He knows we're coming!!! And other updates!!!

A few days ago, my sweet friend Morgan, who I traveled with on the advocacy trip in April got to meet our son!!

She and Madison's advocacy team met our little guy, took pictures of him for us, and informed us that he is so little and as sweet as he can be!!  Oh, we can't wait to see him with our own eyes!!!  They told him we are coming for him and it's true, we are!!

In fact, things are progressing really, really quickly!  Last week we received our second approval letter from China (LOA), then USCIS approved our I-800 which approves the kids to immigrate to the US.  This week the National Visa Center issued our approvals for both kids and we completed all remaining paperwork on the US side.  Our package will be dropped off at the US Consulate in Guangzhou, China on Monday and we are hopeful it will be ready for pick up on Tuesday.  It will get overnighted to Beijing and delivered to CCCWA on Wednesday.  Then we will be waiting for our Travel Approval from the Chinese government!!  This TA is the last thing we need to be able to schedule our consulate appointment and gotcha days!!

We are so excited!!!  It's almost time!! 

If you are currently praying for us, we ask you to pray for the following:

China's system that they process adoptions in has been down since Wednesday for a hardware issue.  Please pray that this system is back online when they open again on Monday and that it stays working!  Without that system working, we cannot receive our Travel Approval and many other families become delayed as well!!

For clarity in the flights we need to reserve.  As you might guess, getting so close to Christmas, we are anxious to book flights as they will continue to rise higher and higher.  We have been praying about which flights to take and at what point to book the flights.  This isn't an ideal situation to book flights ahead of receiving our approved dates for the adoption, but as flights continue to rise, we may have to, so please pray for wisdom and discernment regarding our travel plans.

Additionally, we ask you to pray for financial provision.  We received an amazing grant from Rollstone Foundation this week and we also received a matching grant from Lifesong for Orphans.  We really need God to move to get the grant matched quickly.  We are also still short by a good amount and have a number of grant applications out that we still haven't heard anything on.  We pray we will receive good news on a few of these too to close the remaining gap.  With potentially less than 2 weeks til travel, we are expectant.  We know that God was faithful last adoption and we know that he will be again! 

Lastly, please pray for our children.  Pray for the hearts of Kate, Chengbin, & Laila as we bring two new children into our family.  Pray for the hearts of our sweet new kiddos as they undergo tremendous change in the coming weeks.  Pray for openness in their hearts and spirits to us.  That they would have a sense of peace in spite of all the chaos and upheaval happening in their young lives.  Please also pray for wisdom, discernment, and peace for Matt & I as we make this family transition and work hard to earn the trust and acceptance of these two sweet babies while continuing to be there for our already home kids.

Thank you all so much for your support, your cheers, your prayers, your good thoughts... we appreciate each and every one of you more than you know.  Only a couple more weeks til we go get these babies!!!  Woohoo!!

WIN before you BUY!!! Christmas is coming!!

Last adoption we did an American Girl fundraiser and it went so well that we have decided to do it again!!  This time the prize is BIGGER!!!  Our hope is that one little girl's Christmas dream will come true when her mom or dad wins this prize pack!!

And these raffle tickets will go to bring our two kiddos home from their orphanages just in time for Christmas!!! (We HOPE, that pesky paperwork is so slow....)

 

So here's how it's going to work:  We will do a raffle for the prize pack. 

The winner gets the American Girl doll of "her" choice and the accessory of "her" choice!!  A few doll examples are in the pictures, but she can truly choose ANY doll ($130 or less). 

 

She will also get to choose one of the beds or tent shown below, or the accessory package of her choosing valued up to $100.  What a great prize right???

 

 

 

How do you enter??? It's simple!!

Make a suggested donation of:

$5- 1 raffle ticket

Click on this link to make your donation!!

https://www.paypal.me/wilksadoption

  Drawing on Orphan Sunday, Nov 13!!

