How are you feeling?

We're coming, Zadie

Mom and I went shopping on Tuesday to buy the rest of the things we need for the trip to China. Since I was not at home - OUR TA ARRIVED. Ky called and told Tad and he called me at Zach's soccer game in Athens to give me the good news! It just took a long time to get from China to Washington! It must have been sent before the holiday. YEAH! We received our Consulate appointment date yesterday (Oct 6) and it is scheduled for November 3. We will hold Zadie in our arms on October 25! Only 19 more days!!! I am so anxious and excited and overwhelmed! God is so good. I cannot wait for our family to be all together. After trying to book flights and hotels yesterday until my eyes were blurry - I contacted a travel agent who is experienced in China adoption travel. She was sooo nice. I felt much better after I spoke with her. I need to relinquish control and let her do the job that she is experienced at doing. I cannot wait to see what she has arranged for our trip! She is working on it today so we should have flights and hotels in place by tonight!

I am taking Izzie to her pre-op today for her ear tubes. She will have them put in on October 14. I hate to see her go through another procedure, but I have talked to a lot of people whose children have had tubes in their ears and they have all been very positive. I pray that it helps her to avoid having more ear infections. I am glad that it will be done before we go to China.

School is going great for Zach and Jacob. They are tired, but they are hanging in there! They love being with their friends every day. I am thankful that they have good friends. Izzie loves preschool, too! She was invited to a birthday party by one of her classmates last week! It was so sweet! Lots of glitter and dancing and unicorns!!! Much different than the boys parties that I am used to with lots of light sabers and Nerf Guns and someone ending up needing a bandaid or 2 before the party is over!! I love being a mom!!!

Jacob and Zach both have birthday parties to attend on Saturday, Kerry and I are going car seat shopping and Tad is helping cut wood for the Slingerland's from church whose son was in a car accident. I also have to pack - so I had better go!

Bye!

Show Hope T-Shirt Fundraiser

I Dig SH

I SH pink

I Show Hope smoke I Show Hope red

White tree Long Sleeve

I Show Hope Choc.

back of I Show Hope

I Show Hope blue

Black Tree

We have been accepted in to the fundraising program offered by Show Hope and are selling T-shirts from their company to raise funds to bring Zadie home from China. The shirts are pictured above and send the message to the world about orphan care. We will be accepting $30 per adult shirts and $25 per youth and child (Only pink heart and I Dig come in youth and child sizes). $15 from each adult shirt and $10 from each youth/child shirt is what we can use for our adoption.

If you want to order a shirt you can email me at traceyculkin@hotmail.com with the style, size and quantity and mail a check to Tracey Culkin, RR2 Box 287, Troy, PA 16947.

Thank you for your support of our adoption and for orphan care around the world!

Black tree (S,M,L,XL,2XL) $30

Women's White long sleeve tree (S,M,L,XL,2L) $30

I Heart SH Pink (women S,M,L,XL $30 child 6mo, 12mo, 18mo, 2T,3T,4T $25)

I Dig SH (women S,M,L,XL,2XL $30, youth XS,M,L,XL $25)

