Our Letter Of Acceptance, or also referred to as, Seeking Confirmation Letter has arrived from China!!!!! This is the second to the last step before we get on a plane to go get Esther in CHINA! The letter is to confirm that yes indeed we still want to adopt Esther, duh, YES!!!! We just need to sign the letter and send it back to China. Then in 2 -3 weeks we will receive "TA", Travel Approval. Then we will make our appointment with the American Consulate in Guangzhou, China. Once we have that appointment, for our second week in China, we work backwards to schedule our flights. This should take about 2 weeks.
"Gotcha Day" is the day you actually receive your child from the Chinese Government. This day is usually on a Sunday or Monday. We will probably fly out on a Wednesday or Thursday, fly into Beijing and take supplies to an orphanage in Beijing. On Saturday or Sunday we will arrive in Changsha, the province capital where Esther is from. Then on Sunday or Monday we will meet our daughter for the first time! Monday through Friday the Provincial paperwork is done and on Friday we should get Esther's Chinese passport. Then we fly to Guangzhou for the American paperwork to be completed. Maybe Thursday or Friday we will be ready to come HOME!!
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Monday, June 11, 2007
God Winks...
This adoption journey has been the most incredible journey of our lives! Much more difficult than giving birth, in so many ways, but so exciting, and we have just begun! I'm so overjoyed I can hardly sleep at night. The reason for this "GOD WINKS" entry is to share our story and our encouragements from God along the way with all of you. He didn't tell us to adopt and then leave us up to the task alone. No, in His fashion He continues to walk with us on the path He has directed! Some of the stories may seem trivial but to us they are confirmation from God that we are on the right path and to keep going. I hope you find them to be a blessing in your life and a strengthening of your faith through your relationship with God. God bless you.
ESTHER'S LOCATION... One evening shortly after receiving Esther's translated file we were studying a map of China. We were trying to locate Esther's Province... Hunan, Capital City... Changsha, and her S.W.I. (Social Welfare Institute, orphanage) in Yueyang. We knew that the H's little boy, Isaiah's Province and Esther's Province bordered each other, but imagine our surprise and blessing when we discovered that, as vast as China is, their provincial capitals are approximately 70MILES APART!!!!! "Potato" (the H's first adopted child), Isaiah and Esther are all Yangtze River kids!!!! With our Esther located right in the middle of the other two kids. What a God WINK!!!!!!
ESTHER'S NAME... A week before we saw "Louisa Mei" on the CHI Waiting kids list we were trying to think of a name for our new daughter. As I sat looking through my bible for any names I liked, I heard God say in my head, "Esther". I said, "Esther?" He said, "Esther". I said, "Esther huh?" He said, for the third time, "Esther". I didn't want to accept that this was God telling me this so I didn't tell anyone what had happened. Esther was a fine name, it's a wonderful story in the bible, the meaning of the name is "hidden" or "secret", but it just wasn't my first choice. (Truthfully I was holding out for a better name). Everyday I would ask DH, "Have you thought of any names yet?" But he hadn't. Finally I told DH, quite reluctantly, that I thought God had given me a name and I thought it was Esther. He said he'd give it some thought. The next day I was on the phone with my Grandmother and she asked if we were thinking of names. I said yes we'd like a biblical name. She suggested getting a book of names to help and then... out of the blue... she says, "How about Esther?!" Well since I had her on speaker phone, and DH was reading a book next to me, he heard the whole thing. We just looked at each other. We couldn't believe it! The one and only name she offers is the name God had told me about a week earlier! (I'd like to say that did it for me but I am one stubborn person). Thank God He is patient with us and l o n g suffering. I still wasn't quite sure that was THE name. But when we saw her picture I thought, she does look like an Esther. So, I introduced our family on our Yahoo group and told them we were "Louisa Mei's" family and we have two daughters already, a seven year old and a 21 year old, and we are naming her Esther. I started to receive congratulatory emails saying how beautiful she is etc. when I got a special email from a cyber friend who said, Congratulations from another Mom with the same names as your two 7 year olds!! Aparently her biological daughter's name is Esther and her adopted from China daughter is the same as our biological 7 year old! That did it for me, I knew at that moment that God wanted her name to be Esther. But He didn't stop there... He had to say her name 3 times to me, so He confirmed it 3 times. In reading the book of Esther in the bible we discovered a small detail that we knew, but it never quite "sank in"... Esther was an orphan!! Both her parents had died and she was being raised by her cousin Mordecai. Esther attained royalty "for such a time as this". Read the story if you haven't before; you will see that she was able to save her people from certain death because of where God had placed her "for such a time as this". God had a plan and a purpose for Esther just as He does for each of us and our Esther. We love the name Esther and we think it fits her well!!
