We have Article 5 drop off!

We had Article 5 drop off today at the CCCWA (Chinese Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption)!!!! The turn around is about 2 weeks and then we will be waiting for the glorious two words: Travel Approval!

Once we have Travel Approval from China, THEN the booking of appointments in-counry, flights, hotel, etc will commence! 

God's got this!

Host family and how the Lord weaves it all together....

One of the many things I am thankful for is being to get in contact and 'meet' the family who hosted Annika in July 2015. They live in Connecticut and hosted her for 4.5 weeks. People have asked us along this journey what does 'hosting' mean. Hosting is where you open your home for a few weeks to months to a child from another country to come spend time with your family. For all orphans, the purpose of this is to allow them the opportunity to experience a family setting, to have opportunities that they aren't able to get in their orphanages. For many, it's the opportunity for a family to do that and more.... to advocate to their circle of friends and family for that child. In Annika's case, the host family wasn't looking to adopt at that time, but they willingly took her into their home for that summer and advocated finding her a forever family. The Lord had his hand in Annika's journey every step of the way. We were not searching at that time to adopt. We were happily going about our lives as a family of 5. But, there was another family who had recently adopted a little girl from China, making them a happy family of 5, but then they came across the photo of a little boy who would later be named Jack. This family made the impromptu decision over a weekend in July 2015 to make a drive from Tennessee to Connecticut to take advantage of the opportunity to meet Jack face to face. While there, they learned of a little girl names Yang Ao Fang who was also looking for a forever home and has a very close relationship with Jack. The family felt the Lord calling them to pursue adopting Jack and from that moment on, their hearts were in constant prayer for a family for Yang Ao Fang. At the end of that 4.5 weeks in CT, both Jack and Yang Ao Fang along with several other children from China made their journey back to China.... Jack had a family promised to him and Yang Ao Fang continued to wait for hers. In early February 2016, I came across Yang Ao Fang's profile on www.Rainbowkids.com and inquired about her. On February 13th, 2016, our family said yes to her and began our adoption journey. About a month later, I would be welcomed into an online group of the orphanage where Yang Ao Fang and Jack are from and it was there that I 'met' Jack's family. In April 2016, just a WEEK before they were to leave to get their new son, Jack's family learned their prayers had already been answered that WE are Yang Ao Fang's family. In April of this year, Yang Ao Fang had to say goodbye to one of her best buds when Jack was adopted by his forever family. I can only imagine the sadness and heartache a little child must feel to see your friends one by one be adopted out and yet, you remain. In this journey, the Lord has been gracious to allow us to be in contact with Annika's host family and with the family who adopted Jack. God's hand in this journey continues to amaze me and leave me in AWE of HIS goodness! Yang Ao Fang will very soon carry the name Annika Faith Fang Sappington. She is no longer an orphan. And just as our Heavenly Father has blessed us with getting to 'meet' the host family and Jack's family and form a relationship.... Annika has no idea that her goodbye to her host family and her goodbye to Jack was not for forever. The relationships she formed in the past will continue when she joins our family. I cannot wait to see her face as she grows to realize that we are forever her family and she is surrounded by loved ones both old and new. Her host family and Jack.... they are a part of her story..... and I am so blessed to be front row in her life and see all the Lord has been weaving in her story from the past and I am excited for her future in the Lord.... the best is yet to come. 

Annika when she was with her host family in July 2015.  

 Jack and Annika... always together

Traveling Dates possibilities

So, thinking ahead and talking tonight with Jay on where we are at in regards to being close to traveling. Here are two very possible (at least in my mind) scenarios (albeit no glitches occur either).......

