TESTING....1.....2

Can you read me now?????

Good!

Now read the post below this one. It's titled, "Ahem..." It wasn't showing up..but now it is!!

ahem....

Ok all you lurkey turkeys....although I cannot believe you didn't post to tell us what you're thankful for, I'll let it slide. I just wanted to take a minute and share an email I received from a new friend and all around great person named April. We will ONE DAY travel together to pick up our daughters. I'm glad to have her on our support team!

I was feeling pretty down about a week and a half ago. I was in, what I'd call, a BAD baby funk. Our five month waiting anniversary was nearing, and instead of being excited, I just thought doom and gloom! Satan was saying, "Who cares about five months? Don't you get it? You'll be waiting for at LEAST two times that amount more!" and "Hahah, you this THIS will be your last childless holiday? Think again!" Man, that doubt got me going. I posted on our Yahoo group about my blahs and there they were to the rescue...April included. Here's what she wrote.

I felt so bad when you were bummed last week. I couldn't think of anything to say that didn't sound trite. So, I wanted you to know that God sees your pain. And, he does in fact answer prayer! Seek him Rett! Go to bat for all us waiting moms!!

I think waiting for ANYTHING is one of the hardest things ever. I had been dealing with an issue lately and I have read a ton of books to help me understand and to glean from their wisdom things that God has taught them. One thing, among a million, that stood out to me was , "God is more interested in changing me than he is in changing my circumstances." -Joyce Meyer. That is so hard. Ultimately, God cares about getting us ready for eternity, whatever that means:-) He wants to make us more like his son. But, as I have been reading and reading and reading books and my Bible. I am more convinced than ever about God's love for us- people. Over and over again in the Old Testament people did the most vile things and God would be ready to destroy them. Then, they would repent and he would reduce/change his punishment. He does the same thing for us. Rett, he loves you so much. He has plans for you, plans to prosper you and plans to give you a great future Jer 29:11. He is so proud of you that you want to love one of his children- an orphan. A little girl that you are going to introduce to the love of Jesus. You want to know why you are discouraged, because Satan is attacking you. Do you think he wants to see you joyful? No Way!! Do you want to know why? Because the joy of the Lord is our (your) strength. Nehemiah 8:10 When you are full of joy, you have the strength of the Lord. The other conclusion I come to is if you are depressed and miserable, you are weak. That is how Satan would like to keep you! Kick his butt, Rett!! You are so funny!

April help me put things in perspective. And I think some of her encouragement can trickle right down to you! The Joyce Meyer quote was the best. "God is more interested in changing me, than he is in changing my circumstances." Could this be true for you as well? Are you feeling kind of down about your situation? God hears your cries, sees your heart, and loves you totally. Just understand...He's all about changing YOU........NOT the situation you're in!

Have a great week everyone!

Gobble, Gobble!

Ok kids, Turkey Day is coming up! It's time to start thinking about our blessings!

So we've got an assignment for you, if you so choose to accept it. Just show us yours and we'll show you ours. Get your mind out of the gutter! We're talking about blessings!

It's simple. Just put what you're thankful for in the comments section. We'll add ours as you add yours. Get creative and be honest! It will do your heart some good and what's better than giving God praise?

Go ahead...be thankful...and tell us about it!

Happy early Gobble Day!!

Ladybugs and Referrals

Simply put, I have a great family. Here's an email I received from Kristy, my niece, earlier this week.

Rett,

I just thought I'd tell you that today in class, I was in my usual seat by the window when I look outside to see three ladybugs flying around the window right by me. Then, I looked by the ledge, and there was another one! Normally, I wouldn't really think about ladybugs all over, I mean, it's harvest and all, they're stirred up. But for some reason I believe they were put there to remind me of Abby and it was on my heart to pray for that beautiful girl we all are anticipating so much. So I did. And I just wanted you to know. I am thinking about your girl and I prayed SO much for her today. I can't wait to meet her.

Hope you're having a wonderful day! Ladybug hugs and kisses,
Kristy (aka Auntie Kiki, cuz you said I could be!)

