Ming

The orphanage received our care package today. I wonder...did they give Ming the box? What was his response?

Celebrate Life Day!

3 years ago today, God spared Jody's life after having a heart attack. Words cannot express our gratitude to our Almighty Father for this gift of life for our family. On the first year anniversary, we started the tradition of celebrating life on May 15th each year. This year we all played hooky and ran off to Spokane today for a day of picnicking and disc golf. We had a wonderful day together - the only thing that could have made it better is if Ming had been with us.


Doesn't Jody look great?

We started the day off at a picnic grounds near the disc golf course in Spokane. The pine trees smelled delicious. It sure made me want to go camping. Our picnic table was right next to the Spokane River. The sound of the roaring water was very relaxing. We had fun going over the swinging bridge nearby. The weather was beautiful and this is a park I want us to return to soon.




We had a lot of fun playing disc golf. This was a very difficult course - the hardest course our family ever played. The course was beautiful, set right on the Spokane river. Unfortunately Jody lost one of his favorite discs in the river, but thankfully we didn't lose Jay as he jumped in the rushing water to grab another of Jody's discs.

Jamae's Surprise

"Look Mom! I'm riding my big girl bike." This is what I heard when Jamae wanted me to come out today for a surprise. One of her brothers put her training wheels on and off she went. And no, it is not this cold out to warrant a winter coat but that was Jamae's coat of choice.

Happy Mother's Day!

My thoughts today turned to my wonderful mom who has been with Jesus for 9 1/2 years now. Oh how I miss my mom! My thoughts also can't help but turn to Jamae and Ming's china mamas. How thankful I am that they chose life for their children. How hard days must be as they wonder about their children. How blessed I am to call Jamae and MIng (soon!) as my own. God has also blessed me with 4 outstanding 'home-grown' children and a fantastic husband. I felt so honored today (and everyday) to be their mom.

Jamae's letter to China

Dear China,
I love Ming. You need to know that. We need to get on an airplane to come to China. I told my mommy that I won't throw up this time on the airplane. Ming's nannies love him just like my nanny loves me. They will be sad for him to be my brother but I will be happy! I want to take Ming to the Aquatic Center and show him how to swim. I'm not afraid to go under the mushroom this summer. Maybe Ming will go with me. I want him to go to Build a Bear Workshop with me and get a bear. It will be fun to have a brother with brown hair just like me. I have made many pictures to give to Ming when I see him. I know he will want to be my brother. China, can we please come get him?
Love,
Jamae

A Box Full Of Love

The day we've been waiting for. Now that we have our Referral Acceptance, we have been given permission to send Ming a package from us. We have been working on this box for months. Not wanting to overwhelm Ming, we decided just to send a few items to him to introduce him to his new family. Of course we had to include an Ohio State shirt as we wanted him to have the official Bowser t-shirt. We also included cameras hoping Ming or the nannies will take pictures of people and things he will want to remember. We made a photo album of us: pictures of Jody & me, and his siblings and dog. We labeled each picture in Chinese so Ming could become familiar with who we are. Most importantly, we included a letter to him that we had translated so he could read it. Jody wrote the love-filled letter explaining everything to Ming in great detail about what will be happening in the coming weeks, especially once we arrive in China. We want him to have as much understanding about what's going to happen as possible. We packed the box with lollipops that he can pass out to the other children in the orphanage.

We are sending the package to Ann who owns a shop in China. She will then send the package to Ming's orphanage and then call them to make sure Ming received it. Maybe we will even hear about his reaction. Ann also translated a letter for us to give to the orphanage director. How do you find the words to thank the people who have cared for Ming the last 6 1/2 years?
Ming should have the box in the next 7-10 days. We are not sure when Ming will be told of the adoption - if it is when China receives our signed RA letter, when our travel is confirmed, or when the box arrives. Either way it will be soon - please pray for Ming as he receives this life changing news.

Fedex Is Here!

Fedex is here! Fedex is here! Those were the words I yelled to Jamae this morning as we waited for the Fedex truck to arrive with our package from AWAA with our official Referral Approval from China.

When I opened the package, here's what I found:

How fun! Inside the folder was the official Referral Acceptance letter from China. Now I'm off to Jody's office to sign it with him and then to Fedex to overnight the letter back to America World. They will then overnight it to China for us.

LET THE PARTY BEGIN!

Did you hear the shouting at your house? That would have been us as we got our Referral Approval today!!! Melissa at our agency called this morning at 7:45 am. to tell us that we received our final approval from China. We have waited for this call for 98 days since we received our pre-approval. Now there is no turning back on China's part. There was never any thought of turning back from us. We are so excited! Because we have chosen not to travel in June because of Jay's mission trip to Burkina Faso, AWAA is doing everything in their power to have us travel on May 24th. That is in 3 weeks!!! We will have to get our travel approval from China very quickly in order for that to happen. Please pray with us that China immediately issues our travel approval so we can bring Ming home this month. If we don't receive our travel approval quickly, we will then need to wait until early July to travel. Thankfully though, whenever we travel, this adoption will happen and we will be bringing Ming home.