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I am feeling a little frustrated as we still have not received our Travel Approval. The possiblity of leaving on June 4th is not looking very good. Our agency expects to receive Travel Approvals at any time now, since it has been three weeks since they last received any. I think the most frustrating part is that we read about a family who received their approval today who had a later Article 5 date. It just seems like Travel Approvals would be issued in the order that paperwork was received. Maybe just maybe ours is in the mail.

This week has been a little hectic. We are in the middle of the end of the year activities with field trips, band concerts, award ceremonies, field day and tomorrow my sweet baby girl graduates from Kindergarten! She looks so cute in her cap and gown. She is so excited that she has no more school! I will post pictures after her program.

Please keep praying!!!

Prayer Request

I am asking all of you prayer warriors to pray specifically about our upcoming travel to China. We are anxiously waiting for our Travel Approval to come. I know that many families who have recently received their TA's are having to wait until mid-June to travel due to the consulate appointments being booked out so far. We are needing to leave on June 4th and get our consulate appointment for June 15th in order for things to go smoothly with our kids who will not be going with us. I have lined up family and friends to come in and with their schedules...vacations, weddings, etc.... I feel like we need to leave on this date. If we were able to take the kids with us, I wouldn't be near as anxious.

I found out last week that we will not be able to travel June 11th due to the Dragon Boat Festival in China. The Chinese offices are closed on June 14, 15, 16th, therefore no adoptions can begin on the 14th. The U.S. Consulate is also closed the 16th. If we cannot travel the 4th we will not be able to travel until the 18th which is the week my in-laws will be on vacation. Of course I am praying specific but also only if it is God's will for us to leave on the 4th. I know God will work it out if we are not to leave on the 4th. I'm just trying to keep all of my kids together for the majority of our time away and not spread them out among different friends.

I am also very concerned for Shayle. She really wants to go with us but we have discussed it and we feel like our youngest son, Jacob, would be very resentful if she got to go and he did not. Early on in this process we decided they would all go or none would get to go. Well, unless we have a complete financial miracle from God, none will get to go. Taking 5 kids to China gets pretty expensive. Of course, I know I will miss them terribly and only God and your prayers will get me through two weeks without them.

Thanks for praying!

Mother's Day 2010

I had a wonderful Mother's Day that began with Payton and Myranda making blueberry muffins for breakfast. Then we headed off to church followed by going out to eat for lunch. The kids really surprised me with gifts they purchased on their own, even their dad didn't know they had bought me gifts. Arron knows that magnolia's are my absolute favorite flower and so all by himself he went after school one day and bought me this sweet little figurine. He picked out a card and even had it wrapped. He is so thoughtful and caring. Then Myranda and Payton bought me the cutest necklace for a mom of 6! They too had wrapped it up and surprised me with it. Of course Jacob had a nice collection of his handpring artwork from this school year all bound together and laminated. Shayle also gave me a framed picture of herself and Darrel brought me roses. After our lunch, I went home and took a nap. Then the girls made Darrel and I dinner and topped it off with brownies. They really spoiled me! Darrel and Myranda also gave me a special framed picture of a sweet little boy who will be with me very soon. I am so very blessed to have such sweet kids!

Meet Our New Puppies..........

Maggie and Belle. We went to look at the minature schnauzer last weekend and to our surprise also found minature australian shepherd/border collie mix pups. Well, let me tell you God definitely guided our day to these puppies out of town. We decided to go look at the schnauzer's and had no idea that these aussies would be there. Once we saw them and then saw the look on our son's face, we knew we had to let him pick one out. I hadn't seen him get very excited over any dog since our Rev passed away. So, I don't consider even this a mere chance that we found him this dog while looking at schnauzers. God is in the little things just as much as He is in the Big things.

Belle is here with Jacob and Maggie is with Shayle.

Early Mother's Day Gift.....

Today I received an update on Ben! Our agency asked for updated photos and measurements 7 weeks ago and today they came. I was completely surprised to get them. Go to Ben's website to check it out!

Have a great Mother's Day weekend!

Article 5

We were notified this morning that our Article 5 was picked up last night at the U.S. Consulate in China and forwarded to CCAA! We will now wait for just ONE more APPROVAL, our TRAVEL APPROVAL. The agency said it is taking 3-5 weeks from this point to receive it. Most families I have seen receiving their travel approval have been in 3-4 weeks, a few came in 2 weeks. Please pray ours will come sooner than later so that we will have more time to book our flights. We would like to leave on June 4th which would make our gotcha day June 7th. This date is special because it is exactly 18 years and 6 months since Darrel and I were married. It would also work out best for Darrel's work schedule to go then and for our family who will be watching our kids for us while we are gone.

We also mailed our visa applications today to get that taken care of. It always makes me a little nervous mailing my passport!

Shayle is doing well, recovering nicely. She still wants chips and she can't have anything like that for a little while longer. She also loves popcorn and drinking from a straw. These things have been the hardest for her. She will go back to the surgeon on May 25th for her check up and then she should be able to startgoing to speech again. Most everyone I have talked to can understand her better, PTL! I know her speech will continue to improve for up to 18 months as the scar tissue thins out and makes her palate longer.

