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.