(back to) digging to China…

Since everything has been settled with Zoey's adoption *cheers*, we are back to working on our dossier for our China baby adoption! (which, by the way, will be +/- 5 years from now)

Talk about throwing a wrench in things…after some new adoption requirement that our agency in SC does not meet, we are under a very tight deadline to get logged in with China. And we have one chance to get everything right, so please pray it all comes together smoothly in the next week. We go to Columbia tomorrow for State certification and then our courier will take care of the DC authentication. Stressful? yes!

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In "Zoey News"…the day of our fundraiser, we met a local businessman who saw one of our posters in Starbucks and came to meet us along with his son. We talked for a while and exchanged adoption stories (he adopted an adorable daughter). He ended by telling us he wanted to feature Zoey's adoption story in Business Black Box (a really fantastic business magazine in the Upstate). A couple weeks ago, I met his editor in chief and told our entire story which took about an hour. It was so great to meet her and learn about her desire to adopt as well - there is this immediate bond anytime I meet people who share my passion for adoption. Then last week, we had a photo shoot at Fisheye Studios – incredibly talented group and so much fun! I can't wait to see how they turned out. Look for our article in the October issue in the "What Matters" section near the back! 

I really hope our story motivates others into expanding their families through adoption! And what an awesome story to share with Zoey one day.

God moves mountains!

 

We are so thankful that God has answered our prayers and Zoey will be joining our family! Every day I wake up I want to shout it from the mountains - truly "The king's heart (including Holt International's powers that be) is in God's hand"! It is truly evident that God's plan is for Brad and I to be Zoey's parents. We are so blessed…

I'm not going to lie, was a VERY long and trying 7 weeks of uncertainty but it was ALL worth it in the end. But we'd do it all again for Zoey! I know that there were many praying for us during this time and we are so thankful for those prayers. Even with all of the uncertainty and stress, I never had a sleepless night and that is truly a miracle. (honestly, I did loose some sleep at times but I never went totally without!) Our faith has definitely been increased.

You might be wondering how we came up with the name Zoey Bin. "Bin" is part of her given Korean name and it means "shine". We wanted to keep part of her Korean heritage and we also wanted a name that had meaning to it. While searching for first names, I discovered that Zoey means "life". What a perfect combination - we hope that Zoey's life will shine and that our story will inspire other families to adopt.

(by the way, we have decided to add a "y" to Zoey's name because the spelling had caused some confusion as to the correct pronunciation. Plus, we figured "Searls" is hard enough to live with.)

I love the updated photos we received of Zoey. She looks like such a happy baby! Since we can't have her with us now, I'm thankful we have the next 9+ months to continue our bonding and other adoption issue research and study. There are many complicated issues the older a child is when they are adopted especially from a foreign country…but that's a topic for another post. Until then, I'm content knowing she is taken care of and obviously happy in her current situation. We love you, Zoey!

fans of Zoe - part 2

Tomorrow is the big day and we can't wait to hear that God has moved that mountain for us to adopt Zoe into our family!! In an effort to remember the conversation with our agency  last Thursday, we recorded the entire thing on Brad's laptop. These are screen shots before the phone call of our message to Zoe…when we were told we'd have to wait 4 more days for the verdict…and after the phone call. It pretty much sums up how we felt at the end…

I'm long overdue for posting photos and an update of the amazing fundraiser that my dear friend Julie organized and hosted for us last weekend. We have never felt so much love and support from our friends, community and church family as we did that day and the week leading up to it. It was great to meet new friends and be able to express our thanks for the support…although I feel like we can NEVER express our gratitude and thankfulness to everyone who was part of the fundraiser. To everyone who donated items for the garage sale…those who volunteered their time helping us organize and price the items (what a JOB)…everyone who was involved the day of the fundraiser…our vendors who donated and were a part of our big day…and especially my dear friend Julie and her husband who did so much to prepare for the fundraiser. It was truly a LABOR OF LOVE and totally overwhelming - in an AWESOME way - and I thank God for all of you! It was a day we will never forget.

fans of Zoe - part 1

I wanted to post an update on the fund raising efforts that have been so incredibly encouraging to us while we have waited for the verdict on Zoe's adoption over the past 6 weeks…(which have really felt more like 6 months)

 

My incredibly talented and artistic sister came up with a great idea to raise support for our adoption…re-purposing furniture and creating must-have treasures from random items! Like the above antique plate/candle stick-turned cake stand and these bowling ball-turned-ladybug lawn ornaments! She presented us with a very generous adoption donation when she came to visit over July 4th.  

THANK YOU so much for your hard work, sis – Zoe and us feel the love and appreciate all that you do!

 

Stay tuned for a post about the amazing family adoption fundraiser that my amazing friend Julie hosted and organized for us!

a petition update…

Every day that passed and we didn't hear anything from our agency was excruciating. So, Brad called our agency on Friday to check on the status of our petition. Of course, he had to leave a message…

He heard back from the president's office later that day. The two contacts at Holt we sent our petitions to happened to be out traveling last week. Go figure. From the conversation, it sounded like she was aware of our situation and ended the conversation saying that the VP should be calling us "to talk" early next week. That could be today. I'm trying to distract myself with work and stay focused but THIS IS NUTS.

