WE GOT IT! (AND THEN SENT IT RIGHT BACK!)

TODAY WAS NOTHING SHORT OF CRAZY! JOHN AND I AWOKE THIS MORNING at 4:16am to NO POWER! Yes, that's right! A dead tree had fallen on our power lines, and clearly we were gonna have no lights for a while! Now, it takes a lot of work for me to look presentable. So, it was NOT GONNA HAPPEN for me to go to work without makeup on!

After we called the power company- they arrived at 5:30am to inform us they would need to bring back several "crews" to deal with the problem, time was running short for us to get ready for school and work. My parents sweetly said I could come over and get ready so as not to miss a day of work during FINALS week! Anyway,.....fast-forward to later.....Karla, our social worker told us yesterday that she was overnighting our LOA and we should receive it today. I knew we wouldn't be home to sign for it, so my mom said we could have it sent to her house and she would sign for it. That worked well, and after school we picked it up, headed to meet John at the Fed Ex office, sign the paperwork and overnight it back to Karla so she will have it in her hands by 11:30am tomorrow. Hopefully, she will be able to get it sent back to China tomorrow! In case you don't know what LOA (Letter of Acceptance) is, crash course in adoption lingo:

LOA is the official document from China that we show to the US (USCIS) that we have to have in order for them to issue our 800 paperwork (which will ultimately give Sam citizenship and allow him back in the US on a visa). It is the final document we receive from China before we are issued Travel Approval (TA). It has to be signed quickly with the box checked that we do intend to adopt this child, and returned to them asap! Once they receive it back...along with some other documents, they will begin the process for approval to travel. We would expect to travel within 2-3 months from this point. We are EXCITED! Gotta really work on getting ready to become a family of 6 now!!

Mom with our LOA!

JACKSON AND RILEY

ME SIGNING

JOHN SIGNING

THERE IT IS!

Blessings-

Meredith

SAM'S FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY!!

So excited! Today we received 10 pictures from Sam's first birthday party! He is cuter every time I see him! Don't know exactly when they had his party- His birthday was October 17. It looks like a fun time was had, though! They had a little cake for him with some fruit on top- maybe even a tomato??!! And, lots of MUFFINS! Every good party has a big bag of muffins, right?? It is tradition in China to smear icing on the birthday kid's head, so our Sambo got some icing along with that big old tomato- or whatever it is! Enjoy the pics!

Blessings-

Meredith

Sam's First Birthday

Happy First Birthday to our Sweet Sam!! We love you so much already- you are a blessing to so many and you are already such a sweet part of our family! God is so amazing in the way that he has already imprinted you on our hearts! We are sad not to be with you today, but we are thankful that you are loved and cared for and that you are getting to spend your first birthday with those who have loved you and whom you love!! We pray that you somehow know you are special and loved and that God has a plan just for your life! A plan that nobody else could live out. A plan that is just for you! We love you, baby Sam!!

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY!

Blessings-

Meredith

Sam's Orphanage

Wanted to share a few pictures of Sam's orphanage...We did find out that he is on the side that is completely run by the government. That is both good and bad. The good part is that the sickest babies are typically moved over to the ICC (International China Concern) side, so it means he is likely not considered one of the sickest babies, and never has been! The negative is that the government-run side is not funded as well, so he does not have access to many of the things that are available on the ICC side. BUT, we know God has him right where he is supposed to be, and we know he will be taken care of because our God is a mighty one who doesn't make mistakes!!

Sam's orphanage appears to be much smaller than Lily's was. It is definitely not as updated, but the "up" side is that it appears to be clean and safe, and they have bouncy seats and a bathtub!! We love squeaky-clean babies!

Blessings-

Meredith

Finally.....He has a name!!

Introducing.......

SAMUEL TODD TUCHAO CURTIS

We plan to call him Sam. We wanted him to have a Biblical name as well as a family name. Todd is my maiden name, and we also wanted to keep his Chinese given name as we did for Lily.