"THE" DUCK... This God wink goes back a ways. Two years ago in the Fall of 2005 our family went to Las Vegas. DH needed to attend some business training sessions for an entire week along with several other supervisors. We went along with him. During the day when DH was in his sessions we would explore Las Vegas. We saw tigers and lions. We saw beautiful artwork and fountains. We went to the Flamingo Hotel. They have a beautuiful garden with birds and Koi fish etc. We saw flamingos, penguins, peacocks, all kinds of wonderful birds. There was one particular little duck that caught my attention. He was the most adorable duck that I had ever seen! I couldn't get ov
er how cute this duck was. I took photo after photo of this duck. Some with our 7 yo in the shot, some without. I could have sat all day and watched this duck. (I am not a particular bird nut by the way) When we returned home from Las Vegas I developed the film from our trip. I took the photo of the duck and framed it and displayed it in our home. I have never before or since framed and displayed wildlife in our home. Two and a half years later... months after God tells us to adopt from China, I am reading a book all about China we bought at the book store. I usually read a little bit each night. I came across a section called "Landscape and Wildlife", and what do you suppose I see? My Duck!!! There he is! He's called the Mandarin Duck, found in the Northeast part of China. I couldn't belive it. I ran downstairs and got my photo from Las Vegas and held it up to the book and sure enough it was the Mandarin Duck! I just had to smile. I realized that God was telling me that of course He knew 2 1/2 years ago! He's known since the beginning of time that we would be adopting just as He knows every detail of our lives long before it happens. We never stop to think of it that way, but it is true.
ESTHER'S LOCATION... One evening shortly after receiving Esther's translated file we were studying a map of China. We were trying to locate Esther's Province... Hunan, Capital City... Changsha, and her S.W.I. (Social Welfare Institute, orphanage) in Yueyang. We knew that the H's little boy, Isaiah's Province and Esther's Province bordered each other, but imagine our surprise and blessing when we discovered that, as vast as China is, their provincial capitals are approximately 70MILES APART!!!!! "Potato" (the H's first adopted child), Isaiah and Esther are all Yangtze River kids!!!! With our Esther located right in the middle of the other two kids. What a God WINK!!!!!!
ESTHER'S NAME... A week before we saw "Louisa Mei" on the CHI Waiting kids list we were trying to think of a name for our new daughter. As I sat looking through my bible for any names I liked, I heard God say in my head, "Esther". I said, "Esther?" He said, "Esther". I said, "Esther huh?" He said, for the third time, "Esther". I didn't want to accept that this was God telling me this so I didn't tell anyone what had happened. Esther was a fine name, it's a wonderful story in the bible, the meaning of the name is "hidden" or "secret", but it just wasn't my first choice. (Truthfully I was holding out for a better name). Everyday I would ask DH, "Have you thought of any names yet?" But he hadn't. Finally I told DH, quite reluctantly, that I thought God had given me a name and I thought it was Esther. He said he'd give it some thought. The next day I was on the phone with my Grandmother and she asked if we were thinking of names. I said yes we'd like a biblical name. She suggested getting a book of names to help and then... out of the blue... she says, "How about Esther?!" Well since I had her on speaker phone, and DH was reading a book next to me, he heard the whole thing. We just looked at each other. We couldn't believe it! The one and only name she offers is the name God had told me about a week earlier! (I'd like to say that did it for me but I am one stubborn person). Thank God He is patient with us and l o n g suffering. I still wasn't quite sure that was THE name. But when we saw her picture I thought, she does look like an Esther. So, I introduced our family on our Yahoo group and told them we were "Louisa Mei's" family and we have two daughters already, a seven year old and a 21 year old, and we are naming her Esther. I started to receive congratulatory emails saying how beautiful she is etc. when I got a special email from a cyber friend who said, Congratulations from another Mom with the same names as your two 7 year olds!! Aparently her biological daughter's name is Esther and her adopted from China daughter is the same as our biological 7 year old! That did it for me, I knew at that moment that God wanted her name to be Esther. But He didn't stop there... He had to say her name 3 times to me, so He confirmed it 3 times. In reading the book of Esther in the bible we discovered a small detail that we knew, but it never quite "sank in"... Esther was an orphan!! Both her parents had died and she was being raised by her cousin Mordecai. Esther attained royalty "for such a time as this". Read the story if you haven't before; you will see that she was able to save her people from certain death because of where God had placed her "for such a time as this". God had a plan and a purpose for Esther just as He does for each of us and our Esther. We love the name Esther and we think it fits her well!!
