TA for Thanksgiving

The second to last part of our adoption waiting is over!  On Monday we received the best news that we would be traveling to get our son very soon!  The wait to receive our travel approval was one of the longest periods of waiting that we have been through, but now that it's here, we are in GO mode trying to get everything done in our home and everything packed to bring to China...wew!  

I have been blessed with meeting so many amazing people who have helped with the process each step of the way. Some of the connections and friendships made were through blogging and I can't thank the Lord enough for those people in our lives. They have answered numerous questions, given suggestions, encouraged us and prayed for us through this entire journey!! Some have even recently given me packing lists that are absolutely perfect for making sure we have everything we need! The Lord has greatly blessed us!

The most exciting part of traveling is that I will be able to look directly into those big, brown eyes, kiss those chubby cheeks, hold that cuddly boy and whisper sweet prayers of love and thanks into his ear.  It's been almost 5 months since we saw that tiny 1 year old boy in a picture and knew he was ours.  It's been almost five months since we were blessed with a son and almost five months since we became a Mama and Baba.  Amazing!

The wait is hard and times unbearable to think about your child not having your arms to hug him and comfort him.  To pick him up when he is sad, to kiss booboos and to whisper "I love you" in his ear.  I had to be very careful not to get discouraged and let my mind wonder.  I relied 110% on Jesus to intervene and take fear from me.  I trusted the Lord to protect Eli and placed him in our Redeemers hands...without that hope I don't know what I would have done.  It's not a walk I would have wanted to do alone, thank you Jesus!

We are so excited for our trip and are now getting packed and ready to go.  We have tons of friends, family and neighbors praying for us, covering us with the Word and staying at our house while we are away (huge blessing!).  We ask you keep  in prayer  :

• We are protected at all times by the Blood of Jesus
• That all our flights are on time, protected and we have traveling mercies
• That we are free from illness, disease and infirmity the whole time there and coming home
• That all our appointments will go smoothly without any difficulties
• That Eli will be filled with joy and peace as he transitions into our family
• That Eli will bond and attach quickly by the power of the Lord
• That AJ and I have the mind of Christ and are given
  wisdom to help Eli, provide for him and keep him safe
• That we will all return home healthy, happy and filled with the joy of the Lord

It is a such an amazing time for us and our family!  We feel blessed to have shared the journey this far and for you all to experience the next part of our journey to get Eli!  We only have a short time left of being of family of 2 before there are 3!!!!  For that we are THANKFUL! 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

God is GOOD and we are BLESSED!

And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes Me.

Matthew 18:5

Showers of Happiness

A lot has been going on here in the our household since my last post!  I can't believe it's been two months since I posted about Eli and I feel like I have A LOT of catching up to do!  

In Vermont enjoying everything about it!

We have been on GO GO GO since September and I cannot believe we will be celebrating Christmas very soon!  In October, AJ and I and my side of the family traveled up to our usual spot in Vermont for some peace, rest and beautiful scenery---most of which you do not get here in the Tri-State area (those who live here KNOW---the pace ooohhh the pace!!!).  Once we came home, the following weekend my mom and I traveled up to Rochester, NY where AJ's family lives.  My MIL had a sweet shower at her home where I was blessed with a lot of nice things for Eli (he will not be lacking in the clothing department that's for sure)!  We literally drove up late Friday night, had the shower on Saturday and rushed back home early Sunday morning.  WEW!!!  AJ did not come up with me this time because he has been working on a bathroom project and it's crunch time to finish!  THANK YOU to our bestest friends Dan and Theresa for sacrificing so much of their weekends to help us!  I'll tell you what, our friends are not just friends they are most definitely an extension of our family--I think that's the best way to have friends!!!!

Mom and sweet MIL

My amazing SIL and me!

This past weekend my mom and I hosted a beautiful shower at a gorgeous country club down the rode from where my parents lives!  The club did an amazing job with food and service, it was wonderful!  I had soooo much fun coming up with a color scheme, deciding decorations and planning the day!   Pinterest is dangerous..very dangerous...but ooooooo how I love thee!!!!  It's a really good thing Pinterest was not around when I got married because my wedding probably would have cost double with all the ideas I would have wanted to cram into the day!  Anywho I digress! But seriously I love Pinterest..nough said!

 I remembering just dreaming about this moment and wondering if it would ever happen for me!  Guess what!?  It did!!!!