Kristy was surprised to know that it is legend that when ladybugs are spotted, referrals follow soon after. The legend proved to be true! Referrals came out on Thursday. They got through 16 days of Log In Dates (LID'S) this month. (Last month they got through 18 days). That means we are still looking at a total of 14-15 months of waiting time. We have waited almost 5 months already, so IF THE CHINESE OFFICIALS keep up at this pace, we SHOULD receive our referral next September/October and travel 4-6 weeks after that. However, if we all band together and pound Heaven with some prayers, maybe we'll get to meet Abby sooner than that!!

Thanks for your prayers and love Kristy!!!

God is good...all the time, and all the time...God is good.

Under construction

We got a whim....ok, I got a whim...and decided it was time to start revamping Abby's closet. Now, mind you, we won't even be matched with our daughter for AT LEAST 10 more months, but, who cares? This makes us feel one step closer to her.

Tony was SO selfless and not only gave up his closet, he also assembled the system after the inside was repainted. WOW is all I have to say. As we began hanging her little dresses, skirts, jeans, and sweaters, it seemed even more real that one day a little girl would be living here. As you could have guessed, I got all choked up. But honestly, even Tony seemed a little reflective. It is just such a surreal feeling. Afterwards, he stood back and said, "That's a lot of clothes." I grinned, and he added, "But half of it is still empty." The way I see it, he gave me (and you) the green light to SHOP, SHOP, SHOP!

For those of you that live nearby, fully expect a tour of her closet on your next visit. For those who live afar, enjoy the pics. (I actually added a few more items after I had already snapped the pics. Man, this is FUN!--And I don't want ONE comment about the laundry we'll have to do with her!)

Also, we had a GREAT time getting to meet Morgan on Saturday, and getting to hear about Brian and Nancy's adventures in China. TALK ABOUT BEAUTIFUL! She is so cute!!! She is lucky to have such a wonderful family, and they're lucky to have such an adorable and spicy girl! (See previous posts about Morgan and the Williamson family)

Ladybug, ladybug....

A ladybug has been spotted! One of my students brought me the cutest and tiniest ladybug this morning. He found it in our classroom! I told him, "You know this is a sign of good luck, right?" He casually replied, "Yeah." It really made me smile. In the adoption community ladybug sightings are synonymous with incoming referrals. Lucky lucky mommies and daddies will be seeing their baby's face for the first time next week! (Typically, referrals come in toward the end of the month--around the 25th)

So here's to a little ladybug that brightened a teacher's day, a student's day, and foretold of great things to come!

(Thanks for the ladybug scissors Rachel! Abby will love them when she's old enough to use them!)

LID anniversary--#4

WHOO HOO...today we celebrated our Four Month Log-In-Date Anniversary. That means four months ago on June 15 we were officially "logged in" to China's database of waiting families. We are just waiting for our turn to be matched with a child. However, we as Christians, know that God matched us with Abby long long ago. We're just waiting on the rest of her life events to be orchestrated so that she can come home to her forever family.

We celebrated by attending church, eating at my favorite restaurant-Chili's, and then venturing to the orchard. It was a fun day and reminded us that Abby will have many adventures when she comes home. We can't wait!!

GUZ

Yesterday I (Tony) opened the mail box to find a large brown envelope. To my suprise, it was from "The Foreign Service of the United States of America - U.S. Consulate General, Guangzhou, Consular Section, Amcongen Guangzhou, U.S. Department of State, Washington D.C." (Say that 3 times real fast). Rett told me when I brought this in the house that I had in my possession the "famous brown envelope". In this brown envelope, among other things, was our GUZ number. Our GUZ number is our case number when dealing with the American Consulate General. Basically the letter states that "the BCIS (INS) recently notified the American Consulate in Guangzhou that you have been approved to adopt an orphan oversees. This means we are authorized to process your child's case as soon as his or her adoption is finalized...We look forward to seeing you hear soon for your child's immigrant visa interview."

So with that said, this makes us feel good. It is nice to get some encouraging news during this looong wait. This has nothing to do with the wait, but it is information we must have. In addition to the GUZ number we received the following documents that we must take with us to China:

• I600A - Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative
• Consulate General of the United States of America Medical Examination Instructions for Orphans Adopted by American Citizens
• U.S. Department of State Affidavit Concerning Exemption from Immigrant Vaccination Requirements for a Foreign Adopted Child
• U.S. Department of State Application for Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration
• Form written in Chinese - oh wait - it is the Requirements for Immigrant Visa Application Photos
• A letter stating "Welcome to the Adoptions Unit in Guangzho!"
• U.S. Department of Justice Immigration and Naturalization Service Request for and Report on Overseas Orphan Investigation
• U.S. Consular Section Location and Surrounding Area Map (in China)
• U.S. Department of State Medical Examination for Immigrant or Refugee Application

Wow - that is a lot of paperwork that we will eventually need to complete, but that is a good thing.

