Making Room for Little Man

Since the girls went back to school last week, I head back this week, I have been spending these last few days getting ready for our son.  He now has a room!!  Yay!  Take a look:

The girls have moved across the hall.  My uncle made AWESOME beds for them with drawers underneath.  Each bed has 12 drawers - 6 on the outside, and then 6 more behind them.  Without these beds, making this house work would be much harder!  Another example of how God has moved the the hearts of so many, prompting them to use their gifts and talents to help bring our son home.  Check them out:

Just a Little Update

So I know, it's been a while.  That's what happens in adoption I guess - hurry up, then wait for what seems like FOREVER!  So in my last post, I told you that we were DTC - Dossier To China.  The next bit of info we were waiting for was our LID - Log In Date.  We received that on 7/23!  Yay!  So now, we are in the biggest "Wait" season of our lives it seems.  We are waiting for China's child welfare system to give us the official approval to bring our little man home.  Before they can do that, they have to translate our Dossier Documents into Mandarin and then they can review/approve all the information.  That has been taking around 45 days, though I saw a couple last week that were more like 35!  We are currently on day 19 of that wait, so we are getting there.  Once we have that approval, our agency goes to work on setting up all the appointments we will need to attend while in China, and we go to work on more paperwork to process our traveling visas and Little Man's IMMIGRANT visa!  So that's a question I've had a lot - when does he become a US Citizen?  As soon as his sweet self enters into the US, he is an American Citizen.  So cool, right?!?!?  The trend is that once you get China's approval (RA) you travel 8-12 weeks later.  So, that timeline is looking like early November, but late October is still not out of the realm of possibilities.  We are stilling hoping to celebrate his 3rd birthday on 10/24 with him.  Keep praying that with us!  What a great day that would be!!!

I wanted to take a moment also and publicly thank Jennifer and Howard Manning of Manning's Restaurant.

They were so  good to us Sunday.  For those of you who don't know, Jennifer came to me a few months back asking if she and Howard could host a fundraiser for us at their restaurant.  It blew me away that they were offering such a service!  So we started planning the event, picked a day, and then she told me that 25% of all sales that entire day would come to us to help bring our guy home.  Again, blown away!  Usually these spirit night type events get you around 10% at the most, so WOW!  So, this past Sunday, August 9th, they hosted a fundraising event for us, where we were given $1140 to go towards our expenses.  Incredible!!!  We are so very thankful for their support and friendship.  Check out their website/menu here and go visit them!  Tell them that The Nixons sent you!

More fundraising opportunities have come our way.  Tiffany Palomba of Bella Vie Photography is a very special friend of ours.  She, too, came to me wanting to use her gift to help us out.  So, on September 26th, she will come to Clayton and do a day of mini sessions for us!  Who doesn't want fall pictures????  You can book one session for just your family, or schedule the whole clan and book as many blocks as you need! So stay tuned for more information on that, spread the word, and join us!  Tiffany is donating a percentage of all that she brings in that day to our adoption fund.  She does incredible work - you will not be disappointed!!!

Also....  Jodie and I had T-shirts made for our family.  They turned out so good!  Our friend, Keitha, from church did the printing on them and we were thrilled!  Here is a picture of the design:

Of course we had to make one for Little Man too, so here is his:

We wore our shirts to the fundraising event at Manning's on Sunday, and got lots of "I'd buy one if you'd sell them!"  So, what wasn't intended to be a fundraiser may turn into one!  This is what yours will look like, though the writing may be white.  Friends will have blue, family will have green.

I will put together an official ordering system once I figure out the best way to do it.  The shirts will be $10 each, no matter the size.  Because I don't have extra money sitting around, we will take orders and payment before actually purchasing the shirts and materials.  If you want to pay by credit card, we will use our Go Fund me account for that.  I hope that's ok.  ;)

We are getting down to the wire and are so excited!  As of yesterday, we are about $8,300 away from our need.  Most of our funds will be payable throughout September and early October.  As I was tracking our expenses over the weekend, we were able to see that our adoption expenses are coming in at the higher end of our agency's estimation range, depending on the cost of our flights and travel.  Some people would not want to share these numbers, but I have to!  I have no idea how this has all come together except that God has provided.  So I have to share these numbers.  I have to give Glory to Him!  Again, depending on the cost of our flights, our entire start to finish adoption journey expenses will come in just under $40,000.  Remember, we started this journey in March.  Remember that most families have around 18 months to work out financing their adoption story.  If we travel in November, our story will have only lasted 8 months!  And believe me!  We didn't just have this kind of money sitting around!  In fact, on top of the adoption, we have had a few unexpected "Just Life" expenses to pay this year too!  To date, we have received about $11,200 of tangible financial gifts from friends and family.  Currently, we have paid or have saved and are ready to pay a total of $31,700.  That means that $20,500 has just fallen from the sky - down from THE FATHER OF LIGHTS!  To GOD be all the glory in this story!  I am so excited to share these numbers with you, as one of the biggest deterrents in adoption is the expense of it all.  But our story is living proof that God will provide, God will equip, and God will be faithful!  He is good - ALL the time!  So please, of you are feeling that tug in your heart to be a Forever Family to a little one somewhere in the world, take that leap!

