Chinese New Year brings BIG changes

This past Saturday was the Chinese (Lunar) New Year! We celebrated on Saturday by going to a festival in Chapel Hill with Tom's parents, which was presented by the Chinese community there. It was at a small mall and VERY crowded, but it was the first year, so they may have underestimated the turnout, which was incredible! Graham decorated a paper lantern, played games, and watched performances. There were so many different crafts for kids, artists, performers, and, of course, Chinese food. On Sunday we had a big family dinner at Phoenix Asian here in Greensboro during their celebration with drums, the dragon dance, and some sort of Chinese warrior guy in costume. We had a great time! Graham was ok with the dragon as long as it wasn't near him! 

We have already experienced good things in the New Year. This is especially good and brings big changes. Tom was offered a promotion within his company, which is great! The big change is that he has worked remotely for the past few years and the company is in Jacksonville, FL. Taking this promotion means that we will be relocating to the Jacksonville area. This is a great step in Tom's career and I'm so proud of him. We have known there could be a possibility that we would need to move at some point, but it is so strange that it is now a fact of reality. We are moving to Florida. We have prayed about it and we both feel at peace. Don't get me wrong, this is super scary! Our families are here, we have a church family we love, Graham's preschool is amazing,  my job is so flexible and I work with great people, we like our neighborhood and have fantastic neighbors, and we have made many memories in this house. We are sad to leave the people and places we love, but are so excited about the adventure God has in store for our family. We are nervous about finding the right neighborhood, the right home, church, preschool, friends, work for me at some point, and the list goes on. We find comfort in knowing none of this is a surprise to God and he will take care of us. 

Obviously, our first question when this opportunity arose was how will it affect our adoption and I called our social worker to find out what hurtles this may present before Tom committed to the job. God has already provided. Our adoption agency has an office in Jacksonville. They are licensed in Florida. All we have to do is the same paperwork we did when Charlie was born if Ellie is not home by the time we move. That's it. Some of it can even be submitted with other required paperwork if we match around the time we move. Figuring out timing is important. There are pros and cons to moving ASAP v. this summer. One big pro to moving soon is getting settled in Florida and building a support system before we bring Ellie home, namely, a church family. There are stories of people moving out-of-state within a week of returning home from China with their newly adopted child. Since we don't have a referral yet, this could be a possibility for us, though it is not ideal. We will meet with the real estate agent this week and try to get our house on the market soon. The timing of when we move will depend on when our house sells. We are confident that God's timing is perfect and when this house sells, that's our cue to go. 

Please pray for us as we make this big transition. There are already some things we are having to do from afar due to the timing of everything, like getting Graham registered for preschool in the fall, as most programs opened registration this week and spots at most places are full! Seriously, how did people relocate out of state before the internet?! We are traveling in a few weeks to look at neighborhoods and areas, so pray for clarity when we go. Pray for Graham and Charlie, as they have no idea what is coming. Graham only knows he will live closer to Mickey Mouse, which he is cool with. Pray for our families, who are supportive in our going, but are losing having us (ok, our kids) nearby. Pray that we will form connections quickly and easily with people God would have in our lives. Making friends with strangers has never been a strength for myself or Tom. We both take some time to warm up to new people, so pray God would fill us with comfort and confidence when talking to new people. Pray we find our "village" in Florida as we will need so much support, not only with bringing Ellie home, but just in having small children in a town where we don't know anyone. We truly appreciate your prayers!

 Tom and Graham trying to get a ring around a panda

 Dragon fun

 Charlie had fun at our CNY dinner!

Graham decorating a paper lantern

A Phone Call

On Tuesday afternoon I was cleaning the kitchen. Tom was on a business call. My phone rang and the area code was for Birmingham, Alabama, where our agency is. It was our social worker! For some reason the service wasn't good and we kept getting disconnected. I went into Tom's office and tried to signal to him that it was the agency calling! We were getting a referral! Finally we got connected and after a few seconds of small talk, she let me know that she was sending me an email, but wanted to talk to me first. My heart was in my throat. Excitement was building! I thought "Yay! A referral!!!"

Have you ever experienced false labor? Yeah, this was the same thing.

What she wanted to talk about was that the wait times for referrals from China had lengthened significantly and the email would have more details, but that we could read through it and let her know what questions we had. My heart sank, not because of the news, but because I thought this was it! After I got my mind together I told her we were ok. I told her the waiting isn't easy, but we have been prepared from the beginning that this would come together with God's timing. Being pregnant and adopting at the same time, we knew God's hand was in our family and His timing is perfect. So I told her we are ok. We continue to wait. The good news is, the time frames she told us aren't really far off from what we were expecting. When we updated our home study in the fall the wait was "pushing six months" and now they said to be prepared to wait six months or more. Tomorrow will be five months since we were LID, so we'll get there.

People will ask us how things are going and I mention the wait time and they say how hard it must be. This is what I tell them. Pick one of your kids, for example, my niece Collins. If my sister and brother-in-law knew Collins before she was born and before she was a part of their family, knew how sweet and spunky she is, how she says the funniest things, how she fits perfectly in their family, then were told they could have a different kid right then, or would have to wait a year to have Collins, I know they would wait. They would do it gladly. It doesn't mean it would make the waiting easy, anticipating with excitement this perfect fit for their family, but it would be so worth it. That's our situation, we just don't know who she is yet. We know that God has planned her for us and us for her since forever.

Graham and Charlie are doing well. Graham and I are watching Kai-Lan's Trip to China as I write this. Graham turned 3 last Friday! We celebrated his birthday at The Little Gym and had such a great time! I can't believe he is already 3. Kindergarten will be here before we know it! Charlie will be six months old on Monday and started eating baby food this past week. These boys are growing so fast!!

Graham helped with feeding Charlie

 Graham is 3 years old!

Charlie liked avocado