We Sent in our LOI

We sent in our Letter of Intent this morning, Friday, June 24, 2011 at 7:17am for our littlest one.

We hope to lock her file today! We have many meaningful days in June and July though, so maybe the lock will happen on one of those days. I'm really into special days. Everything for Gabriella seemed to happen on a holiday or Thursday with her adoption.

Thursdays were her specific day that Baba prayed for her.

We were chosen to be Nanette's family!

God has given us grace and favor! Actually, He literally has! Nanette's English name means grace and favor as well as her Chinese name Nan... I have been praying for grace and favor since we started our adoption journey for our next two daughters on Thanksgiving Day 2010.

While numerous families were interested, eleven family's files were held, and then it was narrowed to three families before we were chosen.

Having waited 18 years for this little one, you can imagine we were ecstatic to be chosen!

We found out at 10:10pm tonight, Thursday, June 23, 2011. Kathy works all hours of the day and night when she needs to... she is amazing. It's past 11pm for her.

I happened to count our emails between each other from the time I emailed her Tuesday night until the time she said we were chosen... 44 emails. Kathy, you are AMAZING!

Kathy shared with me that she hates to play God, but it was very clear that we were this little one's family.

Thank you Jesus for being so faithful. When I first had the vision of our daughters 18 years ago, I could have never imagined that I would wait almost as long as Abraham and Sarah waited for their promised son Isaac.

It's down to 3 families... and, we are one of them!

I got an email today. It's now Thursday, June 23, 2011 at 12:59pm.

A year ago today, my mom became unconscious due to two sudden brain aneurisms... 3 days later we let her enter Heaven's gates.

So, today is bitter sweet. I lost my mom, but I will be gaining my promised daughter. It brings me joy that my mom knew about our two babies even though she would never meet them this side of Heaven.

Kathy has narrowed her search for the perfect family for Nanette down to 3 great families. We are one of these three families.

Kathy said her heart is broken to have to choose a family. This has been her absolute most difficult placement ever in all the years she has worked. She hates to play God, but at the same time, wants to hear His will.

She will get back to us tonight or tomorrow.

I got Nanette's file!

Wednesday, June 22nd at 9:17am I got Nanette's files. Oh my... she is precious.

I opened up her files... looked at her photos and then looked at her labortory reports for any blood diseases.

She was ours!

I immediately forwarded her files to the 4 doctors I had already secured. Then, I contacted Dr. Jenista for my final report. It did not matter what any doctor would report... we knew that this was our daughter. We would keep their information though so that we could help Amaris Nanette as soon as we get her home.

I finally got to talk to Wasatch!

By some miracle... one of my emails got to Kathy. She had received them all, but she was a bit hesitant to allow our family to adopt Nanette because we had let Giselle go after we had "locked" her.

But, we only let her go because the Holy Spirit had VERY CLEARLY said, "You can have Giselle, but your blessing is in June." It was for no other reason. We were excited about Giselle, but I had to honor the Holy Spirit's clear direction.

I did mention to Kathy, that there have not been many times where I had laid my head down where He had clearly directed me to do something different from what I had just done. I could have never have known that He was going to speak to me that night.

It's Wednesday morning, 8:54am my time... Wasatch has been open for almost an hour. Kathy said she can't take any more phone calls today. She was absolutely swamped with interest in this little one.

All I could do now was send her emails. Oh God, PLEASE let Kathy see that we are Nanette's family. Ironically, I felt a total peace in my heart. I KNEW that we were Nanette's family. I waited 18 years... what's another day?

EVERYONE wants OUR baby...

I hardly slept last night, not because I was nervous, but because I was excited. I knew Nanette was our baby.

It's Wednesday morning... last night I emailed Kathy at Wasatch, I responded to the RK listing (I'm not sure who at Wasatch get that response) and I think I left a message on the phone for Wasatch, but I can't even remember that now. Excitement is in the air. My heart is still beating fast.. but, this time with great joy!

Wasatch is one hour ahead of us. They open at 9am... I'm sitting at my computer with my phone in hand. I have seen no responses yet. What if they missed my email?

I called Wasatch at 9:01am... apparently their phones have been ringing off the hook all morning... in fact, their phones were in essence jammed. Marilyn didn't know if she could get me connected to Kathy or not because Kathy was working from her home office. I wanted to jump on an airplane and tell Kathy the news in person... God gave her OUR daughter!

I explained to Marilyn what had happened to me, about my shared birthdate with Nanette, waiting 18 years for her, etc. She wanted so desperately to get me in touch with Kathy, but Kathy's phones were busy because she was so swamped with interest for this little one. She was taking one potential client at a time.

It soon became more than overwhelming for Kathy, so Kathy removed the RK listing.

She's Ours... She IS the One!

The second I saw her name, I knew she was ours... but then God SHOWED us she was ours.

MIRACLE #1
Supernatural presence of the Lord...
As written in an earlier post, I opened the Rainbow Kids listing the VERY SECOND it posted. And, when I did, I immediately had Holy Spirit goosebumps and sweaty hands... just seeing the name "Nanette".

MIRACLE #2
"Heart" baby
As Jason jumped from his computer and raced to mine... we saw the picture of a beautiful baby. To my delight... she was a "heart" baby. I had told Jason back in December 2010 that I felt God was leading us to adopt a heart baby and a baby with developmental delays.

