Grace's First Care Package Mailed Today!

Today we mailed our first care package to Grace! This was so exciting! Please pray it gets to her. The orphanges have to pick the package up at the post office and then send it to her foster care home. Our hope is it makes it to her! We may not know if gets to her until we pick her up and even then may not be sure, unless they send the items with her when we get her (which is what we requested) and/or we get the disposable camera back we sent for them to take more pictures. The package has to be no larger than a shoe box. We mailed her some pjs, a blanket (we all took turns sleeping with it first!), a toy, a camera, and small photo album with pictures of her family, her new home and room etc, and a letter to her.

More Great News - Our Acceptance Letter Is Here!!!

We got great news today! We official received our LOA (Letter Seeking Confirmation of Adopter) for Grace issued by the CCAA in China! We got it about a week earlier than we expected (and yes Kelly got hers today too for Lily!) so this is even more excited and was a great surprise! Our adoption agency is fedxing our papers out today for signature and we will sign and fedx them back so they can be sent on to China! This letter has to be received by China before they can issue us our Travel Approval. So big step!

At this time it is anticipated we travel in 10-13 weeks! Let's pray it is on the 10 week side. We have Christian's big baseball trip to Cooperstown, NY July 8-16 and so we need to be back in time for that trip!! God will work it all out, let's all be praying things keep coming quickly and we move through the paperwork trail super quick so we can bring our little girls home! Great day!

Update on Grace....

You are a not gonna believe this, but another update was posted this week on the foster home website with pictures of our beautiful Grace. I have photos that are only about a week old. Check them out…she is eating French fries and playing on the slide at the KFC! Yes that is KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken). Praise…she went for 4 month check up from her surgery (they struggled again with getting her to sleep for MRI – so took her to KFC to feed her and let her get wore out playing!). Results back…no signs of the cysts returning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so moved by this! God is so good. Check out these pictures.

This little girl is touching lives all over the world. I had a lady on our Yahoo site (for those families waiting for their children from China) that said this today “ I totally have chills, I saw your baby on the web page when I was looking for my daughter. She is crazy beautiful and so alive and joyful she just stood out to me. I was completely drawn to her story (when I translated it::). OMG you have so MANY photos!!!”

I love her so much! Guy and I sat and cried as we looked into the eyes of our baby girl today, we can’t’ wait to put our hands on her.

Please keep the prayers coming for Kelly that they get an update soon on Lily. Nothing yet and Kelly has been incredible! She is my biggest source of encouragement in this and journeys right by my side celebrating each praise and each new photo...but her heart is heavy and eager to see a recent photo and an update on Lily. She is one incredible sister I love you Kelly! She is still standing so strong, rejoicing with me and holding out hope for her update. That faith will move the mountain. So as you read this please lift up a prayer for Lily and that an update comes her way soon. I just can’t imagine how big she is now, almost 1 years old and I know so beautiful. She has eyes that captivate you – they are so beautiful and I can’t’ wait to see her pictures and look into her beautiful eyes once again!

Get Out The Tissues

I sweet friend (thanks Susan) shared this with me and I just had to post it. It is our heart as we wait to hold our daughter. Get out the tissues!

POEM - Kisses in the Wind
I hold you in my heart and touch you in my dreams.
You are here each day with me, at least that's how it seems.
I know you wonder where we are... what's taking us so long.
But remember child, I love you so and God will keep you strong.
Now go outside and feel the breeze and let it touch your skin...
Because tonight, just as always, I blow you kisses in the wind.
May God hold you in His hand until I can be with you.
I promise you, my darling, I'm doing all that I can do.
Very soon, you'll have a family for real, not just pretend.
But for tonight, just as always, I blow you kisses in the wind.
May God wrap you in His arms and hold you very tight.
And let the angels bring the kisses that I send to you each night.---
© Pamela Durkota, written for Josh

Okay I am crying again...I love you sweetie!

More pictures....

Guys you are not gonna believe this, yesterday I found out from another parent who had adopted a child from the same foster home that Grace's foster home has a website. It is all in Chinese, so a little hard to navigate but it had some pictures I found that I had not gotten so I was very excited. I thought The formatting I have to work on because not easy to post here except really small shots...she has been on a field trip and has a little friend and even had a 1 year old birthday party! I am not sure if I should be posting pictures of other people's children or the people at the foster home so I will limit them to pictures of Grace, but I will frame some of the others for Grace so she will have them in her room as her friends and special people that took care of her in her life. Here is one precious one that copied over well and at least a small photo of her with cake on her face at her birthday party - precious! I am so blessed I think I most have around 20 pictures now...this is such a blessing and so not typical! I am in awe of God's lavishing love upon us right now as we wait in anticiaption of holding our precious daughter!

WE ARE HAVING A GIRL - MEET GRACE ANN-XIN FISHER!

Well the big day has come! We have been matched with our precious daughter (2/3/10-my natural father's 62nd birthday!) and after much prayer accepted her on 3/2/10 and today officially were notified that China has approved us to be her parents so we can officially share with all of you! This has been one incredible journey. We will most likely be traveling to get her in June - we can hardly wait! I will try to make this short and sweet though I have so much to say, i know you want details and pictures!

So a little about her...she will be 2 years old in August of this year ...so we should be home to celebrate her 2nd birthday! She was born on August 25, 2008. She entered the orphanage on September 12, 2008. She was abandoned in the inpatient department of the Hospital in Pingdingshan City on on September 3, 2008. On December 1, 2008 she was moved to a foster care facility called "The Angel House" - no surprise there as I have been praying for angels to be sent to watch over her - God is so good!

So a little more personally about her, we are told she is a fairly smart child; her eyes are incredibly bright. She very much likes to make “yi yi ya ya” sounds to talk to you! She really likes to have people hold her. If she is being held, she will smile, but if she is not held, she will cry! She has good spirit! Funny here too....typically children in the orphanages are not held a lot so holding and bonding feels uncomfortable to them when you get get your child and yet so natural to us to bond. Our daughter LOVES to be held!

Our daughter has been diagnosed with bilateral submaxillary lump. She was admitted to the hospital on 9/23/09 and was discharged 11/23/09 - 61 days. During this time she underwent two surgeries. The surgeries went well and she left the hospital after her stitches were removed. Discharge condition was good spirits, stable vitals and healed incision! Doctors in China feel she will not need further surgery and that the cysts that were removed will not reoccur! This is a HUGE PRAISE report!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This was a life threatening surgery with many possibilities for complications...we accepted her prior to knowing the results of the surgery because God was clear she was ours and if we wanted our miracle we had to step out in faith. After all Peter did not walk on water until he got out of the boat. One week after we accepted her as our own, we got our update - we got our MIRACLE!

Grace is developing great, she is sitting up and walking and can even climb stairs! She is babbling and can say mama clearly! She is beautiful! She is ours! There is so much more to tell you about how God's hand is on her and our journey over the past month, but I will save that for a later post and let you just sit in this for now.....

And and I know you all want to know about my sister Kelly....yes they were matched t0o....5 days after us, her daughter is from the same orphanage! That is surely God. Do you realize we had to be matched within days of each other and our children had to be from the same orphanage for us to travel together! HELLO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How about giving up some praise here folks! Check out Kelly's blog to see details that she will share about her beautiful baby girl Lily Marie Waite!

I love you all and am so excited this day to share with you and introduce to you our daughter ...Grace Ann-Xin (Heart) Fisher