You've All Asked, Sooooo.....

So other than, "Do you have your dates yet?", the question we get asked the most... "Will you change his name?"  The answer is yes.  We will change his name.  We have known his name for some time now, but have been keeping it a secret for a while - not sure why.  Maybe it's because things happen to disrupt adoptions all the time.  They just do.  So maybe we were keeping his name to ourselves in an effort to protect ourselves in the end, should the unthinkable happen.  I don't know.  But......

Tomorrow, while we sleep, our paperwork will make one last journey.  The contacts that our agency has on the ground in China will pick up a document called Article 5 from the US Consulate in Guangdong and forward it to the child welfare agency in Beijing.  The Article 5 is the US government's final approval of the adoption - showing that we have jumped through all the hoops, dotted all the i's, crossed all the t's, have all our ducks in a row, and that they are all quacking in unison.  Once the powers that be in Beijing receive our Article 5, they will issue our Travel Approval (TA), which is basically our official invitation to come get our boy!  We are sooo close!  Based on the processing trends of the last couple of weeks, I expect to get our TA early next week, and we hope to travel November 18th.  We were hoping for the 11th, but it's looking like the 18th is more likely.  

All of that to keep you caught up, but also to say that we think it's safe to say this thing IS HAPPENING.  So, without further ado.......

We will name our son Caleb Lewis Nixon.

Caleb, because it is our prayer for him that he will live his life with confidence in God's ability to overcome all obstacles on his behalf.  Also, that he would always have the courage to stand on what God has said regardless of the opposition.

Lewis is Jodie's dad's middle name.  This was chosen to honor God's redemption of Bill, and Jodie's relationship with him, and also looking forward to Caleb's own salvation and redemption.

We are super excited about all that God has planned for us and for Caleb.  This journey has been and continues to be one of faith, humility, and blessing.  We are honored to have been chosen as the family for such a remarkable boy, and we know without a doubt that he was hand picked for us.

So what are we doing while we wait?  (Besides biting fingernails, checking emails 1000 times per day, counting the days, hours, minutes....)

Happy Birthday to Caleb!!!!!

Last weekend our boy celebrated his 3rd birthday, so, of course, we did too!!!

Though we missed a few folks, it was so great to celebrate Caleb's birthday, and his becoming a Nixon, with the rest of our family.  What a blessing it is to have the support that we have.  It has been awesome to have watched the love for a child we haven't met develop in the hearts of everyone we hold dear to our hearts.  We are incredibly grateful.  So, Happy Birthday, Son!  We love you!!!

We did send him a package, but have no confirmation that he has received it yet.  In the package, we sent a Build-A-Bear doggy, a blanket, a Wolfpack hat, some art supplies, and some blocks.  We also sent a photo album with pictures of our family and his new house.

That's all for now.  Please keep praying with us over this journey.  Thank you for all your love and support.  It has meant the world to us.

Settlin in for Our Final Wait

Ha!  Yeah right!  There is nothing settling about this wait!  This is the wait that every adoptive family is waiting for!!!  The final wait - the one that ends with the official invitation from China to come get your child!  We are here!  I have finished all of my homework - nothing left to do but pack!  And while that is the greatest feeling of all, it's also so hard to know that all that stands between us and our son are a few more people shuffling a few papers around from one place to the next, and there is nothing we can do to speed it up.  But, there's plenty to do here, so I will be able to stay focused and busy on this side of the earth while I wait.

On a happy note, we got an update on him today.  Updates mean new pics!  Yay!  He seems so happy and healthy.  It did this momma's heart good to see them.  The updated file also says that he is doing great and it looks like he has grown a bit since December.  And now, we can get this kiddo clothed!!!!

I am overwhelmed with joy, excitement, and wonder!  But I am also finding myself in states of panic and anxiety.  Y'all, this is going to be SOOO HARD!!!  But, like Jodie keeps telling me, it's like a bandaid - it's best to just rip it off and keep moving on.

My words are few today, but only because my thoughts are everywhere!  They float from him, to the girls, to work, to my home, back to the girls, back to him, to that list of things in my head that has to get done, to that shopping list of things we have to purchase for our trip.  It's a lot!

Again, I thank you for your support.  And, again, I beg for your prayers as we prepare to go.  This wait will be the hardest.  This wait carries the most weight of all the waits.  This wait.....  Please continue to join us in prayer over all that is heading our way.

Love you all!


I'll leave you with a new pic of our little nugget:

China said YES!!!!

