We are waiting for Travel approval

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS TO US!!

We are officially waiting for our TA (Travel approval for those of you not versed in adoption speak!). It is an amazing feeling. We have been matched with Elias since October of 2011 and the wait has been long, but at the same time the wait has been full of GOD!  As I mentioned before we first saw our precious Elias when he was just 6 years old, he turned 9 years old in September. It is hard to know that we have had no say in his life for 9 years and that we have not been able to protect him or love on him for 9 years. BUT one thing I have clearly learned from this crazy process we call adoption is that even though I have no control over things.. Guess what? God has everything in control.

I darn near made myself crazy during Luke's adoption trying to make everything happen my way and in my timing. I would like to say I did amazingly better this time around but I would be lying. I think I did much better this time around but not amazingly hahah. I know I made myself nuts worrying about Luke and his safety and his health and what was or was not happening with him. I have since learned that even though I have no control over those things our God is busy protecting our children and loving on them and softening their hearts and preparing a way. There are things that Luke experienced that no child should ever have to and he has wounds that run deep. YET Luke has the most remarkable out look, attitude and heart. I know this is of God for he has every right to be angry, bitter and running scared. I pray that Elias is being guarded, protected and his heart is being prepared for this crazy journey that is getting ready to uproot him from all he has known (be that good or bad) and send him on a crazy ride.

Tom and I are busy preparing for our son to come home and we are preparing our hearts and those of Elias's brothers and sisters for this journey. I cannot even begin to imagine the thoughts that whirl through a child as the adoption process begins. Some children are prepared the best the can be by their orphanage or foster family and some know nothing about what is going to take place. I cannot imagine what it feels like to be taken from all you have ever known and be put in the hands of strangers all within a few minutes time and told they are your family. It must be horrifying. I know most people think that the adopted child will fall at our  feet and praise us for "saving" them.. Just place yourself in the child's mind for just one and I mean one minute and you can see how this is NOT the reaction that we receive when we finally do meet our child. I would think fear is the residing initial feeling that most parents ( I do not say all, I say most) are greeted with.. understand all children handle fear differently, some lash out, some cry and some just retreat internally, some are just curious of what is going on and some are happy to see someone showing them love and gifts.. but trust me the fear is there... there are many ways fear can be manifested. I know for a fact that when Luke was brought to Tom and I we were excited as heck, but also scared out of our pants. We were literally handed our child by strangers in the lobby of a crowded hotel and the people that brought him left within seconds.. there he was.. no introduction, no stories of what he likes and does not like, what his routine is.. nothing.. we were scared out of our pants.. now imagine the child's perspective.. whoa it is mind blowing to me. Tom and I now look back at how amazing Luke handled this process and we know that we saw an inside glimpse into Luke's strength and courage and resilience and didn't even realize it at the time.

We excitedly prepare our house, hearts and yup even our very not happy school district for the changes that are soon coming. We cannot wait to meet our son and to finally get to know him. We know challenging times are ahead but we know that blessed times are also ahead.  Adoption is not easy, but it is beyond worth it. We are just a few short weeks away from having our son in our arms and just cannot cannot wait. The wait to travel is said to be the hardest as you know it is so right there, but you cant go just yet.. I personally am fine with the wait as it is giving me time to prepare my heart, my mind and pray, pray, pray... it is giving me time to prepare the hearts and minds of my children and to pray over them. We are bursting at the seems with excitement! Oh our sweet sweet Elias we are so soon going to be there. Last night I sent out one last care package with a letter letting him know we shall be there soon, with a jacket (he lives in southern China and it is Florida like weather there, so he will have some adjusting to do to get ready for New Jersey :), we sent some more photos of our family and we sent him a toy.  Praying these things give him some peace and allow his heart some time to prepare and say goodbyes that need to be said. We have told him we know that his life is about the rapidly change and we promise to love him through the changes and try our best to help him adjust to everything.  ( we know this is no easy journey for him, we dont think he yet knows this is not an easy journey...) Lord prepare our sons heart. We are leaving soon!!!!!

My name is Elias and I have a family and am coming home soon! I am soon to be an orphan no more!

Hang on Sweet boy.. we are coming Oh so soon!

