The Good News Keeps Coming!

Today, the UPS guy brought us a package we weren't expecting. That's always fun! (as long as it's not C.O.D. and you're not sure who it's from) But this package was from CWA, our adoption agency, and I tore into it like it was Christmas morning.

The first page was a beautiful congratulations letter, purposely typed on quality stationary, from a sweet woman at CWA. Everyone there has just been so supportive and have been praying for Brighton and for us! It explained that they were sending us the original pre-approval document from China, all of the records CWA had kept on An Sheng (Brighton), and a few more color photos of him that are just darling. I'm going to have to take out stock in Puffs!

One of the documents had more information than we had heard before. This is what it said, word for word: "An Sheng, male, was found abandoned on bus No. 24 in the evening of July 4, 2001 by the driver. After searching for his birth parents in vain by public security bureau of the police station of Anshan City, he was sent to our orphanage to be raised the next day by the approval of Civil Affairs Bureau of Anshan City." I hope my poor child didn't have to spend the night at the police station! I know he must have been terrified!

The caretakers at his orphanage stated in one document that he's never had an accident or been hurt. That was from 2004. His hobby is reading books! We put a request in today for more information form his orphanage. We requested that they ask them if he can read Chinese, and if so, what grade level, if he's learning Chinese sign language, how his health is, if he needs anything, if the orphanage needs anything, and a few other things that I can't remember off the top of my head. We will be sending several care packages over the next few months, so if anyone would like to add to it for the orphanage, let me know! I'll have a list of items they need soon. We can not send anything religious, bulky or heavy. Bulky doesn't include blankets, diapers, etc...

I would like to thank everyone who has been praying for Brighton. It just warms our hearts and means so much to us to know you love our little boy so much! Please also remember the thousands of children in the world who need parents. Most will never know what it's like to feel safe, have a warm hug, a family meal, a mom and dad who love them, a roof over their heads, and most of all a chance to see our sweet Savior modeled to them by loving parents. It's just hard to fathom, with all the wealth we see daily, how the plight of these sweet children goes unnoticed. But the most important thing they need is prayer. It's absolutely free!!! My heartfelt prayer is that every orphan at least gets the chance to learn about our Lord and savior. Even if their surroundings and circumstances cannot be changed, their hearts can, and God will always be there with them, wherever they are.

If you would like to get more involved, there are links to the right for Christian World Adoption and Christian World Foundation.

"Christian World Foundation exists to help feed, clothe, medicate, educate, and care for children of the world without regard for their color or class, based on the teachings and love of our Lord Jesus Christ." http://www.cwa.org/cwf.html

Our love and many thanks to everyone!

David & Tina

"If you love Me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever--- the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him because He lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." John 14:15-18

This is the larger photo that was cropped for the small photo on the first post.

We have PA! Hooray! Halelujah! Praise the LORD!
(Now we know what our names look like in Chinese!)

We Have PA! Pre-Approval from China for Brighton!!!

It's been awhile since I posted, I know. August was a hectic month and we were really busy! We had our first home visit on August 19, our second on August 29, and our third will be September 1.

But the best news is, Virginia, our caseworker from CWA, called with the great news that we have pre-approval from China! Boy did I cry my eyes out. I laughed, I cried, then laughed some more, jumped up and down, ran through the house shouting hallelujahs and had the kids wondering what I did with their mother.

What our pre-approval means is that Brighton is basically our child in the eyes of China. We still have to submit our required documents, but for information purposes, not to wait to see if we are accepted. We can now send him letters, packages, photos of home, mom, dad and sisters and brothers!

We still have February or March as our tentative travel date to pick him up. That could happen sooner, or later than that depending on how long the paperwork and governments' take.

David and the kids and I went out to eat to celebrate the good news. Everyone is so excited! Hopefully we will now be getting some updated photos of our sweet boy to post.

Blessings,
David and Tina

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:23

We finally have our home study appointment! The social worker is coming this Saturday to do our home study. I'm so excited because we are one step closer to bringing Brighton home. We're still waiting on pre-approval, which should come any day. Once that comes, we can get more updated photos of Brighton.

I took Charly to U Paint It for her birthday. She painted a frog for her wall, Dani painted a dog bowl for Isabelle, and I painted a plate with Brighton's name on it. It turned out really cute. I can't wait to give it to him.

The mom who adopted Brighton's best friend emailed me again today. She told me that Nick said Brighton can make sounds. We are hoping that we can teach him to speak English while learning to sign.

She also told me that Nick loves his bed. In China they sleep on a hard surface with a straw mat, no pillow, and one blanket. I can't wait to tuck Brighton into his new, soft bed.

This past weekend I had a dream about Brighton. It was his first night home and he was scared to sleep alone. I snuggled next to him, and he wrapped my arm around him and went to sleep. I woke up smiling. It is something I've wondered about. The kids there sleep in one big room all together. Being alone in a room at night may not feel safe to him.

Josh flew home yesterday from California. We were so happy to see him! He's really excited about being able to be a big brother to Brighton. I think they will bond right away.

Thank you so much for keeping us in your prayers! We love all of you!


Love,
David & Tina


"The body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ." 1 Corinthians 12:12

Hello friends and family! We are still in the gathering stage. We finally got all of our documents together for the social worker. The packet that we mailed LSSS was an inch thick! We are now just waiting on an appointment for the home study. The great news is that during the paper chase for the documents for the SW, we ended up with most of the paperwork needed for the dossier! WooHoo! We've also finished our I-600A form for the USCIS. That will go out tomorrow, and then we wait on a fingerprinting appointment in San Antonio.

It's strange how each state and each country is so different when it comes to paperwork requirements and the time it takes them to process things. Colorado made a certified copy of David's birth certificate, sent it off to the secretary of state and had it back to us within a week. Michigan told me that mine would take 3-4 weeks. Talk about slow!

We are still waiting on our pre-approval from China. I am gathering photos for Brighton for his photo album. I'll have to get the English words translated into Chinese before I send it.

Our yard sale was a HUGE success! We couldn't believe how many donations we received. The love just keeps pouring in. Charly made bracelets and sold 8 of them! She also put a donation basket out and received quite a bit. In all, we made almost exactly what we needed for the USCIS I-600A fee and fingerprinting fees with about $40 left over. God is still providing every step of the way! Thank you so much to everyone who donated financially, with yard sale items, by purchasing bracelets or with donating time to help price items and work at the yard sale. I love you all so much!

Our case worker at CWA called and counseled me on finding a male family member to go with me to China since Brighton is a 9-year-old boy. I do not want to get stuck in a situation where we are in a strange city and he needs to use the restroom alone. I called Josh and he's excited to go! He was a little sad that he wasn't going to spend much time with Brighton. Now he'll get to see him for nearly two weeks. This also means another $3700 tacked onto the end of the travel fees. Please pray for guidance for us as we seek God's direction on the travel arrangements.

Please continue to pray for safety for Brighton and that no roadblocks get thrown up to slow us down.

Tina

"So is my word that goes out from my mouth. It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." Isaiah 55:11