Monday, Oct 31 - our agency will send off our Article 5 paperwork to the China. The turn around time for that is 10 business days (usually), which means Article 5 pick up will be Monday, Nov 14 (Happy birthday, Jadyn!). The 14th is a holiday, so pick up will be the 15th instead. Next comes Travel Approval usually 1-3 days following Article 5 pickup. That means we SHOULD have Travel Approval around Nov 16,17, or 18. Then, it's go time on booking flights, hotel, Consulate appointment, and all other appointments that will happen in country. Once we get TA, we are HOPING that all ducks line up quickly in a row and we are jetting out on Wednesday, Nov 23rd.   Otherwise, it will likely be Wednesday, Nov 30th.  Leaving on the 23rd means we miss Thanksgiving, BUT it means we are back home in time for our other kids' Christmas programs and school and church as well as all their class Christmas parties. And let's be real - our family ALWAYS looks forward to Jay's company Christmas party and we would be bummed to miss it too. (Just bein' real).

If we leave out Nov 30th, we wouldn't be home until the middle of December. We might ( a BIG jet-lagged, can't-see-straight-because-we-are-so-tired MIGHT) be able to make class parties, but we will have missed the kids' church Christmas program (and Jay's company party).

Yes, yes, I know.... this journey is not without sacrifices and in the big scheme of things, missing parties over gaining a new daughter - NO comparison. But, I know my Heavenly Father cares about even the smallest details/desires of our hearts. Will you pray that we are leaving on that jet plane by Nov 23rd? That would mean Annika would be in our arms on Nov 28th.....just 3 days after her 8th birthday. 🎈

Oh, and please keep those prayers coming on the rest of the funds for our trip. No biggie in God, our Provider's eyes. :-) We have two more grants we are waiting to hear from.

Annnddd, if you're still reading....Thank you. Thank you for supporting us, praying for us, encouraging and just being plain excited for us. What a journey! And the best is yet to come! 😍

Adoption Shower Needs/Wants List For Annika

UPDATE:
As items have come in or as we've thought of new things Annika may need, I've updated the list. 
A very heartfelt thank you to each of you for just taking a look at this list and praying for our precious little girl!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Several people have asked what are some things we need or want for Annika.  Below is a list and some links both of what we need for her and what we want as well.  When it comes to clothing, we have estimates of what size she is now.  Because children tend to hit a growth spurt once they're home, please be sure to include a gift receipt if you get clothing as we want to make sure she can still wear what you chose for her, even if we need to exchange it for a different size. :) 

Thank you for loving our sweet girl, Annika Faith Fang Sappington.


Adoption Shower List:

Patriotic Coming Home Outfit   on Etsy $45
Short sleeved-shirt size
Skirt size 7
Embroidered with an A

Padlock and key set - while at the Great Wall, you leave a padlock with your child's name on it attached to the chains/railings there.  Then you toss one of the keys over the wall.  This symbolizes that a piece of your child will forever be in China.  Then, when she's older, we give her the other key as a keepsake.

Chopsticks - our household will be using them a lot more now :)

School lunch box -RECEIVED

School backpack -RECEIVED

School Supplies - pencils, erasers, glue sticks, glue, dry erase markers, spirals) (RECEIVED)

Chinese Lullabies CD on Amazon

Wikki Stix - on Amazon

Winter hat and gloves and scarf (we have a coat for her) (RECEIVED)

Gift cards for experiences - Painting, Fort Worth Museum, Movies, Mountasia, etc.

Gift cards for restaurants

Full-size sheets for her bed (RECEIVED)

Gift cards to clothing stores for shoes and clothing once she's home

Chinese kid books

Pajamas size 7 and up

Leggings size 7 and up (RECEIVED)

Socks for shoe size 12 and bigger

Hairbows - big and poofy! :)

Dress up jewelry (RECEIVED)

Itunes and Amazon gift cards for movies and music downloads

Puzzles (RECEIVED)

Lego sets (some travel size would be great too) -RECEIVED

Bath fun - bubbles, colors, paints, etc (RECEIVED)

Playdough

Kinetic Sand

Subscriptions to China At My Door

Piggy Bank - RECEIVED

Sleeping Bag (for all campouts, sleepovers, and traveling) (RECEIVED)

Adoption Shower Needs/Wants List For Annika

UPDATE:
As items have come in or as we've thought of new things Annika may need, I've updated the list. 
A very heartfelt thank you to each of you for just taking a look at this list and praying for our precious little girl!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Several people have asked what are some things we need or want for Annika.  Below is a list and some links both of what we need for her and what we want as well.  When it comes to clothing, we have estimates of what size she is now.  Because children tend to hit a growth spurt once they're home, please be sure to include a gift receipt if you get clothing as we want to make sure she can still wear what you chose for her, even if we need to exchange it for a different size. :) 

Thank you for loving our sweet girl, Annika Faith Fang Sappington.


