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