As of this coming weekend we will have waited four months. Time flies. We are still hearing the wait for referral is about 14 months. Per the FTIA's latest post on 9-25-06, "Families who are currently receiving referrals from the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) waited approximately 14 months after the dossier was officially logged in to the CCAA." Just keep praying it stays at 14 months or less.

So we have been keeping busy to keep our minds off of the wait. In fact, this weekend we stayed EXTREMELY busy. We declined some offers (to do manual labor) and decided to get out of town and we did a good job of it... We did the following:

• ROAD TRIP #1 - Saturday we went to Metamora for their big fall festival and fought the crowds. Nice day for a drive and looking at stuff...
• ROAD TRIP #2 - Saturday afternoon/evening we piled in a van with some friends that live up the street from us and went to Cincinnati. We ate and then went to some haunted houses. This first was not a haunted house. It was a haunted bus ride through the woods. It was sweet. We rode in school buses with the roofs cut off. People jumped out of the woods, hopped onto the bus with chainsaws and etc...but the best part was being rammed by a fire breathing (literally, we felt the heat) bulldozer and fire breathing semi (shooting flames about 8-10 feet out of the exhaust pipes - AWESOME). Both vehicles rammed the bus and pushed the bus honking their airhorns and etc..., again sweet! Now we know why they told us to keep all hands inside the vehicle. The second place was your classic haunted school with a tight maze leading you through the freaky place.
• We ended up returning home from our Saturday evening adventure around 3:00 am Sunday, 11 hours after we left. Thank goodness we all lived within three houses of each other. No additional traveling home was required. But it was a blast go get away and do something different with some new friends, pretending we were "back in the day" with no worries.
• ROAD TRIP #3 - We woke up Sunday morning (about 5 hours after returning home) and traveled to Indy. We went to the COLTS GAME!!!! We have not been football fans for long, but had a blast. It was a good game, great seats, and LOUD! We want to go to every game now. It was a good time.

We returned home and tried to unwind from a BUSY but fun weekend. Now we are back to the weekly grind. We have a busy week again and tonight is the only night with us both home. Oh well, the weekend is around the corner. I think we will take it easy and get some rest this weekend.

Well, I (Tony) do not post often. I think my last post had to do with our crazy cat and dog chasing squirrels up trees in our back yard. So I hope you enjoyed the update. Let me know if you prefer the squirrel updates better.

Chinese Moon Festival

The Chinese Moon Festival is coming up THIS FRIDAY! Our agency posted some very interesting facts about this mid-autumn festival on our weekly update.

Celebrations, though still relatively new to the U.S., have been held throughout Asia for well over 1,000 years. This holiday is a time to reflect upon the bounty of the summer harvest, the fullness of the moon, and the myth of the immortal moon Goddess; Chang E, who lives in the moon.

The Moon Festival is often compared to a sort of "Chinese Thanksgiving" because of its spirit of gratitude and its inclusion of abundant food — including the popular moon cakes. Moon cakes are flaky, round, semi-sweet pastries often filled with bean or lotus-seed paste and topped with a duck egg,echoing the shape of the full moon. Many millions of moon cakes are gifted around the time of the Moon Festival.

Here is a link to Chinasprout.com as they have a link to order these:
http://www.chinasprout.com/htm/community.html?topic=staticpages&id=48

Here is a link for more information about the festival:

http://www.chinesefortunecalendar.com/midfallstory.htm

So Friday night, take a peek at the moon. When you do, send Abrielle a little hug and whisper her a wish. Hopefully, this time next year, we'll be holding her in our arms, staring at that same moon, and whispering a prayer of thankfulness to her China mommy.

Drama drama drama

Not everything in my life is emotional or a drama....wait, yeah, it is.. so I have another emotional moment to share with the world (and Abby too).

