Happy New Year, Sweet Girl!

My Dear Sweet Girl,

It's midnight in China.  Happy New Year, baby! 

This morning Daddy and I were talking about what kind of fun you might be having on New Year's Eve an ocean away.  I pray you're sleeping, warm in your bed and that you're dreaming of happy things.  We are praying for you each and every day.  We love you so much!

2014 is going to be a GREAT year for all of us! It's going to be fun and crazy and wild and hard and WONDERFUL.  You are the answer to a billon+ prayers for us and we are so anxious to have you with us!  We promise to love you will all of our hearts and to spend the rest of our days making sure you know how special you are. I pray God will whisper to you how very much you are loved while you sleep tonight and every night... and that He will keep you safe each and every day.

We love you sweet girl, Happy New Year!

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

How Quickly, Yet...How Slow

It's amazing how QUICKLY we have fallen in love with a little girl we've never met, miles and miles away.  She's included in our prayers in our thoughts in every beat of our hearts.  We are excited and anxious to hold, cuddle and kiss her sweet face! 

Every day I catch Rob gazing at her pictures and smiling the smile of a proud Daddy.  That's an awesome and beautiful thing to see.  Rob is known for showing my picture to anyone who will look.  I was somewhere in town recently and had 3 women i've never met come up to me and say "Oh!!! You're ROB'S wife, I recognize you from your pictures" Ha! I kind of feel like a celebrity around town when that happens (though it's slightly embarrassing :-) ).  Well, we are a week into this and I have a feeling I've already been demoted.  It will be her picture he shows to the world, I love it!

It's sort of hard to wrap your mind around.  One day we're going about our lives then BAM... a phone call changes everything and you become parents.  She is certainly growing in our hearts every single day.  Soon we will have pre approval from China and we'll be able to share her sweet face with you and tell you more about her.  We pray that God will prepare her for us just as He is preparing us for her! It's been a long time since I felt like I was in God's presence like I do right now. 

 I can feel Him and see him in every step of our journey.  I feel like some how i stepped right into his plan.  I saw a quote several years ago that stuck with me me, it said "Faith in God includes faith in HIS timing" How true is that! I've always known, even in my restless moments, that God's timing is perfect.  I'm learning more about that every day.  We've got so much to do to prepare for this little life coming into ours but each and every thing we do has such wonderful purpose.  The love and excitement is coming quickly!

The paperwork... well that's pretty slow.  We are praying like crazy that God will supernaturally intervene and speed things up! I know that's the prayer of every adoptive parent but we are still hopeful! It seems there's a million corrections to make and then more to re-do.  We're getting there, home study should be submitted for approval this week.  Documents are being sent here and there for "sealing" and it's almost time to send off for our I800A which is permission from the US govt to adopt a child internationally.  That process takes some time.  We hear the wait might be speeding up... I hope "they" are right! 

We covet your prayers.  For our little girl, first and foremost, and for the process that gets her in our arms as well.  

With love and excitement,

Jenn

The Magic of Christmas... it's real folks! :-)

If you know anything about me, you know that I LOVE all things Christmas.  From the Macy's parade until New years day, the Holiday season is the most magical time of year to me.  I love every. minute.

From a little girl, i've always believed in the magic of Christmas.  It's a time where miracles happen and God seems to show off a little.  I can think of so many times where God showed himself at Christmas and proved that he was as awesome as we are taught he his. Even back in a manger many years ago.

It's really no surprise to me that He has shown himself again.  A few days ago I explained the process of adoption.  It's lengthy, it's tedious, it's stressful.  We should expect to get a call in about 6 months from now.  It will take that long for a "match".  God has proven, once again, that His timing is not our timing.  Last Thursday we got THE call.  :-)

There's a little girl.  In China.  We want you to look at her file.  Consider if she is right for you, if you are right for her.  I really don't remember much about the call.   I was in the middle of a busy work day. The phone was ringing off the hook and noticed the number on my phone was from Colorado. I answered and the woman asked If i could talk.  All I could say was "yes".  I  had several important things at work waiting on me and I just waved them off while i listened.  Though I can't remember much of the conversation, I do remember saying. YES, we would love to look at her file and prayerfully consider if she is OUR daughter.

Long story short (even though it's not all that short)... We have said YES.  This precious little one is going to come home as soon as God makes it possible!  We prayed and prayed for a little one and God showed off again! Christmas Magic at it's best!  I couldn't have asked for better timing.  It's the greatest gift i've ever received.  We are thrilled, we are blessed, we are in awe.

We've got a long road to wait, probably another 6-8 months before we can get our hands on her.  When we can share more about her, we most certainly will! We are waiting for approval from China and staring at her picture 24/7 (don't worry as soon as it's "legal" to share her sweet face, we will!)

