4 months later..........

I know, I know.... we haven't been keeping up with this site. I'm really sorry. I've gone back to working 45 or 50 hours a week, and by the time I get home, spend my few precious hours with Lucy, and put her to bed, I pretty much hit the hay myself.

Things have been better the past month or so. We had some trips to Children's Hospital due to feeding issues (all of which the doctors have chalked up to developmental delays). We've also had some "behavioral" issues and we're working thru those day by day. It's been a REALLY busy four months.

I haven't been scanning photos in, so I don't have anything new to post right now, but hopefully in the next few days I'll have new ones to share.

We celebrated Lucy's 1st birthday about 6 weeks ago. It was a lot of fun.... Unfortunately, Loren and I spent most of our time playing mommy & daddy & host, we didn't get a chance to take pictures. Some of our family did get some photos, and we got a few from Auntie Lisa just the other day. We'll scan them in and post them here & hopefully, we'll get more from others soon.

Well, off to bed......

All our Love,

L, L & L

More Pictures :-)

We've been having such a wonderful time with our new daughter, that I haven't touched the computer for quite a while. We're still muddling thru the 2200+ photos, so we'll be posting more. Have a great day!


Lucy with her Grandma Betty



Lucy with her Uncle Dave & Aunt Beth



Lucy at the dog park



Lucy happy about her dinner coming



Lucy with her Grandma Nancy



Lucy with her Uncle George



Lucy after a reallllly long day




MORE TO COME!!

Finally!

I'm so sorry that it's taken so long for me to post pictures on the site. The past week and a half has been, for the most part, a sleepless blur :-) We're getting settled in now, and well, here they are..........

We (Loren, Beth and I) flew into Beijing on the 22nd of May. Our flight left 4-1/2 hours late out of Chicago (something about a broken engine part), and we landed in Beijing much later on Friday night than we'd hoped. Our AWAA guide was waiting for us at the airport & took us to our hotel. Over that weekend we visited the great wall (above), the Forbidden City (below), the Summer Palace, and did other fun sight-seeing in Beijing.

On Monday morning, we flew from Beijing to Nanchang and were taken to our hotel. We had a few hours to get some things together and catch a nap before we walked across the street to the Civil Affairs Office to get Lucy. The photos below are a few snap shots of what adoptive families lovingly refer to as "Gotcha Day".

She's such a peanut. She's was almost 8 months old and only 14 lbs. She's got the most beautiful face and great big brown eyes. She's amazing! She loves faces and spent most of the time in the civil affairs office studying our faces and trying to figure us out. The transition from her caregiver to us was very quick; it took only seconds. They verified they had the right baby and the right parents, handed her to me, and called for the next family. That was it. (I'll spare you the details of all the paperwork prior to that moment.)

We spent the next few days in Nanchang doing other official paperwork stuff and applying for her passport and visa. The picture below was taken at the notary office the day after "gotcha". At this point it's official, she's ours!

This is a photo of Lucy and I, Margaret, John and their baby Zoe Aiko, Scott with his baby Lauren and Dave with his baby Lauren. This was taken at the police station, right after Loren got arrested (just kidding), we had to go there to apply for the babies passports.

It was fun getting all the necessary paperwork and chasing around done while at the same time getting to know our new daughter. Auntie Beth was such a blessing!

While in Nanchang, our guides (Amy, Lineker, and their beautiful daughter Beth - next photo) took us to a village in the countryside outside Nanchang. This village gave us a close-up view at the type of village Lucy may have come from. There are a few hundred people living in this small village where they live very closely together. They share things like a community outhouse and a few kitchens. Walking thru this village I heard myself say that I'd never complain about my house again. It was a very eye-opening experience. We are so very blessed and take so much for granted.


A woman with a small boy came to say hello to Lucy and posed for a picture with us. Notice the split pants on the baby. Potty training is done at a very early age in China. (In fact, one of the babies in our group-just a year old-is potty trained already-for the most part.)




After all the paperwork had been completed, we flew from Nanchang to Guangzhou (which is about 100 miles-ish North of Hong Kong. Lucy had to undergo a physical to gain entry into the US and all people immigrating from China to the US must go thru Guangzhou before they're allowed to immigrate. The photo below is of a few families from our travel group at the "clinic" where the babies physicals were done. (In the front of the photo is my dear friend Margaret (her hubby John is right behind her) and their very sweet daughter Zoe Aiko.