Thank you all for all of your prayers and support!  We have truly felt them, and are very appreciative.  We are in the short rows now, but keep lifting us, and especially him, up in prayer!

Love you all!

We Are DTC !!!!!

I hijacked this pic off the AWAA - China FB page.  Thanks Shannon!  ;)

DTC!      DTC!!     DTC!!!!!

Can you feel my excitement?  Can you see me dancing through the house?  I wish everyone of you reading this were here to celebrate this day with us!!!  This is a HUGE step in our process!!!

It's so hard to think that just 4 short months ago, almost to the day, we started this process.  The Dossier phase is supposed to take 4 - 6 months to complete.  It took us just over 3 months to get it all together!

Our Completed Dossier - 14 Documents - certified by NC and USA and authenticated by Chinese Embassy, 3 Pages of Family Photos, Copies our Passports, and Passport photos

This could not have been possible without the help of our MOST FABULOUS Home Study Coordinator, Rebecca.  We love her dearly and will always cherish the friendship and bond that we have developed.  I am so grateful to have been blessed with the chance to walk through this journey with such a wonderful friend!

So what does this mean?  

According to our Family Coordinator at AWAA, China is issuing Referral Acceptance Letters to families already matched with children at DTC in about 1.5 - 2 months.  So hopefully, we will have our RA around the end of August!  Once we have our RA, there will be several forms - official US Immigration approval for this specific child, our travel visas, etc - that we will have to  get together.  They will schedule our appointments with the US Consultant in China, along with a few other appointments, and then our Travel Acceptance will be issued.  Then off we will fly!!!!!  Right now, parents are traveling around 8-12 weeks after RA.  That gives us a travel window of anytime between October and December!!!!!  So, baring any unforeseen obstacles, our son should be HOME FOR CHRISTMAS!!!  Again, I am blown away!!!  Christmas has been our goal since we started, but honestly I didn't think it was possible.  But look at God!  HA!  So, being the planner that I am, I have revised my goal.  Ready for this?  Our son turns 3 on October 24th.  My new goal is to at least be with him on that date, if not be home with our girls to celebrate!!!  So pray with me on that, okay?

Other updates....

We have decided not to take the girls on this trip.  There's just too much unknown for us to be comfortable with it.  Plus, the added expense, and the need for someone to go with us....  We just didn't ever get a peace about them going.  So, the plan is for my parents to take care of them during the weeks while we are gone so that they can be in their own home for school nights, and then take a break for the weekends while the girls go to friends' houses.  So start praying for them now!  My parents - pray for my parents!!!  HAHAHA!  Pray for the girls too, though they weren't super upset about the decision.  I was thankful for that.

We have our first fundraiser on the calendar!  If you are in the Raleigh area (or if you love us so much you want to take a day trip to Clayton) join us for a meal at Manning's Restaurant in Clayton.  The Mannings go to our church and came to me about wanting to host an event for us.  Isn't that incredible?  They are such a sweet family, and Howard is one heck of a chef!  So join us on Sunday, August 9, from 12pm - 9pm.  The Mannings will give 25% of sales that day to our adoption fund!  How awesome is that?!?!?!?!

We have another fundraiser in the works for Zaxby's.  I'm not sure if it will be a "Spirit Night" or a carwash or both.  I will let you know!

People have asked about our money situation.  And again, God has blown our minds!  We will have quite the outflow of funds over the next 3 months.  We have some of it saved and ready, but certainly not all of it.  Most people have 18 months to save and fundraise, so we were never concerned about it.  Our journey is looking like it will take 7 - 9 months, cutting our saving and fundraising time in half!  But we still aren't concerned.  God will provide.  If you want to be part of the story, contact me.  I will let you know how you can help!

Keep praying guys!  Our day is coming!!!

Oh! And once we have our RA - I can post a picture of our sweet guy!  I can't wait for you all to see his sweet face!!!!!

We are Immigration APPROVED!!!!!!

Guys, I am blown AWAY!!!  God is so good!  What was supposed to take between 60 and 90 days, only took 30!  We have official permission from US Immigration to bring a child home from China!  This is HUGE!!!!!!!

