Long overdue adoption update

Where to start....my last post was full of whining about my LOA so I will start there. We got our LOA (letter of acceptance) from China on 8/7. This is the paper stating that we have China's final approval to adopt Max. Our LOA wait was 65 days this time, much better than the 96 days we waited for Cora's. When we got the call from our agency on 8/7, we had just gotten back from my Grandmother's funeral....such a bittersweet day. My Grandmother was an amazing woman. She was really excited about Max joining our family. I really wish that she could have met him, but that was not meant to be.

Here is a photo of us with the Fed Ex guy that delivered our LOA to us....I am sure he thought I was a little crazy, but he was super nice and humored me, and he was willing to join in on the picture taking. (Can you tell I was excited to finally have that LOA in hand?!?!)

The next step was to fill out our I800 application and send to USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services). The I800 is basically our government's approval of the adoption. It is them saying that "Yes, these people are qualified to parent Max specifically." Our I800 was approved on 8/20. From there our paperwork had to go to the National Visa Center. We had to fill out yet another form, wait for it to be processed and then after we received all the receipts and numbers from that, our paperwork got dropped off at the US Consulate in Guangzhou, China. The Consulate will take 10 business days to issue an Article 5 letter that states we have our final approval to adopt and that he will qualify for a Visa. We had a few holidays that affected our Article 5 time line so our Article 5 will finally be ready on Thursday, 9/18. The Article 5 will be sent to the China adoption officials who will issue us our travel approval. The average travel approval wait has been taking about 8 days. So since China is 12 hours ahead of us....as I am writing this it is already Wednesday 9/17 in China so our Article 5 will be picked up in just one more day!

That was a really long explanation....if your eyes glazed over reading that (and I am sure that they did)....this is all you need to know: WE ARE ABOUT 1-2 WEEKS AWAY FROM BOOKING OUR TRIP TO CHINA!

So here's the nitty gritty and where we would love some prayers. Let me explain....our agency has only 1 scheduled travel group per month that we can go with. They will not let us travel outside of the scheduled groups. The group dates that we would fit into are either 10-10 or 10-31. I have been hoping and praying all along to make it in the October 10 group. That way he will be home before his 2nd birthday which is on 11/6. (Also Cora's birthday is on 11-1, so if we go with the October 31 group...we will not be home to celebrate her birthday with her. I already missed her 1st birthday while we waited to bring her home...I don't want to miss another one.) It will still take a small miracle to get the final approval in time to get everything scheduled for the 10-10 group. There is a week long holiday in China from October 1-7 which will make scheduling difficult. Please pray that we will be able to squeak into the October 10 group.

So here's our prayer requests...and we truly covet your prayers.
1- Pray for Max and that he is receiving good loving care while we wait to bring him home.
2- Pray for God to prepare Max's heart for all the changes he is about to go through. (We are excited to bring him home, but this adoption means he is losing everything that he knows in order to become a part of our family.)
3- Pray for approvals to arrive in time to get everything scheduled for the October 10 travel group.
4- Pray that Tj and I can get everything done at home without too much stressing as we prepare for this trip and bringing our 5th child home.
5- Pray for the financial portion of this adoption. There is still a significant financial need there to be able to pay for the travel expenses to get our Max home. (Any rich friends out there with money burning a hole in your pocket....we could put it to good use. ;-) Ha!)
6- Pray for our other 4 children that will be staying home while we travel to China. Please pray that our absence while in China is not too hard on them.

I will leave you with a photo of Max from March...gosh I can't wait to give this little guy a squeeze!

Happy Tuesday friends.
-katie

prayer requests

So far everything with Max's adoption process has gone quite quickly (which is an answered prayer). We applied to our agency the end of January. We got Max's referral the beginning of March, and we had all of the paperwork that  China needed done by May. My desire since getting Max's referral is that we would be able to have him home before his 2nd birthday. If we do not get our LOA (letter of acceptance from China) in the next couple weeks....we will probably not be able to get him home before his birthday on November 6. We are on day 43 for our LOA wait, and lately the average wait is somewhere between 60-80 days. It is looking more and more like we are going to miss our wish for early to mid October travel. :-( However, we serve a big God and he is able to make the impossible happen. Would you all please pray that we get this LOA document very soon. I just want our Max home so much that some days my arms actually ache with the desire to hold him! Please also pray for us (me specifically because TJ doesn't get as worked up about this as I do) that no matter what happens to trust in God's timing.

Max just looks sad in all the photos we have gotten of him. I know that orphanages do the best with what they have, but our little guy NEEDS to be home with his family. An orphanage no matter how good it is....is NO place for a child to grow up...it just isn't. Please pray for Max and all the other children that are growing up in an orphanage. Please pray that these children will all someday know the love of a family.

