LID

I am pleased to announce that we have our LID ( log in date). Our paperwork went to China in March, but our agency waited to submit it until we were matched with Tia. They have found that this can "sometimes" expedite the process to receive your LOA. This is our prayer for sure.

So, our LID is May 21, 2009.

What's Been Going on...

It has been quite a while since I posted about the other activities at our house. We have had so much going on around our house over the past few months.

So, let's get started....

MAY

Mother's Day was wonderful!! We had received our referral that week and the kids were so sweet. They made me some beautiful artwork at Sunday school. Taylor made me a very special surprise. I have a dollhouse that my parents gave me for my ninth birthday. It is beautiful, but in pretty bad shape. It has been transported to 5 different homes in two states over the past 16 years. Taylor surprised me by renovating that dollhouse. She was able to repair some of the damaged woodwork and give it a fresh coat of paint. It was a wonderful surprise.

May also brought Terry's graduation with his MBA. He has worked so hard to complete his degree and I am very proud of him.

Taylor had her last choir concert of the year. Her choir received 3 trophies at their last competition - receiving 99 out of 100 points. She has become a beautiful young woman.

We visited the zoo on a Saturday morning. Tanner made a special bear for his baby sister. He was really proud of it.

Trenton finished his first season of Upward Soccer. He really had a great time! I am not sure he knew what he was doing on the field, but he enjoyed it anyway. Now he is looking forward to basketball in the Fall.

And last but not least, Miss Tessa. Tessa is just loving life. She is one of the happiest children I have ever met. We always say that there is never a quiet or dull moment with Tess in the house. She has matured so much over the past few months. She will be a wonderful big sister.

And as so me, I am just running around trying to get everyone where they need to be. I am completing my second Masters and have decided to start my doctorate. Like we didn't have enough stress in our lives - lol...

Well, that is it for the month of May. I will post more later.

Waiting

Have you ever felt so blessed that you hated to ask for more?? That is how I have been feeling lately. God has blessed us so much in the past few months - I feel guilty to ask for more. I always like the verse in Psalms that says, "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. " I am sure you can guess what that desire is right now - three little letters, LOA. But then as I read more of the passage, I am truly convicted, "Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him…". Oh yeah, that last part gets me every time. That waiting patiently is the really hard part for me.

I know our wait in this adoption process pales in comparison to what others have waited. The referrals that were received this past week were for families who were logged in on March 14, 2006. WOW - that is some serious waiting.

So, this is what I ask my friends. I believe in praying very specifically for situations. I remember when I was a kid, I would ask God to bless everyone - AMEN. I have grown in my faith to the point that I do believe in praying very specifically and seeking God's will.

Here goes -
1) Pray that God is able to prepare our family for our little girl
2) Pray for Tia in her foster home and the family who is caring for her
3) Pray our LOA defies all reason in its arrival. I am praying that people look at the timeline and can only say, "this is a miracle".
4) Pray for our finances. We have a lot of money to raise before we travel. I know God will take care of this piece - I just need to see His plan.

Thank you my blog friends, you are the best!

An UPDATE!!!!

New photos of our beautiful little girl.

Till later...

PA!!!!! Introducing Tiana Jo Mei Harlow

I am excited to say that our PA has arrived. For those outside the adoption community, this means that based on the information received in our preliminary application, the CCAA (Chinese government) has approved us to adopt our little girl. We now wait for our LSC (letter seeking confirmation). This should arrive in the next few months.

We will still be guarded with the information that we share at this time. But I do want to share a picture of our adorable little girl and a few details. Isn't she beautiful!!!!! I have to say that the minute I opened the first picture, she took my breath away. She is 10 months old and has a very minor heart condition. Our doctors feel her condition will probably have repaired itself before we bring her home.

Also, we have created a travel site that we will use for specifics about Tia. It is a password protected site, so if you would like to follow our journey, please leave a comment to this post with your email address.

Till later...

Now The Wait Really Begins...

