Happy New Year!

As this year comes to a close my heart is overflowing. Yes it's had some hard stuff, some down right crappy stuff and yet it has been full of beautiful beautiful stuff.

This is the last New Year's Eve we will be the Taylor 4. I'm excited , overwhelmed, thrilled and scared looking forward.  I look back at our journey and how much I complained about our path when we first started fertility treatments. I complained that God wasn't listening... that He didn't care what WE wanted. Y'all I hate when I'm wrong but boy was I wrong.  I'm grateful for every. Single. Tear. For every single day of heartache. All those days paved the way for this. For two BEAUTIFUL girls finding their way into our hearts and lives. For us seeing Gods calling in our lives and being totally honored that we have been called to this. If it wasn't for these two angels and all the people we met along the way God wouldn't be making way for number three.

I wish I could open my heart and just let you all look in. There are so many things I cannot put into words. God has blessed me far more than I deserve. He has truly given me the desires of my heart. Yesterday the girls and I were spending time with friends and I drove our 5 year old friend and Emily while Livvy rode with my friend Sheila. I listened to Emily and Morgan talk about where Morgans mom was (driving in front of us) where Emily's mom was (sitting in front of her). Emily then told Morgan about how she went to get ice cream with "my mommy, my daddy, my mei mei.... I went with my family. " For some reason that touched a deep part of me. We are her family. Because God tolerates a whiny, demanding, doubting girl in Snyder Texas... ok I know He loves me but I've got to be on his top ten most annoying-wish-she-would-just-trust-me list.... because He wanted to give me more than I even knew to ask for, my life gets to be overflowing with proof of God's AMAZING grace in two little faces that bless my socks off every minute of every day. How great is the Father's love for me! I'm so grateful that God gave us a family... that he gave us them. Maybe I am looking back at 3+ years ago when my sweet girls did not have a family. We did not have them and how from opposite sides of the globe... he made #teamtaylor. That's amazing y'all. Amazing.

The best part... He's not done. In a matter of days we will be getting on a plane to meet our third blessing. Yesterday we received travel approval. Yep. We are going to China! Soon! We won't know until Tuesday for sure but it looks like we are leaving January 11th!  God willing.

Please pray for Henry. For God to prepare his heart and for him to somehow know us. ( I know this sounds like a strange prayer but I prayed it every day for the girls and I swear when they handed me Livvy and she looked in my eyes.. she knew me somehow) pray that the girls will be covered and prepared for there being another little in the Casa. Pray our finances will come together. Pray for my mom as she tackles a HUGE task in taking care of two littles for 2.5 weeks. Pray for our flights and in country travel. I'm terrified of leaving the girls for this long and far.


I'll let you know Tuesday if it's all systems are go.

Until then... Happy New Year!

Oh... and there's a few hours left to get a Tshirt!

With Love,
Jenn

Waiting some more...

Seems like the theme of my life is "wait!".  So, it makes perfect sense that I would end up in the adoption process and do a whole lot more....wait for it.... waiting. I've begrudgingly waited much of my life. Ask anyone that knows me well haha.

There's something different about this time or maybe it's just at this point in the waiting game. I'm at peace. We don't know if we will beat Chinese New Year (Jan27-Feb 3). Even if we get approval in time we might get pushed until after the new year because there are a certain amount of consulate appointments and they may bet backed with Christmas and New Years holidays. Who knows?! Either way there is not a thing in the world I can do to make anything happen a certain way. Maybe I'm uber busy this time and that's the difference or maybe, just maybe... I'm learning.

Today our "article 5" was picked up at the US Consulate in China. It will be delivered to the Chinese government and we will await "TA" travel approval. We will know either way by January 3rd if we will leave January 11th or Feb 1st. This is the last two steps before we get on a plane and go get our son. I've had a few mom friends ahead of me get really fast TA's but hey... I'm a wait-er so I'm guessing I'll have the longest TA wait on record. 😂😂😂.  I know it will be here before we know it and Lord knows I've got a to-do list a mile long.....

We are SO EXCITED (and scared)!

