I800 Approved!

We officially received our I800 provisional approval on Saturday in the mail.  So exciting!  Now we wait to receive our confirmation letter from the National Visa Center.  At that point, we can apply for Hannah's visa and eventually receive Travel Approval from China.  We are still prayerful that we will travel in April.  Will you join us in praying for April travel?

We are so thankful for everyone's prayers and support.  We are humbled by the generosity of our family and friends.  We thank you for your help to bring Hannah home.  We are have raised about 60% of the monetary need to bring Hannah home.  It is not too late to donate!  You can make a tax deductible donation through our church, Bethany Baptist, or you may donate through Paypal.  God has already provided in BIG ways and we trust that He will provide the remaining amount in His timing.

During this adoption journey God has reminded us many times that all things happen in His timing.  It is so difficult to wait, but we know that there is purpose in the wait.  We serve a faithful, sovereign God that provides for all our needs.  We are so thankful!

This past week I was led to read Psalm 27.  I hope you find encouragement from the truth it speaks.

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall.

Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.

One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.

For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock.

And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord.

Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me!

 

You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.”

 

Hide not your face from me.  Turn not your servant away in anger,

O you who have been my help.  Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation!

 

For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in.

Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies.

 

Give me not up to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence.

I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!

 

Wait for the Lord;be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!

---

I800

We covet your prayers. Our I800 approval still has not been issued. It seems that mail to and from US Immigration is truely snail mail. It takes at least 7 days each way. The process to obtain approval is typically 10 days. We have been waiting since January 2nd. Our immigration officer did request two additional pieces of paper. After waiting a whole week to receive the notice, we finally received it. We overnighted the documents and they were delivered yesterday (2/10) morning. Our officer says it takes at least two days for the documents to arrive on her desk. Another week will come and go without approval. We are trusting that the approval will come in God's timing. It is hard to be still before the Lord and be patient. We hold onto His truth to not be anxious. We know there is power in prayer, so please join us in praying for our approval letter to arrive as soon as possible. Thank you!

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." ~Philippians 4:6

Support Update

We are excited to report that we are just over 25% to our fundraising goal!  Thank you to everyone that has donated thus far!

It is not too late to get involved!  We want to encourage you that no amount is too small and every dollar counts.  We have added the option to donate electronically on the left hand side of the blog.  Donating electronically will send the donation directly to our family and will not be tax deductible.  You may still make a tax deductible donation through Bethany Baptist Church.  If you would like to receive a support letter in the mail, please let us know.  You may also view it here.

We are so thankful to everyone that is helping to bring Hannah home.  We know that God's hand is in every detail.  We trust that He knows how this "bill" will be PAID IN FULL.  What a celebration that will be!  Until then, we ask that you pray.  Pray for Hannah, pray for our family, pray for all of the paperwork, and pray about how you can be involved with caring for the orphan. 

Now, a Hannah update!  We received an updated picture, videos and information in January.  It is always so exciting to have an update on our sweet girl!  This time was no exception!

 

 

 

Oh my goodness!  She is looking at our photo book that we sent her.  This picture is priceless!  We cannot wait to have her in our arms and in our photos!

 

We are currently waiting for our I-800 approval.  It is taking longer than expected.  We went to Naperville last week to renew our fingerprints.  We were told by our immigration officer that our I-800 approval would be issued this week.  We hope it arrives in our mailbox soon. 

 

We spoke with our agency.  March travel is out due to our I-800 delays.  We are hopeful to travel in April.  We would covet your prayers that we will be able to travel in April.  This would allow us to use our current visas before they expire and save some money. 

 

We thank you for following our journey back to China.  Please feel free to contact us with your questions.  You are loved!

 

"Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all." ~Matthew 6:31-32

 

 

 

 



 

 

Our Support Letter

Dear Family and Friends,

We are excited to be writing this letter to give you a glimpse of how God is currently working in our lives.  This past summer we were blessed to have our son, Micah, join our family through the miracle of adoption.  We are so thankful to God for the gift that Micah is to our family.  We are also thankful to everyone that helped to bring Micah home through prayer and financial donations.  God was faithful to provide in big ways!

Now, God has asked our family to step out in faith and obedience to follow Him again.  He has led us to a two-year-old girl from Shangrao City, China.  We have named her Hannah and she has stolen our hearts.  We wanted to share some details and some ways for you to come alongside us to give this little girl a loving home and a hope for the future.

You may be thinking, “Why are you adopting again?” or “Why so soon after Micah’s adoption?”  The short answer is God.  When He says “Follow me”, you leave your nets and start walking.  We have always felt God calling our family to adopt more than one child.  In fact, before we found Micah, we were originally looking to adopt a sibling group.  God led us to China, though, and adopting more than one child at a time was unlikely.  Nevertheless, our original paperwork with U.S. Immigration and DCFS was approved to adopt two children.

