Such a precious gift!!

love like HE loves: Laughing...

I first heard about this video over a month ago and couldn't wait to see our boy in action.  Today was the day.  As I sat filling out our visa applications, I received the email from sweet Christine that she had posted it.  What a blessing!  Love him so much already!!

The Starfish

I met my friend, Heather, for coffee at The Greene at the end of May.  As we were leaving, we ran into one of her husband's cousins.  Heather introduced us and quickly told me that she had just spent a couple of weeks working in an orphanage in Haiti.  

She went on to tell us how it completely changed her life, how she wished she could take her family and go work in the orphanage forever, how everything here seemed suddenly pointless after staring that type of need in the face.  She said that after her group left, the orphanage had received twenty new children.  

She was heartbroken for those children.  She spoke of being overwhelmed by the need there. 

 I understood that feeling so very well. 

 It is one thing to know that there are approximately 147 million orphans in the world. 

 It is an entirely different thing to look some of those children in the face, feed them, love on them and know that there are millions and millions more of them. 

 Each having a story; each having a soul. 

 Overwhelmed doesn't begin to describe how one feels when seeing that sort of need. 

 I said to her, "It reminds me of the starfish story."  

She looked at me completely confused. ;) 

 Have you heard it?  It's one of my favorites!

We must not lose sight of the fact that behind those overwhelming numbers, are individual children. 

 It is heart wrenching to know that as individuals we cannot provide a home for each one; 

however, I don't want to be paralyzed by that, either. 

Fast forward a week.  We were at the beach to celebrate my in-laws anniversary.  We were waiting to be matched with our son.  I'm not going to lie, it kind of consumed me.  Knowing that he was out there somewhere and that we could receive a call at any moment seemed to be at the forefront of my mind all of the time.  As I was running on the beach (I know, me running?!, that's an entirely different story...) 

ANYWAY

as I was running, I was praying.  Praying to get that phone call soon, praying for that little boy whose face we had never seen, praying for the other children who needed homes, praying that somehow and in some way God's loud voice would boom through the clouds and let me know that He heard me, that He cared.  Well, as is usually the case, that loud voice never came.  However, after the run, I slipped off my shoes and socks, bent over to pick them up and saw it.  Right next to my shoe, in a small puddle of water was this:

Such a sweet reminder that each one of us matters to the One who matters most.

He hears us and loves us and is never overwhelmed by our great need. 

I immediately texted this picture to Heather. 

Fast forward a couple of months...some very thoughtful friends threw a 1st birthday party for our little guy.  I was so touched by the gesture and excited to someday tell Elijah that though we weren't there to celebrate with him, people who already loved him wouldn't let the day pass without celebration.  

They brought such kind and thoughtful gifts for him.  

And just look at the very first one I opened:

More than we could have imagined...

Don't you just love it when you know God is trying to tell you something?!  We've been blessed to experience this recently.  Last month my friend, Amber, texted me saying that she was praying Ephesians 3:20 for Elijah.  

Two days later as I was reading my Bible, I came across the verse again.  I've always loved this verse.  I absolutely love the idea that God is able to do more than we can even IMAGINE, more than we could even think to ask.  That amazes me.  The next day, the verse was mentioned in church.  I chuckled and told Sven that I thought God was trying to tell me something.  I began praying this verse as well - asking Him to do more than we could ask or imagine.  I was thinking (and hoping!) that this may answered by getting Elijah home at sonic speed. ;)

While we still pray that we can go get him as soon as possible, we are amazed at what God has already done and just had to share it with you. Elijah's birthday is estimated as August 19 (very fun since all of our other kids are also born on odd days of the month).  We sure do love to celebrate birthdays around here and the thought of my son celebrating his first birthday without his family kind of breaks my heart.  There are people in China whom you can hire to deliver cakes/gifts and take pictures of your child in the orphanage.  Unfortunately, our agency really discourages doing this.  I called them to see just how strongly they discourage it because I REALLY wanted to do this for him.  After getting off of the phone with the agency, I was discussing the situation with my friend, Jeni.  I mentioned that Harmony House (Elijah's foster home) seems so nice that I wondered if they would really mind.  She volunteered to send an email to Harmony Outreach (since we were told not to contact the foster home directly) to find out if it would be ok to send a birthday cake to a child (she kept it very vague).  She texted me soon after, saying, "You are going to be sooooo excited!"  She was right!