The next steps:

• I dropped our home study and the I-800A approval off at the NC Secretary of State's office today.  They will certify the Notary Publics' signatures on the documents and I will pick them back up tomorrow.
• Once I review everything one last time, dot the I's and cross the T's, and make our copies, our entire packet will be sent to our Family Coordinator at AWAA.
• They will handle getting the home study and the I-800A approval U.S. and Embassy authenticated for us, and send us our copies.
• Then we are DTC - DOSSIER TO CHINA!!!!!!!!!

Y'all, I am dancing right now!  This is happening!  We are so close!  What started a little over a year ago, as God was working on my heart, is so close to coming to fruition!  We are so close to meeting our son!!!!!  

Once in China, our dossier will be translated and logged into their system.  The official approval to adopt our little guy (Referral Acceptance or RA) can take anywhere between 2 and 4 months (currently running around 2.5 to 3 months), and we will travel 8 - 12 weeks after that!  So, we are looking at traveling as early as Mid November or as late as some time in February.  This is all according to the ranges I have been given.  But God!  He has blown us away at every stage in this journey.  Who am I to put Him in a box?

We have a rocking prayer warrior at our church who, since I told her about our journey in April, has been praying that we would get to him before his 3rd birthday, which is October 24.  When she told me that, I told her that it would be awesome, but that it was was pretty unrealistic.  But for the first time, as I look at all that God has already done in all of this, it seems possible!  Of course it is!  Still unlikely, and I'm not getting my hopes up, but how cool would it be if our Gotcha Day was his birthday?!?!?!?  So please continue to pray for our journey. Please continue to pray for our son.

I have had a few people ask about how the finances are working out.  And again, we are absolutely blown away by how God has provided at every stage.  We have some friends who have paid for 2 adoptions - he's a pastor, she's a homeschooling stay-at-home mom.  When our journey began, I was sharing with her about how the significant financial requirement was pretty overwhelming.  She encouraged us, and shared that for them, every time they needed money, it was there - maybe even just the day before the check had to be written.  Such has been the case for us.  Every time - no matter the dollar amount - He has provided.   As it stands, we will make a fairly substantial payment tomorrow, then another fairly substantial one at our official Referral Acceptance (in 2-4 months).  The money needed for those 2 payments is available.  Prior to travel, we will have to send in our biggest payment yet, which will pay for the visas, flights, in-country activities/food/hotels/guides/etc., and the rather hefty China program fee.  We are excited to see how God will provide for that stage.  It can be overwhelming to think about, but this has been God's story for our family from the very beginning.  We have complete faith in Him to see us through to the end of this part of the journey.

Having said that, stay tuned for information on fundraisers.  We hope to host a few "spirit nights" at local restaurants.  Everyone has to eat, right????  I'll keep you posted as those dates are secured.

Again, thank you so much for praying with us through this journey.  It has, been and I am sure will continue to be, a faith building time in our lives.  We are thrilled that God chose us for this little boy, and we can't wait to have him in our arms.

Moving In The Right Direction

So, after an emotional day the last time I posted, things have been looking up.

We got our packet back from the Embassy on Monday, and it was all done, complete, and ready to submit.  Yay!!!

Our fingerprints were Friday, and that was seamless.  That place and their systems were a bit unreal.  We got there about 20 minutes early, and the room was PACKED full of people waiting for fingerprinting.  We just knew that we'd be there all morning.  But that was so not the case.  They had their processes so streamlined!  It was very impressive!  We were walking out of there at 20 after 9.  It was great!  As we were walking out, people were beginning to gather in the ceremony room for a Naturalization Ceremony.  That was really neat, because we were able to talk to the girls about what was happening and why.  Our AWAA Family Coordinator estimates that we should receive our Immigration approval (I-800A) in about 2 weeks!  Again, way sooner than the 90 window they try to adhere to!!!  Great news!

Today, we received 8 new pictures of our little guy.  Yay!!!  It's so good to see his sweet face!  He looks like he's doing really great!  There were a few pics of him playing in the sand on what looks to be a beach area.  That's awesome!  He should LOVE Topsail!

I am so thankful for each of you!  Your prayers and support through our journey mean so much to us! Keep them coming!!!!

Today There are Tears

Here it is - a beautiful Saturday afternoon in NC, and I am here, sitting in my kitchen, typing through tears.  Things are moving right along with the Department of Immigration.  They've had our application for 2 weeks now and we just received our fingerprint appointments in the mail yesterday.  Fortunately, we were assigned to their Durham office - the other NC option being Charlotte.  So next Friday, we will go get those done and shortly there after we should receive our approval to bring a child home from China.  This is great, because it doesn't look like it will take the full 90 days at this point.  Keep praying!!!

