Unexpected Opportunity!

My friend Heather introduced me to a friend of hers named Teri. Teri makes lovely hand crafted jewelry. Teri recently began having "trunk" shows from her home and inviting other crafters to display thier items too. Items like clothing, scrapbook supplies, fabulous paper crafts, Scentsy Candles, lotions and cosmetics, etc. So, my friend Tish and I met Teri on Sunday, December 6th. We knew we were at the right house becuase it was the only one in the enire neighborhood with over a dozen cars parked out front with people coming a going. We made our way into this lovely home and mingled around checking everything out, ( awesome stuff!) meeting several ladies before making our way to the room where Teri was. I showed her several Eva's Bags ( already sold ) and she really liked them. I left her an Eva Tag and that evening an e-mail from Terri invited me to sell Eva's Bags at her next boutique on December 20th! Whoa! AWESOME, right?!

But I already told myself I could not do it ...10 days to prepare and with 10 orders pending. I wasn't sure.... but after talking it over with mom, she thought I should go for it...even if I only have two bags to sell, go and get the word out, hand out cards, flyers, etc. So all of the orders I have do not have a Christmas deadline / rush and the women have been very gracious....God bless all of you!

So I took a vacation day today to work on some prep for what I hope to be 10 medium bags. What doesn't get done, doesn't get done. But if I sew a bag a day....we might pull it off! I am excitied to see what the Lord will do!
Please keep Evas Bag's in prayer...all the glory to the Most High for all the success this fundraiser has had and the opportunities to come!

We're workin' on it Eva!

First Grant Request~ Denied

We received notice today that our grant request could not be considered at this time. They had received and reviewed over 278 applications which added up to over 3 million dollars in requests.  Funds available depend largely on donations. We were not informed as to any other details...which was kind of hard. You know, wanting to know the reasons why so we feel better?...."NO" always hurts.

Anyway, we have applied for another grant in the mean time so please keep that in prayer. The Lord is faithful...if He wills us to proceed He will keep the doors open and do so in His timing.

Ecclesiates 3:1

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven

Hague Training Underway!

Yay! We are enrolled in our parental training courses and already finished our first class ~ TRAVEL TO CHINA...it was very interesting and super informative. I was also a reality check on just how expensive the travel portion is alone! Anyway...that is something that the Lord will help us through...like everything else...an opoortunity for a miracle! 

• Isaiah 41:10    "Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Don't be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand."
• 
  
  Isaiah 41:13    "For I the LORD your God will hold your right hand, saying to you, Fear not; I will help you."
  
• Isaiah 30:21    "And when you turn to the right or when ye turn to the left,  your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way, walk in it."
  
• Isaiah 42:16   "I will lead the blind by a way they do not know, In paths they do not know I will guide them. I will make darkness into light before them And rugged places into plains. These are the things I will do, And I will not leave them undone."
  
• Matthew 6:11 "...Give us this day our daily bread."
  
• Philippians 4:13  "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
  
• 
  
  Philippians 4:19  "And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
  

The Lord NEVER fails!


We are in the process of applying for another grant so please keep that in prayer. We are meanwhile, praying we hear some good news in the next couple of weeks about our first grant.

Good things are coming....

i-797c Notice of Action

We received the i-797c Notice of Action. Its not a rally big deal but every step and every piece of paper we receive is very exciting to us! Eeeeek!!!    The i-797c is simply a notification that payment has been taken, which indicates our i-800 application was successfully submitted. Next we will receive notice that our biometrics appointment has been scheduled at a local USCIS support center. Not sure exactly what the timeline is on that but I am thinking another 60-70 days.
Mean while we are getting our Hague training underway!

Hague Training

Thanks to Eva's Bags we are just about at our fundraising goal for the on-line Hauge training. We waited for this training because we wanted to take the training through Great Wall vs. another provider and the program through Great Wall was just recently launched. David and I are required to take at least 10 hours of  "parental training" which is  geared toward educating us on: becoming a mutlicultural family, healthy attachments,  life inside the orphanage, health and development of orphaned children, travel to China, etc. We are looking forward to the training while we await the response to our i-800 application. If you are interested in learining more about the courses, click this link....http://www.adoptionmomentsonline.org/main.php

Vital document authentications are back but not for long!