Progress, Provision, & Care Packages

Progress!!!! 3 weeks ago we found out that there was an issue... when China processed our letter of intent to adopt Little Miss, they logged her approval as a dossier reuse instead of putting the approval with the dossier we'd just sent in Sept.  Our agency tried and tried to get them to accept the paperwork that was there for it, but ultimately China wanted a second application letter from us.  So we printed it, signed it, notarized it, authenticated it at the county, state, and Chinese consulate, & finally our agency sent it to China.  We knew we would be held up until they received it but hoped things would move fast once they got it.  So far, so good!! They got it on Thursday and Friday they changed our status to 'matched' for our wingman.  What this means is that we will hopefully get our official approval to adopt the kids in the next week or so!!!!!

Provision!!! Touch the Sky has been working on an amazing fundraiser for the kiddos orphanage fees.  So far it has raised over $1000 & if the full blocks fill it will raise almost one full orphanage donation!!! Yesterday we received our first approval letter for a grant!  Forever Families has generously gave us a $1000 grant!!!  We still have a ways to go in being fully funded but we know that it is all in God's timing and in accordance with his plan.

Care packages!!!  We sent a care package to Little Miss with some friends from Gladney adoption agency.  They are the agency I traveled with in April when I met her.  She officially knows we are coming for her!!! :)

I love that Rocky sat down with her and explained each of the pictures to her!!!  We included pictures of all of us, of our wingman, our house, our playground, our dogs, our kitties...

He gave her the special necklace we sent so she'll have her family's picture wherever she goes!

And he passed her the kitty cat that Laila picked out for her just days before!!  She had her kitty and that kitty sleep together for a few nights before she sent it on to China. ;)

We have a care package ready to send to the Wingman too!  His orphanage does not accept outside care packages, but we are thankful that two agencies are doing advocacy camps with his orphanage making it possible for him to receive one and know that we are coming for him!!! 

It's getting close to travel!!!  We are hoping and praying the next few steps are completed quickly and we can travel to China at the end of November or first week of December.  We are SO excited to get these babies home where they belong!!!  Can't wait for them to become Wilks kids!!!

Our littlest girl.. Part one

The story of our sweet, little girl began many months ahead of announcing her adoption to ya'll...

Back in April I visited two orphanages in China where I had the opportunity to meet many children who are in need of families.  I asked ahead of the trip to meet the children with thalassemia in particular, since as the mama of two with this medical need, I've seen first-hand the difference that care in the US does for these precious kiddos.  Before leaving for China, I'd already seen the picture of our wingman and read his file.  I really thought he was supposed to be ours but I also had been given the unique opportunity to go on an advocacy trip to China.  I knew how important this trip was, but I also felt pulled to that sweet little guy.  So I prayed about it and God gave me complete peace that I needed to go on the trip to China and trust that little wingman's future to him.

As we walked into the doors of that first orphanage, I expected to meet a few kids with thalassemia.  Once we arrived I found out I would get to meet nearly all the kids with thalassemia that day.  When we walked into the library where we'd be meeting kids, I walked in and saw the cutest little girl sitting quietly waiting for us.  As soon as I saw her I looked over at the agency rep and asked him if she was one of "my" thal kids.  He asked someone on the orphanage staff and she said yes.  A few minutes later, Gongzhan and I were going through the list of children and giving them English names for advocacy.  When we got to her, he told me to choose a name that started with an "L" and I told him "Lila"...

That day in the orphanage I was privileged to get to know many amazing children.  The kids with thalassemia have my heart and I tried to spend time with each one of them individually so that I could better "know" them to advocate back in the states.  When it was time for lunch, we headed to a special room and sweet little Lila sat next to me and another precious little girl, Helen, sat on the other side.  These two sweet girls were absolutely precious.  I just laughed going back and forth between them, watching Helen mix everything into her bowl while Lila went to town on her sweet and sour pork!  By the time lunch ended, Lila had eaten all of her sweet and sour pork, all of my sweet and sour pork, and a little more of another friend's sweet and sour sauce! :)  She had captured my heart a little bit were her beautiful little face and sweet smile.

