journey to our fortune cookie

Milestones

2011-06-23T06:55:00.000-07:00

Levi reached a small milestone in his life the other day. It’s a very small task yet something I’ve been waiting for him to do for a while because it would make getting the family in the car so much easier. It’s not a huge accomplishment and you might think I’m strange for making such a huge deal out of it. You may wonder what this miraculous feat is and why I feel deservers its own blog post but… once again, it not a huge thing because he has only learned to buckle his own seatbelt.

Now he opens the door, closes it behind himself and straps himself in so I no longer have to go to the back seat to lean over him to click the belt into the receptacle and give him a kiss on the cheek. On the downside, I no longer have to lean over him and give him a kiss on the cheek.

I’ve been Levi’s father for less than 2 year so I’m very new to this whole parenting thing, yet I feel that God has put my life into this fast forward mode because every time I glance at my children I notice a change. It’s not always a big change, like when Luke slept through the night for the first time or when he got his first tooth, but smaller changes like the new noise he makes or Levi buckling his own seatbelt.

Tiff told me that yesterday Luke stood, without holding onto anything, for the first time in his life. To me this is a pretty big accomplishment; he won’t remember it but us as parents will. My task as a father is to raise my children with integrity and teach them to be good Godly men. But as parents we have to embrace the time we have with your children because tomorrow they will be different… they will probably be asking to borrow your keys.

Brotherly Love

2011-06-14T10:29:00.000-07:00

I’m sure every parent that has an older child gets the same question when a new baby comes into the family. “How is He/She with the Baby?”… “How is Levi with Luke?” I know firsthand that older siblings can get very jealous and be mean to the younger ones. I was the younger of two brothers and being 4 years apart all I did was bug my older brother and his friends. Interests were different and they wanted nothing to do with me.

But Levi is a completely different when it comes to Luke. He genuinely loves Luke with all of his heart and seeing Luke’s response you know he loves his big brother as well. Tiffany and I constantly find the two boys on the floor playing with each other, whether they are pushing cars on the floor or making noises in their indoor tent. It’s an awesome site to see. One of my favorite things is when Luke mimics the noises Levi makes which eventually turns into a “who can scream louder” match.

We Pray that when Ben joins the family the two older boys won’t leave Luke out all the time and that they all get along very well. But regardless, they are brothers and they will all love each other.

A new Begining

2011-06-13T06:38:00.000-07:00

So it's been almost 2 year since our last post and shame on me for not keeping up with it. Since the last post so much has changed and I will try to sum it up with bullet points.

- Levi is doing great and he loves life.
- Two months after we got home we got pregnant.
- Luke was born about 7 and a half months later. (Yes a little early but doing great)
- We now have 2 boys in less than 2 years’ time.
- Now it's time to grow our family again.

Introducing Ben.

This is a picture of Ben and Levi when they were 3 years old. They grew up in Hope Foster Home together and we were told that they were inseparable just like brothers. We said, if we were ever given the opportunity we would adopt him in a heartbeat.

Even though the chances were slim that we would ever get the opportunity to adopt him we continued to Pray, especially Levi. When you Pray God answers... and the time has come and the process has started. Today marks the day of our orientation with our agency to start the journey to bring Ben into our family and we are completely overwhelmed with excitement.

Stress for Mommy and Daddy

2009-07-01T16:49:00.000-07:00

Well I haven’t posted as much as I wanted. Before we came over to adopt Levi we were given all the horror stories we could possibly hear for preparation of the conflicts we would have adopting an older child. Many of these were attachment issues; things were he likes daddy but not mommy, tantrums, depression and many others. We really didn’t have any of these problems. He warmed up to us right away and came out of his shell on day one. We knew from his personality that we were going to be in trouble. He is so smart, sarcastic and outgoing. He also speak better English than I do (I’m sure Sean will agree with this). He also still speaks a lot of Chinese and translates for us and also tries to teach us. Day 2 he slept a lot and he doesn’t seem to like being around a lot of Chinese people in fear that we might leave him with them. He would get so stressed out when we left our hotel room that he would throw up. I think we have now made it over that hump, but the worse is, he refuses to take his heart medications. Talk about stress and tears from mommy and daddy. He just came out of a surgery a few months back and he has a serious heart condition. Mommy, daddy and Levi know he has to take his medication but it taste horrible. Pretty much any time we try to give it to him he freaks out and throws it up right away. He uses to take it the same way with his last care taker but he won’t with us. We have tried everything, making it taste better with other liquids, bribing and hiding the meds but these are old tricks to him and he won’t do it. So we have been killing ourselves stressing about this, I’ve lost almost 15 lbs since we have been here. But through all these issues we can know see things are starting to get better. Tiffany talked to our Cardiologist in GA last night and he has helped remove a large weight off our shoulders. He wants us to keep working with him on taking his meds. Get as much in him as possible. We will see warning signs before Levi gets really sick and we will have plenty of time to get him to a doctor if necessary. Stop stressing, have a good time and get this baby boy back to GA. And with that I say “God is Good”. Thank you everybody for all your Prayers. I am now ready to take a few thousand more pictures and put on 30 lbs. BTW… Levi may keep his name Justin. With all the changes he has gone through in the last few days… his name is something we would like for him to keep.

