Ariel's birthday

Ariel went to Build-A-Bear with her friend Anna. She is now 7 years old! Today, January 30, is Ariel's official birthday. She has been celebrating it with different people for over a week now!

Ariel and Fed-ex man

Ariel accepts our referral from the Fed-ex delivery man on 12-9-05.

Itinerary

Feb. 9-- Th Depart for China

Feb. 10--Fr Arrive in Beijing

Feb. 11--Sat Beijing Sight-Seeing: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City and
Summer Palace, Silk Factory, and Jade Factory

Feb. 12--Sun International Church Service (for passport holders only) & Great Wall (Beijing Duck Dinner)

Feb. 13--Mon Flight to Nanchang--MEET KAYLI

Feb. 14--Tues VALENTINES DAY!! Paperwork and Sight-seeing & Shopping

Feb. 15-16 W-Th (same as above)

Feb. 17-Fr Afternoon flight to Guangzhou

Feb. 18 Sat Kayli's medical exam

Feb. 19 Sun Filling out Consulate Forms

Feb. 20--Mon Sightseeing and Shopping

Feb. 21 Tu Consulate Appointment at 10:30am

Feb. 22 -W Pick-up Kayli's Visa at 3:00pm

Feb. 23 Th Depart from Guangzhou ------GOING HOME!!!!!


Today, we received our Passport with Visa stamp! BIG PRAISE since we
had a problem with the shipping company.
Our friends DID get their Travel Approval today! We have been praying
that they would hear soon!
That's it for now!

Visas

On January 6 I sent a UPS package with our visas in it to a Courier in Maryland. She received the package on Tuesday the 10th and dropped the package off to get our visas on the 11th. She picked them up on the 17th since they were closed for the holiday on the 16th. When the package arrived to her door on the 11th she said that there was a HUGE rip in the package and she was EXTREMELY surprised that all of the Passports were still there. WHEW!! So when she went to drop the package off at the UPS store they wouldn't accept it since one of the air bill's were missing. So we made arrangement with both UPS stores that allowed us to fill out new air bills (no charge) and now the package should be here on the 20th! We will be glad to have this in our hands since this is the last of the paperwork to be done before we leave.

Tickets have been purchased and we are now getting packed.

We have some friends that have not yet received their travel approval. Their agency does not release any travel information until this approval is received. They are so bummed. We both received our referrals on the same day. Please pray that they will have a peace about this situation and that their travel approval will come quickly.
Thanks!

Travel Approval/Consulate Appointment

On Friday, January 6 we sent for our passports to get our visas and confirmed our flight tickets even though we did not have concrete travel dates. (It ended up working out PERFECTLY!-- What a God thing!)

On Tuesday, January 10, 2006, we got our Travel Approval!

On Thursday, January 12, 2006 we got our Consulate Appointment

We are getting packed and ready to leave!

Please pray for us as we prepare and travel.

Kayli--we are on our way!

Introduction

In 2002, we believe that GOD revealed his plan for us to adopt our next child. Still being unconvinced in our hearts, he began to speak to us through a series of amazing events. They include a tearful encounter with an orphan child in a park, a coincidental meeting with a very well known Christian musician and his adopted daughter, and the timing of a truly inspiring conference held by Family Life titled “If You Were Mine”. As a result of these influences, in 2004 we began the process to adopt an infant girl from China. The reason for waiting so long to start the process is because we did not meet all the requirements to adopt from China. Both parents must be at least 30 years old. So we started when Angela was 29 1/2 to have documents submitted to China by her 30th birthday.


Isaiah 43:5 Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west.


Ephesians 1:5 He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.

Ariel's Page

We wanted to design a page for Ariel so everyone can see what she is doing these days too.


Ariel enjoyed learning about China at school with her friends.

Cookbooks are for sale titled "One in the Oven". We are so grateful for those who have contributed the 300+ recipes that you will find inside this cookbook. We would like to give a special thanks to the Shanan Homeschool group at The People's Church. They put together over 100 recipes for this book! We also had the help of our dear friends and family. We appreciate everyone! This project would not have been possible without their help.

This would make a great gift for Christmas.

You can obtain your copy of this cookbook starting March 17, 2005 for $12 from one of our family members. The proceeds of this book will go directly to offsetting a portion of the substantial cost of overseas adoption while at the same time providing a means for family and friends to participate in the adoption process. (Foreign Fee $5000)

This is the inspiration for the title "One in the Oven". While the term is traditionally used in reference to an expecting mother, we felt it was a humorous way to describe its obvious purpose as a cookbook while also aiding in the process of acquiring a child.

