She shall be called Primrose

Recently some friends of ours received “The Call” from the agency regarding being matched.  We were excited that they got their match with Sophie Wei and to see her precious little face just melted my heart.  The Belks (their blog is to the right, check it out) started the process about the same time as April and I did, in fact we rode together to Jackson for our initial intake meeting with the social worker.  Seeing this as reality for them has lit a fire in me and we are gearing up for our chance to receive “The Call.”

Here is where we are currently in the process.  Barring any discrepancies in our FedEx package tomorrow, our dossier will be authenticated by the Chinese consulate.  That leaves us only to send it to Holt with our processing fee and we will receive our log-in date.  Once we get our log-in date we will be in line for our little girl.  Needless to say we are so excited.

I realized the other day that we have yet to reveal what name we have decided on for our little girl.  Well as the title says, we are going to name her Primrose.  How the name came about is strange, however you would be correct if you are thinking Hunger Games.  You know, the little sister that Katniss volunteers to take the place of.  I was showing the movie in class at the end of school last year, relax it was an exam day and I only had about 7 students in my room.   I digress…  I heard the name Primrose and fell in love instantly.  I texted April about using that name, not thinking she go for it.  Well, she LOVED it.  Also, upon further investigation we learned that Primrose was the name of one of the last fairies in the original story of Sleeping Beauty not the Disney version.

As we continue to move forward in this process, we have a financial mountain to climb.  We have many fundraisers coming up that will appeal to almost anyone, yes even you!   Continue to pray for us, for our finances, and probably most importantly little Primrose.  I pray that she is in a loving foster situation, but then again I just want to hold her in my arms and let her know how much she is loved.

The Satchers

Brief update... bigger update coming soon

First of all, I want to apologize for not updating.  Life has been moving pretty fast and we both have been super busy.  So, here is a brief update to let everyone know what is currently going on with our adoption process.

As I am typing this, we have sent our last paperwork to get it state certified.  It will then be “fedexed” to Houston on Monday to be authenticated by the Chinese consulate.  And the next step will be to send it to Holt with the processing fee, which we are still short a little on, to be logged in and matched with our little girl.  We are excited to see the end in sight.

Please keep us in prayer, and pray for the fundraisers to be successful.  Pray for us for trust and patience as we work on the fundraising and apply for grants.

Thanksgiving

I used to approach Thanksgiving with great anticipation and excitement, after all I love to eat.  But two years ago, just 4 days after Thanksgiving my father died unexpectedly from a heart attack.  It is difficult to see Thanksgiving the same way ever again.  I still enjoy the ability to come together with family and spend time together, but it is just not the same.  But this year I have even a stronger burden on my heart.  I am burdened for my little girl who is in China waiting on us to come and get her.  I just wish we could fast forward to that day we get to embrace her for the first time.

I am excited to announce that we are almost done with the dossier part of the process and then we have to pay a processing fee.  The only part left will be the matching with our little girl.  We still have a large chunk of change to raise for the remainder of the process, but we are trusting God to provide.

We are still selling squares on the canvas that was mentioned in the previous blog.  Please pray and ask what you can do to help us bring “baby Asia” home.  We cannot do it alone.

 
Give thanks with a grateful heart this holiday season and tell your family you love them while you still can.

Forever Family

永久的家庭 (Mandarin)

हमेशा परिवार (Hindi)

milele familia (Swahili)

No matter which language it is in, it all revolves around the premise of FAMILY.  In our daily lives, as hectic as they are we take for granted that we have family to rely on.  Think about it, you have two kids who have events that are scheduled at the same time; we have someone in our family that can help us out.  When the holidays roll around we have family to spend them with, even if it is a crazy ordeal.  No matter what is going on, we have that place or family identity where we belong.  But there are so many who do not have that comfort, or even understand the concept of family.  Sure, they understand the concept of a caregiver but how much love can that caregiver actually display to these little ones.  The caregiver’s roll is to make sure the little ones are ok.  They may feed them and change diapers, but to pick up a crying baby and comfort them may not be an option.  I remember when Belle was just a few days old and how just by the simple touch of her mother or I would calm her down and let her know that someone was there for her.  It just breaks my heart to think of all of the babies who have to comfort themselves in their crib because the number of them is far more than that of the caregivers in the orphanage.

I am slowly trying to teach myself, with the help of a language program, some basic Mandarin. I am amazed at how each symbol or combination of symbols brings words to life and gives it deeper meaning.  For instance, the above combination of symbols is just one version of how “Forever Family” can be translated in Mandarin.  I had a foreign exchange student last year from China write it out for me and he explained this version to me, and that is why my wife and I use this one.  The combination of the last three symbols simply means “the family.” There were four other ways you could combine symbols to represent forever, but my student specifically showed me this one saying it meant “eternal or permanent.”  I was instantly hooked because although I know that adoption means that they will become part of our family in an earthly realm, the reality is that through Christ they will have the opportunity to be a part of our family for all eternity

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So, what now?  Here where we are:

• We are sending off our I-800A (homeland security/immigration) paper work this week
• We are about ¾ finished with our dossier
• We need about $2,000 to pay for our dossier processing
• We need to raise more funds for the actual adoption process as well

Here is where you have the opportunity to help us in bringing our little “baby Asia” (nickname until the real name reveal) home.

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• We are giving away a new laptop computer.  You can buy a chance to win for $20.  You can donate here on our blog, through our PayPal account, through standard mail, or in person.  We will have tickets and for those of you who are not local to us, we will write your name on the ticket for you.  We will have a drawing around the end of November to determine the winner.  If we do not have enough people purchase tickets, we will draw for a cash prize for the winner.

• We are creating a painted canvas to put in “baby Asia’s” bedroom.  We need your help to fill the canvas.  You can “paint a square” for a $10 donation.  You can either put a small message in the square or choose among the colors listed below, or both.  You also get to choose the location of the message/color.  We will regularly post pictures to Facebook and here on the blog so you can track the progress.  This will be a way to show and explain to “baby Asia” as she gets older just how many people were involved in bringing her home.

That is all for now.  Please keep us in your prayers through this process.  It is daunting and nerve racking.

The Satchers

UPDATE!!

First, I want to apologize for taking so long to update you on what has been going on with the adoption.  So, here is a big update and news you may want to be aware of.

Since the last blog our Home Study has been formally accepted by Holt and approved.  We are in the waiting stage for a match as we are in the process of completing our dossier.  We are also in the process of getting our I-800A filled out and approved.  Once both of these are completed, then we wait to see who we are matched with. 

As you can imagine, there are many expenses that come along with this process and we have been selling many items to help fill in the gaps of our funding.  My wife has been busy painting canvases for teachers and other people who have placed orders for them.  And we have been trying to find other creative ways to help us raise the funds needed.

So, later this week (Oct. 3) I will post additional information about some new fundraisers we are going to be doing.  One of them will be a raffle for a brand new laptop. If you are interested, come back and read how to get involved in this process.  We can also accept donations at any time, just click the donate button on the blog and you can donate by debit card to our PayPal account.  We are grateful for your continued support and prayers as this process unfolds before us.

The Satchers