Pray for China

From the Voice of the Martyrs...

The eyes of the world will soon be on the Olympics. But the eyes of God remain on His children and especially those who suffer for their faith.

Despite what you may hear in the news, Chinese Christians who refuse to register with the government controlled church are being persecuted. Many have undergone horrific suffering.

Recently a prominent representative of a group of house churches in China asked Christians throughout the free world to pray for China during the Olympics. The Voice of the Martyrs, in partnership with China Aid Associates, has accepted that call and has produced the Olympic Prayer Band. We would like to invite you to request one for free to wear during the Olympics. Similar prayer bands will also be distributed to house church Christians in China and they will be praying for you as well.

"Lord, Thank you for showing me today that there are people with real needs and real pain. Please help us have compassion on those that are in need, give us hearts and hands that want to help. Please comfort orphans around the world, give them food to eat and fresh water to drink, and warm clothes to wear. Above all I pray that they would be comforted by your love and wrapped in your mercy. Amen."

`For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.'
Matthew 25: 35-36

Making progress...

Well it's another day in "Paper Paradise". I feel like we are really making progress! Each day I am scratching something else off the list.

The next 2 weeks our focus is on...
Police report - letters of Repentance (don't ask)
Application Letter - Ask China for permission to adopt our Princess
Finalize 07 Tax returns
Employment verification letter from CPA
Financial Statement
Family Photo Pages (my favorite project) I will post once we finalize.
Pool Regulation
RockStar - Vet(3 shots and a letter stating that he is healthy)

Encouraging China adoption news for July - lots of little ones found "Forever Homes. Blog rumors are that everything will shut down for the Olympics but should pick back and with a swift pace after the closing ceremonies.

Sex crime

Friday has been a great day for Sheri and I to go gather up documents and otherwise cross off to-do items from our adoption list. Today got off to a perfect start with breakfast at The Good Egg, our favorite spot. From there we headed over to the Chandler Police Dept. to get a copy of our police report clearance. We ran into a fantastic young lady named Geri at the records department (A little too optimistic and helpful... check the coffee).

As we were walking away from the window with our perfectly executed documents; signed and dated, notarized, notary's commission expires in more than 14 months (yeah, it's like that), we both stopped in our tracks. On my report there were the expected minor law enforcement encounters: speeding, no insurance card, that sort of thing (note to Shania: this does not excuse Daddy's behavior, this is totally unacceptable). But there was an unexpected item on Sheri's report: Sex Offense. We both felt sick to our stomachs. Had someone stolen Sheri's identity? Maybe a setup like in that Sandra Bullock movie? (not Speed, the other one. Network?)

Back at the window Geri was all business. She pulled the report and began to laugh as she read. "You had apparently, um. been the witness to someone, well um (wispering details) ....."

We laughed. Oh yeah the perv in the Volvo! Great news is that Sheri was not the perpetrator, but the reporter of this particular offense.

Classes

Tearing through my online classes required for Hague Convention compliance. Three classes down with four more to go!

'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

We are on a roll...

The first leg of the adoption process is the paperwork for our Home Study(HS). The (HS) consists of tons of paperwork, one orientation meeting in Tucson and 3 home visits by our assigned social work -poor her :)

I am happy to report the paperwork is well underway at the Bublitz home. We have to have 90% completed before a home visit will be scheduled - so we are working diligently! I am so grateful that we have time and flexibility.

Below is what we have completed, filed out, turned-in and copied for our files:

Autobiography for Dave
Autobiography for Sheri
Copy of Birth Certificate for Dave
Copy of BC for Sheri
Copy of Certificate of Marriage
Copy of Divorce decree for Sheri
America World Guardianship Statement
America World International Disclaimer
Adoptive Parent Reading Agreement
Copy of Fingerprint card for Dave
Copy of Fingerprint card for Sheri
Adoptive Families Central Registry Records Clearance
Copy of Home Insurance for primary residence (Indian Wells Dr)
Copy of Home Insurance for residence #2 (Bellerive)
Copy of Auto Insurance for Tahoe
Copy of Auto Insurance for Jeep
Copy of DL for Dave Proof of Arizona residency
Copy of DL for Sheri Proof of Arizona residency
America World - AZ Home Study Agreement
Home Study Post-Placement Agreement
Home Study Agency Agreement
AWA Home Study Application
Release of Info for Adoptive and Home Study Process
Duty of Candor
Residential History Form - Dave
Residential History Form - Sheri
Application for certification to Adopt

OK...are you ready...this is about 65-70% complete! We still have a ways to go but I am confident we can get it all done before our HS orientation which is scheduled for August 26th in Tucson.

Gotta run - the paperwork is calling (;

Excited, Anxious, Overwelmed

Wow! As Dave mentioned earlier we were assigned a Family Coordinator located in VA and had contact with our Home Study lead in Tucson.

We have been instructed to focus mostly on our Home Study for now, which entails just about everything...basically our life stories and the paper trail that coincides.