While in Guangzhou we did a little shopping and took a group photo of all the families we'd traveled with.

It's amazing just how close you grow to people you've never met before when sharing this kind of experience. All the families in our group were absolutely wonderful, and a few we met on this trip will be forever near and dear to our hearts.

This last photo is a snap shot Loren took while on the bus right before we came home. We had a wonderful time in China but REALLY wanted to bring Lucy home.

Now that we're home and life is starting to settle down things are going very well. Lucy has been sleeping thru the night the past 4 nights & started taking a bottle 3 days after we got home (she'd refused the entire time we were in China). We've got a bunch of photos we still need to go thru and once we've done that I'll post more. There's a great one of her and the dogs! (She ABSOLUTELY LOVES her dogs, and the feeling is quite mutual!)

Thank you everyone for all your prayers and support during the past few years. And yes, she's worth every single minute of the wait!

There's no place like home!

We're home!!! After multiple flight delays, (not to mention our last flight getting canceled) we finally made it home. Lucy is wonderful & is adjusting quickly to her new family & home. She absolutely LOVES the dogs! Those of you who know Loren won't be surprised by this.... he took over two thousand photos in China! I'll post photo's (and details) here in the next day or so (as soon as we have a chance to get thru them).

Thank you Lord!!!!

YIKES!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow's the day!!! Thank you to all our very loving family and friends who have faithfully held us up in prayer over the past 3 & 1/2 years. Thank you to those who have left such kind words and warm thoughts on this site. Thank you to all those who helped us along the way, for without each and every one of you, this journey would have been more difficult. And most importantly, THANK YOU HEAVENLY FATHER for granting us the desire of our hearts and blessing us with this precious little girl.

We're coming to getcha' honey!

We leave in 4 days??!?!!?!?

After this wait, it's hard to believe we're so close to leaving. We're pretty much ready to go. I started my maternity leave on Friday, and I'm praying we'll be able to get everything done that needs doing before Thursday.

Today is Mother's Day & we're missin' our daughter somethin' awful!

This has been one of the more difficult weeks we've had in a long time. We're very grateful that God's been protecting us from the enemy, 'cuz he's really been after us this past week. Thank you Lord for keeping us safe. (And thank you all for your continuing prayers!!! They were REALLY needed!)

On a happy note, we'll be leaving for China in only 11 days and we're getting very excited! I'm still trying to figure out just how to get our clothes packed. We may have to each wear 7 layers of clothing on the airplane :-)

Have a great week everyone!

Four weeks and counting....

Four weeks have now passed since we received our referral for Lucy. We've been staying busy working on odds and ends that need to be done, and picking up the few things that still need to be packed. We can't believe that we're so close to bringing Lucy home. In just 24 days we'll be holding our daughter. Thank you Lord!!

Three weeks today!

And what a busy third week it's been! This week we not only received our Travel Approval, but also our consulate appointment & firm travel dates. We'll be flying out on Thursday, the 22nd and flying back home on Wednesday, June 4th! We're comin' to getcha' sweetie!!

TA Already?!!?!!?!!

TA (travel approval) is something we need to get from China before we can make our consulate appointment and buy our plane tickets. It came yesterday!!! We're one BIG step closer to bringing Lucy home! Our estimated date of travel is May 22nd. We'll keep you posted on anything new!
And hey, another piece of good news! Beth, my wonderful sister-in-law (not to mention, one of my very dearest friends), is coming with us to China! YAY!

Have a great day!

Two weeks and counting

Today marks two weeks since we got our referral for Lucy. We're REALLLLLY getting antsy. We're so grateful that God's timing is perfect, and we're so grateful that His time has almost come! Have a great weekend everyone!

One week down

Well, we received our referral for Lucy a week ago today. I feel like the week has just flown by (I've been realllllllly busy at work), and Loren thinks the week has just dragggggggged on. It's all still sinking in. One thing that I can tell you is that we love this little girl more than any words can say. We haven't heard any more about travel dates yet, but as soon as we do, we'll letcha' know. Thank you again, for all your continuing prayers and words of love and encouragement.