I don't want to harp on this as TJ and I will do whatever it takes to get Max home, and I don't want to scare anyone away from adoption because of the cost. (It's amazing how God provides when he calls you to do something. And trust me when I tell you that there are many ways to afford adoption...so please anyone considering adoption...don't let the cost scare you away.) With that said....if you would continue to pray for the financial aspect of our adoption. TJ has started his own construction business recently. Please pray that God provides him with just the right amount of construction jobs to be able to fund what we need for adoption and travel expenses. (If you or someone you know is needing a remodeling or new construction project done....call Authentic Construction....the owner is the most honest, hard working man I know.) ;-)

Our prayer requests:
1- LOA to arrive very soon (like in the next couple weeks)
2- For Max and that he is receiving the love and care he needs until we can bring him home.
3- For all the other children currently in orphanages around the world, please pray that someone is loving them and that they may all find families.
4- For God to meet our financial needs for adoption expenses.
5- Please pray that Max will get to come home before his 2nd birthday.
6- For God to prepare Max's little heart for all the changes coming his way.

Thank you friend for listening and praying. Our family continues to covet your prayers.

Happy Wednesday!
-katie

Max update

Our Mr. Max is now 20 months old. We received an update on Max last week. According to the update he is 31.5 inches tall which puts him in about 10th percentile for height. They also told us that he weighs 21 pounds which falls below the 5th percentile. We are hoping that (like with Cora)....with some good food and the love of a family that he will grow to be a bit higher percentage on that growth chart.

The update we received seemed a bit generic. They answered all but one of our questions, but they answered the questions with very little details...oh well. It is an update none the less and gives us something to hold onto while we wait. We did not get the video that we requested, but they did send a couple new pictures. So without further ado....here he is. Gosh I can't wait to get this little guy in my arms!

Day 41 of LOA wait today. The average wait is between 70-80 days right now. I am praying that we blow that average wait right out of the water, and I pray that we get our LOA very soon. We ask that everyone continue to pray for Max. Please pray that he is receiving good care and that his nannies at the orphanage are loving on him lots. Please continue to pray that God prepare his heart to join our family. Please pray for our family to be prepared for another child to join our family. We are praying that we get to bring this little man home soon....this Mama's arms are aching to hold her little boy. We covet your prayers friends.

happy Monday everyone!

-katie

adoption update

Just a quick update on where we are at in the adoption process for Mr. Max. Our agency sent for an update on Max last week so we are (not so patiently) waiting for them to get back to us with some updated info and pictures. We haven't had an update since March. I can't wait to see how he has grown! This waiting is so hard knowing that he is growing and learning without us there with him. I want him in my arms so bad it hurts....

We sent our dossier (all of the paperwork that China requires of us) to China at the end of May. We are now waiting on the China officials to review all of our paperwork and issue us a LOA (letter of acceptance). We can't proceed until we receive this form that is basically China saying...."yes, you can in fact make Max your son." So for now we are in a holding pattern. This is the step that will determine when we will travel. It could take anywhere from 30-100+ days. We are hoping for a short wait. We had to wait 96 days for this step with Cora...we are hoping for much shorter this time around. This whole adoption process has gone so much faster than it did with Cora....so we hope that continues for every step of the process for Max. When we received our LOA, the typical time frame to travel is about 8-12 weeks....so we need to get this form sooner than later if we are going to make it to China in October like we are hoping.

We covet your prayers for our Max and our family during this process. Please pray that Max is receiving good care, that he is being loved, that he is safe, and receiving enough to eat. Pray that God begins to prepare his heart to join our family. This little guy has lots of changes coming his way. While joining a family is a good thing...it also means that he will be forced to give up everything that he knows and will lose everything familiar to him for that to happen. Please pray for our kiddos at home also....pray that their little hearts are prepared to have a new little sibling and all that a new sibling entails. Please pray that each step of this adoption process goes quickly and that we can have Max in our arms sooner than later.  Please pray for us financially and that we are able to pay for the fees and travel and that the financial part of this won't hold us up when it is time to go get him. We are pinching pennies, working extra, and giving up lots of activities that we would normally enjoy this time of year....we are saving every little bit that we can to reach the amount needed for our expenses. God called us to adopt again....we have faith that he will provide for us financially to get our Max home, and we know that will mean hard work on our part. We do not expect to just be given the funds, however we would also not turn you down if you felt led to donate to help cover our adoption expenses. ;-) We are more that willing to work hard to get our little Max home. Hopefully, the next time I update the blog I will have some new pictures of our little man!

Happy Tuesday friends!
-katie

p.s.- For those wondering....the ipad mini winner was Terri Brostrom, and the fitbit winner was Tiffany Mann. Thank you so much to everyone that helped support our adoption and entered the drawing.

