Waiting for our referral

Where we currently are:
Our dossier (paperwork to China) will be sent off this week and goes to Michigan to the global agency where it is reviewed.  It cannot be sent off to China unless we pay $3100 that is due for this part of the process.
It's very hard at this point, because we cannot get our referral (picture and file of our little boy) until this amount is paid.
Today, I woke up to a message on our go fund me account that said we had just received a donation of $530!   Praise God.

We long to see a pic of this beautiful little boy we dream of calling our son and brother.  As I looked back on what we've raised from the start of this journey, I saw God's work at hand because up until now, we've had all the money raised through fundraisers and the generosity of many people we call friends and family.

Please continue to pray for this entire journey and pray for our little boy.  We cannot wait to hold him in our arms.  We feel like we are finally getting closer to seeing him.  We trust that the funds will just show up when perhaps we least expect it.  God is capable no doubt!

Thanks for following.

Stay tuned.

Another Approval!

To catch everyone up on what's been happening with our journey.   For the past few months, I have been working on gathering a multitude of paperwork to complete the requirements for our dossier:  which is all the paperwork so we can be registered to adopt in another country.

The last thing I have been waiting for so our dossier can be sent off to China is our next approval called the 1-797 which officially approves our 1800-A application.  Are you confused yet?  (:   

I called to check on our status and after getting a recording most times, TODAY I talked to a real person!   She said that our 1800-A was approved yesterday.  Our official approval letter (needed to complete our dossier), is on it's way to our mailbox.  

Our petition has been accepted by our government, which is awesome news.

What's next?

It's exciting, because now we get ready for our referral.  Once our dossier packet is sent to China and reviewed, we will have a long conference call with the China team to go over our special needs openness form (which goes through all the medical needs and such that our child could potential have) and we have a detailed discussion of what our specific openness is for our child.  It will be a tough phone call, but for us, we totally trust in God to prepare us and prepare our little boy for what is best for everyone.  It may seem odd to some that we are asked to "chose our child's special need", but it's just how it has to be in this situation where the children are in orphanages with many unknowns.   We have to trust what we know we can best provide for and commit ourselves 100% to his needs and care.  

Once we are "matched' with a potential child, we have 24-48 hours in which to access his medical care needs and review it with a our medical team.  

 This is an exciting, but cautious time, as you are making a decision on who will be this child you will call your own.  Can you believe it?  Soon, we could be sharing with you a picture of this precious boy .  Amazing to think about.

We ask our friends and family to PRAY.  Pray for us as we make this decision.  Pray for all the waiting children.  Pray specifically for our little boy, that we will have peace in our hearts and know he is the one meant to be ours.  

I'm also on Instrgram now, for quick updates, so follow me on:  Instagram/theprairiemama

Big Sister writes

To: August, little brother from China

From: Big Sister, Cant wait to meet you! LOVE YOU!

Hi little brother from China, i wonder how old you are right now and how you look. I am so excited and beyond words to meet you. You will be very spoiled with lots of toys and everything that you want. What does China look like? Everyone here is also very excited to meet you. We are working on paperwork a lot so we can get you home and hold you in our arms.  I am waiting for that day to meet you and when that day comes  will be crying my eyes out. You are in my heart and al my families heart and God is guiding us all through this journey to come meet you. I am always trying to pray to God about every day that he will guide me through this whole time with and without you. I can’t also wait for that day when we get a picture of you. i will hang it up in my room and your room and every room in the house. I will be a very good big sister to you and so will my mom and dad and big brother. I will have a lot of prizes for you when i see you for real life in China. I have a couple questions for you, here are the questions. What is your first favorite color? What is your favorite animal? I  am feeling very excited also for the answers and so then i can find all the things you want for you. 

LOVE BIG SISTER! 

Goodnight little brother! Have a nice night!

sidenote:   Last night my daughter had taken my computer and wrote this on her own.  I saw it this morning when I went to put my computer in my bag.  Just had to share.  It's amazing to see this adoption journey through the eyes of my kids.  

NEW SHIRTS are coming!

