We got our LOA!!!!!

We got an email today that we received our LOA or "letter of acceptance"! This is the letter from China approving us to adopt Sydney. Once we sign and send it back, we will be able to get our travel dates. We are getting so close now! We can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Blessings,
Scott & Angela

DTC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yay, we are DTC!!!!!!! That means Dossier to China! We received notice on Friday, July 17 that our dossier had been authenticated in Washington DC and that it was being sent to China that same day! What this means is that our paperwork now goes through several steps in China to be approved, then we will get our LOA (letter of acceptance). This will all take probably 3 months, so now more waiting. But each step we can check off the list means we are one step closer to bringing Sydney home! Please continue to pray for Sydney and for our family. We appreciate all the prayers and support from each of you.

Fundraiser Party

On Saturday, July 11, we had a fundraiser/birthday celebration for Sydney. She turned 5 on July 6, so we wanted to celebrate even though she couldn't be with us. We thought what better way to celebrate her than to get together with family and friends! We had homemade cupcakes made by myself, my sister Michele and sister-in-law Melody. We had crafts for the kids and had lots of information about Sydney, our adoption journey and our finances related to the adoption. We were able to raise $822 between Saturday at the party and Sunday morning at church! We want to thank all of you who contributed and also to thank those that have been praying and are continuing to pray for Sydney and our family. We wanted to share some pictures of our celebration on Saturday...

Carter Family

Cousins

Family!

Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Aaron

 

Aunt Michele helping the kids with crafts

Cousins Maycee & Emma

Cousins Nyah & Brayden

Uncle Eric aka Uncle Cheeseball

Cousin Baylee with Grace

Cousin Maycee

Uncle Cheeseball!

Big sister Grace

Big sister Grace

Cousin Brayden

Cousin Nyah

Cousin Cietera

Maycee & Grace with Uncle Cheeseball!

Grandpa Michael doing crafts!

Grandma Glenda coloring her craft!

Great grandma Ruth and Great Aunt Kathy

Happy Birthday Sydney!

Sydney,

Happy birthday sweet girl, I can't believe you are 5 years old already! I wish so much that we could celebrate with you and spoil you today.  I absolutely cannot wait to meet you and get to know you. You have already stolen our hearts and we love you so much! You are already such a part of our lives and we thank God for the opportunity to be your family. Just know that we pray for you daily and think about you all the time. Don't worry, we will be there soon!

Love,
Mommy & Daddy

Answered prayer and new pics!

We have been waiting to hear from some grants we applied for and we heard last week that we were awarded a $5000 grant! This is such an answer to prayer!

Also, we are happy to say that we have new pictures of Sydney! She is so precious and I cannot wait to be able to hug her and let her know that she is ours forever! Here are the new pics of our special girl...

Please continue to pray for us as we continue this journey to bring home our little girl. Pray for wisdom and peace as we wait. Pray for Sydney's health and well-being. And also please pray for the remaining finances  needed to bring her home.

With love,
Scott & Angela

Questions...

So, we are still waiting for our dossier to be sent to China. Hopefully, the authentications of all our documents will be complete in the next week or so, then it can be sent to China.  In the meantime, while we are waiting, we have been praying earnestly about our new daughter and that God will protect her and place people in her life to love her and care for her until we can go get her.

I have been asked several questions lately and thought I would share them here because I'm sure others have the same questions.

I have been asked if it is hard having a child that is so far away and I can't bring her home yet. The answer is yes... It has been extremely hard knowing that my child is on the other side of the world and that I don't know if she is being loved or cared for. I don't know if she is sick or if she gets hurt and needs her mommy to kiss away her tears. I cannot wait for this journey to be over and for our new life to begin with our precious Sydney. The thing that gets me through is knowing that even though I can't hold her in my arms yet, God is holding her in His hand and he loves her even more than we do.

Another question I have been asked lately is if Sydney will speak any English and will that be hard for us to overcome. The answer is no, she will not speak any English. Sydney does go to school at her orphanage but from what our agency has told us, they do not teach English there. We are under no illusions that this will be an easy transition for any of us, especially Sydney. We are prepared for the challenges and frustrations that will be felt by all. We are doing several things to prepare for this language barrier. I am contacting KCC and OIT (local colleges) and asking if there are any Chinese speaking faculty or staff that may be willing to tutor us. I have not found any yet, so pray that I may find someone soon! Also, thanks to modern technology, there are apps that we have downloaded on our phones that we can speak into and it will translate back and forth from English to Chinese. Another idea that I ran across in my research has been to make flashcards for her with some common things that she may need. For example, she could point to a card to let us know she needs a drink or is hungry etc. So, I will be working in making those. One thing that we have learned is that if the child does not use their native language, that they will lose it within 6 months. We do not want this to happen, so I am also in search of a Chinese speaking mentor for Sydney. Someone that would spend time with her to ensure that she does not lose her native language and to also help her learn about her native Chinese culture and customs. So, please pray that God will send us just the right person for the job!

Another question I have come across is "Where is Sydney from?" She is from Nanping City in the Fujian Province of China. I tried to put a map on here, but it wouldn't post correctly. So, if you do a google image search for Chinese provinces, you will be able to see a map and see her province.

Well, that's about it for now. Please keep us in your prayers and here is a link to our go fund me page if you are in a place to make a donation. www.gofundme.com/sydneycarter.

Thanks so much and God bless!

Dossier is complete!

Last week we were able to cross a major item off our "to do" list for Sydney's adoption. Our dossier is complete and mailed to our agency! For those of you not familiar with this term (like me before entering the adoption world), it is a collection of forms and paperwork that will be sent to China to approve our adoption of Sydney. It's a huge undertaking to put a dossier together. Everything has to be perfect, has to be notarized and match exactly what is stated in our home study. So...needless to say, this is a huge weight off our shoulders to have his complete! So, what is next? Well, a lot of waiting... Our dossier goes to our agency who then authenticates each document. This takes from 6-8 weeks. After that, it is sent to China and "logged in". Then it goes through several stages in China and then we will get our "letter of acceptance" which will be an official approval for us to adopt Sydney! So, we have several months of waiting ahead of us before we can actually DO anything else. This will be hard for me since those of you who know me know that I am not a patient person and that I am also a "do-er". If something needs to be done, I jump in and do it. So, to just wait...well it will be difficult to say the least. So, while we are waiting, will you please partner with us to pray for Sydney as she is being cared for in China and pray for Scott and I and the kids as we are preparing our home and hearts for this special little girl.

Love to all,
Angela