Ready or not….here we GO!!!!!!!!

Our bags are packed.  It's time to say goodbye.  We are about to travel over 7,000 miles to bring home our son. I wanted to post our schedule so y'all can follow our journey through China!

We can't thank you all enough for all the texts, calls, emails, and messages we've received in the last few days.  It has overwhelmed us to get so much support and care from our friends and family!!!  Please pray for safe travels, calm hearts, and above all for God to be glorified!

October 23- Arrive in Beijing.
October 24- Visit the Forbidden City, Tour Tiananmen Square, Acrobatic Show
October 25- Tour the Great Wall of China and the Olympic Bird's Nest
October 26- Take a bullet train to Jinan
October 27- Gotcha DAY!!!!!!!!!! (This will be Sunday evening US time.)  Visit Orphanage and complete adoption paper work.
October 28-30- Tour Jinan, spend time getting to know our lil man!  (Please pray specifically for his heart.  This transition no doubt will be traumatic and difficult.  Essentially we are strangers to him.  We will need to slowly teach him over time that we are Mommy and Daddy)
October 31- Fly to Guangzhou
November 1- Medical appointments (please pray that Kai is healthy so he can come home!)
November 3- Visa appointment at the US Consulate
November 5- Fly Home!!!!!!!  We should arrive in Knoxville at 5:00 pm.  We would love to see y'all at the airport!!!!!!!

Now What?

Now that we are no longer stuck with immigration I've had several people ask "now what!?!?"  

It's a complicated and quite confusing process from here on out so I thought it deserved its own blog post.  

I will do my best to break it down for you!  

When Immigration issued us an approval they mailed a copy to us and a copy to the National Visa Center.  The National Visa Center will put the approval in their system and forward our paperwork to the US Consulate in China.  Once this is done the NVC will issue us a confirmation number.  

Once we have that number we can then fill out an electronic form called the DS-260.  This will complete our paperwork until we are in China!!! (HIP-HIP-HORRAY!!!) I am hoping to be able to complete this form within the next week.  Once the DS-260 is complete our agency will send all of our paper work to the US Consulate in China.  

At the Consulate they will review ALL the paper work and ensure it meets the proper standards.  Hopefully they will then issue us our approval.   It is called Article 5 and is #11 on the chart.  It typically takes about two weeks.  The Article 5 is then forwarded to the CCCWA (China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption….step #12). 

After a few more weeks the CCCWA will issue a Travel Invitation (step 13)!!!!!  Once we have the Travel Invitation our agency will schedule an appointment for us to have our visa interviews at the Consulate….then they will book our flights!!!  

If everything runs smoothly it is very possible for us to be traveling in October.  However there are several factors that could affect our travel time.  China will be celebrating national holidays in a few weeks and this could slow things down.  Also, our agency typically books one travel group per month depending on how many families across the US are ready to travel.  We are hoping and praying that we can travel in October but also aware that it could be November before we leave.  Thank you so much for following our crazy journey and for all your love and support!!! We cannot wait to go get our boy!!!!!!!!  

Cuteness Overload!!!!!

The last few weeks have been such a roller coaster.  Up and down.  Happy and frustrated.  One day we  got a beautiful update of our son.   The next day I learned I made a mistake on our paper work that could set us back weeks.  I had been warned by other adoptive mamas that the journey of adoption is constantly changing...constantly a wave of emotions.  And while I have cried out of sadness and anger the last couple of days....today has been.all.joy.  First we got an update from our agency that included a precious video and lots of pictures!  Then I was shocked to find a double jogging stroller delivered to my front door!!!!!!  Beyond thankful.  Thankful and humbled.  We still have a long way to go to get to our son (we are praying for travel in October).  We still need prayer for paper work and immigration to get smoothed out.  But today I am enjoying the tears of joy.  The bliss.  Enjoy some major cuteness!!!!

A miracle of an update

What are the odds?  Seriously what are the odds that a sweet Knoxville family would be in our son's orphanage today!?  What a miracle.  What's even more of a miracle is that they were able find our son.  Kai lives in the largest orphanage in his province.  It houses between 600-800 children.  And yet this sweet family was able to see Kai and deliver his care package to him. Thank you God!!!!  I went to bed last night hoping that sometime this morning I would get an update.  I was woken up in the middle of the night by the sweetest text messages from my dear friend Erin Lee.  (Rebecca, the mommy in China, is friends with my friend Erin.  Rebecca sent an update about Kai to Erin because she couldn't find my email.)  This is the text message that I got in the middle of the night...

