Richard snapped this picture as I was holding and seeing Kenzie in person for the first time!  I LOVE everything about this picture and just looking at it right now brings tears. 

 

To my precious Kenzie,

 

The moment I saw your picture on Sept. 3, 2012 my life was changed.  I knew you were my girl.  Your chubby cheeks and scrunched up little body was perfect.  I knew that at that moment I was willing to do anything to bring you home so that I could help raise you into an amazing woman of God. 

You are so loved.

The journey to get you has been one full of ups and downs.  Your daddy, big brother, and I have literally been all across the state, country, and world to get everything in order so that you can join our forever family. 

You are so loved.

As I write this letter to you, I have no idea when I will see you again or have  you in my arms again but I promise you that I am praying every single moment of every single day that it is soon.  My heart aches for you. 

You are so loved.

God has brought you to us and we are forever indebted to Him.  We want you to know that through our entire process we want His name to be glorified because He is who matters!  You are a miracle.  We never thought we would be able to adopt a precious baby girl from the same country as your big brother is from, but God is good.  He heard our cries, our pleas, and our prayers and blessed us with you! 

You are so loved. 

Sweet baby girl...

You will be home soon.  We cannot wait!

I love you so much.

 

Love,

Your mommy

There has been some movement in Taiwan....PTL!  Two babies that Kenzie is at the home with will be coming home this next week.  We wish it was us that was bringing our baby girl home, but we are still thankful that things are moving forward with the courts. 

We also found out that everyone who has been to court before us has received their first decree.  We know that the judge does not always go in order but technically we are next in line for our first decree.  So assuming that our BM report and SW report are done (like we have been told) we pray that we get our first decree within the next few days.  It would be great to get it this week so that we can have a week of wait towards the second decree under our belts before Chinese New Year!

This week has been so hard for me. Each night I have cried myself to sleep and wondered if the whole process will ever end.  I know it will but I miss her so much and want her home so badly. 

Please continue to pray for us!  Pray for BIG paperwork news this week!  We know God is able!

Love you all!

TWO WEEKS....

That is how long it has been since we had our court date.  My life is measured in weeks now...Friday to Friday.  Another reason 2 weeks is significant is that is how many weeks we have until the courts close for 2 weeks because of Chinese New Year....so 2 weeks is a bittersweet number to me. 

I am praying that in these next 2 weeks we will be issued our first decree.  I know that it would be super fast in the world of adoption paperwork but because of paperwork that has already been completed in our case it is very possible.  It would just be nice to go into Chinese New Year knowing that the process is almost complete!

Kenzie will be 6 months old on Sunday.  Happy 1/2 Birthday sweet baby girl.  I cannot wait to celebrate many more halves with you! 

Thank you friends and family for your prayers!  This is a journey that is not for the faint of heart....

This week I went back to school.  It was good to get back into the normal routine of life...but my mind has been a million miles away.  It is so hard to focus on anything else but Kenzie.   
It has been fun to share with my students about sweet Kenzie.  I really think they love her as much as we do!

As much fun as it was to talk about Kenzie and to show off her picture the question I was dreading came....

 

WHEN DO YOU GET TO GO BACK TO GET HER???

 

 

I wish I could answer that question.  All I know to do is pray and to ask you to pray.  SO PLEASE PRAY!  Waiting is hard and I am sure that God will teach me something during the waiting but that doesn't mean that the waiting will be easy.  :) 

My heart aches for her.  I want to hold her, cuddle her, watch her, experience new things with her.  UGH....

 

So friends and family....I ask you.....keep me busy!  When I am busy, I do not have as much time to think about going to get her.  I know we are on the downward side of this process and honestly I am so happy and relieved.  I know that we are blessed because we have a referral.  This time last year we NEVER thought adopting from THOGL was possible again...but God had other plans. 

So pray...

Continue to pray...

Start to pray....

JUST PRAY!

 

 

Daddy and Kenzie

 



I am a big girl! 



First of all I apologize for not updating the blog while we were in Taiwan.....for those of you who didn't hear or didn't get my FB message my blog would not work properly in Taiwan.  So sorry! 

I have so much to catch you all up on....

The most important thing you should know is KENZIE is perfect!

