Medical Expedite

We mailed out our I800A to the USCIS on March 6th.  We just received an email and text saying they received our documents in the lockbox today.  Once we receive our fingerprint appointments in the mail we can request a medical expedite due to our daughters heart condition.  Please pray that they will process our paperwork quickly.  Thanks!

Krispy Kreme Donut Fundraiser

Today was an amazing day!!! I want to thank all of our friends and family who helped us today. We couldn't have done it all with out you. When Jon mentioned adopting our little girl I really was not sure about having to fundraise again. Part of me thought, so many have helped before how could people help again. While we were reviewing our little one's file, God once again showed me he's got this. They attached a $5,000 grant to her file. After that, our agency encouraged us to apply for a matching grant. Within an hour, yes an hour we heard we were approved for an $8,000 grant. We need to come up with $4,000 and they will match the other $4,000. They then encouraged us to apply for an agency grant. The max that they give was $3,000. That is what we requested. When we got our approval letter the following week, it stated that they wanted to give us $5,000 because of how we met her, advocated for her and they were inspired by our story. I tell you this because I was hesitant. I have seen God provide for two of our adoptions and still I doubted him. Look at what he has shown me in less than a month??? AND then add in today. I first woke up to a message from a woman who has been thinking about adoption and wants to meet me for coffee to talk more about it. For me I just want to be a tool for God to use. If through all of this, it also helps one more orphan get a forever family. Completely worth it!!! So then the morning started. We got the donuts to all of the locations and people were coming at a steady pace. Our first location sold out at 11 and then we started to hear more as time went on. My phone was still ringing as the day went on. Completely Amazing. I am truly blown away. Today was not about us in anyway. It was truly doing God's work and him working for our daughter. He provided for her so she could have a family and get the surgery she needs to help her. Today we saw so many people come together to help make this day what it was. We had so many volunteers to make all six stations run smoothly. We had a few friends that got sick and right after those messages we received some with people asking if we still needed help. God even worked out all of the little details like that. Thank you to all of you who helped us today!!! So many people also shared our event on Facebook. This was huge!!! It really helped!! We had over 100 preorders for donuts today even before everything started today. I was getting texts and phone calls still tonight for donuts. We had 670 dozen donuts this morning and they have all been sold!!! There are so many generous people around in our community!! We are truly humbled. Thank you so much for all of your support and all of your help to bring our little girl home!! We could not do this without you. I think today was also a reminder that there is so much good in this world. We just need to look around and see it more. There was a couple that came by tonight to purchase donuts and they thanked me for allowing them to be able to help in this way. Again truly humbled by it all. Thank you so much!!


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!!

 

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.

PUZZLE UPDATE!!

I wanted to update you on our puzzle fundraiser.  I apologize for not updating sooner.  We have had people purchasing from church and I have been updating on Facebook.  It has been harder to blog this time around with going to the doctors for Yu Mei and looking ahead to her palate repair surgery.  This may happen right before we are traveling to bring our son home.  I homeschool my older two, so things have been quite busy around here.  I am hoping to be able to blog a little more and do some catch up, so look for some posts that will be coming. 

Right now, we are continuing to do our Puzzle Piece Fundraiser.  We have been completely amazed at how God has been providing with this.  Last week I was having a hard day thinking about the funds and how they are going to get paid.  With Yu Mei's adoption every penny was provided for and when we did our fundraisers he provided exactly what we needed at that moment.  He is continuing to do the same with our son.  When I went to the mailbox, there was an envelope addressed by someone I did not know.  I opened it up and there was a $500 check written out to us.  I had heard of those things happening to other people but never expected it to happen to us.  Later I found out that the check was from someone my husband had went to grade school with.  What a complete blessing. God knew I needed it right at that moment.  So, we have had 233 pieces of our puzzle donated so far.  We are almost halfway there to 500.  If you would like to donate, please click on the PayPal link to make your donation.  Each piece is $10 and we will write your name, favorite verse, or message you would like written on the back.  We are going to frame it so we can see both sides and so that we will remember each piece of who helped us bring our son home.  Here is what our puzzle looks like so far:

Adoption #2 Update: WE GOT A REFERRAL!!!

