Journey of Faith:Our Little Guy From China

So it has been one week since I posted last! I really thought I would post more. I have been debating on whether to keep this blog more about our adoption news or to add day to day life stories/thoughts as we wait. I am still not sure…
This past weekend was a nice summer weekend. Tim went on a bike ride all day Saturday and I ventured out to stores to purchase items for travel from our long list. We went to church with my Grandma and took her to lunch. We loved it and I am sad to say I had not done that in awhile. We both love talking with her and learning from her. She is such strong Christian and she shows it. She walks the walk and talks the talk. I pray that I will be more like her.
When I posted last we were getting a lot of news about travel approvals and some referrals. Towards the end of last week we heard from a couple more families about referrals. They are still trickling in! We may not hear much news until Dashain is over. Here is a little bit about the Dashain festival:
“During the month of Kartik (late September and early October), the Nepalese people indulge in the biggest festival of the year, Dashain. Dashain is the longest and the most auspicious festival in the Nepalese annual calendar, celebrated by Nepalese of all caste and creed throughout the country. The fifteen days of celebration occurs during the bright lunar fortnight ending on the day of the full moon. Thorough out the kingdom of Nepal the goddess Durga in all her manifestations are worshiped with innumerable pujas, abundant offerings and thousands of animal sacrifices for the ritual holy bathing, thus drenching the goddess for days in blood.”
Since this festival ends on October 3rd I think we will hear more good news in early October.
When I got home this evening there were a few posts on the Yahoo group about some referrals. We will take it—anything, any news! Yeah for those families that have received referrals!

These verse spoke to me today--
James 1:27
“Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for the orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.”

When I read this verse I feel so happy that God had a plan all along. We are to be a visible picture to the world of what God is doing for us--we are His orphans! Bringing a child into our home will be glorifying Him.

Another little bit from "Hope for the Journey: an adoption companion" from Shaohannah's Hope (I love this two week devotional study. It is one of the best pieces of literature that I have received while on this journey. I read it every day!)--"Adoption is the visible gospel". Ponder that!

Although we went through some very sad times in the last years I have learned a lot about God, people, family and friends. I am a much stronger person because of all we went through. I know these past years of waiting will all make sense when we are holding our son!

On the NepalAdopt group there is word of more referrals! It seems like there is some sort of news every day! This is great, but I do have to remember that we requested a child from 0-18 months and there are not a lot of infants available. We shall continue to wait and all this news definitely helps while waiting.

From ekantipur: http://www.kantipur%20online.com/%20news/news-%20detail.php?

Kathmandu, September 15 - The Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare (MWCSW) has handed over seven children to their foreign adoptive parents, after a gap of one and half years. Three Nepali orphans were handed over to American adoptive parents, another three children to French parents and one to British parents, all of whom have been residing in the country. The seven Nepali children were officially adopted after the government approved their documents regarding inter-country adoption. Officials at MWCSW stated on Monday that the six adoptive parents are planning to take their new children to their new homes at the earliest date possible. Only one child will remain in Nepal with her British parents, who are currently residing in the country. This is good news for both the parents and the children, who have been involved in the adoption process for the past seven months. The concerned authorities, including MWCSW, have also recently given the go ahead to the adoption documents belonging to another 14 children and the adopting parents. Officials stated that they have already informed Nepali representatives of the Nepal-based international adoption agencies about the approval. This means that other prospective parents can begin plans to return home, with their adopted children. Over 80 children, who have already gone through matching process, (in which prospective parents are paired with orphans) are awaiting the decision of the recommendation committee. The recommendation committee, comprises representatives from the ministries of home and law, as well as MWCSW, who will collectively make the final decision. The committee selects children in accordance with the adopting parents' preferences. The applications of over 300 prospective foreign parents for adoption are also simultaneously being examined MWCSW.The new adoption process was started in January after a gap of one-and-half- years. The ministry had put the process on hold owing to loopholes existing in the previous system. Earlier, prospective parents dealt directly with orphanages. As there was no fixed adoption fee, parents often ended up paying huge amounts of money for the adoption. Now, with the improved system, they deal with registered adoption agencies from their home country or Nepal-based embassies.

I saw this poem on someone's website and I just loved it!

Not flesh of my flesh
Nor bone of my bone,
But still miraculously
My own.
Never forget
For a single minute:
You didn't grow under my heart
But in it.

© Fleur Conkling Heyliger

There are two blogs of families that are in Nepal that I have listed on the right side bar for you to read. Unfortunately they have decided to make their blogs private. One family has decided to recreate another blog just for all of us waiting on any news. You can follow this at: http://nepaladoptionrumors.blogspot.com/. This blog will still contain the same content we are all looking for, however there will not be pictures of the children.

Another piece of news is another family had received a referral on Friday! We hope this week will be a big week of news, particularly of referrals.

