11:03 ..... YIPEEEEEEEE!!!

I stayed home today because my head, chest, and ears are congested; I'm coughing from my toes and I'm freeeeeeezing! Well, even with all that, there is GREAT NEWS!! (If I hadn't been feeling so miserable I would have missed the call!)

At 11:03 the phone rang and woke me up. It was our adoption coordinator. She was telling me that WE HAVE RECEIVED REFERRAL ACCEPTANCE FROM THE CCAA! YEAAAAAAAAHHHH! And, that means...

LITTLE ONE IS OURS!!!

For those of you who I've been waiting to tell, but haven't been able to because of the referral acceptance, We're getting a little boy from China!!! Here are his pictures! Isn't he the cutest???!!!!







Also, here is the email that I sent to our parents and siblings back in January when we first learned about our little guy. I'm so pleased to say that those "Shhh" clauses are no longer in effect! I can tell the world!!!

"Hey Everybody! January 7, 2009

Meet the newest Gonzalez!! OK, so he's not "official" yet so this email is NOT TO BE PASSED ON YET, but we couldn't stand waiting any longer!! (PASS IT ON, PASS IT ON!! He's ours!)

I know, we were all expecting a little girl, but sometimes God has a plan that is different than ours. When we signed on for adoption the agency we signed up with did not have a "waiting children program" and we pretty much thought that "special needs" meant someone who would need care very long term. We found out later that it might just be a little person with a "defect" in some people's eyes. So when our agency merged with a larger agency that does have a waiting children program, we prayed about signing up for that (since it looks like waiting for a healthy little girl could mean waiting until late 2012!) When we got back from Florida we filled out the application. We expected to be contacted by mid-January to let us know if we were accepted into that program.

Yesterday afternoon (January 6) at 2:53 we got a phone call from our adoption coordinator. I thought it was basically to talk about our case. Well, that it was!! She said they had reviewed our application for the waiting children program and immediately had a match for us, IF we were interested. So, we accepted the information, talked to Jim about his cleft lip and cleft palate, called her back for more information. We prayed a lot about this last night and did a bit of research. We both were instantly attached.

So, the process that is to come: We continue filling out paperwork, the agency electronically sends it to China, they review it (which should be fairly quick since they already have our dossier), and then China sends us a Referral Acceptance, then we apply for our travel visa, and wait some more. Our little guy could be home with us in anywhere from 1 - 4 months!!

(These details were as of September 2008)
OK: Details: Current name: San Wenlian
DOB: April 26, 2007
Height (at birth) 46 cm Now 73 cm
Weight (at birth) 2.5 kg Now 8.3 kg (about 18 lbs)
6 teeth (not at birth!)

Of course, we aren't going to call him Gennai. We're in the process of picking names. Now that we have his picture we can see what name goes with him. We are definitely excited and wish we could send this out to everyone on our contact lists. BUT, there is always a slight chance that China might not give the referral acceptance, so it's not 100% certain that this is the newest Gonzalez, but it looks like it probably is!!! :)

OK, I'll let you go now. We'll talk to you all sometime soon.

Love, Joan, Guillermo, & Little G"

Now we wait for Travel Approval, our visas, etc. We are hoping to travel in April. Hopefully we'll have Little G home for his birthday! Wouldn't that be great?!!

Where in China is Little G?

Some people may ask "Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?" And some may ask, "Where's Waldo?" And yet others may ask "Where in China is Little G?". So, today I found a colorful map of China with the provinces and I decided to put a star on the province where our little one is waiting for us. He's Guangdong province, in southeastern China, near Hong Kong.

I've been trying to avoid the "he's" or "she's" because we don't have our Referral Acceptance yet. But, I think everyone who is following my blog at this point knows about Little G. If you don't, well, now you do. HE's a HE! And a cute little HE he is! OK, I need to stop at that for now or I'll end up writing more than I'm supposed to.

Anyway, check out the map to find out where Little G is waiting for us. I sure hope that RA comes soooooooooon!!

I'm tired of waiting!! But I'll keep it up.

I don't want to wait anymore! I'm tired of waiting! Our little one needs us! We need our little one. I don't understand what's holding things up. I know, once we sent in our letter of intent to adopt THIS little one, it has only been 2 months. I know that it could be a lot longer, but I don't want it to be. (Yep, maybe I AM whining a bit!) In a way I wish our agency hadn't said that our process should go fairly quickly since the CCAA had already received and approved our dossier. I guess that makes me want everything to go really fast...and it isn't.

Today amongst the emails was the second email from our agency saying that Referral Acceptances had been received and all families whose referral acceptances had arrived had been contacted. Well, once again, we were not contacted. And yes, I cried! I am very happy for those who received their acceptances and hope their travel arrangements are made quickly. I'm happy that they will be with their little ones soon. But, I still want our little guy!!!