So why are there tears?  Because I'm a girl.  Because I'm a mom.  Because my Type-A personality hates waiting for other people to do their jobs, even if they're doing it well.  I want my son, what can I say?  The US Department of State handled our issue with the unknown signatures and forwarded our packet on to the Embassy.  More good news.  The bad part - that was 2 weeks ago, and we haven't gotten anything back from them.  The Embassy has had our packet for 2 weeks, their process runs about 7 business days, and our return FedEx isn't in the system yet.  Granted, they received it on a Friday, and one of those days was a US holiday (Think the Chinese Embassy closed for Memorial Day??), but, I can't help but be terrified that something is wrong or that something has gotten lost in the shuffle of it all. I'm sure it's all okay, but I just want my son!

We have some friends who travelled to China to pick up their son back in February.  They keep a blog going as well, and it's been so fun to look at pictures of their family coming together with their sweet boy.  But, man!  It also makes the fact that I am here and my son is still there an even bigger reality.  So, today there are tears.  Today, the emotions are flying high.  Today, I am mourning the time I am missing with my boy.  Today, my arms ache a little more than they did yesterday.  Today, there are tears.

Thank you again for all of your prayers.  Please keep them coming.  Love you all!

Somewhere, Out There

So it's been a while since our last update.  We have officially entered into the dreaded "Waiting" phase of our journey.  As of May 4th, we are Home Study Approved!  Yay!  That's a good thing!  Last week I was able to send off the application requesting permission from the US Department of Immigration to bring a child home from China.  That process can take up to 90 days, but according to our Family Coordinator at AWAA, they are turning them around in closer to 60 days right now.  Yay! That's a good thing too!  Once we get our approval from Immigration, we will get our last 2 documents certified and authenticated and then our packet will go to China, referred to as DTC - Dossier To China.  That's a big deal, and I am so excited for that day to come!  Please pray with us that Immigration processes our application as quickly as possible and that we will be DTC very soon.

We had some issues with some of our other paperwork last week as well.  The Chinese Embassy wasn't happy with the signature on some of the US Department of State Certification pages and rejected our packet.  Boo!  The good thing is that it isn't slowing us down at all since we are in waiting for our Immigration Application to process.  I was able to talk with a DOS employee and we think we have it figured out, so I resent the packet to her, she will attach signature cards to the documents in question and send them back to the Embassy to process.  What was crazy about it was that out of 14 documents, the Embassy only marked 3 as being unclear, but they all had the same signature on them!  Who knows.  Anyway, pray with us that this get cleared up, that nothing gets lost in all this shuffling of documents and that the Embassy is able to do what needs to be done and gets our packet back to us before the Immigration Application is complete.

On another note, check out this picture:

My friend, Tiffany, and I took this picture of the moon over the Easter Weekend this year.  We were down at Topsail Beach, and noticed how big and beautiful the moon was that night. She's an awesome photographer, so she was able to capture this great picture way better than the piddly camera on my iPhone.  We had been talking about our adoption all evening, so when I saw this big moon, I couldn't help but burst into, "Somewhere out there....."  Fast forward a month, and here Jodie and I are, in a state of idle waiting.  There is nothing else we can do to speed this process up.  That's a hard place to be!  We have been so hands on and so on top of everything up to this point, but now all we can do is wait.  We wait, knowing that our son is on the other side of the world.  We wait, wondering if and praying that he is being well cared for.  We wait, falling deeper in love with his sweet face as we look at his pictures and pray over him.  We wait, knowing that we have already missed 3 years of his sweet life, not wanting to miss anymore.  We wait.  Last night my Facebook App dinged at me and notified me that Tiffany had tagged me in a picture.  How timely!  Don't you just love God?!?!?!?  While I so want to babysit the Departments of State and Immigration and the Chinese Embassy, pushing them along, getting it all done quickly and correctly and such, there is comfort in knowing that my hands are tied.  I have done all that I can do.  There is comfort in knowing that God has brought us this far, and He will hold our hands all the way to the very end.  There is comfort in knowing that His ways, His timing, His plan are so much more perfect than ours could ever be and that He is able to do IMMEASURABLY more than ALL we could ask or even imagine.  And at the end of this journey, He will get all the Glory!

Sweet boy, I will go about my day today, working and playing, while you are on the other side of the world sleeping under the same moon I will sleep under tonight.  There is comfort in that too.  You are so many miles from my aching arms, yet it is a small world, and I am coming for you!  We will be together somewhere out there - out where dreams come true.  We love you!