WOW! Just WOW!!!

I have an amazing story to tell. But, you better go potty and get a new drink, because it's a long one. So, sit down.

Last June, I posted on a message board related to Chinese adoption. I asked if anyone had any info, or had recently been to Changsha Social Welfare Institute #1. We were searching for any info on Tessa's orphanage, even though we were told she was in a foster home. Our understanding was that she'd been in the orphanage from about ten days old, until 13 months. Even while in foster care, the children fall under the umbrella of their SWI. No one really responded or had info, but then I received an email from someone named Diana. She told me she was part of an organization called Pearl River Outreach, PRO, and that they sponsored children to foster families. And one of their three locations in China was Changsha! It was with Tessa's specific orphanage. I was super excited, but it turned out they said Tessa was not part of their program. Poo! But, she did tell me that the orphanage director there was young and energetic, and really cared about the kids. That one little nugget of info made this Momma's heart smile!

So, fast forward to this past Sunday. Eric and I are in church while the 3 littles play in the nursery. David gave an amazing sermon, that I feel really speaks to me. You can go here to our church's website to find the sermon, but basically it was about humility, greed, pride, envy, and the such. I've been feeling very convicted to do something, anything about the orphan crisis. To make a difference somehow, other than simply bringing Tessa into our family. His sermon made me realize I needed to act on how I was feeling. I decided to investigate PRO and look into sponsoring a child there. I wanted to give a child from her orphanage the opportunities that Tessa didn't have. I sent an email to the address listed, and didn't get a response. So after 24 hours (I know I'm impatient) I left a comment on a blog that Diana writes. It's for her family, but I was pretty sure that Diana was the one affiliated with PRO, who had emailed me last summer. I asked if she was the Diana with PRO, and if so to email me, and figured once she did I'd ask all the questions about sponsorship.

Diana emailed me back that night. And then my world was ROCKED. The first email simply said she was indeed that Diana, and asked how she could help me.

The next email had the subject line "Harlow", with a message that said, "Oh my gosh.. Is she yours!!! :)". I had no idea who Harlow was, or what she was talking about. I just wanted to sponsor a kid.

The next one had the subject line "Tessa", and this was part of the message:

"I just flew through your blog! Congratulations on your beautiful girl!!!!

We love your sweet daughter!!!

We can definitely get you past photos of her...

Blessings as you settle in!!! Again, Congratulations from the Pearl River Team. It is always a blessing to connect with the forever families of our babies!!!!".

Y'all, I almost died. I totally cried. Not only would I be getting pictures and info about Tessa's life in China, but she was SPONSORED by an amazing organization that trains and checks up on foster families. Her being sponsored means she probably got care that she wouldn't have otherwise gotten. More than the pictures and info, knowing she was loved on means everything!!!

We've been wondering about her care in China, so at least we now know her last 10 months there were good.

That night, and since then, my inbox has been flooded by Diana. Pictures galore! Plus, copies of Tessa's quarterly update that went to her sponsoring family. This info is priceless! And not only that, I got to email and personally thank her sponsoring family!!!

I'll be busy the next few days getting all these pics uploaded into my computer and onto the blog. Plus, I can't wait to share little Gia with you that we are sponsoring. Actually, if you go here to PRO blog, you can see this little lovie the Kirsch family is now sponsoring. I hope her forever family has found her and is paper chasing away, but if not, I know they will soon. In the meantime, she has the five of us to sponsor her care and pray for her.

Before I end, I just want to say again, that I would've never gotten any of this info if I hadn't listened to my heart, and David's sermon. I contacted Diana to sponsor a child, but she followed my blog comment to our family blog. She saw Tessa's pictures and put it all together. To GOD be the glory for this miracle.

A reminder :-)

We have a separate blog for sweet Tessa and our journey to her.

Click here

Tessa's Blog

When I started doing serious adoption research back in the fall, I discovered that many families blog about their journey and experience. At first I thought it would be a big pain to maintain two separate blogs. But as I've thought about it recently, I want Tessa to have her own blog, so I can later print it out. I hope it's something she can look back on over the years, and learn more about how she came to be a cherished part of our family. So, with all that said, HERE is the link to Tessa's blog.

Please hop on over, and become a follower. Then feel free to share it with others, because I want as many people possible praying for our little angel on the other side of the world.

What's going on with us...

Busy times at the Kirsch home! I really hope to blog about the actual Disney part of our Disney trip, but I've been going to bed at 8pm the last couple of nights. We worked outside a good bit this weekend, and now I'm working Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. The good news is I'm off Wednesday- Saturday! The better news? Eric's parents will be here! Which means A LOT will be accomplished around our house! We had the sliding glass door replaced downstairs, and gorgeous french doors put in. They are so pretty, but still need to be painted. There is a lot of yard work to do, and I'm capable of doing most of it myself, but need someone to entertain the kiddos. Can you say Oma? (Oma is what the kids call Eric's Mom- it's German for Grandma.)

The biggest and most important thing that we are doing is having a playset built! Eric and his dad are quite handy; his dad especially. I'm so excited to finally have an outdoor playset for the boys, so we don't always have to walk to the park to swing and slide. The biggest part of their visit is that Eli's birthday party is Saturday:-) I can't wait to celebrate the first year of my sweet boys life. I love that lil' stinker with all of my heart. To be so skinny, he sure is squishable.

We have our last homestudy visit this week, with our social worker. I will give her the last of our papers required for that, and I'm hoping to get the homestudy back on next Monday. It will go straight to BAAS (our adoption agency that is FABULOUS) via overnight UPS. BAAS stands for Bay Area Adoption Services. So, how did we end up with an agency in California? Well, two of my friends at work are adopting right now, and are using this agency. I've heard great things, so we decided to use them as well.

