Christmas Present from China

On Christmas Eve we received a

special gift from John. 

A sweet family who where adotping a little boy from the same orphanage John is at, recently delivered a package to John from us.  While they where visiting John made this for us and they brought it back to the states and then mailed it to us.  John seems to have amazing artistic talents.

What a SPECIAL gift!

We also received new photos!
 

I LOVE his SMILE!

 

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from the

United States and China

(next year we will be wishing you a Merry Christmas

as one family, living together)

A New Name...no longer an orphan

This picture makes me SMILE everytime I look at.

 

I wonder if John understands the

significance of that bag with his

 new last name on it?

 

Soon he will be known as

JOHN ADEN DODGE

he will no longer be known as

D**g S*nM*ng 

 

Dang has the meaning "communitst party" and is not even considered a real last name.  It is often given to children who are abandanded and means they are "orphaned" and have no family. It means they are being taken care of by the Social Welfare Institue of China.  This is a name that identifies them as unwanted and unworhty to be loved by a family.  If they are not adopted this name sticks with them forever.

 

Dodge

means that he now belongs to our family,

he is loved by us,

he is wanted by us,

and

he is worthy to be called our son.

 

I am so thankful that one day the Lord

called me into His family,

the He loves me

that He wants me to be His child

and

I am worthy to be called His.

 

I am so thankful that He has called us to give S*nM*ng a new name and the opportunity to hear about the Lord. Ultimate opportunity to be adopted into the Lords family and receive a second new name.

 

 

We have our LOA!

LOA: Letter of Acceptance.

Yippee,

Woo-Hoo,

 Woot-Woot,

 Hallalulah,

Praise the Lord,

Thank You Jesus!

After 8 months,

3 days and

hours of paper work

equaling over 6 inches

the Chinese government has given us official

 approval to adopt D**g S*nM*ng.

Steps left before we meet our son:

LID October 23, 2012

LOA (day 49)

I800 Approval, January 3, 2013 (day 20)
NVC cabled, January 10, 2013 (day 7)

Article 5 Drop Off
Article 5 Pick Up (takes exactly 2 weeks) Jan 30, 2013

TA (usually takes 1-3 weeks) Feb 12, 2013

looking at a
Feb 14 or March 1, 2013
travel date

Gifts for Orphanage

This is taken from our homeschool groups web site.
Very proud of how much stuff we collected to send with the Dodge’s to China and I am sure the other group did even more. We had a sweet little time of prayer for him and talked with the kids for a few minutes about how exciting it is to get to have him come here for a new life.

The kids couldn't hold everything but here is some of the stuff we collected to send with the Dodges’ to the orphanage in China when they get to go and meet their new family member.

Here we are praying for the new precious boy the Dodges are adopting from China. We prayed for where he is now and for those caring for him and for him to adjust well to his new home country and family.

 

Harmony House, the orphanage where Johns lives, will certainly be blessed by all the items my sweet friends collected for us to take to them. But sweeter than all the goodies is that picture of our friends praying for John.  I am so thankful to have faithful friends that continue to pray for us and John through this journey we have been called to. Thank you my dear friends! ~ Andrea