Possible Spelling Name Change

We are considering changing the spelling of Kaden's name. Still Kaden but spelled differently. Things were a lot easier when I had a girl and a boy name picked out and spelled for him. I've had over 2 years to think about this. Then all of a sudden when we were faced with what I thought was 24 hours to decide on his name, I wasn't settled. Pete and I contemplated many different options but I was just so tired and asked if we could just keep it simple and go with Kaden. But since we made that decision, it just didn't look right. I know most people will think that I'm making too much of this but I don't think so. He'll have to live with this decision for the rest of his life. I don't want it to be a rash decision. I like Kayden but it looks girly. Then Kaiden came to me today. I like it. Pete likes it. But we are going to sleep on it for today. I'm very emotional from Sue having her baby boy so I want more time to think about it since we haven't completed any official paperwork for him and his passport has to have his Chinese name on it anyways.

Letter Seeking Confirmation Mailed (LSC)

Our agency mailed our LSC to China today. That was the final document that we had to sign to officially accept the referral of Kaden. Since it is already Saturday morning there, they will not receive it until Monday morning. Please pray for us that they do 'extra' work before closing for 2 weeks for Chinese New Year so that we receive Travel Approval (TA) within 2 weeks. It currently takes 2 - 3 weeks for TA. If all goes well, then we'll travel 3 - 4 weeks from that. This is all going oh so quickly now!

Kaden Eduard Pfeiffer

Here are couple more pictures that we have of him. He is about 6 months old in these pictures. He is now 14 months old. Yes we are sure he is a he and not a she. Wearing pink is not a girl only color in China like it is often perceived here in the USA. His Chinese name is Miao Zi Qiang. Our name for him is Kaden Eduard Pfeiffer. So we keep the 'Ks'.

He's Ours

It's almost official. We just received a phone call from our adoption agency that they received our LSC (letter seeking confirmation) for our son. We have sign some forms and send them back to China now. We won't get those until next week because our agency needs a form from our homestudy agency. Then GWCA sends that back to China. We then wait 2 - 3 weeks for travel approval. That puts us right at Chinese New Year. Hopefully CCAA sends TA (travel approval) before they go off on vacation for 2 weeks. Once our agency has that, we move to Travel. We should go to China around the beginning of March to bring him home. YEAH!

His First Outfit

So I was out shopping today to get some stocking stuffers at Target. Since we are now getting a boy and not a girl, this means that I do not have any clothes for him. Not knowing if we are going to have any more kids after him, and not knowing if we do, if we'll have another boy, I don't want to spend a lot of money on clothes. He's a boy. So doesn't that mean his clothes won't last to be hand me downs anyways, right? At Target I was on a search for deep discounted clearances. I didn't want anything ugly though. I was hoping to get his first Michigan outfit. But no luck. Those were not on sale. Neither were the Pistons. Neither were the Red Wings. ONLY the Lions outfits were on sale. Go figure. So his first outfit is a Lions sweatsuit.

Detroit Orphanage

I was surprised to learn that Detroit has a modern day 'orphanage' Christ Child House. Two weeks ago the Detroit News did a special report on it. If you missed it, you can still find it on-line. They are in need of everything from volunteer hours to clothing for the boys. Michigan has 18,000 children in the foster care system. About 400 'age out' (turn 18) on a yearly basis. I could not even imagine being on my own at 18 years old. I was living at home getting ready for college and not having to worry about food or shelter.

Last night I attended a meeting with a group from our church that have started an organization Hope For Every Orphan. They hope to bring awareness and support to the orphans of the world, beginning with the foster children in our area. Oakland County, the county that we live in, is one of the wealthiest areas of the country but yet we have the greatest need for foster homes. Children in Macomb County neighboring us are having to go to foster homes hours north of us because there are not enough homes in this area for the children. With our pending adoption, I am looking forward to supporting this ministry. It feels like a good fit for our family right now.

James 1:27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

Donation Increase Official

We received an email from our adoption agency today. The rumors that have been floating around the last few months are now true. Effective January 1, 2009, the orphanage 'donation' will increase to $5,000. We knew it was likely to happen but we were still hoping it wouldn't go into effect until after we adopted. I understand that it is going to a very worthy cause, but still, it's another $2,000 we weren't originally anticipating. We have been toying with the idea of doing an adoption fundraiser and now we just might need to do that in addition to applying for a few grants.