TRAVEL APPROVAL!!!

I'll keep this post short and sweet. As many of you already know, we got our travel approval today! God is good! We feel so blessed to be on this amazing journey. Not only did we get travel approval, we also got word that Gabe knows about us now, and has listened to our voice recording. It doesn't get much better than that, pretty much a perfect day. Oh, and we get to Skype with him soon!

Check out this sweet video that Mike made, we played it at our fundraiser dinner in December.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5jwkxdhlvj5ybj2/Video%20Dec%2016%2C%209%2009%2011%20PM.mov?dl=0

Chinese New Year!

Just a few more days until the CCCWA is back to work after Chinese New Year. We're hoping to get a quick travel approval next week.  The kids and caregivers at Bethel have been busy celebrating. I'm looking forward to next year when we will get to celebrate with Gabriel.  Below is the sweetest picture we received of our little guy at one of the CNY celebrations.

We're still hoping to get the rest of our puzzle pieces sponsored before we leave next month.  Mike will be out of work without pay for more than two weeks while we're traveling. This is the last bit of funds we need for our adoption. Any donation is greatly appreciated!

Consider being a piece of our adoption story and sponsor a puzzle piece for $10

Your name will be written on the back.

You Caring link

https://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/waiting-4-gabe/341337

Waiting for Travel Approval!!

Today our article 5 process will be completed and now we are officially waiting for travel approval! Recently there was a glitch in the system causing delays for travel approvals but it's fixed now so it shouldn't affect us. Next week is the CNY closure,  and I'm thinking we'll get our travel approval the week after which would allow us to leave on March 3rd. That's only 28 days!!! I can't believe it! After all the waiting we are finally so close!

We just sent our voice recordings for Gabriel yesterday and I sent pictures last week so they can describe us and our home to him. I guess they will be telling him about us soon if they haven't already. Very exciting!

*Edit* Just after I posted this I got an email from our caseworker, (it was a group email to all the families waiting for travel approval), he said that a Gotcha day of March 7th is not possible for any of us, meaning we won't be leaving on march 3rd as we hoped. Gotcha days are always on Mondays. It looks like we'll be adding a week to that, but it still all depends how quickly we receive our TA.

This is a new picture we received last week and it's one of my favorites. How sweet is that face??

Puzzle pieces are still available. If you want to sponsor a piece for $10 you can donate to our 

You Caring fundraising page.

https://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/waiting-4-gabe/341337

Thank you all for following our adoption journey, praying for us, supporting us...we feel the love!

Just Waiting

We're halfway through the article 5 process. Next Thursday it will be completed and then we just wait for travel approval.  I'm hoping we can leave on March 3rd, that would get us home just in time for Jake's school musical. He has 5 parts in it this year...5!!! So, we don't want to miss it!

As I'm sitting here writing this blog,  I just got the most exciting email!  They are going to tell Gabriel he has family! We will be sending pictures and information about us and our house so that they can describe us to him. We will also be sending a voice recording. Included in the email were 11 pictures and a video. Happy day!

Gabriel has not received his Christmas package yet but I'm hopeful it will eventually make its way to him before we get there.

I'll leave you with this super adorable video we received in October.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZO7vdCoW-A&feature=youtu.be

Article 5 Process

Abby informed me yesterday that it's time for another blog post. She is on top of things! Our Article 5 process started today, this is the last step and it takes exactly two weeks. After that we will be waiting for TA  (travel approval).  We will be waiting through the Chinese New Year closure and because of that we will be traveling in early March.

This week has been crazy! I've been sick, Mike's job for the week cancelled, and our upstairs heating unit stopped working. Poor Jake, the bonus room is his bedroom and we didn't realize it, but he told us it hasn't been working for a while. Praise the Lord it was an easy, inexpensive fix! Then, our week was brightened when we received new pictures of Gabriel! I'm sure everyone saw the one I posted yesterday but i'll post the other two here. They're a little blurry but I just love them because he's so happy playing with his Bethel mama. I'm so very thankful for the love and care he is receiving at Bethel.

We have lots of puzzle pieces left to be sponsored for $10 each. You can donate at our You Caring page. Thank you!

https://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/waiting-4-gabe/341337

I800 approval

We're moving along again. Our I800 was approved on Friday and now we just have one more step before travel approval! We are hoping to get travel approval before Chinese New Year so we can start booking plane tickets and hotels.  We also received a care plan that Gong Xin's therapists put together for us on the best way to care, encourage, and interact with him. That will be super helpful! Still no word on the Christmas package we sent. I hope he got it.

Caleb, my baby, will become a middle kid very soon. I can't wait to see him as a big brother!  He is excited about Gabe joining our family, but when I asked him recently what he thought about being a big brother, he said  "I like being the youngest." I assured him he'll always be my baby. He's been the youngest for 10 (almost 11) years and this will be a big change for him but I have no doubt that he will be an awesome big brother!

Here is a short video of little guy learning how to feed himself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOJKmvQI1gU

Thanks for reading!

I800- Back on track!

Well, I think we're back on track with our I800. Our receipt notice finally came in the mail 17 days after our I800 was sent.  The approval may take a bit longer than expected, but i'm just happy we don't need to start over.  I'm anxious to get these last couple steps done so we have a better idea of when we will be traveling. Of course we want to travel asap and we will but there is a ton of stuff to do still and it's quite overwhelming to think about!

I started our  adoption with a puzzle fundraiser and I am going to end with it as well. We still have about 140 pieces left unsponsored.  Mike will be out of work for more than two weeks unpaid when we travel so we need to come up with funds to pay the bills while we're away.  If all the remaining puzzle pieces are sponsored at $10 each, that will be $1400 which will cover at least one of those weeks.  When you sponsor a puzzle piece we will write your name on the back, when the puzzle is complete we will frame it and hang it in Gabriel's room. If you are interested in sponsoring a piece you can make a $10 donation to our You Caring fundraising page. The link is below the picture of our puzzle.

https://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/waiting-4-gabe/341337

Please continue to pray for for our family. Thank you!