"You've gotta get up and read this email I'm about to send from Rebecca!!!!! SHE MET KAI!!!!!!! GET UP GET UP!!!!!  Oh sweet friend are you up?!?!?!  I just received it and I'm so excited I'm about to jump out of my skin for you please get UP!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Hehehe  I've never been so excited to jump out of bed and check email in the middle of the night!!!!!  Here is what the email said...

"Erin, We just got back from visiting the orphanage!! I have so much to tell you, but very importantly I need you to tell your friend Katie that I was able to hand deliver Kai's care package!!!  I stroked his head and he is such a beautiful boy!!!!!  He was very very happy.  All the care givers were smiling and talking to him and loving on him so much!!  The director of the orphanage said he was in the hospital recently for a fever...a simple cold.  He did still have a wet cough....kinda like you get at the end of a cold.  Kai has the best smiles!!! I just want her to know that he is beautiful and so cared about here in Jinan!!!"

What.a.gift.

There are no words to describe the comfort and joy this email gave me.  To know that he is doing well. To know that he is happy.   To know that he is loved.  Such a gift.  Thank you all for praying and for sharing in our joy today!!! And thanks be to a Heavenly Father who hears our cries and who answers our prayers!!!!

Meet Kai.

There are approximately 573,000 Orphans in China.

In just a few short months there will be one less.

It is my joy to introduce you to Kai.

He is just over a year old 

and has completely stolen our hearts!!!  

We are so thrilled to be able to share him with you and cannot wait to bring him home!!!!!!!!

Waiting

Several people recently asked me where we are in the adoption process.....so I thought I would update with a blog post.  Sadly we are in the same place in the process that we were over seven weeks ago.  No movement.  No news.   Nothing.

When we were matched with Kai our Dossier had to be translated...which we found out was completed on April 30th.  Next it needs to be reviewed, then matched with Kai's files.  Once this is done the Chinese government will issue us a "Letter of Approval" or "LOA" (international adoption is all about the acronyms...).  The LOA is super exciting because then Kai is officially matched with us and we can share his beautiful face with the world!!!

Right now we are waiting to hear that our dossier has been reviewed......it should be any day now...so we wait.  And let me tell you......waiting is not something I am good at........I'm actually pretty terrible at it!!!!  I check email a thousand times a day......I stalk adoption groups to watch other families timelines unfold....I stare at Kai's picture and cry......I'm awful.  I've had thoughts of calling our agency and busting out into A Great Big World's "Say Something".........say something.....anything........any updates would be great.  I won't.  But I've seriously considered it.  Instead we wait.

A Book For Kai

Ava wrote a book for her baby brother who is not home yet....

It may need some interpreting...

But here it is...

Ava's Book For Kai. 

I am your mom and Dad

I am your mom.  I am your Dad.  We both will always love you.

Even if you do not feel like it...we still do...

"You do not!" you say....We still love you little one...

If you don't feel good, tell me my child.

I say "it looks fine...I see..."

"Is there love," you ask? Yes! There is love! 

This book will end soon...so let's talk...

Here it is about to end!!!

Oh! It is ending.  The End.  

Our Adoption Sale

It was huge.

Gigantic.

I am still in awe of the magnitude that was

Our adoption yard sale.  

Let me give you the numbers...

32 families donated....

14 people worked...

Including 5 kids...

And so far we've made over $1700!!!!!

We are so thankful.  So humbled and so thankful.

I am amazed at how hard friends and family worked on our behalf....

I am profoundly affected by the way so many people sacrificed for us....for Kai...

Just typing about it makes me tear up! (Surprise surprise....) 

When I woke up at 5:00 a.m. I came down the stairs to find my twelve year old nephew, and my sixty-five year old Dad ready to work.

One friend came straight from a camping trip to our house and stayed until dinner...

And then there were our shoppers.

Our precious sweet shoppers.

Little old ladies would just hug me and say "I will pray for you!!  God Bless you!!"

Young couples would look at Kai's picture and say "this is really awesome..."

