TA!!!!!!!!

Yes, it came!!! I have to recap todays events for you. You may want to read my post from yesterday to fully understand what I'm talking about now. I had emailed our travel coord and asked for a phone call at work to discuss whats going on. I left work early today and no phone call. I of course checked my email when I came home to find an email from K letting me know that they will call as soon as our TA arrives. That it could be another 3 weeks. I had no words really. Many emotions, and anger was at the top. As I left to take our visa apps to the fed ex box I walked down the driveway crunching the leaves on the driveway that had fallen. I love the beautiful colors of the leaves and the way they crunch when you walk on them. I once again talked to God telling Him that as angry and sad as I was I would praise Him. I praised Him for the wonderful colors and also that I am able to walk to hear that crunch when I walk . I am thankful for my vision to see those beautiful leaves. We all have so much to be thankful for.I have so much to be thankful for I told Him. I asked Him to take the anger away and replace those feelings with love. And you know what, He did. I went to the fed ex box, picked up Brooke from school and decided to stop for pop and pizza for the kids for dinner. I just wasn't in the mood for cooking. I had a peaceful feeling that only God can give. And then what happened? I was walking into the pizza store when my cell phone rings and its Jeff to say, "we got it", very calmly I might add. "Got what" I said, "you know, our TA", he says. Aghhhhh!! Are you kidding me? This adoption journey is so full of emotions, but as I mentioned before, it takes alot of faith. And sometimes faith isn't easy, especially when you are in the middle of a very emotional event.

I have many AWAA friends who are still waiting for the LOA. There are no words for what they are going through. It has been almost 4 weeks since the last LOA's came. Please uplift them in prayer. Pray for renewed strength that can only be given by God.

One more thing, our "tentative" travel dates are 11-6-11-21. We will not know for sure until we have our CA(consulate appt). We are hoping that comes very soon, but we KNOW God is in control and ALL things work together for good to them that love God who are called according to His purpose.

11 months and and no TA

It is Sunday afternoon as I write this. On Friday all of my rumor queen buddies within in the U.S. with the same RA date as us received their TA. Everyone but us. Our agency never called. I waited and waited. Everytime the phone rang I knew it had to be them but it never was. Around 2 o'clock Jeff asked me to call the agency to find out if they had come or not. I asked the gentleman who answered the phone and he replied "thats a good question, let me get K for you." I ended up leaving a voicemail however never heard back.

I'm so happy for all of the RQ friends, I truly am. Its funny how you can be so happy for someone and yet so sad for yourself. They are all so excited. Some are making flight plans and packing to leave as soon as this week!! Maybe DHL misplaced our agencies package and it will arrive on Monday I first told myself. Then I have heard that Consulate Appts. are becoming limited due to the sn and nsn TA arriving. Some agencies have already told their families they may not travel until the end of November. So where does that leave us? I have no idea.

Today Katie is 11 months old. Yet another month older and the time for us to get TA & CA appt is getting less and less to be with her for her 1st birthday. The airfare is getting much higher as we approach the holidays. Too many questions and no answers.

Everyday while I was waiting for our LOA I would get up in the morning hoping and praying it would come that day. I would tell God I will praise you all day, and if it comes I will praise you, but aha, the hard part , if it DOESN'T come I WILL praise you. And I did. Friday, when the TA'S starting coming in I said this, and I meant it. I am still praising Him for all He has done and will do. That doesn't mean I'm not sad. The weekend has been probably the hardest times in this process, with the exception of finding out about the tainted formula.

As I close this post I will refer to one of my favorite bible verses,"For all things work together for good to them that love God, who are called according to His purpose." I know that all of these things will work out for the good. Thats not to say that it is not hard. The last time I had said in a post I hope to have good news soon, I did. So I will once again say that hopefully the next time I post all things will have worked out. In the meantime, please lift our family in prayer through this very difficult time.