Adoption Shower List:

Patriotic Coming Home Outfit   on Etsy $45  (RECEIVED)
Short sleeved-shirt size
Skirt size 7
Embroidered with an A

Padlock and key set - (RECEIVED) while at the Great Wall, you leave a padlock with your child's name on it attached to the chains/railings there.  Then you toss one of the keys over the wall.  This symbolizes that a piece of your child will forever be in China.  Then, when she's older, we give her the other key as a keepsake.

Chopsticks - our household will be using them a lot more now :)

School lunch box -RECEIVED

School backpack -RECEIVED

School Supplies - pencils, erasers, glue sticks, glue, dry erase markers, spirals) (RECEIVED)

Chinese Lullabies CD on Amazon

Wikki Stix - on Amazon

Winter hat and gloves and scarf (we have a coat for her)

Gift cards for experiences - Painting, Fort Worth Museum, Movies, Mountasia, etc.

Gift cards for restaurants

Full-size sheets for her bed (RECEIVED)

Gift cards to clothing stores for shoes and clothing once she's home (RECEIVED)

Chinese kid books

Pajamas size 7 and up (RECEIVED)

Leggings size 7 and up (RECEIVED)

Socks for shoe size 12 and bigger

Hairbows - big and poofy! :)

Dress up jewelry (RECEIVED)

Itunes and Amazon gift cards for movies and music downloads

Puzzles (RECEIVED)

Lego sets (some travel size would be great too) -RECEIVED

Bath fun - bubbles, colors, paints, etc (RECEIVED)

Play dough (RECEIVED)

Kinetic Sand

Subscriptions to China At My Door

Piggy Bank - RECEIVED

Sleeping Bag (for all campouts, sleepovers, and traveling) (RECEIVED)

What to wear? What to wear?

When we come home with Annika, we hope to have family and friends be at the airport when we arrive. For Annika's outfit as a brand new US citizen, we want to get her a cute patriotic dress when she comes off the plane. For fun, which is your favorite outfit... what is your vote? It will be Nov/Dec, so we will add a white sweater to a short sleeved dress.

We got our GUZ#!

We just got the email I've been waiting for the past few days... the NVC sent us our GUZ# and Invoice ID which means we are on to the next step! Our agency can fill out our online app (DS260) and we are LITERALLY about 2-3 WEEKS AWAY FROM TRAVEL APPROVAL!!! 

We are SO close to getting travel approval so we can go get our little girl!!! I am so ecstatic! 

Please be praying:
1. These last few steps fly through
2. the rest of the funds come in

God is good and He is faithful!

#onelessorphanonemoresappington
#adoptionrocks
#adoptingannika

Sappington Update

Hello Everyone,

Happy Sunday!  While our Eli recoups from the tummy bug, we are enjoying a peaceful (so far) afternoon around the house.  We had a sports-filled weekend up until this point.  All 3 kiddos had a game yesterday.  Eli was supposed to have another game today, but has to sit this one out after he said his stomach hurt at church.  We made it home just in time as the flood gates in his tummy let loose on our garage floor and door to the house.  Poor guy!  So far, he's feeling much better and hopefully that lasts!

Check out Team Sappington from yesterday's sports games.

Asher scored his first ever soccer goal! He jumped up and down with excitement then turned to me and gave me a very big thumbs' up! 

Eli loves playing baseball and he has been happy to have back to back games the past few days!

Jadyn in center field takes a second to rest with one of her BFFs in between plays.