New News!
So last Wednesday, around 1:45pm I received a phone call letting us know that China had approved our request to adopt our little guy!  What an awesome day that was!!!  After I was done running laps through my church (I was still at work), and once I was able to compose myself, I called Jodie and gave him the news.  From there, I went to the girls' school to celebrate with them.  Sam took one look at me and knew why I was there.  She is such a tender heart.  She ran over to me, wrapped her arms around me and we just stood there, in the middle of her classroom - with children all around us, and cried happy tears together.  I will never forget that moment.  Typing about it brings me to my knees.  So I left there and went to find Georgia.  Her reaction was different, but just as awesome.  She wanted to run laps around the school like her momma!  They are both so very excited about their brother coming home.  We couldn't be more thrilled about how this journey has come together!

What's Next?
I knew when Jodie told me that he would have a meeting in SC last Wednesday that that would be the day we'd get the call, because the driving force of how long the rest of this story takes is totally dependent on how quickly you get the signed approval into the hands of US Immigrations for further approval.  Because he was out of town Wednesday, we couldn't send it off until Thursday, so they should've received it on Friday.  We only lost a day, so no big deal!  So, based on that, the number crunchers on all the China Adoption support pages tell us that our preparations for travel should look something like this:

USCIS (Immigration) dropbox -                                           09/18
approval in 2 weeks -                                                            10/02
GUZ (number assign to his immigration case) in a week -  10/9
National Visa Center Letter cabled to US Embassy             10/13 or 10/14
Article 5 (final approval from US) drop off                         10/15
Article 5 pick up                                                                   10/29
TA (Travel Approval issued by China)                                11/5 - 11/9
Little Man placed in our arms FOREVER                           11/23 or 11/30 depending on TA

We are SOOOOOOO CLOSE!!!!!  Assuming our Forever Family Day is 11/30, we would leave the US on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and would fly home, our son in tow, around December 9th.  So, even if it takes a week or 2 longer than the estimate above, WE WILL BE A PARTY OF 5 BY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!  I AM OVER THE MOON!  BOUNCING AROUND ON CLOUD 9!!

Introducing.......
Since we have received the approval from China to adopt this specific child, we are able to FINALLY share his picture with all of you. So get ready - Little Man OVERLOAD coming your way!

With tears on my keyboard, it is my most wonderful pleasure to introduce to you......

Li Yi Xiong - soon to be     ?            ?      Nixon.  Haha!  That part remains a secret.  LOL.
But here you go.  Feast your eyes on this handsome young man!

Can you stand it?  I sure can't!  Haha!!!!  I CANNOT WAIT to get my arms around him!

How you can pray

There are so many ways you can be praying us through this final leg of our journey.  Our understanding is that Yi Xiong has been with the same foster family since he was a newborn.  He will be 3 on October 24th, so we are getting ready to rock his little world.  My heart breaks for him already, and for the family who has cared for and loved him for the past 3 years. This is going to be so hard for him.  He won't understand that he was never going to be their forever child.  He won't understand that he will be ours.  He won't understand that this is what is best for him in the long run.  We will be robbing him of everything he has ever known.  And he will grieve.  Deeply.  Did I say DEEPLY?  So that right now is our biggest prayer need - that God will be working in his little heart, preparing him for what is ahead, and funneling peace directly from Himself right into Yi Xiong's sweet little self.

Another way to pray is for our final stretch towards our financial need.  Currently we are about $3500 away from our need, so again, we are very close!  Every time I think about how God has provided financially throughout this process, and am amazed all over again, and I have no worries about that final little bit.  We are so thankful to everyone who has come alongside of us supporting us financially.  Your contributions have been truly amazing!

Finally, you can pray over our travel.  Prayers for safety, health and strength while we are gone.  Prayers for mercy and grace as we help Yi Xiong transition to life as a Nixon.  Prayers for my parents and friends has they care for Samantha and Georgia.  Prayers for grace and mercy on behalf of their teachers while we are gone.  Prayers for Samantha and Georgia themselves.  This will be difficult for them, but I am hoping to have enough planned that they stay busy and distracted.

Thank you!

There aren't enough words in the English language to express our thankfulness to everyone who has supported this journey.  Your prayers, gifts, inquiries about where things stand...  They mean the world to us.  To know that we are not alone on this walk is very comforting.  So thank you.

Now, KEEP PRAYING!  He's almost home!!!