New picture

This picture was taken 3 weeks ago. She is just under 15 lbs here. I have been holding out on a new post praying and hoping to get our TA(travel approval) with news of confirmed dates we would be leaving. Unfortunately this has not happened. Our agency had said we may be able to leave 10/30 if we received our TA by 10/17, so we have 1 more day, however I am doubtful it will come. I am hopeful it will come next week and our agency can then ask for our CA(Consulate appt.) Once we have this we can then book our flights. It looks like we will probably leave 11/13. If we leave any later then this we will not be with Katie for her 1st birthday, but we are not even going to think that.

Katie update & some thoughts

We received our update on Katie. I'm not too sure what to think to be honest. They say she is healthy, praise God for that!! However they also said she has never had the tainted formula, which of course would be great, but thats not what her referral papers say. They said she is drinking Nestle formula, which we know is a safe formula. She has no teeth yet and is starting to crawl. In her pictures she is sitting alone, but she does not look very stable, but she is sitting alone:)

This journey has been full of ups and downs. Sometimes we have seen things that don't make sense or are unfair. I have had the privilege to be on my knees for our brothers and sisters in Christ and their children. I have cried many tears for people I don't know, but only through our agency and our special need family list. I've witnessed a miracle through a little girl who was left to die in a dirty hospital half way around the world, and through the power of prayer she has come home, had extensive heart surgery and is doing exceedingly well. I've seen families paperwork for the approval process come quickly, while others wait and cry out to the Lord, why must they wait?

In a short time we will be in China, to bring home our baby that the Lord perfectly chose to be a Walker. We started this journey not sure of what age to ask for. We were feeling too old for a baby, and had questions about preschool age. We struggled alot with this, when one day Jeff said we need to ask 0-5 and leave it to the Lord. However old she is, God has full control. We truly expected to be called from our agency for a 4 year old, partly because our agency told us the wait would probably be shorter as we were open to an older age then most. Then one day we learned of a little girl age 7, only a few months older then Brooke. We reviewed a partial file and prayed and felt this may be our daughter. I was very excited at the thought of virtual twins, and of course in my head I was already making plans! When we received her complete file and had 2 Dr.'s review it we knew without any doubt we could not proceed with her adoption. We had great peace about this. Some months later we found out she is being adopted and am so greatful to hear that wonderful news. The day we received our phone call about our then 7 month old daughter was a day of many emotions. When I first saw her pictures I had many tears of joy flowing down my face. Of which I received many hugs from the kids as we sat around the computer. I was in shock, ok we both were at how young she was. A friend of mine said to me when I told her how old Katie was that God had a sense of humor. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was our child, picked by God as we surrended Him full control. All I could do was look around my house and see how unbabyproof it is. haha We travel next month and its still unbabyproof, but that will change, very soon!! When we found out about the tainted formula, I can't begin to describe how I felt. I was unable to work for 2 days, praying almost without ceasing for our baby to be ok. She appears to be ok, however will have some tests to go through after coming home to check her kidney levels and check for bladder & kidney stones.

For those who haven't personally gone through the adoption process you have no idea what we waiting parents go through. Adoption is an act of faith. When we found out how young our Katie was, one of my first prayers to God was, ok God, I was obediant in giving you full control over the age of her, now please God, let me be with her for her first birthday. God has answered my prayer. We may only be with her for 1 day before her birthday, but we WILL be with her. It has been so much fun baby shopping. Things have changed alot since 7 years ago. Its different when you are babyshower shopping and you're following someones registry, its almost like a mission. But here we are now babyshopping for us. I think I forgot how many things babies need. haha I have been having so much fun doing this.

Well, this post is probably far too long, but thats what happens when I post in the middle of the night:)

LOA!!!!!!

Here she is, our daughter and sister, Katie Marie-SiYin! She is waiting for us in Gaozhou, Guangdong China. We are planning on traveling early November to bring her home.

In this picture she is 7 months old. I have prayed to be with her for her 1st birthday and it looks like that prayer has been answered. We have not received the update from the orphanage, but are hoping to hear in the next few days. They have been very busy making calls from waiting parents since the tainted forumula was made public.