We ask for your prayers.  For our little girl that is far away from us this Christmas.  For the process we are in the middle of.  That God will super naturally speed things up and show off once again.  :-)

Merry Christmas! From the Taylor's... all 3 of us :-)... to you!

May your blessings be as big as ours!

With Love, Hope, and excitement,

Jenn & Rob

The Process

So, some of you may wonder about the process.  You hear/read that we're adopting from China and then no news... little news.... what the heck is happening.  Here's a quick run down of how it all works, just in case you were curious.

First you apply with your selected agency and you are deemed "eligible" for  adoption from China.  Criteria include age, financial status, weight, health, criminal background, etc.

Then begins the stage of being "paper pregnant" We begin the work to complete our "Dossier"
The paper chase is the longest stage and we are up to our eyeballs in paperwork.
I just thought the paperwork was intense for foster/adopt but alas.. this is a whole different beast! You gather all of your documents and information, have your home study done, and begin the "document sealing" process.  Here's what that involves.  Each and every document/piece of paper has to be notarized.  Everything from police reports, financials, birth certificates, and on and on.  After you get them notarized you send them to their respective Secretary of State.  So, my birth certificate gets sent to Florida, Rob's to Texas along with our marriage license, etc.  AFTER all of that comes back with the appropriate certifications it goes to the Chinese Consulate. The Chinese consulate "authenticates" ALLLLL of the documents and the you are close to done  The fun part is that most consulates do not accept mailed documents therefore, you must find a courier or walk them in yourself.   Are you wondering how in the world Jenn Taylor will get organized enough to accomplish all of this? Don't worry, I'm wondering too.  :-)

After our home study is done we can apply for our I800A, which is basically asking the US government for permission to adopt a child.  This takes some time.

Once we get our I800A and all of our documents "sealed" we are DTA (dossier to agency).  The agency then goes over everything with a fine tooth comb and then translates everything.  After that is complete we become DTC (dossier to China).  Now it's in China's hands.  They go through our dossier and approve us for adoption.

Some time in the mix before, during, or after DTC we will receive a "referral".  Essentially they will have a child that matches our profile and will call us with the info.  We will be given time to review the file and determine if he/she is OURS.  That's the tough part for me.  How do you determine something that important?  When I married Rob, I never doubted for a second that he was the man for me.  I'm hoping this will be the same.  The kicker is that we have to also consider if WE are BEST for him/her.  It's a slippery slope for sure!

It's huge, guys.  It's something bigger than anything I could've imagined.  At some point in the process you begin to realize the magnitude of it all.  163+million orphans in the world.  You're working on making it one less.  Somewhere in the middle you realize they're saving you far more than you could ever save them.  It's a beautiful, beautiful process.  I'm on the brink of tears most of each day.  It's exciting and it's LONG.

Keep on praying.  We need all we can get!

With Love and Hope!
Jenn

Philippians 4:6

Ok so after I just wrote an entire book for the blog, I deleted and changed gears.

We ask for your prayers.  This adoption journey is awesome and scary and wonderful all at the same time.

Each day is a new adventure and I realize how very much God must be smack-dab-in-the-middle of it!

So as we go down this road.... will you commit to pray for us and the family God has in store?

Thanks a bunch! I promise a real update soon!

With Love and Hope
Jenn

Last home study visit!

Yep today was our last homestudy visit! We have a few more items to correct and lose ends to tie up but our SW expects she will be done before Christmas!! Yay!

We also got several "certified" documents in from the sec of state. We. Are. Getting. Closer! This...to me ... Is the exciting part of the dossier prep! I have a chart where i check off things that are DONE (well at least for THAT specific leg of the journey).  It's fun to check things off and find myself more and more organized.

I might be organizationally challenged by nature, (some of you know this on many levels) so it's a difficult task to stay on top of things! God is truly growing me in this area! It's a fast, forceful growth spurt but I'm listening. :-)If only I'd learned in the many attempts He's made before! Either way I'm here and am trying to learn all I can to be ready to be a mom. 

Being a mom, that brings me to another point. I've wanted to be a mom as long as I can remember. I loved and adored the youth I worked with in Florida as if they were my very own kiddos. But it's going to happen. In a matter of months it's going to happen. Rob and I are going to get on a plane, fly across an ocean, and pick up the child that God had planned for us all along. 

There's many more steps and hoops between now and then and I really welcome each step. By the time the last one is taken we will be ready! In the mean time, we will enjoy the process and learn all that we can!

3 things.

There's three things that have seemed to stick in my mind since we began this process.  Things that cross my mind multiple times a day.  I thought i'd share them.