We spent some time coloring and I kept thinking what a great sister she would make for Laila. They were the same age with the same medical need.  How cool would it be for them to grow up together and always have each other?? But then reality set in as quickly as the thoughts began... I already felt pretty sure I'd seen our next child.  HJ needed a family.  Chengbin had been praying for a brother.  We were going for a boy.  This girl couldn't be ours.  We would be going for a boy and that was that.  I started giving myself an internal pep talk about it.  Then I heard more about this orphanage and how few children's files get prepared compared to how many children live there.  The odds of any child getting their file prepared for adoption was slim.  Even if the orphanage did prepare it, the odds of it getting to a specific agency for us to adopt her were also slim to none.  Knowing this helped me push any thoughts of bringing home this little girl far away.  I pushed it completely out of my head.  No worrying, no wondering, nothing.  The facts didn't lie, this girl was not a part of our plans.  The truth is I met so many amazing kids on the trip.  All of them need families, all of them deserve more.  When we got home, I actually took nearly a month trying to get my thoughts back together after everything I'd seen and experienced in China.  That trip broke my heart into a thousand pieces and I grieved that I couldn't bring home a few of the special ones that I'd met there.  I'd met a special little guy in the next orphanage that I knew we would be able to bring home...

Once I got home, we did decide to begin an adoption and we did decide that we would be bringing home that sweet boy I'd felt was ours even before this trip.  Unexpectedly, even to me though, was that I felt like he wasn't all...  I felt like God was saying two... And I just kind of assumed that two would be the sweet little boy I'd met in the second orphanage during that trip.  The little one who had a prepared file.  I continued to advocate for that little guy and it began getting harder and harder to advocate because I wanted him to be ours.  One day another family asked about him and I didn't even want to respond.  I stopped what I was doing and prayed.  I prayed for God to help me push my thoughts and feelings out of this.  I asked him to help me to trust in him and his plans.  I asked him to take away my own thoughts and desires and replace them with his, because what I wanted most was to trust in him, his timing, and his plans rather than trying to force mine.

That night, he answered me.  It was loud and it was clear and it was shocking.

That night, my agency sent me Lila's file.  Her file had been prepared, it had gone onto the shared list, and of all the agencies in the world that could have pulled that file, my agency had pulled it.  And they had sent it directly to me.  I opened the file and looked at her picture. 

"No way I just got her file" I kept saying to myself.  "No way you just sent me HER file God!!"  "Are you serious God??!! HER photo? HER file?? Did you seriously just do this????"  All my thoughts of the plans I had wanted to pursue were gone.  Peace flooded me.  God was not just answering my prayer a little bit, but he was filling me with faith.  He was in charge, not me.  He can make anything happen.  Why was I considering forcing my will when he could so clearly do anything and might have so much bigger and better plans than me??!!!  I pulled up my facebook and responded to the family who'd inquired about that sweet little boy earlier in the day.  "God's got this," I kept telling myself.  Then I pulled her file up again and read her story and my heart broken into a billion pieces.  This was our daughter.  This was what God meant by two.  This was the reason he had sent me to China; so that when our daughter's file was sent to us, I would know she was ours..

To Be Continued... ;)

Previous China Timelines vs Now

Adoption Timelines

Chengbin's adoption

• November 13, 2012 Applied to Agency
• December 15, 2012 1st Homestudy Visit
• December 29, 2012 2nd Homestudy Visit
• January 30, 2013 Homestudy Complete
• February 10, 2013 Mailed I-800
• March 2, 2013 Received biometrics appt card
• March 5, 2013 Walked in for Fingerprints!
• March 11, 2013 USCIS Fingerprint Appt
• March 12, 2013 USCIS approval
• March 15, 2013 LOI
• March 18, 2013 Dossier docs to Agency
• March 20, 2013 Preapproval!
• April 15, 2013 DTC
• April 27, 2013 LID
• May 9, 2013 Status changed to "in process"
• May 23, 2013 I-800 to Lockbox (med expedite)
• May 28, 2013 Letter Seeking Confirmation!
• May 29, 2013 I-800 Lockbox to NBC
• June 14, 2013 I-800 Provisional Approval
• June 17, 2013 I-800 reissued due to error
• June 19, 2013 NVC approval cabled
• June 20, 2013 Received PDF
• June 21, 2013 Art 5 dropoff
• June 25, 2013 Art 5 pickup (med expedite)
• July 12, 2013 TA email (med expedite)
• July 12, 2013 Received Consulate Appt
• July 29, 2013 GOTCHA DAY