Since we are now chilling at home, I took a moment to update our remaining adoption costs and posted them below!  I'm hoping that tomorrow we will receive a much anticipated email from the NVC (National Visa Center) with our GUZ# so we can move on to the next step in the adoption process!  We are hoping and praying these last few steps fly through and we can have a November travel date to bring home our Annika!  Team Sappington is ready to grow by one more player. :) 

In-Country and Travel Fees:

Orphanage donation: ~$6,000 (PAID)
Provincial Civil Affairs Child documents: $350
Provincial Justice Office Notary documents: $650
Annika's Passport: $150
Annika's Medical Exam Fee: $275
Domestic Flights In-country: ~$4,000
Hotel: ~$1,500
International airfare (3 people Roundtrip): ~$4,500
International airfare (Annika's 1-way ticket): ~1,000 (PAID)
In-country driver/Ground Transportation/Guide Service Tipping: ~$600
Beijing 3-day tour: ~$1,700

APPROXIMATE total cost left: $13,725

Happy Sunday!

Prayer Request

It has been a WONDERFUL day! To see the Lord working and moving on our behalf in our adoption journey just leaves Jay and I in AWE of Him and all that He is doing!  On top of receiving our I800 approval,  in the last couple of days friends have stepped forward and offered up options on our flights when it comes time to travel, and tonight at church, a teenager of a dear friends of ours came up to me and handed me a bag of money.  He has been selling candy bars for a couple weeks now, working to raise money to help us bring Annika home.  Y'all, he had nearly a $100 in that baggie! I looked at him in awe of the Lord working in HIS heart that he wanted to be a part of helping to bring this little orphan home to us... a little girl who he has yet to meet... this teenager who could be saving his money for the next best set of drums or going to movies or buying the next coolest headphones, and yet, he saved and sold candy bars on our daughter's behalf.  I looked at him and my heart just swelled in pride and amazement for him.  Jay and I pray that the Lord bless him and his family for all that they have done for our family.  He is a fine young man and I have no words to truly express how much he blesses my family.  The wonderfulness of the day wasn't over after that.  I talked with another very dear friend and sister in Christ after church and as we chit chatted and I shared the great news of our I800 approval and my heart's desire for Annika to be home in November, my dear friend grabbed my hand and said, "Let's pray that right now."  And then one of the most heart-touching prayers came from her heart to heaven and I held her hand in prayer and agreement. I couldn't keep the tears away as I agreed with every word she prayed, acknowledging and embracing my heart's desire and hope.

There is power in the prayers of God's children.  My prayer is that the rest of our adoption steps will fly on through at a fast pace and we will be traveling IN NOVEMBER to bring our little girl home. I pray that everything continues to fall into place at the a smooth and quick pace.  In reality, we could end up traveling sometime around the middle or end of December.  It just all depends on how quick each government moves to get each of the last steps done.  I pray they are swift to move the process along.  Why such a prayer? My desires are selfish in that I don't want  Jadyn to miss any of her school Christmas parties or most especially her Christmas program at church.  And as a parent, I don't want to miss my sons' Christmas programs or even their class parties.  If we travel in December, missing such events are likely to happen.  I know in the adoption journey, we sometimes have to make temporary sacrifices, but my prayer is that the Lord will show us favor in this.  I have one more daughter who is still in China and I want my WHOLE family with me for Thanksgiving.  I don't want Annika to spend one more birthday as an orphan.  She was born on November 25, 2008,  and abandoned on November 27, 2008.  Eight years is long enough to be an orphan. ...to not have a mommy and daddy who love her, to tuck her in at night and pray over her, to not have siblings who can't wait to hug her and meet her and teach her all things they love and to learn what she loves.  I want her 8th birthday to be her FIRST birthday she gets to celebrate with her family.... her 8th birthday to be her FIRST Thanksgiving with us.  We have SO much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.  I pray I can say I'm thankful to add one more plate to the dinner table this year.
Will you pray with us?

To God be the glory....

We have I800 Approval!!!!