Our marriage license and my birth certificates arrived back from the California Secretarty of State on Friday and David's birth certificate came back from Minnesota Secretary of State today so they are officially authenticated by thier respective heads of State. The same documents are now being prepared for yet another journey...to the Chinese Consulates for authentication.

The two California documents go to the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco and the Minnesota one goes to the Chinese Consulate in Chicago.  Bye bye...see you in a few weeks!

I-800 Application in Process

We are submitting the I-800 aka Application for Determination of Suitability to Adopt a Child from a Convention Country. Here is a link or more information. http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=af78b3dfc7c58110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD&vgnextchannel=847d18a1f8b73210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD

The process timeframe is 60-90 days. Once we are granted approval we will receive an I-797 - Notice of Approved Action or Notice of Favorable  Determination. Then David adn I will receive instructions to go to a special location for more fingerprints. The I-797 notification of the approval will be forwarded to the National Visa Center (NVC) to be kept on file along with our fingerprints for visa processing later. Here is a link for more information:
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=9fcd18a1f8b73210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=9fcd18a1f8b73210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD

We now need to start saving for the the second agency fee of $2,500 so that when we get the I-797 we can send all our paperwork (Dossier) to China and get our log in date!

Consulate Certification

This is Chinese Consulate "seal of approval" and its what we need on every single one of our notarized documents. Very pretty and expensive since there are over a dozen notarized documents in our Dossier @ $20 a pop and we just got our first batch back on Friday so most all of our precious paperwork is safely locked up at home! We still need this seal on three other documents and we are waiting on that now. Please continue to pray that we can gather the funds needed to file the I-800. Thank the Lord for Eva's Bags...bags have been selling at just thr right time but the I-8oo is a sizeable chunk but we really need to get that milestone out of the way so we can get our Dossier logged in to China and get on the official "waiting list".

Vital Document Authentication

Okay, now that the birth certificates and marriage certificate are mailed off for authentication - we are totally document-less ( is that a word?) and all of our life story is floating around out there. Anyway...kinda weird. We are hoping to file our 1-800 this next week, and praying the necessary funds are available. That's another BIG step....and we certainly need to have it behind us before the Holiday's.

November is just about here and HelpUsAdopt.org will be announcing the grant award sometime in December.

Thanks for your continued prayers.

Autumn Day

Well, our marriage certificate finally arrived Saturday and now with the birth certificates, it will be sent off to their respective secretary of state offices to be authenticated before going to the Chinese Consulate. Meanwhile all our Washington documents ( home study, physicals, background checks, etc.) are due back from the Chinese Consulate in about a weeks time. We will definitely feel more comfortable when all our documents are back in our hands.

Eva's Bags are doing very well too and we hope it continues! Although things have moved much slower that we had expected since this all started in February, its been a great year and the Lord has been so faithful! We are excited about His plans and we know His timing is perfect.

Consulate Update

We got a call from Yang at the Chinese consulate on Monday. Apparently the photo copies of our passports were not legible so we had to scramble with making multiple copies in different exposures and faxing them over hoping they would be able to read one of them. Anyway, a couple of faxes and a few phone calls later they finally got a clear copy they could use and all is well. Their authentication process is underway and we should be getting our precious paperwork back soon.
We got an extra copy of our home study ( replacing the one that Simon ruined) on Monday so that is taken care of. We are still waiting for our marriage certificate...C'mon San Diego!

Our documents arrived at the Chinese Consulates office!!!
" item was delivered at 11:20 AM on October 16, 2009 in SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115." Yay!
both of our birth certificates came ! Just need marriage certificate.
A satisfying end to a busy week.

To the Chinese Consulate

We mailed off our authenticated paper work tothe Chinese Consulate in San Francisco today and should be arriving there Friday around noon. Our birth certificates and marriage license have not arrived yet...any day now!

Washington Authentication Complete

We got our Washington documents back today!
We are now sending these off the the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco to be approved. These will be off by Thursday via overnight express delivery.
Meanwhile we await our birth certificates and marriage licenses and once we get those, they will then to to the Chinese Consulates. Davids Minnesota Birth Certificate to Chicago and my California Birth Certificate and out California Marriage Certificate will go to the Consulate in San Francisco. We are still saving to file the I-800 - goal is to have it filed the first week of November.

