This is not the name her birth parents gave her...we will probably never know that. But it's been her name for most of her life. The Wu Dong is what all the children from her orphanage are called. Chinese last names come first and Wu is probably her orphanage director's last name. The Dong is another sort of family name and I'm wondering if it is for her province of Guangdong. And then Fen would be like her first name and it's the only name her foster home uses to identify her on the pictures I found online. It's pronounced "fun". :) Of course we don't know her at all, but from the sparse info I have and the videos, I think she may have a pretty "fun" personality (though Fen means fragrance, not fun of course). Some of her forms mention she is active and loves playing with her nanny and other kids. There are boxes for checking that she has a quiet personality or that she is fond of quiet. Neither of those are checked. :) One update did say that she loves books. I hope that is true, as that is one of my favorite things too!
Tuesday, September 27, 2016
The name...Still Deciding!
So after a certain sister informed me their family affectionately refers to our little girl as "Little Dong", thought I might tell you about her name. We haven't settled on what her new name will be, so no news there. Still thinking an American first name, to help her feel a sense of belonging in our American family, and a Chinese middle name. In the meantime, just FYI, her Chinese name is Wu Dong Fen.
Videos
I think you should be able to view these. I tried to set them so they aren't listed publicly but those with a link can view.
Monday, September 26, 2016
The Match Story
Some birthdays are just memorable. Like my 8th birthday when my sleepover party had to be postponed as Hurricane Hugo ripped through SC. Or the time my friends, sisters, and I recorded an Oscar winning performance of Cinderella on my grandparents' huge camcorder for my 10th birthday. I will always remember all the butterflies on my 21st, when I'd just started dating Matt and he took me to a George Strait concert. And then my next birthday was memorable in a bad way, as we had just gotten married, moved to a new town. I couldn't find a job and was really lonely sitting at home while trying to adjust to being a new army wife. Oh the memories! Anyway, this year's birthday will always go down as one special day.
I took the kids to school and went for a run with Raven. I was just praying and thanking God for all the ways he has worked in my life and how in all the big moments, he has been there showing me that he is real by giving me a sense of his presence as things line up in unexpected ways. I also prayed again about my concern that we would have trouble finding a little girl to match with whose special needs we felt comfortable about taking on. What if Matt and I couldn't agree? What if we felt too afraid and had to keep bypassing the children whose files were sent our way? I felt a reminder again that God's got this and I went on with my day, which thankfully included a fun shopping outing with birthday money and a wonderful friend. :)
While browsing at the outlets, I got a text from my friend Lisa, as in the one who is directing our adoption. I knew it was her without looking because I give everyone that usually texts me a distinct ring tone so when I'm driving or busy I can know who's on there. Lisa's text tone is one that sounds like someone's about to make an exciting announcement because hey- she might have super important news! (Or she might be texting about a movie we want to see, but that's fun too.) This time it was a request to call her so I was very curious as to what it might be about. Sometimes I've gotten bad news calls from our agency about something with our papers, so that crossed my mind. We weren't logged in yet so did not think it was about a match.
Lisa shared with me that she had a file she wanted to send if we were interested, but that she would explain the special need and we could say whether we wanted to see. The little girl was 14 months old with a heart condition called tetralogy of fallot and was actually on the special focus list that we could be matched with at any time (as opposed to waiting to be logged in for the most minor needs children). But Lisa thought that her situation didn't seem to scary and we might want to consider. I told her yes and she sent her info and pictures and a video right away, which I looked at right away in the store with my friend and pretty much fell in love with this sweet girl right then, though tried to be cautious, as I had the feeling Matt might not feel comfortable, since she will need another surgery later on and we are nervous about affording extensive healthcare costs.
I sent everything to Matt, who was at work, and had to wait until later that afternoon to hear his opinion. I was just kind of shocked to get a possible match so soon. I didn't think we'd get any files for another month or so. Finally Matt got home and looked at the info while I held my breath in the other room. He then came and found me and announced that he thought "this little girl looks pretty good." What?! I was pretty surprised at his reaction, as this whole adopting thing itself took a lot for him to get on board with. We looked at the files again together and decided we should talk to any doctors we could find to try to make sure we understood her condition. We also submitted some questions to be sent to her caregivers. We were able to talk to two doctors the next day, both of which echoed Matt's feeling that she'd have a good quality of life and just need one or two procedures that would not be a huge deal.
I talked to Lisa again, who told me that 1) She could not believe she unknowingly sent me a referral on my birthday (she knew it was coming up but we were celebrating weeks later and wasn't paying attention to the date) and 2) She had responsibly shown this little girl's file to families waiting in front of us, though she really had felt compelled to show us the whole time and just had to wait for the other families to say no. This info made Matt and I both feel even more convinced that God was at work in bringing this little girl to us.
We waited a week to hear back from the foster home...a week in which I looked at the pictures in the file often, sometimes multiple times an hour, and some nights couldn't sleep because I just wanted to think about her. I knew she was in a very nice foster home, where orphans who need surgery are sometimes sent to be cared for, so I looked up their page on facebook and found what I was almost positive were pictures of the little girl when she had her surgery. I checked my emailed a thousand times, hoping for news.
Finally we heard back with some videos and answers to questions. I poured over every frame of the video, trying to get to know this little girl, and we pondered whether we could say "Let her be ours, come what may", considering that one number we were asking for (to indicate the success of her first surgery as an infant) was not a very healthy one. We decided that yes, we want her to be ours, though having another child to care for is overwhelming and having a child with a heart condition is scary...she needs a family and we were already becoming attached. It's not the first time I've made a big and scary step forward based on looking back and remembering God's reassurance to me in times of prayer about the situation.
