We got an update!

We were thrilled to get an email updating us on Craig's progress and health today!  He's in 9 month clothes, on formula, and had a palate surgery since our last update.

Here are the pics!

Thank you!

Thanks to many generous gifts, we were able to meet the matching amount from Hand in Hand. We are so blessed by your support of us, and can't wait for Craig to meet the many people who are loving on him from a distance.

Progress Since Last Post :)

-US Immigration Approval
-National Visa Center did whatever they do
-All our approvals and paperwork were sent back to China
-Craig's room is now painted
-Nicole and I sorted through clothes that my nephew used to wear, I can't wait to put Craig in his new outfits!!

We now have only two steps left before we buy our tickets.  At this point I am hoping for a Feb. 15th departure date.

Also, we have had a couple of people ask about giving.  Hand in Hand only accepted donations until the 21st for us, but here is the info for Lifesong for Orphans, which also has an account set up for Craig.

You can send by check or online, and as long as it is postmarked by the 31st it will be tax deductible for 2012.  The check needs to be made out to Lifesong, but our id # and last name should be in the memo line, which is  3041Wood.
Lifesong for Orphans
PO Box 40
Gridley, IL 61744

LOA :)

We got the call today!  It's official, China has accepted us :)  China sent a letter of acceptance and we now get to send in our application for US immigration.  We are so excited!!!!!

Traveling in Feb. looks very likely right now, which means we are only a couple of short months from being able to hold Craig!!!

Out of translation!!!

As of 10/26 our Dossier (paperwork) made it out of translation and into processing.  This is wonderful news as the wait for China's Approval is notorious for slowing everything down to a snail's pace.  I have heard of family's spending months in the translation room.  At the earliest, we are still a couple of weeks from getting our approval (and of course it could still be a couple of months), but at this point I am just thankful that we are moving :)

Right now I am in the middle of creating a photo book to send Craig of our family.  I have very few pictures of me, so it might be time for a photo shoot!  We're hoping that the photo book will familiarize Craig with us, but we also want the orphanage staff to know that he is cherished and that there is a family somewhere that is counting down the days until Craig is home.

Matching Grant

About a year ago our family began the process of adoption.  Although we desired to have more children, we were not able to have more at that time.  Instead, we felt that God was leading us towards becoming a forever family to a child through adoption. 

We are continually in awe of God’s faithfulness!  We began this journey with a giant leap of faith and have seen one miracle after another.  We felt that God was calling us in this direction but knew that there was no way we would be able to finance it ourselves.  All along the way God has brought surprise money into our lives to help with the next step (we actually had a check catch up to us eight years late, just in time for one of the deadlines).  It has been fun to see Him work!

This isn’t a high pressure post, because we believe that God has a plan for how this will work out. But, if you are feeling God’s leading in this direction, or have wanted to make a tax deductible donation before the end of the year, here’s some information about a grant we just received.

We were recently awarded a matching funds grant to help with the expenses of our adoption through Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc. a non-profit private operating foundation.  Hand in Hand will match any funds that are donated through our friends and family for the expenses of our adoption.  All funds received through our friends and family will be matched dollar for dollar by Hand in Hand up to our awarded grant amount.   All donations are tax-deductible.

You may contact Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc. with any questions you may have.  They can be reached at 913-248-5015 or by e-mail at handinhandadopt@gmail.com.

Please send all donations made payable to “Hand in Hand Christian Adoption” postmarked by December 21st to: (for tax purposes please include our name on the outside of the envelope only…do not put our name on the check itself)

Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc.  

Wood Family

18318 Mimosa Court                                                                                                       

Gardner, KS  66030   

Thank you for the support you have given our family!  More than anything, we appreciate your willingness to listen to the latest developments, your prayers, and your offers of help for when Jason is manning the home front while Leya goes to China.  We are very thankful that we will be bringing Craig home to the support of so many.

Pumpkin Patch

We made our annual excursion to the pumpkin patch.  The girls each picked out a pumpkin and a couple for the front porch.  We went on the pirate boat ride and they played in the play houses and had a blast!

While we were talking to the owners JL started yelling, I hurried over to see what the problem was and she excitedly told me that she had found a baby pumpkin for her baby brother.  She was standing guard over it, to make sure that no one else grabbed it.  The girls are looking forward to giving Craig his pumpkin :)

We received a video of Craig today.  A lady shows off the things he can do (sit, pick up an object, etc.).  I've been concerned about the 18 hour flight home with him but after the video am less worried.  He seems very mellow and loved playing with the little box he was given. 

Update!

We got an update today!!!  The medical information we received in our referral was pretty outdated and there were some contradictions.  Our agency had asked for more information and we just got the answers from Craig's orphanage.  It sounds like he is developing really well and able to crawl, sit, and babble.  It's wonderful to hear that he is healthy and progressing.  It sounds like we may be getting new pictures too, I've been checking email all day hoping to get a new glimpse of him :)

DTC 10/12/12

DTC stands for Documents To China.  We're incredibly thankful for a wonderful agency that would respond to frantic emails in minutes, to a friend of a friend that let us stop by and use her as a notary after several banks wouldn't notarize a certain kind of document, and encouragement from friends and family!

The next step is receiving our LOA (Letter of Acceptance) from China.  This could take anywhere from 30 to 110 days, although a lot of them come around 60 days.  I would love to have it by Christmas :)

JanaLynn and I rearranged and cleaned Craig's room last week and scrounged up all the baby toys we could find.  Alaina reminds JL that it is no longer her room and JL seems to be making the adjustment.  The other day she wondered when it would be her room again, when I told her it might never be hers she was a little disappointed.  Although, once she heard about the polka dots we are painting on her and Alaina's walls she was easily reconciled. 

 I'm working on getting Craig's room ready for him.  We get to send a photo album and I would like a photo or two of his room in it.  We'll see if I can make that happen though.  I'm vacillating on paint colors and planning an airplane quilt.  JL is pretty sure that he would love orange walls, although I'm doubting that would go over as well as she thinks ;)

Alaina and I were talking today about where Craig is living now and she asked if she came from China when she was a baby. 

Introducing Craig!

With young children you are always talking about the next big thing. The next celebration, birthday party, sleepover. They measure time by events, not by days and months. 

Some things that we wait for have a set date like Christmas and birthdays. Other things have tentative wait times. You know you are getting closer and that it is inevitable, but you can't make a paper chain and count how many days are left until the "big day". I have a harder time with the second kind of waiting. It isn't concrete enough for me, I can't plan and schedule it day by day and as a result I am surprised when it actually happens.  

Right now our family is in waiting mode. We waited for a home study, for immigration approval, and for a referral. And, much to my surprise, each of those things has happened! We now have a son waiting for us in China, and we couldn't be more excited to go get him!!! We want to be able to hold him and know that he is well taken care of and protected. We're looking forward to telling him that we love him. We're counting down the days until we can be together as a family. But for now we wait; for our Dossier to go to China, for China to approve us, for visas and further immigration approval. I know that it will all happen someday. But "someday" still seems very far away.

There is another kind of waiting that I think about often. There is no specific date, but it is also inevitable. I know that some day I will be in Heaven praising God for His amazing grace, power, and love. I am looking forward to that time with great anticipation! I pray that I will be able to communicate the excitement for this day with our children and that they will be looking forward to meeting Christ with the same childlike enthusiasm as they have when waiting for Christmas :)

Here are some pictures of our son, Craig Wood.  Can't help but smile when I see them.