Minnesota bound!!

Christmas shopping almost done, finals almost over and suitcases almost packed. I cannot wait to climb in the car with our family and head north. I am not even dreading the 17 hour drive as it means I can do nothing but sit, read, sleep and talk with Mark and the kids and NO HOMEWORK!!. There is about 10 inches of snow at my mom and dads, the ice house is out on the lake and winter fun awaits us!! It would be great to have a big snowfall when we get there but nothing that would interfer with my brothers and their families making it home. I am so looking forward to time away. It has been a hectic week but a successful one as we were final able to get to Dallas and re-new our fingerprinting and get the kids passports ordered. We also received our visa's to travel to China.
Since it is Thursday I should say I am so thankful that I am able to head home and spend a much needed break with my family. I cannot wait!!!!

Thankful Thursday

Thursday mornings my womens community group meets. Due to a break in our study we decided to get together and share our favorite song and scripture while doing some scrapbooking. One of the ladies shared this beautiful song (in Spanish which made it even more beautiful). My thanks today goes solely to my Lord.

With What Can We Repay Love So Immense?
...that You gave Your life for this sinner.
In exchange, receive this humble offering.
the humble offering, Lord Jesus Christ, of my heart.
And when the night extends her coat,
my eyes, in tears, will take notice of You.
As I lift my eyes and will look at the stars,
I know that alone with them, Loving Father, You watch over me.
I can't repay you with gold or silver
The great sacrifice that you made for me.
It's not possible to repay You for such great love,
Receive this song mixed with my tears and my heart.

A reality check....

As I have mentioned I work at our local Pregnancy Care Center. In the 9 years of volunteering there I have never seen what I did today or for that matter in my 40 years. We had a sweet couple come in with their 6 day old baby boy. Their son was born with a bilateral cleft lip/cleft palate, just like Hudson's. As I held this beautiful newborn I was so overwhelmed with the thought of Xiao's parents and the immensity of what they were faced with when he was born. It also gave me a real live glimpse of what Hudson looked like at birth. Because Hudson's lip has been repaired I will never know the severity of his cleft lip except in a few pictures.
Because of the area Xiao is from it is likely his birth parents did not have the financial or medical resources to even know how to begin to deal with his cl/cp.
It was a very bitter sweet moment for me. I felt an immediate connection with this little guy and am so grateful that the Lord gave me a moment to identify with Xiao's birth parents and the reality of what they faced.

Kailee Elizabeth

Kailee is 10 going on 16, our little fashion diva. Aside from shopping her other past time is gymnastics. She is on a team and is a little worried she will miss a meet while we are in China. We are confident she won't care once we are there...

After we received our referral for Hudson, Kailee let me know she was glad she would still be our 'baby girl'. She can't wait to be a big sister.

(This picture was taken by Madalyn during one of thier "modeling shoots"....entertaining themselves last summer.)

Madalyn Anne

Madalyn is our typical peace keeping, middle child. The more, the merrier where she is concerned and she is everybody's best friend. She has had to overcome a lot with a severe ankle break a couple years ago and an ever present auditory processing disorder. We prayed often for her to learn to persevere. When she went to school last year (after being homeschooled) her teacher told us on her first report card that she was the hardest working student she had ever had and she always persevered!!! We are very proud of the beautiful young lady she is turning into and she will be an excellent big sister...again.

Jordan Trey

It is hard to believe that Jordan will be 16 in June. He is maturing into a very responsible young man and we can't wait to watch him be a big brother to Hudson.

He loves sports with his first love being soccer. In November his soccer team won the state championship for TAPPS. This was a huge deal as it was his school's first year to have a varsity soccer team. All those practices in 100 degree TX heat paid off!!!

With Jordan's sensitive, serious side and his goofy, fun-loving side there is never a dull moment!!

Thankful Thursday

I wanted to start my thankful Thursdays last week on Thanksgiving but the stomach flu hit our family that night and so this is my first.
-I am thankful that the flu bug seems to have finally left our house and Jordan and Kailee did not get bitten.
-For the posse five who have walked through every step of the adoption with me. Can we get together soon???
-For my awesome women's small group and the friendships I have in you!!!
-For my bunco friends whom I have missed and the first Christmas party of the season.
-For hitting the big 40....I only thought I was done having kids at 30!
-For family in MN, IL, OK, LA, AK & TX....I love you all

PA received!

Today we received our pre-approval from the CCAA. This is a small step but means that they have finally linked our file with Xiao's. The next step is for the CCAA to review our dossier and give us our RA (referral approval). The RA is the "biggie" that we are waiting for. We will not even begin to look for this until after the first of the year. Thank heavens the holidays will keep us busy. When 08 hits we will begin to get impatient...

