Friday, November 16, 2012

The Call to a Mama and Baba

Is it me, or do most of us start praying or feeling it around November? Does God do that on purpose?



He calls them first with a whisper,
He calls them next with a tone.
When the wind begins its dance, not many leaves get blown.
Then I heard it in my head, then I heard it in my dream.
I heard you cry Mama and Baba,
and I even heard you scream.
I began to cry because I felt your pain,
and ashamed I felt also.
 I didn't know how to begin His plan.
So I prayed to Him who always answers back.
Who is she Father?
Where is she now, and where do we fly to quickly?
Daughter, she is little and alone and she suffers greatly.
I want this child Lord I need her now with me,
Then go ahead and tell him now, that you must go because of Me.

A few papers finally Sent!

Yesterday, my husband and I had planned to get our boys' passports renewed, but what a process that is! Freddy will be in Denver for work, so he had to give me a notarized consent. We got our adoption paperwork notarized also! Yipee, finally! Talk about delaying things! It's getting mailed out today-so today marks the official day that something is getting documented-sheeeeesh!

 On the paper work note, Hope told the lady (notary), that she was getting a 'mei mei' and the lady looked puzzled and we explained it meant 'little sister' in Chinese. I think she thought we were strange;) HA! Hope doesn't miss a beat really, she knows how to say things at certain moments that cracks us up! She does have this really annoying habit now, of sucking her thumb but because we're on her about it, she decided to just suck her bottom lip instead. Her bottom lip always has this red irritated line on it these days and it drives me crazy, because she picked  this up in California.

And the application and home study papers are finally in the mail! Phew. In the state of Florida you need five references aghhh. That wasn't the hard part, the hard part was who would be a good reference for us? We're very tight knit with the family, but what if we couldn't include the fam? So I had neighbors and friends write one just in case. It's always nice to read what some had to say about our family, sometimes we don't stop and encourage each other enough...so this was very encouraging to us. Uhmmm, what else? I am addicted to blogs again...especially LadyBug ones...and of course I am looking at special/needs China adoptions...which are numerous/diverse enough...I don't think that makes sense? Anyway, did  mention how important it is to consider adopting a boy? If a boy is in an orphanage in China it is because he has special needs-9/10 times. But this label of 'special need' is foolish and can trick you into being scared-it did us....special needs in China can be a heart murmur, a cleft lip/palate, spina bifida, a missing finger/arm, clubbed feet...you get it I am sure. If a boy is born with a deformity his parents cannot afford to correct it and/or he will be a shame to the community and/or considered unemployable, so the boy is given up. Orphans in China are out on the street at 14 years of age, and there are many orphans who are aging out fast. Sponsoring a child to receive foster care can be such a blessing, think about it this Christmas and please pray for these children.


The Bible mentions caring for orphans a minimum of 350 times. I don't know why I remember that but I do..it hit me once like a sling shot. Wow, God really cares about the poor and fatherless. He's always including them in His words and instruction to us. If we can be sure of anything its that there are many orphans out there...that even means foster care work here at home...we can't be sure about the politics, stock market, job market...but we can be sure that there will always be orphans in need and it easy to ignore them because we think I can't make a difference? Really? Even today, America is still among the richest of nations. We are all rich compared to the way others live around the world...our freedom in itself is a luxury. I can look around my house and see all the garbage I don't need and can sell to help an orphan at least get a meal/education/foster care/water etc. Please extend yourself to another in some way this Christmas-even the homeless...Christmas means nothing if its just about ourselves and more stuff...is it only me or is that even getting old these days? Do we really need more stuff? If we just really prayed this Christmas, it would make a difference to our world.

To really celebrate the birth of Jesus is to think of Him as not just a baby, but a God man that came to rescue us because we were all going to fail otherwise. He came to warn us and help us understand His plans-to do His work before we leave this life...if things were to get really bad, there is nothing else I'd rather do than what I am doing right now...His work. To be a part of that...is beyond words..no degree/career or status, can compare.

Ha! I think I got into this, because my husband made a funny comment yesterday. He said that after this adoption, he will definitely lose all of his friends. I am not sure if he meant that because of the five kids or because of another adoption...maybe he is right, maybe we we will lose more friends, maybe we will gain new ones...it may not just be friends we lose...even family have their strong opinions/views. I told him that I'll take the risks.

Amen.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Still no Progress..

Well its been quiet on the blog blog...but there has been much activity behind the scenes. First and foremost WE LOVE HOMESCHOOLING!! Yippeeee...and we're getting better too!

We have been sponsoring a little girl in China that we have fallen in love for and we began looking into the agency that handles her region. But...even though she was in our hearts-she's being adopted! Which is wonderful for her and we get to be apart of it by helping her get foster care...and I have concluded, that God may be using her to prepare our hearts for the daughter who will be ours....soooo that was a little bit of agency drama.

We are officially going with CCAI-Chinese Children Adoptions International.

We have not sent out the papers yet because something always pops up that prevents us from getting these papers sent out! Grrrr....its frustrating...I am starting to recall this race...and China is getting more complicating too because we will have to translate the post placements!!!! Ughhh.

This may sound so redundant but we've never been more sure about adopting from China! We both are on board equally which is great! So it doesn't matter how long this takes God's preparing all of us well.

I am selling my wedding dress and my sister has donated hers to me for this adoption as well as two other friends and I think that's pretty beautiful! I may post a pic of the wedding dresses on display for our cause;)

I will post when we finally send out these papers! I guarantee this adoption will be fun;( with lots of challenges and stress...

Please keep the Chinese children in your prayers boys & girls that are without parents.





xoxo


Friday, November 9, 2012

OUR PAGE IS ON!!!

http://www.adoptionbug.com/ourdaughtershopeandfaith/


Guys, they say it take a community to raise a child...and we can't do this without your support, and your prayers are priority! Please find a tee that you like and purchase one for our Mei Mei Faith;)



Love ya,


xoxoxo

Adoption Tees

Hi Guys!

These are our up and coming adoption Tees that will help us complete this adoption. The link is not up and ready yet, but I wanted to give you a peak at the different styles we've chosen. Most of our shirts are "SHOW HOPE" shirts because we are very passionate about orphans around the world and are very thankful for 'Steven Curtis Chapman's example and aid to other families who want to embark on the magic of adoption. For every shirt that is purchased of the 'SHOW HOPE' line, $1 goes to other orphans and the rest goes to us and our sponsors (AdoptionBug) who have been so kind and helpful.

I am selling the brown and white Chinse 'Faith, Hope & Love in a Tee not a hoodie.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Thursday, November 1, 2012