Waiting - Waiting - Waiting

We went to a Michael Card concert at our church just before Christmas.  As he introduced this song, Mr. Card shared that Simeon was displaying his faith through "WAITING".  Boy did that hit a spot in my heart!  Don't you feel like you spend a lot of time "waiting" for something?  For me it is obviously waiting for our adoption of Jacob.  Waiting on the Lord and trusting his timing is hard at times.  I am encouraged by Simeon and realize that I too can display my faith in My Father by patiently waiting!  I trust that he always has His Glory in mind, and isn't that what we were created for?

Christmas Eve Surprise

The mailman knocked on the door and had in hand our "Express Mail" return envelope from the Chinese Consulate in Houston!  Merry Christmas to us!!  This last document completes our dossier.  We sent if off to Colorado where it will be translated and sent to China.  Then we wait for what is called a "Log in Date".  

Busy Day and Another Present!

I spent the day running around town "Certifying" our paper at the county and state level and then mailing it to the Chinese Consulate in Houston.  It should be there by 12PM tomorrow!  God provided my Mom and Dad to look after the kids, Rachel to be my "Partner" for the day, traveling mercies, and quick workers.  I took a peek at the email and found a surprise from our agency of an "Update" for Jacob! It included an updated immunization chart, body measurements and some other tidbits:  His current health is good, He can feed himself, go up and down stairs, put on shoes and socks, He can say simple sentences, but is not talkative, He is being potty trained, but still needs a diaper, He eats cake, biscuits, fruits, dumpling, fish, meat, and vegetables, drinks juice, milk and formula, and he like to eat banana and sausage.  They even sent a schedule of his day.  He gets up at 6 am.  Oh no, I have so enjoyed my 7AM wake up time that I have enjoyed the last year or so!  What a treasure to know all these little details!  

Christmas Miracle

What a Christmas present we received in the mail today!  Our I-797 was there in a big envelope looking all official.  At last ------ something for us to do!  Notarize, Certify, Authenticate  - Can it be done by Christmas?  I'll let you know.

Jacob Last Christmas

Thinking of China

We went to the High Museum of Art over the holiday weekend and saw the terracotta warriors from China.  It was really neat to be inches away from a 2,000 year old piece of art.  We were amazed at the collection and throughly recommend taking the time to go and see them.  You won't be disappointed.

Merry Christmas Jacob!

Last week we sent off our Christmas package to Jacob.  The kids and I wrapped all the stuff and even made up a Christmas stocking.  We found out that he has three nannies that care for him in shifts.  We sent them a small stocking too.  Hopefully it will get there before Christmas.  Our friends the Bradfield family just received their Travel Approval and will be leaving soon to pick up their son Jack.  It will be so cool for them to be home with him by Christmas.  Take a peek at a photo I have of Jacob from last Christmas.  Too Cute!

Bump in the Road

On Saturday I received a letter from immigration.  You can imagine my excitement thinking that it was the anticipated document we had been waiting for.  Unfortunately, it was a letter stating that their is a minor adjustment needed in our home study.  Our agency has relayed that it is a quick fix and it will also give us an opportunity to give them the information that we have accepeted the referral of Fu Jiang Ling.  Blessing in disguise?  Maybe this will speed things along? We trust in God's timing and that His plans are the best - even delays!  Praise Him!!!!

Blessings!

God continues to shower us with "photo blessings" of Jacob! If you know me, you know that I am a photo hound and could spend my day looking at photos. Well, the Lord has given our family soooooo many photos of Jacob that I am just beside myself. How blessed we are to see his many expressions and get a little peek into his world. Enjoy our newest addtions!

Care Package Received!

Here is photo of Jacob with the "Care Package" we sent! It is nice to see the toys in his hand! Oh, how we would love to scoop him up this instant! We think and pray for him everyday and our hearts are growing in our love for him. We hope our immigration paper comes this month or December.

News!

The therapy director at Philip Hayden sent me some information about Jacob today!  She directed me to their therapy blog www.phftherapy.blogspot.com and included an "update therapy progress report".  He started as a boy whose fine and gross motor skills were significantly delayed, and language skills that were also delayed.  He would not use his right in play and was preferred to be by himself.  After 6 months of therapy, he was walking, using his right hand, and using words to express himself!  He also now initiates interaction with others.  His is featured on their blog (in an older post - so you will have to look for it) and the therapy director states that " Cole has flourished. He has learned to walk, use his right arm, and talk in short sentences. Now, we know him as the strong and outgoing child he is! He has taught us the beauty and determination of life. "  What a blessing!  

Jacob waits

Fingerprints Done!

