It's snowing!

guess who i'm with in this picture

I had the best time on Saturday and Sunday! Angel and I drove to Lowell, Mass. to help with the Show Hope table at the Steven Curtis Chapman concert. The drive down was great, we didn't have any trouble finding our hotel. As we were leaving to head over to the auditorium we saw a mother getting off the elevator and she had a tiny little Chinese girl with her! She was sooo beautiful. We were able to talk to her for a few minutes before we headed over. After we got there she came in with her husband and turns out she was helping too and they were a fellow AWAA family and they have been home for 9 months. It was awesome to be able to talk and ask questions. The cool thing is that they traveled to the same province we'll be going to. Isn't God good that was an awesome blessing. I met another mom who was in the beginning stages of waiting and I was able to talk to her about the special needs program. That was really neat because she didn't understand at all how that all worked so she seemed excited to get home and talk to her husband about that! Also there was another AWAA family who just got a referral from Ethiopia for a 3 month old little girl!!!! They look to travel in Dec or Jan. I'll add a link to there blog. Anyway we met so many people that we were able to encourage that are praying about it but have been fearful taking that first step.

We collected change from everyone there and the money of course was going to Shohanna's Hope foundation. We raised around 2500.00 and the cool thing is we met a family that just got a referral for a little boy from Vietnam he's 7 months old and they are getting ready to travel. Anyway they brought them up on stage with SCC and he gave them all the money we raised! It was so neat. I guess they are doing that each night of the concert. They pick a family who applied for a grant and get them to the concert and surprise them with the money collected!

We didn't think we were going to be able to met him because you need a back stage pass or something. Well Nick with Show Hope gave us a couple tickets and 4 of us were able to go up and met him. I bought Grace the book Shoey and Dot and so Steven signed it for her! Angel was so mad at herself for not buying the book cause she wanted one signed for her baby. We'll just have to see if we can get to another concert! Anyway it was neat being able to share a bit of our adoption story with him and have a picture with him. He saw Grace's picture and said he thought she was beautiful....of course we do too! What asian baby isn't cute please tell me! They are all beauties : )

We didn't leave until around 12am or a little after. Had dinner at 1am and breakfast the next morning at 12 noon. talk about a messed up schedule! On the way home we went to babies r us and saw another family with an asian baby and so we approached her and got to talking and they have only been home for 4 days!!!! They said it was the best trip of their life! I'm just saying the entire trip was awesome and the Lord kept putting people in our path who we could either minister to or it was people who were able to minister to us! I can't say it enough how awesome the weekend was!!! If he ever comes close to Maine again I will definitely go help!

That's all I can think of for now...if I think of something else I'll post again. So I will post our pictures we had taken with him. I forgot my camera!!! Can you believe it!!! So I used my phone but of course that wasn't set to take a big pic. but at least we have this. It's kinda neat. The first one is me and the second one is Angel : )

I was reading a fellow AWAA's blog and she said that after she got her PA it was OK to post pictures on her private websites. So i'm thinking if she can, I must be able to and today would be a great day to post Grace's referral picture :)

We got Grace's crib today! It looks sooo girly and cute! I think Rainbow is liking the room too : )

A Christmas dress for Grace and a couple pictures for her room.

Thank you Judi for the cute socks!

Thanks you Sharon for the tights and socks!





Thank you Nicole for the cute socks and ladybug toy!

Here's the pictures I promised : )

I just HAD to do a quick post. Lauren from AWAA call me a little while ago and wanted to let me know that she had received the fax that I sent her and she also wanted to make sure we knew that some families had just received their RA's yesterday. She said that a few of the families that got their RA just got their referral the SAME time we got our referral for Grace!!!!! That is crazy....it hasn't even been 4 weeks yet! She said because we basically have all our ducks in a row that ours could come anytime! She said she still had to say anywhere from 2-5 months, but she still seems to think we'll be on the faster end of things.....I PRAY she's right. She also said once we get our RA that typically families will be in China 4 weeks from then if not sooner....sometimes a little after by a week or two.
It's probably a long shot but we are PRAYING to be able to travel sometime in Dec. even if it's the last day...we'll take it!
OK, well I just had to keep you up to date on what's happening. Now I need to go get ready for town. We are having ALL our shots for China this afternoon and we need more passport photos. I'll fill you in on how everything goes when I get home. And I'll get those pics. up then ;)

I want to post some pictures so bad, but I don't know how to get them from the camera to the computer. I am going to try to do it tomorrow....or have Mike do it for me.
Today we got our new I171H! It took only ONE week! And we got a package from AWAA! It had a nice med. size canvas bag that says America World Adoption Association in it! Also a travel packet!!!!! We have been assigned a travel coordinator and she sent several papers that need to be filled out and sent back to her ASAP!!!! This is making everything feel so real, I mean I know it's real but still kinda hard to believe : )

I will post pics tomorrow!