Tainted formula,day 72 waiting for LOA

We found out 2 days ago that 22 baby formulas in China have been tainted with melamine. The melamine can cause kidney stones and kidney failure. According to our referral report one of these confirmed tainted baby formulas is what Katie has been drinking, probably her entire life. Our agency is unable to get any information from the CCAA or the orphanage. Our agencies in China staff has done checks on the AWAA children waiting to come home and the finding was none were affected. What does that mean? I'm really not sure, I guess that means none of them have passed away or have been hospitalized. We are using a wonderful comany called Ladybugs and love to do a check on Katie. There is no guarantee the orphanage will give them information, however they have done it before so we pray they will do it again.

It has been 72 long painful days waiting for our LOA. The last 2 have been the worst. Our agency has no idea when our LOA will come. They expect it anytime, however it could take much longer. This is one of the hardest things we have ever gone through. We are helpless a half a world away from our baby. We KNOW God is with her. Please pray for Katie, and all the children who have been affected.

I hope the next time I post I will have some good news:)

Some things not to say to an adoptive family

I have heard from other adoptive parents the top 10 things not to say to an adoptive family. Over the years I myself have had well meaning people say things to me that they should not, or at least reword their question. Please remember we are very open to answering questions, but there is some information that we will not share. Even though our daughters are young, they are listening to what others say, and more importantly how we respond. So if you are reading this please take this to heart, not just for our family, but all adoptive families:)

1. We have 6 children, not 4 of our own and 2 adopted. God has blessed us with 6 children, period.

2. How much did she cost?

Well "she" didn't cost anything. The agency fees, the state dept. fees, the airfare, hotel, visa,
certification, etc. do add up. If you have specific questions I will be happy to discuss this with
you. I mean think about it, if someone is pregnant and gives birth do people ask the new
parents how much did she/he cost? I've yet to meet anyone who didn't have fees to pay
whether it be the Dr., hospital, lab, etc.

3. She'll be beautiful after her surgeries. Her scar hardly shows.

By making this comment my almost 8 year old may be wondering about herself. Her self
worth. She knows she has a scar. Our girls are beautiful. Please don't put emphasis on their
clefts. Love them, pray for them, hug them, but don't make them feel "different".

4. Why is the wait so long, their are so many children waiting for their forever families?

This is a difficult one. I can only say it is due to the paperwork. The amount of paperwork
involved in adoption huge. When there are so many families in the process and so few staff
to process, it takes longer. I can give an example from our experience in the U. S. when we
were trying to to get our I600A, which is giving us permission to adopt internationally. We
have to have our fingerprints done in Detroit at the immigration office. They send our
fingerprints to the FBI to make sure we have no criminal record. Well it takes only minutes
for these to be cleared, yet it took 4 months for us to receive our paperwork .

Yes, it is sad that it takes so long, you don't have to tell us that, but thats the way it is at this
time.

5. Will they be real sisters?

Yes, in every way that counts.

6. The Chinese don't want the girls, and often I hear awful comments that accompany this.

The truth is the Chinese Gov't allows only 1 child per family. Yes there are exceptions, such
if you have twins, if you pay the additional fee to have another child. The additional fees
are usually equal to 1 year of pay, up front in cash. There are some places in China that
allow 2 children, but this is rare.

China doesn't have social security, there are no retirement plans to enroll in. The Chinese
tradition is that the son will marry and he and is wife will live with his parents and care
for them in their old age. If you have a daughter you have noone to care for you. It is
wrong, but this is what the Chinese Gov't has said.


7. Do you know anything about her real parents?

First let me say, we are her real parents. Her biological parents are who you are referring
to. No we do not. In China there isn't an adoption program for biological parents like here
in the U.S. Most of the children in orphanages in China were abandoned. I cannot imagine the
pain of the family when they must leave their precious child. The children are usually left
in a very public place in the very early morning. This may be a market, hospital, police
station, train station, etc. Usually the family member who takes them will hide and wait
for the child to be found. I can only imagine how heart wrenching this is for them. If
anyone is caught abandoning a child, the punishment is severe. So you see the birth
family shows great love in taking the risk of making sure the child is found.

8. Will you tell her shes adopted?

This one cracks me up. Its pretty obvious isn't it? haha But yes, we have shared from
as long as we can remember her adoption story with her.



Please take these things I've said to heart. I know no one means any harm when they say things. We have all said things and then thought to ourselves, why did I say that. We love all of our children, they are all our own.