Growing in my heart

Sunday, December 18, 2011

In hope...

Posted by Erika at 10:06 PM

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1 comment:

Abby said...: LOVE them!! (and i have those exact same stocking holders!!); December 19, 2011 at 9:41 AM

About Me

Erika: I am a lover of Jesus, my husband, my family and my friends. We have just been through some incredible life changes...saying goodbye to our foster daughter, adopting Emma, an international move, an in-country move and finally adopting Elsie. Now we are settling into a new normal with two children living in America. Our recent past has brought some really high highs and some really low lows, but Jesus is my Rock and I'm so thankful His steadfast love never changes.

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To better understand our current story....

See September 2, 2013 if you'd like to read about picking up Elsie
See May 28, 2013 if you'd like to read about picking up Emma
See September 2012 if you'd like to better understand why we couldn't adopt Bella
See May and June 2012 if you'd like to read more about how Bella joined our family
See December 3, 2011 if you're confused about acronyms we're using

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Our Adoption Timeline

December 24, 2010: Sent in our application to our adoption agency
February 2011: Began the task of collecting all necessary documents and filling out loads of information about ourselves and our desires for our family
April 30, 2011: Homestudy completed. We are requesting the adoption of two girls under two years old from China. Both will have some kind of "minor, correctable" medical needs.
June 27, 2011: Sent in our application to the US Citizen and Immigration Services.
September 10, 2011: Got our USCIS approval! Now all the documents get collected by our agency, authenticated and then sent to China.
May 3, 2012: Our dossier is sent to China!
May 31, 2012: LID...Our dossier is logged in to the Chinese system.
June 7, 2012: Baby girl #1 (Bella) enters our home and we become the first foreign foster parents in our city.
September 24, 2012: We receive the devastating news that we will not be the forever family for our dear foster daughter.
February 26, 2013: receive Emma's referral...pictures and information and begin to try to decide if we want to adopt her
February 27, 2013: receive the news that Bella is matched with her forever family
February 28, 2013: Decide we do want to adopt Emma and sent in our LOI
March 15, 2013: Received LOA for Emma
March 30, 2013: receive Elsie's referral
March 31, 2013: Decide we do want to adopt Elsie and sent in our LOI
April 30, 2013: Received LOA for Elsie
May 9, 2013: Received TA for Emma
May 28, 2013: Emma's Gotcha Day
May 29, 2013: Emma's official Adoption Day
June 8, 2013: Emma becomes an American citizen
July 10, 2013: Elsie's TA
September 2, 2013: Elsie's Gotcha Day
September 3, 2013: Elsie's Adoption Day
September 12, 2013: Elsie becomes an American citizen

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My Blog List

Fireworks and Fireflies
Casting A Stone
Smudged
this my song through endless ages Jesus led me all the way
But a Breath
4tunate
Bockman Happenings
Pray for Levi
Everything Beautiful
the clints
Henry Haack

Plan

1. a scheme or method of acting, doing, proceeding, making, etc., developed in advance

2. a design or scheme of arrangement

3. a specific project or definite purpose

We have dreamed and planned and hoped and waited for children to enter our family for a long time. Even before we were married nine years ago, adoption was a part of our future plans. As we mapped out what we thought was the best plan for our family, it included spending two years working on a college campus in Ohio, getting used to married life; then moving to East Asia; investing a few years getting used to life and the language there, and then start having kids; after having biological children, start moving toward adopting from China. That was the plan. However sometimes, God’s plans for our families don’t always coincide with ours. He writes our stories in His way, in His time. We moved to the other side of the world, but God didn't expand our family as we had hoped. So this past fall after five years of trying to get pregnant, including many heartbreaking infertility and medical treatments, we were still childless and we had a decision to make—pursue more medical treatments or pursue adoption. Financially and emotionally, we knew we could not do both at one time. After seeking the Lord and godly friends, we found ourselves getting more and more excited about adoption. Adoption is such a wonderful way to know more of God’s heart as He’s adopted us into His family, and such a wonderful way to display His heart to all those who know us and hear of our story. So, here we are, submitting our plans to God’s glorious and perfect plan as it unfolds in our lives and our family.

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