Another Step Closer to Bringing our Boys Home!

It's been a long but very productive day!  Our day started when the alarm went off at 3:45 this morning but honestly, we didn't roll out of bed until more like 4:30 and was out the door by 5:00.  It was very cold and rainy the entire 3 hour drive to Austin but God's mercy was with us, as we arrived at the Secretary of State Office as the doors were opening! 

We had 11 documents with us, including our home study and each one was certified by the state, within 20 minutes!  So, while it only took 20 minutes to complete the process, it was worth the 6 hour drive,  round trip,  for the comfort of knowing our documents arrived safely and returned home, safely. After months of time, effort and energy to gather these documents, I simply didn't have the heart to Fed Ex them and risk losing any of those papers.  The remaining few documents that will require this same process, will most likely be traveling via Fed Ex.  :-)

We arrived home by noon and immediately, I scrambled to complete the appropriate paperwork and copied every document and once again, out the door, driving to the China Consulate located here in Houston.  The documents will be ready for pick up on Tuesday morning!  YEA!

I'm exhausted but it's a great peace of mind knowing these documents have been certified and authenticated by the Chinese Consulate!  Once documents have the China Authentication, they no longer age and are good to go--to be included in the dossier!  All documents have a time constraint and are valid for only 6 months.  If any document is not authenticated by the China Consulate within 6 months, they can no longer be used and the same document must be gathered, again.  Let me tell you, with our first adoption, it was no problem getting documents processed within a 6 month period but now that we have 2 children at home, working full time and running around with other family commitments, 6 months can creep up really fast!  As a matter of fact, one of our documents is due to expire very soon, so we were really thankful to get that particular document state certified and on to the China consulate.

We are tremendously blessed with the opportunity to drive to Austin, today!  Despite the rainy cold weather, we made terrific time and had no snags along the way.  God is good....all the time!

Home Study in Hand--Headed to Austin!

WHEW!  We finally made it to the end, near the end of our adoption paper work, better known as the Dossier!  The Dossier is a huge stack of paperwork that details all sorts of information about us as an individual, a couple and a family.  It's the necessary paperwork required to bring our boys home from China!

We received the home study in hand this past Saturday and now, are driving to Austin to secure the state seal on every notarized document, required by China!!  It's an exciting step in our adoption because it means we are near the end of our paper chase journey....it's not over but it's a great milestone!

The home study is the meat and potatoes for the entire adoption and is a vital 23 page document that provides documentation from a social worker verifying we are "fit parents/a fit family" for adoption.

Now, we will walk through 2 separate steps, at the same time.  While we must have all our documents authenticated from the state office in Austin, we must simultaneously submit paperwork to the immigration office requesting approval to bring our boys into the US and allow them citizenship, once the plan touches down on US soil. 

We had very high hopes of submitting our dossier to China by December but unfortunately, that isn't going to happen.  It takes several weeks to receive approval from the US immigration office and in turn, all of their approval paperwork must also receive the state seal of authentication prior to completing our dossier.  We are prayerful it will be completed and ready for China, no later than January.  We still have prayers our travels will occur in the early summer, 2014 however, God knows our path and desires and ultimately, it will be up to Him.  He has lead us down this journey and knows best....so, we'll travel when God allows it to happen. 

We are happy to have our home study in hand and to be finishing the final steps toward preparation of the Dossier!

4 YEARS A Blessed Family With Sterling!!

Yesterday marked 4 years that our family was blessed with Sterling!  Yes, on November 23, four years ago, we met this tee-tiny little boy, who came waddling into a big room, with a blank scared look and much hesitation but sat on my lap and quickly warmed up to me, when opening a container of Cheerios!

Hard to believe four years have passed, since we met our son for the first time and started our lives, together as a family.  Honestly, it feels as though Sterling has been with us forever; he has been a great blessing to our family.  Here are pictures of that tiny, scared little boy we met on November 23, 2009:

Here he is after 6 months....what a difference 6 months had made-all smiles and giggles!  He had come a long way, yet still had many milestones and challenges ahead of him. It was nothing short of amazing how much he grew and gained weight:

Talking with daddy on the phone, while daddy was on a business trip in China.  It was May of 2009 and Sterling helped mommy put together his toddler bed.  It was time to graduate from mommy & daddy's bedroom to his own bedroom!  He was ready and excited for his own bedroom and a "big boy bed."  He was so tiny when he arrived home and developmentally/emotionally/socially on the level of an infant, that he slept in a crib the first 6 months he was home.  It's very important to meet these children where they are, not their chronological age but rather their developmental/emotional/social age.  For Sterling, he was on the level of a 6 month old baby. 

