Blessings. . .

Just a quick update on everything that's going on. With your help we were able to make the first payment of $2776.25 and move forward! Over 10% percent of the puzzle pieces now have a sponsor. We hope to post the first pictures of the progress this week. It has been a tedious process to prepare the puzzle to get the names put on it. We are very thankful for all who have sponsored pieces and appreciate your patience in waiting for pictures of the progress.

We've been frantically gathering paperwork and finishing training for our homestudy. We have our last homestudy visit on April 9. Please pray that clearances come through quickly and that we'll have a second installment of $2776.25 and the $890 that we'll need to submit in order to get USCIS approval to bring Brooklyn home. We're continuing to believe that God is already working on hearts to help us be able to make those payment.

Please keep us in your prayers throughout this process and share this blog freely. Check back regularly for new updates. We expect to be updating more regularly now.

Finally, we received pictures this week from Brooklyn's birthday party on March 20. Our little girl turned 2! While we weren't there to celebrate with her this year we look forward to celebrating her next birthday with her!

Happy Birthday Brooklyn!

Today has been a somewhat sad day for us. Our little girl turned two and we were not there to celebrate with her. We were able to send her a cake along with a care package:

We hope to receive pictures from her birthday party!

If you'd like to give Brooklyn a gift by sponsoring one or more pieces of the puzzle you can do so by donating $10 per piece. You can sponsor pieces via the Paypal donate button on the right of the page or by mail to:

John and Deb Rich

780 Sweetwater Cir.

Old Hickory, TN 37138

We're going to be posting a picture of the puzzle progress soon. We're trying to get the puzzle together but have been busy with hours of paperwork and training in our attempt to get our homestudy completed quickly so that our dossier can be sent to China. Thank you to everyone who has joined us in this journey thus far. We still have plenty of puzzle pieces which need sponsors.

Happy Birthday Brooklyn!

Love,

Mama, Daddy, and JieJie (big sister Miriam)

Home visit

Thanks everyone for your prayers. The visit by our social worker went well yesterday. We had a good visit with her and discussed a lot of things. She did a walkthrough of our house. She also asked Miriam a few questions. Now we're working frantically to get our paperwork done so that we can have the second visit. It's really hard to write an autobiography quickly and make sure that you're properly covering all of the questions answered. We really want to make this adoption move along quickly. Please pray that we're able to complete these this week! Also, pray that all of our background checks come back quickly so that we can move on to the next phase in the process.

We're also working hard on getting the puzzle ready to show a status update. We would love for you to take part in this unique experience. Also, I encourage you to share our blog with anyone who might be interested in following our journey!

Next step -- homestudy

As we weave our way toward Brooklyn I want to keep you abreast of what's going on. On Monday our social worker is scheduled to come to our house in the next step toward completing our homestudy. She will be checking to make sure that our house is safe for a child. Please keep us in your prayers that we've not missed something.

We are also frantically working on other parts of the homestudy. There is a lot to do, and we are determined to get it done as quickly as possible. We have a lot of reading and required training courses to complete. We had to go to the police station to be fingerprinted last week. We are gathering birth certificates, financial information, and other documents that are required. We're even having to write fairly extensive autobiographies. It is almost overwhelming. If everyone had to go to this much trouble to have a child there would be a lot fewer children in the world. We know, though, that the result will be worth all of the effort. Just look at our little girl on the slide below . . . doesn't she look like she needs to be playing in our backyard?

 

On top of all of this we've been praising God for the work that he is doing through people like you. To date we have raised $1700 of the $2700 that we will need for the homestudy on Monday. Time is getting short, but I know that God will provide right on time.



PA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Praise the Lord!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have PA.

For those of you who aren't familiar with China adoption acronyms PA means pre-approval. This basically means that China has taken a look at our family situation and said that they will allow us to pursue the adoption.

So, without further ado, I am honored to be able to share with you a picture of our daughter to be, Brooklyn Miaoke Rich, born March 20, 2011 in Chongqing, China.

 

 

We are working hard to try to bring her home as soon as possible. We would love for you to come along beside us in this journey. We are progressing with the puzzle -- we already have 61 pieces of the puzzle sponsored. This is a start toward the mounting expenses. We have over $2700 in expenses which are due now, so we have a way to go. You can sponsor a piece of the puzzle by clicking the Donate button to the right or by mailing a check to us.

 

We ask for your continued prayer as we continue Weaving our Way to Brooklyn. This is going to be a long and crooked road, but with the help of your prayer we've passed the first milestone!