Out of Our Hands

So, this past week was somewhat of a roller coaster. As you know, we recently finished up our paperwork and sent it immediately to Taiwan via FedEx. David and I were stuck like glue to the FedEx tracking page...we tracked our package non stop day and night....and finally it said DELIVERED on Tuesday! BUT, when I looked at the delivery city it was not Taitung City, rather it was Taipei City. My heart immediately stopped and shear panic took over. I called FedEx and they informed me that once it arrives in Taipei, it then has to be shipped by the Taiwanese postal service to its final destination and there is no way to track it from that point on.....WHAT?! Immediately I felt a sense of loss of control. How come this was not explained to us before...Don't they know these are the most important documents ever and they must get to Taitung City as soon as possible?! I quickly called David and informed him about all of this chaos. As usual, he was very reassuring and positive...I just love him for that! He is always my strength when I am weak and always knows just what to say. He told me "don't worry, our papers are being hand delivered by God and they will arrive safely." After hearing that, I was able to calm down and take a deep breath. I prayed and asked God to take my worries away, as I know He will take care of us. 

Wednesday morning came and I checked my email first thing...this has become the routine to the start of my days.  Our documents had arrived safely! It was probably about 530 in the morning when I was reading the email...but I instantly ran into the bedroom and jumped on the bed to let David know. I was so overcome with excitement! And....attached in the email was a picture of JE and a video! He is growing so fast! What a joyful way to start the day :) Friday morning brought even more pictures and a update on JE from his check-up. He is now 10.5 lbs. and is 21.2 inches long. He is eating 4 ounces every 4 hours and loves to be held! This was the first email that contained information about him other that just pictures. It was so nice to hear about him growing and a little about his personality. We sent him his second care package last week as well and in it we included a recordable book that we were able to record our voices as we read it. We have read that this will help him to recognize our voices when we meet him. What a great idea! We also included disposable cameras and asked his nannies to take snapshots of him throughout the days....we plan on sending a couple with each care package so we can include these pictures in his baby book! His package should arrive on Monday or Tuesday.

What do we do now?! We wait! We are hoping that this week we will receive a court date for our first ruling. We are praying that this court date will be sometime in August! After the first ruling, we will have two more before we are able to travel. Please continue to be in prayer for  Jack Everett and those taking care of him and that the courts will move swiftly!

Blessings,

Sherra

Hurry up and wait!

Where do I start? Well Thursday was crazy (Got all of our legal documents notarized at the local and state level)...and then came Friday!   All of our legal paperwork had to go to Houston, Texas to TECO (Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office). 

There are a number of TECO offices across the U.S. but Mississippi is designated to Houston.  Once the paperwork is there, they will verify that all of the paperwork is legit and all of the notaries, local and state notaries, are correct.  IF we would have sent the paperwork via FedEx...it could have taken more than a few days for them to verify it once they received it.  So if we would have sent it FedEx there, the time it would take TECO to review and notarize the paperwork, and then send it back to us....would have taken TOO long! (Not to mention the website specifies that they are not responsible for lost documents!) So we decided to take the documents to TECO and personally deliver it to them.  This process only takes a few hours! Sherra dropped me off at the airport around 6 Friday morning and my flight left at 7:10.  After arriving in Houston at 8:30ish, I picked up a rental car and drove directly to TECO (found it with no problem!) Oh, this was my first trip to Houston and that city is just HUGE!Everyone at the office was extremely nice.  I was told that the paperwork would be finished around 11:30 so I could wait there or come check back then.  Lucky for me I decided to pack my running gear just in case I had to wait...so I went for a run.  I really enjoyed running through downtown Houston (it was very flat) and found a nice neighborhood to run through.  I made it back to the office at 11:20 and it was almost exactly 11:30 when she gave me the paperwork.  Now my flight was scheduled to head back to Jackson at 8:40 pm.  Luckily I contacted Mrs. Jo Ann (who set up all of my flight and rental car) and she informed me that there was a 3:00 flight heading back if I made it in time.  I called and verified the flight change and made it back to the airport with plenty of time to spare (after getting lost a few times on the way back...did I mention Houston is HUGE?).  My flight made it back safely and boy was I tired.  I slept late Saturday morning, which I do not usually do, and then we set out to FedEx.  The documents were sent to Taiwan Saturday morning...so now we wait and pray that they make it safely!  From there everything goes to the Taiwan courts and we wait some more! Oh the waiting......

Starting to Get a Glimpse of the Light

Hey guys! Today has been an exciting day for us! Yesterday, we received all of our paperwork from Taiwan....yippee! David & I immediately blocked our work and school schedules for today so we could begin the notary process. We started our day off with a nice, relaxing run this morning, which I needed because I did not sleep a wink last night! Running is always a good way to relieve stress.. at least for me anyway! Not sure about David...I think I slow him down quite a bit when we run together..but he's such a good sport and always provides me with words of encouragement during our runs :)

We immediately came home and got dressed and headed to the bank....1st stop for notary..thanks Ms. Janice! Following this, we headed downtown to the Secretary of State office for our second step in the notary process. As I told you guys in a previous post...this is a very meticulous process, but it is all so worth it! Tomorrow morning, David will fly to Houston to hand deliver our papers to the Taiwan officials at TECO...this is the final step of the notary process....woo hoo! You have the option of sending the papers through mail, but we are so ready for Jack Everett to come home and decided to hand deliver them ourself! This will take about two hours (if all goes as planned) and then he will fly back home tomorrow afternoon. We will immediately send these documents back to Taiwan and hope to be entered into the courts sometime next week. IF this happens, then it should be about 4-6 weeks until our first court hearing!!!

Please pray for a safe day of travel for David tomorrow! Thank you all for your prayers and kind words...Jack Everett sure has a lot of love to come home to! 

Many Blessings,

Sherra

Growing In Love & Faith

Tonight we enjoyed what has come to be, our weekly dinner at Mr. Chen's. When we are there, it makes us feel as if we are in Taiwan and that much closer to Jack Everett. As we sat down, I looked over at the table next to us, and there was the cutest Asian family enjoying their delicious meal. They had a son who was probably about 4 years old, and I could not keep my eyes off of him. My mind was overcome with thoughts of Jack Everett soon sitting there with us! As each day passes, my love and hopes for him grow stronger and stronger!! David and I began to talk about our love for him and our love for God, and how since we began this journey our faith has exploded! We know, 100% that this is the plan He had for us all along and we are more than honored that He chose us to adopt one of His children! We are excited to walk in this journey with Him and throughout our lives and can't wait for Jack Everett to join us! It is unimaginable to truly understand the love He has for us! 

So, what has been going on this week?....A LOT! Our final homestudy was sent to Taiwan and will be  FedEx'd to us on Monday. We are hopeful to receive it by Wednesday, along with other legal documents that will undergo an extensive notary proces. After this takes place (which will probably take about 2 weeks), we will immediately send it back to Taiwan and within 48 hours, be entered into the Taiwanese courts. On Wednesday, we sent in our USCIS application. This is immigration paperwork that must be done for Jack Everett to become a U.S. citizen and usually takes one-three months to be finalized. We aren't as rush, rush on this paperwork, because it is one of the final things that needs to be completed....BUT, of course we would like to have this done as soon as possible!

The next and most popular question we are asked is...when will y'all be bringing him home?! We wish more than anything, that this question had a "final" answer...but unfortunately is does not. We did receive an email today with a "guestimated" travel timeline that suggests November. Please continue to be in prayer for Jack Everett and those taking care of him. Please pray with us, that our paperwork will be completed very soon and entered into the courts.

Blessings,

Sherra