Update, new photos and I-797...all in one week

Yesterday we received an update on Lin Mei, she appears to be doing well!  And today, our I-797 arrived - we can finally move on to the next step in the process - woo hoo!  Hopefully our documents will be in China the first week of January and we are praying for an early to mid-January LID.  My Christmas wishes have been granted - God is so very good!

T-Shirt Sale Continues!

Just a reminder that we still have our T-Shirts for sale, we will submit an order after Christmas so if you are interested please let me know.  Following are the three designs you can choose from.  Sizes range from Youth Small to Adult XXXL, and we are selling them for $16 each.  If you would like to place an order please e-mail me at tbmcfarland75@yahoo.com.  Thanks to all who have already placed an order!

Still Waiting!

We are still waiting on our I-800A approval, still praying it comes any day.  All of our other documents are ready and waiting- come on USCIS PLEASE send us this document so that we can hopefully secure a Mid-December Log In Date.

On a positive note, our fundraising breakfast this past Saturday went very well.  Thanks to everyone who attended and worked the event, we love and appreciate you all!  We have now moved full force into T-Shirt sales, so if you or anyone you know is interested e-mail me - our designs are listed below in a previous post, as is my e-mail address.

As we head into Thanksgiving I would just like to say that I am Thankful for all of God's blessings, and this year in particular the "little ones".  Lana is such a blessing, she makes my heart swell with pride and love on a daily basis and I am sure that Lin Mei will be no different.  I cannot wait until I can hold that precious child in my arms and show her how much she is loved.  Thank you God for being so good and for showing us the important things in life.

Wishing everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with precious memories.

Waiting...

We traveled to the USCIS office in Charlotte on Wednesday to have our fingerprints done, now we are just waiting for our I800-A approval...I pray that it comes quickly!  All of our other documents have been authenticated and have been forwarded to the adoption agency, as soon as we have this approval our documents will be submitted to China.  We are praying for a late Nov / early Dec Log in Date (LID).
Things are moving along steadily but some days it seems like it is taking forever - those of you who have been through this before can relate. 

Thankfully we have Lana to keep us busy :o).  She is doing great in Kindergarten by the way and seems to really enjoy school.  We have been gathering items for a care package that we will send to Lin Mei once we have a confirmed LID and the other day she picked out the sweetest stuffed kitten to send to her - I think I am going to include this photo in the book we are going to send to her...Lana handing her the kitten :o)



Fundraising Breakfast Just 2 Weeks Away!

As you know, we have an ALL YOU CAN EAT Pancake Breakfast planned for Saturday, November 19th at Fatz Restaurant in Shelby, NC.  As of right now we are struggling to sell enough tickets to hold that event.  If you or anyone you know would be interested in purchasing a ticket, they are $8.00 each and you can reachout to me by e-mail at tbmcfarland75@yahoo.com to purchase them.

Thanks for your continued prayers and support.

Doll Collection for Sale

We have been going through every thing trying to identify items that we can sell in order to raise money for Lin Mei's adoption and I have made the decision to part with a large number of Barbies that I have been collecting since I was a child.  With a collection of nearly 100 dolls that are still sealed in boxes they are too numerous to try and list here, but if anyone out there knows someone who might be interested in any or all of them please feel free to direct them my way! 

After all, this precious doll is well worth the sacrifice. 

T-Shirts For Sale!

We have our T-Shirt fundraiser up and running!  Here are the designs.  Sizes range from Youth Small to Adult XXXL, and we are selling them for $16 each.  If you would like to place an order please e-mail me at tbmcfarland75@yahoo.com.  Thanks!

First fundraiser was a success!

Our yard sale yesterday was a great success, we raised more than $800!  Thanks to everyone who donated items and a special thank you to Mom for hosting the event and helping us out!

In addition to this good news we came home yesterday to find our I800A filing receipt in the mailbox so hopefully we will have our fingerprinting appointment soon and our approval soon after.

Our next fundraising event is the pancake breakfast on November 19th.  We have already started selling tickets so if you haven't gotten yours yet and would like to do so please let me know, we have to sell 100 tickets for this event so we really need your help on this one!  Tickets are $8 each.

Thanks again to everyone for your prayers and support.

Fundraiser #2

We are getting ready to kick off fundraiser #2, an All You Can Eat Pancake Breakfast benefit.  The benefit will take place at Fatz Restaurant in Shelby, NC on Saturday, November 19th from 7:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.  We almost have enough volunteers recruited to help us with the positions that must be filled for the fundraiser, but now we need to sell some tickets! Tickets are $8.00 each if you would like to purchase a ticket, or if you know someone who is interested in participating please contact me directly.

Just a reminder, we are also having a yard sale on October 22nd and we will be collecting items to sell up until Friday, October 21st if you have anything you would be willing to donte it would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks to everyone for all of your continued prayers and support.  I look forward to posting another update soon!

Home Study in Hand!!!!!

Woo Hoo!  We received our home study documents today, this means that we can move on to the next step in the process which is filing our I-800-A with the USCIS.  We are being told that it is taking approximately 8 weeks to receive approval, but we are praying it comes through quicker than that.

First Fundraiser

Hi everyone, we have been giving some thought to fundraisers that we would like to do to raise money for Lin Mei's adoption and I think that we are going to start with a BIG Yard Sale.  So if you have any items that you would like to donate, or know someone who does please send them our way!  We are going to take donations through October 21st and have the big sale on October 22nd!  If you have items you would like to contribute please reach out to me or Mom directly for collection.

Thanks!

Here we go again :o)

Hello everyone!  For those of you who are not aware, Marty and I are in the process of adopting again.  We have identified a little girl by the name of Lin Mei who is waiting for us in Weifang, Shandong province, China.  Marty and I found Lin Mei on a special focus list at the end of July while visiting with our adoption travel group (thank you Angel and Ashton).  Marty and I were both instantly drawn to her, following is the first picture we saw of her - isn't she beautiful?



Lin Mei is six months older than Lana and she is almost exactly the same size, she is 42 inches tall and weighs approximately 41 pounds (Lana says that she is going to have a twin sister).  Lin Mei has bilateral Microtia and Atresia (this means that her outer ear is not completely formed and she does not have an outer ear canal).  The information that we have receicved so far states that she does have some amount of hearing, they are telling us that she likes to sing children's songs and recite Tang poetry.  Of course we will not know for sure how much hearing she has until she is home with us, but based on this information we are very hopeful..  We received the following updated photo just a few days after submitting our Letter of Intent (LOI) to adopt. 

So here we are, paper chasing for daughter number 2, and we are all so very excited!  Lana asks us almost daily if we can go get Lin Mei next week - I keep thinking about the movie 'Are We There Yet' - it may turn out to be a very long road trip. 

Currently we have completed our home study and are pareparing to file our I-800A with US immigration, hopefully that will occur in the next few days.  Based on current time lines we are hoping to travel to bring her home in either April or May 2012.  We hope that you will follow our journey as we answer His call to bring another child home!