Our LOI (Letter of Intent) paperwork has been submitted to China for our amazing little girl. It is all I can do not to share more details - but I can't. uggh!!!! We will be launching a new Tia blog after we get our PA. The site is ready, we just need the proper approvals. My thanks to The Design Girl for creating the site.

We hope to receive our PA (Prior Approval) within the next few weeks. Just know that she is everything we had prayed for and so much more.

So, when we will travel?? Trust me, I have already asked our agency this question many times. The current estimates are 4 - 5 months following LOI. That would mean we might travel in September or October.

Thank you all again for your prayers and support of our family and this adoption.

Till later....

It A Girl...

I wish I could share more, but just know that God is good and we have a little girl waiting for us in China. I will post more details after we receive our PA.

Thank you for your prayers!!!

Terry, Diane, Taylor, Tanner, Tessa, Trenton and Tia

The least of these....

The verse from Matthew 25:40 came to mind today. The verse says "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' The verse really touches my heart today, but maybe not for the reasons you would think.

Ya see, with four (soon to be five) kids in our house, there is always that need for the family pet. We have had our share of the furry, adorable little dogs, a guinea pig, gold fish, and even a parakeet. For his birthday this year, Tanner asked for a hamster. We obliged, even though I really am not fond of anything that closely resembles a rat. But anyway, Bugsie became a member of our family. Tanner loved his hamster!!! He took really good care of her. Although he had one problem, closing her cage securely. You see where this story is going.... That's right, the cage was left open a few weeks ago, and Bugsie went missing.

We spent hours looking for her. We left out food, hoping it would encourage her to come out. After a week, we feared the worst. Tanner was heartbroken. We finally encouraged him to get another hamster. A week or so ago, Sam joined our family. Tanner likes Sam, but he would often comment about how much he missed Bugsie.

Now the story gets really interesting. In the middle of the night, Taylor came running into our bedroom. She had found Bugsie (ALIVE). Tay had dropped some crackers in the kitchenette in our basement. In the night, she heard something scratching and chewing. It was Bugsie - having a snack. She had lost a lot of weight in the past three weeks on her adventure and she seemed really happy to be found.

I don't know if I have ever seen Tanner so excited. He had tears in his eyes when he saw her.

What touches my heart the most is to see how God cared for even this little hamster. We had prayed when Bugsie first went missing that God would protect her and help us to find her. This is a great testimony for my kids to see how loving our God is, even to the least of these, like Bugsie the hamster.

By the way, Terry told me not to get too sappy with this story. He said he did not want to be know as the "crazy hamster family". Hope this was o.k. dear.

Till later...

Just waiting....

I know many of you have been checking our site over the past few weeks to see the status of our adoption. I have hesitated writing anything, because I honestly did not have anything to share. We are currently waiting for the next list of special needs children to be released by the CCAA. They have generally followed a pattern of posting the list in the latter part of the month. We have been holding our breath for days - just waiting for the CALL. For those of you waiting, you know how tough this can be. I have run though a ton of emotions.

Anyway, I did receive a call from our agency this morning. The new list should be posted next week. Since tomorrow is a holiday in China, we know that nothing will be posted until at least Monday. :(

I ask that you pray with us. I just want to see her face. I know she is out there - I have total faith in that. My heart just longs to meet her.

Till later....

What a Weekend

You may want to grab a cup of coffee - this will be a long post, it has been an amazing weekend. Let's start with Friday night, and go from there. On Friday evening, we just spent some much needed downtime. We went for a walk as a family and then hung out with our neighbors. Terry says we look hilarios when we all go for a walk. With all of our kids, we look like a herd of some sort. The kids played until after 11:00 pm. I think Trenton was asleep before his head hit the pillow. :)

Now, let's move on to Saturday morning. I have been registered to attend the Hope for Orphans seminar since the first of the year. Starting an orphan ministry in our church has been a desire of mine for a long time, but I just never knew how to start. This was an amazing training. Everything is so organized. They give you suggestions on a structure and help you see how this could fit within your church. Jason Weber from Family Life is a wonderful presenter and is also an adoptive father. I am very excited about the future for 2 Rivers Church and our orphan ministry. Stay tuned...

