E-mail from Kennedy!

To say I have had a rough few days at work would be putting it mildly...so when I opened my email today to find TWO emails from Kennedy, I was excited beyond measure!

Keep in mind, they were in Chinese, and I usually leave the translation task to Charles!  He was away from the office when I called him about it, and I just could not wait.  I attempted it myself, and actually figured it out!!!  Granted, Charles translates it in several programs to get a better idea of the true message, which he did, but I'm just sayin'!  I had a pretty good idea what it said before he had a chance to tell me!!  (GO, me!)

In the first one, she basically said, "Mom and Dad, I am your child, Kennedy.  I miss you and my younger sister Mia very much.  I love you just like you love me.  I am very pleased to meet you soon, and I am very happy and excited!  When I found out I will come there soon, I made a picture (or painting?) of our family portrait.  When we meet, I will give my picture to you.  I love you.  Love, Your Kennedy."  We have told her in every letter and e-mail that we love her, but this was the first time she said she loved us!!!  Our hearts just melted!!!

In the second one, she said, "Today I am writing again because I thought of you and my new home very much.  I hope that you will write me often and send me many pictures because I want to see you in America.  Love, Your Kennedy."  How SWEET is that??  She was thinking of us and wanting to hear from us again and see more pictures!  I wish we could hop on a plane RIGHT now and bring her home where she belongs!

As I post this, it is well in to the business morning on Thursday already in China.  By now, our Article 5 should have already been picked up.  It will be sent over-night to the CCAA for the processing of our TA.  Please continue to pray for a miraculaously FAST receipt of TA!  This precious child is aching for her family as much as we are aching to bring her home!

Getting closer...

I emailed today to confirm with our agency that our Article 5 will be picked up this week on Thursday as planned.  I was told it will be picked up and over~nighted on Thursday for arrival at the CCAA on Friday!  That means our official wait for TA will begin on Friday!  TAs have been issued in about 2 to 3 weeks recently, and we are praying to be on the fastest end of that.  We know that God could move a mountain and get it issued even faster as well!  Travel typically takes place 10 to 14 days after TA, and you all know we are believing for travel before the end of November!  Please keep up the prayers!  We will actually know when we are traveling within a matter of weeks now instead of months!  We are coming, Kennedy Faith!

New picture!

Look at this new picture of our gorgeous daughter and her beautiful friend!  My heart skipped a beat when I woke up to this!  There is no better way to start the week!  Our Article 5 is scheduled for pick up this week on Thursday, then our Travel Approval will follow.  We are praying for record timing in processing our TA because we are praying and thanking God in advance that we will travel in November!

Meanwhile here at home, Mia will turn 6 this Saturday!  How did that happen?  While it seems she has always been here, it also seems like she was just placed in my arms in China.  We will be in China to adopt Kennedy almost 4 years after we adopted Mia.  It is so cool that we will be there near the same time of year!  Last time we flew out on Christmas day to go to China.  THIS time, we plan to be home with both our girls for Christmas!

Different angles of previous pictures!

The top 2 pictures are different angles of pictures we have shared previously...but you know I can't pass up an opportunity to post pictures of our girl!  I LOVE her smile in this version of the first picture!  The shot of her receiving the gifts from us , and the "new" picture of her running back to the bus show how VERY long and beautiful her hair is!  I will want to have it trimmed up a bit as soon as possible, but I have a feeling she will not be on board with that!  I guess I will have our guide explain to her that TRIMMING off just a little will help it be healthy and grow even faster...any suggestions from you moms of teens from China when it comes to a first hair cut/trim??  Also, look how thin she is!!  I better start dieting NOW or she is going to think I am fat!

BTW...as I am sure most of you know, if you double click the photos on the blog, they will open to full size so you can see more clearly!  Someone recently asked me how to do that, so I am going to assume there might be someone else out there with the same question.  :)

Power walking!

