We have a daughter!!!  

I cannot begin to tell you how excited we are to introduce you to our daughter, Elena Kay Jie Thompson.  (Pronunciation: Ellen-uh and Gee-uh). We will probably call her Ellie Kay. 

She was born on November 24, 2012, so she's 7&1/2 months old.  She was born in the Jiangxi province in Southern China.  Her given Chinese name is Wan Le Jie.  (Wan is her surname.  Le = "happy"; Jie = "clean/pure").  

We will probably travel in October to go get her (Lord willing).  In the meantime, we will working with not only one, but TWO governments to work out the details.   There is a process that we have to follow or I would be on the next plane to China!!  After immigration in the US approves her to come legally, the Chinese government will have to issue us approval to come travel and get her.  Fortunately, we have a WONDERFUL agency who is fantastic at guiding us through this bureaucratic challenge.  

We would really appreciate prayers for her and our family.  Some of our prayer requests are:  

1) That God will protect and comfort her while she's living without a family.

2) That her basic needs will be met (she'll get enough food, medical care, etc).

3) For us as we wait for her.  It's so hard to think of having a child on the other side of the world and we can't go get her yet.

4) For the boys to be prepared to have a little sister and the adjustment it will be for us all as we get to know her and she gets to know us.

5) For the process to go as QUICKLY as possible!!  We pray that there won't be any unforeseen delays in paperwork, etc.

Will update more later!  I can't stop staring at her picture! :)

No concrete news - (Getting a bit tired of these type of posts! ;)

Rumor Queen is stating that a European agency says referrals are in the "outbox" and they are getting ready to hit "send" - whatever that means!!  We're not holding our breath, but as with all other days, we are always one day closer.

As a fun aside, this is one of the pictures we sent to China when we applied for our adoption.  (Aidan looks at least 2 in this pic, but he was only 1.  He was just a huge toddler!)  Obviously, our family has really changed since then, with the most obvious change being we now have little Tru.  Also, we all looked several years younger.  :)  It's funny that China has asked for no updated pictures since 2006, so this is how they see our family when they match us up with our child.   

Close, but no cigar....

Well, once again we received info that we were super close to only hear yesterday, "Oops!".  We were under the impression we had been matched with a particular child.  Every time we've told family and friends we're close, we're then told otherwise.

As a review:

• We had a good shot of a referral in March, but didn't make the cut off by two days.  We were a little disappointed, but we were assured we'd be next, because they had a pattern of referring several days at a time.  And they've never just missed a month. 
• In April, they only referred 1 day, making us 1 day short of the cut off.  That was a pretty big, unexpected blow, but we KNEW we'd be next.  They've referred every month without fail, so May it would be.
• In May, we received an even bigger blow.  They were closing down at the end of May to re-do their computer system, but were told by our agency referrals would probably come out the first week of June.
• In the first week of June, the computer system bugs had not been quite worked out.
• Second week of June: Dragon Boat National Holiday in China so all offices were closed.
• Third week of June: Agency said it was probably coming last week.  We were under the impressions matches were made for our date - the paperwork (with the child's picture and info) just needed to reach our agency in the mail.   "Fill out your forms and get ready!"  No call.
• This week.  We have had pretty much daily updates and have been waiting with baited breath to see if this would be the day that the package from China made it to our agency's office. Monday - nope, not yet.  Tuesday - morning:  nope, not yet.  Tuesday afternoon: "Oh, wait a minute, actually matches haven't been made.  THE COMPUTER SYSTEM STILL ISN'T WORKING RIGHT".  

Let me tell you this process is not for the faint of heart.  I am so thankful I did not know it would be this hard when we started.  We wouldn't have applied I'm sure.  We are absolutely at the mercy of the Chinese government.  However, we also know that (Prov 21:1), "The king's heart is in God's hand; He directs it like a water course wherever He pleases".  So, God is ultimately in control of who our child is and when we hear about our child.  We just have to continue to wait and trust in His timing.  

We will update if we hear any news.  Although, I have to admit I feel like that lady with a pillow in her shirt that hasn't had her baby and people are noticing she's looked pregnant for 13 months now.  :)  We aren't deceitful or delusional.  We have been on an incredible roller coaster of good news and let downs that hopefully will end very, very soon.

In the meantime, we will wait for you! 

  

Referral should be any day now!

Our agency says that matches have been made.  So we have a child assigned to our family!!   We just don't know who she is yet.  Our best guess is that maybe we'll get a call on Tuesday or Wednesday telling us the sex of our child, name, age, location (which province she lives in), if she's in an orphanage or foster home, etc.  We're super excited and can't wait to find out the news!   