We also had the opportunity to conduct our raffle drawing for the fundraiser. I cannot thank you all enough. We raised more than $2,000 for our adoption. PRAISE GOD!!!! I am humbled by your love and support. If you would like to check out the winners list, visit our fundraising blog.

We will have other fundraisers going on over the next few months. We currently have other donated items posted on EBay. Check them out if you get a chance. We also plan to have a Yard Sale the weekend of May 15 & 16. If you live in the St Louis area, come check it out.

Now, let's talk about that concert. I had the opportunity to attend the United Tour concert with my friend Angie. Just a few words about Angie. She is a loving mother, wife and awesome woman of God. I feel so blessed to have her as my friend.

The concert was SOLD OUT and a packed house. We had front row - center tickets!!! That was so cool!!! Steven Curtis Chapman and Michael W. Smith have been some of my favorite Christian artist for many years. Their music is real - it touches your heart right where you are. Michael share some very special thoughts about God's heart for us. It helped me to see a lot in myself. I may post more about that later - just not sure how to articulate it right now. But I was blessed! We also had the opportunity to hear from Geoff Moore regarding Show Hope. Geoff is a wonderful artisit and song writer. It was really neat to hear him talk about his little China girls.

After the concert, we had a chance for a meet and greet with Steven Curtis. He is a great guy and I hurt for all they have endured this past year. Please keep them in prayer as the one year anniversary of Maria Sue's death approaches. Theirs is a pain I cannot even imagine.

So, now we are headed off to church. It is the 10 year anniversary of 2 Rivers today. We are having a tent service on our ground. It should be a great day.

Enjoy the pictures - till later....

Michael W. Smith - even better in concert!

Geoff Moore - what an amazing guy!!!

Mr. Steven Curtis Chapman

SPRING IS HERE!!!!

Finally, Spring is here. You can tell the temperatures are getting warmer in our neighborhood. It is amazing how all the families begin to venture out of their homes. It is almost like bears coming our of hibernation. :)

I took some new pictures of the kids this evening while we were out for a walk. I am practicing my photography skills. What do you all think???

Till later...

Adoption Ministry

I am really excited about a workshop that I am attending this weekend. For months, I have felt that God is leading us to start an Orphan ministry at our church. The difficult part is knowing HOW to get it started. We have a lot of people in our church with a desire to get involved, but we were unsure of what we needed to do.

Family Life has developed this course to help enable churches to start an orphan ministry. It is being held at Calvary Church in St Peters, Missouri. They still have spots open, if you are interested in attending.

Till later...

An Amazing Birthday Present

I had a birthday a few weeks ago. It was pretty uneventful, but still a nice birthday. We had dinner at O'Charley's and the kids sang happy birthday. Just a nice evening with the family. It had been a really tough week at work, so we kept things pretty low key.

Well, yesterday, I got a belated birthday gift. Through a charity auction, we won tickets and backstage pass with a meet and greet for... the Steven Curtis Chapman concert later this month. Yep, my girlfriend Angie and I will be sitting on the front row at the United Tour concert and then meeting Steven Curtis after the concert. WOW - that is the coolest birthday gift ever!!! Have I mentioned lately how much I love my family! Thanks guys!

Till later....

Adoption Update

I wanted to share where we are with our adoption process. As you will read in a previous post, we did not receive a referral when the March Shared List was posted. I have spent the past few weeks feeling very defeated. I had gotten my hopes so high. Tessa asks constantly when we will go get her "baby Tia". Yep - that's right, we have a name for this little one. Her full name will be Tiana Jo (insert Chinese name) Harlow. But to everyone in our home, she is baby Tia.

So, for now we wait until the next list is released later this month. Please keep us in your prayers.

Till later...

