Happy Halloween and Birthdays too....

Happy 8th Birthday Zach!! I cant believe my baby turned 8 years old on Tuesday! He had a wonderful day with halloween cupcakes at school and dinner at Texas Roadhouse for his special day. He will be having his big "friend" party next weekend at the Natatorium and all his buddies.



What a wonderful night for trick or treating! I could not have asked for better weather or a better group of kids for my kiddos to "hang" with. Taylor was a "Zombie Nurse" Emily was a "baby" and Zach was a "Ninja" It is funny to me how much he is into all things he perceives as "Chinese". He is so very anxious to have a little brother and is constantly asking us question about him. We have about 30 houses in our neighborhood and that was not quite enough candy for my kids or Tim for that matter so they ventured into the next addition over where we know people as well. What a load of candy they brought in...I wont have to be buying snacks for a long time. This is an especially big treat since I have been refusing to buy any "junky" snacks or cereals for the last few months in an effort for us all to eat better. Now my kids can be on a sugar high for the next month :-) Oh well, I guess I can save $$$ on my grocery bill.

New Page

Hi,
I added a new blog site to our list. This one is located right above "Why International adoption is so expensive" and it is for a blog that will be devoted to our fundraising efforts as well as prayer requests for us. www.helpsammycomehome.blogspot.com
I know that some people may not want to hear all about our latest fundraising efforts and that is perfectly fine. This way I have a central place for those of you who would like to partner with us. I dont have alot posted in there right now, but there is a really really cool adoption video that I found from another mom's site (thanks Tara!!) that I think you all should watch. The video gives a glimpse into life as an orphan and many of the children featured are from China. The video takes a while to load...but it is worth it.
Good Night,

Sad News, Good News and Better opportunities

We have had an eventful week to say the least here in the Dini household!!

The Good news is that we have been logged into the National Benefits Center (NBC) for our I800A paperwork. This is the first long wait we will have in our adoption process. I spoke to a very nice officer for NBC on Thursday and we were logged in as of October 22 (Wed) and now we have to wait until we recieve our notification to go and get fingerprinted. (Within a month or so...) Then it can take up to 90 day for our case to be assigned to a specific officer and reviewed. The date for that 90 days is January 20th. We are supposed to be DTC (Dossier to China by December 24th) so that puts us into a bind with the CCAA (Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs) but we are praying that they either grant us an extension or that NBC hurries up!

Our Sad news is that we gave up Tim's much beloved Monte Carlo SS Supercharged Coupe last night. It was purely a financial move for us that would net us another much needed 2000.00 for our adoption expenses as well as get us much better savings for our gas budget. We were able to trade it in on a little 4 cylinder Saturn Ion that actually has 4 doors. I had bought this for Tim's birthday gift 2 years ago since he had never had anything but beater cars...so it was a sad goodbye but we are trying to be practical as well as good financial stewards.

Our Better opportunity was also offered to us this week.
We have been accepted to partner with Kingdom Kids Adoption Ministries. They will take donations from anyone who would like to partner with us in our adoption. The benefit is that it is tax deductible for anyone who feels called to financially support us. Donations can be mailed as long as there is no notation of our names on the check or via their website (see our "partners" link on the side) or www.kingdomkidsadoption.org click on donations and then family grant donation and follow the instructions...We are very grateful and blessed to have this opportunity to have the ability to be involved in this program. We are working very hard to save and raise the money for the next step in our process. We will need appx 8000.00 for our Dossier to go to China then we still have our travel fees. We completely understand that finances are hard for everyone right now, and appreciate any support you can give to us with this venture.
We also are asking for prayerful support:
-for Samuel that he remains healthy with all the recalls in China
-that we are able to either recive our approval from immigration in time or that CCAA approves our extension request
-for us to have continued patience and faithfulness and trust in Gods Plan for us

Thank you all for everyones support!!!
Love,

Just waiting...

Hi!
Sorry it has been a while since we have updated! We are just kind of in a holding pattern adoptionwise right now. Our paperwork has finally been sent to immigration (last week!!) So I will be calling in a few days to see if we have been logged in yet. We will then wait for our fingerprinting appt and then wait some more for our approval letter if our homestudy doesnt need any revisions. Immigration is certainly picky regarding the wording of the homestudies since the Hauge convention! It is stated that the wait is somewhere around 90 days so lets start counting down!!

"Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD."
Psalm 27:14 KJV

But if we look forward to something we don't have yet, we must wait patiently and confidently.
Romans 8:25 NLT

These are the verses I am concentrating on this week. We are doing alot of waiting and really need to be confident and know that this is His plan and His timing and it will all happen when He plans it no matter what is happening in immigration or China.

We also (or should I say I) have been busy applying for grants in more fundraising efforts. We have applied for a private grant that an adoptive mom has started for special needs little ones, as well as one from helpusadopt.org.
We are currently applying for assistance from Kingdom kids as well, but that is a different program all together. I have gotten a lot of questions on the cost of international adoption and I have put together another site that explains things a bit better. Also due to being stills short at work I am still able to work overtime for several more weeks!! That and taking on call so often is certainly helping our adoption budget as well!!

We have our second adoption class this weekend and sent off our photobook with mandarin/english translation with another family traveling soon! Lots of little baby steps have been happening here and things are getting busy with Zach and Ems birthdays fast approaching as well as the holidays! We are praying that time passes quickly with the business.
We had Zachs soccer awards night for upwards this week and I thought I would post a few pictures of him for any of you who are interested....







Soccer is over for fall and we are searching for a winter league. Em is taking a hiatus from the halloween plays and is going to do some afterschool programs. Taylor is concentrating on her school work and her pretty active social life. She has been busy babysitting and likes earning her own money!

Well that is it for now from the Dini household...Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers!

Blessings,

Fall Apple Picking...

We had a wonderful weekend and some great family time. Emily and I went shopping during a mom/daughter day out and Zach scored 3 goals in his soccer game!! We all went apple picking as a family on saturday and had such a great time. It was beautiful weather and perfect temperature. Then Tim and I had a much needed "date night" where we went out to eat at the local chinese resturant :-) Then on Sunday we attended the baptism of our good friends daughter and then just relaxed! What a great weekend! Here are some pix of the apple pickin.....






On the adoption front...our social worker did complete our homestudy and it is currently being proofread so it can be sent to immigration. (Hopefully this week)
We finished making a photo album to send to our little guy complete with labels in both Mandarin and English. I am a bit anal if you cant tell. There is a family that will be traveling soon so they are going to deliver it for us and hopefully get a few more of those wonderful pictures! We did not get awarded the grant from Ava's hope which was disappointing, but we are certain God has a plan for us as far as the financing goes. We will be researching more grants to apply for in the coming weeks. In the meantime I have been Blessed ?? (I think) to be able to work some serious overtime and take On Call for 2 weeks in a row which will help somewhat.

Please just keep us in your thoughts and prayers this week, we are having a hard time with the waiting and are grateful for the holidays coming up to help keep us even more busy. Please pray that God will continue to guide us in every aspect of this journey and that we remember that His timing is always perfect.
Blessings