Heaven Called Grandma Hoppins Home

Dear Little Princess,

With just days before you are in OUR arms, Jesus called Grandma Hoppins home.

Her time on earth was finished. And, even though she was only 65 and incredibly healthy, she had done what she needed to do. We will miss her deary. Mommy made a special DVD to honor Grandma's life and will be working on a special memory of who your Grandma Hoppins was in a special scrapbook.

Grandma Hoppins went to be with Jesus on Saturday, June 26, 2010 at 8:12pm.

She would have loved to have known you. I asked her to send us ladybugs from time to time. I know she will.

Happy Baba Day!

June 20, 2010

I really believed with all my heart that we would be holding Gabriella in our arms today in China. We are not.

Instead, we are praying and believing that God is protecting her, her foster sister Monique, and her foster family from the horrendous floods in Guilin and other neighboring cities and countrysides.

Lord Jesus... you have shown Yourself faithful. You have blessed us with many miracles that let us know that You are ABSOLUTELY in this journey with us and You are watching over every detail. We trust that You will put a hedge of protection over our baby girl.

To the Parents of Gabriella Fouts

June 18, 2010

Today we received our first papers in the mail addressed: To the Parents of Gabriella Fouts.

Our local school district agrees that Gabriella will need special education services based on her doctor's reports from China.

It is clear that it is not "language" related but rather "need" related. We believe that Gabriella will need language support (not because she is ESL), occupational therapy and physical therapy, until God miraculously heals her.

An Invisible Red Thread is Connected

The Chinese have an ancient belief:

“An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but it will not break. “

Now that we have our PA (Pre-Approval) to adopt Gabriella, our red thread has been connected.

I thank the Lord that He chose the perfect little Princess for us.

Article 5 is Waving at Us!

June 14, 2010

The Chinese flag is waving... Article 5 has arrived on Flag Day straight from the USA and on it's way to the Chinese Consulate. Now, we await our TA (Travel Approval) and CA (Consulate Appointment).

The Article 5 letter basically means that the United States says that all our adoption paperwork is in order for Gabriella to be issued a visa and there is nothing "lagging" with it.

Once the Article 5 letter is completed, it is sent with the signed LOA back to the CCAA, who then starts the process for the Travel Approval. This step has them contacting the province to verify all is in order with the child's paperwork and the child is ready.

Once they get this notification that the child is ready, they will then issue Travel Approval.

China it is... What Time is it?

As we prepare for our little one, we have been open to a 2 - 5 year old Princess. My prayer was that she would be about 3 years old and be a pretty, pretty Princess.

We decided to adopt from the SN program because we heard that if you adopt a special needs child, that your adoption would take 6 months to 1 1/2 years as compared to the 4-6 years for a healthy baby.

As our hearts started to prepare for our little one, we found ourselves looking at the clock several times a day and wondering... what time time is it in China? Where was our Princess? Was she eating? Sleeping? Playing? What was she doing?

We found ourselves also crying a lot... most of the time in church... but, many times as we looked at other blogs and read other people's stories. Our hearts were truly being prepared for someone very special. What would she look like? What would she like to do? What was her name? What was her story?

The Adoption Manual Arrived

We received our zip-drive from our adoption agency with their 218 page manual. I read it the first night. It was a lot of information to take in. The next step we needed to do was to read our Hague Convention training… that is an 8 week course. I finished it in 4 days. It seemed like we were moving along quite quickly. Jason was done with it in a couple weeks. He still was working two full-time jobs... so, he needed to "find" time for all the reading.

Tyanna Turns 16!

May 1, 2010

Last year, Tyanna asked for a little sister for her birthday.




We were accepted to Lifeline on her special day. We had hoped we could have delivered Gabriella by today, but it looks like the wait is a bit longer.

Wonder what she wants for her 16th birthday... a car seems a little more reasonable this year... and, much less emotional.

We are still waiting for our I800A.

And, Her Name will be Called: "God is My Strength"

While Jason was at work, and I was on my way to get the kids from school, Jason texted me and asked us to begin thinking about a name for our baby.

