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

surgery day...or so we thought...

Cora went in for surgery on 10-16-12 to have her cleft palate closed. The plan was to look at her ear tubes, if they needed to be replaced, they would do that and then move on to the palate surgery. I was happy the the anesthesiologist offered to let me carry her to the OR and stay with her until she went to sleep. (I didn't even have to ask!) They told us it would take 4-4.5 hours until she was done....so TJ and I went and got something to eat and then settled into the waiting room for the long wait.

The ENT doctor came up to give us a report on how things looked with the tubes. One tube was completely out, the other tube was occluded with wax, and when they pulled it out there was actually some puss behind the tube. So both ear tubes were replaced. She told us that Dr. Coots was just getting started when she left so it would be 3-4 hours yet.

After about 30-40 minutes...we see Dr. Coots in the waiting room...we're instantly a bit confused. He had come to inform us that he couldn't do Cora's palate repair today....WHAT!!!???? Apparently, the perfectly healthy child we brought for surgery....was not as healthy as we thought. He got in there to get started and he noticed some pus in her sinuses, and she also had a little pus on her tonsils. He didn't feel like it was in Cora's best interest to continue with the repair in the presence of an infection. He said because her cleft is so wide he just couldn't chance it. We were not upset at all with his decision...just completely shocked that she had an infection....and we had no clue.

I still feel a little silly/stupid about the whole thing. She was a little crabby about 5 days before surgery, and I was a little concerned that she may be getting sick. The next day however...she acted fine, and I noticed a new tooth in her mouth...so I assumed that was what her problem was. She has acted like her happy little self since then. She had a CBC on Friday that was completely normal. She had no fever, no cough, no runny nose...so to say we were shocked about them finding an infection...is an understatement. I feel so bad that she has to go through all this again.

She is now home. She will be on an antibiotic for 10 days, and surgery is rescheduled for 2 weeks from today on the 31st...which means she will be in the hospital for her birthday....BUMMER! I guess we will just celebrate early. I think I am going to take her to the pediatrician the day before surgery...just to make sure they think everything looks good. ;-)

This girl even makes a hospital gown look cute!

Sorry about the poor picture quality...but her cute smile was just to cute not to share. I guess we'll get another chance for a better quality picture of her in her hospital gown in a couple weeks.

We were certainly shocked by how this played out, but everything happens for a reason. So whatever the reason, we accept that this is all in God's hands. So now we will continue to pray the infection goes away and that the surgery in 2 weeks will be successful and as pain free as possible.

Happy Wednesday friends!

-katie