A sweet family that didn't speak english came and shopped for a while...they only bought a few things with what little money they had.  When they checked out, they gave more than what they owed....when we tried to give them change they simply said "no no....we help Baby."

Tears.

For our family, it was more than just a fundraiser.

It was more than just money. 

It was Support.  Care.  Love. 

Adoption does something.  

It moves communities...strengthens the bonds of friendship...touches hearts and brings together strangers.

That was one yard sale I will never forget. 

My Birthday Wish for You...

I can't share the exact date....and to be honest we don't really know the exact date....but we recently celebrated Kai's birthday.  It was a bittersweet day filled with a wide range of emotions.  It felt very odd preparing a party for a little guy we've never met and can't pick up or hold.  But despite the fact that he is half way around the world....and that he doesn't even know we exist...God has put a love  for Kai in our hearts that is so real...so tangible...and so passionate.  

We celebrated with family with some delicious cupcakes and some surprise gifts from my mom.  At the end of the evening my heart was filled with joy knowing that God chose me to be Kai's mommy.....and my heart was filled with heartache knowing that it would be several more months before I could hold my sweet boy.   

Dear Kai.

On your first birthday I may not be with you.

But I can still rejoice.

I can celebrate your life.

And I can pray.

My wish for you is that someday you will know...

that you are wanted

you were fought for

you are loved.  

My prayer for you is that God would fill your heart with the knowledge 

that you are precious

you are His

and that we are coming for you! 

I pray that your nannies would hold you while I can't

and care for you until I can.  

I love you deeply sweet boy.  

I cannot wait to have you home!!  

His name.

His name will be Kai.  Even though I cannot share his Chinese name or any more personal information....I am thrilled to tell you what we call him.  Kai.  It comes from the name Malachi which in Hebrew means "messenger of God."  We have also learned that Kai is a fairly common name in China and that it means "Triumphant."  Perfect.  Perfect for our little guy.  I cannot wait to share his face with all of you....but until then I will just share his name.  

How we met our son

Our lives have been changed...we have seen his face.  On April 14th, 2014 we were officially matched with our son!!!  It all happened in a way that was unexpected...much like the rest of our lives.  The last five days have been such a whirlwind...but here is how it happened...here is how we met our son.

In the world of China adoptions you can get matched with a child two different ways....the first is through the shared list of children which is released once a month....the second is through the waiting list of children.  The waiting list is typically children who are either older or have more severe medical needs.  It is through our agency and is constantly being updated with new kiddos.  Brett and I were waiting in anticipation for the shared list to be released some time in April....and that's when God stepped in...and turned our world upside down.

Thursday afternoon our social worker emailed us letting us know that there were a few new little faces on the waiting list.  She let us know that their medical needs were outside what we had listed as being open to, but that we might want to take a look anyway.  I immediately pulled up the list....despite being in the pick up line at my daughter's co-op and needing to pay attention to my driving...and I saw his face...his beautiful precious smile was captivating.

My mind started racing and I'm sure that I broke several traffic laws on the way home.  As soon as we were there I pulled up his file again and started reading.  Thankfully Brett was actually home from work so I called him into the room to show him.  It was evident that this little one's medical needs were things we had not considered but we decided to ask for his referral anyway.  Brett drove all of the paper work to our pediatrician's office and I immediately called my favorite physical therapist (my big brother) to ask his opinion. When I went to bed that night I was pretty nervous and quite honestly terrified!!  This wasn't what I had pictured....he was not referred to us from the shared list...his medical needs were different and involved more unknowns....so before I fell asleep I asked the Lord for clarity...for peace...and for wisdom.  The next morning when I woke up I knew that it was going to be a life changing day.  I was filled with joy and peace that can only come from God...and I knew that I wanted this little guy to be ours!!!  Through out the whole day the Lord gave me peace through songs, through scripture, and through the words of friends and loved ones.  Brett and I had decided that we wouldn't make a decision until Sunday evening but I think throughout the weekend we both new.  We wanted to move forward!!!!

