Friday, September 14, 2007

Meet the Twins!!!

MEET THE TWINS!
Yes, you read that right. TWINS!!!!

Meet Abrielle LuLa (Zhaung Lu La) and Delaney LuMei (Zhaung Lu Mei).

Abby and Laney were born January 2nd, 2006 and currently reside in the Yifeng SWI in Jiangxi Province. Hopefully they will be home with us by the end of this year.

On Friday, August 24th, I was driving back from a workshop in Crawfordsville. I left early because I was not feeling well and was able to schedule a 2:20 Dr. appointment. While cruising along I-70 in downtown Indianapolis I received a call from our FTIA (Families Thru International Adoption) coordinator, Maury (she is great by the way). Maury said "Tony, we have a unique situation." I said ok, having no clue what she was going to say next.

She said "we have twins".

The rest is history.

This was truly a God thing. Maury immediately emailed the girls' files to us. Rett downloaded their files and I picked them up on the way back from Indy. Since I had a Dr. appointment, I then took the files to my Dr. and he reviewed their files. Everything looked good. (We would not have cared if there was an issue, they are our girls and will do whatever it takes to take care of them.)

This was perfect timing. Our next step was to send in "Letters of Intent" (LOI) and other documents which required our explanation of medical review of their files. The letters, which were tweaked a couple of times since twins are rare and FTIA wanted everything to be perfect, were submitted to the CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs) on August 30th, one day after my Mom's birthday. (We still owe Mom a birthday gift, we kind of lost all focus after getting that call.)

Then the wait began, AGAIN!!!! We needed to wait for pre-approval from the CCAA to be assured that they would allow us to adopt the girls. FTIA said it could be 3 to 10 weeks for pre-approval. We recieved pre-approval today, only 16 days later!!!!!

We let the cat out of the bag and told a few people (family) what was going on....we were supposed to keep it quiet until our LOI was submitted and pre-approval was received.

So, now more waiting again. Next is Letter of Approval, then travel approval then we travel. Best case scenario, we meet our girls face to face in December. Worst case scenario, we meet our girls the 1st of 2008.

God continues to work. Rett found additional pictures of our girls on a Yahoo Groups site for their orphanage. We have been in contact with a very nice man that posted some of the photos and even has video footage of our girls. He saw them earlier this year when he visited their orphanage when picking up his daughter. Imagine that, we see our girls' faces for the first time, and two weeks later find someone (in the New England area) who has held our daughters.

With all of this said, we definitely appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers. Please keep them coming. We still have mounds of paperwork ahead of us, travel preparation, travel, meeting our girls, getting them to like us and starting our lives with them. We cannot wait.

Now, a few more pictures (aren't you glad that I like to post pictures?) of the world's cutest little girls...

If you want to see more photos, you will have to track us down. We will be happy to share them with you.

Thank for stopping by.

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36 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tony & Rett:

Congratulations! They are gorgeous!! God is good!!


Rhonda

Anonymous said...

I am so excited for you guys and me because I get to help spoil them!
God is soooooo good!

Sarah

Shoemaker Family said...

Praise God!! They are gorgeous - we can't wait to see them in your arms! We've been following your journey and praying you through your droughts. God sure is Good!!!

Josh and Cammie Delph said...

AHHHHH!!!! I cannot wait to meet them!!!! They are SO adorable!!!

Jeff said...

Congrats guys!!!... They are about Mr. Ty's age!!

Jeff, Mandi & Ty

Anonymous said...

To God be the glory! I am SO happy for you and I can't wait to meet my little cousins...the ones we've all been praying for! Congratulations!

jkcm said...

Oh, what a Merry CHRISTMAS you will all have. Congratulations! I can't wait to see more pictures and here more about this wonderful family!

jkcm said...

one more thing....you should get double the maternity leave!!!

Nancy Ann said...

Rett & Tony,
It's so great to see the girls online! What a THRILLING time this is for all. These girls have no idea what a great life is available for them now. :-) I'm so excited for you!!!

Nancy Ann & Tom

our blog: http://china.usbornefairies.com

Anonymous said...

This is great news and I can't wait to see them! Grant will have two little girls to play with!
Rachel

Anonymous said...

This is just soo great, every time I think about it, I just get so excited for you both, you are going to be amazing parents, both them little girls are so lucky to have you guys :)

Love you both,
Missy

Anonymous said...

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! God has doubly blessed you. I cannot wait to see you as mommy and daddy! I can't wait to babysit! Two pretty little girls, I hope Spencer marries one!! :) And I'll try not to let Anna corrupt them too much hahahaha!

Love you guys! Mindy

Anonymous said...

Tony & Rett:
Congratulations! Just heard the wonderful news. God does answer prayers! Now we will have another set of twins in the family.

From all your family in Florida....your in our prayers!

Peggy

Rob and Allyson said...