 

Pinterest is the best as well as a touch of artistic ability from my Great Grand Father Bevalet (he helped design the statue at Rockefeller Center) and my Aunt Tara who made the incredible center pieces!

The day of my shower was like a dream!  The room was filled with so much love, happiness, support and the presence of God!  I really felt like I was floating and I don't think my feet really touched the ground
the whole afternoon!  It was amazing to see people from
different times in my life gather in one room to celebrate the beginning of what God has ALWAYS called me to be ...a MOM!  I had a dear friend whose sons I nannied for when they were 2 and 9 months...they are now 17 and 16  WHAT!!!!!!!! I had my best friend there who started college with me 16 years ago and we have not left each other's side since (we live like 15 minutes away!) Many women from our church came, all of which have blessed me with friendship over the recent years.  A lot of my family was there, as they always are to support and love us!  I love my family! Childhood friends/ neighbors and their parents came and present coworkers who have loved and encouraged me through the struggle of infertility were there! Of course my most cherished person was there-my mom!  Without her, oh my, I don't know how this would have been possible!  She is the most loving, giving and selfless woman I know!  It was a room filled with history and love, perfect for welcoming Eli!

My amazing BEST friend..we were meant to be sisters!

The day went so fast and I was blessed with an incredible amount of gifts for Eli....you all did not hold back!  I would apologize for making everyone sit through the tedious task of opening every present, but you all did it to yourselves...MY GOODNESS!!!!!  Hee hee!!!  No really I can't believe the outpouring of generosity, amazing!

Now that the last month of baby shower frenzy is over, AJ and I are now focusing on the last details before we leave for China!  We will know by next week when we go and I cannot believe it is happening..I can't wait to kiss Eli's sweet cheeks!  We have finishing touches on his room to do, finishing our bathroom project and organizing all the stuff we need to pack and bring to China...it's a lot people...A LOT (those who have done this know)!  We will be heading into the doctor's office this weekend to conference with our doctor about our travels, get vaccinations and prescriptions for meds to take with us.  It's the final countdown now and we cannot wait to go!  We promise we will let everyone know when we go and when we return so that those who want to be at the airport to welcome Eli home can be there!

Well I realize this post is rambling and very long, that's why I need to post more often...just hasn't been enough time!  I realize I want to document more of Eli though once home and I'll have to commit to it more so!  We can't thank all of you enough for blessing us so greatly through prayers, doniations, gifts and above all LOVE! Eli is one loved boy and we are blessed to be bringing him home!!!!!

Mom beautiful, giving, Godly Mom and I! I love her sooo much!

God is good and we are BLESSED!!!!

 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.

Ruth 1:16

Welcoming the Precious One

I had a necklace made for me in the beginning of this year which said Ying Bei  meaning  "welcoming the precious one" in Mandarin.  I didn't want to get one that said "Mama" or "adoption."  I wanted one that meant exactly how I felt for so long and what AJ and I were working toward at that very moment.  That necklace was a proclamation of faith, of yearning, of what we were petitioning the Lord for all this time. I faithfully put it on everyday and wore it to work, to family gatherings, to dinners out with the Hubby. It was calling things that were not as though they were!  Faith put into action!

All that time I would proclaim God's favor on us, His perfect timing and perfect match for us.  I wore that necklace almost as if I was wearing our expected child around my neck, carrying them with me everywhere I went,  Pretty soon though I will need a new necklace that means "Mama" or " the precious one is HERE!"

We would like to Welcome the Precious One!!

Little Eli will be coming home in December and we are in awe of God's blessings and faithfulness in our lives! God does heal the brokenhearted, He is faithful always and gives us the desires of our hearts!  We knew he was ours before we even laid eyes on him!

God's timing has been remarkable in all of this!  We were waiting so long over the summer for our LID and I was beginning to think that we weren't going to get a match until next year. Well, God tends to do things in way that only He gets the glory and my goodness does He ever!  A week and a half, yes a WEEK and a HALF, after we received our LID, we received a phone call on a Tuesday afternoon while both of us were at work, that our agency had a little boy waiting for us!  I was in utter disbelief and was stunned that we had a referral!!  Again, this is how God works..suddenly and miraculously!  We took one look at his file and we knew Eli was ours!  We consulted with our doctor in Philly and accepted his referral right after the conversation with her!

A few days later, we received a current video and a few more pictures of Eli and we were so joyfilled and teary-eyed we could hardly see the pics!