Laila's adoption

• Nov 10, 2013 Started 2nd Adoption
• Dec 8, 2013 1st Homestudy Visit
• Dec 21, 2013 2nd Homestudy Visit
• Feb 22, 2014 Applied to Agency
• March 20, 2014 LOI
• March 26, 2014 PA for Laila
• April 7, 2014 Homestudy Approval!!
• April 7, 2014 Supplement 3 overnighted
• April 30, 2014 Walked in for Fingerprints!
• May 9, 2014 Supplement 3 approved
• June 4, 2014 Dossier To China
• August 14, 2014 LOA
• August 15, 2014 I-800 approval (expedite)
• August 22, 2014 NVC approval
• August 26, 2014 Art 5 dropoff
• August 27, 2014 Art 5 approval
• August 29, 2014 Dropoff at CCCWA
• September 22, 2014 GOTCHA DAY!

We received our log in date (LID) yesterday!  So now it's time to start our latest timeline on the sidebar of this blog! :)  Things have changed quite a bit with China's system since our last adoption, so now our caseworker will be able to track our dossier as it goes through the process at CCCWA.  We are very excited to see some progress and hope you'll all pray with us for expediency in the process and for HJ & Little Miss's health & well being while we wait!

Thanks for following along!

Update!!!!!

THIS just happened!!! We are DTC guys!!!

Our dossier is headed to Beijing where it will get logged in with the CCCWA and our adoption paperwork will be processed. 

We're one great big step closer to Hongjie!!!!

Praying for a fast log in date!

And requesting additional prayers for a behind the scenes thing... Please pray not our will but God's will over the entire thing.

Thanks everyone!!!

How Long Does it Take?

This is the question I've been asked a lot since we announced that we will be adopting again.  The truth is that right now, we don't know how long it will take.  Both of our previous adoptions were expedited due to the kids' medical conditions, but even though Hongjie has the same medical condition as them, a lot has changed with regard to timelines and expedite approvals since their adoptions in 2013 & 2014.  Since we also have a number of people following along who plan to adopt themselves in the next few years, I plan to share each step along the way so that you guys will know how it all works. :)

The steps are all the same as our previous adoptions.  It may look complicated, and to a certain extent it is, but it really is just a step-by-step process that keeps going and going until we finally get to head to China for our boy! 


We had begun submitting the paperwork to update our homestudy before we officially said yes to Hongjie.  All of the paperwork required for our homestudy has already been submitted to the social worker at our agency.  Our social worker will visit us at our house today and we hope to have our homestudy approval by next week (which would us on to Step 4 of this lovely chart).


Once we have our signed homestudy in hand, we can submit our application for immigration approval to USCIS and begin the process of authenticating our dossier documents.  A "dossier", for those who are unfamiliar with international adoption, is a package of different papers that comprise your application to adopt with the country.  I'll do another post about the dossier and authentications soon.


We expect to bring Hongjie home sometime between October and December.  The timeline will become much more clear once we make it to Step 8.


Thank you so much to all who are excited to see us bringing home this special boy!  We are so grateful for your excitement and support.  A few of you have asked if we will need help in getting this sweet boy home, and our answer is YES!!  For right now, your prayers for fast paperwork and for him to receive the transfusions he needs are greatly appreciated.  Soon, we will provide info on other ways you can help if you'd like.

Just look at this sweet little guy...  He's so pale!  He needs us to put a smile on his face and transfusions to put some color in those lips.  Oh we can't wait to go get him!!

Waiting on a Wingman

Every superhero needs a wingman and if you know Chengbin at all, you know that he is happiest when he is playing with the boys...

 

For a few years now we've watched him and the pure joy he has when our nephew is here for a visit or he has friends over.  Chengbin is all boy and he is a boy seriously in need of a wingman in this house full of girls.  Dad is cool, but nothing beats another boy to play sword fights and basketball and to scooter around with...