After getting Jadyn and Eli off to school this morning, I opened my email to see that much-awaited email from USCIS (US Immigration)... we have I800 Approval! (cue happy dance) That means... we have approval from the US to specifically adopt (immigrate) Annika into the US! It's a great start to Wednesday around here!

Praise the Lord for being one step closer to bringing Annika home! 

So, what's next in the steps?

USCIS (US Immigrations) will send our I800 Approval over the the National Visa Center (NVC) where Annika will be issued an immigrant visa. Once the NVC receives it, they will issue us a GUZ number. GUZ stands for Guangzhou, where the US Consulate is in China, and that is where her visa will originate. Once we get the GUZ #, we then apply for Annika's visa online. While this is happening, the US Consulate in Guangzhou is working to get all of Annika's paperwork lined up. 

The next step after all that is our Article 5. That is a compilation of paperwork that has been collected along the way in this journey and it all goes to the CCCWA (China's Children and Welfare) office in Beijing. Article 5 paperwork shows China that we have all of our ducks in a row to adopt Annika into the US. Once China receives our Article 5, the last 2 things we will be waiting on is our Travel Approval and our Consulate Appointment. Once we get Travel Approval, we will be booking our flights and leaving on a jet plane to bring the newest Sappington home! We are literally just WEEKS away from this!!! We anticipate getting Travel Approval right in time for Jadyn's 9th birthday (November 14th)! 

God is good and He is faithful!

To Him be the glory in this journey....

Waiting

Waiting for something to happen is SO very hard. I was really hoping to hear by today that we have I800 approval (immigration approval specifically for Annika). The email box remained empty from USCIS.  :( Waiting is hard y'all. Waiting for paper movement to happen in the adoption process, waiting to hear from grants you've applied for, waiting to see how God's provision is going to fully fund our adoption, waiting to finally meet our daughter face to face, waiting to hold her in my arms, waiting to see her and her siblings together..... waiting.... something I'm not very good at being patient in, yet something the Lord has us do a LOT of in this process. But, while we are waiting... God is working. Now, THAT is something that gives me renewed hope! 

He is faithful.

Adoption Gear!

We have sold a TON of shirts (praise the Lord!) and we are down to youth sizes (YXS-YL)!  Get in on this sale while supplies last! We have limited quantities left. We have LOTS of wristbands! Get ya some! :)

Adoption Update

Any moment now, we anticipate hearing the big news that we have Travel Approval.  We are so excited, overwhelmed and can't believe we are finally down to the last steps before we get our sweet girl!  We are praying the Lord is preparing her heart for us as we prepare to travel to bring her home!

MORE GREAT NEWS:
This past Sunday, 11/13, some very dear friends and family through us an Adoption Shower for Annika.  The attention to detail they put into it was so sweet!  The shower was Chinese-themed with red and gold decor and pictures of our Annika throughout the house.  They even put framed signs of tidbits of information around the house too, like: "Annika's favorite colors are red and blue."  "Some of Annika's favorite foods are apples and bananas."  This momma got all choked up and cried several times throughout the shower!  We were blessed by friends and family showering Annika with gifts of clothes, school supplies, gift cards to take her shopping, bedding, backpack and lunchbox, sleeping bag, family games, a Chinese cookbook and more!  Thank you to everyone who came and who blessed our family with precious gifts, sweet cards and beautiful notes!  Thank you to Stephanie, Tiffany and Lisa, for ALL that you put in to making this shower one of my all-time favorites.  I love you, ladies and am so thankful the Lord put you in my life!

 The love everyone has been showing our family is blessing us beyond words! Our precious Annika is so loved!  Jay and I cannot express our thankfulness enough to you.

FUNDS UPDATE:
We have the funds we need to pay for our in-country expenses!!!! God is good!!! Thank you to everyone who has been so generously donating to us.