The furniture made it! The crazy thing I didn't need to go anywhere today until 4:45 so Robin could go to Great Skates and when do you think they came? You guessed it......4:40! Doesn't it always happen that way : )
No big deal, it all worked out. The furniture looks GREAT! I'll post pics tomorrow.

OK, it's 4:12 and still no sign of the furniture delivers....why am I not surprised.

Last night Mike and I celebrated our 14th anniversary by going out to dinner and buying the laptop computer we will be taking with us when we go to China! Poor Mike, we stayed up until 1am messing with it...and he had to get up at 4 this morning to work, so i'm guessing he's pretty wasted today. I didn't need to get up, but did at 5. I felt guilty sleeping in when he was up working. I think we'll both be ready for bed tonight. (Just so you know he hasn't complained about his lack of Zzzz , but I know he's tired.) So that's what I've been doing off and on while doing the daily chores : )
Grace's furniture is suppose to be delivered this afternoon! We are the last stop for them today so it should arrive between 1-5. Don't you just love how they want to make sure you're home and give you a 4 hour range on when they'll show up. It makes it hard if you need to go to town for something. If you leave they'll come early, if you wait you'll be the last one. Well thankfully I don't have anything I must do in town today so we're good.
I'll try and post some pictures today of what Tina and Nicole sent me this week and the furniture in the room.

We got our PA (Pre-Approval) from the CCAA today! We didn't even know we were waiting for it...LOL! This means we have been pre-approved to adopt Fu NiShuai and have been moved into the room that sends out the RA's (referral acceptance)! Let's pray that RA comes fast!!!!

Here's what the letter said.....

Dear Michael & Tonya,

The CCAA has processed the Pre-Approval (PA) for your family’s request to adopt Fu Ni Shuai! The PA is issued once the information from the electronic acceptance has been reviewed and approved. Once the CCAA has fully reviewed your Dossier and application to adopt a specific child, they will issue the Referral Acceptance (RA). As a reminder, this step is currently taking anywhere from 2-5 months from the date of your electronic acceptance. There is no guaranteed time frame from the CCAA on when your RA will arrive.

This letter was from our FC, Lauren from AWAA. We also received another email and so we pretty much know that we have been PA and are at least in the room that issues RA's which is what we need now! Please pray along with us that we receive it quickly so we can go get Grace out of that orphanage and get her home with her family! We would LOVE to have her home for Christmas....that would be a miracle, but we serve a Big God and He is able accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think! I'm praying for a miracle!!!!!

I have a wonderful book, Parents on their knees by Vi Goodrich, it's praying scripture for your children and I love it and thought I would post some of them every once in a while.

Day 1

Dear Lord, Thank you for the privilege as a parent to place my children in the safety of Your arms in prayer. Give these children favor in my eyes as a precious gift from You (Ps 127:3) Let me joy in parenting and raising them for You. As they grow, help me to instill into their hearts the depth of Your love (S of Sol 8:7; Jer 31:3, John 17:23; Rom 5:8). As only a heart can gain a heart, I pray that I would grow to love You with all my heart, all my soul, and all my strength (Deut 6:5), and that I might, in turn, diligently teach my children (Deut 6:7).

For my children - I pray that from the earliest age, they will be saved - that they will be sorry for their sins, accept Your plan of salvation, pray to ask You to live inside their heart where they will nurture a personal relationship with You (John 3:16; 2 Tim 3:15; Rom 10:9,10,13), and understand the depth of Your love for them. Teach them at a young age to hear Your voice (1Sam 3:10; John 10:3-5,27), to discern the desires of Your heart for them, and to follow the path You have chosen for them (Matt 7:13-14). Remind them that they're not here by chance, but by Your choosing, that Your hand formed them and made them the person they are, that You compare then to no one else, that they are one of a kind, lacking nothing that Your grace can't give them, and that You have allowed them to be here at a time in history to fulfill Your purpose for this generation.

Today is a day of celebration!!!! 14 years ago I married the most loving, thoughtful, incredible man! And 1 year ago our dossier arrived at the China Center of Adoption Affairs! 14 years ago when we got married we would have never in a million years guessed that we would be gearing up to fly to China and bring home a daughter!

To my honey,
I want you to know that I think you are an amazing husband, father and provider! You are a very hard worker and I appreciate all you do! Thank you for letting me be a stay at home mom and not expecting me to work outside of our home....that means soooo much to me! One more thing....thanks for being patient with me and helping me download pictures from the camera and helping me with all my silly questions about the computer and blog :)
Happy anniversary honey, I love you!!! xxoo

Tina sent miss Grace a onesie that says, Jesus Rocks!
I'll post a picture of it soon!
Thanks Tina :)

Shoot! I deleted a post on accident!! I can't remember what all I said, but it was Thursday that Mike and I went to Portland to Homeland Security to be re-fingerprinted. While we were down there we bought Grace's car seat and some outfits to take with us to China!

That was so sweet of my hubby! I'm not loving the picture.....but he is sweet!
I love you honey : ) xxoo

A beautiful wife and mommy enjoying a beautiful ocean.......

(this is not Tonya posting this....by the way)