I Show Hope red, chocolte, blue, smoke (S,M,L,XL,2XL,3XL) $30

Still Waiting

It has been a long time since I posted. Our documents were cabled to the US Consulate in Guangzhou on September 7. However, our agency representative was with another adopting family and our paperwork did not get submitted for our Article 5 until September 13. The Consulate only accepts these documents on Mondays and Thursdays, so there is a limited window. I was sad that our papers sat for 5 days because our agency only employs 1 person in China to handle all of their families. Moving on. Our Article 5 was picked up by our agency representative on September 20 and overnighted to the CCAA. Once they get those papers we wait for the CCAA to issue our travel approval (TA). Once our agnecy gets the hard copy in the mail from CCAA they fax a copy of it (TA) and requested dates for our Consulate Appointment (CA) which is the last stop where we get Zadie's Visa medical exam, TB test, shots and Visa to leave the country. I am still hoping for October departure - however, China has some holidays in October so things are shut down from October 1 - 7. If we don't get our TA and schedule our CA in the next 4 days - then nothing gets processed until after the holiday. My stomach is in knots and I keep checking my email. Our regular representative at AAI (our adoption agency) is out of the office at a meeting with CCAA reps in California this week and another girl is handling our adoption processing. I am so worried that she doesn't know what to do and is going to delay our travel. I keep on praying and praying that God will make a way - but I have to trust in His mercy and grace and follow His timing. I want control!!! I am also feeling anxious about leaving Zach, Jacob and Izzie for such a long time. I know that Mom and Dad will take great care of them - but I will miss them so much. The boys were so amazing when we went to get Izzie and I wish they could go with us again - but it isn't possible financially and it would be a hard trip for Izzie, even though she is a great traveller. We would need 2 hotel rooms and 2 cabs in China and it would be rough. Plus the boys would get far behind in school and that would be hard for them to play catch up. It will be ok - I am just a worrier. I am praying for God's peace during this time because I am feeling very anxious.
The boys are doing great in public school. They both have great attitudes and are getting ready in the morning with no complaining! I do miss them during the day. They are growing up so nicely. I am glad they have Jesus on their side! Zach scored his first goal in a JV soccer game a couple of weeks ago! It was great to see him persevere! All the "never give up" speeches were not in vain! I am proud of him. Jacob is such a great big brother to Izzie. He has been sleeping in the "pink bedroom" with his little sister for the past 6 nights! He loves her so much! He says that he realy likes the new sheets because they are soft!
Yes, the bedroom is done! I painted the boys old bunkbeds white and the walls pink. Grammy bought the girls pretty new sheets and comforters, too! It is sooooo girly! I love it! My back and my arm and hand will take a while to recover, but it was worth it!!! I can't wait for both the girls to be tucked into their beds here at home.
It is oficially fall. The sun is shining now and the wind is blowing the leaves off the trees! I love living here and watching the seasons change by God's design.
Kerry Doud and I went shopping last Friday and I bought some outfits for Zadie (and Izzie). I need to start packing - but I am not ready yet. I am sure I will panic when we get TA and then I will run around wondering why I didn't start earlier.
Gotta go read with Izzie and then it's naptime!
Bye!

I800 approval!!

Go Zach!!! First day of School
Go Jacob!!!

Izzie and Jacob haircuts!!

Izzie & Isaac

Yard Sale Friends

Well - there is so much to write today. The yard sale fundraiser was amazing!! God was definitely present as so many people shared their belongings and time and love! We raised about $550 dollars to help bring Zadie home. We were able to donate the remaining items to the clothing bank and to the American Relief in Wellsboro, PA.

Zach had his first JV Soccer game on Saturday. He and his team played well, and it ended in a 0-0 draw. Jacob had his first TAYS soccer game on Sunday and his team also played well but lost 6-4. I love to watch the boys and their friends play and use the gifts God has given them to enjoy soccer.

On Friday Izzie had her first big girl haircut at Mary Kendall's Beauty Salon. She was such a big girl! She loved it!! She lloks so big to me now! She is now ready to go to her first day at Sprire Nursery School in September!! She is so excited! I will miss her - but I am excited to see how much she has grown in one year. She loves people!

This morning the big yellow bus picked up my boys and took tem to public school. Jacob has been schooling at home since 2nd grade (5 years) and Zach went to public school in 6th grade but decided to stay home for the past 3 years. I miss them a lot today. I cannot believe that Zach is a sophomore in High School and Jacob is in 7th grade. They are growing up so fast. I love to see them becoming the men God wants them to be. I pray that they will make good choices and be a positive influence on others. I am so proud of them and I love being their mom. It is an honor and a priviledge.

Izzie and I had a good morning. We had pancake breakfast with Grammy and MomMom. Then we played some games at home and painted with watercolors. Then Amber and Calvin brought Isaac and Karis over to play. Amber had a doctor appointment for the new baby. I pray that they are both ok. I love them. So Izzie has had fun playing with her buddy Isaac and I have had fun cuddling Karis.

Now the BIG news. Tad talked to Officer Harrison today at USCIS! She said that our I800 was approved on Friday, August 27 and was sent to the NVC today, Monday, August 30!! We are getting closer!! Our Visas should be getting back to us this Friday, too! Things are falling into place! I am so hopeful that we can travel in October. Now we wait for the NVC to say that they will approve Zadie's Visa when the time comes. This can take 2-4 weeks. When we get this approval we send a copy to our agency who sends it on to the US Consulate in China. The Consulate then issues and Article 5 which will be delivered to the CCAA. Then we wait for the CCAA to issue the Travel Approval (TA) at which time our agency can schedule the Consulate Appointment (CA)! The CA is the last stop in China before we leave to bring Zadie home forever!!! The estimate from LOA to travel is about 70 days. We are at day 19 since LOA. There is hope for October!!!

