Bryan Lehman - 6 Days Old

Here is Bryan (our new nephew) at 6 days old. We cannot wait to meet him!

We Are Waiting...Again

We got my birth certificate in this past week along with Troy's birth certificate certified by the Secretary of State in Iowa. We also got in what was suppossed to be the certified copy of our marriage certificate, BUT we got somebody elses DIVORCE DECREE!!! AAAAGGGGHHHHH! I am going to mail it back and email the sender to have them expediate our MC. Once we get it in, my BC and our MC will be sent to Texas's Secretary of State to be certified!

On a more positive note, we have our first homestudy visit tomorrow! I also FAXED some documents to CCAI to see if they were done right before we have them notarized and they were GREAT!!! YEAH! We have also had a lot of rain this week which is always appreciated. Troy and I dug up some grass around our deck for our latest landscaping project and replanted the grass in some spots that needed some TLC. Luckily, they are taking great. We are just waiting for the yard to dry out before we add the plants and rock! Now I understand why you pay landscapers the big bucks, but there is so much pride in saying you did it yourself!

Introducing...

Bryan Reed Lehman!

Happy Easter...Happy Birthday!

Happy Easter to all our family and friends...Happy Birthday to Bryan Reed Lehman, son of Michael and Tiffany (Amy's brother and SIL) and big brother, Patrick. Bryan was born April 15, 2006 at 6:16 p.m. and weighed in at 8 lbs. 1 oz. We cannot wait to see him!

We have been enjoying the coming of Spring and seeing all of nature coming alive! This is one aspect of living in the midwest that I really like compared to Texas. God has a great way of giving us 4 seasons! With that, we have been enjoying this new season with a storm door for our front door, new patio furniture and flowers around our barn. Next weekend, we plan to landscape around the deck, weather permitting. You can see some of the before and after pictures of our barn and the tree in our front yard which has beautiful blooms!

Going...Going...Gone!

We FINALLY sent our homestudy material in the mail today! It was quite the chore to gather and complete all the necessary documents! We had to send in the adoption application, DCFS application, bio's on both Troy and I, floorplan of our house with all fire exits (we had to draw it), document from our health insurance stating they will cover an adopted child, Jack's immunization records, financial statement, copies of our physicals, copy of our marriage certificate, copy of 2005 tax return, and all the questions we had to answer about our marriage, spouse, parenting, feelings on adoption, etc. It feels great to have it done and in the mail! We also got our police clearnance reports done yesterday (we are without a record!!!) and our I-600A (petition to adopt an orphan) along with the money order went in the mail on Wednesday! WWWHHHEEEEWWW! Now we are just waiting for our certified copies of our marriage certificate and birth certificates to come in the mail. From there, our adoption specialist will complete our homestudy. We have 2 face-to-face meetings and 2 visits in our home. It is our goal to have the homestudy process completed by the end of May, early June, if not sooner! I just saw that the wait now is 10-14 months after you receive your log-in date (LID- once all your paperwork-dossier-gets to China) to get a referral. We were told to be patient, so our patience is being tested. Please keep us in your prayers during this time and that the process may speed up! It is great that so many people want to adopt orphans, but it just makes our wait even longer!

Fingerprinting! Done!

Well, we got the first round of finger printing done today. In the state of IL, each adoptive family has to be DCSF certified as a foster home. Our DCFS application will go in the mail on Monday and it is our goal to have our homestudy paperwork in the mail by Wednesday! I think I have spent over 7 hours just on the homestudy paperwork alone. In the meantime, we are waiting for our certified birthcertificates and marriage certificates to come in. This whole process is doing a lot of paperwork and then waiting! It is exciting though to know their is a wonderful gift waiting for us in the end!

On another positive note, I passed the 2 teacher certification tests for the state of IL!!! I have one more to take at the end of the month! I told Troy we better not be moving for a LONG time!

We also survived the tornados that went through the Midwest last Sunday evening. Luckily, no damage was done to our property. We just had our electricity out for 8 hours! About 1/2 mile from our place received lots of damage! Thank God Jack is OK, especially since we were not home! He is such a big boy!

Our First Interview!

Troy and I drove this morning to Bloomington for our first interview in the homestudy process! We came back with MORE paperwork to fill out! Many of it is personal and makes you think about how you really live and operate in this world as a individual, but also as a couple. I think all couples should have to fill this paperwork out! Maybe the divorce rate would be less, maybe there would be more mature and responsible parents, maybe more people would choose to marry instead of having children outside of wedlock...

