Wednesday, May 27, 2015

God Kisses- An Unexpected Surprise by Mail

Sometimes in life there are moments that you can look back at and know immediately that it was a "God moment". Throughout our adoption process both while we waited to be matched, during our time in China when we met our daughter, and most recently in this post-placement stage, we've continued to see those moments that have come to be known as "God kisses". 

"God kisses".

You know, those sweet little "extras" that God pours out on you when He certainly didn't have to. Those tangible little moments or things that you know could only come from Him- moments that point to an all-perfect God that is so concerned with every little detail, even the littlest details- that He thinks of something that even you wouldn't have thought of if you could have orchestrated it.

That's what our family received several weeks back. Several little "God kisses".  

It was an ordinary day. Nothing special going on and we had been home from China for about two months. I was getting dinner ready when Nate came home from work, walked in the door and asked me if I had ordered something. I looked at him funny and said, "No, why do you ask?" He then pulled up a huge brown flat package and said, "This was at the front door."

Curious, I took it from him and looked at the return label which showed that it was mailed from "Show Hope." I couldn't imagine what would be in such a large flat package and knew we weren't expecting anything from them.  

In case you've forgotten from previous posts, SHOW HOPE is the Christian organization in the Nashville area founded by music artist Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife Mary Beth. Show Hope was founded to help with orphan care initiatives such as adoption grants, orphan care/surgeries, orphan advocacy, and most importantly for us- to provide care centers in China to help children with medical needs who need additional care, surgeries, etc. above and beyond what the orphanage can provide. When we were matched with our little one, we soon discovered that she was in one of these 5 care centers in China (hers was on the fifth floor of her orphanage- run by Show Hope and New Hope Foundation).  She was receiving much needed additional care for her medical needs, for which we are abundantly grateful. You can read more about the amazing things we found out about our daughter and the way that Show Hope played such a huge part in our daughter's life by reading our post HERE.

Fast forward a few months later when we have our little one home and this package arrives at our doorstep. I carefully opened it as I soon noticed a note that said "X-rays- Do Not Bend". I was suddenly curious as I couldn't figure out why we would be receiving X-rays by mail, but as I opened up the package I suddenly realized it was more than X-rays.
We had been mailed all of our daughter's original MRI's directly from her orphanage in China to Show Hope and then on to us. A package full of "MRI film" poured out onto our kitchen table---



(future doctor in the making, perhaps?)



---but that wasn't all.

We looked further into the envelope and another packet of items were deeper inside. We had been sent a wonderful booklet about all of Show Hope's work sharing about the amazing life-change they've seen over the years. 
Then we found original segments of our daughter's referral information with medical tests we had seen before, but these sheets were from New Hope Foundation's intake notes they had written on her when they completed her medical exam. These documents had original handwritten notes on her paperwork, written by those who had cared for her in China. We then noticed several other items paper-clipped to these documents.

More "God Kisses"...

Attached were several laminated ID tags in several different sizes. I immediately recognized the photo and layout as we had seen it at her orphanage when we visited and I had quickly snapped a photo of it. 

It was her bed identification tag that we had seen in her room. I was beyond curious by this point that when I realized what I thought we were holding. I quickly sent an email to Show Hope to ask if they could share what these were and confirm, since I was unsure of why we had been sent several of the same item in different sizes. They went on to explain that they had sent us the original identification laminated tags that had been used in China for her bed and used with the few belongings that she had at her orphanage, so that her items didn't get mixed up with other children. (i.e. her bottle, etc.) 

"God kisses".

It's rare to receive much information on your little one, much less to receive the original MRI's taken in China and her ID tags for her few belongings and her crib. I know many a family that I've both worked with or known personally as friends who would give anything to receive something like that for their little one's history and especially to have for their medical history. 

However, we haven't reached the cherry on the top of this story yet. (shocking, I know)  The "God kisses" aren't over yet. There's one more to share. 

