{GOD is GOOD}

WE ARE SO THRILLED TO TELL YOU THE NEWS............I do not have a lot of time to post tonight, but I did want to let you all know we locked a little girls file today and our Makayla has found us!!!!!!!!!! It has been a roller-coaster for the last 3 days, but God has held our hands the entire way. I cannot post pictures of her, her real name, or her birthday until the CCAA gives us approval. What I can tell you she is sooooo ADORABLE!!! She is just 2 years old this month, 22 lbs, and 30 inches tall!!! We are on cloud 9 and are so EXCITED to be chosen as her Mom and Dad!!! We will be traveling to China in hopefully less than 6 months to get her and bring her home. I will come back later to fill you in with more details, but for now we are exhausted and in awe of God and how quickly He has brought us together as Makayla's FOREVER family!!!

The Sweeney's

{WOOHOO}

Update time, grab a cup of tea and have a sit, this could take a while...LOL

I hadn't posted it, but on the 20th of July we got our Authenticated document back from Olympia!!! That only took them a few days!!! I was then on the phone with our Coordinator and our Dossier Consultant to make sure I had all the proper information to send my 13 documents to the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco for more Authentication!!! It took me just a day to get it all together (copies of all documents, G1, cover letter, money order, and a self addressed postage paid envelope) and it was in the mail for just $35!!! LOL I sent it EXPRESS overnight both ways! Here are our pictures at the post office. You cannot take pictures inside the post office, but he let us run back outside with the document and take each others pictures and then take it back in to be mailed.

As soon as that nice FAT envelope comes back to me (and we are praying hard that it is FAST with no complications),we have everything ready to send to GWCA!!!! That is including the funds to pay our last fee and the money for the CCAA. GOD is good! We sat down two nights ago and figured out all we have paid already for this paper chase. We felt totally blessed how God has brought every dollar we need to get through this first phase. We have sold as much stuff as we could, we have had fabulous friends donate their things for our yard sale, and had extra money in our check book!!! It is so obvious to us that this is Gods plan for our lives.

Our next financial piece is saving for the Orphanage Donation, which is $5, 100 dollars.

I am on page 40 of my cookbook, so that should be ready soon. I was hoping by then end of July, but it may be more like August. Sorry, if you were hoping for July.

Also, I was asked if I wanted to do a fundraiser through Creative Memories to earn money for the adoption. A friend of mine is a consultant and would love to have a bunch of ladies over to scrap and everything they buy, we would get her profit from. That was her way of helping us out!!! I will be planning that one as soon as school starts again and everyone is able to come and have a BLAST scrap booking!

Still not sure of the BINGO night, but it is definitely still on the list to do.

Oh, I also went to Colville and spent some time with family. While I was there I made a stained glass Cherry Blossom for Makayla's room. My mother-in-law is very much into stained glass and had everything I needed for my first project. Here is a picture of me with my Cherry Blossom.


Thank you all for your continued prayers for our famiy and for Makayla!!!
We love you all!
The Sweeney's


"Trust in the Lord and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your ways to the Lord, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass." Psalms 37:3-5

{GONE AGAIN}

...but of these, the greatest is love.

Our I-797C is out of my hands again...well, not the original this time but a copy! I had to get a copy of it and then have the document notarized. After that and a $15 check, it is in the mail to Olympia to be authenticated!!!! Whew, another step complete! Now, we wait...again! lol
While I am waiting, I will be getting all 13 documents ready to send off the the Chinese Consulate and hopefully, it won't take Olympia too long to authenticate ONE document. Please continue to keep us in your prayers...
The Sweeney's

{WE GOT IT}

Ahhhhhhhh!!!!! We got our APPROVAL letter from the FBI today and our fingerprints passed!!! We are the proud owners of a I-797C!!!!! I am so relieved I do NOT have to do my prints again, God is good!!! I now have to get it notarized at our bank and then Authenticated at the State level. After that is complete, all of our documents are mailed to the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco, California. We are one step closer and almost FINISHED!!!!!Have a blessed week!!!
The Sweeney's

{FBI Finger Printing}

Whew, that is over...I hope! Mikes prints were great, but mine may not be. The gentleman who did our prints was very nice, but was not sure if mine would be accepted by the Department of Homeland Security. If even one print is not good, they reject the entire printing! I had two fingers that would not produce a good print, they were visible, but not deep dark prints. He is not the one who ultimately decides, someone else is. He said I need to use "Corn Huskers" and by rubbing that on my fingers on a daily basis, it will rebuild my finger prints! I never knew you could grow them back?!? One of the worst things you can do is garden...ummm...hello, I am a gardener! lol

We are praying that I will not have to go back again. We really want to get moving on the final steps of our adoption paperwork and that could hold us up a week or more. Please keep us in your prayers on this one! We really want our Dossier to China by the end of the month!!!

Other than that...not much else is happening! I am almost finished with cooking all the recipes that will be in my cookbook and we are all enjoying every bit of it. These are all the recipes I cook my family on a regular basis, but I had to cook it all again, so I could take pictures. Trust me on this, you will be hungry when you see the photos! I am also beginning to make some baby quilts to sell and we will still be having our BINGO Night & Silent Auction in the future. I am not sure of the dates yet, but I will be sure to post and let you know!

Hope your 4th was fantastic and have a blessed week!
The Sweeney's