Can We Count You In?

We've not posted an update on the progress on the puzzle in a while. . . and there has been quite a bit of progress! About 3/4 of the pieces have been sponsored! Look at how it's coming together!

Would it be possible for the puzzle to be completed by Thanksgiving? Do you have your name on the puzzle yet? Have you been waiting for the right time? Now would be that time! We're hoping to be able to travel in January. It would be nice to go into the holidays with the peace of mind in knowing that the adoption is fully funded. If we can have the puzzle completed by Thanksgiving it gives us the opportunity to have it framed and in her room by Christmas and ready for her to come home in January. Can we count you in to sponsor one or more pieces to help us reach that goal?

For every $10 that you donate we'll write your name, or a name that you designate, on the back of a puzzle piece. Brooklyn will be able to see your name and know that you helped to make a difference in her life.

You can sponsor pieces of the puzzle by clicking on the Donate button on the left or by mailing a check to us:

John and Deb Rich

780 Sweetwater Circle

Old Hickory, TN  37138

Please be sure to include the exact names that you want on your pieces. If paying via the Paypal button please be sure to put Puzzle Pieces in the Purpose line and then click on Add Special Instructions to Recipient and put each name on a separate line in the box. If paying via check be sure to include this same information in a note included with the check.

A Gift of Bountiful Blessings

HAVE YOU HEARD THE NEWS????  

The cookbooks are IN!!!

$10

A Gift of Bountiful Blessings is the name of our adoption fundraising cookbook.  It was so named because God has blessed us with "Bountiful Blessings" through this adoption journey.  It contains 238 delicious recipes just waiting for you to try. 

Be sure to get your copy today.  It would also be a great birthday, Christmas  or any occasion present for friends and family!!!

You can get your copy today for only $10.  All proceeds from this cookbook will go towards the orphanage fee for our adoption.... so in other words... you will be helping us bring Brooklyn home!!!  

If you live in the Greater Nashville (including Smith County), Knoxville, or Williamsburg, KY areas we will be happy to deliver them to you. Please email us at john.rich780@comcast.net to place your order. We can also ship them to you.  Please add $3.25 for shipping and handling.  If we're shipping your cookbooks you can place your order through the Paypal Donate button located on left.  Please be sure to put cookbooks and how many copies you want in the Purpose section. We will send a confirmation email that we have received your order. 

What part can you play in this adoption???   1.  Buy a copy of the cookbook for yourself.

                                                                 2.  Get 3 (or more) friends, family or coworkers 

                                                                      to buy copies too.
                                                                 3.  Pray for us and Brooklyn through the remaining
                                                                      steps of the adoption process.

With many thanks to the 89 people that wove a strand into Brooklyn's life by helping us create this labor of love. It is our hope that you enjoy A Gift of Bountiful Blessings!

Where we Are

One of the questions that we get often is, "When are you going to bring Brooklyn home?" The answer to that question is I don't know." We can make some guesses based on where we are in the process, and those guesses will get better as we get closer. Unfortunately now isn't the time that we have much more certainty in our travel time.

Our next step in the process is to have an official log in date (LID). This is when the clock officially starts ticking in China toward the next major goal, a Letter of Acceptance (LOA). This is also when our agency told us that we can get an update, including an answer to some questions that we have, from the orphanage. We received word yesterday that there is an issue in which the agency is not getting online notification of LID dates. We were assured that everything is still moving in China, the agency just doesn't have access to the information about where our paperwork is in the process. Please pray with us that this is remedied soon and we'll have a quick LID.

The step to LOA is a very unknown timeframe right now. Some come within about a month while others wait three to four months. There does not appear to be any rhyme or reason. It is our prayer that our LID is in August and LOA comes by the first of October. If we can meet this timeline then we may possibly be travelling just before the end of the year. Otherwise travel will be sometime in early 2014. Please pray that our LOA comes quickly.

Once we have received LOA the process appears to be more predictable. It is about 60 days from LOA to Travel Authorization (TA). From TA travel can be as soon as a few days, but is more likely to be in the two to three week range. Of course, as with everything else, things can change.

I also have great news about the cookbooks. We have placed the order with the printer. We expect to have a shipment in 5 - 6 weeks. Be sure to get your copy from us when they arrive!

Count Your Blessings, Name Them One by One

While we can't begin to name all of the blessings that we have received during this process we can name a few from just yesterday and, as the old hymn says "see what God hath done!"

Yesterday was an exciting day at our house. We received an email late in the afternoon that we were officially DTC. This means that our adoption agency has officially delivered all of our paperwork (which is referred to as a dossier) to DHL to make the long trip to China. This is a HUGE event! After our dossier reaches China it will be logged in by the CCCWA, the agency that overseas adoption in China. We expect this to occur within one to three weeks. This begins the wait for our next big milestone, a Letter of Acceptance, which is referred to as LOA. The timeframe for receiving LOA is hard to predict right now. Please pray that this comes quickly so that we can bring our little Brooklyn home to her forever family.