Our certified vital documents (Birth Certificates and marriage certificates ) are expected back any day now and the envelopes for the consulates offices are ready to go. We are expecting our packet of Washington state authenticated documents back in a couple of days!!! And....the grant paperwork was successfully re-done while Simon was locked away and is being post marked today! Yay!

Well, not everything goes exactly as planned... We had a little accident, well, Simon had a little accident (our cat that loves to bring me flowers) knocked over a vase of flowers on the dining room table where I had been working on adoption paperwork and well, to keep a long story short, we need to re-do some things so I am taking Wednesday off to get all that back in order and yes...the cat is still alive. Keep us in prayer!

Ducks in a row...

Well, with the help of some friends David and I were able to get our ducks in a row last night.

All our Washington documents will be in Olympia for authentication / certification within the next week.

New requests for birth certificates and marriage certificate are being mailed out tomorrow, then once they come back - Minnesota's Birth Cert needs to go to the Consulate Chicago for authentication and California Birth Certificate and marriage Certificate go to the Consulate in San Francisco for authentication. All our cover letters are ready to go too!

We completed the filling out of the 1-800 and should have that off within a week or so or at least by the 15th. That will take 30 days to process.

Once all out documents are back from authentication and we receive our 1-800 approval...we will have overcome yet another huge hurdle.

God's timing is perfect and His plans for our lives never change. When we get overwhelmed and get off track, He guides us back into the light and He brings the right people along side you to help keep you going.

This was in my devotional today , pretty neat. "Through many channels My help can flow. I am your supply."

Thank you all for your prayers and for your loving support!

Game Plan

David and I went through all the adoption paperwork and formulated a game plan with a time frame for logging into China. We didn't go with the Great Wall's Dossier Service in a effort to save money but at the same time I wish we did. This is all quite overwhelming and its been easy to lose ground and get discouraged.

Because our schedules are so full, compiling our dossier was just one of those things I found that we needed more support with...more than expected and I tried doing it all myself since this kind of thing is usually a strong point for me. NOT! Anyway God is gracious and we will see what we can accomplish Tuesday and keep you all posted.

I was able to find several more possibilities for grants but a few of them require quite a bit of paper work themselves so...keep us in prayer with this too, we want to keep our eye on the ball....

The gift of new life...

Congratulations Tom and LaTisha!

Caleb James Wood

born

Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at 7:01am
9 lbs. 3oz. 20 in.

Happy Birthday Caleb!

Summer is gone!

Wow...been a while since we've even looked at our blogs....The Lord has richly belssed us this summer....My brother visited for a week, Mom visited for 6 weeks, we were able to get away to the Oregon Coast and stay with family, David did Jr. High Summer Camp, filling orders for 22 Eva's Bags, two baby showers and everything else in between!

Now everyone has gone home, the sand is emptied out of our suitcases and all is setting back into some semblance of normal, whatever that is.

Please keep us in prayer for direction with our adoption. We feel we need to make some decisions.... on exactly how we are to move forward with adopting a baby. We are also reviewing grant programs, etc.

Lead us on Sovereign Shepherd, You are God on high and you see all. You know the distance between what can be seen and understood to where the road turns and the remaining journey seems a mystery but that distance is filled with you. You give us the desires that we have in our hearts.... Lord we want your will and you are working in our hearts, I know and in the midst of uncertainty we praise you God for your faithfulness in all things. Amen.

Todays Quote

Nothing particulary spiritual but its is true none the less.

The mind determines what is possible. The heart surpasses it. ~Pilar Coolinta

His Eye Is On The Sparrow...

Seems like these last few weeks have been pretty quiet as far as activity on the adoption front. Our schedules have gotten pretty busy - we are preparing for mom and Chris' visit...they arrive August 5th and then we have our upcoming road trip to the Oregon coast to stay with family for a week at the end of August. So in waiting on the next step, I got that ever encouraging call from Corntey today. She asked how we were doing and if we needed anything. I just told her I had no idea what to do next and the more I looked at the dossier guide to figure it out, the more confused I got so I just felt the right thing to do was to just stop and wait, so we've just been waiting, for her call I guess! Thank you Lord. I got some clarification on the next step(s).
~ We need to file our I-800 as quickly as possible because it takes about a month to get a response. So we are saving and fundraising for this fee...its a big one.
~ In the mean time we need to get our documents authenticated through the appropriate state authorities before the end of September. The authentication is about $20 per page...we have many pages of paperwork so we are saving for this too.