#1 There's an old chinese proverb that says "An invisible Red Thread connects those that are destined to meet, regardless of the time, the place or the circumstance.  The thread may stretch and tangle but it will never break".  A friend of mine that is helping me in this journey (Leah, i'm looking at you!) made the statement (in the decision making process) that our child is OUR child no matter if they are in China, across the street, or if they come from my womb. When i read this soon after it just stuck with me.... I believe it's true.  I believe there IS an invisible red thread.  We are navigating the twists and tangles right now, but at the other end is the child we are destined to meet.

#2 In one of the many blogs I follow I was reading about a family that is currently IN China.  They were headed to meet their precious little one and were telling the guide that they'd learned how to say I love You in Mandarin.  The guide explained that they needed to understand that their daughter would most likely not understand what that phrase meant.  Most likely, she has never heard those three words in her life.  That breaks my heart to pieces.  I dont know if our little one has already been born or if they're sitting in an orphanage waiting to be found.  I wish, with all that is in me, that she would know that she is LOVED.  Throughout my life I have KNOWN that I was loved.  There's never been a day that I didnt know that.  It's rips at my heart to know that not only our little one is starting off not knowing but that there are 143 million+ orphans in our world who do not know what it is like to be loved.  I plan on spending the rest of my days changing that for at least one of them.  (maybe two.. but that's a story for another day :-)) 

#3  This quote I came across "But God doesn't call us to be comfortable. He calls us to trust Him so completely that we are unafraid to put ourselves in situations where we will be in trouble if He doesn't come through." Francis Chan, Crazy Love ... this quote has touched a deep part of me.  We truly are in a situation where if He doesn't come through... we're in trouble.  I.  Know.  HE.  WILL.  Rob and i both have peace that passes understanding.  I'm not anxious (today)... I'm not worried (today)... I just know that God has brought us here and He has it under control.

These three things are nestled in my heart as i go through the detailed paperwork and red tape thread. :-) One thing at a time.  Documents are being processed.  Jennifer Taylor is being organized.  Believe it people, it's a MIRACLE!! Each day brings us closer.  

With love and excitement,

Jenn

A new adventure

Almost 6 years ago, I married the man of my dreams and since then, life has been one adventure after another.  From the beginning we wanted children, aside from our 4 "fur" kids we wanted a bigger family team! After years of fertility treatments and one miscarriage we are heading in a new direction in finding the rest of our family. 

About 8 months ago we decided Foster/Adopt was what we would do.  We figured it would be a great way to find our child.  Early on the doubts started creeping in and we began to have more and more questions about the "system".  We started talking to people who had adopted through the foster system and heard about all kinds of experiences.  Some people had a great experience and they were able to go through the process and live happily ever after.  More people than that had horrific experiences.  One family had a child for 10 years (from birth) and after 10 years of being a family a distant cousin of the birth family came in and the courts sided with the birth family.  It blows my mind, the number of times this happens.  After much prayer and conversation, we decided we couldn't risk that happening to us.  

So, What next? We still want a family, we know there's more to our life together, but how?  We started looking and looking and talking about every option.  I can probably tell you the requirements for adoption from just about any avenue you can think of.  I spent months researching.  We looked at domestic adoption which can be relatively fast and you can take home a beautiful newborn straight from the hospital.  The catch is...  it's high risk.  Birth mothers change their minds sometimes.  We wouldn't know for sure, so it wasn't all that different than foster/adopt.  In addition to the risk, almost all agencies ONLY do "open" adoption.  Neither one of us was comfortable with that.  I know it works great for many families but it just wasn't ideal for us.  Long story short...we've made a decision.  (Shocker, i know, for those of you that know me! haha)  Rob was sold long before I was.  It was the first time i'd seen him get really excited about it.  It took me a couple weeks of research and prayer and talking to probably 30 adoptive mom's at length, but i decided too. :-)  

We have decided to adopt from China.  

We are so excited to get our paperwork finished and get our dossier finished 

(dossier=big pile of paperwork that goes to China)

So, When? We don't know.  We think it will take about a year in total.  Maybe a little longer, maybe a little less.  Right now we are in the "paperchase"or what they call in the adoption world "paper pregnant" :-) .  There's a tremendous amount of paperwork and a thousand hoops to jump through but we are busy jumping! signing our name and sending paperwork from here to there.

So there you have it... the latest news in Taylor-ville.  We are excited.  So.  Very.  Excited.  

This will be the avenue I keep you updated on our process. I've read so many blogs and love reading about the journey's of families that have gone through it already.  I also want a record of our process for our little one to be able to read one day. 

We hope you'll join us in this new adventure!

With Love and Excitement

-Jenn