The Only Piece Missing Is You

This is a different kind of post.

We're not going to write  a letter to Vivi on this one, but instead reach out to those who have expressed an interest in helping to bring our daughter home.

Many people have been following our journey to adopt.  Now that our paperwork has been formally logged-in in China, we are getting so close to being able to get on the plane and go to get our daughter.  But as we've mentioned before, adoption is very expensive and we're looking to raise some additional funds we need with your help.

We have created a unique opportunity for you to be a part of Vivi's journey home.  With the help of a fantastic puzzle site called Venus Puzzle, we have created a 1,000 piece puzzle and are looking for people to sponsor one (or more!) pieces.  Each piece can be sponsored for $5, so we're hoping to raise $5,000 through this puzzle. Your name or your family's name will be written on the back of the puzzle piece(s) you sponsor, therefore creating a record of all of our friends and family who helped to bring our girl home.

You can read more about the puzzle fundraiser here. Thanks to Venus Puzzle, who graciously donated our puzzle, 100% of the proceeds will go towards Vivi's adoption.  We hope that you'll consider donating, and maybe posting a link on your blog or Facebook feed to encourage others as well. You can use the link https://www.youcaring.com/bringingvivihome.

Thank you in advance for your generosity and your prayers and love for our family.  We're getting close to raising the funds we need to bring Vivi home to her forever family.  The only piece missing is you.

With love and gratitude,
Kelly and Tim

Logged In!!

Dear Vivi -

We got the big news yesterday: according to the CCCWA, we are LID!!  (This is code-speak for the Chinese government saying that they have received our dossier, processed it, and accepted it.)

But what it really means to us is that we are one huge step closer to you officially being our daughter and no longer an orphan.

We know that there are still many more steps to come.  We need to get our Letter of Acceptance from China, we need to get your Visa, we need to get Travel Approval, we need to fill out more paperwork, etc.  It only took one week for us to get the log-in date, something we were told would take 3-4 weeks.  It's our hope that the remaining steps take less time than predicted as well.

December 1.  That has been our goal all along - to have you back with your family by your 2nd birthday.  It's still a real possibility, and we're not afraid to pray that God will help this to happen.

Not getting any updates on you, despite two requests being sent, has been really hard.  We are desperately wanting to know what the doctors say about you and see how you've changed in the last five months, so this news is a welcome ray of light in an otherwise dark time of communication.

We hope our first care package arrived, and are sending another one soon.  It's a book of pictures of your family so that you'll know us when we finally meet.  We're sending it with lots of love and hope and faith that we will soon be real people to you, and not just pictures on a page.

Love,
Mommy & Daddy

Holding Out Hope

Dear Vivi -

When is a non-update actually an update?  When you have so many things to say and no reason to say them!

That's where we are now, wishing and hoping for you.  We have had no update since we were sent your file for our consideration.  You did indeed have an awesome file - up-to-date, lots of pictures, test results galore, etc. - but maybe that set the bar too high.  Maybe it left us wanting more of you that we cannot yet have.

But we don't want you to think that we have forgotten about you during the days that you are not with us.  We talk about you all the time.  When we celebrated Mother's Day a few weeks ago, Daddy got Mommy this:

It's a beautiful collage of our children.  And see who's right there in the midst of her brothers?  You.

Mommy took this picture on your bed, in your room.  The stuffed giraffe was made by Uncle Matt's girlfriend Katie.  You're going to love them.  Mommy made the book to send to you so that you would know what we looked like when we finally finally come to get you. We didn't forget about you.

We just got back from a family vacation, hopefully the last one we will have without you.  But we missed you.  Mum-Mum and Pop-Pop bought you a dress, and we talked about what it will be like next year when there are four children, not three.  We didn't forget about you.

Mommy devoured a book on adoption while we were away, reading all about the joys and challenges we may face when you come home, things that we need to prepare for to make your entrance into our family go the smoothest that it possibly can.  We're reading all kinds of things so that we can be ready to take care of you, and to meet your needs.  We didn't forget about you.

We sent the last of our paperwork out to get authenticated by the Chinese Consulate in Houston.  Once we get those two precious documents back, hopefully this week, we will send them to the agency, and the agency will send everything to China.  One step closer to you.

Vivi, we know that one day, probably about a year from now, we will laugh together as a family of five about how long this process took and how it seemed like FOREVER until we could come get you.  When that time comes, we won't remember the pain of not having you, only the joy of having you.

In the meantime, we wait.  Some days we're patient, some days we're not.  (Well, Daddy is always patient.  Mommy?  Not so much. But you'll learn that too.)  We know we keep coming back to faith, but it's the only thing we have right now.  We have faith that God is watching out for you while we can't. We have faith that he is providing for your needs when we can't.  We have faith that his hand has been and will continue to be in each and every step of this process.

So while we wait, we do lots of things.  We pray. We hope. We trust. We love.  But we do not ever forget about you.

Love,
Mommy and Daddy