blessed to have her. She is yet another grandmother to our children. She is blessed with 7 great-grandchildren now. Grandma has been the "go to" person for our children when they were babies. Grandma would come down to Jeremy's mom and dad's house when we would visit with our babes. Somehow, Grandma was always able to put those crying babies to sleep, and she was proud to do so. I remember when Kyle was just a few months old, Grandma Leard got down on the floor and changed his diaper. That in itself is huge. But Grandma had just had a knee replacement a few weeks before!  She now lives alone as Pappy passed away in January. Life is challenging for her now, but we cannot wait to visit again.

As you can see, we are family oriented. I am blessed with my family from birth, and my family I gained through marriage. The women have left a legacy and such an impact on my life. They have challenged me to walk a Christian walk. They love the Lord with an intense love. Thank you Mom, Grandma Smith, Grandma Bash, Mom Kaminski, and Grandma Leard. You have made an everlasting impression on generations to come!

For those of you who are not familiar with Chinese adoptions, a ladybug is a symbol of good luck. It is generally thought that they bring good luck. Of course we don't believe in good luck, but we love that ladybugs are a symbol of the adoptions from China. So, can you imagine how extra sweet it was when Rebecca made these for me in Sunday School? This was just the package it was in. There is a round ladybug tag tying the bag closed. I thought that was the extent of ladybugs. 

                                   Then I unwrapped these sweet little treasures!

Evidently, Rebecca started working on these last week. They are river rocks that her Sunday School teachers had the girls begin work on last Sunday. Thank you Miss Denise and Miss Debbie! These are uniquely special to me this Mother's Day. You are really wonderful teachers to these girls too!

This past Tuesday, our Article 5 was dropped off. This is all part of Mariah's visa application process. It will be picked up on May 22nd and that officially begins our wait for TA (Travel Approval). 

I was truly happy that my agency friend finally got her LOA! She waited a very long 222 days. It looks like Jeremy and I will be visiting the orphanage without Karen and Corey. Rest assured, we will love on her little girl. After all, she and Mariah have spent the first 16 months of their lives living as sisters and they are only nine days apart in age. If we are allowed, we will love on her when we are there. Karen and Corey will probably travel in July. We will try for pictures, but we understand that is not always easy.

I hope to post on here a few more times maybe even this week. We have a lot of stuff we are working on. I would love to share pictures with you all.

Lastly, Happy Mother's Day to all the special women I know!

Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies.

                                                                                             Proverbs 31:10

Finally.......the highly anticipated update and .pdf!

And there you have it! Our first picture of a happy Mariah, or as we learned, PingPing!(Details on that are below!) Not that she is not a happy baby, we just have not seen that in pictures. This was a picture taken of her for the update that we requested. 


Twelve very long days after our provisional immigration approval, we finally received our .pdf! This basically is an electronic approval of our immigration petition. From here it will be hand delivered to the US Embassy in Guangzhou. Here the visa application is reviewed to ensure that Mariah meets the qualifications for an immigrant visa. Once this is approved (which is a standard 2 week timeline), they will issue us our Article 5. This will officially begin our TA wait (Travel Approval). Right now, TAs are taking right around 14 days. Then we confirm our swearing in appointment at the consulate and get on a plane to China!!!! 


We are getting close! We are excited beyond belief!


This past weekend was spent shopping. The best part.....Jeremy was thrilled to do it! I have to admit that we had a little sticker-shock. We ended up buying Mariah's crib mattress, carseat, crib sheets, stroller, and a few more outfits. Then we had to get new shoes for all four kids. Wow! Both of my older boys have moved into men's shoe sizes! Becca's shoe size is almost the same as mine. At least Ben still has a while to catch anyone. 


With all of that shopping done, I feel like we still have so much more to do. My recommended shopping list from my agency is slowly being checked off. I still need to find a good baby carrier for us to use in China. Two are recommended but due to my "height challenge", one is really recommended for my use. I will hold off a couple of more weeks then bite that bullet, happily!


We received an email late Sunday night. It was one that I was hoping to get but not certain I would ever receive. We ordered an update on Mariah a couple of weeks ago and we were able to get two pictures and a few measurements. We had asked several questions but were not sure we would get those answers. I smiled hugely when I read what words she is saying.....Mama, Baba (Chinese for Dada), and granny! I know four women that the term "granny" will apply in Mariah's life. Jeremy and I each have a grandmother living and of course our mothers. It was such a happy quick email. 


We also learned that she still takes a bottle for water, and has been well this winter. One of the cutest things we learned was Mariah's nickname. I asked what they call her and the answer to that question is, "The nannies often call her PingPing. " 


The photos that I posted last week have already been printed up as my brag book. Then we sent those pictures to both sets of grandparents in Pennsylvania to be picked up at their Walmart. I think my mom takes that photo album out and shows just about everyone. Let's just say that the greeter at Walmart helped my mom shop for Mariah, gave my mom her work schedule, and asked for my mom to bring Mariah in to see her once we get home. My mom has also been asked for me to bring Mariah to her bank and a few other places. We already have a full schedule......in Pennsylvania!


We have been blessed again as we were completely surprised to find a grant approval in our mailbox on Friday. We received another $1000 toward our adoption expenses. Truly, this is unbelievable! 


