A new year, a new kid

A new year:  update on Gus

Gus has now been home 7 months.  He has grown 3 inches and gained 5 pounds.  The changes we have seen are incredible since he's been home with us.

He's went from a weak, shy, nervous, cautious little boy to strong, charming, bold, daring, and happy little guy.  He used to drool so much, that we'd change his bib 2-3 times a day, he had terrible constipation issues and often made very loud noises and tried to attract a lot of attention when he was doing his "potty" job (thinking it was from the orphanage, to get nannies attention, he needed diaper changed), I couldn't be too far away from his site or he'd panic and cry, any transitions were uncomfortable for him, I was  nervous to take him out to stores, etc, for fear of a "fit" happening. 

He now goes to daycare and has many friends, he loves to go shopping with mommy, he loves to visit people and hang out with his grandparents, he has no drooling issues, his stomach issues are pretty much gone, he loves the library and museum and experiencing new things daily.   He used to hate the camera and now takes selfies and loves to see himself on the video's.    He's funny, charming, and so smart.  

I cannot believe we've been home 7 months and I'm sure I'll say this over and over each month that passes, but it is really, really surreal.  

We are waiting to get our "Christmas" cards and thank you cards done, still.  Ridiculous how time passes by so quickly when you want to get things done in a timely manner.   Stay tuned.

Here's our smiley little boy  now.  

Update

About 6 weeks home...here's GUS.

I am still working on making our slideshow and updating our entire story of our journey to China, but for now....here's him now.

About 6 weeks ago, in China, this little boy was somber faced, didn't smile much, was weak, was wanting to be held most of the time, and pretty quiet. 

Being home has transformed this little orphaned boy into a charming, happy, silly, smiley, loving and playful little boy.  He loves people, loves to run and play, loves to be outside, loves to eat, loves to give and receive hugs and likes to try new things.

He just turned TWO on August 23rd.  

We truly believe that God picked our Gus just for our family.  He fits.  

We celebrate his life, our journey to him, and God's faithfulness to bring us all together.

Glory to God, always.

-the lowlands

Shanghai and our little Gus

Last day in Shanghai

This post is long overdue, and I know most of you have seen our updates on Facebook, but here's for you who have not.

Here he is:

August Jingfan Rowland

We are pretty much over the moon for him.

Ben and Maddie have been incredible this entire journey and they love their little brother so much.

I will post all the details of our journey soon, but for now we are just spending time bonding with Gus.  

He is sleeping well through the nights, so far.

He is very attached to his bottle, likes to sleep with his arms over his head, loves to be held (good arm workout), and is starting to smile and laugh a bit.

Today, we fly to Guangzhou to where the US consulate is and is where we do all his medical check, get his visa, and finish paperwork so he can enter the United States.

Our chinese adoption was official two days ago.  That was quite a process, but very special too.

Shanghai is an incredibly beautiful city.  We will post pics and video very soon.

We are all doing well and are so thankful we are on this journey, we cannot imagine our lives without this sweet boy.

Love to you all.

The Rowlands

Today is the day

Today, is finally, the day.

At 7:12 a.m. we will be bound to Dallas and then at 11:25 a.m. we will be flying across the world to meet our precious little son.  

Today, we all arose in our hotel room with 4 hours of sleep yet rearing to GO.  

The last time my daughter was on an airplane was when she was just 7 months old, so this whole experience is quite overwhelming and exciting to her.

Both kids are nervous and mention this fact often.  I admit, I have been pretty stable emotionally and just committed to keeping everything in ORDER, so it's good that my mind has been distracted all this time.

There is a season for everything and I anticipate that at some point, soon, I'll be an emotional mess, but for now, I'm thankful to own my organizational skills.    

Please pray over our trip, our health, our son who will be in our arms on June 27th.   Without prayer, this would be a whole other kind of trip.  

Thank you ALL for your support each step of the way.  We couldn't do this without each of you.

We will update you more in Dallas, and then it may be a while before we get connected to update once in country.

Love you all.

-the lowlands

2 Days and counting

Here we are, another day closer to wheels up.

Today, my daughter paid for us to get our toes all pretty at a nail salon, and a friend met us as well, so that was special.  So nice to be able to relax a bit, something I don't often do.  LOL

We've done all our last minute packing list items and will be spending the rest of day at home getting suitcases ready for final inspection.

Tomorrow, I'll be posting our itinerary, so you can follow along our day by day in China.

Until tomorrow.....

Counting Days

The countdown.....

Here we are, just 3 days from lift off to China.

On June 22nd at 7:25 a.m. we depart from our airport and fly to Dallas.  We arrive in Beijing June 23rd at 2:58 p.m  

Beijing skyline.

