Timing, Praise and Prayer Requests

We have waited so long and our desire was to travel to bring our son home a long time ago. However, we know everything will happen in God's perfect timing. We learned today, that the lovely woman who spent time at camp with Li Meng last summer will be in the province at the same time we are there as she and the team prepare for more summer camps. We think we will be able to meet her there. This will be special for us and for our new son to see her again. She is a Christian woman from Australia. She is an occupational therapist and speaks Mandarin. We never could have arranged this ourselves. We were not too excited to learn we must stay in China for 18 days, but are trusting that God has a plan for those extra days.

He has given us many reasons to be thankful. We are thankful for all of the miraculous things that have happened to make this adoption possible. We are thankful for His providence. We are thankful for the many people that have come along side us in this journey to support, encourage, help and pray. There are people caring for our kids and animals, people driving us to the airport and loaning us DVD players, laptops and books on adoption. There are people making sure Anna enjoys her 5th birthday in our absence (her three week celebration will begin tomorrow with a family trip to the zoo and her favorite dinner) and making sure our children do not miss the traditional 4th of July parade. We are so very thankful for the many prayers and words of encouragement.

Here is a partial list of our adoption and trip related prayer requests.

*That Joshua will be prepared for many changes that will occur in his life in a short time. We are preparing for 18 days in a foreign land, but he is preparing for the rest of his life. We are preparing to add one person to our family. He is preparing to add 7, plus plenty of extended family and friends.

*That we would know how to help him understand that he is accepted and loved by us and by God.

*That Pete and I will be sensitive to the needs, concerns and fears of our other children and they would be patient, encouraging and sensitive to one another.

*That our family would be protected in every way in the many places we will be going. Pray especially that we would remain healthy. While at it, please pray for all passengers on our flight to Hong Kong as China has been quarantining anyone within 4 rows of a symptomatic person.

*Please pray for rest and our physical stamina. This will be a busy week preparing to leave. Saturday, we will leave home probably around 5 am. We will fly to San Francisco where we have a 5 hour layover before flying 14 hours to Hong Kong. We will land near evening and spend the night, then get up early in the morning for the 6 hour flight to Urumqi. We most likely will have only enough time to drop off our suitcases at the hotel before meeting our son! We will have several appointments and pictures that afternoon so that his passport application can begin processing. Pray especially for Mark to endure these long days.

*Please pray that I can prioritize tasks, keep track of details, use my time wisely, love on my kids and prepare them for various destinations all with a positive attitude, patiences and encouraging words.

Prayer Requests

We have much to be thankful about and many reasons to praise God through this journey. It is hard to comprehend how the same God who created a universe more vast than I could ever understand is involved in the small details of our daily lives. Yet, we see His work all around us. We are so thankful that He worked the details together for us to learn about a little girl in China and then a little boy in China and to allow us to bring them into our family. We are amazed how He has provided for our needs for their adoptions. Every time we have had a need, it has been met. Just this week, our need for a laptop to bring on the trip that will allow us to communicate with our children and post updates on our trip was met through the help and generosity of friends. We recently received the gift of summer clothing for Li Meng, funds to purchase a mattress for his bed and funds for Mark's airline ticket. Through the generosity of friends and anonymous donors, my husband's employer's adoption assistance program and God's providence, it appears we will be able to complete this adoption debt free, or nearly so.
The recent package from Li Meng, sent through our wonderful translation/care package service, has been an added bonus. We can see that God, in His mercy and grace, has been watching over Li Meng. He is being well cared for. We are told he doesn't attend school yet, but is in a special class at the orphanage. It appears he is with other special needs children. We received the package from him at home two days ago. We were amazed to see his writing and math booklets. Clearly, someone has spent time working with him. His letter to us is evidence that the orphanage is preparing him to join our family. We are thanking God for His Providence and mercy in all of our lives.
We are praying for steadfast hearts as we wait out these remaining days until we can finally bring our son home. It has been 14 months since we found him listed for adoption and began this journey. Every time we think we are near the end of the journey, there is yet another obstacle to overcome.
Please join us in praying that Xinjiang Province will begin allowing adoption appointments. They are one of a very few provinces that are still closed to adoption due to swine flu. Please pray that our Travel Approval will be issued soon so that we can travel as soon as the province allows. There have been at least two batches of TAs that have arrived at our agency since we received our acceptance letter, yet ours has not been included.
Please pray that we might be able to travel before July when new medical screening procedures for TB begin that could potentially delay our return home.
Please pray that our family will stay healthy - especially Mark, Pete and I. There are still quarantine procedures in effect in China for anyone with a fever or signs of illness.
There will be more things to pray about when we actually prepare for travel and we will post those here. It is possible, that we will travel with very short notice if there is a travel group preparing to leave at the time our TA comes and we can schedule the necessary appointments. We are trusting God to work out those details and thank you for your prayers.