Jenn and I wanted to announce that we received a referral of a little boy 15 months of age from Northern Ch*na.  It is interesting to see how God works.  Prior to our referral Jenn had been following a little girls story by the name of “Lily”.  Lily has a heart condition and has been in and out of the hospital fighting a battle.  There was a facebook post of this little girl recently singing a son.  It brought her to tears as she listened to it.  She knew she needed to find the song.  As she put some of the words into YouTube she found that the song was called “All of Me” by Matt Hammitt.  He sounded just like the lead singer of Sanctus Real, which is her favorite group.  A lot of their songs spoke to her while we were on our adoption journey to Yu Mei (Piper—we are calling her by her Ch*nese name).  In searching, she found out that Matt Hammitt is the lead singer of Sanctus Real.  She started listening to the words and the meaning behind the song.  In searching she also found that he has a blog that he has because his son was born with a heart condition.  This song was written about his son.  The song talks about what it was like to go through a heart condition with his son.  As Jenn reflected on the words of this song it brought tears to her eyes.  You see we have been praying for little Lily for some time now.  She is a sweet little girl that was adopted from Ch*na and has been fighting a tough battle with a heart condition.  During that week we felt God giving us a new perspective of heart conditions.  It is interesting how God prepares the heart at times but we don’t always know exactly what it’s all about.

On Thursday December 6^th, we received the call for a referral of a little boy.  This little boy had a heart condition.  He is diagnosed with ASD which means he has a 5mm hole in the heart.  It is interesting because to this day I believe God prepared us for this little guy.  We began to pray and surrender to God for his direction with this little guy.  Jenn and I always told ourselves no matter what the condition we were presented with we would give it to our heavenly father.  You see God has already called him by name.  He has already chosen his family.  All we needed to do was surrender and allow God to reveal whether or not he was our son.  I met with small group that Friday night and we prayed for this referral.  We prayed God would reveal his answer to us and give us an overwhelming sense of peace.  Let’s just say that is what God did.  You see when we surrender our hearts to the father he reveals things that are not human like.  They are signs that can only come from him.  It was Saturday and Jenn was on the TV using YouTube to google Matt Hammitt’s song so I could hear it.  I was in the bathroom shaving and we were getting ready to begin our day.  Jenn yelled to me you have to come here.  We listened to a YouTube video of Matt Hammitt “Sanctus Real singer talk about the day his son’s heart stopped.  The day his heart stopped was September 14^th.  (not the same year as his son)  This was the same day our little guy was found abandoned in China.  The story of Matt Hammits son was incredible and they were able to bring him back to life.  Jenn and I and our girls were amused by how these dates lined up.  For some reason we didn’t put it together before but I mentioned to Jenn that we were in China that day our little guy was found.  As we thought back we realized that we landed in Beijing Ch*na on September 13 to go Yu Mei our first adoption.  The very next day we toured the Great Wall of China and our little guy was found abandoned several hours north of where we were.  Very interesting to see how God weaves a story behind life as we live it.  You see we serve a HUGE GOD….  A God that is merciful and is our great provider.  When we submit to his plans for our lives he reveals himself through a story that can be told to many.  If not told to many it is a story that can be imbedded in the heart to last for a lifetime…  We knew he was ours.  We knew we needed to formerly write our Letter of Intent to our agency.  We wrote it before we had our medical review with CHOP.  He was part of our family.

Here are the lyrics to the song “All of Me” by Matt Hammitt

Afraid to love
Something that could break
Could I move on
If you were torn away

And I'm so close
To what I can't control
I can't give you half my heart
And pray He makes you whole

You're gonna have all of me
You're gonna have all of me
Cause you're worth every falling tear
You're worth facing any fear
You're gonna know all my love
Even if it's not enough
Enough to mend our broken hearts
But giving you all of me
Is where I'll start

I won't let sadness
Steal you from my arms
I won't let pain
Keep you from my heart
I'd trade the fear
Of all that I could lose
For every moment
I'll share with you

You're gonna have all of me
You're gonna have all of me
Cause you're worth every falling tear
You're worth facing any fear
You're gonna know all my love
Even if it's not enough
Enough to mend our broken hearts
But giving you all of me
Is where I'll start

And Heaven brought you to this moment
It's too wonderful to speak
You're worth all of me
You're worth all of me
So let me recklessly love you
Even if I bleed
You're worth all of me
You're worth all of me

You're gonna have all of me
You're gonna have all of me
Cause you're worth every falling tear
You're worth facing any fear
You're gonna know all my love
Even if it's not enough
Enough to mend our broken hearts
But giving you all of me
Is where I'll start

You're gonna have all of me
Cause you're worth every falling tear
You're worth facing any fear
You're gonna know all my love
Even if it's not enough
Enough to mend our broken hearts
But giving you all of me
Is where I'll start
It's where I'll start