On a POSITIVE note - I'll be posting about our amazing fundraiser soon. We have been blessed with so many amazing friends and outpouring of support! (I'm really thankful we had that to work on last week as it was a BIG distraction for me.) Please keep praying!

Announcing the iPad Raffle winner…

A cheesy iPhone video documentary of the iPad Raffle drawing…totally legit. 

We were all excited (including PJ) to draw the winning ticket!

A BIG thank you to everyone who purchased raffle tickets. 

You helped us raise $1,575 for our adoption expenses!

out of our hands…

it's been an absurdly long month but I'm happy to say that our petition is finally on it's way to the powers that be. it's out of our hands and in God's. all that is left to do is pray and wait for our answer.

we were able to include a grand total of 63 support letters with our petition.
(our goal was to have 50)

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! 

we are so thankful for everyone who took the time to show us their support. we could not have done this without YOU and our petition would not have been nearly as effective without all of YOUR letters.

so, here's what the petitions ended up looking like…

1. a personal letter from Brad and I to our agency

2. a section of "what if" scenarios and our family plan for each possible scenario

3. our "support system contact list" - a chart listing our family/friend's names, what you have committed to do to make Zoe's adoption a success and your contact info

4. a HUGE section of the 63 letters of support we received

and of course, I applied my skills as a designer for added impact…I have to say, we are pretty happy with how everything turned out. 

what do we do now? WAIT some more…hopefully this week will fly by since I'll be helping Julie get everything finalized for the BIG ADOPTION FUNDRAISER she is hosting for us this Saturday. (we hope you all can come!) 

Please pray for the following:

1. that our petitions will arrive safely and make it into the hands of the correct contacts.

2. that our contacts will actually READ the petitions and be impacted positively by our determination.

3. that God will use what we have presented in a miraculous way and they will make an exception for our family's case.

For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. Mark 11:23-24

Zoe-love

whatever happens, we'll know that we have done all that we could to bring you home…

"Is anything too hard for God?"

Jeremiah 32:27

emigration permits and adoption petitions…

On Friday, our agency sent out a monthly update for the Korea program families. MORE bad news for those of us waiting on EP's - Korea will not be issuing any for the month of July. Two months in a row with no movement for those unfortunate families and their children who are waiting to be united. At this point, it almost seems like good news for our predicament because at this rate (and assuming Holt grants us special permission to continue with our adoption), Zoe would not be coming home to us until next spring - allowing us time to adjust to a newborn and continue getting ready for Zoe's arrival. 

There is a lot of negativity these days on the Holt bulletin board (a place where adoptive families can post topics and questions) and I can totally sympathize with and understand where these women are coming from. HOWEVER, at the same time I would like to hormonally scream at the top of my lungs "At least your agency is not threatening to terminate your adoption!". So, these days for my own sanity I'm staying off the bulletin board and focusing my energy on what will make a difference - our petition.

Last week, we received our government approval to adopt Zoe. This should be good news - and it is – except for all the looming uncertainty.

Last week we also received 19 support letters! Every single one I read gives me renewed hope for our situation. I can only pray that Holt sees the light. MANY THANKS to everyone who has written a letter and is working on that this week for us! There is still time if you want to get in on the action. I'm making copies of all of these letters so that one day, we can hopefully share them with Zoe and show her how much she is loved.

Also last week, I was brought into contact with a family who went through this exact same scenario (with a different agency). She shared their plan of action with us and we will be using some of their same ideas for our petition. Their story is amazing…they were adopting from Ethiopia and became pregnant in the process, received special approval from their agency to continue the adoption, brought their son home and a few months later gave birth to their biological child. It's a beautiful story! I pray ours will have the same ending…

Zoe Petition Update

Because of our agency's recent tightening of their "reigns" over our adoption with Zoe, we have become motivated to get our petition packages together SOONER rather than later.

Our contact at Holt's most recent move was to deny us access to any additional information on Zoe – such as her updated photos and her monthly well baby clinic reports. 

I'm frustrated to the max! FACT: In 1955 the founders of Holt International adopted 8 children from Korea SIMULTANEOUSLY. I think we can handle two!! I also wonder what Harry and Bertha Holt would say about all this?

I can't even begin to explain how much more determined this makes me to see this looming termination of our adoption overturned. 

So, the reason for this post is to plead with those of you who have committed to writing petition letters to PLEASE have them notarized and to us ASAP. We hope to have everything ready to send to Holt in the next two weeks!

Doomsday is August 25 and we need to give the powers that be at Holt plenty of time to reconsider their decision. 

We are leaving the outcome up to God because only He can work out the details that will need to take place for us to adopt Zoe. Trusting him for the outcome…

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On a side note, I am 7 weeks pregnant today with a human the size of a blueberry. 

Could that have any correlation as to why I am devouring blueberry bagels every day…?