OK, so.... what do you want first? Updates on what I have been doing? OR, the big news?
Hmmmm....
Well, I've been feeling a little ornery lately, so... I'll keep you in suspense a few more minutes and update you on MY life. Here we gooooo!
We have been keeping busy with readin', writin' and 'rithmetic.
I'm pretty good at math, but reading is a bit tougher.
I'll get it though!
I'm learning to write in cursive.
I LOVE playing outside.
I built this "house" on the end of my playset.
It has walls AND a roof.
I started playing soccer this fall.
If you ASK me about it, I will probably tell you
that I don't care too much about it.
BUT...
... if you watch me PLAY,
I'm pretty intense.
Sometimes Mama even hears my little squeals of delight
as I run down the field with a huge grin on my face.
I decorated this cake all by myself.
It was for Winnie's birthday.
We took our first official field trip of the school year.
We went up to Pymatuning to the fish hatchery and spillway.
Of course, we went with Elizabeth and her mom!
We learned about getting fish eggs and how they grow.
These fish were on their way to Lake Erie.
After looking around at the fish hatchery,
we went to the spillway to feed the birds, ducks, and fish.
There were SO many seagulls, ducks and fish.
They fought over the bread, even though we had a lot!
See all the fish at the bottom of the spillway?
They swam on top of each other to get the bread.
I didn't much care for the seagulls flying right over my head,
especially after one dropped a 'prize' on my head.
YUCK!
OK, OK.... Don't get impatient! Are you ready????
Here is the paperwork that we have been waiting for:
Now I can tell you my big news!!!
Remember these eyes from my last post?
OK....
Top eyes??? Reveal yourself!
Presenting.... Isaac Gabriel Zanyi G_______.
Isaac is three years old and his birthday is in May.
I kept telling Mama and Daddy that we needed to keep looking for my brother.
Well, on the way home from Iowa in August, Mama saw Isaac's picture and we requested his file. We looked it over, had a doctor look it over, prayed about it, and decided
THIS IS MY BROTHER!
We don't have a lot of pictures of Isaac or even a lot of information about him.
We do know that he belongs in our family.
People ask what his special needs are.
Well, the doctor who looked over his file didn't seem too concerned about either of the issues that listed him on the "special focus" list. We realize that he may have some medical issues, but we'll deal with those when/IF they manifest themselves.
AND... bottom eyes.... Your turn!
Presenting... MY SISTER!
Jennai Grace Ting G______
Jennai will be 2 years old at the end of this month.
We really would have liked to have her for her birthday, but God had His reasons for holding back on the paperwork. (Not us holding back, the governments that need to issue the approvals.)
If we had gotten our referral acceptance for Jennai 3 days earlier, the process for getting her AND Isaac would have been more complicated (and expensive).
We saw Jennai's picture back in early January. We hadn't finished our home study or our dossier, so we couldn't officially look at her file until we had completed our home study.
We first looked at her file on February 27 and were totally in love with her. She has a lot of medical issues, the most obvious being that she is missing 3 limbs. We had several doctors go over her file and their assessments were not the most encouraging. We would compile a list of questions to ask the orphanage, get the responses and be encouraged, then talk to the doctors again and be discouraged. What a roller coaster ride our emotions were on as we prayed about this little girl. After many weeks of asking questions and talking with doctors, we released her file back to the adoption agency. (OK... Mama is writing now -- if you didn't already know that ;D ) I wept as I told the agency that even though I felt she was my daughter that there were too many uncertainties and that if her file was still available in a year we would review it again.
Skip forward to May.
Jennai had been taken in by a foundation that works with orphans in China who need extra medical attention and helps their chances of being adopted. I don't know if I can post their info here, though I will find out because I am SO thankful for all they have done for her. Anyway, every time I looked at their blog or looked at their facebook page, there was a picture of "my little girl". She just seemed to be there at every turn, constantly on my mind. She was doing very well and the comments about her, by people who actually worked with her, were so encouraging. Finally one night I asked Guillermo if he ever thought of our little girl in China. He replied, "Yes". I asked if we could ask more questions about her. "Yes".
We asked those questions, all the answers came back as we were praying they would, so we put in our official request to adopt her on May 24. We got our "pre-approval" on June 4 and our "referral acceptance" (the important one!) on September 14.
So now, we wait... again.
We have applied for the visas for Isaac and Jennai for them to come to the US.
We have applied for our visas to travel to China to get them.
Once we get our travel approval we could travel in 2 - 4 weeks after that.
Right now, it looks like we MIGHT get to go in December.
Thankfully, the foundation that is taking care of Jennai right now sends out regular updates so we have lots of pictures of her. Here are a few to share:
As many of you know, the financial considerations are
significant and will cost us between $40,000 - $50,000. I was talking to a friend a few weeks ago,
who is also in the process of adopting.
She mentioned that they were “raising the ransom for their child”. We’ve been busy trying to earn some extra
income to help with the costs. Guillermo
did some speaking engagements this summer and developed an app for android
devices (
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sciencewithandroid.crmonitorfree ). Check it out if you have an android device. He is working on more apps as he has time. I have been selling some baked goods and did
some babysitting. We had a yard sale
earlier this summer and Guille worked hard at his “Big Brother’s Lemonade
Stand”. On October 1, I hosted a Lemongrass Spa party and will receive 15% of the sales, in cash, to use toward
the adoption. If you’re interested, let
me know and I’ll get you a catalog or you can go online (
www.OurLemongrassSpa.com/aaa)
and order under “Gonzalez family fundraiser event”. You can order online until Monday, October 8. We are also working on a couple other ideas
for fund raisers. If you have any ideas,
please share them with us!!
We have been blessed by donations from friends and family
and are so thankful for each one. As we
have prayed about the financial aspect of the adoptions we have felt led to
share with you the opportunity to partner with us. Our agency, America World Adoption, has a nice
program called the "Eternal Family Program" where people can make a
tax deductible contribution toward the cost of our adoption. (Talk to your tax professional about it if
you have questions.) Contributions can
be made either by check or credit card.
Checks can be made payable to America World Adoption Association or simply
AWAA. On the check memo line, write in
“Eternal Family Program” and our names. It may be sent directly to America
World Adoption Association, Attn: Accounting Dept. 6723 Whittier Ave., Suite
202, McLean, VA 22101. Credit card
contributions can be made online at
https://www.awaa.org/forms/payment.aspx
and the “Notes” section should be used to identify both the Eternal Family
Program and our family.
Thank you for considering partnering with us financially. We understand that not all are led to give financially,
but we do ask everyone to join us in prayer through this process. We appreciate all the prayers that have been offered on our behalf so far. Keep them coming!! :)
A looooong blog post, huh?! Now that the big news is out and the amount of paperwork has slowed down a bit, we'll TRY to update the blog a little more often.
Stay tuned.