 

So for two years now he has been praying almost every night for God to send him a brother.  It usually goes something along these lines,

 

"Jesus Lord, help us find my brother in China.  Let him be good and be nice and not mess up my legos.  And show us my brother and we take him home. Amen"

 

Long story short, (and it is a long but awesome story I'll share later) God has answered Chengbin's prayers and we are now...

 

Waiting on a Wingman!!!

 

Introducing the newest Wilks!!! His name is Hongjie (pronounced HOng-je-uh) and he is approximately 6 years old.  Chengbin is helping us to figure out what his little brother's American name will be, but as with Chengbin we will follow his lead.  If he wants to be called Hongjie, then you're all gonna have to learn how to say his name right! ;)

 

Some of you might think you recognize him right?? Yes, we've been advocating for this sweet boy for nearly 3 months.  He was Joel with WACAP.

 

We are so excited to bring home this special little boy.  We are so thankful for all God has done to help bring this little boy into our lives.  We are SO blessed!! 

 

 

Hongjie you are already SO LOVED!!! We can't wait to get you home!!!!

Hope you'll join us in our newest family adventure,
Fannie, Matt, & the crazy Wilks kiddos

Changsha Advocacy Camp Day One!!

After a day of travel (where I lost my cell phone on the plane :( ) and a little exploration we got up bright and early to visit the children in Changsha.  Our hotel was very close to the orphanage, but that doesn’t mean it was an easy journey!  They are building out the subway more and some of that construction has taken up the sidewalk that used to be there.  We walked in the bike/moped lane, carefully dodging bikes, mopeds, & a few wayward cars.  China never gets old and always keeps me on my toes!!  In fact, I may have had a run-in with a moped on the way back to the hotel!  We decided to term it a “gentle caress”. J

We got to the orphanage and were introduced to the new international adoption director and the director of the orphanage.  The director is pretty new and is making a lot of improvements she was eager to show us.  She took us over to the rehabilitation center and gave us a tour of the facility, explaining some of the rooms they have and what they are used for.  She talked about the importance of getting her staff trained to use some of the high tech equipment they have recently received and explained some staff will travel to Shanghai to be trained soon.  Gladney’s representative talked to her about the potential of sending over a few to the states for more training or to send a training team to them.  This is the beauty of agency partnerships with orphanages.  It allows the agency to truly partner with the orphanage to help better serve the children in their care.  I know some people have gotten frustrated over orphanage partnerships and how difficult it can make adopting a specific child, so it was great to see the other side and see how these partnerships are making a difference for children in the orphanages.  I know as an adoptive parent who has had to switch agencies because Laila was a partnership orphanage child, it softened me a little to the sometimes hard line adoptive families are given by agencies.  We met some beautiful children and learned about the strides they have made since beginning rehabilitation.

 

We also got to see a new initiative Changsha has started to meet the needs of not just orphans with autism, but also children in the community with autism.  They have a facility where the children are taught and cared for.  This is huge because it gives a family who is afraid they can’t care for their child an avenue for helping their child while keeping their child in the family, reducing their likelihood of abandonment.

Next we headed over to play with the kids!  This group was older kids, age 4-10.  It started off with a few boys and their music teacher.  They sang songs and taught us the motions.  Then it was time for some one on one play!  First a few kids came in, then a few more, then some more and before we knew it we had a room full of chaos and fun!

 

This boy is just plain awesome!!  His name is Lawrence and I think he will be on Gladney’s list very soon.  He’s a little small for his age, but so funny and smart! 

We had a blast with him!!  And he is available for adoption with Gladney right now!

http://superkidscharity.blogspot.com/2015/12/lawrence.html

And sweet Lance started off painfully shy, but I made it my goal to bring him out of his shell!  Judging by that cute smile with the bubbles, I’d say mission accomplished!

  

The boy on the left is Luke.  I think everyone on the advocacy team loved him!! He was so much fun!!  He also played a song by ear after one of our advocates played it a few times for him.  Such an awesome kid!!

After lunch we played with a smaller group that included some of the boys from the morning out on the playground.  It was nice to move into a different environment to see how they were outside vs inside with a ton of kids to compete with for attention.  The afternoon brought a few new faces as well!