We received this information on what was already a day of blessings. As Deb and Miriam were preparing to start their homeschool day, they heard the doorbell ring and were pleasantly surprised to see our neighbor and friend, Pastor H. L. Edwards from The Merge Church where we've been attending.  He came by to bring blessings for Brooklyn...a donation from the church. Thank You to Bro. H.L. and the Merge Church family! Your support has been encouraging and Bro. H.L. your messages have been so uplifting and God has spoken to us during many of them.  Brooklyn will forever see the part you and the church played in helping bring her home with the church's name on pieces of her puzzle!  THANK YOU!

The blessing kept pouring down as I reviewed the bank account that we have set up for Brooklyn's adoption and saw a deposit from Amazon. Thanks to those of you who have taken the time to click through our blog to Amazon. It will make a difference in the life of a little girl in China. The blessings didn't stop there, though.

We were blessed with a generous donation from a dear friend from Deb's hometown.  Thank you friend for your continued support of our family and this adoption!  You were a blessing on a special day!  We love you!

On this beautiful day in Tennessee showers of blessings continued to pour down upon a little girl on the other side of the world! When we count these blessings we are reminded of what God is doing and that He is good. 

Continued Blessings

We continue to be blessed throughout this adoption process by those who give time, money, and encouragement. This weekend was no exception as I had the opportunity to talk about our adoption with some of you at Pleasant Shade. We were also blessed with a gift from Pleasant Shade Upper Cumberland Presbyterian Church to go toward our adoption. We are ever so grateful. We have added these pieces to our puzzle!

There are now 444 precious pieces of this puzzle for which people have generously donated to weave a thread into the life of a little girl in China. Each donation, no matter how large or how small, has made a difference for a little girl who doesn't know what it means to have people who love her. As you can see there are still plenty of pieces waiting to be woven together to create a beautiful picture, bringing together Brooklyn's homeland on the front with the many people who made a difference on the back. Is God calling you to weave a thread into her life? Each piece sponsored for $10 will have your name written on the back, visible in the double sided frame that we will put it in. You can sponsor pieces by sending us a check to:

John and Deb Rich
780 Sweetwater Cir.
Old Hickory, TN 37138

You can also click on the Donate button on this page to donate via Paypal.

Dossier, airplane, cookbook, and puzzle

I just thought I would write a quick update. We were able to send our completed dossier (our official paperwork that has been our life for the last 6 months) to Washington D.C. to get final authentications from the U.S. State Department and the Chinese Embassy.

Miriam was really excited to know that our dossier was going on an airplane. She kept looking for the plane. I'm not sure she understood that it was going on a truck to the airport first.

With our paperwork arriving in D.C. today we hope to have it all completed and on its way to China next week.

We're in the process of proofreading the cookbook and getting it ready for publication. We'll be sure to let you know when it's ready for sale. We believe that it's going to be a great cookbook thanks to all of you who have so generously helped. Thank you for every recipe that was submitted. They're all appreciated.

Finally, a quick reminder that our puzzle fundraiser is ongoing. Have you sponsored any pieces yet? If not you can do so via Paypal by clicking on the link at the left, or by mailing a donation to us at 780 Sweetwater Cir., Old Hickory, TN 37138.

Don't get in line with me

Have you ever got behind me in a grocery checkout line. Let me give you some advice. Don't! My line is ALWAYS the longest, even if it appears to be the shortest.

That seems to work for me in the adoption world as well. Back in 2005 when we began the paperchase to bring Miriam home the wait for a non special needs child in China was 6 months from the time that your paperwork was logged into the system in China. Today people have been waiting in that line 7 years. It's my fault because I got in line. Fortunately we were able to get out of that line and get in another one to bring Miriam home.

Once again I'm seeing wait times increasing. We got word yesterday that our I-800A application has been approved. This is the USCIS saying that Deb and I are allowed to bring an orphan into the country. This process had been taking about 40 days. Its now taking about 2 months for us and those who are in line with us. Our next step once we have our documents authenticated at the Chinese Embassy in Washington D.C. is to send our paperwork (dossier) to China and await a Letter of Acceptance (LOA). This process has now slowed to the point that some people have waited over 120 days. Once again it must be because I'm in line.

There are many other steps in the process where things could slow down. Please pray that things go quickly. There's a little girl in China who desperately needs a family, and a family in the U.S. who desperately want to bring home their little girl!

Our puzzle fundraiser has also seemed to slow down. We really need more pieces to the puzzle to be sponsored. We're planning other fundraising ideas so stay tuned!