Yeah…it’s been a while…

So I have heard from a few of you lately that I am obviously not to diligent in updating my blog frequently.  Isn’t there some saying about “even the best of intentions…”?  Well, my intentions are good, but things have been crazy busy in the past few months.  However, I can tell you that things are moving forward with the adoption.

In fact, Jennifer just sent our immigration documents to Chicago (with another check…) today so we can obtain immigration approval documents that get submitted with other documents to our agency, so those documents can be authenticated (though they have already been notarized) and put together into another document, which will then be forwarded to the Chinese officials, which then initiates the waiting period.  In other words, we hope to have the mounds of paperwork in the hands of the right Chinese officials this fall.

All I can say as the man in this process is that the financial aspects of this are wreaking havoc on my mental state because every time we turn around we are writing another check for some amount we can only trust is correct.  Don’t get me wrong, I trust our agency completely and it will all be more than worth it in the end, but I’m a guy and this is what guys worry about.  Oh well, things are progressing and we can’t wait until our docs are officially logged in China.

Just to keep it all in perspective, we are still extremely excited about this journey and we were elated to hear recently that some good friends of ours just learned their petition to adopt a specific special needs boy in China was approved!  Congrats T & T!  We can’t wait to see him! 

Cheers.

recent family pictures…

Like most families, we recently got the family all cleaned up and in matching outfits for our family pictures.  One of our good friends, Brandi Brown, is an amazing photographer and did an awesome job with our photo shoot.  In fact, it was so awesome that it makes the task of selecting the shots we want to order without taking out a second mortgage on our home seem impossible.  You can view an audio slideshow of the photos here.

This go-around, Jacob was the wildcard as we weren’t sure whether he would cooperate or not.  For those of you that know his personality, he pretty much does his own thing on his terms and only his terms.  Well, it didn’t take long to figure out this would be the case on this afternoon.  However, the weather was beautiful, the lighting was perfect (so Brandi says), and Jacob was a trooper (as you can see from the pictures).  I couldn’t be more pleased with the proofs and, yet again, Brandi will provide us with lasting memories. 

I must admit, however, that while looking at the photo of all of five of us, I couldn’t help but think about that little guy or girl out there that God has yet to bring into our family.  All I could think about was how much fun it will be to have Brandi shoot our family when we finally bring home our child.  It still scares me because of the unknown (and the immense paperwork mess we’ve gotten ourselves into), but at the same time I can’t even imagine the elation I will feel when I first look at the audio slideshow that will include this child currently unknown to either of us.

Well off to begin the bartering with Jennifer on which pictures we will order and how many home equity loans we will need to make it happen.

Ciao – James

the paperwork process begins…

So, Jennifer tells me the other day that she has done “as much as she can” on the formal application for Bethany.  That’s great, so all I have to do is open it up and add a few pieces of information that she may not have known off the top of her head and we’ll be done.  Well, what I discover is what will probably become a norm throughout this process–I get to hunt down all the financial and historical information that will be necessary to complete the mounds of official documents I hear will be required.  It’s not that she’s not capable of doing this, but in our house this is how things work.  If any thing is needed from the “filing system” we call our basement, I get to be the one to go get it.  Oh well, I guess that’s what being a husband and daddy is all about.

At any rate, I spent some time working on the application today and just have a few items to verify before we submit it to Bethany, hopefully in the next few weeks.  Today was just a glimpse of the paperwork to come, so I guess the next couple of years will be a good opportunity to reorganize all our important personal and financial documents that seem to have become “less organized” over the years.

With that, it’s time to get ready and head to Jessie’s first piano recital–Vivaldi’s Spring.

fears, hopes & prayers

So anyone with children understands the fears, hopes and prayers they have for the future of their children.  I’m certainly no different in that arena, but lately these fears, hopes and prayers seem to have ratcheted up a notch because of our decision to begin the international adoption process.

It’s not that bringing an adopted child into our family seems any “different” than having another biological child.  In fact, Jennifer and I have always believed deeply that our children are a gift from God and we certainly knew the day we brought home our adopted child would be no different.  It’s just that this process is long, unpredictable, and emotionally draining (at least from what I have heard) and that just scares the heck out of me to be perfectly honest. 

So…yes…I have A LOT of fears, hopes and prayers going into this process, but I also know without a shadow of a doubt that I am committed to seeing this through because I know God is preparing a child for our family and I can’t imagine not bringing that child home to our family just like we brought our three other children home.  With that said, I’ll close for now and go help my wife with the formal application we started filling out today.

To keep up on our journey, check out our other blog, In Search of One More.