We spent the last week up in Maryland attending a family wedding.  Our trip home consisted of a 4am wake up with a 6am flight back to GA.  The kids did great and Delta did had us home when expected.  We were on the road to Ric's fingerprint appointment by 8:12.  The HOV lane was a saving grace when we hit some traffic and we arrrived by 8:45.  Ric was out our there by 9:10.  Praise God!!!  It feels great to have one more thing out of the way and closer to Jacob.  Now we WAIT..................

Another Fingerprint Appointment!

The USCIS has now sent Ric his third fingerprint appointment.  The first we could not make because it was in the midst of our vacation.  The second one we received, he was out of town.  I took the opportunity to go ahead and get mine out of the way.  We now have an October 7, 9AM appointment.  We will be heading home from Maryland that morning on a 6AM flight.  We are praying for good timing (no delays of the flight, no heavy traffic) and understanding immigration workers (if he is late).  This will one of the last hurdles in getting our dossier complete.  After this we wait for immigration to send us a piece of paper that we have notarized, certified, and authenticated.  That will complete our dossier!  We then send that to our agency and they go through a process of checking and rechecking to make sure everything is perfect and sending it to China.  Then we wait for something called a Log in Date (LID).  This will signify that China has logged your dossier into their system.  We are thinking at t his point that we may travel in early spring???????  We will update that thought as things continue to move along.

Our First Care Package

We took a while to get together a care package for Jacob.  We sent a soft and silky blanket,  two toy cars, a play phone ( that has 3 different language settings and we even put an "I Love You" message on it), a small teddy bear, a camera, lollipops to share with friends, some gummi bears for his caretaker, and a photo albums of  his new family.  

Make a Smilebox slideshow

More information about our "Little Guy"!

I checked our email this morning and was delighted to see an email from the director of Operations at PHF, Leah Zimmer. One of her responsibilities is helping families “meet” their kids prior to picking them up. She said if we have any questions or curiosities about Cole and his life here, please don’t hesitate to ask. She also said the therapy director, Carrie, can give us a ton of information about Cole’s development and his arm. He has been one of the therapy team’s success stories. She attached a bunch of pictures of him from when he first arrived at PHF in June 2007. He lives in our House of Peace which houses about 22 children along with 16 nannies. What a blessing to have Jacob at a place where we can find out so much about him, see photos of his life now and observe the care and therapy he receives!

Photos of Jacob

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Make a Smilebox greeting

We have a name!

We finally have decided on a name for our new son.  Drum roll please -- Jacob Jiang Thompson!!!!!!!  I know you all were expecting Richard Douglas Thompson III and we really seriously considered John Jacob Jingle Hymer Schmit (which has such a ring to it) but we decided to stick with our pattern of Biblical names.  

Introducing our Son Fu Jiang Ling!

We received PA (Pre Approval) today for Fu Jiang Ling!  We got an unexpected referral call the night of August 15.  We hopped on the computer to retrieve his file. We spent the weekend reviewing his file and decided to pursue adopting him.  There were not many questions and Ric and I seemed to be quiet at peace with the decision.  It has been an exciting few weeks.  We sent in our LOI (Letter of Intent) on Aug.  and received updated medical information. I know I always present an "unfazed", perhaps unexcited demeanor, but believe me I have been bursting at the seams!  It felt just like learning that you are pregnant.  You want to share with everyone and yet have some hesitation due to the whole complicated international adoption process.  His pictures have been posted up around the house and everyone in the family is in love with him.  It is really precious to hear 4 year old Luke say, "I just love Fu Jiang Ling".  We are all "over the moon" about him!  We ask that  you share in our good news and praise God for this tremendous blessing!

We are adopting from China!

Our family went on vacation to St. George Island last year with my parents and my brother and his family.  It was during this vacation that the "Adoption" seed began to grow.  There had been much talk about some friends that were in the midst of an Ethiopian adoption.  On the LONG car ride home, Ric and I had lots of time to talk and we discussed the issues one would have to face raising a child of a different race.  I was intrigued.  When we came home, within a week I was at the library looking up books that dealt with the topic.  I then started an internet search of adoption sites.  The world of adoption was opening up to me.  I  had no idea that people adopted from so many places!  At first, I kept my research quiet.  After a while I let Ric know that I was investigating adoption.  He didn't say anything.  In the midst of my research, I came across waiting children lists.  I had no idea that there were so many kids with special needs that needed homes.  I showed Ric some pictures.  He didn't say anything, but he looked.  I continued to research what the country qualifications were to adopt, how much things cost, how much time you had to spend away from home to retrieve your new child, etc....  The countries that I thought we could adopt from, dwindled down to a small size.  My heart was led to China.  I shared my thoughts with Ric and he agreed.  God had been working in both of our hearts and they were drawn together on this topic.  Picking an agency to work with was hard!  I did a lot of research and was at peace when we settled with CCAI.  Things have moved quickly since then as you can see and you read on!