Fast forward 4 years and WOW, what a transformation!  God blessed him with straight "A's" on his report card and he is now speaking in sentences.  We are continuing speech therapy for more intelligible speech but he has come SO far in four years!  He had absolutely NO language and no speech at adoption-not in Mandrin, not in English.  Zero, notta, none!  We started from ground zero at 4 years old.  He's an incredible kid, who God continues to richly bless!!!

We are blessed daily with the joy of Sterling, our little Ferdinand, who enjoys the simple pleasures in life, is very compassionate and loving, always a smile on his face and is determined in everything he applies himself to; He is our model/example for the ultimate gift of forgiveness and unconditional love, who has overcome so much, in his short little life, yet, continues to have a loving heart and happy spirit, despite his past.  God has BIG plans for Sterling and we are blessed to have been chosen as his parents.  Thank you God, for the blessing of Sterling! 

Birthday Celebration!

We celebrated Sterling's birthday this past Saturday by spending time together with friends at a local park.  We attended 2 birthday parties last year that were at a park and it was a fun time, so, we decided this year that Sterling would have his celebration outdoors, too!  We were blessed with great weather!  The bad rain had cleared by Saturday and it was before the cold snap that is scheduled to hit tonight.  To keep it all in proper perspective, our high tomorrow is scheduled to be 54 degrees with the lows tonight around 34.  We've been experiencing highs in the mid to upper 70's for several weeks, so this is a big change for us. 

 It was a great park that has several wooden structures for climbing and playing, the typical swings and a zip line, that all the bigger kids really enjoyed!  Sterling's birthday is so close to Christmas, that we typically choose a time either before or after the Christmas Holiday Season to celebrate with friends.

Elijah at 23 Months

Eli is 23 months and very handsome!  Before we know it,  he'll be turning 2 years old! 

Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.  Joshua 1:9

October Comes to An End!

It's been a great month and a very quick month!  We celebrated Arabella's 11th birthday, both at home with the family and recently had a birthday party to include her friends.  I was stumped at how to celebrate because while I have plenty of experience planning Justin's birthday parties and those since Sterling has been home, a girl's party is a whole new element and one that can be expensive!  There are plenty of enticing opportunities but with each, came a price and a rather hefty price at that!  Fortunately, we have plenty of friends and neighbors with daughters, so I turned to them for ideas.  It was suggested to have a pizza party and we really like that idea, however we added an extra twist.  We had a Halloween birthday Pizza Party!  We asked all her friends to come dress in costume and had Halloween crafts for the kids to do while waiting on the pizza.  It turned out well and seemed to be a hit.  She has a great group of friends!

Halloween was at risk with tremendous thunder storms that blew in the evening before and lasted most of the morning and early after noon on Halloween but fortunately, around 2:00 pm, the rain stopped and sun came out.  It turned out to be a beautiful evening and Trick-or-treating was saved!  We had fun walking in our area of the neighborhood, allowing the kids to go trick-or-treating and visiting with neighbors along the way.  We are very blessed with excellent neighbors!

Today, November 2 and we already have our Christmas lights going up!!  Yes, our Christmas lights are being installed this very moment, as I'm typing.  I took the liberty of pushing for lights now, so that we're not at the last minute, trying to squeeze in the installation of Christmas lights.  This way, we're ready to go and when Thanksgiving comes around, we'll only need to place the yard decorations.  YEA!  Finally, I feel like there is one area of my life that I'm not 2 steps behind.  <smile>

It's such a gorgeous day and it's hard to concentrate on work, so I'm taking a few moments, savoring the beauty outside our dinning room window and typing this post.  In reality, I should be doing "homework" as the kids call it...but really, it's lesson planning for a group of Pre-K children for the upcoming week.  As a school teacher, when I have work to complete at home, Arabella and Sterling refer to it as mom's homework.  :0) 

We received a message from our social worker today to say that she anticipates our home study being completed this week!!!!  YEA!!!!!!  We have all of our documents gathered and the final piece to the puzzle was our home study.  It will be a great sigh of relief to have the home study and move on to the next step--immigration and the state seal.  We are contemplating a drive up to Austin with all of our many documents to receive the state seal in person as oppose to mailing them and waiting 10+ days for them to return and the risk of having them out of our possession. 

Can't close without the mention of Eli & Ming (Ezekiel).  It was great to receive information on Eli and great news to receive our Pre-Approval from China for Ming!  The year is coming to an end with such jest and joy for our family!

It's been a great month and hard to believe it's already come to a close but new hopes and journeys await us in the month of November! 

Moore Family is Growing by 2 More!!!

*Warning for those reading, this blog post is very, very long but to our family, it's very necessary. When our precious son comes home, we want him to understand the love our God has for him and the joy that surrounded his adoption and hopefully by reading this post, he can feel the love and intensity that surrounded him from the moment we saw his big beautiful smile, even while he is thousands of miles away from us......and forever to eternity, he will be surrounded by family, love and most of all a God that brought us all together!