We are barreling towards our Elias at what feels like warp speed. It has been since last year October that we were matched with this precious little face. We are expecting to travel in the beginning of January!

It has been 3 long years since these pictures of Elias.. these pictures are when our adoption agency had a camp in China and actually met this precious little one. Elias was 6 years old and we were in the process of adopting Luke. We thought he was adorable and he captured our hearts but we were adopting our precious Luke.... so we vowed to advocate for Elias and pray for him, pray that his family would find him quickly.  We kept track of him for awhile as he was bounced from agency to agency over time and then we heard no more of him. We were under the impression he had a family.  Then one day last year his little face showed up on an advocacy website I belong to. His name was different and he looked older but it was surely him and he still had no family to call his own. My heart was torn in two.  

 This is the face that we saw last year.. The face of an older boy looking so sad.. Where had the smile gone.. why had the smile gone... This sweet face sang out to me....again my heart broke. 

 Now 8 years old and still no family to call his own.... The fact that the bubbly smiling boy was no longer smiling made me nauseous............honestly  it broke me in two. It didn't take but a short time for my husband and I to realize that the family we have been praying for.. for two years to find this precious boy... was none other than our own.. We spent two years praying for ourselves.. Guess it is nice to know we unknowingly covered ourselves in prayer.  We contacted our agency and asked them to find him for us.. He was being bounced around still. They found him with another agency and requested that his file be transferred to them. We were not willing to try a new agency for our adoption. We love and trust our adoption agency and knew they had to be the ones to help us bring this boy, that they had met and loved so much, home.  Some agencies will transfer files and some will not. Some agencies (like mine) their focus is the children and helping the children find a family to call their own. We were very blessed that the agency that had his file said if we were truly willing to commit to him they would transfer his file for us. You bet we were willing. We had his letter of intent already written out (his LOI in the adoption world).  The transfer was made and we submitted our letter for him. It did not take long for China to give us the go ahead to start the process to make this little boy our son officially. We already knew he was our son in our hearts now we just needed the powers in China and the USA that be to know that too.  Soooo over a year ago we started the process to make him our own and here we still are. We swore he would be home before his 9th Birthday and when that day came on September 27, 2012 oh how I felt like I had failed this little one. He is now a big boy, a gorgeous 9 year old. BUT he did find out on his birthday that he does have a family to call all his own. That he has a momma, a daddy and 3 brothers and a sister that already love him.  We sent a care package through an amazing organization (well I say organization it is really two woman with hearts of Gold) named Lady Bugs N Love (if you are adopting I recommend them with everything in me.. I love them love them love them).. We sent Elias a birthday cake, a present and some treats to share with his friends. Since Elias is dormed in the school for the Deaf we were not sure he would get these things. Much to our surprise not to long after his birthday we received 10 emails from Angela with Lady Bugs N Love and she was forwarding me 86 pictures of our precious son and his Birthday party that we sent for him. This is the day Elias found out about us. 

 AHHHHH there is that smile that we have longed to see! Our son knows we are coming for him. He knows it wont be to long now and his life is going to have some HUGE changes. We are ready to see him, ready to love him, ready to get to know him. Ready to find out what he is like, his personality, his likes, his dislikes, what makes him laugh. His favorite things, whether he is an athlete or not. Is he left or right handed (although from the pics he is eating the cake with his right.). Does he like to draw? Is he quite? Is he loud? Is he calm, hyper, sweet, naughty, silly, serious.. and the list goes on and on.............................................I am ready Lord I am ready.  

Christmas.. whoa what a Fundraiser!

Ok Ladies and Gentlemen this is it! We have I-800 approval for Elias and that means we are down to about 5-7 weeks.. leaning towards 5 weeks until we have travel approval to head out of here. We are still short on our funds to bring home our son. So we are going to do a BIG Giveaway for our Pre-Christmas Fundraiser. 


‎"My friends, adoption is redemption. It's costly, exhausting, expensive, and outrageous. Buying back lives costs so much. When God set out to redeem us, it killed Him." ~ Derek Loux ~

 We will be celebrating the life and dreams of Elias with an

                I-pad mini-16 GB fundraiser

                  The I-PAD mini is the hottest selling Christmas item this year!

