We have LID !!!

We have some great news on the adoption front.... I opened an email this morning from our China coordinator and she said the CCAA just logged in our dossier and we have a log in date of
12/02/11 !!! Thank you Jesus, we finally made it to this step!

Now the clock starts on our wait for our LOA (Letter of Acceptance). The timeline for this is a bit all over the place. The average is about 60-70 days BUT some people have got theirs as early as 30 days and some have waited 90+ days. There is just no rhyme or reason to it. Overall, if I was to go off the averages of LOA-TA (travel approval) we are looking at possibly traveling in April/May.

Below are pictures of the care package we sent, I talked it about a couple of posts ago. It was scheduled to arrive the day before Thanksgiving. It included a snugly blanket, musical toy, pajama, photo album of our family, disposable camera (the orphanage will use these and give them back to families on adoption day) a translated letter from us and candies for the foster parents and nannies.




Each picture is labeled in Chinese.



Sweet little owl Pajama.



We pray that during this time God would be preparing Selah's heart for us. Her foster parents/nannies and life at the orphanage is all that she has ever known. Although her orphanage and it's programs are better than most in China it is still not a forever family. Her world will be turned upside down. So please be praying for our sweet one.

Half the Sky

What is Half the Sky?

Half the Sky foundation seeks to ensure orphaned children receive the early childhood
opportunities they need to thrive by providing infant nurture programs with trained nannies to love and care for the babies, uniquely tailored preschool education for toddlers and beyond, personalized learning opportunities for older children, and loving, permanent family care, medical care and guidance for children with disabilities. HTS offers the care, individual attention and development environment that a loving family would otherwise secure for a child’s
healthy development.

"Changing children’s lives does not require new facilities or expensive playthings or complicated new procedures. Human contact is the most important ingredient, and caretakers can make a huge difference—just by taking an extra moment whenever possible to hold the babies, talk to the children, hug them all, and assure them that someone cares." —For the Children, Half the Sky’s training manual

Selah's orphanage is a Half the Sky orphanage. She lives in a "foster village". Basically a group of foster families that live in apartments next to the orphanage. The foster families typically care for 4-5 kids so that they may grow and develop healthy attachment in a family atmosphere not an institutional setting. During the day they do go to the orphanage for classes/services. The foster village is sponsored by Alliance for Children Foundation. If would like to learn more about the set up of the foster villages click on the link above!


When we were sent Selah's updated pictures we were also sent these PRECIOUS pictures as well! Taken in September.








I noticed this is the same picture she is looking at in her Half the Sky book (which is her record book they have kept of her since she came to the orphanage). This is a very special book! From what I have been told this will be coming home with her. I am currently trying to find out if this is her foster mom or a nanny at the orphanage.

Nathan and I often talk about the sparkle of JOY in her eyes. We are so thankful for the care she is receiving here.

Psalm 68:5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.

Thankful

Sweet Jesus...I am thankful for my adoption found in you. Life is found in you. I have so much to be thankful for this season. I pray that this life in you would not be wasted but used to it's fullest. Because of love. Because of love all things are possible. Thank you.


This Thanksgiving I am thankful for....







Our DOSSIER and it being finished!!! Our life on paper, approved by agencies and the government. Documents notarized, State certified, Department of State certified and Chinese authenticated, completed and now out of our hands and in our agency's!





I am Thankful for ....


The very next morning after our dossier was sent we woke up to an email from Ann at Red Thread( Ann lives in China and has good relationships with the orphanages). We had contacted her less than 48 hours earlier on sending a care package to Selah. She was also able to request an update and new pictures!

You can imagine the emotions that hit us as we laid eyes on her sweet face!






The pictures that came with her file are now 8 months old so we have longed to see a recent picture of her. These were taken just two days ago.... just for us. Something about that messes me up inside. I am honored. I am wrecked.



Then there is this picture....HALLELUJAH there is this picture! She is WALKING y'all!





We did not know if we would get to see this until after we got her treatment for her feet. It is such a beautiful sight! Oh and her shirt says "Wanna Play?" Do you hear that...it's the sound of my heart breaking!

Here she is looking at her Half the Sky book... I am just about undone at this point.



In just a couple days she will be receiving our care package and she will be given a new book, a photo book of HER FAMILY!

The post I have longed to write. Introducing.....

It is with greatest joy that we would like to introduce you to our daughter!





Introducing... Selah Jie Ya Joy Coriell ! Her birthday is March 29, 2010 (she is just about to turn 18 months). She is from Guangxi, the City of Wuzhou.



Back in September we received our I800A approval. I remember excitedly posting on facebook "Next month we will be able to be matched with our Selah. I can't believe I will be able to say NEXT MONTH!"

