Letter of Intent - Yu Xi Gang

Ohhhhhhh my!!!!! 

It doesn't get any cuter than this!! 
We have officially sent China our "Letter of Intent" (LOI) to adopt a little boy from China!!



Referral Photo

His name is Yu Xi Gang.
He's in an orphanage in Beijing City, China.
He recently turned 2 years old.
He's absolutely adorable and melts our hearts.
The caregivers affectionately refer to him as "GangGang". 
He loves being outside, brightly colored cars, shrimp and laughing with "open mouth".  Awwww......

We won't know if we have Preliminary Approval (PA) for a few days. 
We've sent China information in advance of our Dossier (China's home study) for preliminary review and approval. 
Still lots of paperwork - but so worth every second!!!!

The photo of Sam below was taken outside the Huntingburg, IN library
immediately after we submitted our LOI (using their internet)!

We were traveling to French Lick, IN to visit the
Indiana Railway Museum.

We detoured into this small town
to submit our LOI after deciding (without a doubt!!)
Yu Xi Gang was our son!!!

Happy Big Brother!

Moving fast!!

We survived our first home study visit! -- (yes, with the kids!).  Our social worker is amazing and with 4 kiddos of her own she's very sympathetic to chaos!!! 

The exciting news is we're far enough along in the paperwork process that we could be matched with a child! Seeing the photos of these waiting children is an extremely emotional process and very new to us. 

How does one know God's plans?....is this my child?  We must trust our hearts and our heads as every child is precious and deserving of a family and love.  We've always said, "you parent the child you're meant to parent".  We have faith.

The Panda

Tonight we attended the Fall Carnival at Sam's school with my parents.

The kiddos were off playing games when we decided to share

the news of our adoption plans with my parents.

Needless to say, they were thrilled!

Moments later, Jack proudly came running back to show

us the prize he'd won & picked out.

A beautiful Panda!

We haven't discussed the adoption with the kids yet.

Waiting to be a little further down the process.

Perhaps a sign?...!!! :)



Let the journey begin!!!

IT'S OFFICIAL!!! 

We are beginning the process of adopting our 4th child!!! -- and our first international adoption. We are thrilled to be starting this new and exciting journey!!  Our lil guy/gal is likely already waiting for us! 

We will be adopting from China using a local agency, Families Thru International Adoption (FTIA). We submitted our application yesterday and it was approved today!

The earthquake in Haiti had a tremendous impact on us. Seeing those orphaned children and wanting so badly to help. We knew at that point -- we have enough love and means to bring another child into our home. Sadly, adopting from Haiti is currently not an option and the program is burdened with many legal hurdles and unknowns.

Soon, we began researching other international adoption programs and China clearly stood out. The Waiting Child/Special Needs program in China appears the most stable and there are nearly 2,000 "orphaned" children currently on the list. One may be our child!! We are open to either sex and a child at least 12-18 months younger than Jack. Let the journey begin!!!