There are no words

This is honestly the most beautiful face I've ever seen. We are so full of love for our daughter. She is an awesome gift from God and we are truly blessed.

Good Morning!!!!!!!!

I've been up since 3 am and waiting, but no fedex guy in sight... yet :-) I've got the camera ready. Do you think he'll let me take his picture?

I'd like to thank all the visitors for the good wishes you've been leaving for us. We're SO blessed!!!!!!!

More soon!!!

Yesterday was a great day, but today is BETTER!!!!

We got the call!!! We have a daughter!!!!! We won't see her picture until tomorrow morning, but our (very sweet) America World coordinator told us that her birthday was 9/29/07 (just 6 months old last week), she has some (not much) dark brown hair, big puffy chipmunk cheeks, great-big brown eyes, and is beautiful! Now for the reallllllly cool part. Everyone knows that we've been planning for a very long time to name her Lucy. Well, the orphanage gave her the first name of Lu. That's a GOD THING! Her full name is Vhuang (last name) Lu (first name) Feng (middle name) and soon to be Lucille (Lucy) Elizabeth LuFeng Sanders.

We also asked if we can post her picture here right away & WE CAN! So tomorrow, when we get her package, we'll scan in the photos & post them here. And mom, you were right, she wanted her own special day! :-)

Thank you Lord!!!!

*** UPDATE! We just got another call from our coordinator. On January 26th, Lucy weighed 12.1 lbs and was 22.8" tall. We also found out that she's in the Jiangxi Province at the SWI of Yifeng County. I'll never get to sleep tonight! :-)

This was a great day!

Today is our 15th wedding anniversary, and it was a great day! No referral today, but still a day that the Lord made and we rejoiced in it. Tonight on the phone, my mom reminded me of how I was supposed to be born on my brother's birthday. But, I wanted my own birthday, so I waited until the day after to come. Maybe Lucy just wants her own special day, and maybe we'll get the call tomorrow?!!?!??!!

Good night all!

Another day blessed with anticipation!

Hi there!

No call came today, but.... there's a rumor that China has sent something. Lord willing it's referrals! More tomorrow! :-)

Another day of waiting down.

Thank you Lord for getting us through another day of waiting! Hopefully there won't be many more. Good night everyone & we'll update you again tomorrow!

Nothing Today

Well, it's Monday night & no news today, and we doubt we'll hear anything tomorrow either. But, we'll keep you posted!

This should be the week!

Hey Everyone!

 

This should be the week we get Lucy's referal.  We should have photos and any known medical info sometime this week.  We'll keep everyone posted!

 

Please, keep praying!

Hmmm......

There's some rumbling in the International Adoption Community that we're no longer allowed to post photo's of our baby until we actually go get her. I'll have to look into this one a little more. That would stink.

We're almost there!

Well, if the next batch of referrals comes out when we're thinking it will, we should have a picture of Lucy posted here in about 2 weeks! Man, this has been a lllllooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggggggggg month. As soon as we hear, we'll letch'a all know.

HAPPY SPRING!

VOTE FOR MIKE!

Last night Loren and I met Mike Huckabee and his wife Janet. For photos and more detail, check out Loren's site. Just click on the link below labeled serloren's blog.

Mr. Huckabee,
"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better."
Ephesians 1:17(NIV)

We're getting close!

I confess, I've been horrible about posting on this site. Now that we're getting closer, posting here is the easiest way to update everyone on any progress :-)

After all the paperwork and home visits and month after month of waiting, we're finally in the home stretch! As many of you know, once a month the CCAA (Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs) releases referrals. As of Monday, 2/4/08, they've processed all the applications they'd received up through 12/27/05. Our LID (log in date) is 1/6/06. So that means, they only need to process another 10 days worth of applications to get to us. It's possible that our referral ("the call") could come during the first week of March, but it's more likely to come in the first week of April (Lord Willing).

As soon as the CCAA processes the March batch of referrals, we'll update this site. I know that some of you (Gary, Roxi, Vincent, Samantha, and Branden) were faithfully checking the CCAA website for updates, and I'm sorry that they took that away. (Don't worry, as soon as we get our call, we'll call you!)

We've greatly appreciated your lifting our family up in prayer over the past few years, and ask that you please continue to do so.

All our love!

Loren & Linda