                  Fundraiser with a chance to win an I-pad Mini     

                Chances cost $10 each 3 chances for $20

               Think about this – what is your dream for:

Yourself? Your family? Your community? Your country? Your world?   Help Make Elias's Dream of a Family Come True!

Drawing Dec 16^th-pay by cash, check or pay-pal or chip in on my blog ( remember pay pal and chip in take a percentage.) 

Tawzgirl@comcast.net for pay-pal   ** must use the word donation when  paying with pay-pal**

I need your name, phone # and email address. I will contact the winner to get your mailing address. 

In the home stretch

Today we took a BIG step forward! We received our I-800 Provisional approval today! THIS IS BIG! We are now within weeks of travelling to China! It IS going to happen! It WILL be soon! So I am checking out airline tickets! Getting our Visa paperwork ready to get out of here! Applying for more grants! We are going to have to dust off the suitcases soon and start to really get ourselves thinking about this trip. We have been in the hurry and wait, hurry and wait mode that adoption puts you in. Now we are in the hurry and hurry some more mode that adoption puts you in at the end after what seemed like forever to get here. We are at 14 months waiting for our son so far. We are more than ready!

YAHOOOO on I-800 approval. Yahooo on me actually being brave enough to look up the price of tickets today.. and YAHOOO for just needing to give another YAHOOO for our big accomplishment today! We are getting close. We have 3 steps left.

Next step is NVC will send a notice that our approval has been forwarded to the US Consulate in Guangzhou, China this takes about 1 week

Then An Article 5 is issued - this takes 2 weeks

Final step is our TA is issued (Travel Approval) this is about 2-3 weeks after Article 5.

As you can see we have 5- 6 weeks and then we will be making plans to fly out of here to get our son.

We are coming soon Elias.. Coming soon!

Christmas Shopping for a Cause

• THE WORRELL FAMILY THIRTY ONE FUNDRAISER

• Where:  ONLINE!!!

• When: November 2nd through November 18th  We are in the process of adopting 9 year old Elias from Southern China. Elias is Profoundly Deaf , and one handsome little boy. We are more then anxious to bring him home to our family. This is a new picture of our handsome boy the day he found out he has a family (His 9th Birthday!) We are getting closer and closer to bringing him home, we are guessing for travel sometime between January - March at the latest!!!! As some of you know the cost of adoption is pretty darn expensive, but we cannot put a price tag on someones life. Every child deserves to know the love of a family. We scraped and saved and scrimped and fund-raised and applied for grants to bring Luke home and now we are again saving, scrimping, scrapping and praying and praying and praying for the funds to bring our precious son home to his family that cannot wait to welcome him with loving arms! From this fundraiser: 100% of the commission from all sales goes to the Worrell Family Adoption Fund to bring home precious Elias! Make sure you check out the November Customer Special when you are looking at your order. For every $35 in product a customer purchases, you are eligible to purchase a Medium Utility Tote (item 4121) for just $5. AND for every Medium Tote purchased, Thirty One will donate a Thermal Tote to Operation Homefront to assist military families in need. There is no limit on the number of customer specials. THE FALL LINE IS INCREDIBLE!!!!!!! Download a pdf of the Thirty-One fall catalog here: http://morekids4me.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/fall 2012 catalog.pdf When you are ready to enter your order, go to http://www.mythirtyone.com/AnneLittle/ Click on "My Events" and then choose the Worrell Family fundraiser. I WOULD LIKE TO HELP, BUT AM NOT SURE HOW!!!!!If you feel motivated and would like to help you too can host a Thirty One Catalog party and invite your friends to your house for an event. OR You can host an online event (Anne does all the set up work... you just need to spread the word.. the orders get shipped directly to the customer . it is easy peasy!) 100% of the Commission will go to bring Elias home and you will receive the amazing hostess gifts! SO even if you cannot afford to purchase something yourself you can host a catalog or online party and all proceeds will be donated to bring home Elias but you receive all the amazing hostess gifts (Trust me from my last fundraiser the hostess gifts are amazing!) If you have any questions, or need any help, email, message or call Anne Little 865-405-6979 morekids4me@gmail.com

In the midst of the struggle He is always faithful!!!