I have to admit that the last round of referral acceptances drew a bit of jealousy within me. One of the families who got their RA had a LID (paperwork officially logged into the CCAAs books) of 2 years and a couple of weeks AFTER our LID. (Remember our LID is 11/15/2006) After fighting that bit of jealousy I am happy for them and for their little child.

Anyway, we pray for Little G daily, several times a day. We pray for safety, health, the caretakers. We pray that our Little G will have a tender heart and a caring spirit, that LG will come to know Jesus early in life and will serve the King of Kings!

I'm still praying that we'll be able to go to China for MY birthday and be home for Little one's birthday. It's still possible... but those acceptances and travel arrangements are going to have to come soon.

Sorry this post was a bit on the down side. Maybe I'll delete it later, but for now I just needed to get this out. Thanks for following our journey. Hopefully soon we can let you know more positive news.

One Step Closer!

This afternoon (2:53pm!) I opened my email account to check email. I figured there would be several messages on the "yahoo groups" , and there were. BUT, right in the middle of all those emails I saw:

From: (our adoption agency Family Coordinator)
Subject: Pre-Approval!

YEAAAAAAHHHH!!!! 

The CCAA has pre-approved our application for "the Child".

Now we continue to wait for Referral Acceptance, which will be the official word that this little one is approved to be OURS! According to our family coordinator this could be anytime in the next 2-3 months. She thinks ours could be sooner rather than later since our dossier has already been approved for adoption from China. They just need to match up the paperwork and the child. I'm sssoooooo excited!!!

OK, time to go study Chinese. We don't have an official quiz tomorrow, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were some sort of a popquiz. Wo yao qu Zhongguo kan women haizi. Ta tai shuai! (I 'really' want to go to China to see our child. He's so handsome!) OK, so I want to do more than SEE him... I want to bring him home!! I just don't know how to say that in Chinese yet!! ;)

Happy pre-approval day. We're one step closer to our little guy!

It's a girl!

No, not us!  The neighbors had a baby girl yesterday.  She was born with part of her intestines outside of her little tummy, so they had to do surgery soon after she was born.  Before she was born they weren't sure if she would need multiple surgeries to tuck her innerds back in, but Praise God they were able to do it all in one surgery!!  It sounds like she'll be in the hospital for anywhere from 1 - 6 weeks, depending on when her body starts to function properly.  Please pray for baby Raya Irene and for her mom & dad, Tara & Mike (and for Grandma Brenda and Grandpa Chris).  I'm excited to meet the newest neighbor!  She's been in the making ever since we moved here...guess it's been close to 9 months!! :)    Now we just need to get our little one home so they can be play buddies!! :)  Oh such fun!!

One month ago....

One month ago today we sent our "Letter of Intent" to adopt a "specific child" to our adoption agency, who then electronically sent that to the CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs).  What that means is: we have chosen a child and are now waiting for the CCAA to approve our application for THIS child.  At the time we were told that we couldn't post anything specific about our child on blogs because the CCAA has not yet approved this match.  As I understand it, the "pre-approval" generally comes about a month after the Electronic application (EA) is sent to CCAA.  Then there is "referral approval" (RA).  Once the RA is received, then we can post pictures and whatever information about OUR child that we want to.  And at that point we wait for Travel Approval (TA) and break the bank account and head to CHINA!  

We have three pictures of our little one and I'm sooooooooo anxious to post them.  I want to show everyone what a beautiful child we are getting.  One of the pictures is here by the computer, so Little One is here beside me as I write this blog.  SOON--very soon--I will post the pictures!  

This has been a long month of waiting.  With Chinese New Year and nothing being processed in China, the wait seems to have dragged on and on.  But, Chinese New Year celebrations end on Feb. 9 so hopefully they will get back to work quickly and get this show on the road.  

While waiting I have been reading other people's blogs about their wait and referrals and going to China to bring their children home.  It has been interesting, educational, and exciting to see families get their little ones and bring them home.  Some have posted details about the child they have sent "letter of intent" but not yet received any approvals.  Others are just starting blogs (like me) and others have pictures, movies, slideshows....

So, for now, I'll keep you in suspense.  But, like I said, we have petitioned to adopt a specific child... a very dear child!  Thank you for the prayers for speedy approvals.  Keep lifting them up!   Please pray for our child's health and well being, for the caregivers, for us as we continue to wait.  

Hopefully early next week I'll have GREAT news to post!  Until then.....

Well, let's try something new.  A new color of font, a new picture a new font size, maybe a different color, or this one,  or maybe this one.  

I decided that I should try to upload at least one picture.  This is a view from our sunroom in our house in Iowa.  We no longer own that house, but our house here in PA has a beautiful view out the back window also.  

Keep praying for Little One!!.  Thanks!!

I think I like the regular color best, don't you?