Sunday night we emailed our agency and requested to be matched with this little one.  We knew there were still some hoops to jump through and some unknowns.  Because he was on the waiting list it was possible for another family to see him and request to adopt him....and even when we did ask to be matched with him we had to receive approval from our agency.  Monday morning Brett went to work and I was a complete nervous wreck.  I went to the gym and sat on an elliptical machine for and hour and literally checked my phone every 3 minutes.  I thought I was going to vomit!  I tried to occupy myself in every way imaginable then finally at 2:00 in the afternoon I got the email saying that we were officially matched with our little guy!!!!

Sadly...for several different reasons we cannot share any details or pictures about him on the internet until we receive a letter of acceptance from the Chinese government.  We have heard that from here on out the process to go get him can take anywhere from 4 to 6 months.  Please continue to pray for us as we ramp back up filing more paperwork and working through all the details to bring him home.  Also pray for our hearts....I know it's hard to imagine...but we are already in love with this lil guy.  To us...he is ours...and it hurts us knowing that he is half way across the world waiting in an orphanage.  It blows our minds to know that he has gained a family....he has a wild and crazy big brother...and three insanely precious sisters....all who cannot wait for him to get here....his whole life has changed....and he doesn't even know it yet.  Tonight one of our daughters kept saying "he is such a gift to us"...and it's true...he is such a gift!!!  Thank you God for letting us be his family.

Hang on precious boy....we are coming!!!!

LID

More exciting news....news I wasn't expecting so soon.....we are LID.  Logged In Dossier.  That basically means that the China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption (CCCWA) has our paper work logged into their system.  With most adoption agencies once you are LID you become eligible for a referral......however with our adoption agency you must also have a conference call with your country specialist before this can happen.  Our conference call with our China worker will be on Thursday, March 27th!!!  After that call......we will wait for our referral!!!!!!!!!  I am completely blown away by the fact that we could be weeks away from seeing a picture of our child!!!!!! AMAZING!!!!!!!  So here is a quick breakdown of how it works in China for the Special Needs Program.......

For families who are adopting a child with a minor or correctable special need (like us) your referral will probably come from the "shared list".  The shared list is an active list that the CCCWA keeps for agencies all over  the world to pull from.  It is electronic....highly protected.....and updated about every month.  At any given moment there are 1700 to 2000 children on this list who are eligible for adoption.  For a child to be added to this list a search for the child's birth family is completed, followed by a period of time when the child is available for domestic adoption in China. If a family is not found the child's paperwork is prepared and ultimately sent to the CCCWA where they will review it and then post it to the shared list.

The majority of the kiddos on the list have significant special needs or are older children.  Younger children or children with minor needs tend to be matched very quickly and do not stay on the list very long.....I've heard as little as 40 children on the list are considered to have "minor or correctable" needs.  So each month the CCCWA uploads new files of children to the shared list and on that day agencies all around the world keep very careful watch to match their families as quickly as possible before these children disappear off the list!  The matching can literally be done within seconds!!!!  If we are not matched we will then wait until the following month when the shared list is updated.

Please pray for us as we wait.....pray for our children as they wait....and please PLEASE pray for our sweet China worker as she prepares to match us with our precious child.  Brett and I both are resting in the truth that ultimately God is sovereign and He is in control of who becomes the newest Gleason. We are so thrilled to be one HUGE step closer to meeting Baby China!!!!!!!

We are DTC!!!

DTC.  Three little letters that carry a big punch in the world of adoption.  Dossier.To.China.  The document that I worked for three months on......the small rainforest of paperwork....basically our entire lives in an envelope.....is on it's way across the ocean.  When it arrives in China it will be processed, translated and put into the government's system.  This is called "LID" or "Logged in Dossier".  Once we are LID we wait.....for a face.  We are so thrilled to be one step closer.  One step closer to getting matched....to seeing that little face looking back at us through our computer screens.....one step closer to learning who God has chosen for our child!!!!! AMAZING!!!!!!  We are DTC!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday To Me!!!! Our Dossier is in the mail!!!!!!

What is a Dossier you may ask?  It is basically our entire lives in one large envelope.  It's a collection of documents detailing every aspect of our life.  It contains our financial information...employment information...reference letters...medical exams...pictures of our family and home...criminal background checks...birth certificates...marriage license....passports...immigration forms...and our homestudy.  The homestudy includes several personal, marital and family interviews...a psychological exam....our parenting styles...religious beliefs...and family histories.  We have been working on this stuff for months.  MONTHS PEOPLE!!!  I don't like working on anything for over an hour.  For a dossier, ten of the documents receive notaries, county seals, and then state seals.  Almost all of these documents had to be done...then redone...and some done a third time.  This dossier made me cry.  A lot.  And tonight it is out of my hands!!  Today was my birthday and I received an amazing gift.  My hubby drove over 6 hours to Nashville to obtain the final state seals for our documents.