I think it's time to start looking into some programs to see if we can qualify for grants / financial aide for some of these upcoming expenses so we can keep on moving! I know that any quiet time in this process has a purpose and we must trust in God and wait on Him but its hard to wait without getting lost in that, especially since the wait seems so long anyway. It's only been 5 months!!

Please continue to keep us in prayer. The Lord has not failed to provide for us thus far and we are very excited and encouraged by all the support and all the ways He has shown us that we are on the right path and in His will, He is faithful!

Agency Approval and Notarized HS Arrived

We got our official notarized home study packets on Thursday ( David's birthday) and the Great Wall China Adoption agency approval letters arrived on Friday... Happy birthday David!

Now we need to regroup and figure out whats next...I am still waiting on my passport.

We spent Saturday in Sandpoint with friends to celebrate David and Tom's birthdays and had a wonderful time. Mom and Chris will be here in about two weeks ( August 5th) and we have a bathroom floor to put in before they get here...where is the summer going...where is the YEAR going!?!

New Arrivals...

New Eva Bags are available at http://evasbags.blogspot.com/. Quite a few are already sold but we have a few available on the blog. We don't have a place to custom order yet but I hope to have a few more of the large and medium tote purses available by mid August.

Home Study is Approved!

Hi all!

We have some good news! We heard back from Nora, our social worker and Jessa, our dossier consultant at Great Wall and were told our Home Study was "WONDERFUL"! So we are awaiting the final draft to be notarized. Once we get our final notarized official copy we can move on to certification and authentication of our documents and filing the I-800a form with the USCIS.

July 11 ~ More Doors Will Open

Go on My child in faith and trust. The way opens as you go. In the Christian life doors swing open as you come to them if so be that you have advanced to them along the straight path of obedience.
As you started your journey, what would it have profited had you worried about the closed door ahread?
In the spirit-life, miracle working power operates by way of Me through human channels...So child, this is My continuing lesson: Go steadliy forward in firm trust along the path of quiet obedience. That is your work. Mine is to cause the doors to swing open as you come to them, not before. How often have I opened the doors for you in the past? More will open...in so trust, in so hope.

~Two Listeners

Home Study Review Status

Dear Friends and family,

We received an update from our dossier consultant at Great Wall regarding the status of our Home Study review. Our Home Study was received by Great Wall on June 8 and there are at present, three other home studies in line to be reviewed before us. I am not sure where that puts us as far as a response but we know this is all in God's sovereign timing, so needless to say we have nothing new to report...Oh...I did finally mail my passport in for renewal on Wednesday last week so...that is another item in the works.

David is getting ready for Jr. High Summer Camp at Riverview up on the Priest River...he will be going the second week of July to be a camp counselor...so please keep him in prayer...a screaming camp full of Jr. High kids...I could not do it...

In August we are looking forward to our visit with my mom and brother ...then David, my mom and I are off to the to the Oregon coast for a much anticipated seaside vacation with my Aunt and Uncle at their beach house. We are all really looking forward to it! It certainly is shaping up to be a fabulous summer!

All for now....Thank you all for your continued prayers!

Passports and Home Study

David's Passport came in this last week and I am taking care of mine this week. I know I've been saying that for a while now but I have been debating on paying extra for passport photos to be taken at the passport office or take the chance on sending in our own. We still have not heard back from Jessa at Great Wall regarding our Home Study Report and Nora is on vacation this next week so we expect an update in about about another week or so.

We sold two more Eva Bags yesterday...the Autumn Trees and the Daisy Days! Thank you so much Shea and Chyna...It was so wonderful to meet you both! Your prayers and support are a blessing!

David and Laura June 2009

Our Home Study is in!