Mike and Lisa Shanks are coming to visit us tonight. They brought their little girl, Lydia Hope, home from China this summer and we are so excited to get to meet her! They also have a little boy that was born about 3 months before they travelled to China to get Lydia! His name is Lincoln. They went to Nanning just like we did with Izabelle! I cannot wait to see their pictures and hear their story!! It is amazing that our daughter has helped us meet so many amazing friends!!! She had to come all the way from China to bind us all together! God is so good!!

Bye for now!!!

Today was day 1 of our 3 day yard sale fundraiser for Zadie's adoption. We had so many great friends donate items to sell to help us raise funds! It was such a short time from deciding to have the sale on Saturday to Thursday - but it was great! We are so blessed by our friends, family, community, and church that we cannot put it into words. Traci, Stepphen and Nathan Spencer, Laurie, Lydia, and Emma Kenny (Brighton and Mary, too), Kim and Faith Foulkrod, and Emily Doud all came to spend time with us to help us at the sale! I cannot even name all of the people who donated, but I will try ( I hope I don't leave anyone out): Becky, Naomi, Jill, Brenda, Kerry, Mom, Grandma, Laurie, Traci, Stephanie... So many!!! Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts! And then there are those who came to buy!!! It was amazing!! Zadie has so many people who love her already and she hasn't even met them!!! It is hard to imagine that for her entire 4 years of life she has been an orphan and now she has a HUGE family!!! I am glad God chose us to do His good work!!! I cannot wait to hold His precious child in my arms!!!

Tad, Zach and Jacob are at socer practice tonight. Izzie fell asleep on the couch watching Dora the Explorer. She worked so hard selling lemonade to raise funds to bring her little sister home from China! She is going to be an amazing big (if only by 3 months) sister!!! I cannot wait to see the two of them together. And of course - the big brothers will love her as they love their sweet Izabelle! How did I ever get here? I am so blessed! A loving, godly husband and 4 amazing children! OK. Just feeling thankful.

Tomorrow we take Jacob to middle school orientation. Then Izzie and Jacob get their hair cuts for the first day of school. Then it's back to the yard sale!!

Tad talked to our USCIS officer today. She told him that as soon as our I800 and I800a were "matched" then she would get the file and give us our approval!!! YEAH! Maybe tomorrow!! Tad mailed our Visa applications and passports to "There's Always Hope" today, too. Things are moving! I am still praying for end of September beginning of October travel. It would be nice if they placed Zadie in Tad's arms on his birthday October 2!!! I have a feeling she is going to be Daddy's girl!!!

Bye

August

It is now August and I have not been posting here as much as I originally intended to. We received our LSC (Letter Seeking Confirmation) or LOA (Letter of Acceptance) on August 11th! That is the letter from China that officially states once we sign and return it that Zadie (Xu Shu) is our daughter! All of our dossier documents have been reviewed and accepted by CCAA! We have sent a copy of the LOA and our I800 application to USCIS (Texas lockbox then Missouri to officer Harrison) and we are waiting for our I800 approval.
This weekend we worked hard to clean the basement and pack up the photo studio equipment. I am taking a break from photography for a while. We have given the studio space to our 15 year old son, Zach. He is so happy! Last night was his first night down stairs and he was a little bit lonely, but he likes having his own space. We bought Jacob a loft bed/desk/futon for his room. He is not sure how he feels about sleeping up so high - but he likes the futon!!! He is so easy to please. Zach's old bedroom will now be transformed into a girly, pink room for Izzie and Zadie. Grammy and Kathy Harkness have offered their painting skills to help me complete this task. Grammy is buying the girls' bedding as a Christmas gift. I am painting Zach and Jacob's wooden bunk beds white for the girls' room. I can't wait to see it completed!!
Since we had so much "stuff" from the bedroom moving process - I decided to have a fund raising yard sale this weekend!!! So many friends have donated items to sell to help us raise money for the adoption! We are so blessed. I hope we have a good trun out and that everyone can find something that they can use at the sale!!!
We have also been approved to sell Shirts of Hope through the Show Hope organization. Tad will be printing the order forms today so we can start selling. These shirts help raise awareness of orphans and will help us to bring Zadie out of the orphanage in China where she has lived over 4 years of her life and bring her home to her family forever! We are so excited to see how God is providing us opportunities to raise the funds for Zadie's trip home!!!
I hope to spend more time here recording our journey. I also have to figure out how to post pictures!!!
Bye for now!