Here is a picture I had not seen before!  My friend, Sue...Erin's mom, just sent it to me from their adoption trip.  This must have been right after Erin got Kennedy off the bus to meet her family and receive the first package we sent her with Erin's family!  These girls are walking with a purpose!!  Maybe Kennedy can get me out on some power walks with her when we get home!  I just LOVE it when we get new pictures of our girl!  My mommy heart is aching to meet my daughter!

Step OFF, giant!

In the Bible, there are lots of examples of how Satan rears his ugly head to try and discourage people who have stepped out in faith.  Well, he must have gotten the memo that we have joined together with friends, family and blog followers to step out in faith with our "Sun Stand Still" prayer that God will bring us to Kennedy faster than anyone believes it is possible!  I posted last night about our "giants" and the fact that God is bigger than ALL of them!

Well, today, we received an email from our agency about a "New Ruling" that the CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs) put into place last week.  YES, even though we are SO far along in the process and SO close to travel...the new ruling does indeed apply to us.  They are requiring an extra original, signed document to be submitted with our upcoming Article 5 documents in order to process our Travel Approval.  (TA).  That meant that today, Mia and I had to rush off right after school and drive across town to Charles' office to get his signature on the document, then speed over to FedEx to make the 6:00 pick up to ensure that our document arrives to our agency tomorrow morning.  Our agency will immediately send it to China.  We are only 4 days in to our 14 day wait for the Article 5, so it will arrive well in advance to be included with the Article 5 documents when they are sent to the CCAA on October 28 as planned.

Our agency representative explained that this will not impact our Article 5 processing, because that is actually issued by the US consulate in China.  The CCAA is requesting the document, and THEY are the ones who will issue our TA.  Since this is a new ruling, nobody knows if this will impact the timing of our TA processing or not.  It COULD cause a delay for them to review that document, since they are the ones who requested it.  It is also possible that they may simply just check the file briefly before issuing our TA to be sure the document is there.  (Enter...the latest giant!)

You see, Satan wants us to be discourged.  He wants us to say, "Oh man!  We just prayed for a miracle to get us to Kennedy faster than expected and now there could be another delay!!"  Well, to that we say, "Step OFF, giant!  God will knock you down too!"  We are not going to get discouraged and bogged down in the guessing game of "what if this increases our waiting time?"  We will continue to pray, believe and thank God in advance that He will bring us to Kennedy faster than anyone thinks it is possible.  We know you will continue to join us in that prayer.

Our agency is a Christian adoption agency.  They really are awesome!  Our contact, Josh, read last night's post and sent me a very encouraging email letting me know he is also joining us in prayer that the improbable will become possible.  We are thankful for his support, and all of yours!  The link to our agency, Small World Adoption Inc., is included below on the left with links we like.  If you know anyone interested in adopting, pass the link along! 

Here is a funny, totally un-related picture of Mia after asking Charles, "REALLY, Dad??!!!  Do you ALWAYS have to take my picture?????  He gets that face OFTEN, since her entire life is a photo-shoot!

Now, here she is after her Mommy sternly reminded her to use her manners and smile for her sweet Daddy...and possibly apologize!!!  In this one, she is saying, "OOPS!  Sorry Daddy!"  That girl is a CHARACTER!

Our "Sun Stand Still" Prayer...

We went to church last night.  We had not been there in a week or two.  We had some events going on...yadda yadda, insert excuse here.  When our pastor started talking about the new series he was beginning last night, I had chills from head to toe, and I knew I was SUPPOSED to be there.  It has only happened a few specific times before to me, but I felt strongly that the message was meant directly for me.

He is preaching about having AUDACIOUS faith.  The key verse was from Joshua 10:12-14 during a battle when Joshua had the audacity to pray to God to make the sun stand still over Gibeon.  God answered that prayer, and the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day!  It had never been seen before, and has never been seen since.  It made everyone  say, "THAT could ONLY be God!"