Mark Schultz Video

Adoption has always held a special place in my heart, maybe I have that "adoption gene" that our agency talks about. I work part time at our local Pregnany Care Center and that is where I first saw this video, I cry everytime I see it. Even though Xiao's birthmother was probably not a teenage mom this video shows the heart of adoption. I am confident Xiao's birthmom (and dad) were heartbroken as they wrapped him in a red blanket, placed him in a box and left him on the third floor of a hospital. We believe this shows their love for him as they probably didn't have the resources to correct his cleft lip/palate. To leave him in such a public place was a very risky move for them but also shows how they wanted him found quickly so he could get the best care. At our center we don't ever use the words 'give up a child' but rather, 'make an adoption plan'. Every loving parent plans for their babies future and adoption may be that plan. For Xiao's parents, this was the best plan they had.
This video makes me cry now for different reasons, actually being an (almost) adoptive parent.
I cry for the heart break that Xiao's birth parents must have felt. I cry for the circle of life as Mark himself was adopted and now will have the opportunity to play baseball with Xiao. And I cry for the unbelievable gift of being chosen to be Xiao's family.
Please watch the video's, (at the begining of the posts) first the interview and then the song. I would ask when you have finished that you would say a prayer for Xiao's birthparents and Xiao. That they would come to know the Lord one day so the three of them may be reunited in heaven and we can tell them thank you for giving us our beautiful baby boy.........and thank you to all you birth mom's who chose life for your children.

Updated information

We can request updated information on Hudson although it does not mean we will get it. We requested his size and some information about his surgery and thankfully received a response quickly.
He is 24 lbs and 33 inches. He also has 8 teeth. This could be due to his cleft palate or inadequate nutrition. We have been told that teeth and hair grow like crazy once you get them home.
We also requested information on his surgery. His surgery was done on Sept. 24 which means the new pictures we received of him are very recent. We did not get info on who did the surgery, just where which was in Xi'an City.
"He can walk, feed himself and drink water. He can understand adult's instruction and is able to do some things according to his own will such as closing doors and taking off clothes."
We are grateful for any information we get!!

Where is Hudson?

This is what we know so far about the Gansu Province where Hudson's orphange is located. " The ancient Silk Road wound it's way through Gansu for years, bringing new peoples, languages, goods, ideas, and beliefs into the Chinese Empire. Over 70% of this rugged province is made up of mountains and plateaus. Near the city of Pingliang (where Hudson is) in eastern Gansu Province stands the most famous and sacred mountains - Mount Kongdong. The landscape of this important Taoist site is dotted with temples and pagodas. The people of Pingliang, population 460,000, adhere to atheism or traditional Chinese religions such as Buddhism and Taoism. A significant number of Muslim Hui people also live in the city. Less than 1% of Pingliang's residents are followers of Christ."

LOI!

Today we were LOI. This means our Letter Of Intent was electronically sent to the CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs) telling them we intend to adopt Xiao. We now sit back and wait for our RA, Referral Approval which means the CCAA says, "Yes, you can adopt Xiao". This can take anywhere from 2-5 months to receive and then we will travel 2-6 weeks after that. We obviously hope we are on the 2 month side of the wait. Hudson gets a day older everyday and yet everyday we are one day closer to bringing him home. At this point we could travel as early as February which we are praying for.

We have a name....

We have finally chosen a name for our little boy. Hudson Xiao Teague. We knew we would use part of his/her chinese name. We have had a girl name picked out since before we began our paperwork but didn't even consider boy names as we always thought we would get a girl. Last spring we started throwing around boy names. With 5 people giving their opinion nothing ever was agreed on. I had heard Hudson about three years ago and loved it. This seemed to be the name that got the most approval from everyone. Mark and I were talking the other night and he said "Wait a minute, wasn't Hudson Taylor a missionary to China?" We both knew he had been a missionary, just not remembering where. We went and looked it up and sure enough, he was the first to bring the gospel to China. That sealed the deal so we have finally began to refer to him as Hudson, a bit hard as we have been calling him Xiao. Xiao is actually pronounced Show, like in shower or rhyming with plow. We will probably refer to him as Xiao when we first get him and slowly transition to Hudson.

We did receive some updated pictures of him last week. He has had his lip repaired and looks great. Very healthy and with the most irristible checks. We can't wait to get our hands on him!! We did not receive any written info so we don't know when his surgery was but it appears to be awhile ago as he is quite healed. We don't even know if the pictures are recent.

We continue to ask for your prayers for Hudson. We have been praying since we turned in our paperwork for the transition that will take place when we become a family of six. Obviously for Hudson. It will be a huge change for him. We have prayed that he has bonded well with his caretakers and although it will make our first few days together difficult it will be better for him in the long run. We also ask for continued prayers for finances. The Lord has been so faithful to provide all that we have needed so far and we know he will supply the rest.

