A Couple Thoughts From Shane

We were driving the other day and Shane was holding the picture of his baby brother. Shane said,"Mom, he keeps looking straight at me and says I don't want to live in China anymore I want to come live with you!"

Shane is also very diligent about praying for his little brother. The other night he prayed, "Dear Jesus be with the people that are taking care of my brother, take good care of him. Give him good food, don't give him sweets so he can stay healthy!" Hmmmm do you think he has heard that before!

Another Step Closer ... PA

We love getting calls that allow us to check another thing off the list and move us one step closer to our little boy. We found out today we received our PA on August 23. PA is the Pre-Approval we have received from China to adopt Fu Zhida. I love looking at the column on the right side of our blog as I see more dates added and we get closer to our little boy. Our agency has given us the range of 4 - 9 months until we travel to bring him home. We are praying for shorter rather than longer but again learning to lay this process in the hands of our heavenly Father.

What next?

We wait for LOA (Letter of Acceptance). This can take from 1-4 months. We are again hoping things move along and we are on the shorter side of the wait.

The Kids Reaction

The kids knew something was up when they heard us talking about a little boy in China and they saw me crying. After we got the call we called family and some friends to pray for us as we made our decision. We also were consulting with a doctor that evening after the kids were in bed. We decided we weren't going to show them his picture or tell them about their brother until we had made our decision about accepting his referral that evening. So on Wednesday after our LOI was sent we introduced the kids to their little brother in China.

Eric was telling the kids that we had found out who their little brother was.

The kids' first glance at their baby brother.

Their reaction was priceless and was so fun to watch. They have been praying for their little brother for months. They have been talking about him and what it might be like for him to leave China and live with us. They have been with me on numerous trips to FedEx. They have been waiting for today, the day they would see the face of their little brother. Shane kept giggling. Alexa kept saying over and over "He is so cute!" Emma said, "I just want to stare at him all day!"

Shane went in for the kiss. The kids are so excited and so proud. They have been carrying his picture around and showing off their new little brother to anyone that will listen. We pray the time goes quickly! We are all anxious to have him home.

The Call

On Tuesday, August 17 at 2:10 we got a call that would forever change our life. It was our social worker telling me there was a little boy in Shandong China who was waiting to be adopted and we had 24 hours to review his file and consult with doctors and decide if this was the little boy that God had called us to love and make part of our family.

I called Eric who happened to be 5 minutes from the house. Tears streamed down my face as I watched the file of our little boy come into my inbox. I called Eric again just to make sure he was coming. Yes, he was 2 minutes away!

We sat together and opened the file and saw the face of our son for the first time. I knew this was the little boy that God had for us when I saw his face. We spent the next hours pouring over his file and pictures. We consulted with doctors but most importantly we prayed that God would block this if it wasn't the little boy he had for our family.

On Wednesday morning we accept his referral. We couldn't be more excited. We are in love already!!

With joy and thanksgiving we introduce you to our son.

His Chinese name is Fu Zhida

He is from the Shandong providence in China.

His birthday is August 6, 2009 so he is one year old.

Please pray with us for health, safety and that he is loved until we see him face to face and he is in our arms.

We Have A LID

We have a LID (Log in Date). Our LID is officially July 27. It is the official date that our paperwork was logged into China.

What next? .

The next part of our journey is exciting. We are at the point that all our paperwork is done and logged in and so we are ready for a referral.

What is a referral?

Every 30 - 45 days China releases a group of Children to be adopted. Our agency will watch for a little boy during the release that matches the age, gender and special needs we are willing to take. We then will be called with our referral. We will have about 24-36 hours to pray, pray pray. We will also contact doctors to look over his file and then will make a decision about accepting his referral.

I feel like we are on the edge of something I just can't even comprehend. We are waiting with anticipation, excitement and a little nervousness as the reality of seeing the face of a little boy that could be our son is in arms reach. Again we are trusting in his timing and his perfect plan but VERY anxious with anticipation.