Our pastor challengd us to pray "Sun Stand Still" kind of prayers over the next few weeks.  He talked about how many of us have giants standing before us, blocking our way...but if we take even a baby step forward and pray that kind of prayer, God will knock our giants right down.  He is bigger than ANY giant (a.k.a obstacle) we face.

Right now, our agency, the "averages", most people who have adopted or are adopting...say it is not likely that we will travel to China to bring Kennedy home in November.  Paperwork, government, red tape, major events coming up in China...they are all our giants.  But, you know what??!!  God is bigger than ALL of that.  We have prayed for some time now that God will bring us to Kennedy before anyone thinks it is possible!  That is now our sun stand still prayer, and we want you to join us in it!

I am also not terribly big on going to the front for prayer when that time is offered.  Last night, Charles and I marched right up there!  We told one of the pastors about Kennedy, and about what is being projected as far as our wait.  We told him about our audacious prayer to bring her home faster than anyone believes possible.  He completely agreed that ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE, and that God is bigger than all of our obstacles! 

Of course I want Kennedy home for selfish reasons.  I want my daughter with me where she belongs!  I want to get her out of the orphanage life, give her unconditional love, a nice home, a good education...the list goes on.  But, if you scroll down to the bottom of this page to the map full of red dots, you will see that people all over the USA, and literally around the world are following our blog.  Most of the people, we do not know and probably never will.  When God answers our Sun Stand Still kind of prayer to bring us to Kennedy before anyone thinks it is possible, it will be a real-life miracle for all to witness with only one explanation:  THAT could only be GOD!  I believe that when that happens, people we do not even know will come to know God through that miracle.  There are people reading this right now who are not sure if they even believe in God.  He can use this blog and our Sun Stand Still answered prayer to reveal Himself to them. 

I can not say that God has ever audibly spoken to me.  I can say that last night, I knew He wanted me to hear that message.  I knew He was telling me to pray this Sun Stand Still prayer, and I knew that He is planning to use it to reach others.

I Samuel 1:27
For this child I prayed and the Lord granted me that which I asked of Him.

...and with that in mind we now pray, believe and thank God in advance that He will Bring us to Kennedy Faith faster than anyone believes it is possible...that people will be astounded that we are leaving so soon, and that they will know that it could ONLY be God!

Tiny update

Well, Thursday has arrived and our documents for the Article 5 have been delivered to the consulate.  They are due for pick up in 14 days on Thursday, October 28.  Then, the Article 5 will go to the CCAA for travel approval.  Hang in there, Kennedy!  We will be there as fast as we can!

Down, but not out...

So, just heard from our adoption agency.  The consulate would not take documents on Tuesday due to the holiday on Monday, so we have to wait until Thursday to submit.  Those will become the signed Article 5, 14 days later on October 28.  The courier in China will pick them up that Thursday, and hopefully deliver them to the CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs) the same day.  When they have the Article 5, they can begin processing our travel approval.  Of course there is a wait for that too.

Our agency says while travel Thanksgiving week, as we are praying for, is possible, it is not probable.  Their projection is closer to the first or second week of December at the earliest, not what we wanted to hear.

But...our God is a God of miracles, and He says to be specific in our prayers.  We will all continue to pray specifically that we will indeed travel in November.  Very specifically, we want to be in China Thanksgiving week.  He has moved mountains before, so we are not giving up.

While this news knocked me down, I am not out!  I will continue to pray and believe on behalf of Kennedy who deserves to be home as quickly as possible!   Will you join me?

What a GOOD morning!

I got an email early this morning from our care package company with a picture of our Kennedy receiving the gifts we sent her!  After yesterday's not so good news, this was a welcome surprise!!  Here she is!  Isn't she beautiful?!!!!  Look at those dimples!!!

We have a problem...

Well, the US consulate in China only accepts the documents for the Article 5 on Monday and Thursday each week.  You can't pick them back up until 14 days later. I thought that count began today.  Guess what???  The consulate was closed for Columbus Day.  Our agency is checking to see if they will accept the docs on Tuesday this week since Monday was a holiday.  If not, our 14 day count will not begin until Thursday.  Every day counts now because of major events going on in China during November and December.  The earlier we get the paperwork through, the better chance we have at getting Kennedy home for Christmas.  Again I ask you all to PRAY!

