Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Survivor in Jiangxi

I've never been a big fan of the TV show "Survivor," but I have a feeling we'll be watching it this season. This year it's in China, in particular in Jiangxi province where Lily was born and where we received her. Read more about it on the CBS Survivor website or here on a news site from Jiangxi.

Monday, September 17, 2007

The Red Thread Continues

We're still here. Betcha thought that we were going to stop blogging. We had thought about it ever since our last post on Lily's "Gotcha Day" anniversary. We thought maybe we would have one last post on Lily's second birthday party in June. Well, obviously that came and went...along with the rest of the summer. Here we are in the middle of September, and only now am I getting around to posting something new.

And boy, do we have news. We are adopting again! Julie and I were blessed this summer with an amazing, completely out-of-the-blue, generous monetary gift from some dear friends in order to adopt another child. We were in shock after it was offered to us. We told our friends that we would have to think about it and pray about it. Driving away from their home, Julie and I started discussing things. After a while, I said, "You know...we're talking as if we we're going to do this." Guess it didn't take too much thinking or praying. We immediately recognized this as a blessing from God, called our friends as soon as we could, and accepted their generous gift.

The process has already started...filling out paperwork...visits from our social worker...fingerprinting appointments...and on and on it goes. We're not as stressed out as we were last time. Maybe that's because we know more about what to expect...the whole "been there, done that" thing.

We will be adopting from China again. We want to provide a sibling for Lily with whom she can share a common heritage.

When will this happen? It's probably still a couple of years off. China has extended the waiting period for adoptions since we were last there. However, it could be sooner if we adopt an older child (2-3 years old) or a child with some minor special needs, both of which we are open to.

So, it looks like the Red Thread to Marysville has been extended across the waters once again. Our blog will continue. We will give you updates on our new adoption journey. We will post other interesting bits and pieces of information for you that we run across. And we will share new pictures of Lily with you now and then to show you how much she is growing.

Lily and Dad at the Ballpark

This one was too cute not to share. It looks like Safeco Field in Seattle, but it was really just a backdrop at our local minor league park in Everett. And in case you were wondering, that's just a cutout of Raul Ibanez, too.