MIRACLE #3
Born on my 40th Birthday
This baby had my same birthdate. She was born on my 40th birthday. God designed Nanette to have my birthdate so that JASON would know that this truly was the one we had been waiting for. After all, he didn't get to feel the Holy Spirit's presence when I saw the name "Nanette."

MIRACLE #4
Agency the Lord had revealed 7 months earlier
Nanette was with Wasatch... the agency I told Jason I believed God was calling us to back in December 2010. I couldn't explain it back then, I had no idea why I felt the way I did... but, he knew that there was a pretty significant chance that we would be moving agencies... he just needed another sign. Well, here it is!

MIRACLE #5
Her Chinese and American names mean: Grace and Favor 
(the only thing I really prayed for with these adoption)
While I waited to hear from Wasatch, I looked up the meaning of Nanette. We named our first two biologically children with really cool names... but, we never even thought to think about what their names meant.

With our adopted girls, it was absolutely vital we name our daughters based on meaning. We knew baby#2 was going to have the Hebrew name Amaris (Un-mare-is) which means "God has promised." God promised her 18 years ago... she was going to keep that name forever.

But, we didn't have a middle name for her, other than her full Chinese name. We still wanted to have an American middle name as well. I decided to look up Nanette. To my delight, yet another sign from God, her name means "grace and favor"... I have been praying for God's grace and favor with these next two adoptions that I might know who our little ones were.

MIRACLE #6
That hasn't happened yet... because numerous families want MY baby... but, I KNOW she is ours... so, with confidence I am speaking she is ours in Jesus name! And, miraculously, I have total peace.

I quickly emailed Kathy... and then tried to fall asleep.

Holy Spirit Goosebumps and Sweaty Hands...

June 21, 2010... the day I waited 18 years for has finally arrived.

It was a Tuesday evening... I had been scrapbooking downstairs but felt I was supposed to go upstairs... I didn't know why though. I gave my husband a kiss on the cheek, rubbed his back for 2 seconds and abruptly turned to my computer. When I did, that VERY SECOND, Rainbow Kids popped up in my email. It was 9:26pm.

Since the summer of 2009, I have checked EVERY female Rainbow Kids posting, but this one was different.

MIRACLE #1
When I clicked on it, it was a girls name... Nanette. I immediately got Holy Spirit goosebumps all over my body (from the top of my head to the tips of my toes) and my hands began to sweat profusely. It was the most phenomenal experience. My heart started to beat rapidly. It seemed like a rather long time looking at this name, but it was probably only about 3 seconds.

That 3 seconds seemed like forever... I had no idea what this girl looked like, how old she was, what her special need was, or which agency she was with, but I KNEW she was mine.

A Vision 18 Years Ago

I found our baby... our baby that was promised to my husband and I 18 years ago.

Eighteen years ago God had given me an undeniable vision of two little tan-skinned girls with dark, shoulder length hair. They appeared to be the height of the middle of my thigh and just above my waist. The taller one looked at us, smiled and turned to run in the grass behind her.

This vision of these two girls has never left my heart and I have cried THOUSANDS of tears over these years for them. I prayed for them. How in the world would we ever find them?

Throughout the years, Jason and I would talk of the two little girls. We would share with our kids as babies, then preschoolers, school-agers, junior highers, and high schoolers about their little sisters.

Jason always said, "When God brings them to my doorstep, I know they are ours!"

Well, God brought our first one, Gabriella, in a miraculous way after Jason ended up in China for two weeks. Apparently God thought it would be better if Jason went to the doors of the orphans. It was there in April 2009 that God prepared his heart to adopt.

All of our miracles to Gabriella can't even be spoken, however, if you want to read about her story, you will get a glimpse into the amazing miracles that God Almighty created for us. Many of the miracles are the very first posts on her blog... SweetPrincessGabriella.blogspot.com

This photo was taken and added to this blog on 7/19/2012... 

Amaris has been home 3 weeks... she is 2 years and 5 months old... 

Gabriella has been home 2 years... she is 5 years and 7 months old...

My vision did NOT have two sweet little princesses in matching clothes, but I did know that they had dark hair to their shoulders and tan-skin. The older girl turned and ran in the field behind her. 

If you have read Gabriella's blog, you will know that Gabriella could not even sit without falling, nor stand when we got her. She still, to date, has not taken a valid step by herself unassisted. 

But, someday soon, she will walk and talk, run and jump, hop and skip and play basketball. 

How do I know? The Lord gave me a vision now 18 years ago. And, I believe Him!

No Longer on HOLD!

It's now June 4, 2011... our family was put on "hold" for 6 months before we could continue our adoption process we started Thanksgiving Day 2010.

Has ANYONE EVER heard of such a thing? If you have been home your agencies "required" amount of time from your previous adoption, was your family then put on hold again?

Anyway, we were excited to finally get our paperwork started to bring home our daughters... it was a bit awkward, but we managed to get through the review... ironically, the social worker really didn't talk with my husband and I. She interviewed our 4 teenagers and prepared to leave.

Before she left, I asked a few questions that had been weighing heavy on my heart. But, the final question was, "Based on your visit today, would you permit our family to adopt two girls?" She said "yes"... oh, we were so relieved... maybe the 6 month hold paid off... we thought we were going to have to start the entire process over if she said no.