Have a great weekend!

Home and Recovering

Shayle did get to come home yesterday from the hospital. She is doing well, already showing some improvement with a few words! We are very thankful for that. She has been eating much better than last time, so hopefully she will not lose any weight. I have to make her take it easy and slow down to rest. She will see her surgeon and ENT at the end of May for a check up and then will be able to start speech up again. Please pray she will not develop any fistulas in her mouth and that it will heal perfectly!

Last night was very hard on the kids and us as we went to the vet to spend some time with our dog, Reveille before she was put to sleep. She was 13 and we have had her since she was 8 weeks old. She has grown up with our kids. It has been very difficult for our oldest who was three when we got her. Please continue to lift them up in prayer, as we will have to bury her tonight.

Pray for the rest of the Pierce kids

Tomorrow when we get home we will have to take the kids to say goodbye to our sweet sheltie who has been a part of our family for over 13 years. She began having arthritis in February in which we put her on some medications. Last week she began to get worse, not walking around much. By this past weekend she couldn't get up at all, which was extremely hard to watch. Her appetite decreased and we knew something else was going on. We stayed up with her a lot of the night Friday, Saturday, & Sunday night as she wanted someone to be with her. I think she knew she was slowly dying and didn't want to be alone. This is why Darrel will be with her as she is put to sleep, which just breaks my heart. He also needs prayer for this. I don't think I can be in there when the time comes. He has spent most of the time up in the middle of the night so he is exhausted and in need of sleep. He just went to the hotel and will be able to get some good sleep tonight I hope.

With Shayle's surgery today, we had to have a friend go to our house and pick her up this morning to take her to the vet. The vet called to let us know, after doing a blood test, that she did not have many platelets, red blood cells or white blood cells in her system. They could give her blood which would allow her to perk up for a couple of days, but likely she would return to her current state. It is a possibility that she has Leukemia. Anyway, the news has been hard on us and we only told our two oldest kids tonight by phone to see if they want to go see her one more time. Our younger three do not know, I can't stand the idea of not being able to comfort them when they find out. It was hard for me to know that the older two had to find out without us all being together under one roof. Please keep each of us in your prayers as it is always so difficult to have to make the decision to put them to sleep.

Thank You........

for praying for me today. Thank you Ms. Tenny for coming to visit me and thank you to my friends at school who sent me a present and book of get well wishes. I'll cherish it forever. I miss all of you at school and hopefully will be back next week. Love, Shayle

Shayle's Surgery Update

God is so good! He is so faithful to supply us with all our needs. Shayle had such a peace about her this morning and I give all credit and Glory to God! We had prayed for her to have peace and not be scared when she found out she would be having another surgery. She not only was o.k. with it, she was very cooperative with the nurses and staff. In the past she would fight them just to have her hospital bracelet placed on her arm. Not today, it was as if God took her by the hand and walked beside her as she got ready for her procedure. Then He took her into his arms and carried her through her surgery. She was such a brave little girl and I am very proud of her!

She did very well during surgery, along with having her palate lengthened she had new tubes put into her ears. One had fallen out so we decided it would be best to put new tubes in while under anesthesia. She did well with her anesthesia and so far has only vomitted once. Much better than last time. She also woke up thirsty and drank gatorade for us while still in recovery. This is much progress, as last time she did not drink until the next morning.

Thank you for praying for our baby girl. Please continue to lift her up as she recovers!

Surgery Tomorrow

We will be heading to Medical City at 4 am for Shayle's surgery. Please pray for her to have peace and that she will not be scared. Once we get there I think she will realize something's about to happen. God sustained her through her scope a few weeks ago and I know He will help her to have peace tomorrow.

Please pray for: Shayle's doctors and nurses as they take care of her.
The procedure to go smoothly and be a success.
For her heart to remain strong and handle anesthesia well.
For her to have a quick recovery and do well post surgery.
For her not to have reactions to the anesthesia.(vomiting)
For her and us as we hand her off to the nurses. (very difficult)

I will update as soon as I get a chance. Thanks for your prayers!

NVC Letter

We received our NVC letter from the National Visa Center yesterday, April 12th. We were very happy to receive it so quickly. God has been so faithful to grant my requests. Since I began praying for our LOA in early March, God has answered my prayers down to the day I have asked to receive the next piece of paperwork. I had asked to receive our LOA on Ben's birthday, I asked to receive our I-800 approval last Monday the 5th of April and then this past weekend I asked specifically to receive our NVC letter on April 12th. God has granted all three specific requests down to the exact day. What an awesome God we serve!

Our agency has forwarded our NVC letter to their representative in Guangzhou, China. The representative will take all of our final paperwork to the U.S. Consulate this Thursday. The Consulate will have our paperwork for exactly two weeks before the representative will pick it up and forward it with our Article 5 to CCAA. It will be picked up and forwarded on April 29th. The travel approval (TA) will take 2-5 weeks. Families who have recived TA's yesterday waited 2-3 weeks! I am now praying for the 2 week mark, which would be May 14th, in order for us to make flight arrangements and leave on June 4th. Again, I will be praying specifically!