 

And that silly little cutie in the blue shirt?? He's so much fun!!  He will be available for adoption with Gladney very soon!

This little cutie girl had me working overtime!  Zoe was VERY attached to her ayis and not at all interested in being my friend at first.  Candy helped break down the wall, but when she started talking to me in Chinese and realized I couldn’t understand her- she gave up on me! Haha!!  She went over to an older couple sitting at a picnic table and chatted with them instead while they gave her chips! ;)  Isn't she beautiful???

 

What an awesome day!!  This trip has been busy, busy, busy.  We go from a full day of play to dinner (which in Hunan province means spicy and sooooo delicious) to a team meeting to share about the kids personalities with the superkids team who will try to find them families.  There’s been a few that our advocates have fallen for as well!  Can’t wait to see these kids get families.

As this day came to a close, I couldn’t believe that the trip was already rapidly coming to a close.  We only had one day left and then we would be heading home.  I pray that as we learn about these precious children we can break down some of the walls people have toward older child adoption, including myself honestly.  These are just regular kids.  Sure, they come from a different background and they’ve experienced trauma but that is not what defines them.  After spending this time with these older kids, I can see more than ever that they are just regular kids in need of a family.  In China, a child ages out of adoption eligibility on their 14^th birthday.  At that point they will never be adopted, never have the support of a family, never get the opportunity to be an aunt or an uncle, and unfortunately they will walk out into life completely unprepared for what awaits.  The fate of children who age out is sad and scary and I just can’t imagine one of these awesome boys having to fight that fight all alone.  I will readily admit that while I loved the idea of older child adoption, I also found it downright scary but now I see how amazing it is too.  These kids are great kids.  They are great kids who need someone to tell them "Yes, I will be your mom and love you forever." 

First Day of School!

Well, the summer came and went SO fast I still can't believe it's over!!

The kids started school in mid-August and we are adjusted and back to learning!

Kate- 5th Grade

Chengbin- 1st Grade

Laila- Pre-k4

I am still shocked at how much has changed in Laila in less than a year!! She started out daycare in the 1 year old class and it was correct for her developmentally.  For her to walk in to a prek4 classroom only 10 months later is a miracle!!! God is doing miracles in her life and the view from the front row is magnificent!!

And ever since that first day of school I've been asked every, single day...

'Mama, can I go bus with Sissy & Chengbin??'

Soon little one- soon!!

He writes the best stories doesn't he???

This is what redemption looks like.

A few months ago we hit a local beach for a quick photoshoot for my photography class.

 

 

What I didn't really think about til we got there is that it was Laila's first trip to a beach.





.

Her first time to feel the sand between her toes.

And at first, she wasn't too sure that she liked it.

 

But all of the sudden, she changed her mind.  Holding Daddy's hand made her feel safer... and she started noticing the sand... the waves...

 



And just like that...

 

We had another beach girl on our hands. :)

She left the beach completely soaked in a brand new dress.  And boy was she dirty!!

 



People sometimes stop and tell us how lucky she is to have us.  They comment about how baby girls are just given up in China & she's so lucky we went to get her.  (For the record- this is largely untrue now and there are much more complicated reasons for abandonment.)

 

Well, WE are the lucky ones.  We get to give a father to the fatherless.  We get to live out God's love and story of redemption every day.  We get to see the world the way he sees it- through the eyes of a loving father.  A father who delights in his children.  Who wants to see them happy and growing and being all that he has called them to be.  He called us to be a family to this sweet, beautiful little girl and her equally adorable and silly big brother. 

 

Our children's lives have been filled with loss.  But this is redemption.  Redemption that their heavenly father has orchestrated for them.  It is amazing to see the world through the eyes of these precious children and watch as God uses us to restore them.  As he helps us heal their hearts.  As we see a new joy sparkle in their eyes...

 

If you have ever said "I'd like to adopt one day" or considered becoming a foster parent, I urge you on Father's Day to take that step forward.  Become a foster parent or adoptive parent to the fatherless.  They need you to say "yes".  God needs you to help him to restore his children.  It is hard work.  It is amazing work.  And you will never regret it.

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?" "Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs."
Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep."  The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my sheep."
John 21:15-17