Let's hear it from the boys!

On Sunday, June 2nd, I recorded the boys' thoughts on a possible upcoming referral this week.  Unfortunately, the referral hasn't happened yet.   China's new computer system is having glitches, and now next week China has a national holiday (Dragon Boat Festival) from June 10th-12th.   We're probably looking at the third or fourth week of June for a referral.

So, here are the videos (minus Tru's reaction since he had a 2 year old non cooperative moment when we decided to film him):

(As an aside, I don't normally think I sound THAT Southern until I hear myself on video.  My goodness!)

It will be quite interesting is if we get our referral the third week of June (the week starting Father's Day).  All of the boys and I will be at camp and will be separated from Matt for that week.  It definitely will not be ideal as far as celebrating a referral because Daddy wouldn't be with us.  Additionally, I volunteer as camp "nurse" (whose not a nurse:) ) so I'll be pretty busy that week and won't have a lot of time to do the necessary things required with processing a referral.  Jacob and Aidan will be busy with all of their activities as well.  So, it seems sort of odd that after 7 years of waiting, there's a pretty good chance our referral may fall on a rare occasion when our family isn't together.  I'm thinking if it happens, we'll ask our agency to do a 3 way call so we can at least hear all of the info at the same time. But, in another way, it would be kind of full circle.  Matt and I met at this same camp, and we would have never imagined many years later being there with our 3 boys ready to accept an adoption referral from China.  I don't think we would have believed it if someone had told us the future.  The good thing if it happens the week of camp is that both of Matt's parents and my Mom will also be at camp that week and so I'll get to personally show them the referral pics.  So, we'll see!  Another week or so of waiting.

Yet another delay!

We're starting to feel like those crazy people who keep having to make up new stories about why something they've talked about for years isn't happening.  So to assure and re-state, we really ARE in the process of adoption and Lord willing, one of these days it will happen.  But, we've run into another delay.  We received news that the branch of the Chinese government that matches children with families will be closed from May 24-31st due to switching everything over to a new computer system.  Goodness!  It would be really hard for this process to drag out more than it is.  So, hopefully early June will be our time unless something unforeseen happens, and of course at this point, we think it probably will if it keeps going like this.   As Tanya, a new friend who is going through the exact same thing (same agency and same LID)  humorously stated, "So I wonder what the next excuse will be for referrals?  The new computer system won't be working correctly?  Or the air conditioner goes out?"  All of these little waiting babies in China have some determined Mommies and Daddies out there to keep strong and persistent during this wait.  I've "met" many of them online - precious families who are just as anxious as we are to hold their little ones.    The Lord has to remind me during the day to be thankful in everything and to trust Him, which we're doing.  All of these little steps, delays, redoing paperwork, fingerprints, more delays, more fingerprints, more delays, another snag, and MORE delays will be all worth it one day.  We'll see His perfect plan and again state once again as in everything, "He knew so much better than I did!"

LifeSong Post

Orphans in any country are near and dear to our hearts, and we have agreed to post blog posts from LifeSong on our blog (They do great work for orphans all over the world).  Take a minute and check out their latest blog post and prayerfully consider helping one of these sweet children.  

What would the world look like if each of us made it our responsibility to see one less orphan without an education...one less orphan without a growling hunger... or one less orphan without a bleak future of poverty?

In the next 45 days, our goal is to find a sponsor for every single child who has yet to be sponsored at our school in Lifesong Ethiopia. (Gulp! That's a tall order! See below how YOU can help.) We are asking for an investment of just $19/month that will result in a future leader for the renewal of Africa from the inside out.

Invest in a life of a child. Invest in self-sufficiency. Invest in bringing hope to one more orphan.

Together we can get EVERY child sponsored! Will you help us?

How can YOU help each child find a sponsor:

PRAY: Join us in praying for the 587 children who are unsponsored in Ethiopia. Pray for the thousands that will be given the opportunity to sponsor--that hearts would be open to helping a child in need. Pray that God will raise advocates to help spread the word!

ADVOCATE: Maybe sponsoring a child isn't an option for you at this time but you have a platform and a voice to let the need be known! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram and share the One Less campaign with your friends & followers.

SPONSOR: Commit to sponsor a students at Lifesong Ethiopia School long-term for $19/month to help ensure that they get the incredible education, spiritual mentoring and food that they need to break the cycle of poverty. To see the children yet to be sponsored, please visit: www.zatproject.com/oneless

To learn more about the Ziway + Adami Tulu Project and details of sponsorship visit www.zatproject.com.