Kennedy's friend needs a family too!

In the previous post, I mentioned a healthy 8 year old friend of our Kennedy who needs a mommy and daddy.  She knows that Kau'i helped find our Kennedy a family, so she asked Kau'i, "Are you going to find me a family too?"

Here is a picture of Cao Xiang Xiang.  Kau'i is on the left, during her family's trip to adopt her.  Our Kennedy is on the right.  Cao Xiang Xiang is in the middle.  This photo was taken last December.  Look at her precious face and smile!  Looks like some dimples in those cheeks!  Imagine her with her hair grown out!  What a cutie!  Are you her forever family??

More News!

I am attempting to email a post from my school computer on my lunch break.  I hope it works!  This is still all so new to me!  ;)

Yesterday turned out to be such an amazing day!  I truly believe it is because I posted and asked for prayer for my own strength and encouragement on Wednesday when I had a minor melt-down!  You all prayed, and Thursday was a brand-new ball game!

As you know, we received our NVC letter yesterday!  The news did not stop there!  We also heard form the dear Kennedy family, our daughter's namesake!  Their beautiful daughter, Kau'i (and best friend of Kennedy) called Kennedy last night at the orphanage!  The girls had a good 20 minute conversation!  Kennedy said she had received the care package we sent and really liked the gifts!  She said she had already learned some English words on the translator we sent!  She said she really liked the pictures of her bedroom that we included.  In true teen-age style...she asked Kau'i, "Whose room is nicer, mine or yours?!"  SO funny!!

She said she is excited that we are coming soon and can't wait to come to America!  The girls kept telling each other, "I miss you!  I miss you!"  Angie and I began talking last night about planning a July vacation together so the girls can spend time together!  THAT will be amazing!  We will always keep our daughter's together as much as we can.  They are much more like sisters than friends!

Kau'i said that Kennedy can say her English name very well now, and Kennedy is excited that her name is the same as Kaui's last name!  What a cool connection to share a name!

Late last night, I also received an email from the care package company we used.  It said that the director said she would take a picture of Kennedy with her package from us!  We are hoping that happens, and eagerly looking forward to seeing that!  I am SURE I will post it if we get it!!  ;)  What an AMAZING Thursday!!  God heard your prayers and blessed me ten-fold!

Finally, Kennedy has a good friend named Xiang Xiang at the orphanage who is 8.  She is hoping to be adopted.  She is healthy, and her file has been created.  If you know anyone who has ever considered an older-child adoption and might be interested, I am sure I could get some information about her!  I will ask all of you to pray that she, too, will be blessed with the family she deserves!  NOTE!!!  When Angie Kennedy posted this same type of statement on her blog about our Kennedy back in December, our journey to Kennedy began!  If you feel your heart being tugged, follow that lead!

My 3 Favorite Letters...NVC!!!!!!

I took Mia out of school a little early today to get her flu-mist...since she HATES shots!  She knows she gets a treat after a doctor's visit, so she picked McDonalds.  I pointed out that 3:15 was a bit early for dinner, but she won.

We took our time and talked and laughed.  We got to the mailbox at about 4:10, and there it was!!!  A beautiful white envelope from the National Visa Center!  WE HAVE THE NVC LETTER!!!!

Of course, our adoption agency office closes at 4:00!  I called anyway, and the owner answered!!  I told him I was afraid this would happen...that we would get the letter on a Thursday after they closed and it would not be opened until Friday morning USA time.  That would already be Friday night in China, so it would not be received there until Monday.  I told him I was really hoping they could go ahead and send it today.  He indicated that they would and to copy him on the email.  (Quick prayer now that they do that!)

I have read that the documents that comprise the "Article 5" (including the NVC letter) can only be dropped off and picked up on Monday and Thursday.  The National holiday went through today in China, so Monday will be the first day any action can be taken.  It looks like our documents should be able to be ready for drop off on Monday.