It's very very surreal that we will be HERE in just days.  Today, at our church, our pastor shared Phillipians 4: 6-7

Let's be clear:  Those who know me....know how I WORRY about everything.  I have many anxieties about this trip , the unknowns, our child who will be taken away from all he's known for two years and placed with us (strangers to him), the health of our kids and us, and so on.  We will be in CHINA, so very far away from our comfort of home and our lives here.

It's something I deal with daily and today, I was reminded of who GOD truly is and how He is our protector and He's got us in the palm of his hand, just like a dad with his child will often comfort a scared or hurt child and reassure them, "I've got you.  It's O.K."  

The peace of God is SO MUCH BIGGER than we can even begin to imagine, so we  need not waste time on worrying away any moment.  So today, I am praying this verse on me and I'm asking others to join me.

I'm praying that I hear God's voice telling me....

"I've got this.  You're O.K."

Prayer requests:  

Our kids (Ben and Maddie) as they are feeling nervous.

Health of our family and for little Gus.

Safe travels

Transitions (for August to feel our love and desire to keep him safe in our care).

Blessings from our family,

The Rowlands

Less than a week

Less than a week until G-O time

With only 6 days left, my heart is anxious for sure.  I'm surprisingly not emotional yet.  I'm trying so hard to just keep everything in check for packing, not missing a beat.  I suppose that is why I'm holding back the flood of tears.

I keep thinking about my two kids, Ben and Maddie and how they are going to be on this trip.  I think about what they must be feeling, their excitement and their fears of so many unknowns.  

I think about little Gus and wondering how he will adjust when these strangers come on june 26th, to take him away from all he knows as his home and caretakers.  

I think about that very first moment when we all see him.  I know we can never be fully prepared, and can have no expectations, but my heart is beyond anxious to just SEE HIM.

I'll be updating daily before we leave and then it may be a little while until we have time to send pictures, etc while we are in country.

Your prayers , thoughts, well wishes mean the world to us. 

Blessings,

The Rowlands

9 days

days to GO!

After 1 1/2 years of waiting, we are only 9 days away from going to China and will meet our son on June 26th in Shanghai. 

We are trying our best to prepare our hearts and minds for this incredible journey, but there are so many unknowns.

 We are traveling across the world to meet our son for the first time on June 26th.  He doesn't know us, doesn't know our sounds, our smells, our behaviors.  He doesn't know how much we all love him and have been waiting for this day to come. 

We may try and have a plan for how it will go, but the reality is that we will look to little Gus for what his needs are and adapt as we need to for him. 

When we first meet him, we will taking him away from ALL he's ever known.  The sounds, smells, environment, and people around him will change in an instant.  Nothing will be familiar.  He's not been in a car, or car seat, or airplane, or restaurant, hotel, parks, etc.    The food he will eat will all be different, his routine will be no longer as it was, the way we speak is completely different.

We cannot plan for how he will react when he first see's us.  Of course, I have dreamt of such a day when I long to finally hold him in my arms, he will not understand why these "strangers" are taking him away from the "nannies" he's known for almost 2 years.

Please PRAY for us:

Prayer teams for TRAVEL

Prayer teams for HEALTH

Prayer teams for TRANSITIONS & attachment.

Prayer teams for our kids:  Ben & Maddie, as they adapt themselves to having a new brother, who may have quite a few "hard times" adjusting into our family

In the meantime, I'm packing & packing.

I feel like I triple check every suitcase over and over again which can play tricks on one's mind for sure and at times I feel like I've lost my mind.  

We continue to have our gofundme campaign, as we recently found out that our in country costs have increased in cost, so we are praying over our finances to come through to cover the extra expenses. 

MORE SHIRTS for sale:  message me your size.  Just $22.  We are leaving on the 22nd.  (: 

If you would be interested in donating or if you want to purchase an adoption shirt, you can pay on our gofundme page

http://www.gofundme.com/rowlandsadopt

Thank you for following along  

les, sara, ben & maddie & gus

Update and more.

The time is drawing near

Today someone in the grocery store asked me how I can look so calm.  Inside, I feel I am bursting with a flood of emotions, but for whatever the reason,  I am holding it together on the outside.  

Be still and KNOW that I AM GOD.  Seriously, I remind myself of this promise every single day.   God wants us to go to HIM, to lean on HIM when we are not calm, when there are storms, worries, and fears.  We are His children and He desperately seeks after us, to love us, to protect us, to hold us close.  

Those who know me well, know of my anxious heart, my worrisome personality, my endless multitasking mind.  I am not one to sit still EVER.  