We do not even have a referral and sometimes I go in panic mode about all the news happening so quickly! I have been on the kick of learning from others that have traveled internationally (thanks Julie!) and making a list of everything to look into and purchase or borrow. I think about who is going to watch the cats-when and how? (they are pretty needy cats) Will it be winter and how often should we have someone come over and make sure we don't have broken water pipes? How do we get the best deal on a flight? Should we use a travel agent to take care of our flight stuff? How am I going to handle this flight? How can Tim still do some work while over there and what will he need to do that? How and where do we get money? Making sure I have a list of what to bring-clothes, cameras, medicines and how they have to be labeled. What size clothes will we need to get for our child (won't be known until we get a referral)? What kind of toys and books can I buy to bring with to Nepal? I worry about our long flight home with our child. I could go on and on...

So to ease some of this I have been coupon collecting and checking out websites that help save money. I have been getting some small items for free. I go to dollar stores and pick up an item here and there.

Keep us in your prayers!

My excitement of this adoption has been sky high since we found out the first families received their travel approval last week and have traveled and are in Nepal. I truly look forward to hearing more about matches being made. From reading and seeing the pictures on the blogs of those in Nepal it is that much more real to me. I realize I should be reading more about Nepal and learning more about attachment. I am going in search of more books.

I was a little disappointed to find out that our registration date was not 5/1/09 it is 5/14/09. We have a registration number of 5095. I really do not know what this means, but since it is a Nepal number I know for sure that we are registered.

The rumor is that more matches will be sent out toward the end of this month. I am certain we will not be part of this group, but I know that many I have spoken to online will be part of this group and I get soooo excited thinking about them receiving their referrals! I am hoping we will be in the next group!!

Have you ever had one of those weekends that felt long? I just had one. I had Thursday and Friday off before the Labor Day holiday too so that helped. Thursday we spent the day with friends from Colorado and Minneapolis at the State Fair. That was a lot of fun. We left and went to Mark and Tracy's house and just hung around talking and making dinner. That was nice! Here is a photo of all of us at the Fair (oh and the guy on the far right is part of the camera crew!)

We got home late and went to bed. Friday Tim and I spent the day together. We can't even really remember what we did. Saturday we got up late, Tim mowed the lawn, I edged some of my gardens and then we headed off to Ryan and Di's house for the evening. Everyone's kids were there and that was fun to catch up with everyone. I forgot to take pictures! That was another late night. We got up late on Sunday morning. I went shopping and then we headed to see my family at my Mom and Dad's house for the afternoon. I loved that. It was such a beautiful weekend weather wise I just can't get enough! We headed home about 7:30 or so and Dave and Carol called (it was Dave's birthday). They were just getting back from the casino and wanted to see if we could meet up at Heather's house, so we did. Tim and Dave and Heather put together Heather's new grill. Carol and I sat on the sidelines watching! :) That was another late night.

I just learned of another family that is posting information from their trip to Nepal on their blog. They just arrived in Nepal to also pick up their daughter. Here is the blog:

http://donohueadopt.blogspot.com/

This morning I turned on the computer to see what was happening and one family that is in Nepal has created a blog. Follow along as they post happenings from Nepal. Their daughter is beautiful! Here is the blog:

http://bugbeanandreed.blogspot.com/

Namaste.

Today three French families got their travel approval! They are traveling to Nepal on Sunday. This is great news. We pray the approvals keep coming as well as more referrals. We are praying for all the traveling families for a safe trip to and from Nepal. Congratulations to all the families!

We just wonder where we are on the waiting list. There is word that there is roughly 150 more dossiers matched and waiting. I don't believe we are going to be in this group, but you never know! We believed months ago that we were somewhere in the range of 200-250.

There is a database that families waiting in the Nepal program can enter information into. The information that can be entered is agency name, age requested, when dossier in country, when dossier was registered with the Ministry and things such as that. The database was set up with about 200 lines because that is roughly when Nepal stopped giving numbers. The numbers were a sort of way to know where you were in line. I am not positive, but believe they stopped giving numbers in mid April and we did not receive a number as our log in date at the Ministry was May 1st. Many people have entered their information but there are many, many lines that are not filled in. So what I am really trying to get at is that we hope that some of those numbers do not have a family attached to them and that would move us up in line, but I do know that is wishful thinking!

We try not to lose sight of the fact that everything is in God's timing and God's timing is nothing less than perfect. We continue to pray for the children in Nepal and that they will soon be with their families.

Today is a great day! I came in to work today knowing this is my last day for the week and have Labor Day off too. I am really looking forward to this. Friends from Colorado are coming in Thursday and we are going to the State Fair--can’t wait to see them. Then we are getting together with friends on Saturday evening and Tim and I cannot wait for that either since we did not do much with friends this summer. Then, to top it all off we are getting together with my family on Sunday and I really look forward to seeing my family. So it will be a great weekend!

Then… when I checked my emails I saw that my little sister is having a boy! She sent ultrasound pictures!

Then……(see news below)!!!

2 Ministers sworn in
The Himalayan Times

KATHMANDU: Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal expanded the government for the sixth time on Wednesday. Two of the ministers already have taken oath Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare Sarbadev Ojha from Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum-Loktantrik and Minister without portfolio of Sadhbhawna Party Laxman Lal Karna have taken oath. Karna took his oath in the Hindi language. Other Ministers are in the process of taking oath.

Wow, all in one early morning!!

We are praying for you three families that are traveling this week to Nepal. We are truly thankful that you take the time to post as much as you know. It gives us hope that we will be with our child soon as well.