"THE" DUCK... This God wink goes back a ways. Two years ago in the Fall of 2005 our family went to Las Vegas. DH needed to attend some business training sessions for an entire week along with several other supervisors. We went along with him. During the day when DH was in his sessions we would explore Las Vegas. We saw tigers and lions. We saw beautiful artwork and fountains. We went to the Flamingo Hotel. They have a beautuiful garden with birds and Koi fish etc. We saw flamingos, penguins, peacocks, all kinds of wonderful birds. There was one particular little duck that caught my attention. He was the most adorable duck that I had ever seen! I couldn't get ov
er how cute this duck was. I took photo after photo of this duck. Some with our 7 yo in the shot, some without. I could have sat all day and watched this duck. (I am not a particular bird nut by the way) When we returned home from Las Vegas I developed the film from our trip. I took the photo of the duck and framed it and displayed it in our home. I have never before or since framed and displayed wildlife in our home. Two and a half years later... months after God tells us to adopt from China, I am reading a book all about China we bought at the book store. I usually read a little bit each night. I came across a section called "Landscape and Wildlife", and what do you suppose I see? My Duck!!! There he is! He's called the Mandarin Duck, found in the Northeast part of China. I couldn't belive it. I ran downstairs and got my photo from Las Vegas and held it up to the book and sure enough it was the Mandarin Duck! I just had to smile. I realized that God was telling me that of course He knew 2 1/2 years ago! He's known since the beginning of time that we would be adopting just as He knows every detail of our lives long before it happens. We never stop to think of it that way, but it is true.
Our Timeline to Esther.....
Here's our timeline so far.....
Dec 26th God says, Adopt a school age girl from China!
Dec 27th God confirms that we are to adopt, we begin the "paper chase" with C.H.I.
Feb 4th We see Nian Yi Yue's, (Louisa Mei on the CHI waiting Kids list #17) picture for the very first time. (we did not know her name at this point yet).
Feb 5th We are matched with Nian Yi/Louisa Mei.
Feb 9th We receive Louisa Mei's file translated into English. Her Chinese name is Nian Yi Yue.
Feb 10th We find Louisa Mei's S.W.I. (Social Welfare Institute, meaning orphanage) location, Yueyang, Hunan, China.
Feb 11th We named her Esther (actually God named her).
Feb 16th We sent our L.O.I. (Letter of Intent) to China. Our first official contact with China regarding our daughter.
Feb 20 Our Home Study is complete and in our hands.
Feb 21st We went to U.S.C.I.S. (Citizenship and Immigration) for fingerprinting and to get permission from our government to adopt a foreign child.
Mar 23rd Our I-171, permission to adopt a foreign child, came today.
Apr 7th Our dossier was sent to China!!
Apr 9th We are logged in! L.I.D., (Log In Date) Our dossier is in the CCAA system in China.
June 19th We received L.O.A. / S.C. (Letter of Acceptance or Seeking Confirmation)
July 16th T.A. (Travel Approval) received! Esther here we come!
Sept 10th GOTCHA DAY! The day we will meet our daughter!
Sept 17 C.A. (Consulate Appointment) We will start the process to receive Esther's Visa into the USA through the American Consulate in Guangzhou China.
Sept 19 Return HOME!
Dec 26th God says, Adopt a school age girl from China!
Dec 27th God confirms that we are to adopt, we begin the "paper chase" with C.H.I.
Feb 4th We see Nian Yi Yue's, (Louisa Mei on the CHI waiting Kids list #17) picture for the very first time. (we did not know her name at this point yet).
Feb 5th We are matched with Nian Yi/Louisa Mei.
Feb 9th We receive Louisa Mei's file translated into English. Her Chinese name is Nian Yi Yue.
Feb 10th We find Louisa Mei's S.W.I. (Social Welfare Institute, meaning orphanage) location, Yueyang, Hunan, China.
Feb 11th We named her Esther (actually God named her).
Feb 16th We sent our L.O.I. (Letter of Intent) to China. Our first official contact with China regarding our daughter.
Feb 20 Our Home Study is complete and in our hands.
Feb 21st We went to U.S.C.I.S. (Citizenship and Immigration) for fingerprinting and to get permission from our government to adopt a foreign child.
Mar 23rd Our I-171, permission to adopt a foreign child, came today.
Apr 7th Our dossier was sent to China!!
Apr 9th We are logged in! L.I.D., (Log In Date) Our dossier is in the CCAA system in China.
June 19th We received L.O.A. / S.C. (Letter of Acceptance or Seeking Confirmation)
July 16th T.A. (Travel Approval) received! Esther here we come!
Sept 10th GOTCHA DAY! The day we will meet our daughter!
Sept 17 C.A. (Consulate Appointment) We will start the process to receive Esther's Visa into the USA through the American Consulate in Guangzhou China.
Sept 19 Return HOME!
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