This week we are focusing on...
ordering NEW certified birth certificates - Done!
ordering NEW certified marriage certificate - Done!
Completing the HS Application (very extensive) - almost Done
Writing our autobiographies - hmmm haven't started yet...

Should complete all by the weekend and then on to the next...

Trusting God

Quote from a book I am reading China Ghosts, by Jeff Gammage. The author and his wife have adopted an infant girl that is now four. They are planning a trip back to China.

"When her Mom and I explain to Jun Yu where we were going and what we would do, she responded with a wounding question: would she be coming back with us, or would we be leaving her in China?"

I immediately thought of how God has promised us that he will never leave us and always take care of us, and how we have such a tough time trusting in Him. Didn't He guarantee that we have been adopted into His love through Jesus Christ? (Eph 1:5) Hasn't he promised that he will never leave us or forsake us? (Deuter 31)

Yet I have such a tough time relying on Him.

"For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? "Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?" - Mattthew 6:25-26

Encouragement

We had an encouraging call today. Our family coordinator at America World Adoption called to introduce herself. She is a real firecracker; very confident and competent. Sheri and I are both happy to welcome her to team Shania.

She says that right now referrals are taking about 30 months for healthy infants from China. There are waiting children with special needs that may be available in less time.

Cinderella

You can find out more about Steven and Mary Beth Chapman's organization Shaohannah's Hope right here.

How many? Where do they come from? Why?

The Chinese government introduced the policy in 1979 to alleviate the social and environmental problems of China. The policy is controversial both within and outside China because of the issues it raises; because of the manner in which the policy has been implemented; and because of concerns about negative economic and social consequences.

China, like many other Asian countries, has a long tradition of son preference. Many argue that the one-child policy induces many families to use selective abortion, abandon female infants, and even kill female infants under the influence of the son preference. Some families even kill or starve the female infant and then try again for a male child.

The commonly accepted explanation for son preference is that sons in rural families may be thought to be more helpful in farm work. Both rural and urban populations have economic and traditional incentives, including widespread remnants of Confucianism, to prefer sons over daughters. Sons are preferred as they provide the primary financial support for the parents in their retirement, and a son's parents typically are better cared for than his wife's. In addition, Chinese traditionally view that daughters, on their marriage, become primarily part of the groom's family.

The sex ratio at birth (between male and female births) in mainland China reached 117:100 in the year 2000, substantially higher than the natural baseline, which ranges between 103:100 and 107:100.

Today there are over 15 million orphans in China. Most are healthy young girls, abandoned due to China's one child per family law. They are newborns and toddlers, they are preschoolers, they are children with profound special needs, and they are older children. All will grow up with the legacy of having lost the love of their birth families.

All will grow up with the legacy of having lost the love of their birth families.

Ninety-five percent of the healthy children living in Chinese welfare institutions are little girls. The influx of healthy infant girls into social welfare institutions began in the 1980s when China introduced strict birth control policies in order to control its burgeoning population.

When the traditional, especially rural, Chinese family’s preference for boys collided with well-intentioned population controls, healthy girls were abandoned in heartbreakingly large numbers.

In recent years, the ‘floating population’ of migrant workers has meant an increase in the number of healthy boys, as well as girls, given up by their birth parents.

And rising health costs have contributed to a recent influx of children who have medical needs that impoverished families cannot meet. Whether these children were found at a few days old wrapped in a blanket on a busy bridge, or discovered at four or five, wandering alone with a few belongings near a police station, they now live in state-run institutions and await uncertain futures. The local authorities post their pictures, but no one comes forward.

After many years of prayers, our hearts have been led to China to bring home a little girl. I know it is not going to be an easy journey, long waits, frustrating paperwork, bureaucracy and heartache but God willing, we will one day bring home our baby girl.

We pray that we have the faith to endure and that Gods grace will once again do miracles.

It's already been three weeks, so where's our baby?

When we started this process we thought that the decision to adopt was the difficult part. We just made one of the biggest decisions of our life now let's just go get out and get one, right? There is just a big list somewhere of kids that are waiting for a home, right?

The great world of adoption is a complicated and sometimes very confusing culture that has many options. Each comes with it's own set of issues, demands, and challenges. But in God's perfect plan and in His timing, the end result is loving parents welcoming a beautiful child into their world to take care of forever.

Questions we had to ask ourselves...

Domestic: Did we prefer a closed adoption, in which the birth parents remain anonymous, or would we be comfortable with the increasingly common open adoption process? In an open adoption we would meet and stay in touch with the birth parents. Would we rather use an adoption agency or a private adoption lawyer, or seek a child through advertisements you place on your own?

The US adoption system is different itself from other countries in that it does not use a orphanage system, but rather relies on foster families to provide ongoing care. Therefore there are not thousands of babies laying in shared cribs waiting for their forever families to bring them home. Thank goodness!

International: Would we consider adopting a child from another country? Could we parent a child whose racial or cultural background is different from ours? How about an older child?