Our beautiful boy

Many of you have been able to see Qiu Peng's picture in person, 

but for those who haven't yet....here he is!

The jury is out on if we're supposed to put real pictures out into cyberspace before things are final, final. So, I chose to share this one for now. Back in November, I was able to spend a weekend away and had many hours of uninterrupted time. I brought my favorite photo of Peng, my charcoal pencils and a board to draw on. I wanted to spend some time with him. This was actually, probably the photo that convinced me he was ours. When I saw that look of anticipation in his eyes, I was smitten. We had to say 'yes'.

That weekend at the retreat, I enjoyed every minute of drawing him. Detailing all his features, shading the different pieces of his hair, analyzing the shapes of his nose and eyes and getting to know our little guy as much as I could while he was so far away.

When you're pregnant, you feel kicks and you see ultrasounds and you're together all the time. Waiting for Peng often feels like an illusive abyss. It was so nice to have that weekend to spend time with him. Now Kevin and I have his picture in our bedroom.

We are really getting close, but I don't know that my psyche is really realizing it. I've been so conditioned that we're in 'waiting mode' that I'm having difficulty shifting to 'preparation mode'. We are hoping to receive our I-800 Immigration approval for Peng this week or next. That is step 5 and then this is the rest.

5. Receive approval from the U.S. that Peng is suitable to immigrate here.  

5b. National Visa Center (NVC) sends this approval to Guangzhou, China. (Time frame: 1 week)

4. We file our DS-260 online to apply for his Visa. (Time frame: a few days) We apply for our visas as simultaneously. (5 days)

3. Receive Article 5. This is the approval from the U.S. that tells China they approve of China's approval of bringing Peng into our country. If it's starting to sound like a lot of approving approvals, it is.  (Time frame: 10 days)

2. Receive Travel Approval from China. (Time frame: 3 weeks) 

1. Book flights and travel to China (Time frame: 2-6 weeks) 

So, if you add up those weeks, it's really close, right? Delays at this stage in the game are rare, but always possible. At the same time, if I don't start realizing this is really happening - we're going to be up a creek! We need to do everything we can to get our act together to leave our kids, leave the country and make sure we're as ready as possible for this big change in our family.

In addition to these steps (but shouldn't add any extra time) we need an update on our Home Study. Due to that huge delay there last summer/fall/winter, our home study expired. UGH. Our worker comes over tomorrow night to do an update.

All that said....if you want to pray for us.  Please, please do!

1) For God to prepare Timmy and Jude to be big brothers again and for Annie to be a big sister for the first time.
2) That our paperwork would not meet any unnecessary delays.
3) That Peng has received or will receive his photo book and audio book of our family and that his caretakers are preparing him wisely for the big change.
4) That Jesus would continue giving peace to Kevin and I that He will take care of all six of us during this transition.
5) For the families of Peng's friends, some of whom we might meet in China! And for some who are a few months behind us yet - for their paperwork to speedily come through.

Thanks again, friends. God is good.