Pity Party is Over!

Pity Party is over! I actually felt better after writing the last post. Writing down all of "that"--released emotions (I guess)! I also met the girls for our monthly Birthday Club. I look forward to this every month. But honestly, the comments from the last posting were AWESOME! I printed them out & have been reading them several times daily. You girls gave wonderful advice and you were all right. Thank you! Thank you! I love the AWAA moms. They are so supportive and I love that. Hope everyone has an awesome weekend and week! Summer is coming.

Waiting

This waiting is HARD! I've kinda been in a funk since before the weekend. Waiting on this RA (referral acceptance) has been difficult. In the beginning, I felt such a peace about the whole process. "We are just waiting on our RA!". My mood is not so chipper anymore.
I wake up in the morning--think about what Sydney is doing (but she does not know her name is Sydney yet!). She is probably getting ready for bed. Think about her when I pack the kids lunches (her pictures are staring at us on the frig). PJ & I have actually had "conversations" with her pictures. Yes--we are crazy! I think about her when I go to bed--this is the hardest part. Sydney is just getting up for her day--what is she doing, eating, are they taking good care of her, is she hungry--the list goes on & on. The kids & I are always talking about her.
I think we are on day 54 of waiting for our RA. My guess is we will not receive our RA til we reach around 100. I need to change my mood NOW! If anyone has any ideas (other than praying bc/I have been doing that), please send them to me!
I do feel guilty for this funk or "pity party" as PJ calls it. I realize that so many families are still waiting to see their precious child's face or waiting on their homestudy to be finished or waiting on USCIS approval etc! But I'm still ugh about the waiting. Thanks for letting me vent!

Good Stories:
My kids are wonderful! PJ overheard Philip talking about his "baby sister" tonight at his soccer game. Not sure how adoption came up, but Philip was telling his buddies that his sister was coming from China. 4th grade boys DO NOT like talking about sisters in general. Since I shared one about Philip, I need to share one about Ashlyn. We took the kids to stay the night at a hotel last weekend. Ashlyn & I were flipping thru channels trying to find something "kid friendly". I came across CNN (obviously not kid friendly) & they had a picture of President Obama & Hillary Clinton & some other cabinet member (male). Ashlyn said to me "that is President Obama & his parents". I love the fact that she does not think about the skin color of people. My family is truly blessed!

Ashlyn's Picture from Church

Ashlyn made this picture at church last Sunday. Ashlyn is posting the rest-It is of Jesus and me. The picture has flowers, sun & a sky. I love Jesus very much!

Adoption Questions or Comments

After PJ & I tell people that we received our referral for our beautiful little girl, so many people say "you guys have waited so long" or "are you glad it is almost finally over" or some variety of those. But in adoption reality (China), we did not even wait one day. Your "waiting period" in China does not actually start til your dossier goes to China. Our referral came in hours before our dossier went to China. PJ & I feel blessed beyond words that we were matched with no waiting period. And honestly--sometimes we feel guilty. But then we remember that this is totally a God thing. If you are waiting to be matched with your little one, remember that God already knows who they are.

Sydney will have the last name Vinyard. Not sure what her exact name will be but right now we are thinking it will be Sydney Hope Li Vinyard. But that could change tomorrow! But her last name will be Vinyard!

Even though we know Sydney is our daughter, we just can't book tickets to China & go pick her up. China has a lot of rules/regulations/stuff we have to do in order to adopt. Once you decide to adopt from China, you just accept those rules & try to finish them as quickly as possible!! We are awaiting on our RA (referral acceptance) now.

Why China? PJ & I researched several countries (including the United States) in the very beginning of our process (Feb '08). But we felt like China just fit our family--stable program, cost, we saw the greatest need in China. It was not the whole "girl thing". PJ & I did not even know if we wanted to adopt a boy or a girl. By the way, China does have A LOT of boys that need to be adopted.

Will Sydney speak English? No she will not. This is a question we hear a lot! And then people ask what will we do to communicate? I really don't know! But for some reason, I'm not stressing or worrying about it. (I know several of you are SHOCKED!) I think having two older children in the house will be a great help to Sydney.

