Updates-We Should Be Traveling Soon!

So, a lot has happened since my last entry. Unfortunately between what feels like a million IEP meetings, lesson plans and life in general, there has not been enough time in the day to write. All excuses aside though, here's where we are: After the UPS man delivered our rejected papers, Brian's sergeant graciously allowed him the day off and we got in the car and took a road trip to Raleigh to get the papers corrected. We were in and out of the office in about an hour and on our way to FedEx to send our dossier off. We did mail a few papers for another family, but altogether it weighed almost 2 pounds! Anybody want to know how much it costs to priority mail some papers across the world? $167! So, we mailed our papers and they arrived safely 5 days later (thanks to a lovely 2 day delay for a holiday). We were submitted on May 12th and are now waiting on an appointment with the SDA in Quinton's country. Just yesterday, 2 families who submitted the same day as us received their appointment date, so we should not be far behind. Their appointments are on June 9th. Even if we do not receive a date until next week, we should be there by mid-June. I sat and watched another family's homecoming video today and just balled. I am still in awe that God has called us across the world to rescue one of His orphans. I feel so incredibly honored to be able to be His hands and feet. I cannot thank everyone enough for all of the love and support from our church, friends, and family. We have been incredibly blessed. There is an amazing story about how we came about adopting Quinton. It is too long for today, but I hope to share it soon. All I can say is that God had His hand in it all. We are lacking somewhere around $6500 give or take a bit, but we will get there. God has provided every bit we have needed thus far and He will see us through. Thanks again (and a huge shout out to Leah Hardwick, Hope Church of Charlotte, our family, and the Jarvis'-we love you guys!). Hopefully next time I blog, it will be to share our travel date :)

Great News!

I was so excited yesterday when the UPS truck pulled up. I ran outside and all but tackled the poor delivery man. I told him thank you like 1,000 times and told him that he had made my day. Then I walked inside and opened the packet. There it was, sitting on top of all of our documents- a rejection letter. They had rejected 3 of our documents :( The easiest way to explain it is that they just needed some more documentation. I was off for spring break and Brian had a wonderfully supportive sergeant on duty who told him to take the day off and drive up to Raleigh. So, that is what we did today. We drove up to Raliegh (left the house at 5:30 am) and had them redo our 3 rejected papers. Then we went straight to the Fedex store and sent them on their way. They were picked up today and should arrive at the unmentionable country next Thursday. Our stateside helper, Brigitte, who has been amazing told me that we should be fine with getting in before the SDA dismantles as long as we are submitted before the June 12th date. So now we wait. There is nothing left to do. It is out of our hands. I can still, however obsessively track my papers every half hour from now until Thursday though ;) Most likely, we are looking at about 6 weeks before we travel! That is not long at all and it could be even earlier. We will just have to see. Thanks for all of your donations and prayers!

Time Crunch-Please Pray!

Well, the president of Quinton's country signed a decree to dismantle the SDA (the ministry that processes adoptions). They will continue to hear cases until at least June 12th. We were hoping to have our dossier (mound of official paperwork) sent to his country this week, but we had several hold-ups. We faxed our papers to our parent liaison, fully anticipating for her to say that they were all approved and we could send them as soon as they came back from Raleigh. Let's just say it was not that simple. Her response lead to me nearly having an emotional meltdown in the middle of the grocery store. An email popped up on my phone and stupidly, in the middle of the grocery store, I read it. It was our liaison and she wanted our homestudy changed! This would take time and money to update our homestudy. I was devastated because it was vital that we get our papers shipped right away. There is about a 6 week timeline from the time we send our dossier to the time we get and SDA appointment. As of today that puts us at June 3rd! Waaaayyy to close for comfort :( Brian took the day off work and had some of our documents redone instead of having our homestudy updated and we overnighted them to Raleigh. The changes were so stupid! We had to have our home ownership papers changed from saying "2 story home" to 1 and a half story home" and we had to have a medical document changed from "atopic dermatitis to eczema-they are the same condition! Ugh) Unfortunately we won't get them back until next week, and that will put us right up to that June deadline. This is where you all come in. Please, please, please pray that our documents will be accepted and that they will arrive in time for us to get a court date with the SDA. We want our baby home! If we don't get in with the SDA it could significantly delay our process. We are talking about redoing paperwork that will likely expire as they rebuild a new adoption ministry from the ground up, more money to have the papers re-apostilled, and worst of all, more time Quinton has to be without a mommy and daddy :( We love him so much and my heart absolutely aches to get him here. God has provided for us every step of the way and we know He is with us now. He can make this happen. Thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated.