"A Dream is Just a Wish Your Heart Makes"

I dreamed about him last night. I dreamed that he was sitting in my lap, and his foster mom was sitting next to me. We were holding hands and praying over our son.  She was a Believer. She could speak English. We exchanged emails and phone numbers. It was beautiful. What I would give to have that dream become our reality! ‪#‎chinabound ‪#‎notsoonenough ‪#‎mysonhas3moms ‪#‎thankfulforthem

Fundraising Galore!

Since my last post, we have been so blessed to have more people come to us, wanting to be part of "Little Man's" homecoming story.  We have received a few more donations, but we have also been approached by friends who want to WORK to help us out.  God's many blessings continue to pile up as we get closer and closer to traveling to China to scoop him up.

Where Things Stand Currently
So right now we are still waiting for our official approval from China's Child Welfare system.  We are on day 33 of that wait.  I have seen them range from 36 days to 57 days in the last couple of weeks.  So in reality, we could get that most wonderful news ANY DAY NOW!!!  Once we have that, we go to work on securing our travel visas, booking our travel, and scheduling all the various appointments we will have while in China.  Thank the Good Lord that our agency will handle most of that for us.  We are still hoping for a late October travel date, but it's looking more likely that it will be November.  And in light of starting this process just 5 1/2 short months ago, we are thrilled with November!

The Financials
Financially speaking, we are now only $6800 away from our need.  This is totally doable, and we are not concerned in the least.  Our God is SO Big, SO Strong, and SO Mighty... you finish it!  :)

Like I said, we have had an outpouring of love and support for our adoption, some in the form of financial gifts.  But we have also had people approaching us about opportunities to WORK for us.  What do I mean?  Well, we currently have 3 fundraising opportunities where a friend has called us and offered to use the gifts and talents with which God has blessed them to help us raise funds for our journey.  Here are the details:

T-Shirts.

Keitha Johnson, of Corday Designs, is a friend from ours church.  She has a small business where she makes crafty things for people - from monogrammed stuff, to crocheted items, to screen printed or vinyl ironed on T-shirts.  She made some shirts for our family to wear to our Fundraiser at Manning's, and we got so many responses to them, that we have decided to offer you guys the chance to purchase one for yourself!  Keitha will be donating the supplies and time to screen print the shirts for us.  Shirts are selling for $10 each, and to order, click here and fill out the form.  We will be taking orders and payments for the shirts through August 31.  At that point I will order the shirts from a wholesaler, get them to Keitha for printing and send them to you!  If you are family, your shirt will be green.  If you are a friend, your shirt will be blue!  Ours are yellow, his is red!  It's going to be great!!!

Family Photo Mini Photo Shoot

This one is exciting too!  My super fabulous friend, Tiffany Palomba, of Bella Vie Photography, has also offered her time and talents to our mission.  Tiffany will be in Clayton on September 26th to host a day of mini photo sessions for all of you local to the Raleigh area - or even those of you not local if you're willing to travel.  She will be donating 50% of all that she brings in that day.  So cool, right?  I know that many of you will want to have family portraits done this fall, so why not check that "To-Do" off your list and be part of this journey all at the same time!  And let me tell you, you will not be disappointed!  Tiffany is extremely talented and does a phenomenal job.  Not only that, but you will be so blessed by her eternal positivity and super fun spirit!  So join us!  To make an appointment, call her at (704) 956-3373 or email her and she will hook you up with a time and let you know where to meet us.  I am so super excited about this day.  I now it's going to be great!!!

Get Fit with Simply Fit Mama

Who isn't looking for a good reason to get healthy and fit this fall?  Well, now is your chance to help yourself meet those fitness goals and help us out at the same time!  Brandy Forward is a great friend of mine.  We have known each other for 9 years or so now, and even though she doesn't love local anymore, she continues to be one of my most cherished friends and prayer partners.  Brandy called me last week and threw this idea out for us to consider.  She is a Coach for Beachbody.com, and she is hosting a September Challenge Group in honor of our journey to China.  The group will officially start 9/1/15 and ends 9/30/15, and all commissions that Brandy earns for the purchases form Beachbody for the Joyful Obedience Challenge Group will be donated to our fund.  That's right  - ALL - 100%!!!  So check that out, accept the challenge, get fit, get healthy, and help us BRING HIM HOME!!!

These are the details of all that we have going on right now.  I will update if more opportunities arise, but until then, keep praying for our little Chinaman, buy a T-shirt if you want to, smile for the camera, and get moving!!!

Love you all!

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!