My least favorite question--how much does "Sydney" cost? Ugh. I'll just leave my comment to Ugh. Our agency stated at the beginning of our process that the total process would be $20-$22K.

Will we meet Sydney's birth parents? No we will not. We have Sydney's finding ad & know that her mother kept her from Oct 22 to Oct 25. She then dropped her off at the Children's Hospital. Sydney's birth mom made the ultimate selfless act. She put Sydney's needs first. Sydney was born very premature & only weighing 4 pounds at birth. I'm assuming this is all we will ever know. But THANK YOU to Li Sixin's birth mom.

Are we finally "done"? Honestly, we can't answer that. We said "yes" after we had Philip. We said "yes" after we had Ashlyn. And then God placed adoption on our hearts. This journey to Sydney has been AWESOME. It has brought our family closer to each other & God. I'm not sure how it will work with 3 kids. But I know that we will figure it out! I'm sure I will need a lot of advice from the BTDT crowd.

Please comment directly on the blog! Just click on the "notes from a friend" to leave a comment. I'm going to burn the blog (not sure how?) for the kids after we get back from China & then yearly after that. Kinda like a baby or memory book for Sydney.

Spring Carnival

We attended the Spring Carnival at our church on Saturday (yes I'm a little behind on posting--sorry!). It was a blast! Everyone had a great time. Can't wait for next year.

Someday

I found the following poem in Philip's (our 9 year old) folder today. PJ & I both teared up when we read it. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Someday

Someday I will hear my neighbor's old voice again.

Someday I will be a Marine in combat.

Someday I will feel my great-grandpa's hand.

Someday I will hear the Harley's motor again.

Someday I will be a man.

Someday I will have a sister from China.

Someday I will have a perfect life.

Someday I will die.

Someday I will go to Heaven.

Someday I will see God.

Sydney's Present Home

We are still waiting on our RA (referral acceptance). So we still can not post pictures of our cutie! We are thinking our RA will arrive somewhere between June to August. Basically, the RA means that China officially approves us to adopt Li Si Xin (Sydney Hope). I think it is okay to post pictures of the orphanage & a map of where Sydney is in China. Sydney's city is known as the city of flowers. Not exactly Amarillo!! The city has a population of 8 million. Wow! Average temperature is 21.7 degrees Centigrade (71 degrees Fahrenheit).

I realize this post is BORING! Sorry!

Sydney is in Guangzhou City. It is the yellow in the middle of the picture.

Picture of Sydney's orphanage.

The updated orphanage pictures that we received in March show bright green everywhere. The green almost hurts your eyes. The orphanage looks huge to me. Not quite what I expected??

Cardboard Testimonies

This is an awesome video from our church from May '08. I'm sure you have probably already seen it on youtube. It is worth watching again! Today's sermon was filled with new cardboard testimonies. Grab some tissues & pause my playlist at the bottom.

Easter Sunday

We had a fun-filled Easter. Started out with a super packed auditorium at church--awesome message. I'll post the link from last year's in the next posting. And then off to my parents house for a yummy lunch & egg-hunt. This time next year, Sydney will be home. How awesome!

Ashlyn being silly!

A-Team (Ava & Ash)

My cute kids!

Pre-Approval!!

We have our Pre-Approval (PA) to adopt Li Si Xin. Exciting news! PJ & I celebrated by having lunch at Blue Sky--the same restaurant we were in when the referral call came in. Cheesy. I know! I think we waited 27 days from EA to PA.

Our FC said that we can expect our Referral Acceptance (RA) within 3-5 months of our Electronic Acceptance (EA) which was March 12. Our dossier has not been reviewed by CCAA--which is why it might take 5 months. All in God's timing!

As you can tell--we have a lot of A's to accomplish. And yes--we know that PJ's name is wrong all over the document! I called our FC & she said it should not be a problem.

**I know that a lot of people reading our story might have questions about adoption, our journey, why adopt from China, etc. Ask them! You can either comment or email me. I'm pretty open about the entire process and love people to be interested in adoption. I'm by no means an expert on adoption. But we have some of the same questions asked all the time!