Please pray for Henry's heart first of all... that God will prepare him for a family. That SOMEHOW, supernaturally, he will know us. Pray that the transition and change will be as easy and natural as possible. Our son... by the time we meet him... will have endured more trauma in his short year and a half than I've endured in my entire 44 years. I worry about what he will feel and how the transition will be for him. It's such an incredible day. The happiest day for us, the scariest for him. I hate that part. Pray for the final weeks before travel. For finances to come together (want to buy a tshirt???), for plane tickets to become reasonable, for God to put is with the perfect travel group. Pray also for our sweet girls. That God will let the time pass fast for them. That their time away from us will be fun and so full that they hardly notice we are gone. Pray for my mom, she's taken on a HUGE undertaking. 2.5 weeks with two toddlers is pretty big. Pray that she will have an easy time and that the girls & the dogs will cooperate. (Volunteers for relief care givers??  Anyone? Anyone? 😂)

Thank you so much for following this adventure ! Thank you for your love, support, and prayers! You still have until Jan 1st to get a tshirt if you'd like one.  Click HERE if you'd like to order one or two! We are about 50 shirts away from our goal of 150 shirts!

We pray your New Year is a your best yet! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Team Taylor!

With love,

Jenn

Waiting...

Waiting STINKS!  Like, really-REALLY stinks!

We are at day 42 of our "LOA" wait.  We are currently "In Translation" and have been the last 41 days.  Yesterday a fellow adoptive mama moved to "OOT" (out of translation) and she is at day... wait for it.... 8.  EIGHT!  There's no rhyme or reason to how China does things or.  Basically her Dossier ended up on the top of a pile on someones desk.  Our Dossier... apparently on the bottom.  It's hard to rejoice with my fellow mama's when China shakes up the line.  Nevertheless... I'm thrilled for her and frustrated with the process for sure.

I was complaining to Rob yesterday told him "See, she prayed for a fast process and she's getting it, what's wrong with my prayers?"... he just smiled and asked "What did you pray though? Did you pray for a fast process or for God's timing?"... and he's right again folks.  That's one of the many reasons I adore my sweet husband, he always points me back to God.  God's timing is exactly what I prayed and while I despise the wait and want to hold my son and love on him... I want it in HIS time, not mine.  Another friend reminded me how silly (my words, not hers) my "bad mood" was by pointing out that if I hadn't seen my adoptive mama friend's movement in the process.. I'd still be happy and waiting in line like the rest of the mama's... and she was right.  I would be.  Lesson learned... I hope. :-)

So... now that I've been reminded and learned a lesson... I'll be changing my prayers to "A speedy process" and less God's will mumbo jumbo. I'M KIDDING! HAHA

However he orchestrates it is OK by me.  (please remind me of them if you see me whining on Facebook or in person ;-))  Our last trip was perfect in every way down to our travel group and guides.

In all seriousness, please continue to pray for God to prepare Henry's heart for becoming a Taylor and pray for our hearts to be ready as well.  Pray for the girls and their feelings of security in our love for them and that they will feel blessed, not threatened, by another little one.

By God's Grace,

Jenn

Crazy Love...

An adoptive mom/friend of mine put this quote on her fundraiser Tshirts.

"What looks like crazy on an ordinary day, looks a lot like love if you catch it in the moonlight."

 I love it... there's something about it that resonates with me.  To a lot of people it may seem crazy that we are adopting again.  I've seen the blank looks, heard the pauses, felt the silence when we share our joy.  By and large our friends and family are very excited for us and support us through it all.  For that... we are thankful.  We know it seems crazy.  We are old.  We already have two that keep us super busy.  With all that considered, we know we have more love in our hearts to give.  We have prayed and prayed about what God has for us and in a flash he handed us the gift of our son. 

 It's so amazing to get to watch God reveal himself in a situation.  

There is NOTHING like the feeling of being smack in the middle of God's plan.  

There's a Facebook group for Henry's orphanage.  Several mom's going before us have taken care packages and pictures and sent them back.  This is such a wonderful gift to those of us waiting.  We only get "updates" every 90 days.  That's not nearly enough for us, of course.  Our first "update" consisted of one picture and two sentences so that makes me even more grateful for these Mama's taking the time to check up on our son. 