A few days later we received an email with a surprise invitation from Show Hope sharing that Steven Curtis Chapman and Mary Beth were inviting all of the families who have had children cared for in one of their care centers in China, to join them for a private reunion in Nashville at the Chapman Family Barn to celebrate all that God has done over the years and all of the lives changed through adoption. (picture "day of fun for kids and families" in your mind ) 
We didn't think we would be able to make this happen, then Nate came home a few weeks back to share that he'd worked out all of the details and we were going to go and be a part of this and meet other parents at this adoption reunion. So exciting!

.....and that's what we will be doing. We will have the privilege of visiting the Show Hope offices, meeting the staff and thanking them for the wonderful care they provided for our daughter. The following day we will meet other families who have also been impacted by all of the wonderful things that Show Hope is doing in China. We will share in the joy of being reunited with several families from our recent travel group in February who will also be attending this event. 

And if all of that wasn't enough excitement, we were asked to be filmed and share our story-- the story that HE so beautifully wrote. You can be praying for that this weekend too, that God will give us the words to say that will bring Him glory and praise for all that He has done. (and pray that our little peanut cooperates in this endeavor-- this is where I'm tempted to consider inserting a number of emoticons for your enjoyment, but I'll let your imagination run wild with the random faces I might be making right now just thinking about a one and a half year old sitting/participating in a 45 minute interview process-lol)

We are beyond blessed to have the opportunity to add one more piece to the story of our daughter's life- to have another tangible moment and memory to share with her down the road.

We are excited to take a little mini-trip to Nashville and grateful for all that God has done to make this possible. (and yes, you can say a little prayer for us as this will be our first road trip of any distance with Little Miss since we've been home these past three months) Our hearts are more than full and we don't ever want to take any of these "God Kisses" for granted and what they mean to our family and the life of our daughter. 




Tuesday, May 5, 2015

US Citizenship Certificate & Re-adopting

Well, it's official! We finally have the all-coveted US Certificate of Citizenship for our little peanut. They told us at the US Consulate in China that it would take several months, but this little gem showed up in our mailbox right around the three month anniversary date of when they placed our little one in our arms in China. 



Now-- while you probably don't think much about this document and its importance, it's truly one of the most important documents for a child that is adopted internationally, as it grants them the ability to have all of same rights and privileges that an individual born here in the US receives. Thought it's an important document, something tells me our little one wasn't really too enamored with this little piece of paper and its significance. She'd far rather take some crayons or a pen in hand and mark all over it. (and for those of you looking at the below pictures and freaking out thinking that she might have tore this when we gave it to her to look at...we put it in a protective case before she held it. Unfortunately, the way it was already mailed by US Citizenship and Immigration Services, it was bent when it arrived- which was a little disappointing)



While this document is important not to lose for a number of reasons (and also would come with a not so fun replacement fee), we have chosen to do the re-adoption process for our state once we reach that point in the upcoming months which will replace this document with a US birth certificate. Many people ask why do we need to do this re-adoption process in our state. Well, while we don't have to do this in our state as a requirement, it would not be wise to skip this step as it will help "B" later in life with so many areas. 

Re-adopting here in our state through the US court system will provide her with a state birth certificate just as if she were born here in the US to us. This will then allow her to use this more familiar US document to enroll in school, obtain a driver's license, get a job, enroll in college, and a host of other things. While you can still do those things with a US Certificate of Citizenship, it's just more complicated because it's a document that most people aren't as familiar with and can often come with more hoops and hurdles. Having the state birth certificate makes life much easier on a family and the child if/when a family chooses to re-adopt in their state, particularly when the state grants a state birth certificate as part of the re-adoption process. (re-adoption looks different in each state)

To clarify, "B" was officially a US citizen at her first point of entry into the US, so she became a US Citizen on February 13, 2015 when we landed in New Jersey. Despite her now claims to being a "southern girl" -- I guess she officially started out as a "Jersey girl".
Just looking at this certificate, it's amazing to already see the change in 3 months since we took this photo in China-- her hair has grown so much already and oh the changes we've seen over these past 12 weeks since she was placed in our arms. We'll save that for another post, but there are so many things we could name. 
What a wonderful journey it's been already and with this official document in hand, we now get to move on to our next step in applying for her social security card. Excited and thankful that some of our final steps on the paperwork side are coming to a close. As always, we are so thankful to God for each step He continues to carry us on in this journey.