Friday, February 27, 2015

Our Homsestudy is Complete!

Many of you saw our announcement that our family is growing by one more. If you missed the announcement I want to encourage you to go back and read it. It has been an interesting journey and one I have seen God's hand in. He has opened so many doors and put people in our path right when we needed it. To think that last year when we were planning our trip to bring Bowen home and Jon said lets go help at an orphanage and I was like really? I wasnt sure. If we had not gone we would have missed out on meeting this precious little girl that day. I am just amazed once again on this journey God is taking us. It is a leap of faith but I am going to jump with my arms wide open. We are truly excited to introduce you to our precious daughter that is waiting for us in Ch*na. Some of you know her name because she is in an American sponsored orphanage but Ch*nese ran so her information is out on the organizations website. We have been told by our agency to be extremely careful and not post her English name or Ch*nese name so that it can not be linked back to Ch*na in anyway. So family and friends please refrain from posting her name. When we get our formal letter letter acceptance we can write it everywhere! Our homestudy is also completed as of today!!! So excited things are moving quickly.  We hope to post her picture soon!!

 

Saturday, February 7, 2015

WE ARE ADOPTING AGAIN!!!!

We are Adopting Again! Yes we didn’t believe it either but it is true. We received our pre-approval from Ch*na! We are excited to welcome number 6 bambino to our family. It was April 2014 and Jenn, Isabella, and I went to Ch*na to get Bowen. We took a day out of our Beijing tour to go to an orphanage. This particular orphanage had special needs children from infant to around 12 years of age. We really didn’t know what to expect that day we just wanted to serve and love the children. It was an opportunity to just take in the day without feeling we needed to gather everything possible and learn as much as we could like Bowen, and Yu Mei’s orphanage. We walked into a small two story apartment unit where we were greeted by the orphanage director and a group of about 15 children ranging from I would say 4 to 12 years of age. We gazed around and took in the experience but quickly headed upstairs to help out with the young ones for the day. On this particular day they were needing help with feeding the children, caring for the children, and frankly just loving them. At first the children looked at us with blank stares one even let out a big cry when I went to say hi. We backed off and just let them get used to the idea of us being in the room. It was there that the director introduced us to the children and workers. Jenn immediately recognized this one little girl. The director proceeded to tell us that she has a family in the U.S. We asked the families name and sure enough it was our friends daughter. It is amazing how God can connect one family to another with over a billion people in Ch*na. The children slowly warmed up to us and we were able to feed them, play with them, and even get a few laughs out of them. I remember looking at my oldest daughter Isabella thinking how this moment was going to stay with her for a lifetime. I wondered what type of impact it would leave on her. I thank God she experienced this day and the trip to Ch*na for it’s a new story on her heart to share. We enjoyed the children and then had to say our goodbyes. We ventured downstairs where we only had a few minutes to say our goodbyes to the older ones. We wished we had more time with them but it wasn’t God’s plan for that day. I remember reading on blogs and being educated how older children realize what adoption is. They see families come in and swoop the little ones up and head on out the doors as they still wait. I tried to prepare myself for what was about to happen but no one in the right frame of mind can fully prepare for the experiences ahead. We worked our way to the door and children all of a sudden started hanging all over Jenn. They were wrapped around her legs, pulling on her and just wanting to be held. I looked to my left and saw the same thing with Isabella. Children crying and tugging and just wanting us to stay. I remember the orphanage director saying something to the effect of you are just going to have to leave. You will have to break free from them. Surprisingly I looked down to not find any children on me. As I gazed off to my right I see this little girl come wondering over to me. She stood right before my feet looking into my eyes with her arms extended towards me. It was then that I reached down for her and swooped her up into my arms. She stared into my eyes with the most beautiful smile and then proceeded to kiss me on my cheek. I remember looking at her blue lips and blue fingers wondering what was wrong. I remember saying to myself how?? How can a beautiful little girl like this still be an orphan? As I held her I looked at all the children questioning why they were all here. I remember saying to myself why. This is not fair. Why do they have to pay this price they are so little. We all parted our way with tears. We even got into the van and children were yelling out the window in tears. It are moments like this that will leave foot prints on a man’s sole for a lifetime. I left that day never forgetting this little girl. In fact for 8 months I have had her on the home screen on my phone as a reminder to pray for her heart condition and that she would have a family. It is not like me to do these things but something I felt the spirit telling me to do. Time passed and I found out that this little girl’s file was being released to an adoption agency. I remember thanking God saying this is her turn. She will soon have a family. A few weeks passed and I decided to email the agency that had her file just to confirm she was with an agency. I sent an email and never heard a response. Another couple weeks went by and I decided to forward my email to them and see what response I would get. A day later I got an email stating they had this little girls file and that one family was reviewing her file and a few other families were in line to see it. I remember in my heart thinking this is great!!! She is going to have a family. After reading that email I quickly attached more updated pictures and sent them to the agency to attach to her file. I wanted the family reviewing her file to see how precious she was and help her find a family. That day I really felt with confidence that she was on her way to have a family…. Two days later I was sitting at my work computer and I felt a voice say put your name on the list. I really started to ponder why am I thinking these thoughts she already has a family soon... Is God telling me to do this? The voice grew louder as I started to hear more clearly that I was supposed to put my name on the list to review this little girl’s file. I was at the cross roads where I heard the voice but yet questioned why. I remember getting to a place in my head that if I didn’t do this I was going to regret it for the rest of my life. So I emailed the agency and said I wanted to be added to the list. I remember thinking there are many families interested if it get’s to us we will just have to see what happens. I went home and with a shaky voice told Jenn what I did. It is not like me to not have a conversation of this magnitude with my wife before making this type of decision. I mean Jenn knew about the file. She knew I tried to see if the agency had it. She just didn’t know about me putting our name on the list. I was doomed she was going to kill me for this. However; when the spirit speaks we are to obey and listen and that is exactly what I did. Well let’s just say she was taken by surprise to say the least. A few days later I received an email from the agency stating that all the other families have decided not to proceed forward with her. Could it be God.. Could it really be that you are calling us?? I have prayed for 8 months for her to have a family. I have cried for her. I have remembered that day back in C*ina… God what are you telling me? This whole time I have been praying and you are now going to reveal her to us to adopt! God is good. What lies ahead for this little girl is uncertain. We have been in touch with some of the best doctors who have given us a few opinions. The truth is however that we have to walk this road by faith. The records received by Ch*na in no way shape or form can give us everything we need to determine her road ahead. The truth is we often want our lives to resemble a perfect cookie cutter approach. Each cookie being of perfect shape. The reality is when we trust and follow God’s plans for our lives he can walk us into territory less traveled. The best road we have ever been on.. What a journey adoption has been for both of us. Not in a million years did we ever expect to be adopting again so soon. However the sign is so clear. We are to proceed forward. Please join us in praying for this little girl’s heart. She is going to be 5 in March and has such a great joy about her. We are very excited to be stepping out in faith for her. Please walk with us in prayer for her. She has received two surgeries in Ch*na and will need another one in the near future. We pray that God would sustain her heart until we can get her home to the U.S. I will leave you with that for now and will continue more of the story at another time.