Finally!!!

2009-06-10T21:49:00.000-07:00

Well it is FINALLY here YIPPEE!! Our CA came in this morning and our flights have been officially booked. We will leave on June 24Th. Please pray for our safe travels and most of all a smooth transition for Levi. We received an update on him yesterday. He is doing much better still in Singapore, but will be returning to Beijing on the 21st. Levi is currently on 6 different medications right now the fluid around his lungs is gone, but he still has a tiny bit at the top of his heart on the right side. Please pray that God will just continue to heal our little guy and he will be able to come off all of these extra medications soon. We are beyond excited for this chapter of our lives to be coming to an end and look forward to all God has for us in this new chapter starting as a family of 3.

Praise God!

2009-04-21T19:43:00.000-07:00

We received an update today from our agency. Levi is still in the hospital, but is out of ICU. Surgeon says he is doing well. He is not to concerned with this due to it is a complication of the surgery. He feels that Levi will be fine just needs a little more time. He is eating well. We are not sure when he will be released. I will post another update as soon as I get one. Thank you everyone for all of your prayers and support God is answering them.

We got our LOA!!!

2009-04-15T20:41:00.000-07:00

We got our LOA! Very shocked and excited. Still no update on Levi, but we are believing God that He has worked all the details out. I don't believe our LOA would of come so soon if He is not going to be ready for us to pick him up. I can' t believe we will be going to China so soon to get our little guy that we have waited so long to meet. Thank you everyone for all of your Prayers, Love, and support we appreciate each and everyone of you. I will post an update as soon as we get one. Our agency has requested one so hopefully we will hear something soon.

urgent prayer request

2009-04-03T10:25:00.000-07:00

Please pray for our little one he is not doing well right now. He was realeased from the hospital and now has been admitted again to ICU. I know God is there with him, but I am so worried about him. Here is what I know.

We went to hospital on Monday with Justin for tests and checkup and they found fluid on the right side near his lungs and more fluid around his heart. They admitted him in ICU the same day. He first had a tube near the heart which has been taken out today. On Tuesday they put a tube on the right side and it is still draining. The fluid is accumulating near the heart again but the doctors can't just put a tube and get it all out as the fluid is not in one spot but spread out. They were talking about opening him up again to get the fluid out but Dr.Shankar wants to avoid doing that. Dr.Shankar will be back in Singapore tomorrow. Will let you know what happens.

Happy Birthday Levi!

2009-03-23T18:18:00.000-07:00

Well Levi is 4 today in China his birthday is on the 24th. We are saddened that we are not there with him to celebrate but very happy knowing that this will be his last birthday without his family. We are still waiting on our LOA we are almost to our 60 day mark. Our agency tells us to expect it around 90 days so we will see. We are getting closer each day. Tiffany and I are so ready to be united with our son hold on sweetie we are coming.

LID 2/13/2009

2009-02-16T17:25:00.000-08:00

YIPPEE!! We finally got our LID 2/13/2009!! We are praying for a speedy LOA and Travel. It feels so good to have reached this point in our journey. Hold on sweetie we are coming.

Dossier on it's way to china!!

2009-01-29T18:33:00.000-08:00

Our paper work is finally done!! It will be on it's way to China now. Come on Speedy LOA! We are getting closer to our little boy and we can't wait. Levi is going to have surgery this week on his heart. Our agency let us know that it was delayed from the original date due to a chest infection that he had. Levi is doing better. We will let everyone know how it went when it is over. Thank you all for your continued love and prayers. This has been such a crazy ride, but we would not change it for the world.

