Baptism Scheduled

UPDATE: WE CANCELLED THIS DATE DUE TO TRAVEL. WE WILL RESCHEDULE FOR SOMETIME IN JANUARY OR FEBRUARY. We are trying to stay busy while we are waiting on our travel invitation to China. One big thing we scheduled is Sam's Baptism. Our little angel will be baptized, Sunday December 9, during the 11 O'Clock Traditional Service at Frazer UMC by Rev. John Ed Mathison. We are very excited about Sam being baptized. Sam's baptism is very important to us because we want him to grow up learning about our Heavenly Father's love, grace, and mercy. Next week, our bible study group is coming to our home to pray over Sam's room... and about a week before we leave our dear friends (Ted and Joetta) are hosting a prayer brunch for us. We are waiting on our travel dates before we schedule some of his doctor's appointments. On a another note... the last family in our travel group has received their Letter Seeking Confirmation so we are all waiting on our Travel Invitations. We are still praying we travel the end of October or the first of November. We are so thrilled that all of this is finally starting to happen. What a blessing it is going to be to finally see Sam in person and to hold him for the first time!!!

Aquarium and Care Package

Sunday, Nick and I went to Atlanta. I was invited to speak at the 2007 National Project Safe Neighborhoods Conference. While in Atlanta, we went to a Braves game and visited the aquarium. WOW! It was amazing! Enjoy the pictures of the big sea turtle and the beluga whales.
We ordered a care package for Sam. We used an organization called Blessed Kids. We sent him a Panda Bear and some pictures of the two of us. The package also contained a translated letter, candy for the children and the caretakers, and two disposable camera's for the caretakers to take pictures of Sam. They will give us the camera's when we get him. We will not know our travel dates for a few more weeks. I will post them as soon as we know something.

Letter signed and returned to China

Here is a copy of our Letter Seeking Confirmation. It arrived at our home last Saturday (Sept. 15) at 9:45am by Federal Express. We signed it and we were going to over night it back to our agency, however, we talked with Martha Gallahue (Martha is adopting a precious baby girl from the same orphanage) and she volunteered to hand deliver it to our agency first thing Monday morning. Martha lives close to our agency and we had already arranged to meet with her Saturday afternoon in Prattville. Martha and her mom will be traveling with us to China. They attended the International Adoption Clinic in Birmingham and stopped by to meet us while on their way back home to Mobile. It all worked out perfect!

WE GOT LOA!!

PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSING FLOW!!
On day 102 we got the letter that we have been waiting on... our Letter of Acceptance/Letter Seeking Confirmation. This is the letter from the Chinese government asking us if we officially accept Zhang Jin Hao as our child. I got the call today around 11:30am while at working lunch meeting with some of CrimeStopper's Board of Directors. My answering service called and said that Children of the World had called and they needed me to contact them as soon as possible. I could barely dial the phone number and speak intelligently to Olga who was giving me details. I immediately Praised our mighty God and then called Nick with the news (who was over-joyed and so relieved). Our agency is sending the letter to us over night federal express. We will get it, check the yes box that we want him, sign it, and then send it back to China. We now wait on our Travel Acceptance which usually comes 2-4 weeks. We are looking to travel late October or early November. Sam would be the perfect birthday gift (my birthday is November 17). Thank you all for your prayers! We are so happy! Thank you Jesus for this precious son sent from heaven!

100 Days

With the wait longer than we anticipated, we decided to go away to the beach last weekend. The weather was perfect and we had a wonderful time. Of course, we were thinking about Sam and how much fun it will be to take him to the beach.

It has been 100 days since our Letter of Intent was given to the CCAA. It seems like a year since we first saw Sam's cute little face. The closer we get the harder the wait becomes. We continue to be faithful that God is in control. He is giving us all we need to get through the wait. We are praying that we will travel in November. In the meantime, Sam's story is a testimony of God's love and purpose. Our friend Nancy, who is also adopting from China, wrote a wonderful story about our adoption in our church newspaper. We also gave our testimony about how our church family has helped with our adoption. The testimony was videotaped and was played during church services last Sunday. The purpose was to push several new Sunday School Classes and to get people involved in a small church group. We give all praise to our mighty God who continues to shower us with His blessings. One miracle that God has performed has been the fact that He took away Nick's desire to smoke cigarettes! That's right! Nick has been smoke free since May 29! PRAISE GOD! I am so proud of My Honey! I know it was a very hard habit for him to break and he could not have done it without God's help. He wanted to quit for me and Sam. What a great gift to give his new son!