Our home study reports have been written. David and I received out copies...so funny to see us on "paper" since it a formal write up and we are so NOT formal. Ha ha! We also received confirmation from Jessa, who is our dossier consultant at Great Wall, that she has also received her report for review. So depending on volume, the review can take 1-3 weeks.
David and I still have some documents to obtain and government forms to submit but its moving forward. We hope to have the completed dossier to China by September.

For now we are enjoying this gorgeous spring weather and getting some home projects completed and David has again started writing his book.

I created a new blog for Eva's Bags...I know, I know, another blog....but its so fun! http://evasbags.blogspot.com/

When Love Takes You In

I know you've heard the stories

But they all sound too good to be true

You've heard about a place called home

But there doesn't seem to be one for you

So one more night you cry yourself to sleep

And drift off to a distant dream

Where love takes you in and everything changes

A miracle starts with the beat of a heart

When love takes you home and says you belong here

The loneliness ends and a new life begins

When love takes you in

And somewhere while you're sleeping

Someone else is dreaming too

Counting down the days until

They hold you close and say I love you

And like the rain that falls into the sea

In a moment what has been is lost in what will be

When love takes you in everything changes

A miracle starts with the beat of a heart

And this love will never let you go

There is nothing that could ever cause this love to lose its hold

When love takes you in everything changes

A miracle starts with the beat of a heart

When love takes you home and says you belong here

The loneliness ends and a new life begins

When love takes you in it takes you in for good

When love takes you in

~ Steven Curtis Chapman

Home Visit & Interviews

Hi all...today was such a huge blessing. The home visit today with Nora, went really great! We were stressed and tense all week, not knowing what to expect but Nora made us feel relaxed and comfortable with the meeting so we ended up enjoying it very much. It was a picure perfect Northwestern Day. 73ish and not a cloud in the sky. The house looked great and the yard was so green and beautiful.

What's next - Nora will prepare her home study write-up and recommendation then she will submitt it to Great Wall for approval. Once Great Wall approves it and we have our Home Study in hand, we can file for our i800. David's passport was ordered on Thursday and I am sending mine in by Wednesday of next week.

The experience we had today was just more confirmation that we on the right track. Its so easy to get bogged down in the overwhelming details of this process but the Lord is so true to His word when He promises to give peace that surpasses all understanding if we trust Him and keep Him as our focus. He is so faithful... Its been a long day and its it 8 o'clock and we are hittin' the sack.

Thank you all for your prayers!

The home study is underway!

Hi all!
I can't believe it's been over a month since we last updated our blog! Needless to say our lives have gotten more and more busy especially now that spring is in full swing!

We had out first initial meeting with Nora, our Social Worker on May 11th. The couple of weeks leading up to that first visit consisted of gathering up documentation, employment verifications, financial verifications,notaries, biographies for each of us and etc. So Nora, bless her heart, now has our "pile" and is wading through it to make sure all is in order. So far so good. We have our first "home visit" this Saturday at 2pm. We are nervous and will be glad to have it behind us. As I am readying myself for battle, Nora has assured me this should be a relaxed and enjoyable visit with nothing to to worry about...SO..."trust in the Lord and lean not on your own understanding" is resonating loud and clear!

Once our home study is in we can begin the process of applying for grants. The next step, I believe will be to file our i800. Which is our governmental approval that is required to authorize us to adopt a Hague Convention adoptee and claim them as as US citizen and an immediate relative.( that's it in the nutshell). Until that, we are on to requesting our passports. David will have his application in by the end of the week and I have to send my passport in for renewal.

In the midst of all this we have made some time to be outside in the beautiful sunshine! David built the mini greenhouse for melons and cucumbers and I have gotten most of the raised beds planted...Yay! Check it out on salvagegarden@blogspot.com.

We are working on the inside of the house too. We patched some damaged plaster and primed and painted the stairwell and hallway upstairs and are readying to paint the upstairs bathroom. Then on to sanding the wood floors upstairs so they can be re-sealed! And, yes our jobs are going well...we are both very blessed!

Will write again soon! Love and hugs to all!

This is Eva's room. It does not show the whole room since we are still working on it. Since we don't know how old Eva will be when she comes home so we don't know if she'll need a crib or not so we are definitely prepared to change out the sleigh bed but over all it will remain much the same, at least for now. We will add that cute white dresser,some shelving, a toy trunk, ,etc...its a work in progress...its a great place to daydream and pray.