We knew we would have to wait for God’s perfect timing to bring home another adopted child.   That timing happened to be revealed to us while we were travelling in China.  There we connected with two other families that were also approved to adopt two children.  Talking with them put a second adoption on our hearts.  Additionally, Micah’s transition into our family went very smoothly.  So, a few days after returning from China we contacted our adoption agency and prayerfully submitted our application.  Since then, God has given us many more confirmations that this is exactly where our family needs to be.  Is it scary? Yes!  Do we trust in Him alone? Yes!  The Bible says we are all called to care for orphans, widows, sojourners, and the poor.  We feel we have been called to care for this one particular orphan through the miracle of adoption.

The adoption process has moved along quickly since we were able to reuse most of our paperwork.  At this time, our paperwork has been approved by the Chinese government and we have submitted paperwork for U.S. immigration.  We are hopeful that we will travel to China in March or April of this year!

Would you consider joining us in prayer?  Pray that we could be an instrument of God’s grace and a light to the world as we go through our journey.  Pray for Hannah to be in good health and have a soft heart to join our family.  Pray for wisdom and guidance for Matt and Deanna.  Please pray for the details of the adoption paper work to go smoothly.  Pray for safety during our travels to China.  Lastly, pray for Nathan, Micah, and Claire as they gain a new sibling.

Secondly, would you consider supporting our family through a financial gift?  Hannah’s adoption will cost more than $30,000.  In addition to our savings, some of that cost will be covered through the U.S. adoption tax credit, Matt’s employer, and support from our local church, Bethany Baptist.  With all things considered, though, there is a deficit of over $16,000 to bring Hannah home.  God was faithful to provide for Micah’s adoption and we are confident he will provide for Hannah’s adoption as well.  If you would like to stand beside us on our journey and help meet this need, please return the enclosed card and envelope at your earliest convenience.

Thank you in advance for your prayers and your gifts.  You are a blessing to our family!

In Christ’s Service,

Matt, Deanna, Nathan, Micah, and Claire Marquette                     

LOA

It is with great excitement that we can tell you that we received our LOA!  This is our acceptance letter from the Chinese government.  We were hopeful that we would receive it before the end of the year.  On day 60 of the wait, we received the phone call.  The Chinese government closed on December 27th to upgrade their computer system.  God answered prayers and the letter was issued on December 26th.  God is good!

The process from this point forward is fairly predictable.  We are hopeful to be traveling to China in March or April.  So close!  There is still a lot of paperwork from now until then in addition to raising support to bring Hannah home.  Stay tuned for opportunities to support Hannah's adoption. 

Working on paperwork for U.S. Immigration

In the meantime, preparations continue and excitement grows in anticipation of her arrival.  We are so thankful to God and our prayer partners for bringing us this far in the process.  We cannot wait to hold our little girl in our arms!

 

Claire is ready for her new roommate

 

 

6 months

Wow! This post has been a long time coming!  It has been a work in process since mid-November, but illness and computer troubles have kept us from keeping you up to date.

Here is the short update from November:

We can't believe that Micah has been with us for 5 months! This was a busy month.
He celebrated his first Halloween dressed as Captain America.  He walked in the neighborhood parade and went trick-or-treating. He loved every minute of it! Of course, the candy was an extra bonus.
Micah celebrated his 6th birthday! He has been looking forward to his birthday, and the excitement surrounding the big day. He wanted everything to be about Jake and the Neverland Pirates. We had a party with friends and then traveled to Chicago to celebrate with family.  He also met his new cousin, Brooklyn.
With all of the cake and candy, he gained two pounds.  Now, that is something to celebrate!
The week of his birthday was also the week he had his activity restrictions lifted from his surgery. This meant one thing...hockey! He had been counting the days until he could join mei mei Claire on the ice.  It was finally time! He spent most of his time laying on the ice at first, but he has come a long way in a short time.  He loves it!

 

 

 

6 month update:
This month has also been filled with holidays, traditions, family and fun!  It started off with his first performance in the church musical.  He loves to sing! He has been begging for snow and at the first sign of sticking snow, he was out in it exploring and sledding. The end of the month we travelled to Missouri and celebrated Thanksgiving with Matt's family. Micah met more family, including his cousin Cooper who is also adopted from China.
At the beginning of December we started preparing our home for the celebration of Jesus' birthday. It was exciting to decorate our home and hang Micah's stocking for the first time.  He is very excited about all of the traditions at this time of year. We made a trip to a local tree farm to cut down Micah's first Christmas tree. The amazement on his face as he sees new things is so fun and a great blessing.

 

 

First Thanksgiving at Great Grandma Marquette's home

 



 

 

 

Celebrating 6 months since Gotcha Day!

 

Over 3 inches grown

5 pounds gained

Fluent in English

Loves Jake and the Neverland Pirates

Loves playing hockey

Doing well in school

 

A great blessing!  God is so good!

 

 

 



1 month home

6 months home

LID

Log In Date (LID)

Today our dossier was logged in at the CCCWA.  What does this mean?  Praying and waiting.  The next step would be receiving our LOA (Letter of Acceptance).  This process takes 2-4 months.  There is no way of predicting the date.  The CCCWA has no method to their madness.  We waited 63 days for Micah's LOA, but who's counting anyway? ;)  We know that all things happen in God's timing.  For that, we are thankful!