Raising money for our adoption expenses...enter our drawing.

 

We are currently having a drawing for an I-pad mini and another drawing for a Fitbit Flex. It took me a bit but I finally figured out how to get a donate button on the blog (the donate button is on the sidebar of this blog). If you would like to enter our drawing here are the specifics.

1- We will be drawing for both items on Memorial day.
2- We will notify you as quickly as possible who the winner is. (I will announce on the blog and on facebook.)
3- Each entry is $3. Or you can do 2 entries for $5. You can enter as many times as you want. We must receive your donation prior to your name being entered.
4- If you want to enter.(Please please enter) Please use the donate button on the sidebar of the blog. After you donate, please leave me a comment so that I can make sure I get your name entered into the drawing. Include in your comment how to best get a hold of you if you are the winner. Also include which drawing you want your name entered into.
5- Thank you in advance friends!


All donations will go directly towards our adoption expenses to bring Max home.

Happy Thursday friends!
-katie

The big announcement

Well....I am sure that you have all been waiting on pins and needles for this. ;-) We filled out the application for another adoption in mid January. We are using Holt again this time around. I have felt more of an urgency to get things done quickly this time around...even more so than our first adoption process. We found out why I have felt so urgent in the beginning of March. We were sent a file of the sweetest little boy to review. His special needs were something that was not even on my radar, so I took a little time researching and talking to doctors. I wanted to make sure that we made a decision that was best for this little guy and for the rest of our kids at home. My heart said yes, but my head was a little slower. My husband however, fell in love with him immediately. He was picking out names for him the day we received his file. :-) We finally decided together that no matter what his special needs may be....it doesn't change the fact that his biggest need is the need for a family. So after much prayer we have decided that this little guy will fit right into our crazy household. We are going to make this little guy a part of the our family, and we are thrilled!

So we officially sent LOI on March 18th. (....letter of intent for those not in the adoption community. This is the letter to the China officials that says we would like him to be our son.) We got our PA (approval from China) on 3/27. We are working as quickly as we can to get all our dossier paperwork (fancy name for our adoption paperwork) done. We are waiting on one last document from our government, and then we will have everything we need to send to China.

We are hoping to travel in the fall to bring him home....for this to happen all the stars need to align. We have several more steps that we will be waiting on Chinese government and our own government to process our papers....so it all depends on how quickly these steps take. (fingers crossed that things go extremely quick) I am praying that as our papers are shuffled, they are always put on the top of the pile instead of the bottom. ;-)

So here's the details...his name is going to be Max Emmet Werner. Our little guy will turn 2 on November 6. I am secretly hoping that we will be able to get him home prior to his 2nd birthday. (fingers crossed again) He is waiting for us in an orphanage in Beijing. And for the 2nd time in my life....I am head over heels for a child that is living on the other side of the world. It doesn't matter that I haven't met him....I am in love with this little guy! I just can't wait to get our little Max in my arms!

Much love to you all. Please keep our family and our new little man in your prayers. Pray for all our paperwork to be processed quickly so we can bring our little guy home.  Please pray for us to have all the finances fall into place for this adoption. Also, please pray that God is preparing our Max's heart for all the changes that are coming his way.

Happy Thursday!

-katie

I am back!

Well...it has been about a year and a half since I have updated this blog....poor forgotten blog. The kids are growing up much to quickly for their mother's liking. Cora is 3 now. She has had her palate repaired back in October of 2012. She is just a few days away from her 2nd forever family day. Owen is 5 now. He is in preschool this year and is really liking it. We weren't sure at first as he is a Mama's boy and wasn't real thrilled about going to school without mom. Ethan is 8 and a half. He is in 2nd grade this year. He is doing really great in school. He is playing baseball right now, and will be starting tackle football (it took a little convincing to get mom to agree to tackle instead of flag) this summer. Grace is 11 now. She is in 5th grade this year. School is going fairly smoothly for her this year. Grace discovered gymnastics last year, and she has really been enjoying it. She has several after school activities that she attends, and she manages to stay quite busy.

The whole purpose of this update is to let everyone in bloggy land that follows my blog (all 3 of you) that the Werners will be going to China again. I have felt for quite some time that we could make room for another little one, but TJ wasn't as sure. I had all but given up on the idea when we attended our church service several months back that was focused on adoption. God used another adoptive mama to speak to my husband's heart. It was after that church service that TJ got on board for another blessing through adoption. We have come to the conclusion that our family is not yet complete, and we are making room for another little blessing from China. We are hoping to travel yet this year for our new little person. :-)

There is much to share, but I will save that for another day.

Hoping all of you are having a blessed day.

-Katie