It's a Girl!!!!!

We are so excited to announce that we have been matched with a beautiful little girl! She is 2 1/2 years old and absolutely precious!  We have spent the day reviewing her medical records and talking with physicians.  As most of you know we are adopting a child with special needs.  She has a congenital heart arrhythmia.  Good thing her Daddy is a heart rhythm specialist!  I have spent a lot of time praying that when we received a referral the child would have a medical need that Michael would be familiar with.  I was hoping that it would be her heart, but never imagined it would be an arrhythmia.  It certainly put us ahead of the curve while looking at her file!  God truly is a work in all the details of our lives.  I can't help but imagine that on July 18, 2011, when God spoke to my heart and told me there was a little girl out there for our family, He was also answering her cries for a family.  We are all in His hands and truly loved by Him!  The unfortunate news is that I can not share her picture until we receive PA from China.  Hopefully, in a couple of weeks I can introduce you to our little girl by name and by picture.  Please pray for her that she will be cared for and nurtured until we can bring her home.  I love you all and thank you for joining us on this most incredible journey!

Praying for a referral

It looks like the next list will be released on February 27th.  I promise to update as soon as we know if this is the month that we are matched with our little girl.  It is just a matter of time (and an awful lot of patience) before we see her sweet face!  I am so grateful that God is blessing us with another child.  We are so full of anticipation waiting to see how His plan continues to unfold. 

In the meantime, we are excited that we have been given an opportunity to volunteer at a Show Hope event in conjunction with Steven Curtis Chapman’s “Songs and Stories” tour near Huntsville this weekend.  http://www.showhope.org/.  I have also been approved to work on the medical team as a volunteer with Love Without Boundaries.  http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/. 

I also have several of my friends from The Red Thread group that are preparing to travel to China and bring their babies home.  Please pray for them that they have safe travels and that God will prepare the hearts of their children for the new life they are about the begin.  I can only imagine how difficult it must be, even for a small child, to be taken away from all that is familiar and placed in the arms of strangers.  Although they are certainly going to loving, Christ centered homes, it is in the familiar that we find comfort.  Please pray that God will comfort their sweet hearts as the unfamiliar becomes their forever family.

Love to all of you reading this:-)

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DTC!!!!!

We are officially DTC (dossier to China)!  There is a rumor that the next list may come out February 20th.  If we can get expedited log in, we may make it for a referral this month!  I am asking prayers for God's direction to those who are making the match and for wisdom for us as we are presented with a referral.  I almost feel silly asking God for these things.  I have never been more certain that God has a specific plan for us and I am confident that he is directing us to the child that will forever become part of our family.  Through this process, God has opened my heart to the needs of those that have been orphaned and found a deeper faith in a God who is bigger than all my worries.  Is life for us going to change?  Definitely!  Are there going to be struggles?  You bet!  Is that any different than adding to a family by "conventional" methods?  No way!   I encourage anyone who is reading this that has ever considered adoption to think about the statistics below and prayerfully consider whether God may be calling you to blessings beyond measure through adoption.  

Did You Know?
There are 143 million children in the world today who have lost one or both of their parents. That figure equals nearly half the United States population.
¦ Every 14 seconds, an AIDS death creates another orphan.
¦ Every year, more than 14 million children become orphans.
¦ There are currently 500,000 children in foster care in the United States. Approximately 118,000 of them are available for adoption.
¦ Every year in the U.S. alone, over 25,000 children “age out” of the foster system—meaning that at age 21, they lose eligibility for child welfare benefits—with no family to belong to and no place to call home.
¦ In Ukraine and Russia, 10 to 15 percent of children who “age out” of an orphanage commit suicide before age 18.
¦ More than a third of Americans have seriously considered adopting, but no more than 2 percent have actually adopted.
(All information is from 2009 UNICEF, USAID, and UNAIDS materials.)

Interested in Adoption?

Here’s how to get started:
¦ Search God’s Word and pray.
¦ Seek counsel from others.
¦ Simplify the process by choosing the type of adoption that’s right for your family.
¦ Select an agency to help in your domestic or inter-country adoption.
¦ Surrender your plans to God, keeping the child—not yourself—as your central focus, and accessing the support and resources God has for you.
¦ Find additional important information at www.orphansandthechurch.com
"Adoption isn’t limited to child-placement, it’s not just for a few and it isn’t plan B. Adoption is at the very center of the Story of Redemption–and of the heart of God. We were all orphans without a home or hope in this world and God brought us into his family and gave us his name." —Sally Lloyd-Jones, Author of The Jesus Story Book Bible