Happy 8 month birthday to our Jaili girl

Today is Jaili's 8 month birthday and we also received 2 new pictures of her today. Shane and I are so in love! I just stare at her picture and cannot wait to get her. She is just so amazing to me! What a beauty also. Hey, if she can pull of the shaved head look you know she is going to be pretty darn adorable no matter what she does. We are still waiting for TA. We are currently at 40 days for "the wait". I talked with our social worker today (Kathie, who is awesome) and she said that several families with letters of intent that went in June received travel approval this week, so who knows maybe next month for us? I'm not betting on it but it would be pretty cool if that was the case. It's all in God's timing and his timing is perfect. I just rest in that fact. Anywho, at least we know that we will have her by the end of the year!

Where Jaili was born

I found a little information on the city that Jaili's orphanage is in. It sounds beautiful. I'm hoping we will be able to visit her orphanage when we will be there but it is hard to say right now. Here is the info:
Yangxi County is located in Yangjiang which is an uprising city by the South China Sea.Yangjiang City is located in the subtropical zone, about 150 miles southwest from Guangzhou, and is surrounded by mountains from three sides and facing the sea to the south.Moyang River, the mother river originating from the great cloudy and misty mountains, has an overall length of 200 kilometers, and has developed the fertile land of Yangjiang .

Introducing Jaili Joi!!

We have been blessed beyond belief and are proud to announce the referral of our daughter....
Yang Xi Shuo Shuo soon to become Jaili Joi (pronounced Jaylee)!! Her birthday is Dec 30, 2005. She is currently 7 months old today! She weights 12.8 lbs and is 24 inches long. She is described as smiling constantly, loves to be around people and is a deep sleeper. Her favorite toy is a bell. She was found the day that she was born by a gas station. She is currently in the Yangxi Social Welfare Institution. We are anxiously awaiting our travel approval which should come in about 2-4 months. We are praying for the 2 month wait, but we know that it is God's timing and his timing is perfect. Soon we will be holding our sweet baby girl that we have been waiting for. Isn't she beautiful!!!!!! I'll post more about the area where she is from later. Updates will come when we get them. We will also be posting picts and updates from China.

We have a daughter!

On July 17th, 2006 Shane and I had just arrived at the Oregon coast. Shane was attending a middle school conference with a few school chums and I decided to go with him to have a few relaxing days at the coast. Mila (our dog) I and went to Depoe Bay for a walk and some window shopping and on our way back to the hotel I received a phone call. I decided that I would let voicemail get it and just return the phone call when I got back to the room. As soon as we returned I listened to the message to find that it was our social worker Kathie asking me to call her as soon as I got the message. I figured it was a check up call because time frames were increasing so much, so I gave her a call. We talked for a bit and then she told me that the China team had called her and that they had a file of a baby girl for us to look at!!! I was in complete and total shock! I let her know that she should just tell me all the information because I had no words to say at the moment. She gave me all the information on our daughter and I said I would call her back (mostly because I was still in shock and my brain wasn't working) after I talked to Shane. I called Shane and when he answered the phone he said that the phone would not turn off while he was in the middle of the conference so he had to answer it to make it stop ringing! I said that it was meant for him to answer the phone because Holt just called and they have a baby for us!!! Shane told me he fell on his knees as soon as he heard that. We were both in complete and utter amazement! Shane took a break from the conference and I met him while he made the phone call to Kathie to ask here when we could get the file! We found out we could get it the next morning. I left the hotel at 7:00am the next morning and drove to Portland to get the paperwork for our daughter. As soon as I got her information I called Shane and described our beautiful daughter and read him everything that we were given about her! I then drove to Salem to have my mom and the doctor she works with, a pediatric doctor and our family doctor look at her medical information and after that back to the coast. It was almost a full day's worth of driving but completely worth it. After talking with doctors and reviewing her file Shane and I prayed and decided that she was the daughter that God had intended for us. (I think we knew she was our daughter as soon as we got the call). We called Holt the next day and accepted her referral! We are overjoyed and cannot wait to see her precious face in person. Thank you to everyone for your prayers and support. Shane and I have been blessed so much with an outstanding family and wonderful friends.

Wait Update

Shane contemplating the wait

As of now the wait time continues to increase. When we started the process in August 2005 we were estimating that our referral would be in September or October of the next year. So far that is not to be the case. Every month the referral time increases, we are not exactly sure why this is occuring. The CCAA's official word is that their are not enough "paper ready" babies to be adopted out. Only God knows the real reasons why. We are currently looking at going to China in May of 2007, keeping in mind that the referral date could be even longer. Just to be safe I'm saying that we should have her by the end of 2007 (I really hope it does not take that long.) God's timing and plan is perfect it is just difficult at times remebering that.
The wait is so much different than if I were actually pregnant. When you are pregnant you get to see the changes your body is going through and you have a general idea of when you are going to see that precious little baby. The wait with adoption is more surreal (I'm assuming). We know mentally that all of our paperwork is there so we are technically in line for a baby but it doesn't seem like reality. Almost like it is a story about someone else. It's hard to not let your heart get to involved at this point because we don't have a date. The waiting and wondering is so painful at times, yet I know that the Lord is growing us for this wonderful child.
Shane and I submitted a medical conditions list to our adoption agency letting them know that we would also be open to adopting a child with a mild special need. Sometimes with special needs the process is a little faster, not the reason we submitted our list.
We are blessed to have such a strong marriage and support system of family and friends. I am fortunate enough to be married to my best friend. I look at all that Shane and I have been blessed with and it makes me realize that if it takes 6 months or 6 years that Jesus already knows the little one we are to be given.I find tremendous peace and strength in that.

Why we decided to adopt

We were married in 2001 and begin trying for children about a year after that. No success in that department but plenty of fun trying: ) In December of 2004 I saw a program on Oprah, of all places, about the plight of the babies in China. As soon as Shane came home I talked to him about the program. We put it in our minds that when the time came that adopting from China may be the path for us.
Jump forward to June 2005..... Shane and I talked and we knew that it was TIME!!! After a considerable amount of prayer, the Lord made it abunduntly clear that this was the path that he has chosen for us. We were overjoyed. We started the process with Holt International in July 2005 and our official application was approved in August. Step one down.
The process for us was going to be a little slower because Chinese law requires parents to be 30 or older to adopt and I was not going to turn 30 until March. Everything proceeded fantastically. We got our entire dossier done by beginning of Feb. (For those of you who don't know your dossier is all the paperwork, and there is alot, that you've been working for the past several months. It gives the Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs a detailed insight into the adoptive parents.)
On February 10th, 2006 our dossier was sent to China and officially logged in to the Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs on March 14th! That was a fantastic day. I was "paper pregnant"!! Now all we have to do is wait and wait and wait and wait a little more until we get her referral. That is where we are now!!

We find it amazing that as soon as Shane and I new that our path for children was through adoption we have a had such a peace about everything. The need to have "biological" children is no longer there for either one of us. We knew we wanted to adopt before we got married so the Lord just showed us the way. Who knew that the baby girl that was being prepared for us was going to be born in China from another women's womb? How amazing is that!!! God is Great. We feel so blessed that we were picked to be parents to this baby girl!