A Big Step and other news

I want to start with the biggest thing first. TODAY I SENT OUR DOSSIER TO OUR ADOPTION AGENCY TO BE SENT TO CHINA NEXT WEEK!! If you don't know what a dossier is, it's the fat stack of paperwork that contains every little piece of information about you and yours for the country to approve you for a referral (a child to adopt). Things that are in the dossier include: you and your spouse's birth certificates, your marriage certificate (these have to be less than 6 months old), physical exams for mom and dad that include certain blood tests, tb tests, and letters if surgeries have been performed or there's been an illness, 3 references (we used a dear friend, a pastor, and a teacher), a financial statement, a police report for both mom and dad with repentance letters, if necessary (if there's a criminal history... not naming names here), an application letter explaining who we are and why we want to adopt, our 15 page home study that contains every nugget of information you'd want to or not want to know about our family, US government approval to adopt, and a few more. Each of these pieces of paper have been notarized, state certified, and authenticated with the Chinese consulate in Chicago. A few weeks ago, I got to make 2 kid-free trips to Topeka to get documents state certifies. Ah the freedom of riding in peace, no listening to Watch me Whip... here's a cool pic I took in our great state's capital:

THIS IS NOT AN EASY PROCESS, PEOPLE! I remember when I first received the info and was so overwhelemed just looking at all of the things that needed to happen before we could be considered to adopt a child. AND THIS WAS OUR 2ND TIME DOING THIS PAPERWORK IN THE LAST 3 YEARS (as a reminder, we started our adoption journey with the intent to adopt from Ethiopia. God closed that door and very clearly opened the door for the Waiting Children's program in China).\\

So, after THE LONGEST PREGNANCY EVER (peeps in the adoption world call this being "paper pregnant"), I can happily say that that precious paperwork is out of my hands, and on it's way to our adoption agency in Virginia. In one week, they will ship it over to China. We'll be anxiously, nervously, and prayerfully waiting for word that our daughter has been matched with our family. I fantasize about this magical day when WE GET TO SEE HER FACE FOR THE FIRST TIME! Can you imagine?! Oh how I ache to know who she is!!! When we first started this process, I wondered how I could love a child that wasn't mine. I'm not ashamed to admit this. But as we've gotten further and further along in this journey, my love for her has grown and grown. My heart feels full and eager to love on this child that God has chosen for our family. I have complete peace just knowing that it's out of our hands, and that God loves this child more than I could possibly imagine, and He knows where she belongs. GOOSEBUMPS!

Here's a pic of me today at the post office- a selfie of me and the paperwork that I had a hard time handing over to the postal worker who must think I'm totally mental.

Backing up now. I have to catch you guys up because more exciting things have happened since my last post in July. 

I have done a few fundraisers to help get us through these hefty payments that are pouring in as we get closer and closer. Not to mention what it's going to cost to travel! AND we are desperately hoping to cart our 3 kiddos along for the journey. How amazing would it be to go as a family over to China, pick our our girl TOGETHER, and get that family bonding started right there in the orphanage?! I can't sleep at night, I'm so worried we won't be able to make it happen! I think that Riley, Addison, and Chase would really benefit from coming with us- imagine the cultural experience they'd have. So, I did this fun cape fundraiser, and that brought in about $500. And boy are these kids adorable in their capes. Here's a few pics of my donors:

After this fundraiser, a generous friend from church offered to do mini photo shoots for a fundraiser. So, on a beautiful day in October, we had a few hours in the morning, and a few in the evening where she took pics of these awesome families who felt moved by our story and wanted to help. We had so many families who wanted to participate that I had to ask a friend to help. He was so sweet, and gladly accepted! So, a big thanks to Jannah and Kevin for your servant's hearts. 

Here are a few pics of the families that I am so thankful for:

We ended that beautiful day with Kevin snapping some shots of our family. I've been wanting some globe pics for awhile (thanks, pinterest for the idea). Here they are. Cute, aren't they?! 

I am so humbled by people's generosity, and love for our family! It's comforting to know that we have so many friends who support us, and want to be a part of our journey. We love to share this experience! 

That brings me to my final bit of information. We are still fundraising. The next fundraiser will be a Facebook silent auction. It will launch in early January. It's my goal to collect 200 items. I am looking for everything. Direct sales donations, gift cards, crafty things, refurbished furniture, local deals (hair cuts, etc...). Anything that people would want to buy! Please let me know if you would like to donate something. Ask your friends. I've just started this, and already in 1 day I have almost 20 people committed to donating things, some complete strangers!! If you are on Facebook, look for my auction page soon. 