It became a wonderful topic of conversation for the kids and I as we drove home from school. I told the kids that I wanted a really long Princess name, that when shortened, would still be cool. I also wanted a name that wasn't everyone else's name (at least in our country). A handful of names were mentioned, but when someone said "Gabriella", Kai, Tyanna and I said, this was definitely the name. Kai and I decided that we would call her Briella; Tyanna said she would call her Brie. Wow... that was easy. We were all convinced that God had given us that name.

BUT, then we got another text from Jason. He said, "I don't care what her name is, as long as it means "strength." I knew it was probably because we had decided to adopt from the SN (Special Needs) program from China. And, whomever we adopted, would need strength. I have to be honest though, when he said he wanted her name to mean "strength", we were devastated. We were so sure that Gabriella was going to be our daughter's/sister's name... now what were we going to do?

Within a few minutes, we arrived home. We all ran upstairs to the computers and started googling the name and meaning of "Gabriella." To our delight and hysteria, we found that the name Gabriella means "God is my strength." God had already pre-ordained the name of our littlest Princess. He is so good to us.

It's time!

Daddy made the announcement that he was ready to adopt. His heart was telling him that maybe it WAS possible to love someone you don’t even know. Jason, Tyanna and I researched frantically, for HOURS, even days, on the internet.

After 5 days, we had almost all given up. Why is it that in the year 2009, we can't find anything on the web? We were trying to find answers to simple questions: What countries are allowing adoptions? How do you adopt? What agency would we use? How much does it cost to do something like this? Etc. The interesting thing is, we never found a well organized website with information. None of the websites we visited seemed right for us.

But, towards the end of the week, God miraculously brought someone into our life that told us about an agency in Alabama... we don't even know where Alabama is. As soon as we clicked on the website, we knew that we knew, that this was divinely orchestrated.

We immediately chose Lifeline Children's Services. We hoped and prayed they would choose to work with us.

Somehow, I got it in my head that we should be matched with our daughter and in her country by Christmas 2009... six months from the time we decided to adopt. I was very optimistic.

We still hadn't determined where we would adopt from: America, Romania, Russia, Guatemala, Uzbekastan, or China? Would we do the adoption through the Washington State foster care system or through an adoption agency? We were e-mailing everyone we knew, that either adopted or knew of someone who adopted. Which agency would we use? What was their experience?

Within the week, Lifeline had accepted us into their program. It was Tyanna’s 15th birthday, May 1, 2009.

Our I800A Came Today!

May 24, 2010

Our I800A came today... Victoria Day for Canada. I have noticed that many of our special days have been holidays. If only Father's Day could be the day.

Gabriella will be dedicated on Father's Day 2011. Our other two children were dedicated on Father's Day as well.

National Visa Center Received Our Papers!

April 23, 2010

Our adoption papers arrived at the National Visa Center.

Our agency, with the information from NVC, then cables the papers, along with our DS230 paperwork and a copy of our LOA to Lily, our agency representative in China. Lily takes the paperwork to the Chinese Consulate in Guangzhou and matches this paperwork up with our dossier that the Consulate has... this becomes Gabriella's "pre-issue" for her visa.

We are just a few steps away from getting our daughter. We are now awaiting our I800A.

It's Tax Day... and Our LOA has Arrived!

April 15, 2010

Our LOA - Letter of Acceptance has arrived. We receive this document after the CCAA (Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs )reviews our entire dossier. This is the letter that we get after your referral acceptance. China uses this to ask the family one more time to confirm that we indeed want to adopt the referred child.

Current wait time for one to wait from PA to LOA is anywhere from 2 weeks to 3 months. It took 77 days to get our LOA. We received it on April 19, 2010... four days after it posted.

Fed Ex for $150

It's the week of my 40th birthday. We wanted to send Gabriella a care package. I shopped and put in 4 disposable cameras, 2 sun dresses, some jelly bellies, toothbrushes and organic toothpaste, a monkey toy with our pictures in it, and an album for Gabriella with our family photos in it.

LID has Arrived!

January 28, 2010

Our LID arrived January 28, 2010... one week to the day after our PA.

Everything seems to happen on Thursdays. Every morning Jason prays more specifically for a particular family member. Thursdays are Gabriella's day for prayer.

Jesus Says...