So last Sunday Pastor preached on Gods Shalom. On how if you are not IN Gods Peace you will not be able to receive His blessings.. or you might receive it and just have no clue that you got it!  I thought a lot about our Great God and His peace. The adoption process is by no means easy. It surely makes me wonder at times "where is my Faith?" when I am struggling so hard and feel like "am I really a woman of Faith when I feel like I am drowning in my own pity and trying to do things by MY strength?".. This process will make you  sweat, think, talk to yourself, have pity parties, look for SOMEONE who can understand.. And trust me if you have not gone through this process there are times that you just cannot understand. A midst my struggles lately with wanting things done on my time and my abilities I have clearly heard the voice of God and at times I am pretty sure he is chuckling at me saying "oh you silly girl you KNOW I got this.. This is nothing for me! I am God and I can do all things.. Have Faith, step back  and believe, trust!.. Be ready to be AMAZED!!" I know the word Amazed keeps coming to me over and over.  The adoption process has shown me many things and helped me to meet some of the most amazing people.. BUT the most amazing thing is that is has sent me to me knees in prayer, to worship the Lord with all my heart and soul and to long be a powerful woman of prayer that knows that with God ALL things are possible. I have spent since Sunday more time in prayer, more time focusing on the Lord. Focusing on my family and just enjoying his Shalom! Lord my prayer is that I learn to rely more on YOU and depend on YOU!

GOD is faithful! God will get us through this crazy process called Adoption that has given me some grey hair recently. This song helps me to think of what I should be doing "while I'm waiting". Listen and think... What are you doing while you are waiting?

I'm waiting, I'm waiting on You Lord 
And I am hopeful, I'm waiting on You Lord 
Though it is painful, but patiently I will wait 

And I will move ahead bold and confident 
Taking every step in obedience 

While I'm waiting I will serve You 
While I'm waiting I will worship 
While I'm waiting I will not faint 
I'll be running the race even while I wait 

I'm waiting, I'm waiting on You Lord 
And I am peaceful, I'm waiting on You Lord 
Though it's not easy no, but faithfully I will wait 
Yes, I will wait 

And I will move ahead bold and confident 
Taking every step in obedience 
[ml ] 
While I'm waiting I will serve You 
While I'm waiting I will worship 
While I'm waiting I will not faint 
I'll be running the race even while I wait 

I will move ahead bold and confident 
I'll be taking every step in obedience, yeah 

While I'm waiting I will serve You 
While I'm waiting I will worship 
While I'm waiting I will not faint 

And I will serve You while I'm waiting 
I will worship while I'm waiting 
I will serve You while I'm waiting 
I will worship while I'm waiting 
I will serve You while I'm waiting 
I will worship while I'm waiting on You Lord 

I will serve You while I'm waiting 
I will worship while I'm waiting 
I will serve You while I'm waiting 
I will worship while I'm waiting

SO while I am waiting I received the MOST blessed email yesterday. Actually I received 10 of them!!! 10 emails that in total held 86 pictures of our son, Elias who is waiting in China for his family. He received his care package, he had a birthday party that we paid for and had a cake for his birthday and then HE FOUND OUT HE HAS A FAMILY on his 9th Birthday!!!! We are beyond blessed to receive such a HUGE blessing. I would bet that 86 pictures is just about a record. The most we ever got of Luke was a few. We cant stop looking at the pictures over and over again. AHHH Thank you God for sending us such a blessing. Thank you for allowing us to experience your peace and know that our son is OK  He looks beyond incredible. I am not going to post all 86 pictures but I am going to share a bunch. ENJOY!! (we sure are!!!)

                                     My Birthday Boy! He is 9 years old now!

                                          I would say he is enjoying his big day!

                                                                   His cake!!

                                                                   Cutting the cake!

                                        We are in love with this little round face!

                                                             Playing games for his bday!

A dance too!!!