This weekend Tony and I were blessed to hang out with some neighbors of ours. Ben (7th grade) and Jordan (aka=Bologna) (4th grade) spent the night with us Friday night while their parents went out of town. WOW, we were nervous. (Ok, I was nervous, Tony was a rock) Regardless, we had a REALLY good time with them. They are fantastic boys with good heads on their shoulders. Did I mention how funny they are???? We laughed, we played, and we got whooped at Monopoly.

It gave us just a hint of what parenting will be like. I said a HINT. One example that I'm NOT so excited about is the fact that Tony (the dad) was able to sleep through the night peacefully. I'm sure this will continue once Abby is home. He's SUCH A MAN! I, however, worried about hearing the boys if they needed us, and slept VERY lightly. I fretted beyond belief. Is this a sign of what's to come?

Also, I did have a "my heart skipped a beat" moment. I was walking through the kitchen and saw the little guys shoes there. (ok, so they were not THAT little) Anyway, it was weird. I could see their shoes, and hear them laughing downstairs and it made my heart full. It was a little taste of what it will be like to be a family of three. Shoes will be everywhere and laughter will be in the air. It was quite the moment.

Anyway, it was a fun-filled weekend. We also got to spend time with one of my most favorite people in the world...my nephew Chris. He was in town from North Carolina and brought his girlfriend Elise. They make a sweet couple. He's SO grown up!!!

So, no Abby news to report. I'm still planning on posting pictures of the stroller. Remember, be happy with today and thankful to God for blessing you with it!!!

WHOO HOO

At this point, I'll take what I can get. The LAST batch of referrals (August referrals) only included NINE days worth of Log In Dates (LID'S). ONLY NINE! That is NOT good. Well.......
THIS month (September referrals) included 18 days of LID's! WHOOOOOOOO HOOOOOO!

That means there are approximately 41 weeks worth of LID's before us. That sounds like a lot, but if they get 2-3 weeks done each month, our time will start ticking down at a noticeable pace!!!

We're still praying that it speeds up even more, but all I really care about is that it doesn't SLOW down any more! If it stays at this pace, we're POSSIBLY looking at a next summer referral. (July/Augustish)

This is so unreal because JUST last night and this morning, I have been constantly repeating in my head, "Be happy with today." (Thanks for the encouraging email Rachel...I've taken it to heart). So I have just been happy with today! I haven't wished it was tomorrow, I haven't wished it was Christmas, I haven't wished it was Abby day. I have just been content. And then, WOW, God throws me a curve ball! It doesn't matter though, because now I'm even MORE happy with today!!

Make it a great day for you too! Hug someone, tell them you love them, and thank God that they're in your life!

More, more, more Morgan!

Here are some additional pictures of Morgan. She is absolutely beautiful. Who couldn't love that little face? We cannot wait to meet her in person!

Pic #1--A very happy Morgan.

Pic #2--Morgan loves fries at McDonalds!

Keep praying for them!

We were having a "bad Abby day". We were missing a little girl we've never met, wondering where she is, and praying that she'd come home soon. Thankfully, two things happened to help us.

1. Tonight in our church home group, a very good friend Charlie, put things in perspective. He read James 1:2-8

2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,
3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.
4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not
lacking anything. 5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives
generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6But when
he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of
the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will
receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he
does.

2. The CCAA (China Center of Adoption Affairs) reported the following on their site:

The CCAA has finished the review of the adoption application documents
registered with our office before December 31, 2005.

This means that: 1. We need to persevere, have joy in these trials, and have faith. 2. There is only six months of dossiers separating us from getting into the Review room in China. (NO THIS DOES NOT MEAN REFERRAL). That means one small step for us, one GIANT leap toward Abby! At this point, we'll take what we can get!!

GOD IS GOOD!

Morgan's new forever family!

Sleeping beauty--Morgan

Daddy and big sister, Natalie.

Mommy, Daddy, and Morgan Williamson

Heading to the hotel to bond.

Today was "Gotcha Day" for Morgan, Nancy, Brian, and Natalie! They were forever united as a family. GOD IS GOOD! I'll post pictures tonight!


TONY AND I CANNOT WAIT FOR OUR TURN!!!

