Adoption Journal - Long

Well, our journey of adoption began many years ago. Jason and I talked about adoption before we were married over 8 years ago. We knew that we wanted a biological child if that was possible. Shortly after having Landon in 2005, I talked with Jason about the possibility of adopting soon. He said, "not now!" I am too much like my Granddaddy and Nand to not do anything about it once it is in my mind and heart.
So, for about 1 year, I researched and gathered all the information that I could about adoption. (agencies, cost, how long it would take, travel, etc.) In December of 2006, I talked with Jason again about adoption and he was open to hearing the information. I showed him all the research about the different countries, how much it would cost, how long we would stay in the country, timeframe of receiving the referral, etc. After much prayer, we decided in January 2007 to pursue the adoption of a little girl from China.
One of the requirements to adopt from China is you have to be 30 years old before you send your dossier (paperwork). We chose Children's Hope International (CHI) out of St. Louis as our agency and they allowed us to start working on the paperwork in May 2007. Being the Type A persoanlity that I am, I immediately began filling out the forms, turning in applications, writing my autobiography, sending out reference letters, gathering our birth certificates, drawing floor plans to our house, getting fingerprints for the FBI, filing status with the immigration office, writing checks to the government, and tons of other stuff.
Our (my) goal was to have our dossier sent to China on October 26th, the day after my 30th birthday! Well, we were on our way with that goal until July when 2 employees for CHI decided to make some bad choices in the Russia adoption program. CHI fired them immediately for their actions. CHI immediately let all 50 states know of this huge mistake because they wanted to be upfront and stay in good standing with the states. All the states were appreciative of their information EXCEPT the state of Illinois. IL made CHI go through all kinds of hoops, such as, corrective action plans, meetings, etc. until they were back in good standing again. Needless to say, that put us 6 months behind.
Then, because it took so long with the IL government, all of our papers were over 6 months old. The Chinese Embassy in Chicago does not allow papers to be over 6 months old. (Type A persoanlity didn't help this time) So, we redid all of our paperwork with the doctors, our employers, our accountant, the police department, and many others. We drove to Springfield to have all the papers state certified then to Chicago to have them authenticated by the Chinese Embassy. We mailed them to CHI in St. Louis the beginning of this week. They plan to mail our dossier to China THIS Friday, May 2. (1 year after starting the process)
After completing over 70 different documents, our dossier is heading to China. When it gets to China, they will translate it to Chinese and give us a Log In Date (LID)! From the LID, the 2 - 3 year wait will begin. Anything that could have gone wrong in this process, went wrong with us. We KNOW that God's plan is way bigger than our goal of October 26th. We KNOW that His purpose and plans are PERFECT for us. As much as I wanted it done by October, I TRUST His ways are better than mine. AMEN!!! The Lord continues to teach us about our faith in Him, patience in the crazy times, perseverance in the difficult times, dependence on and in Him, and bringing us closer as a couple through this roller coaster ride called adoption. We both know that the Lord called us to adoption and we will see and follow Him to the end. More to come . . .

Playground

In the pictures, you will notice trucks, bulldozers, and big machines in the background. They are working on the JV baseball and softball fields behind our house. Since the playground is about 2 minutes (Landon's pace) from our house, he says "his paygron!" We went out there this morning for 1 and 1/2 hours. He does the same thing over and over and over again. It is hilarious!

Zoo Day

After the race, we took Landon to the Nashville Zoo. Landon has never been to the zoo so we thought what better time to walk around for 3 hours after a 13.1 mile race than now! He watches a video at church called God's Zoo that has singing and dancing about the animals. He knows many of the animals' pictures and sounds from the video, books, and puzzles. He was so excited about the trip and had a blast! (we did too) We are planning on taking him to the St. Louis Zoo sometime soon!

These are my parents (Memaw and Pops)! They met us in Nashville to take care of Landon while we ran the race.

We asked Landon, "What was your favorite animal at the zoo?" His response was "Oo Oo, monkey" while acting like a monkey!

He is doing what the monkey is doing in the tree.

Watching for the Meerkats

Landon and I crawled in a tunnel to get to the "bubble" so we could see the meerkats up close and personal. He loved it!

After the zoo, we headed to DQ for some ice cream.

Country Music Marathon

On Saturday, we started and completed our 3rd 1/2 marathon together. We felt good about our preparation for the race considering the ice storms and flooding we had early on in our training program. Jason woke up at 3:30 to the thunder and lightening outside his window. I woke up at 4:00 to get ready for the race. We left the hotel at 5:45 and got to the starting line with plenty of time to rest, go to the bathroom, drink water, go to the bathroom, stretch, and go to the bathroom! It rained on us from 6:00 - 7:20. Thankfully, we only ran about 1 mile in the rain. We finished the 13.1 miles in 2 hours and 2 minutes. That is our personal best! We are already talking about doing the St. Jude Marathon in Memphis this December. We will see . . .

Before the race at 5:30

After the race with friends Big T (Tommy) and JP (Jason)

We are Team Clydesdale! Our shirts say Clydesdale Comin' Through with our name, a cross, and Phil. 4:13 on the back!

We did it!

Landon earned a part of the medal as he went on EVERY run with us in his jogging stroller.

Future Major League Star

Here is some video of Landon hitting baseball in the yard . . .

We played baseball in the yard all morning long! He loves his BALL!!!

St. Louis

Today, we went to a St. Louis Cardinal game! No, we are NOT Cardinal fans but baseball fans. Go CUBS!!! We were given the tickets by some good friends and took the opportunity to let Landon watch baseball in person. This is his 3rd major league game! He went with Jason and some guys a few weeks ago and absolutely loved the game, big arch, and fireworks! We hear about it about 4 - 5 times a day. So, he was excited to experience it again! Here are some pictures and video of the day . . .

Ozzie Smith behind Landon! (statue of course)

The famous "big arch" that Landon refers to about 15 times a day! Now, we have a picture of him with the arch! Yeah!!!

Easter Bunny

Landon got a visit from the Easter Bunny this year. The night before we actually went to see the Easter Bunny at the mall and have his picture taken with him. Landon loved waving at him, blowing him kisses, and sitting on his lap. He especially loved when the Easter Bunny gave him a piece of chocolate. Landon thought he was the greatest. So, he understood when we said look what the Easter Bunny brought you. He kept saying "thank you Easter Bunny!" Enjoy the video!!!

Easter Sunday 2008

We wanted to share a few pictures of us on Easter Sunday. Of course, Landon looked handsome! He wasn't excited about the sweater vest until Daddy said that he looked good in it. Then, he was showing it to everyone at church.

It took many shots to get one of Landon actually being serious with Daddy. He has a great sense of humor with some crazy facical expressions. We will have to show those at a later date.

We took this one with Daddy holding the camera in front of us. I thought he did a great job with it. We had a great Easter Sunday!