Dear Family and Friends,

As you know if you're visiting our site, we're in the process of adopting Ellie Kay from China.  We feel that God has called us to adopt one of the "fatherless".  If you want to read more of our story, and why we chose to adopt, it can be found here: http://thompsonsandadaughter.blogspot.com/2013/03/no-place-to-start-like-beginning.html.

As most of you probably know, adoption is super expensive and we've already paid most of our expenses.  We have already paid thousands of dollars worth of agency fees, immigration fees, home study fees, the enormous child rearing fee to China, and many more.  The biggest expense left for us to be reunited with Ellie Kay is travel for the oldest 4 of us to travel to China to get her.  We are also required to stay there for a little over 2 weeks to complete the official adoption/immigration process.  This is actually a blessing as many countries require multiple trips and we only have to travel once, so airline fees will be less for us in that sense.  We will be traveling to the port city of Beijing -----> then to Nanchung (the capital of her province) ---->  then to Guangzhou where the US consulate is located, which is where Ellie will officially become a US citizen ---> and last we'll probably take the train to Hong Kong on the way out to leave (the closest port city)  ----> and then home to Memphis.

If you feel led to help with the finances of our adoption, we have some instructions below that will make this a tax deductible donation for you.  FIRST let us say that we expect no particular family or friend to donate.  We are not "entitled" to anything and we are fully aware that adoption was our decision and therefore our financial responsibility.  Also, I want to mention that if you are deeply in debt to others, your financial obligations are to your creditors first. We would never want someone deeply in debt to take funds owed to their creditors to give to us. However, if you feel that God has led you to help financially toward the cause of our adoption, we wanted to make the tax deductible information available to you.

If you are interested in doing this, you can make a check to LifeSong for Orphans, and 100% of the donation goes to us, but is considered a charitable donation for you (they will send you a receipt for taxes upon request or will automatically send you a receipt per IRS guidelines if your donation is $250 or more).   If you choose to donate through LifeSong by check, write "Thompson family" and account # "3637" on the memo line.  You can mail your check to Lifesong For Orphans, PO Box 40, Gridley, Illinois 61744.  Or you can pay via paypal (they would take 2.9% paypal fee out of it if you decide to use this route) at lifesongforphans.org/give/donate.  From there, you would select, "Give to an adoptive family" and complete the online form with our account number and name.

Again, this is not our friends' and families' financial obligation - it is ours alone - but we wanted to provide this information just in case God was leading someone in this direction, it would actually be a tax deduction for you.  Thanks for reading!!

Every Good and Perfect Gift is From Above (James 1:17)

It's been a whirlwind since first laying our eyes on Ellie Kay's face.  We have been buried in mounds of paperwork and I have been seeing federal immigration forms in my sleep and probably have been mumbling terms such as I-800, I-864W, DS-260, visas, etc, etc.....  Mostly, I have been in fierce "Mama Bear" mode, which means I have been overnighting anything and everything that we need to in order to get to her as quickly as we can.  My Fed Ex guys thinks I've lost it I'm sure.  His first thought was probably, "Oh, those are poor homeschool kids that never get out and think that the Fed Ex guy coming is the highlight of their day".  And then, "Oh wow! Here comes the crazy Mom running out the door with her camera.  They REALLY don't get out much!".  In all seriousness, he was a great sport and a super sweet guy and understood after I told him my reasons for taking his pic.  (He did give permission to post).  

We have found out a few things about Ellie Kay.  First of all, we were thankful to learn that she's not in an orphanage.  She has been with a foster family and we are SO, SO thankful for this!  We pray for the foster Mom who is caring for her right now and pray that God will show her love through this lady/family.  We also discovered that she was abandoned when she was 1 day old at the entrance of the orphanage, which shows that someone took great pains to deliver her to a place she would be cared for in spite of the risk of being caught abandoning a baby (which is illegal in China).  She was described as "chubby with big eyes".  When she was 5 days old, she entered into foster care.   She was also described as "loving to cry" during her newborn stage, and her foster mother kept thinking something was wrong with her to make her cry so much (and she would even bring her back to the orphanage due to the crying).   But  according to her records "at the same time, when she looked at her fair, round, little egg-shaped face and big eyes, she couldn’t leave her and she would have a change of heart and come get her to raise her".  At 2 months they took her to the local hospital and had many tests run and was found to have nothing wrong.  Then, at 3 months she became much more tranquil.  I guess time will tell if she's truly gotten over her "feistiness".  :)  We cannot wait to meet her, hold her, and learn her personality and all about the way God uniquely created this precious little girl.  

 

Ellie Kay is in Jiangxi province, but more specifically, within Jiangxi,  she's in Wanzai.  Her  given surname of Wan reflects that she's from Wanzai (all Wanzai orphans have the surname of Wan).  Wanzai is a rural area with a population of less than 500,000 people.  It is surrounded by forested mountains and it's major industries are fireworks manufacturing and rice liquor distillation.  Their main economic activity is agricultural with rice being the major crop.

These things are fascinating to me right now and makes me wonder of the occupation of her biological parents - are they farmers or do they work in a fireworks factory, etc?  All I know is I will forever grateful to them for being willing to carry precious Ellie Kay for 9 months and then making sure she was delivered to a place where she would be safely cared for, while risking their security in the process.   What a gift they gave to us!  Many Chinese mothers would love to keep their babies, but with the one child policy have no choice to keep them.  Within the culture in rural areas, some families have a bucket of water ready for the delivery which is often at home, and if their first baby is a girl, she will immediately be drowned in a bucket.  These parents obviously did not want that for their little girl.  They wanted to give her a chance for a life!  Praise God for His protective hand over her little life.  I'm sure it was the most heart breaking thing for her biological mother to do - to have to deliver her over to an orphanage after holding and caring for her for her first day.   I will seek to always honor this lady and even celebrate her on Mother's Day.  I really wish it was possible to reach out to her and let her know that Ellie Kay has a chance for a new life in America.  I think she'd be pleased!    

If you are praying for us, one specific prayer request right now is that her I800 form will be approved very quickly and that we can move on to the next step!!  

We're working very hard to get to you, Ellie Kay!! :)  

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.