Anyways, it takes about two weeks for our agency to review the homestudy, then we can send in something called an I800A. This goes to US Immigration (USCIS), and they approve us to bring a foreign child into the country. That part is about a two month wait right now, so I'm really hoping it speeds up. I want my girl home before Christmas, so even DAYS matter!!! So, I'm praying for a quick homestudy approval by our agency, and a quick USCIS approval! Their average is 45-60 days, and I'm hoping for 40. Nothing wrong with hoping and praying! Once our I800A is approved, we can send our dossier to China. Once that is in, it's about 4.5 months to travel.

So, this week's prayer requests related to our sweet Tessa:

1. She is safe, loved, fed, and warm.

2. The USCIS wait is closer to 30 days, than the 45-60.

3. St. Thomas quickly sends our marriage certificate.

In other news, the American Academy of Pediatrics made an announcement today that they are changing child restraint recommendations. Most importantly, they are recommending kids stay rear facing until AT LEAST two years old. I've been on that soap box a while now, but I'm hoping more people start to listen now that the AAP recommends it. Cramped legs are better than broken necks. I'm just sayin'.

BIG news to share!

I know that you are waiting to hear all about our Disney trip, and I promise to blog about it soon! However, right now I wanted to blog about bigger and more important things. Or rather, people. Actually, a person. A recent post included my desire to add to our family via adoption. At that time, God was working in my family's life in many ways. Eric and I really needed to be on the same page before we moved forward with starting the adoption process.

A few weeks ago, a sweet little face was calling to me. I asked Eric if we could ask to review her file, and then have a doctor (specializing in international adoption) review it as well. To my surprise, he said "Yes". And not just a simple yes. This was a real yes, with a big smile. I guess her sweet little face was calling to him as well. Long story made very short, we went over her file with a doctor, and did lots of soul searching for where our family is headed. In the end, we decided that this beautiful little one is definitely the newest member of our family! We are so happy, excited, and proud, to introduce you to........

Tessa!!!

Tessa is waiting for us in Hunan, China, and she is Drake's age. Literally, Drake's age. Their birthdays are one day apart. Eric and I received our preapproval from China just a few days ago. We started our homestudy before we left for Disney, and we have two more meetings with our social worker to complete that. We have six months to complete our dossier and get it to China, but I'm aiming for five months! I can't wait to have our sweet Tessa in my arms.

So, our prayer requests are as follows:

1. Tessa is safe, and someone is loving on her.

2. The paperchase goes as smoothly as possible.

3. The anxieties of have three wild toddlers turn into a sense of peace, of having three sweet toddlers to love on.

All the things we've been up to....

Here are a few things I've been meaning to share:

Eric and I are in a 9 week bible study at church, called Two Becoming One. In short, it's a bible study all about marriage. There are five couples, including us, taking it, and one couple that leads it. The couple that leads it took the class many years ago, and now lead it at least once a year. They said it so strongly transformed their marriage, that they love to share it with others. We've only done one week so far, but I've enjoyed it. Eric seems to enjoy it as well, but I can't really speak for him.

****************** (Means I'm totally gonna change subjects on ya!)

Eli is growing up before our eyes. He finally weaned himself from breastfeeding, at 1o months old. It was still shy of my one year goal, but I was thrilled he self weaned early. It had been almost THREE straight years that I've either been pregnant or breastfeeding, or both. And let me just tell you folks, I am happy to have my body back, all to myself! So, since he weaned, that meant sweet thing finally got to go with his big brother on a trip to the grandparents! That means I actually got some sleep last week. For TWO nights! It was amazing. I slept 13 straight hours one night. And could've done more if I wasn't starving, haha. I only got up for food, then went back to sleep for 3 more hours. Don't judge. I know you are jealous ;-)

Apparently Eli just did fine, without me or Fran. He's quite attached to the both of us, and has never cared for his Grandma. Well let me just tell you, he's seen the good life now. When we met in Columbia to pick him up, Fran grabbed him for some snuggles, and then he reached back for Grandma. Rotten already apparently! The grandparents strike again.

The kicker? Eric's parents will be here in March, and I can only imagine what new level of spoiled they will have my kids at!

*********************

I've known since I was a teenager I wanted to adopt child(ren) one day. I knew I wanted biological children, and I knew I wanted to adopt children. I love to read, and always have. As a teenager I read a book that discussed the lack of value for girls in China, and how many were abandoned. From that moment on, I always said I wanted to adopt a baby girl from China. Fast forward 15 years, and I'm crazy busy with my two boys, and the list to adopt from China is a good five years long. Craziness! But I've known for a while now that our family isn't complete. I don't have words to eloquently describe it, but there is someone, or maybe even more than one child, still missing from our family. So easy fix, get pregnant again, right? Absolutely not. Not an option. I have zero desire to house another human. Add to that the millions of orphans in this world who need a Mommy and Daddy, and having another bio child just isn't on our list of options.

That brings us back to adoption. I don't want to do a domestic adoption, because I'd want it to be completely closed, and that's hard to find. Most birth moms want open or semi open, from what I've read, and I know I couldn't handle that. Domestic adoption is also more expensive. BTW, domestic means from here in the US.

International adoption is an entirely new world to me, but I've been doing a ton of reading over the last six months. It's really been weighing on my mind the last 3 months. Each country has different requirements and different processes. China still tugs at my heartstrings, and they have a special needs list of children that really calls to me. What does all this mean? I don't know. I'm waiting for what I want, to be on track with what Eric wants, and for both of us to be on track with what God wants. That's THREE of us that need to get in sync! The long and short of this is simply to say, that if you are the praying type, please pray that God's plan for our family be revealed to us. We know there is a plan, we are just waiting for God to let Eric and I in on all the details......

Until next time,

Peace and love,