waiting

The waiting is driving me crazy today....probably because it is Valentines day. Just reminding me more today that we are without our sweet Cora. When we were waiting for the I-800 to arrive, I was literally stalking the mailman. Now I am waiting on the e-mail from Holt to let us know about Article 5 approval....so now I am checking our e-mail about 20 times a day. I am still hoping to get in the March travel group, but with each passing day...I know that is becoming more unlikely.

On a positive note, the other kiddos are having a great Valentine's day, and have offered up lots more hugs and kisses than they normally would have given their mother. Well, off to go celebrate Valentine's day and my mother's 60th birthday with the family....and to check my e-mail again ;-)

_katie

Update

I have had lots of people asking about adoption progress, so I thought I would write a little update.

Our papers were sent to the US consulate in China 2 weeks ago. We are waiting for them to give us what they call "article 5" approval. Once we get that, the consulate will send the article 5 to the CCCWA (China center for children's welfare agency) We will then be waiting for the CCCWA to issue our "travel approval." Once we get the travel approval our agency will start making all the necessary government appointments so that we can finalize the adoption in China. When all the appointments are made, we can start planning our trip.
The travel coordinator at our agency thought that traveling in March might be unlikely because he doesn't think we will get our approvals soon enough to get appointments scheduled in time to go in March. I have been PRAYING that he is wrong. I am praying that the paperwork gets approved quickly and we can get our trip planned for March. If you would all pray for paperwork to get approved quickly I would so appreciate it. Also, if it isn't God's plan for us to go get Cora in March, please just pray for me to relax and be patient that it will all happen in God's time. I keep reminding myself that God's timing is perfect....but I am human after all, and I am getting a bit impatient with this whole process. I just want our sweet girl in my arms where she belongs.

Good news!

This is the province in China where our little girl is currently living.

I finally sent the agency an e-mail yesterday just asking average wait times for LOA(letter of acceptance from China) to arrive. We are on day 92 right now of waiting for our LOA! I was kind-of feeling forgotten about. For those of you that don't know what the LOA is....just know we can't move forward with this adoption until we receive it. We had just gone a long time without hearing anything from anyone, that I just wanted to touch base with someone at Holt (our agency) to make sure in fact that someone hadn't misplaced our paperwork and that things would be moving forward soon :-) She reassured me that our papers would be coming any day. That was my first e-mail (whining about the wait)....I think I did pretty good! It was so hard to go through the holidays without our Cora. It was also hard not to have an answer for our family when they asked when she would be coming home. That all being said........

I got an exciting call today. Our agency called to let us know that our LOA had arrived! They will be fedexing it overnight to us. So it will be in our hands tomorrow! Finally we can move forward!


Here is a picture of our sweet girl! Can't wait to get my hands on her!

She told us it obviously depends on processing times, but she estimated that we would be traveling to China in mid March. (Because yes....there is more paperwork to be filed before we can go.) I wish it were sooner, but I am so excited/relieved that we finally have a time frame to expect. My baby girl will be in my arms in about 2 and a half to 3 months!

I hope everyone is having as great a day as I am!

Love,

Katie

A sweet Owen story.

This was so so sweet last night, so I thought I better blog about it....so I don't forget it someday. Last night when I put the boys to bed, I said, "Let's say our prayers." Which usually means I say the prayer and the boys just listen, but last night Owen says, "ME!" This is the first time my sweet little 2 year old has ever said a prayer. It went like this.....

"Pay, Pay, Da, Ma....Men" Which translates....Pray, Pray, Dad, Mom, Amen. Totally melted my heart. Love that kid!



Adoption update:
We haven't heard anything new....which is DRIVING ME CRAZY! I absolutely hate this waiting....knowing that she is in that orphanage and not home with her family that loves her dearly is really getting to me lately. Please pray that we would hear some news soon, and that our travel date to go get her will be sooner than later. I want my sweet Cora in my arms so much!
On a positive note....our church held a lovely fundraiser for us to help with expenses.....it was so nice. It is also lovely to know that we have lots of people praying for her. It is so wonderful to be part of such a awesome church family!


Love,
Katie

Exciting news!

This is going to be short and super sweet! We have officially been matched by our agency with a beautiful little girl! She is absolutely gorgeous....I want to hold her so badly that my arms actually ache! I will have to be patient though....we just got an esimate from our agency of 4-9 months until we can go get her.....I honestly don't know how we are going to wait that long! Please pray that everything goes perfectly with our paperwork, and that we get to travel to get her sooner than what they are estimating.


Love,

Katie

Fundraiser

Just wanted to share this with everyone....we are doing a fundraiser with this great gourmet coffee company. Here is the link http//:www.justlovecoffee.com/TheWerners

If you go to that link, it will bring you to our personal URL fundraising site, if you buy anything from that our URL site.....they will donate $5 per bag of coffee you buy to our adoption expenses! If you aren't a coffee lover....these would make great christmas gifts for any coffee lovers you know.....(think teacher gifts, grab bag gifts....gifts for you boss)

And feel free to share this with anyone you think might be interested in 1-helping us raise adoption funds or 2- is a coffee lover.

Thanks everyone.....hope you are having a happy and blessed Monday!

Love,

Katie

Pretty excited about this!

Today we got our approval notice from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services! We had to get our fingerprints done at the federal building on July 11, so I wasn't expecting to get our approval notice yet.....so today was a happy surprise. So now we just have to have everything notarized, certified and authenticated.....and we have a complete dossier! Once that is sent to China and approved.....we are officially waiting for a referral! If I am this excited about a piece of paper.....can you imagine what I'll be like the day I get to see a picture of our little China girl for the first time!?!!

Please keep our family and our little girl in China in your prayers. Please pray that God has put someone in her life that is loving her until we can get there to bring her home. I can't hardly wait to find out who she is and see a picture of her! Please also pray that we are able to save the rest of the money needed to bring our little one home.

Hope the rest of you are having a happy day also! God is good everyday.....everyday God is good!

Love,

Katie