Once he made it home, I spent a couple of hours making copies...filing...and organizing....then we sped off to the UPS store and made it right before they closed (I am certain that I scared the poor lil guy behind the desk as I ran in with overwhelming excitement....) 

Today was insane.  Crazy. Busy.  Insane. 

 But at the end of the day our Dossier is in the mail!  From here it will go to our Agency (Bethany Christian Services) in Michigan.  They will review it, process it and send it to Washington D.C to receive it's final seals from the Chinese Consulate.  It will be mailed back to our agency in Michigan and then they will mail it off to China!  Once in China it will be logged in to the Chinese Children Welfare System.  After we are "logged in" we will just wait for our referral!!! We are hoping to be logged in (or LID) sometime in early April.  So there you have it!  One of the best birthdays ever!!!  

Ni Hao Y'all!!!

      When we began our adoption process we had pictures in our heads of how things would go.......how long things would take.......what the journey would look like.  As with most everything else in our lives......God hardly ever takes us on the journey that we expect.  When we sent in our adoption application we applied to adopt from Ethiopia.  We knew the wait would be long....but we were ok with that.   As we got further into the process the wait in Ethiopia got longer....and longer......and longer.  Our hearts grew discouraged and we began to pray.  Over the course of time we felt God leading our hearts somewhere else......somewhere unexpected.....somewhere we thought was not possible.  We talked with our social worker....and continued to pray.....and we decided to apply for a Special Needs Adoption through China!!  The special needs we are open to include mild and correctable physical needs (cleft lip...cleft palate....clubbed feet....ect.).  The wait time has literally been cut into a fraction of what we were expecting before!  Depending on how fast we can complete our Dossier things could potentially move very quickly.  We are hoping to have a referral before next fall.  We still have a long, emotional road ahead of us.....but we are filled with so much excitement and joy!!  Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support!!!  

A family announcement.....

Our Family: By Ava Gleason, age 5

I love this picture.  I love it for so many reasons.  I love that it includes our sweet baby who went to be with Jesus almost four years ago....and I love that it includes our precious child that we have not yet met.  No, I'm not pregnant....but our family is definitely going to be expanding!!!  Brett and I have decided to pursue international adoption!!!  Before you pass out or decide that we've lost our minds, hear me out.  We love adoption.  We've always loved adoption.  As a christian couple who is passionate about pro-life issues, we truly feel that orphan care is something so near to our Father's heart.  His word says  "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you..." John 14:18........and "Religion that our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this; to look after orphans and widows in their distress..." James 1:27. 
We've looked at our own lives and been amazed how He has rescued us and adopted us into His family!  We've had the joy of seeing how adoption has blessed close friends and family.
For the past five months we have been praying, and reading, and seeking counsel on whether or not we should pursue adoption and we truly feel like this is something the Lord is calling us to do.
All though the thought of adoption can be scary and overwhelming, God has been building our faith in so many ways!!!  He has been bringing people into our lives who have gone through the journey of adoption before us.....provided us with books that have encouraged and challenged us.....and when we prayed and asked God to sell our house quickly so that we could move and start our adoption process, He sold our house in 3 days!!!!!
We're so excited to see how He continues to provide and prove Himself faithful on our journey.  You might think that we have gone crazy.   That's ok.  (There are days when I'm pretty sure we have.)  We understand that not everyone is going to share in our joy or even understand why we would want to do this.  That's ok too.  We're slowly learning that our lives aren't meant to please others, but to bring Glory to God.  We understand that this comes with risks and major responsibilities, but when we look at those risks, we know they are completely worth it to follow hard after Jesus and what He is calling us to do.  His plans are better than our plans....His ways are better than our ways.  So that's our news!  That's why we are selling our cabin.......that's why we sold our house.....to follow Jesus and what we feel is His call on our lives.  We hope and pray that through our journey of adoption you'll begin to see more clearly the Father's heart for not only orphans but for you!!!