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50ygAc2qP5A

The following week we sent the referral file to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to be reviewed.  We already knew God’s answer for us but we wanted to be more educated on his condition so we knew how we could help him.  The doctor talked a lot about his file.  There is a good chance that since he was born with this condition that the hole in his heart could heal all on his own.  If not around the age of three or older they would do a procedure to close the hole in his heart.  Please join us in prayer for our little boy that God would heal his heart.  We know God specifically has a plan for our little one and we can’t wait to see his story be told.   A couple that we traveled with to Ch*na adopted a two year old girl.  She also had a hole in her heart like our little one.  I still to this day remember being in Guangzhou, Ch*na where we all were getting our children’s medical checks done by the doctor.  I remember our friend of this little girl running up to Jenn and I in tears telling us it’s healed….  Her hole in her heart was healed….  Awesome experience to witness as God provided a great blessing that day to this family.

Where we are now:

We have submitted our Letter of Intent (LOI) requesting to adopt him on 12/11/13.  We are currently waiting for our formal Letter of Acceptance (LOA) which is our official approval from Ch*na.  Our paperwork has been translated and needs to go through the review process and then approval state before we receive our LOA.  Currently we are praying that God would provide the funds to pay for our adoption.  We have seen him work with Yu Mei’s adoption and he moved mountains!!  We cannot post a picture of our little one until we receive our LOA.  If you see us please ask us to see his picture.  He is a cutie!! 

Currently we are doing a puzzle piece fundraiser to help with our adoption funds.  Each piece is $10.  We will write your name or favorite verse on the back of the puzzle piece.  We are putting it together as we go.  We plan on framing it so that both sides of the puzzle will be seen so we can remember each piece of “our puzzle.”  Thank you to those who have already contributed.  I will post a picture of our puzzle to show you the progress.  Please pray for us as we wait for our little one.  Since we have been matched we have received a $11,360 invoice that we are working towards paying.  If you feel led to helping us with our fundraiser please feel free to contact me or use the donate button to contribute. 

 

Here is another song Jenn found after we wrote this post tonight:

Trust by Matt Hammitt

Verse 1
Lest I'm tempted to forget
I'll tie Your love around my neck
I'll write Your words upon my heart
Lord I won't forget how good You are

Verse 2
I'll dwell upon Your faithfulness
I'll rest within Your promises
And when I'm walking through the dark
Lord I won't forget how good You are

Chorus
I will trust
I will trust You
I will trust You Lord with all my heart
And I won't forget how good You are
No I won't forget how good You are

Verse 3
You gave me everything I have
And my whole life is in Your hands
When what I fear is closing in
Lord Your faithfulness will never end
Your faithfulness will never end

Bridge
And even in the darkness
Even in the questions
Even when the hardest time of life are at hand
And even in the darkness
Even in the questions
Even in the times that I'm not meant to understand

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maRMivc5vB4&list=RD50ygAc2qP5A

Orphan Sunday & The Start of our Puzzle Piece Fundraiser

Today was Orphan Sunday.  I woke up and emotions started flowing in the morning as I got ready to head to church.  Knowing that we have a little one halfway across the world and wondering what they are doing, if someone is loving them, if they are being taken care of etc. crossed my mind.  Also we had prepared for Orphan Sunday by picking a  video to be played at the beginning of church and an interview of two girls that were adopted from Foster care to see their side of adoption.  I was wondering how it would all go and if people would see a new view of adoption and orphan care.  It was very powerful and so moving!!  I cried even though I was there for the interview, I edited the video and then there in church I cried again.  There were many tears and I think that people were able to get a glimpse and see that the need is great.  After the message everyone who had previously adopted, those who have been adopted, or those that are in process of adopting or foster care got up in the front of the church and our pastor prayed over us.  It was amazing!!  Such a wonderful morning recognizing the least of these.  Thinking and praying for our little one who we already love so much.  Praying that we will know who our little one is soon.  I know it is all in God's timing. 

Today was a great day to launch our Puzzle Piece Fundraiser.  We purchased a 500 piece puzzle that we will be putting together as pieces are purchased.  Each piece is $10 and we will write your name, favorite verse or message on the back of the piece.  Consider purchasing one for your family or one for each family member.  We will put it all together and then frame it so we can see both sides of the puzzle and always see the pieces that helped us bring our little one home.  Feel free to send me a message or use the paypal link to make your purchases.  Make sure to tell me what you would like to have on the back of your puzzle pieces.  So far we sold 64 pieces!!  Please help us put more pieces together :)