Care Package for the Baby

We are trying to think about what we want to place in Baby Zac's care package.
I have read somewhere (on a China adopt blog) that disposable cameras are a good idea. Not sure about that one though.
So far I am thinking: baby blanket, stuffed animal/rattle, small photo album of our family and house, and a few laminated photos hole-punched so they can ziptie them to his crib (thanks TH for that idea!).
I realize we may never see any of these items again, too, so I am not sending anything irreplaceable.
And he is only 15 months old, so he may not understand any of this at all. But we can try!
I have been sleeping with his baby blanket every night so it will have our scent. That sounds really weird but maybe I won't be completely foreign to him when he sees me for the first time on Gotcha Day!

We Accept the Referral!

Today we officially accepted the referral for Baby Antony.
It has taken only 2 days to decide - - but it feels like 2 weeks while we looked over his medical file and prayed about whether to accept the referral.

I feel very, very at peace about this decision. This is our little boy!
Can't wait to kiss his chubby little cheeks and hold him in my arms!!

Now to work on our i800 application and get that sent in the mail!
We cannot take custody of the baby until this last part is approved by Immigration.
We estimate it will take 60 days...hopefully less!

This is our little boy!!

Referral!!

On July 25 we received our official referral from Carolina Adoption Services!
Honestly I was not even expecting the email when it came.
I had not slept well during the night, and when I did sleep, I dreamed about the Baby. (I was devastated in my dream because they matched us with a white baby girl).

So I was staring at the ceiling at 5am and couldn't go back to sleep, and ironically my husband was awake too. Which is a miracle in itself because he only wakes up when he has to - as in, 7am, to catch the shuttle for work at 7:40am!

I decided to check my email since I had my little iPod under my pillow and couldn't go back to sleep.
And then there was the email from CAS: "Presenting Mr. Antony".

I slapped my husband repeatedly. Reaction. Couldn't help it.
We were so shocked. Less than 2 weeks after our NAC approval and we were matched and then just two weeks later received the official referral with his picture and medical information.
Time is ticking (we leave here in 10 months!!) so I am very thankful and very blessed to have gotten it so quickly!!

He is a beautiful little boy and is staying at a wonderful orphanage here in Nairobi. He is only 30 minutes away from me (55 minutes in traffic!). They are taking really good care of him at that place and we are really at peace about him being there until we can take him home.

Blessed Beyond Words!!

Waiting for Referral News

Sooo....I have been waiting to post our SUPER GOOD NEWS until I had a little more information.
We were informed two weeks ago that we have been matched by Little Angels.
We know he is a boy. And we know he was born May 2011.  That is all we were told.
Apparently there was a misspelling of his name in some of the paperwork, so we still have to wait to receive the official referral that will include all his medical history and his pictures!

So we continue to wait.  I have not "unguarded" my heart yet. Sounds strange, I know, but I just can't go there yet. Too afraid of getting disappointed. So we patiently wait. Honestly I am still in shock. Part of me still thinks this is not going to happen after all.

In the meantime, the kids have all named the baby.
Nick: "Spiderman"
Sabrina: "Cutie Pie"
Emma: "Treelo"

Waiting for a Match!

I heard from our Stateside agency and our agency here.
Stateside says it might take several months to match us to a child. The agency here says it generally takes them 4-8 weeks to match families to a child.  Friends, please pray that it is shorter. We have to file our next round of paperwork to Immigration before we go on vacation in August! If so, then maybe our approval from Immigration will be ready when we get back.

I know God has a specific child that he wants to become part of our family. I also know there is an enemy who is trying very hard to keep that child away from our family. So, prayer warriors, continue to declare blessings over our adoption process (which will keep the enemy away!) and let's keep focusing on how big and how great our God is!  Father we commit this portion (as with every part!) to you and we wait with praise and thanksgiving!

Father I pray that as the folks from Little Angels open our folder and open the folder that contains the names of all the babies, that your Glory would descend into that room, that your Glory would literally manifest on that page of names. That your Glory would shine on our child's name on that page, and it would appear as if a highlighter had marked his/her name. Then LAN would know this indeed is the child that is meant to be ours.

In Jesus Name,