Upward Soccer

We have a new little soccer star in our home. Trenton has joined an Upward Soccer team. They are sooo adorable!!! I really don't think they totally get all of the rules of soccer, but they sure have a good time.

Till later....

The true reason for Upward - to teach these precious little boys about the love of Jesus Christ

False Alarrm

I am not really sure what to say right now - my heart is very heavy. As most of you know, we have been anxiously waiting to hear news on our special needs referral. I received a call yesterday from our agency regarding a little girl. I think my heart skipped a beat when I saw their number on my caller I.D. They carefully set my expectations at the onset of the call. The child they were calling about had special needs that were outside of what we had listed on our special needs checklist. After listening to all of the information and spending some time talking as a family, we realized that this was not the right child for us. It broke my heart to say no.

Please pray that God brings our little girl to us very soon.

Thanks!

Got You Celebration

Guess who she has wrapped around her little finger????

Our "Got You" celebration, as Tessa calls it was wonderful. She got dressed up in one of her prettiest dresses and went to dinner with her momma and daddy. She charmed everyone in the room while we waited for our table at Olive Garden.

I asked her what a Gotcha Day meant, she said that was when she "got me". And boy did she have that one right. I was smitten with that beautiful little face from the moment I first laid eyes on her.

After dinner we ventured to Toys R Us for a little shopping. Tessa chose a new baby doll that came with its own doctor kit. She said that this would help her practice for when she is a doctor some day. Wow - I had better get busy with that college fund NOW!!!

She also helped to pick out some Lego's for her brothers. Even tough it was her celebration, she wanted to share with them. Taylor settled for money :)

Till later...

Gotcha Day and DTC

Wow - what mother could ask for more??? March 13, 2006 I was blessed to meet my daughter Tessa in Nanning, Guangxi China. The picture above was taken just hours after she was placed in our arms. Poor baby had cried herself to sleep. To look back now and realize how far we have come is amazing. It is hard to remember my life without her. I love you baby!!!!

My other excitement is that we will be Dossier To China within the next few days. After 8 months of paperchasing, we have finally reached this milestone. I cannot even describe the relief I feel right now. Just one more step closer to our baby.

Till later...

Let's Talk About the Fundraiser

I want to take a moment to talk about our fundraiser. Yes, I would love your support. And in case you were wondering, you can visit our fundraising site by clicking on the logo. You could also help us out by posting the link on your blog. We are really hoping this will be a strong fund raising effort for our adoption.

But more than talking about the mechanics of the fundraiser, I want to talk about the blessings. Ya' see, we are just this ordinary family from the Midwest. We aren't famous people - just children of God who have been blessed with a house full of kids - and loving every minute of it. But the amazing part about this fund raiser has been the people that God has allowed to bless our family. Here's some examples - my husband called one of our local radio stations and told them about the raffle - within a day we had received a call from Ruth's Chris steakhouse with a donation. Here's the real cool part, they don't even know us, but were led to give. WOW !! Another example - I sent an email to the contemporary Christian group, Casting Crowns. Within just a few days, we received an email from them, offering to help. O.K. and one more - I sent a message to Kurt Warner's foundation - the same day I got a call from them offering to help. Did I mention that these people do not even know us - but they have chosen to come along side of us in this effort. Each donation we have received has a story just like this. People who care enough to see a little girl come home. I feel so humbled that God is allowing me to be a part of this. He has an amazing plan - I just can't wait to see it all unfold.

Till later...

Lifeline for a Lifetime

The title of this post was borrowed from a fellow adoptive parent (thanks Jerry). What does it mean? Well, it means that after a lot of prayer we have decided to pursue our adoption with Lifeline Children's Service. They were the agency that we had the privilege to work with for Tessa' adoption. The staff at Lifeline are like an extension of our family. We thank God for their commitment to the families and children that they help to unite.

As a status update, our documents are being authenticated this week by the Chinese consulate and then our dossier will be off to China. We hope to be matched when the next list of waiting children is released by the CCAA. As I am learning every day - this process is totally out of my control and God has a plan.

Till later...