Adoption Process

David and I reached another important phase in our adoption journey! We were able to submit our first adoption agency program fee and will be assigned a dossier consultant at Great Wall any day now. The dossier consultant will expertly guide us through the dossier phase...the "dossier" is a set of appropriately authenticated and translated legal documents that are used in international adoption cases for the adoptive parents to obtain the legal custody or guardianship of the child in the foreign court, so the child can be brought by the adoptive parents to the United States for adoption. David and I have been gathering all the necessary documents required for our dossier and are working with our social worker on our home study. So once we have all the documents together ( many of which will be collected and reviewed during the Home Study) they will go to the state and national capital for authentication and on to China with our 2nd program fee. This must be completed within 6 months in order for the Chinese government to accept our authenticated documents. So for us, that means we have to have our dossier to China no later than September 3rd. So, please continue to pray for the Lords provision in this.

We also got our Washington, California, Minnesota and South Dakota Background checks back and our FBI background check came back...all squeaky clean!

Whats next? We have our health physicals scheduled for this Friday...then we start our meetings with our social worker!

We received a neat gift from my friend at work. My Friend has a sister who works for a worldwide hotel company She was was in Beijing recently for a week for a grand opening of a new hotel. On her trip she visited the Great Wall too. She brought us back a beautiful jade like rock she found on the GW tour and brought Eva back a cute little stuffed doll. Every time I see the stone I am reminded that our dreams aren't as far away as they may seem. Its also an amazing testament to encouragement and support David and I have been receiving...

David and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on Wednesday! Time flies when you’re having fun!
While we were saving for our first GWCA program fee, we have been busy gathering our adoption paperwork and some of our dossier documents for our Home Study.
Since we started the home study with Nora at Lutheran Family Services, she has already received our Washington State Patrol background check back. No response yet from the FBI on our fingerprints but we are expecting that to take a while but our letters of reference have been coming in already! Thanks to all of you who put love and time into writing those letter! You are a precious part of our journey in so many ways!
After digging up every address we’ve ever lived at - We’ve sent off our Minnesota, South Dakota and California background check requests and we are each working on our biography questions still…that seems to be taking the most time as is pretty detailed.
We have our physicals scheduled for the 17th and meanwhile we’ve saved enough to submit our 1st program fee to Great Wall! Praise the Lord…so when we complete our home study paperwork (our dossier) it can be sent to them and we move to the next level in our adoption process. What’s next? More paperwork and fees! We get our dossier documents authenticated at the state and national capital, then we file the i-800a and i800 forms to the department of immigration and naturalization – The i800a is an application to determine our suitability to adopt a child from a convention country. Once that is approved, we file the 1-800 which is the petition to classify a convention adoptee as an immediate relative and is necessary to finalize the immigration process.

We’ve barely started this long journey – two months ago we were at the informational seminar just learning about adoption with Great Wall and now here we are and it’s kind of a mind blowing and yet it’s gone so smoothly in spite of our futile attempts to direct and control the process…There is no doubt that we are NOT in charge here. This is Gods thing and we are continually overwhelmed by His love and grace…Your continued prayers and support are so appreciated!

David and I also thought we would plant a tree to commemorate our 5 year anniversary and the beginning of Eva’s adoption process. I am set on a flowering cherry tree. We have a spot off the back patio in perfect view from Eva’s bedroom window. My vision for that plot will be to make it into “Eva’s Garden”...a labor of love to keep us busy while we wait and pray for the day she will stand in her garden under her tree. I am researching Chinese botanical gardens to start a list of plants, flowers and designs that we can incorporate into the garden. So far the cherry tree, irises and peonies are on the list.

Believe, Faith, Trust

Not much to update...David has been sick with a bad cold this week so we have not been too active. Our Washington State background check came back and we are in good shape. All of the vital documents that we ordered came in the mail this week. So we are waiting on our California State background check and are mailing off David's background check for Minnesota on Monday. Some of the reference letters are coming in already too! So once all the background checks come back and are reviewed, we will move on.

A Name...