We have fallen in love with this precious baby girl and cannot wait to bring her home!  Many have asked when that will be and honestly we have no idea.  There has been so many variations in processed cases that we do not even have an estimated time.  We will know more once our first decree is issued...but until then all we can do is trust and pray it is soon.

Leaving Kenzie was one of the hardest things I have ever done.  My heart shattered into pieces when I had to say good-bye.  Writing about it right now brings the tears and the emotions.  Surviving over the next several weeks or months until we can bring her home is going to be so difficult.  I ask for your prayers, support, and encouragement.  I am going to do my best to focus on my family right now....these are our last days of being a family of 3.  So I want to give Kyler the attention he needs before his world drastically changes too.

So Taiwan....
Everything was amazing.  We had the chance to do some sight-seeing and a tiny bit of shopping.  We mainly hung around THOGL and helped out with the babies.  There are SO many babies there right now that they need all hands on deck.  Plus it was important to keep Kenzie on their schedule since we would be leaving her. 
Our social worker appointment and court appointment both went amazing.  Richard and I were so nervous, but God went before us and all went smoothly. 
Besides meeting Kenzie the highlight of the trip was meeting Kenzie's birthmother and grandmother.  It was such a special meeting and God was glorified.  There were lots of tears and questions...but we all left the meeting with a since of hope and love for each other.  I am so thankful that I was able to take pictures to show Kenzie one day.  What a special treasure that will be for her.

There is so much more to our trip that I want to share...but that is all I have the energy for right now.  As a few of you know...when we got home (on Thursday) I got super sick.  I call it my "jet lag curse".  Everytime I come home from going somewhere internationally I get sick....vomiting and all of the not fun stuff that goes with that.  I am finally feeling a little bit better this morning.  Thank you Jesus!

Please Pray:
*Our paperwork will be processed quickly and decrees will be issued in record time.  (It's been one week since court)
*The bonding that we started with Kenzie will not be completely lost
*That God will provide someone to travel with me on the second trip to pick up Kenzie.  (We cannot financially afford for Richard to go so I am going to be traveling by myself.....it is very scary to think about traveling internationally by myself and then bringing a baby home internationally by myself.  We know that God will give me the strength but it would be amazing if someone could go with me or we could come up with the money for Richard to go.)
*We have several adoptive family friends who are also waiting on decrees right now...please pray that they will get those decrees soon and that they can bring their babies home! 

The craziness is in full swing....

I have not stopped all day.....

Packing, cleaning, making lists, running last minute errands......ready or not baby girl......we are coming!  (I think she is ready...haha!)

Please be praying for us...
We fly out Monday morning.  Our plane leaves at 8:30am, after a layover in Dallas, we leave from LA heading to Taipei at 2:30pm (which is Joplin 4:30pm).  As you head to bed on Monday night please pray for us as we are heading across the pacific ocean to meet our baby girl!  We are so excited. 

We will continue to update daily on this blog so dont forget to check each day!

But here is how you can begin to pray for us:

*Pray for our Social Worker appointment that we will answer the questions honestly and that all will go smoothly
*Pray for our court appointment.....we will meet Kenzie's birth mom at this appointment and we will be standing before the judge answering adoption questions.
*Pray for our time with Kenzie and the bonding that will begin over this short period of time.
*Pray for our time at THOGL that we can be a help to Ted and Bev and the babies that are there.
*Pray that our paperwork will be processed VERY QUICKLY and that I can travel back very soon to bring her home! 

Thank you so much friends for joining us on this journey!

 Love you all :)

Happy New Year!!!

I had intented to write this post yesterday but we had a fun filled day hanging out with my family and it just didn't happen! 

I am so incredibly excited for the year 2013.  Big and exciting changes for the Jett family! 

This time next week we will have spent an entire day with our sweet baby girl.  We heard from THOGL yesterday and Kenzie's birth mom has been notified of our court appointment and plans to meet us there.  We have so many emotions about that meeting.  Please begin to pray now for us as we meet her BM.  Please pray that she will know our heart and we will be able to communicate our gratitude towards her. 

Nerves are really starting to set in about our trip over....tomorrow I will post more about how we are feeling and how you can specifically pray!  Right now I am going to hang out with my little man....today is his last day of Christmas break and this momma is going to give him my undivided attention!

Kenzie Ann Mei-En Jett

5 months old

Weighs: 16.6 pounds

Length: 23.5 inches long

2 teeth