Zhong Yong

A little more about our son, Zhong Yong:
He is 11 years old and his birthday is June 7, 2000
He is at the Zhongshan SWI, Guangdong Province (which is the same province Kennedi is from and his orphanage isn't too far from Kennedi's!)
It is said that he is very smart and wants to be an astronaut
He enjoys Science and Math
His favorite foods are watermelon and pineapple
He likes lions and rabbits
He likes reading, puzzles, computer games, watching cartoons, and playing with friends
His favorite game is chess and he usually wins (I bet he does!)
He loves playing basketball (even though he has no bones in his thumbs)

If you see us, ask us to see his picture! I cannot post any pictures until we have official approval from China.

Paperwork and Candles

Well I have been up to my ears already with adoption paperwork, and this is just the beginning! Paperwork from both agencies, our homestudy agency (Family Connections Christian Adoptions) and our international adoption agency (WACAP). Turning in a big portion of it on Monday and then they will submit to CCCWA (China Adoption Officials) for our PA (Pre-Approval). We are finding that things are going much quicker this time around for us. With Kennedi, we turned in applications, worked on homestudy, worked on dossier, submitted dossier to China, then waited for word that we had a daughter. A year and a half from starting the process, our agency matched us with Bao Xin Mei, then we got our PA from CCCWA, and then 5 months later we went to China. This time we are matched with our son, Zhong Yong from the beginning (who I have been told has been waiting for a family for a very long time and in his paperwork it states "He hopes he could have a warm family and wants a dad and a mom"), filling out our applications, submitting for PA (after we receive this, hopefully in the next 2-3 weeks, we can send him things and he will be told he has a family!), homestudy, dossier, then travel. I have been told that when you are matched from the beginning like this, the whole process-from application to travel-is only 9 to 10 months! This could put us traveling to China in August or September! Wonderful news that we get to bring our son home quickly and he can finally have a forever family. Little scary because that is a short amount of time to come up with $15,000. So we need to get busy, busy, busy! So our first fundraiser is a Gold Canyon Fundraiser. We will earn 40% of whatever you buy! All the Christmas scents are available: Apple Spice, Cozy Christmas, Moroccan Amber Vanilla, Sugar Cookie, Autumn Walk, Cranberry Orange, Mulled Cider, Sweet Pea, Cinnamon Vanilla, Days of Christmas, Pomegranate, Warm Welcome, Clean Sheets, Holiday Wreath, and Pumpkin Pie. Your cost is $25.50 for the 26 ounce, $21.50 for the 16 ounce, and $17.00 for the 8 ounce. Orders and money are due by December 2nd so you can have them back well before Christmas. Contact me if you would like to order one. We appreciate all your support and prayers during this very exciting time for our family!

Back to CHINA!

We started the process of adoption #2 over a year ago...all to the feeling of nothing felt right and feeling like I was going crazy. We started out adopting from the Philippines, then from Foster Care, and then put a hold on the process all together. I longed for an experience just like the first time; you know the type of experience where God tells you right out what He wants from you and you just follow that request? That was so much easier. Just tell me what you want from me and I will do it. So for well over a year we traveled down this road not feeling at peace about anything and not sure what we were doing really. We often found ourselves thinking about China again but then the next day we would tell ourselves it was impossible. Until recently. I guess we weren't meant to start the adoption process a year ago. God wanted it to begin now, so He was going to drive us crazy until we waited for the perfect time-His time. I actually came across a boy that is waiting in China to be adopted, but he is not meant to be ours. However, in looking at his information on the agency's website, we came across another boy needing a home. We knew this was right where God wanted us to be. We had total peace about adopting him and knew this time it was right. Our whole family was in agreeance that he was the one (although he is not officially matched to our family yet and another family could request to adopt him, it's a race to the paperwork completion). He is older than we had originally thought we would be adopting, him and Bradley are actually the same age, but that didn't matter to us. We have zero money to adopt from China again, but that is not even really a worry to us, we know God will provide. What we do know is this boy is meant for our family. He will be 12 by the time we bring him home. At age 14 in China, children age out of the system. On the streets with no family and no way to care for themselves. I cannot imagine this being his fate in 2 1/2 years if we don't adopt him. No child should have to experience that. So please be in prayer for us and this adoption. Prayer that we will come up with the thousands of dollars it takes to adopt internationally, prayer that our paperwork process goes smoothly, and prayer that we are able to travel to China sooner than later. We will keep you posted on all the excitement. XOXOXOXOXO