Our precious Lord must of had a smile on His face as he knew what was to come in the next few hours.

We would see our daughter's face.



She literally took our breath away...





There are so many details over that faithful night and days leading up to and following. That God has His hand over us. Leading us to her, her to us. But that will have to wait for another time. Today we are celebrating that we have received PA for our daughter! We are celebrating that we can finally post publicly and share our joyous new and her oh so precious pictures!



It has been a loooong road to get here, but SO WORTH IT! Selah sweetie....your DADA and MAMA are coming!

So Loved!

Wild Olive Tees:
"So Loved was created to help bring Esther home from China to her forever family. Two months before coming home, Esther passed away from a virus that was complicated by her heart defect. We are proud to carry “So Loved” in our store in honor of Esther, and orphans around the world, so that God’s love will be glorified.

100% of the proceeds of the sale of each So Loved tee will be used to fund a future heart surgery for an orphan in China."

I love how this family has chosen to honor Esther who was no doubt, So Loved! It grieves my heart to know there are more precious ones just like her waiting for their chance at life. You might be thinking " That is heartbreaking but what could I possibly do?" Well it's simple, you can buy this really adorable t-shirt and.... make a difference!

While you are at you could check out the fundraising section and add another shirt or two to your cart and help us bring our Selah home!

"Bring Our Children Home"

With everything going on right now, this video WRECKED me!But OH.....HE IS FAITHFUL!


"When we cannot see you moving
When it seems the dark has won
May you find us still believing
That you want this more than us
You will finish what you started
And your plans for us are good
Help us cling to what you promised
You are faithful, You are sure "

Be sure to *pause* music playing at the bottom of the page

Wild Olive Tees

We have been so blessed to be accepted into Wild Olive Tess adoption fundraising program!

"Wild Olive adoption tees have been created as a means to help families fundraise for their impending adoption. Our goal is to partner with adoptive families to help them gain support from friends and family to offset the cost of their adoption, and in turn, help bring children home to their forever families!"

These tees are some of the cutest inspirational tees I have ever come across! Here are few examples:









They even have tees for the littles!






You can check out their store by clicking the above button or the one located on the side of my blog. When checking out be sure to enter our family code CORIELL0722 into the coupon code field. (Note: this will not discount the price, but give our family credit for the sale ;)
UPDATE: Fundraiser has ended. Thank you to those who participated!
Finally... Please help us spread the word! :)

Home Study Approved/USCIS (I800A) Bound!

We just heard back from our home study agency a couple days ago! Our adoption agency has had our HS for the past 2 weeks, they have reviewed and approved it...which means come next week we will be USCIS bound! Thank you JESUS! I can't wait to get that home study into my hands and FedEx it off, starting our next step!

So what is USCIS?

USCIS stands for United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. This government organization will be an important part of our adoption process, as they will approve us to adopt a child and will also issue our child an immigrant visa! United States Immigration makes sure that everyone immigrating into the United States of American is doing so lawfully.


The average wait for this step/approval is about 2 months. Then Oct. when Nathan turns 30 we will then be allowed to submit our dossier to China and be MATCHED!!!


I will be a adding a brake down of our timeline and adoption lingo post to the "adoption" tab soon. I remember when we first started out and went to our first adoption conference all these terms seemed like a foreign language to me.
So hopefully this will be helpful in following along on our journey. :)


Now for an update on the littles!!

Noah is still our little rock star! Nathan took him out for a little daddy/son bonding time and Noah had his first experience at the Guitar Center! From the report I got... he.was.in.HEAVEN! They found him the smallest guitar and he strummed away! He even was eyeing another guy playing and was trying to keep tempo with him. If you know our Noah you know his love for music! I think he will have many more visits to the Guitar Center in his future!

Little Miss is turning into such a lady....and a comedian! She is quick in humor and if there is anyone that can get you to crack a smile it is this girl! I seriously need to keep a journal of the things this girl does and says....really I need to do it for both kiddos. They grow up all too fast and we forget these precious little day to day conversations that have us busting at our seems.

We are also doing a lot of celebrating around here as Madelynn has chosen to kiss diapers goodbye!YAY MADELYNN!!! :)

Thank you so much for following along! Please continue to lift our family,children and adoption in your prayers. We appreciate them more than you know!

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it." Matthew 13:44-46

It's a ZOO around here!

Not quite ;) But a lot has happened since the last time I have posted! A big milestone is that I am now

WOOOOOHOOOOO!!!!!







Other happenings....We have completed both Home study visits, our Hague/adoptive parent training and another MASSIVE 2 day yard sale (which brought in close to $1000) Thank you Jesus!! Step by step we are getting there.