Liang Xiao Yue

Liang Xiao Yue is in the Social Welfare Institute of PingLiang City in the Gansu Province. He just turned 2 on Sept. 13. His special need is a cleft lip/cleft palate. Lauren believes his lip has been repaired but we wont know until we receive updated information from China. The pictures we have of him are over a year old so we cannot wait to see what he looks like now.
We spent the week last week talking w/ our pediatrican and several specialists to see what lies ahead of us. Many surgeries and speech therapy but we are more than willing to do what Xiao needs. I cannot post any pictures of Xiao until we get our acceptance from China. This can take anywhere from 2-5 months. We would ask that you pray that it would be soooner rather than later. Once we receive our RA (referral acceptance) we will wait on our TA (travel approval) which gives us permission to go pick up Xiao. Because he is already two it is important we get him home as soon as we can to begin his corrective surgeries. The longer his surgery is put off the more it will affect his speech. We officially accepted our referral today so now we begin a second round of paperwork to update our homestudy. We hope to send our LOI (letter of intent) to China this week which asks them to approve us in adopting Xiao. Please also pray for our little guy, that he is receiving good care and is loved by the women caring for him at the orphanage. I will post every few days to update you on our progress. We would love to hear from you!!

ITS A BOY!!

On October 9, 2007 at 11:12 am I received a call from our agency. They had the file of a little boy they wanted to know if we were interested in reviewing. OF COURSE we were.
Lauren, our case coordinator, told me she would email his file and after I talked with Mark to let her know if we wanted to move forward and review the rest of his file. I ran to my computer to wait for his file...there he was, this sweet baby boy with big round eyes. I then went to call Mark. Mark happened to be in trial that day so of course his phone was turned off. I then tried my mom, no luck either at her house or her cell phone. I finally tracked her down at her church (after mistakingly calling 911 instead of 411!!....was I excited or what?) Since it was almost noon I figured Mark would call me when they broke for lunch. Sure enough, about 12 he called. He was a little speechless. Thankfully he had done his closing so he wasn't thrown off for the remainder of the trial. After talking with Mark I went to the kids school and found Jordan. I couldn't wait to tell him he had a brother as he was pretty insistent he did not need another sister....teenagers! Kailee was on a field trip so I waited to tell her and Madalyn till they were together after school. Mark rushed back to Sherman after his trial (he won!!) and got to my office about the same time the girls did to look at the pictures. We were all so excited although it also all seemed a little unreal. We had already decided to tell Lauren, yes, we wanted to review the rest of the file.

Why Adoption and Why China?

As a child I always dreamed about adopting when I grew up and my heart was in Asia. Mark and I met, married and began our family. Although Mark was adopted with a younger biological brother into a great family he wasn't as crazy about the adoption idea as I was. Our first years of marriage were busy with law school and raising three young kids. It wasn't until the summer of 05 that we started to seriously talk about adoption. We could come up with all kids of reasons why adoption would NOT fit into our life. The cost, the fact that our youngest was 8 and our oldest a teenager, the time and energy a little one takes and the fact that we were both approaching 40. Despite our many excuses we always came back to two things; 1. Adoption wasn't about us but about doing something that would have eternal purpose and 2. We didn't want to be 65 and have regret, wondering "what if". We had to at least try.

We began to research agencies and countries and chose America World Adoption Agency. We loved their heart for adoption based on Romans 8:15. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirt of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." We looked at different countries including here in the US but felt called to China. We knew it was expensive and a long process but when you feel that strongly about something nothing will stand in your way. We applied with America World, were accepted and began the year long process of collecting paperwork for our dossier. This is basically our life on paper that gets sent to China and is as precious as gold. We were logged into China's system on February 9, 2007 (which is our LID, a significant thing in an adoption) and sat back for what we figured would be about a year long wait. Because of China's One Child Policy we knew we would receive a little girl somewhere between 6 months and two years old.

For many reasons the wait time for a healthy child began to increase every month. When we began our adoption journey the wait was about 8 months once you had your LID. By the time we sent our dossier to China it had increased to 12 months and right now the wait time is 23 months and still increasing. During our paper chase we began to learn about the Special Needs program. This is a program some agencies offer where you can apply to be considered for a child with minor to significant special needs. We also learned that although girls were readily abandoned in China, there were boys who were also abandoned due to a special need. This past spring, after lots of prayer we decided to update our paperwork to include a special needs male or female 0-2. The list included about 42 special needs and we could say yes to as few or as many as we wanted to. A special need in China can be as minor as a developmental delay (which almost all children in orphanages have) to cerebal palsy. We have been so blessed to have three healthy children and wanted to be open to whomever God had for us. Once again, this wasn't about us or what "fit" into our life. Unlike a healthy child when you know when you'll get a referral we had no idea when we would get a special need referral or even if we would get one. We could get a phone call at any time or in three years. So, the waiting continued........