                                  We are 100% sure he is signing in the following pics! :)))))

A "sign of Thank you" (he got the remote controlled airplane we had sent for him! )

WE ARE WAITING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DTC!!!!!!!!- updated my DTC update with new pics.. go look

YES Lord we are DTC as of 8/1/2012!!! Finally some forward progress, but I have been hesitant to write this blog post as we are honestly on thin ice with our paperwork. China changed requirements and now to re-use your dossier you have to have your paperwork (that we just sent) logged in China within one year of your Gotcha day for the child you brought home. Luke has been home almost 19 months now so we are NO way in that time frame. When we first decided to re-use Luke's paperwork to bring home Elias the ruling was you had to have your new child locked in (matched with  a PA) within one year of Gotcha day... we did that.. we were fine there. But now with the new change we certainly don't qualify. Our agency is fighting hard for us and our paperwork is in China.. but will it sit there for a LONG time and then they reject it (has happened to some recently)... we don't know... Normally after you are DTC you get what is called LID ( a logged in date.. the day that China logged in your dossier to the system.. very important date as it starts the count down for just about everything..) many recently that were DTC before or after me have gotten their LID within a few days of DTC.. we are 2 weeks now and no word.. I do know that sometimes you just dont  hear you get your LID.. so that could be the case....Praying for all kinds of mountains to be moved right now. Funny as I type this I have my spotify playing in the background and it is on shuffle for my worship music and the song playing is "God is Able by Hillsong." interesting choice...I know He is but there are moments when I am too frazzled to remember that.. Gotta get some more prayer time in!

On another note we have again asked for an update on Elias. All of my official paperwork on him is almost 3 years old, my pics are almost 3 years old. Other then the few pics that my friend Lori got for me when she traveled to get her daughter (God bless her for doing that!!!)  But all my official stuff is ancient, he was not even in the school for the Deaf at my last update and he is heading into his 3rd year there. Hoping we get one soon! Cant wait to see what he looks like, figure out how tall he is.. his weight.. ( I am thinking they have changed in the last 3 years!) and praying he is signing Chinese Sign Language like a pro!!!!

We are seeing forward progress with our adoption finally... it just come with the "this might not really be forward progress if you have to compile a whole new dossier disclaimer" Praying and Praying through this part of the process! I will tell you one thing. Adoption is SO not easy... Don't let anyone fool you into thinking it is.. BUT it is SOOOOOO worth it... We are  now 10 months into the process of getting Elias and had expected to be heading home or heading to get him about now.. We are still not sure where we stand in this process, BUT I do know where my GOD stands and I know HE has this in control. He knows the exact moment that we will travel and all of the details are already worked out. That gives me some peace. I dont know how some get through this process without Faith.. I would be in a mental ward without my God holding me up right now hahah. So excited to be moving forward!

Just to remind myself along this road that God is Able!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                            God will bring Elias home!

I have to add this to my blog update as we JUST and I mean minutes ago got new pics of our gorgeous Elias!!!! and new measurements! The new measurements have him almost at 4'1" and about 50 lbs.. I know measurements tend to be off. That makes him about 7 1/2 inches shorter than Tommy who is about 7 1/2' inches shorter then Luke haha. So Luke will tower over Elias!!
here he is ENJOY!!!!!

He is totally stunning! Cannot wait to see his face in person and kiss and hug him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Guess what is back????

               Guess what is back?? ...Our Goat milk Soap fundraiser!!!!!!

We will be selling Goat Milk Soap, by Goat Milk Stuff company. We sold the soap quite awhile ago and did well. We have had alot of people ask us if we would sell it again... SO HERE IT IS!!!!

The company (well really it is an amazing family) makes all natural soaps and this is the way they explain it:  Our goat milk soaps are all natural. We use different oils to scent some of these natural soaps. Essential Oils are derived exclusively from plant material. Fragrance oils contain a synthetic component to mimic scents that can not be derived from nature. Most of our soaps contain a blend of essential and fragrance oils. Our Exclusively Essentials soaps are made with just essential oils. The fragrance oils that we use are phthalate and paraben free. Ingrediants in the soap are: Raw goat milk; Saponified natural fats, coconut oil, olive oil, sunflower oil.

These bars of goat milk soap are handmade. The goat milk soap bars are hand cut to weigh between 5 and 6 ounces and are cured for a minimum 6 weeks. Your soap will come in a 4" x 6" cotton bag that is hand-stamped with the scent. You will love these sweet smelling, long lasting, bubbly bars of soap.