In-Country and Travel Fees:

Orphanage donation: ~$6,000 (PAID)

Provincial Civil Affairs Child documents: $350 (PAID)

Provincial Justice Office Notary documents: $650 (PAID)

Annika's Passport: $150 (PAID)

Annika's Medical Exam Fee: $275 (PAID)

In-country driver/Ground Transportation/Guide Service Tipping: ~$600 (PAID)



REMAINING COSTS:

Beijing 3-day tour: ~$1,700

Domestic Flights In-country: ~$4,000

Hotel: ~$1,500

International airfare (3 people Roundtrip): ~$4,000

International airfare (Annika's 1-way ticket): ~$1,000 


APPROXIMATE total cost left: $12,200


God has been so faithful in this journey.  He has provided every step, every need along the way.  We are prayerfully trusting Him and seeking Him for the remaining amount needed.

God is good!

"And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:19

"For I know the plans I have for you", says the Lord, "Plans of peace and not of evil, to give you hope and a future".

Jeremiah 29:11

Adoption Update

Any moment now, we anticipate hearing the big news that we have Travel Approval.  We are so excited, overwhelmed and can't believe we are finally down to the last steps before we get our sweet girl!  We are praying the Lord is preparing her heart for us as we prepare to travel to bring her home!

MORE GREAT NEWS:
This past Sunday, 11/13, some very dear friends and family through us an Adoption Shower for Annika.  The attention to detail they put into it was so sweet!  The shower was Chinese-themed with red and gold decor and pictures of our Annika throughout the house.  They even put framed signs of tidbits of information around the house too, like: "Annika's favorite colors are red and blue."  "Some of Annika's favorite foods are apples and bananas."  This momma got all choked up and cried several times throughout the shower!  We were blessed by friends and family showering Annika with gifts of clothes, school supplies, gift cards to take her shopping, bedding, backpack and lunchbox, sleeping bag, family games, a Chinese cookbook and more!  Thank you to everyone who came and who blessed our family with precious gifts, sweet cards and beautiful notes!  Thank you to Stephanie, Tiffany and Lisa, for ALL that you put in to making this shower one of my all-time favorites.  I love you, ladies and am so thankful the Lord put you in my life!

 The love everyone has been showing our family is blessing us beyond words! Our precious Annika is so loved!  Jay and I cannot express our thankfulness enough to you.

FUNDS UPDATE:
We have the funds we need to pay for our in-country expenses!!!! God is good!!! Thank you to everyone who has been so generously donating to us.

In-Country and Travel Fees:

Orphanage donation: ~$6,000 (PAID)

Provincial Civil Affairs Child documents: $350 (PAID)

Provincial Justice Office Notary documents: $650 (PAID)

Annika's Passport: $150 (PAID)

Annika's Medical Exam Fee: $275 (PAID)

In-country driver/Ground Transportation/Guide Service Tipping: ~$600 (PAID)



REMAINING COSTS:

Beijing 3-day tour: ~$1,700

Domestic Flights In-country: ~$4,000

Hotel: ~$1,500

International airfare (3 people Roundtrip): ~$4,000

International airfare (Annika's 1-way ticket): ~$1,000 


APPROXIMATE total cost left: $12,200


God has been so faithful in this journey.  He has provided every step, every need along the way.  We are prayerfully trusting Him and seeking Him for the remaining amount needed.  

God is good!

"And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:19

"For I know the plans I have for you", says the Lord, "Plans of peace and not of evil, to give you hope and a future".

Jeremiah 29:11

Adoption Journey... where are we at in the process?

Hello!!
LONG POST ALERT! :)

It has been awhile since I posted here, but I wanted to update that these last several weeks have been eventful!

8/3/16  Our dossier paperwork officially went to China!
8/12/16 Our dossier logged into China's system!
9/23/16 We got LSC!!! That's Letter Seeking Confirmation! China said YES and sent us an official letter confirming we still want to adopt Yang Ao Fang. We signed that beautiful paper and sent it back to China to begin the final steps of our paperwork journey.
9/29/16 Our I800 application went USCIS (US Immigration) and there it is waiting to shuffle around to the appropriate desks and grant us our approval on the US side to bring Yang Ao Fang to the US.  The average wait time is about 2 weeks (we are over a week in!)