Please Pray

2009-01-20T12:02:00.000-08:00

Our sweet boy is going in for surgery in just a few short hours. Please pray for him and for the surgeon doing his surgery. We are believing for a quick recovery and Levi will feel so much better after he has this. Please pray for Peace for us. We know God is going to take care of our boy, but it sure is hard to be across the world when all you want to do is be holding your baby and sitting by his side. On another note our fundraiser went pretty well, we will be doing another one soon. Tomorrow our Dossier will go to our agency for review looks great to us. Now off to China finally! Thank you to all of our wonderful friends and family who has been supporting us we could not do it without all of you. God has given us some amazing friends!

797 finally going to get sealed

2009-01-12T20:47:00.000-08:00

It is really here and right this time yeah! We are off in the morning to get the first of it's seals. Then it will be off to Texas with the wonderful courier no need in wasting anymore time. Now let's get that Dossier to China! Levi will be having his much needed surgery on the 21st of this month. Please keep him in your prayers. We are so thankful that he is going to have this, but wish we were there with him. We are having a fundraiser on Sunday the 18Th we are praying this will be our last one. It will be at Body Plex in Hiram at 2:00. We have an amazing unicyclist coming out to ride on a treadmill at top speed a uniclycle are you kidding I can barely run on one. If anyone feels like dropping by come on.

797 it's here finally! or so we thought

2009-01-07T19:49:00.000-08:00

This ride has been crazy. God is definitely teaching us patience through all of this. I called the NBC Last week, being that it was over 90 days already, and spoke with an amazing lady. She went and checked on our case and found that it was on her co-workers desk that she was going to be out of town for another week. She then said "You know what I am going to do for you, I am going to read this and get back with you this evening". One hour later she called and said "Great news, your approval is on it's way". Four days later I got our approval in the mail and guess what... our address was wrong. I thought to myself, could this be? I emailed her and she was so apologetic. She said she would have another one on the way the next day. Three days later, today, it came in the mail and guess what... wrong again. This time I had to laugh because there was nothing left to do. It was stated that we were approved for a child from 0-12 months and Levi is 3. I emailed her back and she felt awful. She corrected it right away and sent me a copy while we wait for the original. Hubby is going to take it to our agency in the morning and see if it will work and if not we will wait a few more days for the original and make a copy of it. God does have a sense of humor and yes Lord... We are learning patience.

Levi is supposed to be leaving for his surgery this week and I have contacted our agency to get an exact date but haven't heard back.

Thank you for all of your support and prayers.

Hold on Sweetie we are coming!!!

Update

2008-12-22T18:47:00.000-08:00

Well we have great news Levi will be going for his surgery the first week of January praise God! we got all of our documents back from Authentication yeah all in one piece. Still waiting on that darn 797 praying it will be here soon hopefully over the holidays what a great Christmas present that would be it has been over 90 days so I have been checking the box and still nothing :( This wait is very hard we are so ready for Levi to be home with us. Thank you everyone for your prayers and support through this process it has been amazing.

Update

2008-11-12T11:37:00.000-08:00

We have recieved an update on Levi he is doing very well. We are waiting to hear if he is going to be scheduled for his surgery. Please pray for him to have this done. He needs to have it soon. Still waiting on our 797 to come thanks to a friend she clarified some things for us the other night. Thanks Donna we know know how to count the days now. It has been 65 days of waiting for it to come. We have more to go hoping we can get it sped up a bit, but we know he will be here when the time is right. Praying to have our Dossier in China by December.

A road block that we see as a blessing

2008-10-15T18:02:00.000-07:00

Of course we knew that somewhere along the way there would be a road block and here it is. This road block means we are not going to get to pick up Levi in December now. For those of you that don't know, Levi has congenitial heart diease. Levi has to have one more surgery by the time that he is 4. His foster mom says that he is in need and ready for it now. Eric and I are very sad that we are not going to be able to be by his side during this and he is going to be way across the world in Singapore as if it isn't hard enough having him in China, but now our baby will be going through all of this without us. One thing we do know is he has God on his side watching over him and loving him and we know He will take the best care of him. We are praying for a succesful surgery and a rapid recovery. Levi will hopefully have his surgery in November she is waiting for the funding to come in from the hospital. We feel that this is a blessing because now when Levi comes here he will be done with his surgeries as everyone knows there are many things that come along with adoption, but one is the bonding process sure we are believing that it will be great, but that is a huge thing for a little guy to have to go through and to have a major heart surgery right when he got here on top of it all we felt that would be a lot on him. Even though this is hard God has perfect timing and he knows what is best for all of us. We thank him and praise him for this. By the way we have new have new pics so if you want see email us.

