SELF-CONTROL.
Each year we choose a word to focus on as a family.
We have decided 2017 will be the Year of Self-Control. This was Abbey's idea. I liked it because self-control can look like a lot of different things.
A big one in our home full of girls is self-control of our emotions. This will likely be the way most of our children (and let's be honest, me) will place our focus this year.
But Self-Control can also look like a lot of other things:
FOOD
-the way we eat
-what we eat
-how much we eat
MONEY
-the way we spend money
-what we spend money on
-how much money we spend
TIME
-the way we spend our time
-what we do with our time
-how much time we spend on certain things
The list can go on, but Emotions, Food, Money, and Time are the four areas I want to try to focus on most in 2017. In general, on a personal level, I don't struggle terribly with food or really even too much with money. I tend to lean towards being conservative in many aspects of my life (other than having children. Give me all the babies).
I was inspired by a friend to not buy any clothes for a year (read her blog or buy her little book on how to do it at Green Chair Stories). Trent is also a rather conservative guy, and doesn't enjoy too much that would be considered "extreme". I am personally going to attempt in 2017 not to buy any clothes for myself for the whole year. The only exception I am going to make is while we are in China, I may buy a traditional Chinese outfit for myself because who can say if I'll go back to China any time soon? It has been interesting, even just in January, how I realized that I have become an impulse shopper because shopping online is SO easy. It has been really good for me to be more self-aware of the way I spend time scrolling through online shops and purchasing a couple things because they are cute.
The girls will certainly be working on self-control in it's most basic form. Emotions. Each of our girls struggle in their own way. Most commonly we see frustration boil over into tears, or quickly lashing out at another sister, or running out of the room crying, or anger. I plan to be very intentional on helping them through those things this year, mostly with prayer and calming techniques.
Obviously this year will look very different in a couple months. We will be adding a fifth daughter to the mix, she will be having surgery, and we will all be adjusting. I am thankful that we have a another two to three months to work with the oldest four girls before we bring Ruth home and begin a whole new adjustment period. I'm sure it will give the girls time to practice their newfound skills as we all work to show each other grace and understanding.
I hope 2017 will be a fantastic year for you all! Looking forward to another year of blogging!
Saturday, January 28, 2017
Tuesday, January 10, 2017
LOA, A Giving Opportunity & Her Name!
We were surprised to have our agency call us on Friday, January 6, 2017 to let us know our LOA (Letter of Approval) arrived from China. This was about three weeks earlier than we anticipated. Today, January 10, we sent off a massive pile of documents to USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services). We anticipate that approval to come through in about 3-4 weeks.
We are also grateful to have received a matching grant from Brittany's Hope. Your TAX DEDUCTIBLE donation can be given online HERE. We need to raise $1,500 in order to have that amount matched equally by Brittany's Hope, bringing us to $3,000 to put toward our adoption expenses. We thank you all for your generosity toward changing the life of our little girl and helping us bring her home. As a special thank you to all who donate through this site I will be emailing you our daughter's most recent photos and provide you with updates as we receive them.
We have slowly been telling family and friends our daughter's name. We are tremendously grateful that her foster family speaks English and are calling her by her new name.
Ruth Veronica Hess
All of our daughters have very special family names, and Ruth fits right in with her four older sisters. Ruth was my great-grandmother's name and means "Loyal Friend". And there have been many amazing Hess women who have had the name Ruth. Our girls have been calling her Ruthie, and we intend to use both Ruth and Ruthie interchangeably. I'm a huge fan of nick names for my daughters: Annie, Abbey, Maggie, Carrie, and Ruthie. Isn't it perfect?
One of my favorite books of the Bible is Ruth. As I was reading the book again and came upon this well-known verse I felt how fitting it was for our daughter.
Ruth 1:16 "But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God."
Ruth was a Moabitess woman, a foreigner. She declares to her mother-in-law that she will not leave her, claiming her husband's family to be her family, and their God, her God. It is my prayer that our daughter, a lovely Chinese girl, will one day proclaim these words for herself. That she will feel as completely Hess as all our other girls, and most importantly that she will claim our God as her own.
Veronica is a very old Hess family name. Originally in our genealogy books it is spelled Fronica. It's always been a name Trent has been especially fond of. It means "True Victory". And with a short first name I like the sound of a long middle name.