We are getting SOOOO close to bringing home our little girl.  Yang Ao Fang... soon to be Annika Faith Sappington!  We are still hoping for a November travel date, but we also know it could end up being in December.... it all depends on how fast our governments work. :)

On October 2nd, we had a HUGE fundraising event at our church called Family Play Day.  We had a HUGE turnout between our church and our community.  We raised almost $5,500!!!! God is good!  We want to thank everyone who was a key part in making Family Play Day successful.  And thank you to everyone who came out from near and far to support us!

So, several people have asked lately, "Where are you at in your adoption costs? What do you have left to raise?"  We also get asked at times how much it costs to adopt from China.  The short answer: approximately $30,000 (give or take).  Because we are taking Jadyn with us, the cost will be a bit more, so we are anticipating about $34,000. To date, we have raised over $22,000 in our journey!  God is GOOD!  We will need roughly about $12,000 more to fully fund our adoption costs.  What's left to pay, you ask?  We are mostly down to travel costs and in-country costs....

In-Country Fees:
Orphanage donation: ~$6,000 (***soon to be paid)
Provincial Civil Affairs Child documents: $350
Provincial Justice Office Notary documents: $650
Annika's Passport: $150
Annika's Medical Exam Fee: $275
Domestic Flights In-country: ~$4,000
Hotel: ~$1,500
International airfare (3 people Roundtrip): ~$4,500
Internation airfare (Annika's 1-way ticket): ~$1,000
In-country driver/Ground Transportation/Guide Service Tipping: ~$600
Beijing 3-day tour: ~$1,700

Approximate total cost left: $20, 725
Several costs we can only estimate, and we do so on the high end, because we just won't know exactly how much until we get closer to travel time.  The Orphanage fee and hotel costs are estimates since it will be based on the currency rate at the time of travel.

So, what are we doing to reach our goal? We will soon have $6,000 available to us through our matching grant through Lifesong for Orphans/ Chosen & Dearly Loved Foundation (Praise the Lord!).  ***We plan to use that $6,000 to cover the Orphanage donation. THAT brings our remaining costs down to $14, 725! Several months ago, Jay and I got a Marriot Rewards credit card and began using that to pay our monthly bills and daily living expenses on it (and pay it at the end of each month) to take advantage of a promo Marriot had going and we were able to rack up OVER 110,000 points that we will be able to use for free hotel stay in Beijing and Guangzhou! That should greatly reduce our hotel costs! (We will be staying in a total of 3 places in our China travels.)  We are also currently waiting to hear back from at least 2 more grant applications we sent in and we are hoping to get great news from them soon!

Lastly, I want to talk about the Beijing 3-day tour.  We have been given the option to visit some of China's greatest landmarks and experience some of it's incredible history!  Since we have never been to China, we have the opportunity to show Jadyn (and experience for ourselves) the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City, the Olympic sites, Tiananmen Square and more!  Part of our desire to do so is to learn and experience Annika's heritage and bring home with us that experience.  It is an optional package and we chose to go for it.  Jadyn turns 9 years old in November... what a great birthday present, right? :)

So, if you're still reading at this point, congratulations on making it this far.  I'm sure I lost a few people when I started talking numbers. :) We are continuing to pray and ask the Lord how He would have us finish funding our adoption costs.  Please pray with us that we would have wisdom and hear from Him what we should do financially to finish this race.  We know HIS timing is perfect and HIS ways are the best.  He is the One who led us on this path of adoption and He has been continually faithful to provide each and every step.  We know He will continue to do so.  :) However He decides to fund the rest of our adoption costs, the end result will be glorious: bringing our daughter home. <3

"If you have a heart for adoption, don't let fear stand in the way."
Doug Chapman

HOPE says God can,
FAITH says God will!

“It is important to realize we adopt not because we are rescuers. No. We adopt because we are rescued.” — David Platt

Want to see our financial journey thus far?  Check out our crowdrise:
https://www.crowdrise.com/adoptingannikajourneyoflove



To God be the glory in our life,

Shannon & Jay