Fingerprints

2008-10-15T18:00:00.001-07:00

We had our fingerprint appointment yesterday. Everything went well we were in and out in about 30 min. We are praying for our approval to not take very long. We are so ready to get our boy!

God is Amazing!!

2008-10-06T18:26:00.001-07:00

Tonight we had some dear friends over for dinner, Linda and Joanie, who we met at a Joyce Meyer conference last November. Little did we know that there was a bigger surprise then just the excitement of the evening. Linda and Joanie have a bible study/ prayer group and they all got together and had a yard sale to raise money for Levi. People came from all over to donate items to be sold for the sale. Tonight when they came over with much excitment they handed us an envelope full of money that was made from the yard sale. We were completly blown away. Eric and I had no idea this was going on. Thank you Linda and Joanie, you have touched us more then you will ever know. God has truley blessed us with such wonderful friends. Levi is so loved already and we could not feel more blessed to have been chosen to be his parents.

fingerprint appointment

2008-10-02T22:15:00.000-07:00

We got our appointment in the mail today for our fingerprints yeah! We will get to go on October 14th. We are getting closer to our boy! We are throwing a huge benefit concert on the 11th to help in bringing Levi home. Bonfire, Band, food and tons of fun. We are praying that the weather is nice and that we have an amazing turn out.

Levi's Garage

2008-09-11T04:51:00.000-07:00

So, Tiffany and I (Mainly Tiffany) painted Levi's room all last week in preparation of picking up his furniture. We were told by Rooms To Go to be at their warehouse on Saturday so we had to rush to get everything finished. To do this we painted all Friday night until about 5:30am Saturday morning. I was able to take about a 1 hour nap but Tiffany thought it would be best to drink a cup of coffee before we left to go pickup the furniture at 7am. We went to meet her parents for breakfast before borrowing Tiffany's dad and his truck. We got back to our house sometime around noon to unload the shipment of the Disney's Car's furniture. After that we had her entire family over for a cookout. By the time we got to bed that night Tiffany was going on 42 hours of no sleep and I was on the same schedule minus the 1 hour nap that morning. Needless to say the next day we slept right through church service but I was able to put all the furniture together and with Tiffany's help we arranged Levi's room to build the most awesome kids room ever, especially for a kid that likes Cars.

This is what he will see when he first walks into his room.

We think this is the coolest bed ever. It's a twin size and completely made of wood. Notice the Checkered strip that goes around the room... That's paint and that is what kept Tiffany and I up all night. I taped while Tiffany painted.

And here is the dresser with a mirror inside of the tire. It looks like a cool tool chest. You may also notice all of the Cars stickers all over the walls.

If you can't tell we are extremely excited about getting him home.

movin right along...

2008-09-04T20:04:00.000-07:00

who hoo! we got out PA on Monday from China to adopt Levi. We just need the government to speed up our I800 and that would be great. We are still praying for Christmas time. We are so ready to go and get our little boy. It is such a trying time to be so many thousands of miles away, not being able to hold him and love on him everyday. We are thankful for his foster mom who we know loves him very much.

progress

2008-08-27T22:06:00.000-07:00

Our passports came back today yeah! Only took a week. Are documents have started the sealing process. We are just praying all of this continues to go smoothly so we can bring him Home!

"Where are the pictures of Levi?"

2008-08-18T06:13:00.000-07:00

I know a lot of you have seen the pictures so you are probably wondering "why haven't they posted them"??? Well China does not like their adoptable childrens' pictures to be posted on the internet until until a certain point of the adoption process, so to get around this just email Tiffany and myself at ericmichael328@yahoo.com and we will be glad send them to you. Trust me... he is cute.

buried alive in paper work

2008-08-13T20:16:00.000-07:00

Wow!!! Alot has happened since our last post. We have finished our homestudy, started our sealing process. Waiting for our PA. Yes that's right we are adopting a beautiful little boy. This wait is so hard, but he is in Foster care and we know he is being taken care of. We can't wait to get you home Levi.

Just the beginning

2008-07-11T22:49:00.000-07:00

June 25, 2008

Congratulations Eric & Tiffany!
Your application has been approved! CCAI is honored and excited to be working
with you on your adoption from China
Congratulations again and Best Wishes,

Who hoo as you can imagine we are so excited, now the paperchase begins