One of the sentences on our update says that he's walking some.  Pretty exciting stuff!  I hate we are missing it but so excited to have a couple pictures of the progress. He is also totally rockin' the pink "big girl" outfit... hahahaha.

 Today was our most recent picture update from a fellow adoptive Mama.  Our boy is sure growing and so very handsome, adorable, cute, perfect, and every other adjective you can think of.  

Last time we adopted I posted this picture of the process.  We are currently at step #7.  More than half way there and after step 7 we are about 8 weeks from holding our sweet boy.  It could be mid October when we get to move to the next step and it could be the End of October.  We are negotiating a big week long National Holiday in China and that will either slow us down or speed us up.  It just depends on if they want to clear off their desks before the Holiday or not.  Clear as mud? I get it... there are so many variables in the process that change the end result.  We appreciate your prayers and positive thoughts as we wait and move through the rest of the process!

The girls are trying to wrap their minds around the concept of "Brother".  We keep showing them pictures and telling them about him.  I cannot wait until we have them all together.  I know there will be growing pains but it will be fun i'm certain!  Please pray for the girls and for Henry, that God would prepare their hearts for the changes and all that is ahead.  When we got the girls, one of my constant prayers was that they would know me when they looked into my eyes.  On Gotcha day as I was holding Livvy, I looked in to her eyes and I know there was recognition there.  I know that she knew me.  I pray the same for Henry.  

Speaking of the girls... they are busy in school.  Emily is in Prek and Olivia is in PPCD, which is a program to prepare kids that are delayed (her speech is delayed due to her cleft lip/palate) get ready for PreK and Kindergarten.  Here's a few pics in case you've missed the constant posting on Facebook.  They're growing like weeds, full of sass and are the two most beautiful girls on the planet.  (I'm not biased at all.. lol)

Until the next update.... have a great weekend!

~ ~Team Taylor~~

The Adventure Continues!

Yep! It's true. We are going back to China!

 In the last 23 months I've been blessed beyond my wildest dreams! Pretty much my wildest dreams x 1,000,000! I never would've dreamed God had MORE for us.

Let's back up. I've always wanted a big family but due to my "advanced maternal age" and fertility issues I didn't think that would ever happen. Then two years ago we dove in to parenting with two beautiful, perfect girls. Rob said "let's get two now because we are NOT going back to China." We joked on the way over there and I predicted HE would be the first to mention returning. It wasn't 24 hours into our trip that I overheard Rob tell a fellow adoptive parent "when we come back...." Ha!  For some reason, from that moment, I knew we would be back. Then came the days and months...ehm...Year+ of being totally overwhelmed. This parenting gig is HARD! Amidst the "hard" We both felt the tug. We reasoned away that we weren't mentally ready or we weren't financially ready, or really "ready" at all. God saw things a little differently.

A Year or so ago I filled out our medical condition checklist ( which sort of puts you in line) and forgot about it. Then... One thing led to another... And without boring you for hours... we got a match and we have a SON!

It would take forever to share it all but, if you ever want the long story... Let's have a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and I'll share the amazing journey in person. It's a good one. One that shows God answering prayers from one side of the globe to the other! One that connects us to people across this country.  One that shows God doing what He does best! We are thrilled to add this sweet boy to our family.

Are we too old? Yep!
Are we crazy? Yep!

Either way... This is what God has called us to and we have jumped on board to grow our family the way HE orchestrated. We are thrilled to be in the middle of this adventure and hope you'll enjoying following along... again! :-)

So... Here's our sweet boy! Meet Henry Nash Taylor!

Our sweet guy is 11 months old and we are praying to get him home in January. That will depend on two governments. We are praying all goes smoothly and quickly and are already in the thick of the process. Our Dossier is almost complete. It was a little easier this go round because I've done it.
Home study approval is our hope for this week and getting documents authenticated. Pretty soon it should all kick in to gear! Can't wait!

This time around instead of bombarding all of facebook-land with updates we are going to have a closed facebook group where you can easily see what's going on.  I'll put blog posts on there too.  If you want to be added to the group, send me a message and i'll add you!

Here we go! We are excited for Team Taylor's next adventure!

In Awe,
Jenn