Eli at 15 months

God has been so incredibly good to us and I know there must have been soooo many times He just wanted to say to me "if you only knew what I had in store for you!"  I have learned so much about the Lord, about His faithfulness in HIS TIMING and not mine, and that if our faith and hope is in Him, we will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!  It's just the unwaivering faith part that I struggle with at times!  But, through this whole journey, every tear, every heartache, every disappointment, and every form we had to fill out and continue to fill out, I have become a stronger woman in Christ and I have become a Mom!  What more could a person ask for!?

 God is GOOD and we are BLESSED!

The Lord has done this,

and it is marvelous in our eyes.

Psalm 118:23

TIME + PATIENCE X FAITH = LID!!

WE FINALLY HAVE OUR LOG IN DATE!!!!We could not be more thrilled and relieved that the most ridiculous wait is over and we are logged in with the CCCWA.  We received the news from our adoption agency on Thursday July 11 that we were logged in as of May 13th.  Hmmmmmmm, some may wonder why the hold up, why did it take two months to get that information?  That's a really good question and one I would loved answered, but unfortunately when dealing with other countries that do not do things the way we do things here, it can be quite baffling!

You see right when our paperwork was logged in, the CCCWA decided to implement a whole new computer system for adoption agencies across the globe to access information.  It would streamline how agencies received important dates, information on referrals and other information for adoptive families.  Sounds good, right?  Sooooooooo WRONG!!!!  The system literally crashed the moment it was implemented (why they never did a test run before fully implementing it is beyond me) and everything came to sudden stop, i mean E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G! Not one single piece of information was coming out of the CCCWA -no travel approvals, referrals, letter of acceptances, and no log in dates.  Everyone across the world was frozen in their steps with the system failure.

Well one would think that if you have a system failure you get your IT guys and fix it ASAP.  NOPE not at all!  It literally took a month and a half for them to get everything going where information could be sent.  It was so hard knowing we had lost almost two months of referrals before our agency could access our actual date of our LID.  BUT we are logged in now and we are so grateful.  I guess going through 5+ years of infertility makes a person good at waiting, waiting and patience ...which all grows and strengthens our faith.  I am so glad the LORD provided such peace during that whole debacle.

We are coming down the home stretch and are simply waiting for our family to become forever...it won't be long now!  I know Jesus has so much in store for us and we are so excited.  During that waiting period for our LID I had to really fight against being upset or losing hope.  I reminded myself that with God all things are possible and not to fear.  I could not have stayed as calm and peace-filled without the WORD.  I think that's why I didn't blog for so long.  I had to stay focus and not let any distractions get me down and I think blogging about waiting would have turned my faith down a bit.  

So here we are again waiting...but this time it's the most important wait...to be matched!!!!!!  This little one(s) is so wanted and adored and loved and prayed over already and I cannot wait to them face to face.  I pray they know how special, loved and WANTED they are.....

 God is good and we are BLESSED!

And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us

Romans 5:5

LIDDDDD Wheeerreee AAAREEE YOOOUUUU!!!

A quick update for you all!  Our dossier was received in Beijing on May 6th.  This week we found out that our dossier has been logged with the CCCWA, but our agency could not access our Log In Date which is necessary before they can start the matching process...happy that our paperwork is logged in...yes, frustrated that they couldn't access our LID.....a touch!  You see just as our dossier was logged in, the CCCWA (The China Center for Children’s Welfare and Adoption) decided that would be a good time to update their database systems, which put matching and dossier processing on hold for what was supposed to be a week...it was longer that.  In the world of adoption you NEVER want to wait longer than you should because let's face it we do enough of that already!

So we waited this week, somewhat patiently, praying believing and speaking scripture over their systems to be fixed.  We got word from our agency on Friday that the systems are now completely up and running and we should have our LID Monday which means America World can start the matching process for us!!!!!!!   WOOHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (and no that was not an overuse of exclamation points..some of you can relate).  PLease keep use in prayer for:   * the matching process to be quick
        * we will travel quickly
        * all our needs will be met with overabundance

We love you all and if you have not sponsored a puzzle piece to help bring our babies home please check out the puzzle icon on the right for more info or donate through our PayPal button on the top right!  We need as much support as possible!  Love you all!

God is Good and we are BLESSED!

He lifts up a banner for the distant nations, he whistles for those at the ends of the earth. Here they come, swiftly and speedily!

Isaiah 5:26

Fun Times with Family!

