Picture Perfect

I hope that one day, this precious daughter of mine will know how much we loved her and ached for her when we have never met her. She did have 3 videos of her when she was on Lifeline's page and that was a huge treat to watch. We froze a few frames to at least steal a few still photos of her but its not the clarity and quality of just a snapshot. We haven't had a still photo of her besides her file photo at 13 months of age.  I haven't gotten any new pictures ever during this process.Until last night!

I know I have gushed over my social worker but I want to talk about 2 other amazing ladies. I want to write this down so I never forget these details. Andrea and Amy are 2 precious people in this process. They can be my biggest advocates during this time. They have both adopted and know the crazy feelings that are par for the course. I can ask them anything and they will answer or find the answer.
They have been vital to me. That is not an exaggeration.

Well, last night, I got a text followed by and email from both of them with 3 of the most special pictures. I, finally, got some sort of response from my care package. Praise the Lord! They also said once I was logged in, they will answer my questions. So, we are now praying for a quick next few steps!

I love these pictures. She is working so intently on this links. She can have the most serious face sometimes. That is one thing I loved about her profile picture. I wonder whats she like? Serious, studious and quiet?Hard working yet lively? Is she a problem solver? Soon, my questions will be answered! I have even had a 5 or 6 people tell me that we favor a touch. How good is our God? He knits together perfect fits!
The 1st two pictures is her file picture at 13 months. The last 3 are from last night! My baby girl is growing!

I love her so!

Did you think I forgot??

Holy Moly! Its been 5 months since I last posted. I am so sorry! to my defense, I did sit down one night and wrote post and then it wouldnt post. I then got frustrated and went to bed.
I am sure you are wondering what is going on with us and with our little Anna Corinne!

Since my last post,
We are done with our home study! yehaw! but I will say..I miss our social worker! I loved her so. She just made me happy..and calm...
Clark and I both went to the Immigrations office in Atlanta and had our biometric prints completed.
Our next step is waiting to get Logged In To China.
Please pray with us that this will go quickly! I hear from some stories about it being quick and some taking longer. Well, IT HAS BEEN ALMOST 9 MONTHS SINCE I SAW HER BEAUTIFUL FACE AND I'M OVER IT!! Ok, Maybe not quite that dramatic but it seems like in our journey, everything just takes a little bit longer than others. One thing that does give me peace is that I know God has this timed more perfectly than I could dream of. But in the mean time, this momma is going crazy!

In January, Clark, the kids and I mailed Anna Corinne a care package for Chinese New Year. We had a blast getting it together and had several little gifts from a couple of close friends to include in it! We are so thankful for our supportive friends and family. This child is loved more than she can imagine!
Katie wanted to make her "box" pretty so my sweet thing wrapped it with wrapping paper! We hope AC loved it!
We included a Lovie (panda), candy canes and toddler snacks, 2 outfits and 2 bows,a precious hat and a photo album with our pictures in it, a camera for her nanny (hopefully we will get some pictures!) with 2 memory cards. We hope she recieved it and that she will begin to see our faces and know she is loved!
On this note, we also included 10 questions. We havent gotten responses back:( This has been so hard on me. We know its not a sure thing but most orphanges do respond. We are hoping AC isnt in one that won't respond. We have requested resubmitting of questions. We pray we hear soon! I need to learn more and to see some new pictures!

 

 

Also, way way back in January, we went to a Chinese New Year Celebration with area adoptive familes! It was a blast! It was such a precious time of fellowship. I am thrilled at the idea of Anna Corinne being there with us next year.  A picture of us from the eveing is below:

 

 

Finally, I am updating the prayer list on the upper right. We would certainly appreciate your prayers.

Where we are now..

hello friends!
I just wanted to keep everybody informed of where we are to date. We have had so many sweet friends asking!
We are over half way through with the homestudy! yay! It has really been so much fun and we LOVE our sweet social worker. God really answered our prayers!

I am slowly getting into raising funds for getting our daughter home. I know it seems odd raising money for something like this but it is a really common thing to do! Clark and I have entered into this with much prayer and discussion but not with the funds. This part we are going blindly and praying God will meet our needs in this process.

I've decided to just kindof lay it on the table. I want everyone to know where the money will go. It will cost us $30,000 when its all said and done. This can seem very overwhelming, huh? It sure is to us.
Clark and I will be donating 5% of what we raise to Anna Corinne's orphanage and 5% to starting a fund at our church to help other families with the initial cost with adoption. You can't apply for any grants, etc..until post homestudy but the homestudy is close to $5000. I think this will be such a blessing to other families with these "start up" cost :)
I am going to be using this site to post some of my latest fundraising options. I hope you like some of the items I will be selling! I'm going to also include a link to paypal if you would want to donate. MOST importantly, above fundraising, etc.., we'd love your prayers.  I'm going to have a running prayer list on this blog. Clark and I would greatly appreciate you taking one or two and praying with us! 

Finally....

   So, Today at 8:01 am I received a wonderful phone call from our adoption agency. She said we were officially PA. This stands for pre-approved meaning that China recognizes the fact we desire to adopt this one precious child. What a wonderful feeling to be able to announce this to the world!
   I'm going to use this site to blog this journey for our family. I'm going to use it for raising funds to bring her home. I'm going to use it as we seek out prayer warriors during certain times.
   While this is all very scary to both myself and Clark, I pray that we can embrace this journey as we are answering a call from our Lord.

Chen Fang Hong was born June 16, 2010 in or around Nancheng City. I was drawn to her like a moth to a flame. Although we've already faced a few challenges, I believe with my whole heart that she is meant to belong in our family and I'm craving the day she is ours forever!


Our current step is the Home Study. This will take a few months to complete! We will be sure to blog as often as we can! Hope you enjoy!

I CANNOT wait for more pictures to share!