So there you have it! Another Hess girl is on her way! We are so excited to introduce Ruthie to you all in person.
We are also grateful to have received a matching grant from Brittany's Hope. Your TAX DEDUCTIBLE donation can be given online HERE. We need to raise $1,500 in order to have that amount matched equally by Brittany's Hope, bringing us to $3,000 to put toward our adoption expenses. We thank you all for your generosity toward changing the life of our little girl and helping us bring her home. As a special thank you to all who donate through this site I will be emailing you our daughter's most recent photos and provide you with updates as we receive them.
We have slowly been telling family and friends our daughter's name. We are tremendously grateful that her foster family speaks English and are calling her by her new name.
Ruth Veronica Hess
All of our daughters have very special family names, and Ruth fits right in with her four older sisters. Ruth was my great-grandmother's name and means "Loyal Friend". And there have been many amazing Hess women who have had the name Ruth. Our girls have been calling her Ruthie, and we intend to use both Ruth and Ruthie interchangeably. I'm a huge fan of nick names for my daughters: Annie, Abbey, Maggie, Carrie, and Ruthie. Isn't it perfect?
One of my favorite books of the Bible is Ruth. As I was reading the book again and came upon this well-known verse I felt how fitting it was for our daughter.
Ruth 1:16 "But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God."
Ruth was a Moabitess woman, a foreigner. She declares to her mother-in-law that she will not leave her, claiming her husband's family to be her family, and their God, her God. It is my prayer that our daughter, a lovely Chinese girl, will one day proclaim these words for herself. That she will feel as completely Hess as all our other girls, and most importantly that she will claim our God as her own.
Veronica is a very old Hess family name. Originally in our genealogy books it is spelled Fronica. It's always been a name Trent has been especially fond of. It means "True Victory". And with a short first name I like the sound of a long middle name.
So there you have it! Another Hess girl is on her way! We are so excited to introduce Ruthie to you all in person.
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Adoption Update: The Final Stages
January 4, 2016 we filled out our application to adopt from China.
By January 4, 2017 we completed our home study, sent our dossier to China, were matched, and our LOI has been uploaded! (LOI was uploaded 12/27/16)
So what's next in the process? Mostly waiting.
1. We wait about 4 weeks from our LOI date for our LOA (Letter of Approval) to come from China.
2. We apply for our I-800 (Immigration): 3-4 weeks of waiting for this document
3. Wait for NVC (National Visa Center) Letter: Another 1-2 weeks
4. DS-260 filing and Article 5: 3-4 weeks
5. Travel Approval: 2-3 weeks
6. Arrange travel dates: 3-5 weeks after receiving TA (travel approval)
This ending part of the process looks a lot like the beginning of the process; filing an official document and waiting for the government (US or China) to approve it.
Based on these rough numbers we are estimating that we will travel in either April or May. While that seems really far and like a long time to wait, we trust that God's timing is perfect.
There is much to be done here to prepare for our daughter's arrival. I am excited to begin working on her room, start pulling out her big sisters' hand-me-downs, and purchasing a few special things that are all her own. We have learned that she loves headbands and hair clips, dollies, and blocks. Yes, friends, I believe we will get along just fine with daughter number five.
By January 4, 2017 we completed our home study, sent our dossier to China, were matched, and our LOI has been uploaded! (LOI was uploaded 12/27/16)
So what's next in the process? Mostly waiting.
1. We wait about 4 weeks from our LOI date for our LOA (Letter of Approval) to come from China.
2. We apply for our I-800 (Immigration): 3-4 weeks of waiting for this document
3. Wait for NVC (National Visa Center) Letter: Another 1-2 weeks
4. DS-260 filing and Article 5: 3-4 weeks
5. Travel Approval: 2-3 weeks
6. Arrange travel dates: 3-5 weeks after receiving TA (travel approval)
This ending part of the process looks a lot like the beginning of the process; filing an official document and waiting for the government (US or China) to approve it.
Based on these rough numbers we are estimating that we will travel in either April or May. While that seems really far and like a long time to wait, we trust that God's timing is perfect.
There is much to be done here to prepare for our daughter's arrival. I am excited to begin working on her room, start pulling out her big sisters' hand-me-downs, and purchasing a few special things that are all her own. We have learned that she loves headbands and hair clips, dollies, and blocks. Yes, friends, I believe we will get along just fine with daughter number five.
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