We had bothered so many of our friends to provide these recommendation letters. Here are just a few that helped us......Marty (several times over), Caleb, Heather, Sharon, Susie, Carol, Christina, Precilla, Mandy, Tim, Pat/Kristin, and Marvin/Jeannie. We solicited our close friends and neighbors for these letters and without these letters our journey would be a lot more stressful, not to mention expensive. 


We also were awarded a matching grant through Lifesong back in January. We applied for an interest-free loan but they did not have the funds for that program. They did, however, offer us the $2500 matching grant. We struggled with considering this offer then decided we should move forward. The grant was not just matched, it was doubled!!! Our total funds raised for that grant so far has been $4930 (on Sunday someone mentioned they were sending in some more to add to the grant) then it was matched by Lifesong up to $2500 for a grant total of $7430! We are blessed with generous family and friends. Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for making the difference in the life of Mariah. Thanks to you all, she will now know the love of a Mama and Baba and 4 siblings that already adore her. Not to mention the grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins anxious to meet her. I would be remiss not to mention our church family as well. You all mean so much to us as we have seen you cry along with us. Some of you have made us cry! This journey is very real to you all as well and we love you!


Thanks to everyone's generosity, we will be able to complete this adoption without incurring any additional debt! As we review our finances, we are so very close! We never would have dreamed to complete this adoption without debt! 


And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.                                                                                           Luke 18:27

Be Still My Heart!!!!

This precious gift was in my inbox this morning when I woke up at 5:45. The sweet family that went to her orphanage on April 12th was kind enough and requested to take pictures of three of the kiddos that are waiting for families. I was not certain that we were one of those families. There was an email yesterday that she did get pictures of LuPing and two other babies and she promised to have the pictures emailed to us last night. Well, we waited up until after midnight and there was no picture. Well.......Jeremy got up for work this morning at 5:00. I was sleeping until about 5:30 and woke up and laid in bed for about 10 minutes. I couldn't take it any longer and meandered downstairs. I found Jeremy with my computer on the couch and he was going through my email! I laughed at him as he could not figure out how to enter my Yahoo! group, which is where the pictures were being stored.  

And if you didn't get enough of her sweetness in the above picture, here is yet another. This is such a sweet picture of her and her expression is so serious.


Notice the picture in her little hands? Yes, that is our family picture. Her orphanage did give her the care package we sent and she is holding the picture. We were told that the nannies were pointing to our pictures and showing her "Ma Ma" and "Ba Ba". This did my heart so much good.


This process has proven to bring out emotions in my hubby as well. As we scrolled through all 22 pictures, I was crying. Then I looked over at Jeremy at 5:30 and he was wiping tears from his eyes as well!  It is safe to say she already has "Ba Ba" wrapped around her little fingers.


Here are a few more of the pictures we received. Enjoy!!!

It appears that Mariah may have just begun walking as she seems a little unsure. I think she also may have been overwhelmed by all of the attention.


We also ordered an update from an independent company in China. We placed that order on Tuesday and finally on Saturday afternoon we received a small update. I was thrilled!!  


According to their records, Mariah is small, about 20 pounds. We also got her head circumference, chest measurement, and foot measurement. Now we have an idea what size of clothes to begin buying.....well, more like continue buying.  We needed to know what size to take with us to China. We also needed

to know what size diaper to take. We are certainly relieved to have a fairly good idea. 


Along with the update we did receive two other pictures. One was blurry but Mariah was smiling! That was the first "happy" picture we have seen.


The picture to the right is Mariah and one of the Half the Sky nannies. I love how happy the nanny is and it seems like she really loves Mariah.  


I think I forgot to mention that we did receive our I800 immigration approval on Wednesday too!!!! We are inching closer and closer to our baby girl. We still hope to travel in June. There are just a few more steps left in the process. This part of the process is getting Mariah's paperwork legal for her to become a U.S. citizen upon landing in the U.S.  


I have finished my homeschooling for this year as well. The kids are still working on finishing up some of their independent work. This will go for just a couple of more weeks. But they have finished their history, science, spelling, Bible, and literature. They still have math and Language Arts to finish up. It feels so good to have this year behind us. The stress of our adoption and Ben's health issues have drained us. Through it all, God is still so good! We trust Him to give us the wisdom we need as parents.


I am so tired as we have had a crazy week. Monday, Jeremy and I began our shots for our trip....Hep A, Hep B, and Polio. Kyle also had his allergy shots on Monday and Micah was seen due to his horrible allergies/sinus problems. Tuesday we had family pictures for our church directory. Thursday was nice as my parents drove down from Pittsburgh to stay with our kids while we took Ben to Cincinnati EARLY Friday morning. That was a long day....8+ hours in the car.


I may write a little more later this week but for tonight, I need to go. I do have math and Language Arts papers to grade before the kids start their day tomorrow. I will leave you with one of the countless verses that have been a comfort to me throughout this race to bring Mariah home. I think one day I will post a blog on just the verses that the Lord has used to convict and encourage us on our journey. For tonight I will leave you with only one.


Praise the Lord, O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago.
                                                                                                              Isaiah 25:1