Yes, you heard correctly, the Moore family is definitely growing by 2 more!  Today, we received the official notice from China, known as the "Pre-Approval" to adopt and bring home our son, Ming!

Our journey that lead to this day is a special and unique story, just like with each of our current adoptions.  God tugged our heart around the July time frame and today, October 29, we received the Pre-Approval to bring him home!!

We already have Pre-Approval to bring Elijah home and during our paper chase, back in July, God gave a special tug at my spirit and heart.  See, in the very beginning of starting another adoption, which was the April time frame, I had wanted to adopt two boys at once but due to the finances involved with international adoption, we didn't see that it would be possible at this time.... but little did we know, God had other plans for us. 

Earl knew my desire was to adopt 2 boys at once but we knew in the financial realm, it would be best to adopt 2 boys separately, to spread out the cost.  In the background, being active on a particular yahoo advocacy email group for families wanting to adopt from China, I knew from time to time, children  come available for adoption who have grants to help cover the cost of adoption. So, one time and one time only, I prayed to God, pouring out my desires and my heart, "God you know our circumstances and the desires of my heart and if you intend for us to adopt two boys at once, it must be the right circumstances which consist of a grant to cover the entire adoption and the child's medical need to be covered by a Shriners or another charitable organization that would accept our insurance without billing the out of pocket expenses."  It's amazing how God used that one, single prayer!!  A true testimony to praying specifics and receiving the blessings for which we pray!!

After this prayer, I went about my business, not really "thinking" it would come to past.  Me of little faith but also, realizing that when praying, I ultimately left it up to God and His will be done. Which was no promise to me that we would be adopting two boys this time around.  It was in God's hands. This was in the May time frame.  On a couple occasions, I did revisit the conversation with Earl about any possibility of adopting two at once but again, financially on paper, it was best to wait.  So, I backed off from pressuring Earl any longer about adopting 2 at once.....until July, when receiving an email that was advocating for Ming to find a family. 

Okay, before going any further, allow me to preface this with, any time an email was received that strongly advocated for an older orphan with a severe medical need, I prayed for the child but always thought, "there's a family somewhere out there, but not us."  Well, this time, it was different.  Totally different.  I opened an email-"the email," on a Sunday evening and it spoke of a little boy who had a severe medical condition, severe scoliosis and it was severe to the point that if he doesn't receive an operation to correct the growth of his spine, it could lead to his death--AND, his condition is INOPERABLE in China.  (ie: he cannot receive the needed surgery in China).  That definitely caught my attention, along with the mention that he was an older boy--which for the vast majority of boys in China-is a dead end.  Please understand, that with China adoptions, girls are adopted many, many times over boys and older boys are definitely at the bottom of the list for being adopted.  A vast number of boys wait for a family while girls come and go out of the orphanages. 

God immediately alerted my spirit and I continued to read further about this special little boy.........there was extensive medical information on this child (a spinal condition--ie: typically covered by a Shriners Hospital) and his adoption came with a substantial grant to help cover his adoption. 

This bible verse was brought to my spirit: "In you the orphan finds mercy" Hosea 14:3

I continued to read further and clicked on an advocacy blog that is sponsored by a beautiful Christian mom who has also adopted from China (and is currently waiting to bring home another precious child from China)  Her posting went into great detail. 

God had deeply touched my spirit and my heart--once your spirit and heart are touched, how can one turn away?

Here is the post:

Wanted: Forever Family for this precious boy with the HUGEST SMILE!

Ming needs a forever family FAST! 

He needs vital surgery and it CAN NOT be done in China!!

He is doing well now, but if he does not get his surgery, his scoliosis can cause major permanent debilitation,  pain for sweet Ming and possibly threaten his life!

****THis Post (below) was written by a fellow advocate who met, spent time and helped precious Ming. She has more info on this sweet darling, probably the most comprehensive information out there on him! Please contact me if you would like more info or to be put in touch with this special friend of Ming's!

Meet my friend Ming.  He is a spunky, seven-year-old Chinese boy in need of a forever family.  His estimated birthdate is September 16, 2005. Ming’s special need is severe congenital scoliosis that is inoperable in China (but not in the USA). 

I first met Ming in May 2011, when I visited the children’s welfare institution where he lives. He had a winning charm and an adorable way about him.  I visited Ming’s orphanage again in May 2012, and was reminded of his wonderful personality.  Given his medical conditions and the life-threatening implications I had heard could result from it, I decided to see if there was anything I could do to facilitate his adoption.  With the help of many supportive people and organizations, I was able to bring Ming to Shanghai, where I have been living as an expat, for a comprehensive evaluation. My goal was to obtain a better understanding of his medical needs, so that prospective parents would be able to make an informed decision.