Morgan Nicole Zhen Williamson

We met a really great couple through our local adoption group named Brian and Nancy. They're with the same agency-FTIA, and have the same coordinator-Charlene. What's exciting is that they left THIS MORNING on their journey to bring their daughter Morgan home! They are a fun couple with one daughter Natalie (5th grader) and all three left for Beijing in the wee hours of the morning. They will actually meet Morgan for the first time on Monday.

Prayer requests:

• Pray that they make all of their connecting flights and have a great travel experience.
• Pray that they all stay healthy while they're gone.
• Pray for little Morgan and her adjustment to her new parents and surroundings.
• Pray for parenting wisdom for Brian and Nancy.
• Pray for Morgan's China mommy and daddy and that they have some sense of peace in knowing Morgan is joingng a wonderful family.

Just think...one day, we'll be posting that it's our turn to fly out!!! Our Abby girl doesn't know what a fantastic family she's coming home to!

OH MAN...

Goodness, we have LOTS to post...but want to spread it out so that you out there in Bloggerville don't get bored. With that being said, here's the list of things we'll post about over the next few weeks. (Maybe it'll peak your interest so you'll keep checking back!)

Oh, and if you're a lurker...feel free to post a comment. I mean it. Seriously. Do you know the depression I was sent into when I realizd that MaryMia had like 500 comments (yes, 500) on her recent referral post on her "Do They Have Salsa in China" blog? I know, I know, it was hard NOT to post a comment for the ADORABLE twinnyliciousness, but, come on...if I did a spreadsheet of number of comments she receives (much like the referral spreadsheets she does) it would show an average of about 1.6 billion comments per post. Ok, more like 40, but that's about 38 more than ever show up on ours. (LOVE HER BLOG...go there...but don't you DARE post a comment there until you do on ours!) You lurkers demand and demand new posts because you're bored with our last one, but send NO encouraging comments to entice us to post more! (You know who you are!) *sigh* ok, I'm over it. hehehe here's the previews for the coming attractions to Abby's blog.

• Brian and Nancy (new friends of ours) and their beautiful daughter Morgan. They're heading to China on Sept. 14. Start sending prayers their way!
• Our latest Abby purchases...an adorable stroller and practical thermos.
• A fantastic site called "The Lord's Table". (Thanks April) Oh, and I'll explain GBS.
• Local adoption group meeting next Saturday. We're having international foods!
• I'm sure I'm forgetting something, praying I'll remember later.

So there you have it. And, wow, I reread my last paragraph, and it sounds like I'm that sad little kid on the playground that is begging for friends. That's not true, we just LOVE to hear from you all. This blog will hopefully be important to Abby one day. We want her to know how much her family and friends love her.

Stay tuned kiddos!

REFERRALS!

Forever families were created this past week. Several families just received their referrals and I thought I'd share the good news and excitement!

www.salsainchina.blogspot.com --double the excitement!
http://www.babyjellybeans.com/web/do/site/home?ID=61815
http://www2.caringbridge.org/canada/donnelly/photo.htm
http://www.linktolia.blogspot.com/
http://www.caringbridge.org/mi/korriesue/

These are just a few to get you going. Man...it's exciting, but it makes the wait seem forever away!

Just making it girlie!

Well, we added curtains to the nursery for the extra added girlie touch. A big thank you to Robin for them too. We both think they look very very pretty.

Stay tuned later this week for pictures of our new stroller we bought. There will also be another post with links to family websites that received their referrals last week!!

Abby Miles

Praises

• We have added three more miles to our "Miles of Love" to Abby! Only 492 more miles to go! *Only said with a slight tinge of sarcasm*

• The next batch of referrals should be coming in at the end of the month! I'm so excited to see more families united with their beautiful children!

• We are going to enjoy a great dinner on Friday night with a couple from our local adoption group that received their referral a few weeks ago. They will be traveling to bring home their daughter in just a couple of weeks!!! We'll keep you posted on all the great details we learn!

Praise/Prayer

Praises

School has started successfully

We added another mile of love for Abby (see sidebar)

We have officially be waiting two months now!

Prayer Requests

A rumor is out there that our wait for Abby definitely will increase, possibly to 18 months. This would put us at receiving her referral (picture/medical info.) DECEMBER 2007.

Please pray for Tony and me.

I'm really struggling with this (even though I know I have NO control over the wait times).