"What's the latest?"

It seems lately that I am asked this question quite a bit, so I thought I would take a few minutes to add an update.

Just when we committed to stay long term in our home and purchased some furniture, including David's long dreamed of grand piano, we were introduced to our newest addition; Chun Ming.  Due to his cerebral palsy we felt it was time to put the house up for sale and find a home that wasn't on a hill or had such treacherous steep steps.  To be perfectly honest, it was an exciting adventure until our house surprisingly sold in one week and we found nothing we liked as well that was in our price range.  Through the process I often had to remind myself why we were moving; to bring our Chun Ming home. 

We put a lot of time and money into our house which stood as a beacon of sunshine to welcome us home; therefore,  it was a difficult adjustment to accept our new home.  I laugh and tell my family that we live on an island, but moved to the forest.  (I guess David won't see the reality of his dream to have a waterfront home anytime soon.)  After living here for a week, we have come to recognize the great blessing and potential our new home has.  It has more space than I ever thought I wanted; it's an organizers dream!  There is plenty of room for the kids to run and has a great spot for my garden and David's chickens. (Yep, you heard right.  David has gone rural.  I may tile our floors, plumb our sinks, and fix the appliances, but you aren't going to find me cleaning out the chicken coop!  It's all his.  There.  It is recorded in black and white for all eyes to see.  Let this be evidence in case it is needed in a court of law.)  I digress...  Our new home is great and I can't wait to get into the renovating.  We plan on having the main level pretty well done by the time our son comes home from China. We thank our Heavenly Father for such a wonderful gift.

We have turned in our I800A forms to the government.  This means our home study is complete and we are waiting for immigration approval. In the meantime, we have turned in all of the required forms to our adoption agency, who is busy authenticating each one.  Once our finger prints are checked, yet again by the FBI and we receive our I800A approval, the packet of authenticated paperwork (called the Dossier) will be sent on to China. 

You might be asking yourself, "What does all this mean?"  The simple answer - We are still in the beginning stages.  We don't expect to be able to go out and get Chun Ming until close to summer.  In the meantime, we will continue to read, fulfill our adoption education requirements, and prepare our home and family for the upcoming adjustment.  We understood clearly that we needed to get busy preparing our children when we found out that when the social worker asked one of them what they will teach Chun Ming when he arrives, she answered, "I will teach him to play Barbies, dolls, and dress-ups".  For her sake, I do hope he likes to play dress ups.  Poor William has already been an unwilling prince, soldier, and variety of animals.

On a serious note I wanted to add:

In a talk entitled "Save the Children", Gordon B Hinckley said:

"My plea—and I wish I were more eloquent in voicing it—is a plea to save the children. Too many of them walk with pain and fear, in loneliness and despair. Children need sunlight. They need happiness. They need love and nurture. They need kindness and refreshment and affection. Every home, regardless of the cost of the house, can provide an environment of love which will be an environment of salvation...God bless us to be mindful of them, to lift them and guide them as they walk in dangerous paths, to pray for them, to bless them, to love them, to keep them secure until they can run with strength of their own."

We pray that through the love, kindness, and affection of our forever family, Chun Ming will soon run with strength of his own.