We are anxious to get our girl home and to figure out her health status, to really get to know her and love her and to settled into life with her. In the meantime, I will definitely be doing a lot of praying and turning over my worries over and over again to the only one that is over all things. I am so thankful to him for the gift of this child.
And now, if you're still with me, you know the long and the short (or maybe just the long) of our matching story.
PICS FROM FILE
PIC FROM UPDATE WE ASKED FOR
PIC FROM SCREEN SHOTS OF VIDEO UPDATE
Stephanie RLove the matching story and the whole LONG of this story! I think God's faithfulness and sovereignity are best seen looking back over big chunks of time. He's had this little one on his mind forever!
Matched!
I'll share more details soon, but for now, so excited to announce that we are matched with a 14 month old little girl from the province of Guangdong! It all happened much faster than we thought and in such a neat way. We are so thankful!
Sarah ZSO EXCITED FOR YOU!!! She is absolutely beautiful, and I can already imagine her bustling around her new home and being adored by her big brothers and sister. Must be the most amazing feeling in the world to see her photo and know she will soon be in your arms. <3
Sarah ZSO EXCITED FOR YOU!!! She is absolutely beautiful, and I can already imagine her bustling around her new home and being adored by her big brothers and sister. Must be the most amazing feeling in the world to see her photo and know she will soon be in your arms. <3
Monday, September 19, 2016
Birthday stuff for Allie
Thank you to friends and family that helped make my birthday special with gifts (many for our new daughter or China travel), spending time together, and sweet words. It was a great day and hopefully I will have more to share this week about why it was so special!
Logged In
Hooray! Just got an email saying we are officially logged in to China's database (LID). We are on our way and it's so nice to be in this stage where things are happening a little more quickly!!
Monday, September 12, 2016
Using Our Matching Grant
Hi. We are getting connected with Lifesong for Orphans and figuring out all their procedures so that we can use the matching grant as we get more donations. Since everything can be doubled now, we closed down the Pure Charity fundraiser and have a new website for accepting donations: https://mystory.lifesongfororphans.org/stories/bringing-home-little-piece-china/
We still have some pieces left on our puzzle fundraiser, so we're happy to accept donations for that if you are interested. We've sold about 225 with about 50 to go. Thank you!
I'm also setting up a craft sale at the end of October at my house and am scheduled to do one in Fort Mill Thanksgiving weekend, so I'll be able to take purchases through the Lifesong site for those items too.
I am adding weekly to my stash of paintings and scarves and am keeping photos of them here: http://crabtreecrafts.blogspot.com
Some friends and family have jumped ahead of my craft show (how pushy!) and already bought something or commissioned me to do a painting similar to a piece I have at home. So actually if you need a gift for someone before the end of October sale or just want to go ahead and get it, it's perfectly fine to choose something now from the site or ask me to do something specific.
**Please make your check to Lifesong for Orphans with Crabtree #6332 in the memo. We can also take payments via this link if you prefer that method: https://mystory.lifesongfororphans.org/stories/bringing-home-little-piece-china/. ALL PROCEEDS will be sent to our agency for adoption fees. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!
Friday, September 9, 2016
Banner Week for Us
Wow, I am so thankful to report that we got more awesome news today!! We were awarded a $3000 matching grant from Lifesong for Orphans! This is perfect timing with my plans for craft sales this fall. Up to $3000 of our sales will be doubled for a total of $6000 directly to our expenses, which is just great news! When we didn't get the first two grants we applied for, I kind of accepted that we may not get any, so this is such an unexpected blessing and we thank God for providing for us.
Thursday, September 8, 2016
Dossier To China!!!!
Hooray!! About a week earlier than I expected, our documents are on their way to China! So excited to be on this step now! Here's the email I received...see if you can make sense of it with the lingo :)
Typical time to LID is 1-2 weeks from the day your originals are received in China. When we see in the CCCWA database that your file has been registered, Beth or I will email you the official LID date.
Congratulations on being DTC!
If you didn't catch all that, here are the acronyms:
CCCWA – Chinese Center for Children’s Welfare and Adoption: Chinese branch of government that oversees adoptions.
DTC – Dossier To China: Your dossier has been loaded electronically in the system and mailed to CCCWA to await translation and review. Usually takes 4-6 months from starting paperwork to being DTC for the first adoption. Subsequent adoptions may be a little shorter because the home study should be faster and usually case workers don’t repeat all of the state clearances – just your current state if you’ve been there 5+ years.
LID – Logged In Dossier: CCCWA acknowledges receipt of your hard copy dossier and issues a “Log In Date.” After this your dossier will be shuffled from desk to desk as it gets translated, reviewed and approved by different people. From DTC to LID can be a few days to several weeks.
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
Show Hope!!!
Much to my surprise yesterday, I opened the mailbox to find a letter from Steven Curtis Chapman's adoption organization to which I had applied for a grant and was to hear no sooner than the end of September. One piece of paper, gotta be another rejection. But no--we got the grant!!!
Could not believe it and got all teary. Don't know why they chose us when other organizations didn't...was it something particular I said on the application? Or something they look for that other groups don't? Whatever the reason, so encouraged and thankful for this provision! We are close to halfway funded now and who knows--maybe we will get more grants before it's all said and done.
For now I'm still working on those crafts, starting to sell some custom orders, and counting the days (hopefully 7 more) till we are DTC--Dossier To China!!
Could not believe it and got all teary. Don't know why they chose us when other organizations didn't...was it something particular I said on the application? Or something they look for that other groups don't? Whatever the reason, so encouraged and thankful for this provision! We are close to halfway funded now and who knows--maybe we will get more grants before it's all said and done.
For now I'm still working on those crafts, starting to sell some custom orders, and counting the days (hopefully 7 more) till we are DTC--Dossier To China!!
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