They knew who she was talking about w/o even mentioning his name or birthdate.  We are able to send money directly to them and they'll have a little party for him.  The director of the ministry is going to China at the end of the month and volunteered to take anything with him that I'd like to send.  They have gotten me in contact with people who know our little guy and have pictures from their recent visits to the home.  Rumor has it there is even a recent video of him just giggling and laughing.  That brings tears to my eyes just typing that.  I pray we can see that soon.  I cannot wait to see him in motion and hear his voice!!  It has been amazing to hear from people who know our little guy.  

And it gets better.  While we have spent months praying that our son would be in a place where he is safe, fed and even loved, these amazing people have prayed that this boy would be placed in a home where he will be loved and taught about Jesus.  How amazing that they were the answer to our prayers and we were the answer to theirs.  Only God.

One more thing: we were expecting that our little guy would need to have a couple of surgeries after we bring him home.  They mentioned that his heart condition should not require surgery and that they had paid to have his other surgeries done in December.  I was stunned.  I asked Sven to read the email and see if I was reading it correctly.  All of his surgeries were completed?!  We understand that anything can change, and more may be required later, but we are still so very grateful.  So, so grateful.  

Introducing.....

We were LID (log in date) to China on May 31. 

 I knew that we could get a referral anywhere from a little before that to months after that date.  

Let's just say that waiting does not come easily for me. ;)  

On June 21, I received a phone call from one of our agency reps, Sarah.  I had sent an email asking if she thought we may be matched off of the upcoming shared list.  As we spoke, Sarah explained that we probably wouldn't be matched off of that list because she had a file for us to look over right then.  She explained the age, needs and backstory of this little guy and said that she would send his file quickly.  I immediately called Sven and gave him the details.  He then waited for me to receive the file and forward it to him.  

When I received it, this is the first picture that I saw:

I'm pretty sure that my heart stopped for a moment...

We were really surprised by how much information we received about him.  The medical files were pretty detailed.  Sven looked them over, and spoke with three other docs about them in about half as hour.  I emailed Sarah and told her YES!!!  She replied that it was wonderful that we wanted him, but we should probably take some time to talk to a physician. She got a kick out of me saying that I'd already consulted 4 of them.  ;)

She submitted our LOI (letter of intent) to China on June 25th and we received PA (pre-approval) from China on July 5.  We also received an update from his foster home - Harmony House.  The update contained more recent photos of our not-so-little guy as well as information about his routine and personality.  This is one of the photos that we received:

 Elijah JianLong

(seriously.cannot.wait.to.squeeze.those.cheeks.)

At this point, the big question is "When will you go get him?". 

 Unfortunately, we don't have a super-clear answer on that one.  We are currently waiting on our LOA (letter of approval) from China.  They have prepped us to wait 3-4 months for LOA, but of course, we are praying for much sooner than that. We have heard of others getting theirs sooner, so we hope that will be the case for us.  After LOA, they estimate 10-12 weeks before travel.  

Every day our children (and we!) pray for God to bring Elijah home soon.  We are so thankful that he is in [what certainly appears to be] a wonderful foster home.  However, we also know that every child thrives best in a loving family.  It is difficult to think of missing milestones as well as the everyday smiles and sounds.  We want to be the ones hugging him, reading to him, playing with him, and singing him to sleep.  But for now, God has called us to wait.  So we pray that He gives us the strength to do so  in a way that honors Him while still praying that He does indeed bring Elijah home SOON.   

We are thankful for this:

Psalm 68:5-6a

A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,
    is God in his holy dwelling.
⁶ God sets the lonely in families,

  

Orphan Care Shirts

IF...

you are interested in showing support for orphan care 

AND 

want to help spread the word about the orphan crisis and adoption

AND

 want to help us bring our little guy home

THEN...

here's an opportunity to do so:

We are partnering with mycrazyadoption.com to offer these t-shirts.  

All proceeds will go towards our upcoming agency and processing fees as we submit our dossier to China.  

All of the shirts are available in adult and youth sizes.  The women's cut shirts tend to run small, so order up a size or two.  

They are $25 each and are available through the tabs on the right side of the blog.

