Abby Grace Liang Mitchell!!!!!!

The call we have been waiting so long for finally came. At 3:10 on Tuesday 10/9/07 we became the proud expectant parents of a beautiful 22 month old. We will be able to post her photos and more information about her on our site next week after we complete our LOI (letter of Intent) letting China know that we will be pursuing her adoption. She is absolutely beautiful!!! We praise and thank our Lord and Savior for this wonderful gift he has blessed us with.

August and September 2007

Well as you can tell by my delay in posting not a whole lot happened on the adoption front in August and September, but on the home front a lot did happen. We had heard and hoped that a new batch of SN referrals would arrive in mid September, but that did not happen. In fact they did not arrive until last week. You heard it right...last week. So Victoria did not get a sister for her birthday in September like she had hoped. We did finally sell our house which had been on the market since last December. So, now here we sit renting my childhood home from my parents sitting on pins and needles waiting to find out if our Abby Grace is in this latest batch. Waiting, I am beginning to hate that word. It is so hard for those not in the adoption community to understand just how hard and tiring waiting can be. I compare it to being a child on Christmas morning at the top of the stairs. You can see the presents under the tree but you have to wait for your parents to wake up before you can go downstairs and tear them open. We know that one day we will have our Abby Grace but the waiting is just getting so hard. Our agency sent an e-mail out earlier this week that said they would start making calls today, but so far we haven't heard anything. I checked my e-mail at work and kept my cell phone handy but nothing. I just felt that this was our time. Maybe it is, maybe we'll get a call today, I doubt it since it is a Friday afternoon and it's almost 5 o'clock. But maybe, just maybe that call will come.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers. Pray for the SN team as they match the children, pray for us as we continue to wait. Pray for Abby no matter where she is, for her safety and security, for someone to comfort her in her times of need.

July Update

The month of July has flown by! We took a vacation to Canada for a few days to visit my sister and her family. The travel was long but the weather was great. We left balmy 95+ SC days and had wonderful 80-85 degree days in Toronto. We did some a little sightseeing at the Toronto Zoo and had a lot of fun just spending time relaxing and shopping.

On the adoption front... Abby was not in this most recent batch of SN referrals but a great friend of mine, Angie Hendren (see her link) found her daughter in this batch. Her family was DTC and LID with us so I was so excited when she finally shared her great news with me. It is wonderful to know that another little China pearl will soon be finding her forever family. She is looking forward to travel this fall and if you follow her BLOG you can take the journey with her. In talking with the SN team she was told that another batch of referrals is expected to arrive sometime in September. Victoria would be thrilled to finally get her baby sister for her birthday. Wouldn't that be a fantastic 9th birthday present?

Please continue to pray for Abby and for her birthmother. Pray fro her mother as she grieves her loss and pray that if Abby is in foster care that her foster parents are loving and nurturing her, treating her as if she were their own. And please continue to pray for us, for the finances to complete the adoption once we receive our referral and for patience while we continue to wait for our referral.

Oh...I met two wonderful women, in my neighborhood, who are also in the process of adopting from China. Isn't God amazing, we all live within 1 mile of each other and we are all feeling led by the Lord to seek out our daughters in China. I'll add a link to Michelle's website so if you get a chance check it out. She is expecting her referral sometime in September!!

The Wallace's got the call

Praise and glory to our Lord and Savior!!! Some new friends of ours from SC got the call yesterday @2:38. They will soon be welcoming KateLin Wallace into their family. She will be turning 2 in July. Hope, KateLin's mom, and I have been corresponding for a few months, providing support for one another. She has been waiting on the list since October 2006 and has waited through 3 SN batches before finally getting matched with her daughter. I will add her web-site the the links for anyone who wants to follow her journey. The password for her blog is: partyoffive, as KateLin will make the Wallace family a family of 5.

Update for June

There is not a whole lot to update everyone on. Our agency received a batch of referrals last week but no phone call yet. I don't think our Abby Grace is in this group but it would be a welcomed gift from the Lord if she is. I cannot wait to finally get that call one day and be able to share our news with everyone. In the meantime I am growing my hair our for Locks of Love until that referral comes. Nothing like long hair in SC with the 95+ days we are having. But ponytales and becoming the norm for me. V was going to grow her hair out as well but decided to get it cut while visiting my sister in Toronto. It is really cute, no ponytales for her.

School is finally out, so the kids are home except for a few weeks when they chose to go to YMCA day camp. Owen is loving being home. When we drive on the streets near his school he says, "Momma, no school today." He has been spending a lot of time with me on the computer working on his letters and sounds on starfall.com. He loves to do the "letter "D" for daddy" because it has dinosaurs on it.

I took V and her best friend Emma to Georgia last weekend to see my dear friend Allison. Another friend of ours, Alice, and I surprised her for a late birthday gift. We had a great time hanging out and the girls occupied her 4 year old Lauren. We sure miss having them for next door neighbors. She was a great support while going through the paperchase.

So not much to share at the moment. Please continue to pray for us, pray for the Lord to watch over our sweet girl and for our finances as we wait to complete our adoption of Abby Grace.