Good news/Bad news

I've been waiting all day for a call from our adoption placing agency telling us we've received Letter of Acceptance. I guess today just wasn't the day, BUT we did receive great news! This is the good news portion of this post....we received a letter stating we will be receiving a $3,500 grant from Show Hope founded by Steven Curtis Chapman! Yippeee! We are so excited and sooooo very grateful!!! That puts us that much closer to our goal.

Speaking of goals...this is the bad news portion of this post....we are going to have to up our goal to $12,000 from $10,000 for our travel expenses because the cost seems to be going up daily. If our timeline stays on track we will be traveling during a peak period and add to that higher gas prices and the increasing value of the RMB...well that makes for an increase in practically every aspect of travel. And believe me, we'll be praying for good deals and we're pretty good at making pennies stretch...so we'll do our best to keep costs down.

Please pray with us as we venture toward the next leg of this journey!

Yard Sale...Success!

One man's trash is another man's treasure.

How true that statement is! A few weeks ago we asked family and friends to donate their unwanted items to us so that we could have a garage sale to raise money for our plane tickets to China to bring Rachel home. Many people stepped out in a BIG way and our house was overflowing with items for the sale. We had things in our basement, living room, bedroom, kitchen, garage, and our front porch was TOTALLY full! I was drowning in clothes, books, and household items! We spent many hours sorting and pricing and moving things from here to there.

Finally the day came...we had table upon table full of items...so many we couldn't put them all out at once. Would we have customers? Would we sell enough to make it worth all those hours and hours of hard work? The answer is YES! The first day we brought in over $700. We were in awe! The second day started out raining with a spotty-looking radar for the day. We took a leap of faith and pulled it all out anyway. And God showed up in a big way and kept the rain at bay! We made over $300 the second day bringing our total to $1030! Ahhhhh....success....it feels good and we are praising God for it!

We are totally exhausted, but it's the good kind of exhausted...the kind that comes after hard work that pays off big time! Thanks to EVERYONE who helped in any way...your donations are very much appreciated and we couldn't have done it without you!

What is your special need?

When people hear that we are adopting from China, they automatically assume we are adopting a healthy baby girl. When we explain that she is 4 years old, they hesitate, I'm sure unasked questions run through their heads, and then they continue on with their congratulations. For those who want to know more, it usually comes out that children adopted internationally at an older age usually have a physical special need. Our daughter has post-operative congenital glaucoma. That can be scary to some. We don't really know the level of her vision. We don't know what the future holds in regards to her sight. But no matter how well she sees now or later...we are going to love her...she is our daughter, and we are going to give her the best life possible.

Why do people adopt children with special needs? Is it because they pity them, is it because it will make the adoptive parents feel good about themselves for helping someone, is it because they want to be their savior, etc.? The answer is no to all those questions. They adopt them because they see beyond the special need...to their humanness and their worth as an individual. They see them as a child that can be THEIR child.

If you were to write down all your special needs, both emotional and physical from slightest to most severe, on a piece of paper without your name and hand it to someone, even a person you know, and ask that person if they would adopt a child with those needs, their answer is probably going to be "no"...until you reveal it is YOU the paper describes. We ALL have special needs. Don't let the term "special needs" scare you, or you could be missing out on a blessing from God.

Waiting Upon the Lord

Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.   ~ Psalm 27:14 


I'm getting weary from the wait....it's 40 days and counting that we've been waiting on "Letter of Acceptance from China". I turned to scripture to help me endure the wait, but though I wanted something specific, it doesn't say "wait for letter of acceptance", it says wait for the Lord! 

I know others have waited much longer, but we started this journey over a year ago and now that we know about our daughter and can see her pics we just really, really want her home with us! 


The "wait" is getting harder, but "We'll wait upon the Lord!"

The Voice of Adventure

 

There is a rawness and a wonder to life. Pursue it. Hunt for it. Sell out to get it.

Jesus says the options are clear. On one side there is the voice of safety. You can build a fire in the hearth, stay inside, and stay warm and dry and safe.

Or you can hear the voice of adventure—God’s adventure.

Instead of building a fire in your hearth, build a fire in your heart. Follow God’s impulses. Adopt the child. Move overseas. Teach the class. Change careers. Run for office. Make a difference.

Don’t listen to the whines of those who have settled for a second-rate life and want you to do the same so they won’t feel guilty. Your goal is not to live long; it’s to live.

Sure it isn’t safe, but what is? 

~ Max Lucado

There are so many more things you can do with your life for the glory of God than are listed in this excerpt. Find what God wants you to do with your life...and do it! There is no greater blessing than the blessings that come from obedience to God!

Question: Are you ready to step outside of your safe zone?

One Less

"Do you want to do something beautiful for God? There is a person who needs you. This is your chance."

--Mother Teresa

A Little About Rachel

Rachel lives in Taiyuan City, Shanxi, China with a foster family. It's a very large, smoggy city. Their main industry is coal...thus the reason for the thick air. I, of course, have researched her province to learn more about her birth place and have discovered that despite the pollution, the city and the province are full of rich history, beautiful scenery, kind people, and lovely artifacts. We can't wait to see it with our own eyes!

We've also discovered that Rachel's foster family is overseen by the Taiyuan Social Welfare Institute. It's said to be one of the best orphanages in China. What a relief to us. The director of the orphanage has a real heart for children and his work there has reflected that. Most likely that means that Rachel is getting the best care possible for a child who has experienced such tragic losses in her short little life.

We have a good indication from her file that Rachel is well loved in her foster family. To the best of our knowledge she has been with this foster family since she was 3 months old. She is going to grieve and grieve very hard when we are united. At the age of 4 there is no way that she could fully understand that it's in her best interest for us to make her a part of our family and bring her halfway across the world to live in a strange land. The experience for her is likened to kidnapping. If you have or ever have had a 4 year old, imagine them being kidnapped and how scared they must be without their mom and dad. To Rachel her foster parents are her mom and dad and she is going to be taken from them and handed over to very different looking strangers. In her province it is rare to see a Caucasian. She may never have seen someone as pale as us. She may never have seen someone with blue eyes or green eyes. She may never have seen someone with red hair. Not only are we strangers....we're aliens! We smell, talk, and eat differently. So now we can liken the experience to being kidnapped by aliens!

I'll leave you with that image...that thought. It's very sobering, isn't it?