I remember every day of your life. Psalm 139:16
I will never leave you or forsake you. Hebrews 13:5
Every moment I see where you are! Psalm 139:3
I help you when you are sick, and care for your hurts and worries. Psalm 41:3
Do not be afraid. I am here to help you. Isaiah 41:13
I come near to help you when you are feeling sad. Psalm 34:18

I Saw You Before You Were Born

The words in Psalm 139 bring much comfort when I think about my precious baby girl so far away.

I (the Lord) saw you even before you were born. I watch you and protect you each day. All through the night I am with you. And when you wake in the morning I will be here beside you.

Thank you Lord for putting a hedge of protection around our little one.

Happy Birthday Gabriella...You Get a Family Today!

From China comes a tiny plea...
Won’t someone come and rescue me?
I long to see a mother’s face...
to feel the warmth of her embrace
My heart is longing for a home...
For a family I can call my own
As I wait…I whisper a silent prayer...
Please God can’t you find them
I know they’re out there…...Somewhere

Gabriella is too young to ask for a family, but was granted a wish, a prayer, she didn't even know she had. It was granted the week of her 3rd birthday.

We already love you to the moon and back Baby Girl!

Our Pre-Approval (PA) Arrived... the Ladybug was Right!

January 21, 2010

Well, here is the new beginning of our ladybug story... on January 21, 2010 (one week to the day after my little preschooler Aiden brought the ladybug to school), God allowed us to receive the paperwork for our little baby girl.

Jason received the Princess paperwork from our adoption agency. He surprised me by putting it on our kitchen pub table with the lavender rose he bought me at Christmas time to remind me of the vision God had given that woman.

When I walked in to the house, I immediately saw the picture of our little Princess. I started weeping uncontrollably. I tried to call Jason, but he was in a meeting. He really surprised me. Since I couldn’t call him, I called my mom. I read the report on our Princess and then called my friend Cheri. She just recently adopted three kids from China. After that, I posted an update on Facebook. Several people commented. This is what I said…

"Last Thursday, January 14th, one of my preschoolers brought me a ladybug. On Thanksgiving Day 2009, our papers arrived in China. I asked the Lord to bring me a ladybug when our referral papers were on their way. Gabriella's papers arrived one week after the ladybug... today, January 21st. God is so faithful!"

Princess Gabriella Grace now has a face... and, oh it is so beautiful! Gabriella's 3rd birthday is in 3 days.

Thank you Lord for that precious ladybug! Thank you Lord for answering a simple prayer. One that doesn't mean a whole lot to anyone else but us. Thank you that you care even about the timing of a ladybug.

Not flesh of my flesh, nor bone of my bone,
But still miraculously my own.
Never forget for a single minute,
You didn't grow under my heart, but in it!

- Fleur Conkling Heyliger

God Brought Me My Ladybug!

January 14, 2010

This is the letter I wrote to my little preschooler who found a ladybug in his house and told his family it was "Mrs. Fouts' ladybug."

I had not told ANYONE, except my husband, about my prayer for a ladybug, because I didn't want ANYONE to bring me an unsolicited (non-God) ladybug.



Dear Aiden and Family,

Your little ladybug on Thursday, January 14th, was a gift from God that was to be given to me. Let me tell you how I know.

As you know, my family is adopting a little girl from China. We have been praying that she will be about 3 years old. Our paperwork to get this little girl arrived in China on Thanksgiving Day. When we found that out, I prayed that God would send me a real ladybug when our referral for our little girl was on its way.

When you brought me the ladybug to show me, I KNEW that God had you bring it for ME. Your ladybug was a special delivery from God Himself. I even wrote some special words that day on my facebook. Here they are...

"On Thursday (Jan. 14, 2010), a preschooler of mine brought me a ladybug. Now, to most, that would seem quite insignificant, and you might say (as his teacher), that's great... let's show your friends at recess. But, for me, it means so much more. You see, I prayed on Thanksgiving Day 2009, that God would send me a ladybug when something started happening with our Adoption papers."

"Some may not know, that ladybugs have a special meaning to those of us in the Chinese adoption community. The Chinese adoption myth is that ladybugs are a sign of good luck and it is said if you see a ladybug, your referral will be coming very soon. I am praying and believing that THIS ladybug was meant for our family."

Thanks for bringing in the ladybug Aiden. She had a beautiful story to tell.

Love,

Mrs. Fouts and Baby Gabriella Grace