Timeline Chart & new pic

For interested readers: a bit longer. 

Some have asked, so here's the chart of events from beginning to now.  Adoption is surely a journey of faith.

After years of waiting, the timing was such and we announced that we are adopting from CHINA.

• Feb 2015:  we put in our formal application to adopt from China

• March 2015:  We filled out our first set of paperwork and sent it off.

We were approved to begin our intention adoption journey to China.  

• April 2015:  We started 1 of 4 home study visits

• May 2015:  Started on fundraising (had garage sales, bake sales, craft sales, on line fundraisers, t-shirt sales...)
• May 29, 2015:  Home study was approved!  

• June 16, 2015:  1800-A sent off (asking our government permission to adopt little boy from China)
• June/July 2015:  Started our dossier (enormous amount of paperwork, took 3 months to compile...enough said)

• July 2015:  more fundraisers, still working on dossier.  The paperwork for our dossier was more papers than I've ever dealt with. 

• August 2015:  1800-A was APPROVED.  We had permission to pursue adopting from China.  
• August 2015:  still working on dossier (feels like forever)

• Sept 2015:  Our DTC (dossier was sent to China!), awaiting review, translation, and approval which takes awhile.

• October 2015:  Had our first Shoe drive fundraiser, gathered about 12 boxes of tennis shoes to send all over the world. Raised $924.00
• October 13, 2015:  We had our LID (log in date), meaning our dossier was reviewed and approved and we are ready to be matched to our child.

• November......waiting to be matched.  This waiting time was one of the most difficult times.  

We trusted God's hand throughout and new that He was preparing us all in HIS beautiful, perfect timing.  

He is faithful to work out even the tiniest of details and He surely has.  

• December......waiting to be matched

2016

• January..........waiting to be matched.  

2016

• Feburary 19, 2016:  passed on our first referral of a 10 month old baby boy and trusted God had another plan.

2016

• March 2016:  OUR PHONE RANG and we had been matched with a 19 month old boy!

Here is our "referral" picture.  First time we saw him and we just KNEW he was "ours"

• April 1, 2016:  We sent in our LOI (letter of intent) to adopt that little boy.
• April 5, 2016:  We received our LOA (letter of acceptance) 
• April 11, 2016:  We sent in our 1800 (permission to adopt specifically our child)
• April 18 2016:  We introduced our little boy publicly.

• April:  applied for our Visa stamps, more paperwork required
• April 2016:  our home study expired , so we had to do a renewal of THAT.....more paperwork.  I'll again, spare you the details of our frustration. 
• We had an agency bill due of almost $5000.

We officially accepted our referral to adopt little Gus.

We received a $4000  grant from an amazing ministry from a near by town.  It was an answered prayer.  With their grant and our shoe drive fundraiser funds, we were able to pay in full our agency bill!

All praise to GOD.  

The endless paperwork will force anyone to be organized....even ME.  Every i dotted and every t crossed, or it will cost you a lot of time and delays and a few too many headaches, and much coffee.  lol

• May 26, 2016:  Our Article 5 is scheduled for Pick up (which means that we will have met ALL requirements to make our adoption official and travel can now be initiated).  

Here is our precious son as of May 2016.

August Jingfan Rowland

aka:  Gus

June 22, 2016:  "anticipated" travel day!   Will be in China for 2 weeks.  

Update

Our year and a half journey of wait is about over.....

We are currently awaiting our Article 5 pick up, which is the paperwork that says we are ready for our consulate appointment , we've met all the requirements, and travel can be initiated.  This should come at any given moment.  

 And this little boy is waiting to come home, very soon.

After a year and a half of waiting, the time is surely drawing near now.  
We have chosen our travel agency, and once we are given the go-ahead, we will be booking our tickets with them.  The sad news:  due to the peak travel times, our airfares are nearly doubled in cost.  

Be praying about the travel funds to arise through small donations from a ton of people.  $10 given by 1000 people in 10 days, can make our travel costs disappear.  

Our gofundme campaign is an easy way to share with your friends or family who may want to help.
www.gofundme/rowlandsadopt

Thank you for following along our journey.  Stay tuned.

Our hearts are very humbled by the overwhelming support we've received so far.  You've made our journey possible and we are truly grateful.  

At just the right time

We owed:  $4751.00.
Our paperwork was all in, but would have to be on hold until all agency funds were paid.
We applied for a grant from a local church but had not heard back from then for past few weeks, and assumed we were not chosen.

WRONG thinking

Yesterday, (at the perfect time), we found out we had been chosen to receive a grant for $4000.00!  

We still owed:  751.00.   Our check from our shoe drive came in, and was for $1400.   Guess what? 

We had our agency costs PAID.  We raised $18,000 since last February 2015.  That's amazing.  Now, our paperwork can continue moving forward and we can get our travel approval which we are hoping by mid-end of June.  

The rest of our costs are just for travel and in -country fees.  I don't want to sound unappreciative by any means, but we still have a few milestones to go.  To finish this race we need $24,000.
We know that so many people have contibuted so much already, our hearts overflow with thankfulness.  


Please share forward our story with others.  With a whole village of people, and a small donation, we can make this $24,000 disappear in a blink of an eye.   

God's timing is perfect, this we know.  We are so close to meeting our son.  Thank you all for being a part of making this possible for our family to be complete.  We love you all.

-The Rowlands

Step 14: Paper pregnancy

A longer read......be advised.  

Our year and a half journey of international adoption. Countless forms to fill out, approvals to wait for, child to be matched to, and so much more.  

Today, I am full of emotion.  For the past year and a half , I've been doing the paperwork and today we sent off some of the last of it and I find myself at a loss.

The reality is that we could be issued travel approval within the next few weeks.  This is what we've been waiting for, but now I don't know where to begin to get ready on a whole new level of preparation.   (if that makes sense).

We are about to gain another family member, a TODDLER.  (this is when you say....."are you crazy?".  Perhaps, but with open hearts and arms, we are ready to meet him, hold him, love him and bring him home. 

He's just waiting for us and we are waiting for him to be out of his orphanage and into the arms of his forever family.  Isn't he precious?  


In the above diagram, it gives you a little perspective of the steps we've taken to be now be where we are waiting to travel.

Please pray for my nerves....they are at an all time high.  I have butterflies in my stomach every day and all day long.  I'm scared.  I'm ready but I'm not.  The upcoming preparations are quite consuming of my time, plus I need to get my business in order before I leave, and I still need a crib.  LOL 

Today, we found out we were gifted with a $4000 grant from a church in a nearby community-HUGE prayer answered, as we currently owe over $5000 to our agency.   Our financial support needs are still great.  We know that what seems to be impossible-IS possible.   Our hope is that we can raise $10,000 in next 4 weeks, as we need to book our plane tickets and having that funding raised would be such a burden lifted.   We know that God can raise up a village of people to make this happen.  The smallest amounts given with the largest of crowds can do GREAT things.  

Pure charity is an organization that is tax deductible.  All the funds given are sent directly to our adoption agency.  If you feel led to help in our efforts, we are humbled and thankful.

www.purecharity.com/rowlands-china-adoption

Stay tuned.....its happening FAST now.  

Little baby Gus.....your family is coming soon.