Here I am, two weeks away (TODAY) from traveling across the world, across oceans, to bring home a child whom we've never met.  How great is our Father's love to call us children His children and to make a way for an orphan to be called a son or daughter.  

  I've spent the last year and half doing paperwork, preparing the way for us to bring home our son.  Now, I am on a whole new level of preparation and I'm a bit overwhelmed right now.  I know that it will all come together, but in the preparing for the readiness, I feel a mess in my mind.  I've got a ton of items to organize before packing.  I've sorted through the items dozens of times over and over again, checking my lists too many times to the point I think I'm going crazy.  

Today, I am calling upon prayer warriors:  You know who you are.  I ask for prayer during this time of getting ready.   If you can message me below and let me know you are praying, it would mean the world to me.  

Other requests:  Pray for our health, Pray for travel safety, Pray for our little boy to have peace when we meet him, Pray for our kids (Ben and Maddie) who are going with us, and pray for continued provisions to fall into place as we found out yesterday that our in country costs have nearly doubled.

Thank you everyone.  

Tickets are BOOKED!

Lots of emotions

 Today, we just finished up another fundraiser.  I am totally OK with being DONE with about a year of fundraisers and am way beyond thankful for all the people who showed up and supported.

It's amazing the kind of people who just seem to be planted at a place (even at a rummage sale), who offer a word of encouragment, who share of an adoption story, who are just curious and ask questions about international adoption, and who just want to support our journey.   I'm humbled and grateful.  

Last week we found out that we got: TRAVEL APPROVAL

We believe that we were called to adopt from China.  I cannot tell you of a specific moment we knew, but we just knew.   We are about 3 weeks out from traveling to China to bring home our son, brother, grandson, nephew and cousin to our entire family who already love him and yet haven't met.  What an amazing gift.  

This beautiful little boy will no longer be an orphan.  

We believe that God has placed adoption on the hearts of so many people, and the fact that we have accepted our call to bring home a son from China, makes me love Jesus so much more.  His word says, that He will make orphans our sons and daughters.  What a beautiful God, who loves His children without borders.

"for the God who calls you is faithful, and He can be trusted to make it so.."  1 Thess 5:24.

Please pray for me this week.  I'm super anxious all the time.  We will be leaving soon and our lives will change forever.  We've anticipated this moment for over a year and half.   It's finally almost time to GO.

Thank you for following our journey, it means so much.

_sara

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.

Calling all friends and family

We need your help to make this a HUGE success.

Please share this with everyone in your circle.  We are praying for a tremendous turnout on Saturday May 7th.  

Everyone eats breakfast anyhow, so why not come out and support our adoption while enjoying amazing pancakes, coffee and more.    

See you there.

A little help from our friends

Care Package sent.  

We were able to send a little care package to our son's orphanage.  It will take a few weeks to arrive.  There is a risk that something will happen and it may not make it, but it was sure fun putting some items together, and imagining him actually getting it, that put a smile on our faces.  

The suggestions made for what to put inside the package, was:  an outfit, a photo book (with close up of our faces, a picture of our pet(s), our home, and family picture) and a stuffed animal/doll.   When thinking about what kind of stuff animal we wanted to send , I had many options to choose from, none of which we sent (including keepsake ones from our kids/our own childhood/etc)......

I'm not sure how "ERNIE"  entered the picture and got in the package, but all I can say is that when I saw his smiley little face and stripe shirt and tuff of black hair.....I just had to get him. 

  We also had a short letter we wrote and met with an amazing lady who was able to translate our English into Mandarin language.  It was so fun to meet her and talk with her about China and the culture.   Although, our little Gus won't understand the letter, we wanted the orphanage workers to hear from us and hear our excitement about adopting him.  

Meanwhile, if you run into me in our town or around the neighborhood, you will usually see me with more "paperwork".    It feels like I'm back in school again.  I think I've probably earned another degree during this journey.  

**alittle discouraging note:   We found out that our home study (we did in May 2015, EXPIRED!) and we now have to do a renewal to get it current, which means more Paperwork, another set of fingerprints, home study interview, financial reports and medical reports and more $$.  I found this out after I had just completed a 35 page international document, so I was a bit peeved.  It can always be worse.  I do think the laws should change about international adoption home study vs. foster care home study guidelines, but I won't bore you with the details of THAT.  I did give my 2 cents to our state (after all, I'm the daughter of an accomplished social worker).....LOL

A little help from our friends:

We have launched a new fundraising campaign and are needing mountains moved at this time.

Our campaign is through an on line organization called: 

  All donations are TAX DEDUCTIBLE.  All donations go directly to our adoption agency and the funds are allocated accordingly. 

Here's the link to our page: 

Please read our story and consider helping pass it forward to all your circle of friends and family.