Of course, you know that Robby and I are extremely excited to be an aunt and uncle! And no doubt to spoil them! These two girls are the luckiest girls in the world. You guys will be great parents!! We can wait to meet them in person!! We're still praying that they will be here for Christmas!! Love you guys!!

Shoemaker Family said...

I can't stop thinking how doubly blessed you guys are - God has seen you through your valleys and chosen to mega bless you! We're looking forward to more updates and info - good thing you've got stuff pretty much set up for one already - now you only have to buy one more set of stuff - instead of two at once!!!

Jodi said...

Congratulations times 2!! This is so exciting for you!

I was wondering if you could share how you think CCAA picked you to have twins. We would love to get twins. LID 3/07

I just read your whole blog this morning since you posted on China Adopt Talk. I'm going to bookmark it right now!
Thanks,
Jodi

Jodi said...

Oh, I forgot to mention that we are also near Indy and with FTIA! We went to that meeting at St Lukes in Nov 06
Jodi

Anonymous said...

What a gift!! Yeah for you guys...now the craziness begins.

Kim and Jim Tanner

E R I C A said...

Hi, you mentioned Crawfordsville...are you talking about Crawfordsville, Indiana? That's where my mom lives! What a coincidence if that's where you talking about.

Congratulations!!! Your girls are beautiful!!!

Erica (from RQ)

Anonymous said...

God is Good. What an adventure!
I can't wait to meet my new grand-neices.

Aunt Karla

Mom 2 six said...

How wonderful !!!

Heather said...

Congratulations!!!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations!! Your girls are beautiful. Double Blessing! Double Happiness! I hope the time between today and your Gotcha Day flies by!!

catbertie said...

God is sssooooo good! What a blessing to your family!! We're a FTIA family living in Bargersville who wants to share in your joy!!!

Here's to a speedy LOA!
blessings,
Cathy

Anonymous said...

Tony and Rett:
Congratulations! Your girls are beautiful! I found your website through chinaadopttalk and it just so happens that my husband and I are also adopting our little girl from Yifeng SWI and we are also with FTIA! So I am chomping at the bit...What Yahoo Group did you find that has pictures of Yifeng SWI??? We are traveling on October 10. Congrats again! Molly

Cherith said...

They are just beautiful!! Congratulations!!!

Amy said...

Congratulations on your beautiful girls! Our daughter is also from the Yifeng SWI. We brought her home last November. She was very healthy and well loved!
Blessing on your journey. It is the trip of a lifetime for sure.

Blessings,
Amy

Research-China.Org said...

Congratulations on your referrals.

When you are ready to get their finding ads (with photos younger than her referral photo!) come visit us at www.research-china.org. We have lots of information that will be helpful to you.

Have a great trip to China!

Brian

Anonymous said...

I'm very excited for your family. I also noticed that you are from around Crawfordsville. So am I! We have a group of families who have adopted internationally. We are planning to have a get together next month. If you are interested, please email me (jlong@spitfire.net). Congratulations! Jennifer

Anonymous said...

Congratulations!!!!!

Just one question, did you explicitily ask for twins?

We did it and we would love to have twins as well.

Kisses from Spain.

Anonymous said...

Hi Rett and Tony,
Firstly a big congratulations, secondly, and I'm so excited to say this, I have met your twins. Our own daughter that we adopted on the 24th June 07 was from the same orphanage and we were lucky enough to visit and we saw them there. I'm happy for you to contact me on jodieh2005@yahoo.com.au
Jodie from Australia.

Sarah said...

Congratulations on your cuties! How exciting! I can't imagine having two at once! My husband and I laughed when people told us to put 2-3 on our I600A "just in case." We're from the Fort Wayne area adopting from Taiwan. Best of luck on your exciting journey!

Anonymous said...

Pretty in Pink and Lavender will be your new saying. I am so happy and excited for you and Tony. If you ever need anything, please don't hasitate to ask. You need to update again, or just add pictures!!!! Just kidding, it's not like you haven't been busy--ISTEP Yuck!
Congrats again!!!!

Cara B said...

wow... i am delighted to see that there are twins out there... i hope i get some...

by the way, this is my first time to your site, and upon reviewing it... i realized that you have forgotten to update your profile info to declare that you are recieving two of the finest of China.. not just one anymore.

May GOd richly bless you and your quickly filling home.

cara & randy Burtis

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! Wow you sure are twice blessed Twins and an early referral!!!We are LID two months ahead of your LID and told we have a LONG wait ahead of us.Could you share how it is that you received your beautiful girls so soon with a LID so far ahead of what the CCAA is posting?Thank You from wishing waiting and praying.

insanemommy said...

Yea!! More beautiful Chinese Twin baby girls!!! I saw your posting on my good friend Double Lucky's site and had to pop over and congratulate you. Welcome to the "club".

Rony