David and I have chosen a name for our little one...Eva Elizabeth.
David chose Eva as her first name..pretty cool...and sure sign that she will definitely be daddy's little girl. I absolutely loved it when I first heard it. And Elizabeth of course, after her momma and grandma...because my mom and I share the same middle name, it seemed like a perfectly natural choice our little girl!
There is another special story behind the middle name before it was even chosen that makes it even more special. I will update that when I have a little more time.

We also just got our first baby project...check it out at www.salvagegarden.blogspot.com...

Eva Elizabeth Wagner...we pray for your every day...

Home study...

We sent off our Home Study Packet today and our fingerprints went to the FBI. We are mailing out our letters of Reference and gathering all our other vital documents.
I am attending an on-line adoption webinar with Great Wall China Adoptions today from 4pm-6pm. This is a free seminar that will give us two hours of credit toward the required 10 hours which is a requirement of the Hague International Adoption Treaty...so things are underway for us as much as they can be at this point.

" Those who wait on the Lord will gain renewed strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
The will walk and not become weary".
Isaiah 40:31

Burr...snowy and cold today! I had the day off so we went downtown to the courthouse today to get our finger prints taken. These are required as part of the Home Study to complete the FBI criminal and background check. Its all computerized now...probably has been for a long time... Anyway our paper chase is officially underway. We've sent off for vital documents and are preparing to send out our referral letters and our physicals are scheduled for April 17.

Passing the time...

Hi all...This last week has seemed like a very long week! So glad its Friday...well, nope...its officially Saturday! Our couples study tonight was a welcome break and a blessing! Thanks everyone for your prayers and encouragement!

We are preparing to start our home study with Lutheran Family Services. A local agency here in town. The social worker we've chosen as brought many families through the home study process and on to successful adopted from China so we are excited to work with her. Please keep her in prayer. Her name is Nora and she comes recommended. Secondly, we will be choosing a Great Wall China service package.
Right now we are waiting on the Lord on which step to proceed with first or to try to do both the home study and service agreement simultaneously.
In the mean time we are busy retrieving our vital documents. We are getting our fingerprint cards done on Monday the 9th, taking an online parenting seminar on March 19th (will count toward the 10 hours of training required by the Hague Adoption Treaty) and our health physicals are scheduled for April 17th. Never a dull moment! Love and hugs to all!


"Lord, in the morning you hear my voice. In the morning I pray to you. I wait for you in hope." Psalm 27:14

We Are Approved & Expecting!

For those of you who don't already know...we received the phone call today @ 2:17pm -our adoption application has been approved!

I was sitting at my desk when I got the call from Kerri at Great Wall China Adoptions. I instantly lost all sense of reality, a mixture of excitement, joy and fear...emotions impossible to express in anything but tears of happiness and amazement that the door to our journey remained wide open! Gods has a plan and its way bigger than us and way bigger than the happiness and challenges that lie ahead!

After coming back down to earth...I had to restrain myself BIG TIME!
I called David immediately,then mom! I was utterly exhausted for the rest of the day and it was impossible to get anything done. Praise the Lord there was nothing pressing that required my attention...I just proceeded to stare at my computer, smile, pray and cry.

Now the real work begins...health physicals, fingerprinting, document gathering, fund raising and building up savings, FBI background checks, the home study and parenting courses, just name a few!

Neat reminder...

This is a dream I had just last week... I shared with with a few already but I was so encouraged I thought I would post it as it is a part of our journey. It was so awesome since I never remember my dreams and this one was so clear I could actually recall the details and write it down! This dream was a great reminder of where our trust lies and to live in that...where the Lord guides, He provides!....I was so comforted.

I was driving down Park Street, near our home on a beautiful summer day and just as I crossed the railroad tracks, I slowed down to take note of a very large and festive celebration taking place in the park, adjacent to Victory Faith Fellowship.

For some reason I was drawn to the crowd, I needed to see what all the hoopla was about. As I turned onto the cross street and pulled up to park parallel to the chain link fence surrounding the parks open field, I notice a banner hanging there front the fence....

I got out of the car, headed toward the opening in the fence and red the banner;
" We need $91,000 to build our new community pool area - Come help us celebrate and give thanks for what the Lord is going to do!"