We recently sent this care package to Sam that we hope will arrive in time for his first birthday on October 17. Riley chose the super-soft blue blanket, and Jackson chose the stuffed monkey to send. We also included a photo album with our pictures, a couple of small toys, some cookies for the kids to share, 2 disposable cameras that we hope they will use, and some candy for the nannies. We included 3 outfits as well- size 9 months, and we are interested to see how big they are on him! We think he is somewhere between 6-9 months in size, but hopefully they will dress him in one and send us a picture so we can know for sure! Can't wait for an update on our sweet Sam!

Blessings-

Meredith

Bryce

My heart is breaking for this precious little boy who still waits for his family to find him.


He is with our agency and is available to a family who is logged in. He is a little over 18 months old, and is listed as having a very minor special need. He is in a wonderful orphanage! If you even think you might be interested in him, or know someone who might be, please message me! I would love to share more information with you- this is a precious little boy, and if we could bring two home, I would grab him up in a minute. He is just waiting for God to show him to his family!

Blessings-

Meredith

UPDATE!

When you have a child who lives halfway around the world, whom you have never met, what you most wish for on a daily basis are pictures- living proof that sweet child is doing well.......and today we received some! Seven to be exact, along with a video that we can't open, and an update! We are so excited to share them with you! We think he is even more beautiful in these pics than before!

Look at that sweet baby checking himself out in the mirror!!

MY FAVORITE ONE!!!

Below is translation of the update:

What is Tu Chao's personality like?
He is quiet.

Is he healthy usually?
He’s low resistance. He is easy to get a cold. But he’s been doing well recently.

Is he crawling or walking, and if so, when did he start?
He can crawl forward a short distance.

What is his favorite thing to do or play with?
Look into the mirror. (Well, of course it is! If I was that precious, that's what I would do too!)

Does he have a cribmate or best friend he plays with?
Yang Fu Lu who is in the same class with him. Also get therapy with him.

Does he have a favorite nanny- and if so what is her name?
His rehabilitation Wang Chun Mei.

How does he like to go to sleep? Do you pat him, lay him down, etc?
He likes to suck his finger before goes to sleep. (Awww...)

His updated measurements:
Height: 67cm; Weight: 7kg; Head: 44cm; Chest: 43cm; Foot: 11cm; Teeth: upper 2, lower 3.


Awww.....Put me on that plane today!

PRE- APPROVAL!

And here he is!!!

Today we got our Preapproval (PA) to adopt our kiddo! Now that we have pre-approval, we can show you his pictures! His name is Tu Chao Yang, and he is living in Hengyang City Social Welfare Institute in Hengyang City, Hunan Province, People's Republic of China. I have no idea when these pictures were taken, or how old he was when they were taken. I do know that he wears a bow and headband well!! Tu Chao will turn 1 on October 17, and we are working on sending a care package over that hopefully he will receive by his first birthday. We are also working on an English name that will be easier to remember than TuChao! It is interesting that TuChao means "He is super, He is Ultraman" in Chinese.....especially funny when you check out the headband picture!

I know that he is very small- as of a month or so ago (10 months old), he weighed only 14 pounds- more like a 6 month old size. My understanding is that he likely has bottles only with little or no cereal added. I have been emailing with a couple of moms who have recently adopted from this same orphanage, and have been able to get a little bit of information with their help. It appears this orphanage is quite a bit smaller than Lily's in Shantou. Also, this orphanage is divided into two parts. One is government run and the other is run by an international group called ICC. I haven't yet been able to decipher which side he is on, or exactly what difference it makes, but it appears that they are different.

The next step in the process is to wait the typical 2-3 months for the official Letter of Acceptance(LOA) from the Chinese government. In the meantime, we will be filling out lots of paperwork so that when we receive LOA we can immediately sign it and overnight it right back to China, and send a copy to the US side with all that paperwork attached.

Please pray with us that Tu Chao will be safe and that God might heal his heart while he waits to come home. We know that he likely has an 8mm Atrial Septal Defect, and that is considered mild to moderate. We know he is a bit delayed, but likely this is typical orphanage delay. I have read that for every 3 months a child spends institutionalized, they will be behind approximately one month....For instance, you would expect "typical orphange delay" for a 12 month old to be that of a 9 month old. So, this is where we expect Tu Chao would be right about now. Hoping for an update and maybe some more pictures in the next several weeks.

