Olivia's Corner 2 - Email Test

This is installment 2 of Olivia's Corner. It is also a test that Dad is doing to see if he can update the Blog with the laptop!   Mom opened a booth at the local flea market mall. She is doing good selling things to raise funds for our trip to get my sister. The lady that runs the store suggested that she make hair bows to sell. Someone else used to do good with that but they moved. So, Mom went out and picked up a few things and got the craft box down and now we have bows everywhere! They are so pretty and she even let me model a few. She is selling them for $6 or 2 for $10. She is so talented.   Dad still hasn't heard about our TA, whatever that is. All I know is we are ready to go and can't wait, plus I get to miss school ;~}   See ya next time, Olivia   PS: Pooh hugs to Mr. Ray!

Thank God for the Little Things

It is easy these days to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of everyday life and forget all of the blessings that God has given us. Certainly, as we continue to get closer to our travel to China, it is easy to be so focused on the things we are looking forward to, that we forget to stop and enjoy what we have until it is lost.

Last Sunday morning, the 17th, we let our 2 dogs out in the fenced backyard while we got ready for church. They are big dogs, a full blooded lab, Bear and a lab/mastiff mix, Brinks. After a short time, we noticed that they were no longer in the yard. We looked for them for days and put fliers up everywhere. Nobody had seen them since they escaped. Joy and the boys rode and called for hours. We hiked all of the woods around our home and found no sign of them. We had several false alarms as people called with dog sightings only to find out they were not ours.

Then on Saturday morning, a full week since they had vanished, a lady called and said that she thought our dogs were in her yard. She had remembered a flier we left at the Vet's and called them for our number. I was skeptical since we had false alarms before and because a week had passed. She gave us directions to her subdivision which was 6-7 miles away.

We pulled up in her yard minutes later and there they were! It was actually them. You've never seen 2 dogs that were happier to see a family or a family happier to see 2 dogs. They are a little worse for wear. It appears they had been in a pretty big fight. Brinks needed to go straight to the Vet and have a wound on his side checked but they are both home now safe and sound.

So, as many of us prepare to start a new chapter in life through adoption, don't forget to be thankful for what we already have. God has blessed us beyond anything that we could have imagined. He amazes us everyday, not only with the big things but with many small things. Take time each day to stop and look around to see all that He has done. Make it a purpose each day to tell Him how thankful you are for all He does for you. It helps to keep us grounded and reminds us of who is in charge and how much He loves us.

Blessings

As many of you know, adopting internationally is very expensive. Many of the fees have increased due to the economy and the exchange rate with China. Also many fees increased with a new year. I have struggled with posting this because we know that God always provides for our needs. We also know that God always blesses those who bless others. It is that belief that led me to create this post.

On the left side of the home page is a new area called Chip-in. This is a way for others to be blessed as they help to bless our precious Rachel Lian. Many have asked what they can do to help us. This is the opportunity for you to be a part of a truly life changing event. A famous saying states that "Adopting 1 child never changed the world, but for that child the whole world changes". If you have ever wanted to be a part of saving a child from an orphanage but did not know how, this is it. 100% of all donations will go to directly assist in bringing Rachel home.

A partial list of Expenses:

Agency Fees: $5,000
Home Study: $2,000
International Flights: $7,000
Orphanage Donation: $5,000
In-country expenses for 14-17 days: $8,000
USCIS/Homeland Security costs: $2,000
Post Adoption Visits: $750

In addition to these we have incurred numerous expenses along the way. From gathering documents, to physicals, to trips to the State House and Houston to get documents approved. The list goes on and on and the expenses don't stop when we get home. Because Rachel is a special needs child, there are many more expenses to come. Charges for visits to the International Clinic, co-pays, English lessons, etc. add up in a hurry.

Any donation is a blessing to us, no matter the size. We believe that God has led us on this journey for the last 2 years and that he has already made provision for this expense. If you feel that he is leading you to be a part of this blessing, then please join us as we bring Rachel home.

God Bless,
The Graham's

Olivia's Corner

Hi, and Welcome to Olivia's Corner. This week everyone has been busy working to get the room ready for Gi Gi (Mandarine for Sister) to come home. Dad painted the stripes in our room. Mom did most of the work, as always (Dad may not agee but said he would write whatever I said). Mom and me painted 1 of my 3 doll houses to match our new Madeline room. She also painted me and Rachel Lian as matching Madelines over the bed, she is so artistic. She matched pieces and furniture and transformed our room into a Paris Ooh La La dream room. I have a new phone that looks old.

Does anybody have Gi Gi's number?

Here I am painting away. I hope Gi Gi likes it!

One More Hurdle Cleared

Do you ever feel like you made it over the hurdle just to find a pool of water waiting on the other side? Sometimes you think that pool is full of alligators!

Well, we cleared one more giant hurdle today. Our I-800 has been approved. With the LSC back in China, TA should be next! We wanted to travel before Chinese New Year (CNY), on 2/14 but we will be ready as soon as we get the call. Next step will be TA and then start booking those appointments and flights! It was a good day.