Ming’s current health status is good.  His scoliosis has not yet affected the functioning of his internal organs. So, for now he is doing well.  He has surprisingly good motor coordination at this point; he can run, climb, kick and ride a scooter etc. 

At the Shanghai United Family Hospital, Ming received an array of scans, which were then sent to an expert in neuro-spinal surgeries at the Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota for interpretation. The news was both good and bad.  
The good news was that, in the right hands, Ming’s condition is operable.  It will require very complicated operations by surgeons with the right expertise.  The consulting surgeon recommended his colleagues in St. Louis, Missouri at the University of Washington Hospital or the Shriner’s Hospital, which is an affiliated, charitable hospital at which these surgeons also work. 


The bad news is that without this surgery, Ming’s prognosis is not good. Ming’s curve will undoubtedly worsen as he grows, which will likely cause restrictive lung disease and severe gastrointestinal problems.  Ming needs to get surgeries to avoid developing these life-threatening complications.  The consulting surgeon indicated that these surgeries should get started as soon as possible, but most definitely within the next four to five years.

After his visit to Shanghai, Ming returned to his orphanage, where he is loved and cared for, but which can’t replace a family and home of his own.  He attends first grade in the community school.  I was very pleasantly surprised at how well he did while staying at my house.  He is cute and cuddly, and he loves to laugh.  He studied with his caregiver, played school with me (he was the teacher, of course), helped make dumplings, played outdoor games, and snuggled up to hear a story. I believe whole-heartedly that he will bring joy to whatever family decides to adopt him.

Ming’s adoption file is currently with Children’s Home Society and Family Services of Minnesota, but they are willing to transfer his file to other adoption agencies if necessary. If you might seriously consider adopting Ming, please contact me.

 

 

 

 

I gathered all the information, contacted everyone involved and started conversations to learn more about this 8 year old little boy.  I was blessed to speak with the lady who lived with Ming for a short time who was able to share with us a little about his personality and current state of his medical condition.  There is very detailed information available thanks to the efforts, love and concern from this is lady, who we fondly refer to as Ming's angel on earth, that includes scans, x-rays and an array of other tests that have been reviewed by American Neurosurgeons, therefore the information is accurate and reliable. 

From here, I approached Earl and asked if we could have dinner together, away from Arabella and Sterling to allow us to discuss in great depth and have time to ponder and pray about the information.  We had dinner, I presented the information to him and asked him to simply pray for how God would lead his heart but Earl immediately responded with let's begin contacting medical facilities to inquire about medical care. 

I started contacting Shriners Hospital and was confronted with many struggles and challenges along the way.  One of our many struggles was with our agency, who said they did not allow out-of-birth adoptions.  Ming was an out of birth order adoption.  With each struggle, I would ask God if perhaps, it wasn't His will for us to be on this journey and with each prayer, God spoke loud and clear--continue the fight--continue the path for which I have for you.  He sent prayer warriors to our family that were incredible warriors who encouraged us and most of all, prayed for us. 

Isaiah 45:2-3

I will go before you
    and will level the mountains^[a];
I will break down gates of bronze
    and cut through bars of iron.
³ I will give you hidden treasures,
    riches stored in secret places,
so that you may know that I am the Lord,
    the God of Israel, who summons you by name.

At this point, we had not shared with Arabella and Sterling about Ming.  We wanted to wait until we were absolutely sure the adoption was taking place, before telling them.  We were waiting medical confirmation before making a commitment to adopt him but our conversations surrounded Ming almost daily!  We spoke about him so often, that he already felt a part of our family.  By September, I shared with Earl that we had fondly spoke of Ming so often that he was now a part of my heart and asked his feelings and thoughts on Ming's adoption.  He agreed and instantly said, "let's go for it."  Let's commit!!  This also brought with it another challenge...it was at this time, we learned that our agency doesn't allow out-of-birth-order adoptions.  We had to respectfully but firmly and with a determined attitude, defend our stance on the desire to adopt Ming.  Fortunately, after over a week of waiting for our agency's ruling, they agreed we could submit "Letter of Intent to Adopt" to China! 

We typed our "Letter of Intent to Adopt" (LOI) and the agency submitted it on September 26. After a very long month of waiting, a month that felt an eternity, today, we received our Pre-Approval to bring Ming home!!!

We will lovingly name him: Ezekiel Ming Moore! 

Please keep us in your prayers, as we are still working through the medical details.  We haven't found a Shriners that can accept his case but we are not giving up and will continue to contact all the Shriners Hospitals that can handle Scoliosis BUT, regardless, we are taking a leap of faith and standing with bold obedience that God will see us through and Ming is coming home, to his forever family, hopefully and prayerfully, by next summer!