We need to formally apologize to America World for printing the name of their association incorrectly. The change was made just not sent in time to the printer. It should have been America World Adoption Association instead of Agency.

Please keep watching this site as it will be updated periodically with new information as we receive it.
May God bless you and your family.

FUNDRAISER UPDATE!! WE HAVE SOLD 460 COOKBOOKS! PRAISE THE LORD! THANKS TO ALL OF YOU! We only have about 40 cookbooks left.

Why Adopt China?

This was posted to AWAA's yahoo group and with her permission I am sharing this poem. This sums up this topic.

Adoption

God laid the desire in our hearts
From his wishes we will not depart.

Some say, "Why go so far away?
How much will you have to pay?
Aren't there children in the U.S.A.?"

Whether a child is from here or there
Isn't it our job to love and care?

Children are a priceless treasure
Blessings that we can not measure.

God wants us to hold them tight
Whether they are yellow, black or white.

We wish we could save them all
Sadly, we can only answer our call.

We must go to a foreign land
For us, this is what God commands.

Our China doll is waiting
There will be no hesitating.

We are sticking with our decision
Unless God makes a revision.

Cast your doubts and reservations aside
Come along and enjoy the ride.

All children should be taken in
Maybe this process you should begin.

God Bless, Christy from California

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world. -James 1:27

Paper Pregnancy

In the picture above is our completed dossier--after China Embassy authentication. April 11, 2005--Documents were logged into China's computer system (CCAA)! (This is known as LID--log in date) Since they logged it in several weeks later we may have to wait an extra month. But it is all in God's timing! Right now we are still hoping for travel in November or December! March 18, 2005--Document were sent to China TODAY! (Also known as DTC) This is significant! 6 more months before we will see her precious face! March 21, 2005--Dossier delivered and ready to be translated. Here's a run down of the paper-chase process also known as the "paper pregnancy". 1. We had to choose an agency and submit an application with fee. We chose America World Adoption Association (AWAA). They have been wonderful to work with! 2. Homestudy-we began the home study knowing that America World would be able to provide this service as well. Rachel, our social worker has been great! Within the home study you must write an autobiography about yourself. (Yes, Brian and Angela had to write one.) AWAA provides you with a list of questions that you must include within your paper. Items needed for the homestudy: Birth certificates for each parent and child. Marriage certificate and divorce decrees Copies of verification of employment letter (notarized)Current income tax returnThree letters of Reference (AWAA took care of this for us)Signed guardianship statementStatement of net worth (AWAA provided)International disclaimer (form from AWAA)Medical reports for all adults and children living in the home. (AWAA provided)Criminal Background Check State Fingerprint Clearance Next we began the papers for our dossier. Some of the document overlap and we were able to provide copies to our social worker for the home study and kept the original for the dossier. The dossier is the part that is actually sent to China.
1. Application letter-we wrote a letter to China Center of Adoption Affairs telling about ourselves and why we had a desire to adopt from China.
2. Husband and Wife Birth Certificates
3. Marriage Certificate
4. Husband and Wife General Physical Exams
5. Financial Statement
6. Husband's Employement Verification letter
7. Wife's Employment or non-employment letter
8. Home Study Report
9. Husband's and Wife's police report
10. Photo Copy of USCIS I-171H (Keep the original) **This piece of paper is for immigration and will allow us to bring our child home. We had to be federally fingerprinted to obtain this piece of paper and then had to wait 4 weeks to receive it.
11. Photos (10) of your family and things that you do as a family as well as pictures of your home inside and out.
12. 2 Passport photos
13. Copy of the photo page of each adoptive parent's passport.

All of these document except numbers 11-13 had to be notarized. Next we had to get county and state certification. Followed by US State Department authentication, and lastly China Embassy Authentication. All of this took about 5 months including our wait for the I-171H as mentioned above.
Psalm 139:13-14 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Our Referral

Our referral has arrived!
Our precious daughter's Chinese name is Guang Si Ting.

She is in the Guangchang Social Welfare Institute in the Jiangxi Province.

Her date of birth is 2-28-05.
As of August 25 (6 months old) she weighed 13.4 lbs and was 24 inches long.

We hope to travel the first part of February!
We will name her Kayli Ting.

Miracle of Adoption

We are Brian, Angela, and Ariel. Please join us as we journey to the other side of the world to experience the miracle of adoption! We hope to welcome home our daughter from China sometime in 2006! This will be our personal journal that we will update periodically.

We had hoped to bring her home by Thanksgiving, however our plans have changed. Our paperwork was delayed because they had so many files sent to China in March. They could not log them all into their system. So we are waiting a bit longer for our baby girl!

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.