Fundraising Success :)

Ok, so I have not blogged in a really long time. Life has been crazy, but we have been making slow and steady progress with the adoption. We have completed all of our paperwork with the exception of one doctor's form that has to be redone and our taxes, which we are waiting to get back. We have USCIS approval and should be traveling within the next 2 months.

Now, on to the fundraiser-Our church hosted a BBQ/bake sale/yard sale today. We sold tons of stuff including 100 pounds of BBQ. The total is somewhere in the ballpark of $2300, as more continues to slowly trickle in.

We have had several very generous donations including several $50 gift certificates and some really nice gift baskets. I will be putting them up on facebook and my blog soon to try and raise a little more money. Gift cards include Target, Lowes, The Little Gym (Huntersville), and Best Buy, oh and we have 3 certificates for 15 minute chair massages and 6 coupons for free personal pan pizzas from Pizza Hut. I am hoping to get this up and running in the next day or 2. Take a look at the fundraising thermometer. We passed the half way mark today! While this is awesome news, we only have 2 months or less to raise the remaining funds. Remember, all donations made through our Reece's Rainbow account are tax deductible. If you know anyone who is interested in contributing to a good cause (and a tax write off :) please let me know.

Thank you all so much for helping us get this far. We couldn't do it without you!

Valentine Fundraiser for Quinton!

Thank you everyone who purchased one of our Valentine cookie bouquets! By the time we collect all of our money, we will have raised $851! With each fundraiser, we get a little bit closer to bringing our baby boy home. I have had several people ask us/suggest doing Easter bouquets. Well, as successful as this fundraiser was, I don't think my mom or I will be ready to see anymore cookie bouquets for quite some time. We have something a little different in mind for Easter :) We must have baked, iced, and decorated over 250 sugar cookies (and you can only bake them 6 at a time), but it was well worth the time and effort. Thanks to my mom for spending an entire week baking, and to my dad for painting 38 pots. The support we have received from friends and family has been amazing.

Just a quick update: Our i-600a (application to United States Immigrations and Customs) is ready to go in the mail on Monday. After it is received, they will send us a date to go get federal fingerprints. Once we are approved, we can send our dossier to Quinton's country to be translated and upon approval, we will receive a travel date to go see him for the first time. I get teary eyed just thinking about it! This would put us there in roughly late May or June. We are planning on sending a letter with our i-600a explaining the urgency of getting Quinton home as fast as possible due to his heart condition. Just last week another orphan with a heart defect went to be with Jesus. He was not adopted in time to get to the United States for treatment. Please pray for God to sustain Quinton's heart long enough for us to get him home. We greatly appreciate it.

Here are some pictures from our recent cookie endeavors:

Quinton's Surprise Party!

So, Friday started out as a really tough day for me. I was pretty bummed about missing Quinton's first birthday, but it got so much better. My coworkers worked really hard to plan a surprise party for him. I can't believe my students didn't let the secret slip. It was so sweet. They bought him gifts and a beautiful cake that we enjoyed in his honor. It really touched my heart. Now we just need to get him home so he can enjoy all of his new things. Here are some pictures from the festivities:

 Surprise! When I walked in, the kids started singing happy birthday. They didn't get that it was Quinton's birthday, though. They all sang happy birthday Ms. Miller :)

 This is me "holding Quinton" for the first time LOL

All Quinton's goodies-He is one lucky little boy to have so many people love him already.

Thank you to all of you who donated or prayed for Quinton in honor of his first birthday and thank you to my spectacular friends who threw him this party. I love you guys!

To My Son-On Your First Birthday

My sweet baby boy,

Oh, how I wish I could be with you today to tell you Happy Birthday-to hug you and kiss you and tell you “I love you”. I want so badly to be the first face you see when you wake up every morning the last face you see when you fall asleep at night. I want to wrap my arms around you and hold you tight. I long for you to be here with us, at home where you belong. As I sit here, I am crying tears of pain because today is your first birthday and I cannot be there with you. A mommy should never have to miss her baby’s first birthday. She should be there to buy presents and balloons and to make a cake that you can dig your hands and face into. No worries though little guy. When you come home, we will celebrate. We will celebrate and it will be a celebration like no other, because you will be home forever. You will be ours and we will be yours. I will love you like crazy. I will hug you everyday and tell you how much I love you. I will kiss your boo-boos and make them all better. Your daddy will give you piggyback rides and take you fishing and do all of those things that daddy’s do. From the day you get home my son, you will know that we are a family and you will know how much we love you and you will know that we are truly A Match Made In Heaven.

Loving you from across the world,

Your Mommy