Blessings!

Meredith

LOI!

What a crazy emotional week we have had. Since last Monday evening, we have received not one, but 3 referrals to look over. That, in an of itself is a bit unusual. Typically, if you receive a referral, it will be at least another month before you see another child's file. All 3 of the files that we have looked at/ prayed over/ researched/ etc. over the past week are of little boys whose true special need is that they need a family. They need to be loved. They need to belong. They need the hugs of a dad. They need the love of a mom. They need the friendship of brothers and sisters. And most of all, they need a chance to know Jesus. It is so difficult to look through files and try to decipher God's plan in all of this. We know each child so desperately needs to be adopted. We know there are so many more children than there are families, and we know that boys especially have a greater change of not being adopted at all, and growing up in the system. That being said, we know that for each file we turn down, there is a chance that child's file will never be looked at again, a chance they will never be adopted.

So, as we looked over these files- all of perfectly precious, chubby-cheeked boys between the ages of 11 months and 28 months, we prayed. We prayed for clarity, for peace and for John and I to BOTH know our son.

God answers prayer. After turning down 2 referrals, we received another suprise referral when we woke up Labor Day morning. We weren't expecting this referral. In fact, we had asked our social worker to just wait until the next list came out and not to try to match us. But, God had other plans. Lily (Our contact in China who matched us with our Lily, and is her namesake) locked one last file for us. She saw it and thought we might be interested. The file was a bit unclear. The baby was younger than we had expected. But....something told her we might be interested. Our sweet social worker Karla received the file. She almost didn't send it to us. He was young. We had already turned down 2 in less than a week. We had asked her to just wait......but something told her to send it to us....

We opened the referral. This boy was super cute. I mean super cute. Dark eyes, beautiful skin, precious face. BUT.....he was a heart baby. What do we know about hearts? And....he's young....11 months young. But....something told us to look further. So, after spending a day talking to specialists, getting an orphanage update, and praying/ talking/researching.....we are excited to announce that God has led us to send our Letter of Intent (LOI) to adopt this sweet baby.

We are thrilled and we are praying that God will take care of our little guy until we can bring him home. Please pray with us that his heart is healed, that he is safe, loved, fed and cared for until we can get to him. That somehow he knows he is already loved by his forever family.

At this point, we cannot yet post pictures as we are waiting for pre-approval to adopt him. But I can tell you that he is from Hunan Province and that his first birthday will be October 17.

As soon as we receive an update or we can post pictures, I will!

Blessings-

Meredith

Quick Update...

Well, we DID receive a referral Monday night, but after prayer and consideration, we did not feel that the sweetie was our son. A precious little 14 month old boy...and we pray his family finds him soon! So, we wait again....A new shared list should come out at the end of the month, and there is always the possibility that God could show us our son before then in some other way... Still waiting and still praying...Adoption is one incredibly long process of "hurry up and wait"

Blessings-

Meredith

Back to School, Lily's 3rd Birthday and Adoption Update!

For those of you who are still out there, we are still here! It has been a month since I last posted, and boy has it been a busy one. I wanted to give you a quick update and let you know we are still alive! Two of the sweetest little faces in the world! I'm so glad they have each other!


First Day of School for Jackson and Riley! This year, Jackson and Riley are going to a new school! They were really excited, and Lily just had to have a backpack like her brother and sister! I returned to teaching this year, and one of the perks is that Jackson and Riley now ride the bus in the afternoons from their school to mine. They think this is the most exciting thing in the world- apparently they have been waiting their whole lives to get to ride a school bus! Jackson started 5th grade and Riley started 2nd grade. I can't believe how quickly time flies! Notice Lily has her blanket and also a lunchbox. Lunch is served at her daycare, but she had to have her lunchbox in the picture- even though she doesn't actually take it to school!

On August 20, Lily turned 3 years old! We planned a pool party, but right before it was time to party, it began to sprinkle rain, so we quickly moved everything into the garage. After the kids played for a bit, the rain stopped and we were able to move the party back outside. THANK GOODNESS!

Lily has recently learned to pedal her tricycle, and she is really proud.

She's a big Dora fan!