I have also started a new fundraising page on facebook if you have not already, be sure to check it out!

Because JOY calls

On this page I have picture of the wipe cases/tubs, nightlights I make and just recently I started making these really adorable air fresheners! The air fresheners are $6 each and 100% of the profits goes to our adoption fund!








They come in super cute packaging!



So please be sure to come over to our FB page and check out all my creations!


After this last Home study visit we stopped in at the local Zoo with Grandma. We had such a good time! I love seeing life through the eyes of children! I forgot my camera, so phone pics it was :) Enjoy!

A black bear swimming right in front of them!







Blessings :)

Easter

He is RISEN!!! Hallelujah! So THANKFUL for the gift of Jesus!

Matthew 28:6 "He is not here; he has risen, just as he said..." Oh PRAISE the ONE who paid my debt...just as he said!!! May we never doubt that we can trust Him!

Praying that we will celebrate everyday like Easter Sunday! For He is WORTHY!!!


Here are a few pictures of day. Enjoy!

Swept Away!

I have the BEST HUSBAND EVER!!! Yesterday we celebrated our 7 year anniversary. Thanks to a certain 4 year old *snickers* I knew he had something up his sleeve but I did not know what. The man had me DOOPED! He had me believing a long list of tales ending with that he had dinner reservations for the evening. WOW I thought....must be a really nice restaurant, we never eat anywhere that requires reservations. Silly me. He had a babysitter come at 2:00pm (thanks sis!) and he whisked me away for a one night stay at The Inn above Onion Creek, an amazing bed and breakfast. What is so wonderful about this place is it is nestled on the gateway of the hill country so it FELT like I was many miles away from home. SO beautiful and relaxing. I can't believe he pulled this off having planned it months ago! I always find out his surprises but not this one. All pictures are provided via cell phone sense I had no clue and did not bring my camera! When we first got there we just spent sometime on the porch listening to the breeze rustling through the trees and fields. “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10 Dinner was at 6:00pm and Nathan had reserved the library for a private dinner for two. We exchanged gifts and my beloveds gift had me in tears.... He gave me a photo album (on the cover you can see China) and inside it he placed a book he made me of all the Psalms with Selah in them. The way he printed them to read is just beautiful! Word's can't express how much this means to me!!! Oh how our Selah has been loved and wanted. For so many years. One day soon she will know! After dinner we went back to our little cottage and it was just about sunset time. The porch was calling our name again, this time we busted out the Yahtzee because that how we roll....ahaha get it?? Roll?? Ok...ok...yeah I'm a dork :) While we were outside showing off our mad rolling skills to each other we met the couple who was staying on the other side of the breeze way of the cottage. While we were celebrating our 7 year anniversary they were celebrating their 52 year anniversary!!! AMAZING COUPLE! We talked for quiet a while before turning in. :) The next morning we had scrumptious breakfast and then decided to go for a nature walk to the overlook. This is the view of the back of the Inn. By the time we got back to our cottage we had an hour before check out. We only stayed one night but I was walking away feeling so blessed. We walked into our doors and to our surprise the radio was on, not only was it on it was playing "Here I am, Lord send me..." My heart jumped! An alarm must have been set by past guests but whatever the reason, the timing was perfect. We were packed up pretty fast so we went out to our favorite spot on the porch to play some more Yahtzee. Our neighbors across the way were just getting back from breakfast and came over to talk to us again. I can't tell you enough what a JOY it was to talk with them! We talked about everything from children/family, life, work to politics and the world. We had mentioned we were adopting the night before and so they asked more questions this morning. So we shared our story with them and the dream God gave me as a teenager and how all those years ago He comforted my heart by showing me her name would be Selah. I then brought out my gifts that Nathan gave me and they both loved them. It was time to say goodbye and we gave each other hugs, our new friends congratulated us on our anniversary and told us they would never forget our dream. We told them it was a JOY to meet them and spend time with them and congratulated them on their 52 years of marriage! My heart was FULL! We went back inside and gathered our things. When we came back out to lock the door we were greeted by our lady friend coming back over. She scooped my hand in hers placed something in my hand and said "This is for your adoption." I think my heart stopped. I thanked her and gave her a big hug!! We exchanged addresses and will be keeping in touch with this wonderful couple! I pray we can be just like this couple. Now and in 45 years, so graciously investing time, love and gifts into others. Thank you Lord for my amazing Husband to walk this life with and who shares my dreams. Thank you for this blessed little getaway. How you had a greater plan for it, to encourage my soul. I want to hold onto this feeling and never let it go!