I will end with a quick timeline. We get this question every day, and everyone is so curious about what this will look like. We love to talk about it, so keep on asking! 

11/20/15 Dossier sent to China (this will take some time to arrive, and get logged in, but I imagine our LID (log-in date) to be a few weeks after it's received).

Once that happens, we will officially be on the list to receive a referral (a child).

I've been told that our agency is expecting a large amount of files on kids to come in in December. There's a chance we could get the best Christmas gift ever- to get to see the face of our child. However, we are requesting a girl, age 0-3 and that's the most popular request, so it could be a few more months. Who knows? So, once we receive the referral, we have a few weeks to take her medical file to a doctor and go over her needs (we've requested minor, repairable needs) before accepting her. 

Once we accept her, we will wait for a RA (referral approval) from China. After that is received, we wait for a TA (travel approval), and once we get that we'll be in full traveling planning mode. We'll have 2-3 months before our trip. So, there are still many steps to happen before she's with us. 

Will you join us in praying for our little girl? We are definitely hoping to have fundraising success, but the thing we want the most is your support, encouragement and prayers!! I believe in the power of prayer- it's a mighty thing!! 

If you made it to the end of this post, thanks. You are a gem. Maybe if I posted more often, I wouldn't have to do these lengthy catch-ups?! 

One step back, one step forward (our adoption update)

Yes, we are still WAITING for our adoption to happen. People have almost stopped asking. It's been 2 1/2 years since we started the process to adopt from Ethiopia. It's not that there aren't kids to adopt. They are sitting in orphanages, waiting to be chosen, waiting for a third-world country to process their paperwork. We are over here, waiting for the phone call, the referral of a child who will forever change our lives... and we wait...

and wait...

and wait...

And then, we realize after months of listening to conference calls that update us on the process that the wait is going to keep getting longer and longer. You see, when we started this whole crazy thing back in September of 2012, the wait time was 18-24 months (in which case, we'd have our child now). But now, in July of 2015, the wait time is 36-48 months. That's right, we are not moving at all...

In the meantime, our biological kids are getting older (oh, and so are we, darn it). At this rate, Chase (who is 4 now) will be at least 8 when we get that referral for a child 0-3 years old. Now, those with older children can attest. Once you are out of the baby stage, you are OUT OF THE BABY STAGE!! We have our big toes out of that stage already. Ah, no diapers. No nap times. It's a lovely season, actually.

With that being said. I have some news to share regarding our adoption journey. Just when we were discussing throwing in the towel, giving up on our dream to adopt, we received an email from our agency, encouraging us to open our hearts to a different country. We'd received this email before, but decided to stick with Africa, as we felt a strong connection to our child waiting for us there. However, God's plan isn't usually our plan, right? After much prayer and discussion, we've started the process to adopt from the Waiting Child Program in CHINA.

Do you know what this means?! This means that we are STARTING OVER. Arg. Sigh. But this time around, we've already done all of this, so we KNOW what we are doing (mostly). The Waiting Child program consists of boys and girls ages 0-3, and 6+ who have minor to major special needs. We will be selecting very minor (repairable) needs in the age bracket of 0-3. The kids typically have cleft lip/palate, club foot, limb differences, etc... We still need to decide what needs we are willing to tackle. If we end up with a baby, expect my plea for your baby hand-me-downs!

The wait for us is unknown, but once the paperwork is submitted (hopefully not more than 6 months), it will be a short wait. We have a cruise planned with my family (thanks, mom and dad) in February, and I imagine us receiving the referral shortly after returning home from that. I'm getting really excited thinking about being a family of 6 this time next year!

For now, we will be up to our ears in social workers and paperwork. Please pray for our family as we gear up for what's to come in the next year. We are thankful that we've been called to this mission, and that while one door has closed, another one has opened!

I'm sure we'll do a fundraiser once the paperwork is completed to help raise the funds we'll need to finish this out. In the meantime, if you feel called to, here's the link to donate towards our adoption. Prayers are the biggest need at the moment, though.
http://www.awaa.org/give/eternal_family_program.aspx
For designated family name, that's us, Nathan and Jennifer Gronberg