Man Up Shirt

"PROTECT AND LOVE THE FATHERLESS"

Size Specs

Size    Length         Width

S        28                19

     M       29                20 ½ 

L        30                22

XL      31                24

XXL   32                26

Simply Love China Shirt

"LOVE WILL ALWAYS FIND A WAY"

Size Specs
Ladies Cut

Size    Length         Width

S        25 3/8         16 ¼ 

M       26                17 ¼ 

L        26 5/8         18 ¼ 

XL      27 ¼            19 ¾ 

XXL   27 7/8         21 ¼ 

Spec for Unisex Cut 

Size    Length         Width

S        28                19

     M       29                20 ½ 

L        30                22

XL      31                24

XXL   32                26     

Whole Wide World Shirt

"God loves each of us as if there were only one of us." - St. Augustine
Size Specs

                                   Small          Medium             Large            X-Large            2X-Large            3x

Width (A)                                           18"                  20"                   22"               24"                     26" 

Length (B)                                         28"                 29"                   30"               31"                     32" 

Sleeve (C)                                         7.5"                   8"                  8.5"               9"                       9.5" 

If you are local, I'd be happy to deliver them to you.  If you're out of town, there is a $5 charge for shipping, but that will cover as many shirts as you'd like. :)  

Most of all, though, we'd really just like to ask for your prayers.  

Please pray that the paperwork will continue to move quickly and that our little guy is being cared for in the best possible way.

Where we are...

I've been asked to share "where we are" in the adoption process. The answer is somewhat complicated because the process is so detailed and I'm honestly still familiarizing myself with it. Those who know me well have heard me say that if I didn't personally know people who have adopted from China, I may just think it was impossible. To say that the paperwork can be overwhelming, would be a gross understatement. However, there is great joy in accomplishing each task and knowing that it brings us one step closer to our little guy. I recently had a friend refer to me as "paperwork pregnant" - HA!

We just completed our home study. This involved compiling documents (birth certificates, financial statements, utility bills, marriage license, etc.), background checks/fingerprints, fire inspection, proof of animal vaccinations (yep, you read that correctly), dr. appts for all, and multiple interviews. We were really pleased with our social worker and she submitted the 16 page study to our adoption agency yesterday. Once it is approved, we will submit it (along with other documents) to U.S. immigration along with a form called the I-800a. Basically, this is USCIS evaluating if we are suitable to adopt a child from China. Currently, we've been told that this process can take 60-90 days. Once we get the approval and have all of our other documents together (too many to list here), we must get all of the documents notarized, certified by the county clerk, certified by the Secretary of State of Ohio and sealed by the Chinese Consulate in NY. From my understanding, the consulate does not accept mail, so the documents will be sent by courier. Once we have all of the documents back, I believe we can submit our dossier to China. After receiving and approving the dossier, we will receive a log in date (LID) to China's system. We can then be matched with our little boy. After match, we can expect to travel to China in 4-6 months. I hope this makes sense and that I have the details correct. Please give me grace, as all of this is still a little confusing to me. ;)

So, if you're still with me, that's "where we're at." I've been praying that all of this will move as quickly as possible. Not necessarily for us....but for our precious boy. We want him to know the security and love of a family, the joy of siblings, and the peace of sleeping safely in his home...

Fortunately, we are blessed to serve a God who delights in "placing the lonely in homes" (Psalm 68:6). During our last home study interview on Monday, our social worker informed us that she would work really hard to finish the report and present it at her staff meeting on Tuesday. She said that if she didn't do it then, she would have to wait until their meeting next month to present it. One day made a month's difference. This was not lost on me. When people have asked us what they can pray for, I've asked them to pray that for every timeframe we're given, each step will be completed in the fastest time possible. God knew when that staff meeting was when I scheduled the interview. I, of course, had no idea. We are thankful that He is in the details. I know that this is an unpredictable process, but it brings great peace to know that not one small detail of it is unknown to Him.

We're Expecting...

Yep, it's true, we're expecting again!

• Expecting God to do great things in our family.
• Expecting Him to provide and remind us that He funds what He favors.
• Expecting to be awed by His delight in placing the lonely in families.
• Expecting Him to show Himself to us in new ways and challenge us to trust His timing.
• Expecting Him not to leave us unchanged after this journey we've begun.

We have recently begun the process of adopting a little boy from China.

Honestly, I've typed, deleted & re-typed all of our motives and line of reasoning (just as an explanation for those of you who may think we've lost our minds!). We have been asked by those we are working with..."with a house full of 5 children already, WHY would you want to do this?" In our most vulnerable moments of this already exhausting journey, we've asked the same question ourselves! There are many motivations, many reasons, many thoughts behind this decision and if you'd ever like to stop over for coffee, we'd be happy to explain. :)

Please pray for our precious little guy somewhere on the other side of the world.

Please pray that we can be united with him as soon as possible.