Order Those Visa's

We sent off for our China visa's today. We are using the service through our agency and letting them deal with the couriers. 3 visa's = $530 but you can't leave home without them.

Snow and Rain

It's snowing in Alabama and raining confetti in California. The kids are out of school because of a handful of flakes and the Crimson Tide finished off Texas to earn their 13th National Championship.

Sorry to all of my Texas based friends!

Also, starting next week be on the lookout for Olivia's Corner. This is things on Olivia's mind as we near travel and the place where she will update her classmates during our trip. PS. She's beautiful too..........

We are officially in the Travel Phase

We received our first email today from the travel department. We were told to go ahead and order our visas! YEAH! We have heard that there will be no travel from 2-2 through 2-20 because of Chinese New Year. It looks like the best shot for us will be late February.

We sent a care package to Rachel Lian. She should soon be getting a large pillow with our picture on it, candies and a camera to take pictures of her in the orphanage. We hope to get new measurements and pics soon so we can send clothes too. We can hardly wait! We sent her a note to tell her that we are her mommy and daddy and that we will soon be there to pick her up and bring her home.
She's an Angel!

WC Pic

Here is the first picture that we saw of Rachel Lian. This is the picture that was included in her Waiting Child posting. For those who are Blonde, like my wife, PO OH in Chinese is pronounced Pooh as in Winnie.

The Journey thus far....

Sometimes I can't believe we made it this far! It has been such a long journey and at times we almost lost hope. The journey has been a long search for a daughter we thought was lost forever. Joy and I have 3 great sons. Blake is 23 and married, we are so proud of him, Jessica and baby Jenna. CJ is 17 and super smart. Josh is the Lady's Man and he is 16.

For many years after Joshua was born, we wished for a daughter. The first pregnancy came after Josh was 6 and we were soooooooooo excited. We had decided to call her Rachel after Joy's mom and we were busy creating a nursery and making plans for her. Then the unthinkable happened. At a regular OB visit, the doctor sent Joy for an ultrasound. Her hormones had started to level off and the technician would not tell us anymore. All they would said is "you will have to wait to see the doctor". We went to his office and sat together in shock holding hands and waiting for him to come in. He walked in, sat down and said, "well we can't find the heart beat, you can always try again". We were devastated and left thinking this is all a bad dream. That was miscarriage number 1 of several and finally we gave up.

We started talking about adoption and began researching China. We felt a spiritual connection and a desire to go there and bring a little girl home to our family. By now Josh was almost 10. Then on the day after Christmas 2002 I told Joy, I think you are pregnant. She said, you are crazy and didn't even want to take the test. She used to buy them by the gross, but we had long since quit keeping them around. I drove to the drug store, purchased the test and said let's go see! She took the test and said I told you it was negative. I looked at it and said you might want to get some glasses, I see 2 lines. I was right, she was pregnant!

The pregnancy was very hard. Joy started having contractions at 3 months. We made 9 trips to the hospital and stayed from 2-7 days each time. Finally on August 15th, she arrived almost 5 weeks early. Olivia was a 6lb.-13oz. angel straight from Heaven. We stopped talking about adopting and we were so happy to finally have a daughter.

Then when Olivia was almost 4, I came home and said what do you think about adopting from China. I had been praying and thinking about it for several weeks but had not mentioned it to Joy. She started to cry and said I have been thinking about it for months but didn't know what to say. We went back to our research and chose GWCA as our agency. We filled out the application and started the Dossier paper chase thinking we would adopt a new born.

As we neared the end of our Home Study, I started to think that we should look at a child from the Waiting Child list. We were getting older and the thought of diapers no longer appealed to me. The boy's are now almost out of the nest and that would leave Olivia as an only child with no sibling to grow up with. I registered for the Waiting Child Program and begin watching the agency lists. One day at work I took a break and was scrolling through a list when I just stopped cold. There she was and somehow I knew it all along. A beautiful little girl who was now 4. I went home that night and logged the computer on. I opened up the list and told Joy to scroll through and see if anything jumped out at her. There were almost 50 kids profiled on the site and Rachel was about 25 or 26 on the list. She scrolled right to her and just stopped and started to cry. She said this is our little girl. I reached in my pocket and pulled out her picture that I had printed out that day. We both knew it was her. It was the daughter that we had been looking for, for so long. She has lived in the Lianyungang SWI since she was 2 days old. She was left under a bridge when she was only hours old because she has a crossed eye.



It is now 2010. Olivia is 6 and Rachel is 5. We have received our LSC and sent all of the required paperwork back to China. We are anxiously awaiting our Travel Approval (TA) and hope to travel by March to get her.

The Journey has been long and there have been many times we thought it was impossible. We thought we would never finish the Home Study but somehow we did. We thought the Dossier would never be complete, but it is logged and approved. We worried about the cost of the trip and the adoption but God has provided everything that we needed just in time.

God's Mercy and Grace have brought us this far. He has shown us how big He is and that no problem is too big for Him to overcome. He gave us back the daughter that we thought was lost. We will soon have her in our arms and to Him we owe all of the Glory.

God Bless, Coy/Joy Graham