Show Hope Grant!

We were chosen for an adoption aid grant by Show Hope!  The letter arrived on Wednesday.  What a HUGE financial blessing.  We never expected this but we have continued to feel God providing always not just during this process-His word requires us to care for orphans and widows-adoption is just one of the many ways we can do this.  The timing was incredible as we had already planned to travel to Franklin, Tennessee on Thursday to attend a care center reunion (for Noah).  You can read more about the weekend on my Hope For Noah blog and see Noah meeting Steven Curtis and Mary Beth Chapman. --->

If you aren't familiar with Show Hope check out all the awesome things they do to restore hope at http://showhope.org 

Video

Got to "see" Sadie today on the video from the update :)  It's a private link with a password and since I'm not tech savvy I haven't loaded on here (yet).

She's wearing another pair of sunglasses we sent-so we know she is at least receiving some of the things we have sent for her.  Her head has been recently shaved and she is dressed warmly in boy clothes like the picture.  She performs as instructed by her caregivers (typical for them to encourage this).

Sadie says Ma Ma a lot.  She must know I'm coming soon.  :)  The kids were anxious to watch the video too and see their sister...might be starting to sink in the reality of it all.  Ella wants to hold her.  Beckett keeps asking to see her bathing suit (we swim a lot) and Noah is enthusiastic but I can tell it is confusing.  He has almost forgotten life without a family.

Please keep praying for Sadie as she waits.  As happy as she might look in the picture we know life in any orphanage isn't ideal or what God intended for any child.

Second Update

It took 2 long weeks but we finally received our second (official) update on our Sadie.  The answers the orphanage provided are in bold below.

1. How much does Sadie weigh?  How tall is she now? 100cm, 17kg

2. What is the size of her foot? 17cm

3. Has she had any illness since the report of December 2014? She is a very healthy child. She only had couple times cold since 2014.

4. Does she take any vitamins or medications and if so, for what? Only children multi-vitamins, not any medication.

5. Is she aware she is being adopted and what does she think about family? Yes, we told her. She knows that her parents are in US.

6. What does she need that we can send to the orphanage? You can send her clothes and shoes.

7. We would like to request new photos and a video of Sadie. They sent a video to the adoption agency on Thursday but apparently it wouldn't download (so frustrating).  We hope to have that tomorrow.

8. We would like to request her caregivers let her hair on her head grow.  It will help protect her skin from sunburn. OK, we will do that.

Doesn't she look happy?…even in the boy clothes ;)  Sweet girl we can't wait to meet you!

Last Day For Matching Grant

Just incase anyone else would like to contribute today is the last day to mail a donation to Hand In Hand Christian Adoption, Inc. for the matching grant.  All donations are tax deductible.  Here are the specifics: 
Please send all donations made payable to "Hand in Hand Christian Adoption" to:

Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc.

Luke and Stacy Hopkins

18318 Mimosa Court

Gardner, KS 66030

(for tax purposes please include our name on the OUTSIDE of the envelope only…do not put our name on the check itself)

We must raise at least $2,500 to unlock the total matching grant amount.  As of last week we were only short a few hundred dollars!  Thank you to everyone that has already contributed.

LID!

The agency called yesterday to let us know our dossier was finally logged into CCCWA's database and therefore we had a Log In Date of May 12th.  Since last week they had been unable to see movement which affected not just us but hundreds of other families that are in the process of an adoption from China.  This LID is how many in the adoption community predict the next steps.

We also submitted an update request to the orphanage on Monday and are hopeful that within 2 weeks we will receive new pictures and more information about our waiting daughter.  For now we are celebrating this as God's victory-he continues to be faithful and we know He is making something truly beautiful out of Sadie's story.

Checkout this video by Steven Curtis Chapman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiGn_CPz4C8

DTC!

We are officially DTC (dossier to China) as of today!  The completed dossier was scanned and uploaded to CCWAA's (China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption) database as well as the official hard copy mailed.  We will now wait on the LID (log in date). 

Dossier agency fee- $3,138.75

Dossier submission fee- $1,360

We feel so grateful to have completed this portion of the adoption journey some refer to as the "paperwork chase".  Please continue to pray with us for Sadie-her safety, health and for her heart to be open to the idea of a forever family in us.  We think that I (yes planning to go alone this time) will travel to China in roughly 4-5 months as long as our dossier is accepted/approved in a timely manner (in other words we still don't know a definite travel date but expect I will meet Sadie in September).  Many little steps occur between now and travel-tonight we are celebrating DTC and God's timing of it all.

^my fortune from our celebratory Chinese takeout tonight

Almost DTC

The i800a has been county and state certified; it was overnighted to Houston yesterday by our agency.  Hopefully today it will be dropped off at the Chinese Consulate.  Our prayer is that the document will be authenticated and returned to the agency by the end of the week and DTC (dossier to China) before May.

Fees for i800a approval (called I-797):

$3.00 county certification *$3.00 per doc 

$5.00 state certification

$60.00 Houston consulate courier services 

$45.00 My China Docs, Chinese Consulate authentication ($25.00 plus $20 rush fee)

Also this week I had the honor of helping another adoptive mom state certify 3 documents and it was quite the in-town adventure.  Beckett and Noah made for excellent sidekicks.  It was cool to play a very small part in someone else's journey and show Noah steps we took to bring him home (in Georgia of course).