Here is some of the material we have been reading and watching! China's Lost Girls video by National Geographic is fabulous! It really explains the one child policy in China and the problems that have come with it. It also follows a group of adoptive parents on their trip to China to pick up their daughters! It is definately 5 star material!

Things are Looking Up!

Yeah!!! Troy and I got our physicals scheduled for this week along with our first appointment with a homestudy agency! We decided to go with ABC Counseling and Family Services in Normal, IL. They are cheaper then the other agencies, plus they had the best customer service! We are also getting our passport pictures taken this week. A new Walgreens went in by our Dr. so we are going to be efficient and kill two birds with one stone! My passport is current, but we need to send passport photos in with our dossier. Troy is going to need two sets...one for the dossier and the other to send in with his old passport! It feels good to get the ball rolling! I was reading online where it is taking longer for referrels since Oprah did a show on the one child policy in China. In addition, Russia and Ukraine adoptions have been unstable, so people are switching to China. China has had three times as many people applying to adopt which has slowed down the process. At this point, we are OK with that. It gives us time to save more money and work on fundraisers. I am sure once we are finished with our Dossier, we will be anxious. In the meantime, we conitnue to push along and pray for our child(ren).

Our Chinese Imperial Dog

Here are some pictures of Jack(son). He loves to sleep, chase rabbits and play with his hedgehogs! Troy and I decided it is only appropriate to stay in the tradition of adopting Chinese children since we already have a Chinese Imprerial dog... a Lhaso Apso.

Back to the paperchase...we mailed the application for Troy's birth certificate today and my birth certificate and marriage certificate went in the mail last Tuesday. Our first agency fee along with the signed and notarized service agreement and fee schedule go in the mail on Monday. We prefer to send those by certified mail,so.... On the schedule for next week is to make an appointment with our Dr. for physicals, get passport photos taken (Troy's needs to be renewed and we need to send extras in for both of us) select our homestudy agency and get fingerprinted. I have been calling and getting information on homestudy agencies in the area and it has been extremely frustrating! It looks like we will be choosing one in Normal, IL. They returned my phone call right away and were the only ones who offered to send information before I got a chance to ask. I was impressed by their customer service, plus, they are cheaper then the rest, but it still isn't cheap! It is amazing how the fees vary by each agency for the same service. I have been extremely frustrated with Lutheran Social Services of Illinois. I wanted to get info on their service since they are a part of our church body and sometimes pastor's get a price break in services. I have left 7 messages with them and only one has been returned. Even then, I gave the social worker my work phone, cell phone and home phone. She could have reached me if she really wanted, but... I don't know if they are under staffed and their caseloads are high, but customer service plays a huge role in our book! Hopefully the agency in Normal continues to impress us!

Snow in Spring

Yesterday was the first day of spring and we had 4 inches of snow! This was the first time school has been canceled for me since Troy and I moved away from Texas! It was a great day to get things done around the house, work on adoption paperwork and read! While I was reading, I heard a bird chirping outside my bedroom window. There perched on the branch was a beautiful cardinal!

Our Story

Troy and I were accepted to adopt from China on 3/18/06! We sent our application to Chinese Children Adoption International out of Centennial, CO 3/14/06 and were estatic when we received the call our app was accepted! Adoption was always in the back of our mind and it was never an issue of whether to go for it or not, but after dealing with infertility for several years and having procedures fail on us, God kept planting the seed in our mind. We had two potential domestic adoptions that fell through and knew with international, it was a guarantee! We started researching countries and agencies, but felt led back to China. People ask us why China and we say, "Why not?" On our way to Alaska for Troy's brothers wedding, God kept on putting adopted Chinese children in our midst when we were in Chicago. While eating lunch at The Cheesecake Factory, a child was in the booth in front of us. Later on, two more families walked in with children. While killing time before we had to get to the airport, we walked Woodfield Mall. Once again, we ran into another family at Rainforest Cafe'! Troy and I stopped to talk with them and asked what agency they used! CCAI came up again. This was after I had talked to people about the agency they chose and we felt God was leading us to CCAI! Then the real kicker, we went to our friends church from seminary in Wasilla, Alaska and a girl was baptized at the 8:00 service who was adopted from China! Once again, God was speaking to us!

So now our application has been accepted for either a boy or girl and we requested we were open to twins! Now the paperchase, fundraisers and grant writing begins! We cannot wait!