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.