IT ARRIVED!!!!!!!!!!!

So it is Valentine's Day - and instead of putting on the "heart socks" from the sock drawer - I thought..."why not?" and slipped my lucky ladybug socks right onto my feet.

And a couple of hours later - I danced in from the mailbox with the most precious document I have almost ever seen in my hands!!!!!!!!!!!! We received that paper from the Dept of Homeland Security that allows us to bring Ty home!

I made a copy, took it to a notary to certify that the copy was an original copy, then went to Prattville, AL to get 9 of our documents county certified. This means that the county looked at the notary's signature and provded papers that said, "Yes, this is a notary in our county."

Tomorrow a.m. I will go to Montgomery County and get 3 more documents county certified and then I will sweet talk my way into the Secretary of State's office and get all 15 documents State Certified.

And THEN- I will FEDEX these precious babies to a Chinese Consulate Courier in Houston. And she will get them Authenticated by the consulate (who authenticates the state certifications and says, "Yes, this is a state in the United States."

THEN - they will be FEDEX'd to Utah and our dossier will go to China hopefully by 2/25!!!!!!!!!! And then we can fill in the DTC date over in the list to the left of this post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And more importantly, we will be able to send Ty packages and letters and pictures....and Hot Wheels cars!

Ty - we are truly on our way....and working as fast as we possibly can. This was the best Valentine's Card I've ever received!

Wish #85

Whenever I get the chance to visit home - my Mom hands me one or two wishes that she has been handed along the way to go into Ty's quilt. It is always such a great surprise. This time she handed me this wonderful and playful monkey print. It is on an ivory ground and just feels lovely. The monkeys are playing all kinds of musical instruments and dancing across their fabric home. Lu Lu Martin gave this to Mom to pass along to us. Lu Lu will play an important role in Ty's quilt when we begin to piece his blocks together. She will be embroidering your names on the squares! I can hardly wait! Lu Lu is so smart and talented - I know this will just be amazing when it is done!

Lu Lu wrote:

Welcome Ty!

My wish for you is that you honor and cherish your Chinese heritage for it is what goes into making you special, that you embrace and explore all the opportunities your new country America offers you for its riches lie in the fulfillment of a life, and that you love and rely on your dear Zucco family, for you have made them complete. I give you a fabric of monkeys, that you will always be happy, loved and dance to your own music. God bless and keep you and your family.

Lu Lu Martin

Urgent Help Needed in China for Winter

Our hearts have been so heavy with worry over the winter weather conditions in China.  For those of you that are not aware - China is experiencing the coldest winter on record in over 5 decades.  Many people have perished due to record snows falling in areas that are not equipped to handle winter weather. 
This winter storm comes at a time that is usually filled with celebration.  This is the Festival of the Lunar New Year....the Year of the Rat.  Families travel great distances to be together for these two weeks a year.  It is a National Vacation in every sense of the word. 

We have been trying to follow every shred of info we could to find out about Ty's area.  This photo shows the orphanages and areas most affected by this catastrophic weather.

There is an area in the bottom left corner of the map (the SW corner if you will) called Guizhou.  This is where Ty lives.  The Guiyang SWI is listed in red in that area.  This "Social Welfare Institute" is the SWI that handles Ty's foster care from what little information we have.  Our agency has not provided us with much to go on at this point. 

One of the charity organizations has people in China making calls to these areas and getting updates.  The latest update was from a Ms. Chen at the Guiyang SWI who works with all the foster families there.  She stated that there was electricty but no water in the city of Guiyang.  Prices have skyrocketed and there is more bad weather coming.  She stated that they needed warm clothes and funds to be able to buy their daily needs to get through these storms.

We immediately responded by making a donation to Half The Sky's Little Mouse Emergency Relief Fund and a donation to Children's Hope  Children's Hope is the organization that is in direct contact with Ms. Chen.

Please consider even a small donation to help these children...these babies.  We cannot send Ty a package directly at this point and it probably wouldn't arrive in a timely manner considering the weather - but we know that the donations to these relief funds will help him as soon as possible.

We continue to wait for our magical "171" from US Immigration and Dept of Homeland Security.  This is our final piece of paper - our permission to bring Ty to the USA.  It should come any day.  After that document gets to our agency (following brief stops at the Alabama Secretary of State and the Chinese Consuluate in Houston) we can SEND TY A PACKAGE!  With warm clothes, and pictures, and a letter....and Hot Wheels Cars! 

Thank you for your donation and above all - your prayers for Ty and his foster family and those agencies that are trying to help.