The fundraiser is one of the best around. It is a lot of work all the sorting and getting the soap to everyone but well worth it and we get 1/2 of the cost of each bar of soap. Each bar is $6.00 and we get $3.00 for each bar sold. The bars are very large and last quite sometime. We were very happy with our soap. The popularity of this soap is catching on.. 

Goat Milk Stuff is featured in the Beauty section of the January 2012 Oprah Magazine - page 66

For our fundraiser we have 10 soaps we are selling. I have very sensitive skin and am allergic to perfume so I used Purity soap and loved it! Very creamy and made my skin very soft and clean!There is something here for everyone!!! I have sample bars with me, so if you live close by feel free to come by and take a whiff of these amazing smells!

These are the scents we have:

Black Raspberry- this soap is sweet with berry sent and then softened by a hint of vanilla, this soap is one that everyone will love! 

Nautical- A scent a tad on the masculine side, but that does not mean that the ladies cant use it! This soap is a favorite among the boys and men, and it seems the ladies get hooked on the scent and start using for themselves!

Lavender- the peaceful and relaxing scent of Lavender.

Ocean- the smell of this soap will remind you of the beach and leave you smelling clean and fresh

Oatmeal, Milk & Honey- this one is a favorite of all who try it. Smells warm and a little sweet! Amazing way to leave your skin soft and smooth!

Purity (unscented)-This is the purest of soaps for those with extremely sensitive skin or those who are sensitive to fragrances. There are no added fragrances or colors. This is the soap that I use as I am allergic to everything. This soap left my skin so clean and soft that I LOVED it!

Honeysuckle- bring back memories from yesteryear with this beautifully scented honeysuckle with a touch of Jasmine soap.

Clean Cotton- This soap will remind you of the fresh scent of newly laundered cotton and leave you feeling fresh and clean.

Luv Spell- This ones for the ladies, this is a take on the Victoria Secret Love spell scent and smells of citrus and florals.

Pink Sugary- A sweetness and hint of vanilla  turn this bar a deep shade of brown instead of pink. Pink sugary is a scent you are going to fall in love with!

If you would like to check out the amazing family that makes these soaps here is there website where they have photos of each bar of soap and a more in depth description of each

www.goatmilkstuff.com

Please remember in order to help bring Elias home you need to order directly from me! But you can check out those soaps on the website and the family as well, they are amazing!

You will place your order directly through me and I will call in the order once our fundraiser is done or when we have enough soaps ordered to do so. The order will be shipped to me in just a few days and then I will get it sorted and on its way to you. These soaps make great gifts!!! Especially Luv Spell and Pink Sugary to name a few for the ladies and ladies don't forget your gentlemen will smell amazing with Nautical! All the scents are wonderful and I have samples of all of these if you would like to take a whiff!!!! AHHHH

• If you live near me just send me your order in an email from the link right below and I will take care of getting it to you!

• For those of you that dont live around me and would like to order this is how this will work.

ALL SOAPS ARE $6 EACH!!!

Email me with your order here  Please include with your order your name and address. In case the link doesn't work email me at Tawzgirl@yahoo.com

*How to Pay: Please don't pay until you receive confirmation that your emailed order has been received(see above). I except Paypal (through our "chip in" button on the right side of my blog page) and a personal check. Of course if you live near me cash is always good :)

All orders will be shipped USPS priority mail

Shipping charges: 1 - 5 soaps (shipping is $4.50) *includes delivery confirmation

6 -11 soaps (shipping is $6.00) *includes delivery confirmation

12 - 20+ soaps -Free Shipping!!!! ...(Flat rate shippings USPS PriorityMail is $10.95 plus delivery confirmation of approximately $1 that you wont have to pay..). I'm offering free shipping with orders of 12 or more soaps. 


We did this for our first fundraiser and it worked very well. So we are going to try it again! 

If you are having the soap shipped to you please include the cost of shipping. If you send me your order I will send you a confirmation with the total cost and shipping cost will be included, unless of course you are ordering 12- 20+ bars!  Then again your shipping is free. Or if you live near me and I can personally get the soap to you then you dont pay shipping either.

Thank you for your support and your help in bringing Elias home. Your thoughts and prayers are always appreciated!