I800 Approval

4/23/14

Today we received another piece of the adoption puzzle. This morning I received an email with our I800 approval, which is the Petition to Immigration to make Leah an immediate relative. Next we are waiting for a PDF file and numbers to file for Leah's visa. This should come beginning of next week.

Tomorrow, I am sending our visa applications to Chicago.  Those will take a week or two before we receive our passports back, stamped and ready to go.

We are almost there, just a couple more steps to go before we get our travel approval. 


Praise be to the Lord!!!

Fundraising Friday....

Fundraising Friday....

The expense part of adoption is messy, tricky, and scary. It took a lot of faith for us to begin the international adoption process and not have the funds available.We started the process and God provided every penny. We started working extra hours, spending less, and also starting fundraising. 

After we set up our account through Adopt Together, we sent out a support letter and was given the gift of a fall festival to raise funds. WOW, we were blown away by the support and generosity. Your giving has been such a blessing. 

Our expenses are split into 3 sections...

• Section 1 was the applications and a lot of the paperwork. PAID  
• Section 2 was the orphanage donation and agency payment. PAID 
• Section 3 is travel. 

Since we are now ready for the final couple of steps, we are now ready for our travel expenses. To understand our costs more you can check out this page.

Because of your giving, we were able to send a check to 

our agency which paid for section 2. 

THANK YOU!!!!!!

LOA!

After  50 days of waiting...WE HAVE LOA!!!!!!!

Yesterday, my agency called and said they have our letter of acceptance.
This letter states that we have been accepted to adopt Leah.
We will have it in our hands today! This is a huge step in the waiting process.
All the other steps from here are little ones (week or two) and very predictable wait times. 

Our next packet of papers going out today is the I800.
This paperwork ties Leah's papers to our paperwork in the US.
We will wait about 2-3 weeks to get this approval.

A very likely date of travel will be either 
June 13th or July 4th. 

Our agency only has a couple days per month that they allow 

travel because they like to have everyone in groups. 

We have a lot to do to prepare.

Besides more paperwork, IT IS TIME TO START PACKING!!!

Please pray for Leah. 

She has received our family photo book but will not understand 

what is happening and why we are taking her.

Taking her away from the only thing she has ever known. 

Taking her away from her foster family. 

Taking her away from her normal routine. 

Taking her away from everything familiar. 

Please pray for her heart to prepare for this journey. 

Now that we have this acceptance, we can share pictures. 
I will post soon. :)

Cleaning out the house...

We are still waiting on our Letter of Acceptance. It has been a long 45 days and could be another 45 days. God's timing is perfect but the waiting is not easy. 

While we wait, we are planning a HUGE garage sale in the near future. This will be our last adoption fundraiser before we travel. You have blessed already with so much and we are so grateful for your generosity. The money that we raise with this year's garage sale, will go towards our travel expenses and in-country expenses. I will post later how our fundraising is going and what is coming next. 

 Maybe you need to clean out the house or attic but do not have time to have your own sale? If you would like to donate items to our sale, we will gladly take them. We are expecting this to be larger than our normal yearly garage sale. We are still looking for somewhere to have the sale. If you have a large place that we could use for the sale, please let us know. 

We have been so blessed by our family and friends. It is so fun to share this journey with all of you. 

YOU have been a huge part in this process. Thank you.

Exciting update.....

When we said yes to Leah, her file was about 6 months old. We had 3 videos and 4 pictures with her initial file. We asked for an update and received 2 photos that really terrified me and concerned me. I was concerned her health was declining and there may be more issues. My agency also had concerns and thought the pictures looked VERY different. They requested another update to see if those photos were just "bad pictures" or if she was sick. Last week while on vacation, we received a video. Leah was healthy and well. This calmed my worries a little but the video still did not look current. Through all the videos and photos, I could not get an exact timeline of when they were taken and what was current. I was scared that they were hiding something and worried she was very ill but they did not want to show us. This was our second update and was probably our last. 

By total surprise last night, we received a wonderful surprise... ANOTHER UPDATE.....with 5 beautiful photos and 5 amazing videos. YES, 5 of each!!! She looks healthy and a little older which is wonderful. This update really does look current and she is very healthy. ALL my concerns and worries went away.  