Over Memorial Day Weekend AJ and I took the long drive upstate to Rochester, NY to visit AJ's side of the family!  We had been away from them since Thanksgiving and it was a WAAAAAAYYY overdue visit.  We had such an awesome time catching up with friends and family and just simply hanging out and laughing (we do a lot of that when we are together)!  AJ and his sister have such great senses of humor and the two of them together will get you laughing so hard you might just tinkle your pants!  Most of the humor, though, is at the expense of their mom, but still funny all the same (sorry Peggy).

The first night we were there, AJ took his Dad to an all you can eat Chinese Buffet and the Ladies (my MIL and SIL) got to spend the evening together at Black and Blue...yummmmmmm. Us ladies definitely got the way better end of the deal and had such a great night...love these gals!!!

Meaghann and I have such a special bond...love this gorgeous girl!

Not too many people can say they can't wait to hang with their MIL, but I CAN!!!!  Love her!

Always a great dinner when you have these too to chat with!

 We spent almost a full week up in Rochester and enjoyed the gorgeous weather even though it was a bit chilly.  I love upstate New York. The pace is soooooo much slower than New Jersey and I feel like I can breathe when I am up there.  We are not constantly rushing here and rushing there...there is definitely a huge emphasis on family up there and people's lives center around it...I love that!  Here in New Jersey it's all about running to the next thing and WORK..which is not the life either of us want for our children. NOT A FAN OF NEW JERSEY at all!!!!!!!!!!!!

We had so much fun relaxing and visiting with family.  AJ's cousin Neal and his wife Lisa came to visit us and check in on how our adoption process is going.  It was awesome seeing them and getting the chance to visit!  We spent Sunday dinner at AJ's dad's house and usually it is a HUGE Italian feast with many MANY family members, but this time it was just a HUGE Italian feast minus the family members....you can never have too much food!  He made a delicious dinner filled with copious amounts of grilled meats, salads and of course bread.  We always leave with bellies full and doggie bags!

The Pilato Men!

This is one of the smaller meals I have seen at his Dad's house and there was enough food for 50 people!

meat...lots of meat

We had so much fun being with friends and family,  most importantly our family.  For AJ and I, family is one of the most important things in our lives, God being first.  We enjoy spending our time with them and CANNOT wait to add to the bunch!  Everyone is soooooo excited to welcome the Pilato babies home!   Love your family, enjoy them, forgive them, support them, teach your children how to be a part of a family and honor your family.  There are 147 million children out there that would LOVE the chance to have one to call their own...don't ever let anything come between the strong bond of family!

 GOD IS GOOD AND WE ARE BLESSED!!!

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 

Exodus 20:12

The Wait Is On!

I think going through years of infertility prepared AJ and I for the waiting process of adoption. There is ALWAYS some sort of waiting involved in every step of the adoption process: waiting to confirm with the Lord this His plan, waiting for your application to the agency to be approved, waiting to have the paperwork sent to us, waiting to get approval on paperwork, waiting for others to fill out paperwork and so on...it's one big test of patience and FAITH!

Now AJ and I are in the most important waiting stage of adoption and the waiting only gets more exciting and challenging as we are so much closer to seeing our children for the first time!  Our dossier arrived in Beijing May 6th..you better believe I checked the FedEx tracking website like 5 bazillion times before it said it was officially delivered on that Monday.  From that point on it has now been a waiting process and a major prayer endeavor to pray it through the right hands to get our Log In Date.  It's a HUGE deal to have our Log In Date because that means we are ready to accept referrals of children!!!  WOW!!!  This time last year we were just praying about adoption!  We are believing and praying that this process to our LID and accepting referrals for children will go quickly.  God has been so faithful to us and has pushed paperwork through much faster than expected before and we truly believe He will do it again for us!

Please keep our dossier and LID in prayer: that the LORD will makes path smooth and straight for it and it will reach the right hands.  We also want people who come in contact with our paperwork to have an encounter with the LORD and to come to know Him!  We are believing that we will have our LID tomorrow in Jesus name!  WE trust the Lord and all He has done for us during this process!  We thank all of you who lift us up daily and keep us in your prayers.  We feel God's Love all the time and know His hand reigns in all we do!


God is Good and we are BLESSED!

 The Lord has done this,
    and it is marvelous in our eyes. 

 The Lord has done it this very day;
    let us rejoice today and be glad.

Pslam 118:23-24