New Route

After much prayer, discussion and research, our plan has changed. We are submitting our application this week to adopt our baby from China! We are very excited and a bit nervous as we embark on this new journey. Our hearts are trusting in God to lead the way. All for you baby 2!!!

26 Months

So, there is no news to share. As far as I know, an American family has not been selected since May 2011. This is not good. However, we still feel that the Lord is telling us to wait. We have considered other paths, but our hearts remain in Japan. We ask for prayers as we continue to wait, as waiting on the unknown is so very difficult.

2 Years

This time two years ago we were filled with excitement as we began the wait for our new baby. Now, we are still excited, but our hearts our heavy with all that is going on in with the birthmother interviews and the fact that these women are too scared to pick the United States as a place for their baby. We must believe that this new baby, whenever he or she appears is a miracle baby. For a mother to choose the US, then to choose a family with children over a family with no children, then to choose a Caucasian family over a Japanese family and finally to choose a family living in Georgia instead of Hawaii will be nothing short of miracle!

We are expecting a miracle! Keep praying for us and for this birth mother. Pray for peace and comfort....for both of us.

22 Months

Who's counting?

We did have a talk with the agency asking if they are still confident that we will be chosen, we were advised to not give up hope. So, here we are.

21 Months

Wowzeer! 21 months is a long time to wait! We learned that our new album and new letter was mailed to Japan last week, so I am thinking it has arrived by now. We sent these new items filled with our hearts and filled with our prayers. We are so hopeful that someone will connect to us through these things. I hope we hear something soon. All for you baby 2.

Room and Letter

I added a photo to the nursery. It is framed in red on the very top. A cool Mary Blair print from her original creations for "It's A Small World" at Disney. I like it!

This is our third letter we have sent. This time we printed it on some nice, pretty paper and each letter will be packaged in one of these beautiful envelopes with a ribbon tied around it. We are hoping that this helps a birthmother feel special as she opens this beautiful, heartfelt letter.

20 Months and No End in Sight

We have reached the 20 month marker, not a goal we were trying to accomplish, but here we are. Because of the recent tragic events in Japan, adoptions have been placed on hold, so our wait time seems to stretch on and on. We are prayerful for the Japanese people and trying to remain hopeful ourselves.

Only A Year

If we were Mayan, we would only have been waiting one year for our new baby. You see, the Mayan calendar has 19 MONTHS to complete one year. In our world we have been waiting 19 months, but in the Mayan world, a mere year. Anyway....................

New Book Again

Maybe 3 time's a charm right. I spoke with the agency today. They have requested we make a new book again. This will be the 3rd time! This time we are not to include any photos of our Kaori. We only will mention her in our letter. So be it. Whatever we need to do. So, I have been working on our new book today and I am almost finished. We learned that there is another family waiting to adopt a 2nd time again as well as us. So, that is good to know......I guess.

We also received our new I600-A in the mail today. So, that should last us until October 2012. Let's hope we have our baby before then. Geez!

Eighteen Years

..............i mean months.

The Reveal

Back in November, we were told that we needed to send pictures of a decorated nursery. I admit, it stressed me out a bit to think of what to do for a gender neutral nursery. I ran so many different ideas around in my head and searched online for inspiration. Well, once the new year arrived, I got down to it and finally got to work. I have really had fun decorating it and I hope that the birthmothers like it. I REALLY hope they like it! I did a painting for Kaori's nursery soon after she came home. Well, I was uncertain as to what to paint for our new baby, so I ended up doing numerous smaller projects for him or her. I drew and painted four smaller pictures that are framed on the walls, I made a banner, designed the mobile, made a pillow and made the artwork on the wall. So, I think that is special for the baby. Once the baby comes home, I will do something more personal for him or her. So, here is my reveal. Too bad this blog only has a few visitors. :(











I bought this onesie what seems like forever ago, but at least I can display it now!

2011

Happy New Year!

Now that the New Year has passed, I hope things are moving forward in Japan. We received news that in 2010, there were 9 adoptions. We also received news that the program is no longer accepting applications due to the extended wait time which is now 12-18 months. Well, we are coming up on month 18, so perhaps we will hear something soon. But, we are not getting our hopes up.

I have been getting some work done on the nursery and will take pictures later this month to send to Taz so that she can add them to our album. We heard that our new album has made it to Japan and we are excited to know that we have a fresh start this year. We are supposed to update our immigration paperwork come Feb. 1. It is not a big deal to do that, but I much prefer to not have to. :) From what I can tell there are at least 12 waiting families. That is a lot considering they only placed 9 children last year. I am prayerful our time will come soon.

Well, that is all for now!