Philippians 4:6-7

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Blessed and thankful for this update of our daughter.   

Soon we will be able to share her beautiful smile with you.

Please continue to pray for Leah as we get closer to her 

joining our family but leaving the only place is has ever known. 

Welcome, Little One

Nick and I spent many weeks in deep prayer seeking God's will before starting the adoption process. Finally, on February 17th 2013, we started the journey with an email to our agency.

One year later, February 2014, brought many emotions. As the month started, I was struggling to have faith and my attitude was showing it. My eyes were opened and I spent some serious time with the Lord. Thankful his grace is renewed daily.

On Monday February 10th, Nick left for a week long trip with Samaritan's Purse. Periodically, I go to our agency's site to look at the waiting children. The children listed on this list, have not been matched with a family and are waiting for someone to pick them. I came across a little girl. She immediately caught my eye and I read her info. I wanted to know more about her and I wanted to show Nick her picture and info. I rushed an email to him and his response was " Beautiful..Can we get more info?". Could this be her...Could it really? My heart was heavy for her and by this point, tears were flowing pretty heavily. As I sat at the computer, my hopes were rising but I tried to not get too excited. On Wednesday, I emailed our agency and requested her file but they informed me that another family was interested in her but we could also be considered for her family.  They told me we had a week and a half to decide. My emotions were running wild and Nick was still not home.

I had international adoption doctors review her file and they called with their thoughts on Friday. Their reviews were very positive and realistic. All week, Nick and I spoke at night about our feelings on this little girl. We were on the same page and had a peaceful feeling. FINALLY, Nick came home Saturday morning and we discussed it more. I sent an email telling our agency that we would like to be considered for her family. Now our excitement levels were high. Sunday evening came and I realized that Monday was President's Day and I was afraid our agency was going to be closed. I voiced my concern to Nick and at that very moment, I received an email from my agency. They said the other family was also interested and they would form a committee to decide which family was a better match. I had to answer some more questions to help their decision. I forgot to ask when they would decide by so Monday I was a nervous wreck. Either us or the other family was going to receive devastating news that we were not chosen.

Exactly one year after starting the adoption process (February 17th), our agency called Monday evening to inform us that we had been chosen as her family. WHAT!!!!! ARE YOU SERIOUS???? Thankful tears just freely flowed. Eager to tell Nick, I called him immediately. Easy to say, we were both excited and surprised.

We submitted our LOI (Letter of Intent) on the 18th. The LOI starts the matching process of her to us. The Chinese will then send us LOA (Letter of Acceptance) stating they accept our family for this child. This could take a few days or a few months. We have more paperwork to fill out during this wait and then after we receive LOA, we can start our travel preparations. It will still be another 10-12 weeks till travel after LOA but at least we can start to plan details. 

So it is with thankful hearts and total excitement that we announce we have been matched with a little girl...

Leah Li Bertsch

She is  2 1/2 yrs old and will hopefully join our family this summer.

For now, we are not going to post pictures online for her safety. As you all know, we started the process in the special needs program. Her special need is that she is deaf. God has brought sign language into our family a couple different ways. This is not a special need that we are likely going to surgically correct but a need that our family is going to adapt to. When she comes home, we will have a doctor check out her hearing ability and see what our options are. We have started learning basic American Sign Language (ASL) and the kids are catching on quickly. We have a lot of preparation but we are thankful that God has brought her to us.

We have felt your prayers and would appreciate your continued prayers and support.

Melanie's Servant and Giving heart.

Melanie brought this paper home from school but somehow 

it was missed in the pile of school papers and 

went unnoticed until the evening. 

Nick and I were going through the days papers together and 

we both stopped in our tracks. 

" I would give $20 to the poor. $20 for food and close (clothes) for me. $60 for being a mishonary (missionary). And that is what I would do with $100. Because I love being nice. "

This writing assignment brought thankful tears to both Daddy and Mommy.

I pray that she keeps her eye on the true prize and serves with a faithful heart. 

This honest and sincere project shows us that she is looking for ways to serve.

God is going to use this child and I am very excited to watch.