We are excited for our next shipment of adoption t-shirts to come this week.  These are vintage black with off white print.  The material is soft and fits well.   We are asking $20.   We are also taking orders for sizes/colors you may specifically want.  You can pay directly on our gofundme/rowlandsadopt.com and we will ship them out to you when they arrive.
THANK YOU ALL.

Upcoming Fundraiser

What an exciting event being planned for our family, thanks to a dear friend, Kelsey.   We hope that this awesome event will be something many people will want to attend.  We are encouraging parents to bring a child, youth pastor to bring a special buddy, teacher to bring a student, grandparent to bring grandchild, friend bring friend, and any one else that wants to just have some creative, fun time together.  We are blessed to have one of my employee's (Noelle) as the art advisor.  She is an art major at SDSU and an incredible talent.

We will be having refreshments, bake sale, craft sale and more.  Mark your calendar and THANK YOU .  Hope to see MANY people there.

1800-A is OFF

What is an 1800-A?
This is a set of documents (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services), through the Department of Homeland Security.  It's an application for determination of suitability to adopt a child from a convention country.

It's a set of documents that include our completed home study, birth certificates and the application paperwork.    Once it is received, it should take about 2 weeks for approval.  Once this happens, we start our work on the dossier.

The dossier is a set of legal, notarized and authenticated documents including:  birth certificates, marriage certificates, employment verification letter, financial statements, medical suitability certificates, police clearance letter, home study, USCIS approval (1800-A), reference letters of all kinds, doctor's letters, passports, family photos, family letter, heath insurance verification forms, agreements, payments for country fees, and more.    The gathering of such information will take months to complete.  Please pray for me during this time of serious paperwork business.  (:

In the middle of this, I will also be applying for adoption grants.  There are some wonderful ministries that offer grants to help with the cost of adoption.  The paperwork involved is also much to accomplish.  (:    
I have to laugh a bit, as some that know me, understand that my gift of organizing is not one to admire.  LOL    However, I am on a mission to reinvent myself as one of such talent.    I have people in my life who have achieved the status of masters of organizing and they are my mentors.  You know who you are.  (VS and JL).

We are currently in need of raising $1500.00 this week to pay our next due amount of $4950.00.

The continued support is beyond appreciated.  Thanks for keeping up with our journey.  Keep praying and sharing our story with others.

We believe that God called us to this adoption journey and He will remain faithful to the end.   We never doubt His love, His purpose and His promises.  

The hundred dollar bill

It's been awhile since last update, so I thought I'd share forward our current happenings.  
We've  just completed the last of 3 garage sale fundraisers.  I can say that 3 is the final number for me.  LOL  .  I am so thankful for the help given by my family to make these sales possible, for without them, I would've went crazy.   
The first garage sale we raised about $780.
The second garage sale (hosted by my inlaws, a three stall garage packed full, and a 50 degree rain filled stormy weekend), we managed to raise about $1000.  
The third garage sale we raised about $600.  

It was at our third garage sale where this hundred dollar picture came to be part of this story.  
It was my prayer and hope that we could raise $500.  That was the goal set.  
I remember my niece's beautiful husband, Tom, praying over our sale that morning and that we would have a great turnout of people and sales.  I was hopeful.  The weather was actually nice this day, so that was a plus.

About a couple hours into our morning, it started to really slow down.  After what we thought would be the end of our sales, I considered shutting down early.  I had counted the  money at that time, and we were about at $300.   After a little while longer, we had another rush of people and made what I thought was the final sales of the day.  We had reached $400.  

I was ready to be done.   Here comes two little girls, the older sister pulling the younger in a wagon.   They come up to me with big smiles and said, "Our mommy wants us to give this to you."    Inside the envelope was........YES, that $100 BILL!    We made our goal of $500!!

Some may say, coincidence, but I say, THANK YOU JESUS.  He knows our every need, and He reminds us in such times, that He is on our side and He loves us.  

Then, about half hour later, as we started to pack up, here comes another group of shoppers, and we made another $100.   How awesome is that!    

My $500 goal overflowed.