Great News! We got an email today letting us know that the CCCWA (China Center for Children’s Welfare and Adoption) have approved us to adopt Jude! What does this mean, you may ask? What happens next? When will we go?

These are all questions you sweet people have asked and I thought it would be easier to post what we know here 🙂

Well, it means that after 4 months (yes 4 MONTHS!) of reviewing our file, and despite many delays, they have approved us! This is great news!

It means that we should have our official RA (referral acceptance) documents next week and we will quickly send documents to the USCIS and to China. I won’t go through the details of what happens with all that because I don’t completely understand it, honestly. In a nutshell, it’s further preparations to get him a Visa and other legal “stuff.” haha

If the timeline moves as it should, we will hopefully be traveling by mid-November to China. Please pray that things move as they should (or more quickly!!)

This approval also means that we should get updates on our boy soon and hopefully some new photos. (Ours are so outdated and we know he has grown so much and can’t wait to see updated photos!) It also means that we are able to send him a package and a letter introducing ourselves to him. We can tell him that we are coming soon. I’m not sure how much a 2 year old can understand of all of this, but we are going to keep it simple. We are mostly excited to send him a photo-book with our photos labeled Mommy, Daddy, Sister, and Brother.  We are hoping that he can look at the photos for the next two months and maybe recognize us when we come for him? 🙂

Lastly, we now get to freely post his photos and videos! Most of you have already seen him, but we can’t pass the opportunity to proudly show him off to the world! We are proud parents..

Isn’t he cute?? We are biased, of course. Thank you all for your prayers and texts, emails… All of it!

God continually shows Himself to us right when we need Him most. Yesterday we were feeling discouraged, and weary with things not working quite as we planned and hoped. Today we are reminded that this is the path He has chosen for us and we just need to lean further into Him when things get tough. He is a faithful God and He cares about the details. He hears our prayers and sees our pain. He renews our strength when we need it most (Isaiah 40:31.) He did that for us today!

Psalms 36:5  Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.

– Mary and Michael