WATERMELON AND BIG SMILES!

The cake

Lily had been practicing the birthday song and how to blow out her candles all day- she was super excited about that part.

And she enjoyed her cake too!

I cannot believe that Lily has been with us for only half of her life. She came home at 18 months, and it seems like she has been with us forever! We are so blessed to be her family.

On another note, we sent our Dossier (compilation of TONS of paperwork) to China on August 16th. This past Friday, I received confirmation from our social worker that our Log in Date (LID) was August 26. For those of you not living in "adoption land", what this means is that we are now logged in to China's system and eligible to receive a referral at any time. We expect a new list of available children to come out this Monday night, and we have our fingers crossed that our son will be on that list. We are so excited! It may not be our month, only God knows, but we are ready to move forward in this process. If we are matched, we will likely receive "the call" on Tuesday morning. I will keep you posted!

Blessings-

Meredith

GOD IS WORKING!

So last night, I was having a little pity party (read previous blog), and in the midst of my party, God showed up! He sent me a sweet new friend who is hosting an adoption fundraiser for us! Details are below- If you are interested in purchasing items, just click on the link- they will be shipped directly to your home and make great gifts!


Scentsy makes beautiful wax warmers that use a light bulb to MELT fragrant wax, not burn it. They're so much safer and healthier than candles! Visit http://www.jennc.scentsy.us/ and click on "Curtis Family Adoption". Feel free to share this link and repost if it you wouldn't mind.

THANKS!

Blessings-

Meredith

Adoption Truths

As we have been journeying through this adoption process again, I am reminded that almost nothing in adoption is a certainty. Each and every time that we "think" we will have a certain paper signed, in our hands, at our agency, etc. it is either much earlier than we expected, or much later. Whenever we "think" we understand the rules and documents that we are working with, the rules change. The documents change. The process changes. When I pray for patience through the process inevitably something comes along to test that patience. There is, however, one thing that is certain in adoption- it is expensive. Satan has really been after me lately and I have been falling into his trap of worry especially in this area. Physically, I can look around and see that God is Faithful! He is faithful to provide what we need at just the time we need it. He is faithful when we follow Him. I am so blessed with a Godly husband, 3 wonderful children, a home, food to eat, clothes to wear, etc. etc, and yet still, Satan can slip in and I begin to second -guess God's plan. "Do we have enough money for another child? How will we pay for the initial expense? Do we have enough time for another child? Can I really be a good mom to 4 children? We don't even have an extra bedroom! Are we hearing God wrong in adopting an older child? a boy? and the list goes on and on...I know that God is probably looking at me and saying "Oh you of little faith. If only you could see the plans I have for you! JUST HAVE FAITH AND TRUST ME! "

I am working hard to listen to God these days, and to KNOW that I KNOW that he will provide in every way if I follow Him and listen to Him only! With our first adoption, I SAW it happen! I don't know why I allow myself to take my eyes off of Him and listen to what others say and think. Please pray that God will use us for His glory, and that we will keep our eyes ONLY on Him!

Thanks for walking beside us as prayer partners in this journey.

Blessings-

Meredith

TRYING NEW THINGS...

This summer, Riley and Jackson wanted to try some new things, and one of those things included horseback riding. So, I called all around to find a great place for them to try out their skills. We found a wonderful little horse farm in Opelika and they have REALLY enjoyed it! So, I thought I would share a few pictures from their lessons!

Jackson crossing the poles...

Jackson and Riley working through the obstacle course

At the beginning of their first lesson, one of the things they had to do was to show that they were comfortable with being on the horse...they did several things to work on this, but one requirement was to be able to turn all the way around in the saddle. I thought it was pretty funny...looked like they were riding backwards, so of course I had to take pics of that....

Enjoyable times! Glad we tried it, I might have never known if they hadn't asked!

On another note, we finally received our I 800a approval on July 14, so now our dossier is being certified and authenticated (which should take 2-3 weeks) and then we will be Dossier to China! (DTC) At that point, we can be matched with a child- this is the beginning of the exciting part!!

Enjoy the rest of the summer- I can't believe how quickly it is flying by!

Blessings-

Meredith