WOO HOO!!!!

Our next 2 favorite letters will be TA...TRAVEL APPROVAL!!!!!!!!!


6:00 update:  I have had communication with our adoption agency, and our documents will be submitted to the US Consulate in China on Monday!!  :)

This is NO fun!

The NVC letter did not come again today.  For whatever reason, I got really upset by that. I have to remind myself that it will be alright and that China is basically shut-down from October 1-7 for their National Holiday.  If we got the letter today, nothing would happen with it in China until Friday or Monday.  BUT...we NEED that letter. 


I ask again for your prayers for this matter, and also for my strength and encouragement.  Adoption is a huge roller coaster, and I am having a rough ride at the moment.

Here is a TOTALLY unrelated picture of Mia a couple years ago.  She is a perfect example of why the rough roller coaster ride of adoption is totally worth it!!!

Nothing yet...

Well, no NVC letter yet.  We really need that tomorrow!  Let's all pray SPECIFICALLY for the NVC letter to arrive tomorrow, which will be one week since we received notice of our
I-800 approval.  Timing is getting very critical!


Since I don't have much to post, I will include some random photos for now!

Here is one of the referral photos of Mia...way back then!

She was quiet, shy and a bit sad.

Here she is now!  As outgoing as the day is long, never without something

to say, and happy, happy, happy!

                                      Me and my bean-girl!  (I call her, bean...don't know why!)

                               Miss Mia and her Daddy.  He is WRAPPED around her little finger!

                              Finally...Mia and Addie!  Mia is Addie's "person", and she follows
                              her EVERYWHERE!  This is true puppy love!

In closing, I got a call from a VERY DEAR friend of mine today!  We go WAY back!  She said she checks our blog daily, and that made me SO happy!  I am glad to know that the people I love, and don't get to see much, are keeping up with our lives and our journey to bring Kennedy home!  Thanks to all of you for caring enough to stop by our blog...and extra thanks for all your prayers!  We feel them, and need you to keep praying!  Friend...you know who you are, and it was awesome to hear your voice today!  Love you!

Art in the sky

I will try this again!  I guess posting from my phone is not as easy as Charles told me it would be!  If this posts twice, I apologize!  Mia and I had to stop on the side of the road today on the way to school to look at the beautiful pink and purple sky on a rare, crisp, Texas fall morning!  Mia noted that the sky matched her outfit!  (Not the other way around!)  I am sure my camera on my phone will not do it justice.  It was really breath taking in person!

We need you to pray!

OK, now seriously!  We need EVERYONE to pray for our NVC letter to arrive early this week!  That is the letter informing us that the National Visa Center in the USA has cabled ahead to China to issue Kennedy's visa!  Once that letter arrives here to us, and we scan and email it to the adoption agency, it joins a few other docs that together form the Article 5, once signed.  The info. we have is that once they have those docs in hand, they sign off after 2 weeks.  We are unclear about that and/or why the 2 week wait, but we DO know that once the Article 5 is complete, the next step is TRAVEL APPROVAL people!!!  That takes at least a few weeks after the Article 5, plus a few days to schedule the consulate appointment, then ususally a couple weeks until travel actually happens.


There are LOTS of things going on in China during October, November and December that could slow things down for us, and we just can't be having THAT!  Kennedy is already 13 years old, and she has waited LONG ENOUGH for her family!  Help us pray for God to MOVE THIS MOUNTAIN so we can leave for China sooner than expected!  Her closest friends have now been adopted and are home with their families in the USA.  We know it has to be so lonely and much harder on her to continue to wait now.  Of course, that breaks our hearts.


So, let's all believe together that she will be home VERY SOON!  I mean...look at that face!!

PRAY!  PRAY!  PRAY!  PRAY!  PRAY!  PRAY!  PRAY!  PRAY!  PRAY!  PRAY!  PRAY!