Off in the distance

This weekend while driving back from Tucson - the journey to our little girl became a much more real prospect.

Don't get me wrong...The decision to adopt is real...our faith and hope are real...But the once seemingly high and dauntingly steep mountains of paperwork and requirements is becoming a vague and distant paper trail behind us. Today...I feel like we are at the top of one of the many mountains along our journey, looking down. Every once in awhile off in the distance I can see our little girl, our new life together and gods endless miracles.

We have completed 3 out of 4 of our required home visits, lots of paperwork and well on our way to Shania.

As I stand at the top of this mountain today and celebrate a small victory - I have to acknowledge the man I love. Dave has endured, he has perseveered, he has tolerated and he has been my rock.

One Amazing Coincidence

We are preparing for our first two home study interviews this weekend. To speed things up a bit we chose to drive down to Tucson and meet with our social worker Saturday night and Sunday morning. Since Tucson is a two hour drive we thought it would be a good idea to get a room for Saturday night. We were considering our options and their effect on our budget when we received an unexpected email from a vendor. "Do you guys ever get to Tucson" was her question. She wrote that she was dropping in the mail a certificate for one night at the Westin La Paloma plus a voucher for $150 to spend on food and drink. She does not know about the adoption and would have no way of knowing that we were going to Tucson this weekend. This is one amazing coincidence.

The more I have thought about it I wonder if it is a coincidence at all. I can choose to believe that this is a random act, but I do believe it is something more. Now I'm not saying that I think that God sent us a certificate to stay at the Westin, but I'm certainly not saying that He couldn't. If the God that created the earth and everything in it including me and you wanted us to stay at the Westin don't you think He could make that happen?

At the very least this is an amazing reminder that our God, the King, the mighty and merciful Creator loves us and cares for us.

Matthew 6:25

Department of State

Yesterday we received our wedding certificate back from the PROC (Chinese Consulate) This one traveled from Wyoming to AZ, Back to Wyoming, Back to AZ, onto The Department of State in Washington, D.C., back to AZ then back to the Chinese Consulate and all in one piece! Express mail...the only way to travel.

As I was scanning my last set of (out-of-state) documents,
I realized that one of my favorite people in Washington - signed our doc...check out the signature.

Condoleezza Rice...just thought that was kind of cool. I have always liked her!

Another doc authenticated and certified

Yeah! Another document checked off the list. Today I received by birth certificate back from Chinese Consulate - My BC was the first to go and and has taken quite sometime to pass thru the Secretary of State and then onto the PROC and then back to us. Another one done...Yeah...I celebrate very small things like this on a daily basis.

Oh and a big weekend for us - We have HS visit #2 and #3 down in tucson. Together interview on Saturday and individual interviews on Sunday. Our SW (social worker) said each visit would only take about an hour. Hmmm....she doesn't know my shmoopie! I bet he has a list of question for her (:

Working on pool fence quotes, Life Ins, Medical Ins and what else. Busy week for the Bublitz!

Sheri's Determination

I am married to the most focused, driven, persistent woman I have ever met. When Sheri takes on a task there is nothing that can stop her. She never stops amazing me. I have seen her tackle mountains and not blink or complain once. Seeing her charge head long into the adoption process fills me with happiness. She keeps all the paperwork together and organized and keeps a running status on every piece. This morning during breakfast we had a quick Shania meeting. Sheri whipped out her list, did a full review, and updated all of our etas.

You are awesome Shmoopie. Thank you for keeping us on track through it all.

72 days into the journey

As I reflect tonight on the beginning or our journey to Shania - I can not believe how much progress we have made in such a very short time. Good job Shoompie!
June 19th ish - Made the decision to adopt
June 29th - accepted by AWAA
June 30th - filled out official application
July 14th - Assigned a family coordinator Dossier packet sent out
July 16th - Assigned a Social Worker for our Home Study (HS packet sent out) Since then we have been busy!
I have added a list in the left margin(things to do) that gives a good idea of what we have accomplished!

About the name Shania

Shania (noun)

There have been more than a few questions from our friends concerning our dear child's name. Thank you for your questions and suggestions. While I think that the name Shania is great and all, it is not our new daughter's name. Shania is a placeholder and a generic term for a little peanut. A sample of it's use would be: "That kid is one cute Shania."

Name is still wide open and we are accepting all suggestions.