I was stunned and thrilled to see such a crowd gathered for this bold statement of faith and celebrating as if it was already "the grand opening"...but there was nothing there but a large green field.
As I turned to walk through the gate into the park I was approached by a man, he was all smiles and he reached out both hands to greet me.
"Welcome, welcome!" he exclaimed. He proceeded to ask me my name and then asked "So what is God doing in your life?"

Thinking I had never been asked a bolder question, I gave my response saying, "Well, my husband and I are going to adopt a child from China." The man ( whose name I didn't get) just beamed with joy...so much so that he seemed to be utterly glowing! The man then said, "Oh, then Praise the Lord! It appears you need for God to provide for you too!", he invited me to spend the day with everyone saying "Join us and give thanks with us for all that He is doing to do in our lives!"

I was so filled with hope and joy I didn't even try to make an excuse as to why I didn't want to spend the day with all these strangers...so I happily found myself a folding chair and opened it up in a sunny spot just outside the main crowd. I sat down, looking over the festivities, noticing how happy and joyful everyone was, how happy and joyful I was! The sky was so blue and the grass was so green. As i took in the clean air, I thought indeed, this is a great place for a pool! It was then I met the gaze of a grey poodle with one of those fancy hairdos...it was grinning at me from ear to ear...and I smiled back. Accepting my invitation, it trotted over and sat down next to me in the sun.

And there we sat....the dogs fur was silky soft and the sun felt so warm on my skin. Everything was so right, I felt at home with my heart, with my needs and my hopes, in fact, I had never felt more at peace, nor had I ever seen a more perfect day.
The sun felt so much warmer and comforting than I remembered feeling before and then I realized, it was coming from the inside!

Then I heard my husbands voice... "Laura, Your running late, you'd better get up."
And that, is how I started my day today! (Wednesday, February 25)

We did it...we are "Expecting" great things!

We submitted our application with Great Wall China Adoptions today at 2:45PM PST, Saturday February 28, 2009. *** Yay....clapping and squealing!!! **** Our paper pregnancy has begun! We are so relieved... and so excited to see what the Lord is going to do! It's taken a lot to get to this point and we are just as excited as can be! Please keep us in prayer over this next week. We should hear back in about 4-5 days on the approval status!

Too bad you cant read the computer screen behind us....it says "CONGRATULATIONS!"...Yippee!

We are one step closer little one. You are in our prayers every day.

Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to give you hope and a future."

How our journey begins...As newlyweds in 2004, David and I sought out international adoption for the very first time. International adoption from China was for us, was a simple choice...the only choice. We interviewed several agencies and attended seminars and although our hearts were in the right place, the financial undertaking seemed totally impossible for us at the time...so we let it alone and got on with our new life together. David and I never really felt an innate desire to have biological children of our own, so we put "family" on the back burner...God had other things in mind for us.

In July of 2006 we made the decision to relocate from San Diego, CA to Spokane, WA. We needed a change of pace and a change of scenery. There were many reasons...a few of the major ones: We wanted a change in lifestyle ans scenery, we wanted to find a small church where we could get involved in ministry and fellowship, I needed a change in careers, our commutes were awful and we wanted to buy a home with a the big yard that we could afford. We hit the road for Spokane by the end of October 06', headed North and we have taken the love and well wishes of our family and friends with us...We love you all very much!

Since moving to Spokane the Lord has done some amazing and dramatic work our in our lives, as husband and wife and as individuals. We are very involved in our church, David teaches the Jr. High Youth Group and Sunday School, I have a small administrative role in the church as well, we each attend small group studies and the Lord has even allowed us to lead a Couples Study! The Lord has also extended our family by bringing some amazing people into our lives so between our family and friends, our cups run over! And best of all...our desire for a family has grown. Still overwhelmed by the cost of adoption, we tried a few workarounds...after several trips to the doctor, it became more evident that this path was wrong for us and perhaps we were just trying to avoid the cost of adoption and the huge leap of faith that we knew it would require. So, here we are five years later...and our desire to have a family and adopt a baby girl from China as only grown. The financial mountain in front of us is no smaller than it was before...we are just approaching that mountain better equipped spiritually to climb it, waiting to see what the Lord is going to do!

You are welcome to join us on this journey of Faith, Hope and Love....