Plotting their course

We received the original of our acceptance letter today. There was great excitement as the fed-ex truck came up our driveway - Rachel took his picture. We signed this original and sent it back by fed-ex to our agency. This one will go to our agency and then to Beijing. The copy we signed yesterday was received in the Chicago USCIS office this morning and will make its way to their office in Missouri and eventually to the consulate in Guangzhou. Our agency sent another copy to Guangzhou with another form yesterday. Eventually, all three will meet up again, we'll get travel approval and be off to China. Pete, always the project manager, has charted all of this on the white board in his office.

The picture above was taken by the orphanage at the end of November when we received our preliminary approval. I looked up these symbols. They mean autumn and spring. He is pointing to Spring. I wondered if they told him that is when to expect us to come. Our first care package, letter and photos is supposed to be delivered to him on Monday or Tuesday!

Hooray Hooray RA Today!

Today we received that piece of paper we have been waiting to receive since December 23rd when our dossier was sent to China for review. Our agency calls it an RA (Referral Acceptance), most people call it an LOA (Letter of Acceptance). The document is actually translated to say "Letter of Seeking Confirmation from Adopter". It basically confirms that after reviewing our stack of official, notarized, certified and authenticated documents they have approved us to adopt a child and have matched us with Li Meng. The document asks us to check a box to confirm we accept him. We sign it and send it back to China to await travel approval. Now, that used to be all we needed to do and it would come back in 2-5 weeks. Now, however, we have to jump through more hoops with US Immigration first. So today, we sent by fed-ex our immigration forms, we had previously sent other consulate forms to our agency. Once immigration approves our forms are in order and cables their approval to the consulate in Guangzhou, it will be matched up with the form sent from our agency and another form will be sent to the China Center of Adoption Affairs in Beijing who will THEN process our travel approval. Our agency hopes we will travel by mid-June. Pete hopes we will travel in early June. I've learned to be a bit cautious about my expectations.
My greatest joy today is that this little piece of paper also means we can now send Li Meng letters, photos and gifts. The first care package with pictures and letters was ordered today from a service in China. I am also sending a package and photo book from here at home. We plan to send more between now and when we travel. Please pray that God will prepare his heart to receive our letters and gifts. As I'm typing this, my son is playing a Third Day CD and the song "Love Heals Your Heart" is playing (see earlier post...)
This piece of paper also allows us to post pictures! We have over 30 photos now and hope to get more-- so perhaps I'll post a picture a day for a while! Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement!
The pictures below are of the long awaited piece of paper and the growing binder of documents we've collected (about 4 inches thick now!)

This is What it's All About

Today ended up being a very special Easter Celebration for our family. It was not a typical Easter for us. We didn't end up having a big meal planned, any family over or Easter baskets. We had a quiet day with just our family.
This evening, as I was cleaning floors and Pete was setting up a computer, Anna was bouncing back and forth between us talking about all sorts of things, but most of them centering around Easter and spiritual things.
It all started after she and Mark got into a bit of trouble over something. She bounced over to Pete and said, "Mom loves me even when I do sins." Pete assured her that he also loved her no matter what bad thing she did and that there wasn't anything she could do that would make him stop loving her. They then went on to talk about how God also loves her no matter what she does.
She then bounced over to me and started talking about dying, graves, heaven, etc and asked if her heart would still beat in Heaven. I sent her back to daddy and they talked about that a bit.
She bounced around a bit more and then asked, "Why did Jesus have to die?" Now we have talked about this many times. Many times she has talked about having Jesus in her heart and why we sin. She prays every day about many things. However, tonight, she seemed to be genuinely thinking about all of these things. Pete sat down with her and I joined them as I heard him answering her questions. At one point, I was able to give her a recent illustration that God really used to help her understand redemption. A few days ago in the car, she had been talking and asking about what could happen if she didn't wear her seat belt. She wanted to know if she would go to jail or have to pay lots of money. We had concluded that if she got a ticket, I would have to pay the fine for her since she had no money and that since I could pay, no one would go to jail. Pete was able to use this to help her understand the hows and whys of Jesus dying to pay for our sins. She listened so intently.
When she had all of her questions answered and we had talked again about Jesus being her boss and living in her heart we told her she could pray to live in her heart some day when she was ready. She said, "I want to do that now!" We talked some more and then she went and found all her sisters and brothers and had them gather around so she could pray.
It was a special time. When we were done, she called her Grandma and Papa and told them all about her prayer and how Jesus was paying her ticket for her sins so she could go to heaven after she was in the grave...
I know some people may doubt whether an almost five year old can really understand deep spiritual truths, but I believe with the prompting of the Holy Spirit, children can have a very genuine faith. I have now seen five of my children, around this same age, wrestle with their own sinfulness, ask deep questions about God, Jesus and redemption and on their own, seek to understand these things, profess their faith and pray on their own. I have seen genuine changes in their little hearts.
There is much growth and maturity that needs to happen in their walk with the Lord. That is true for me too! In the past couple of years, we have watched our teenage daughters process spiritual truths and examine their faith and relationship with the Lord through the eyes of greater maturity and understanding. That has also been a blessing and privilege as we have witnessed them surrender again to their Savior.
We are rejoicing in our home tonight and believe there is rejoicing in Heaven too. As we anxiously wait for news of our paperwork moving in China, we are reminded that THIS is what it is all about. Thank you Jesus!
Anna has recently memorized Psalm 23, if I can, I will add video. In the meantime, here is a cute picture of Anna at her desk and laptop "doing important papers so they will process our adoption paperworks to get Joshua home sooner..." (Maybe she will have greater success than me!)

One Year

Today, it has been one year since we found an adoption agency listing for a little boy called "Cole". That was the agency's assigned name for the little boy we had long prayed for and watched for. It was such a miracle to have found that listing. We never dreamed that a year later we would still be waiting to hear back from China. This process has taken far longer than we expected, but we are thankful to be here and thankful for all that God has done over the past year to prepare us to add this little boy to our family. So we wait and we pray and look forward to all that God has planned for the coming year! Please join us as we pray we will get our acceptance letter soon and that the process for travel approval, actual travel and homecoming will be smooth.

Resting

Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him…(Psalm 37)

Resting is something that is hard for me to do. My life is busy and full and there is always so much to do. I fill every second and work off of lists. This weekend was full with family here from out of town and many things planned. One evening, I found myself waiting for people to arrive for dinner with the timing a bit uncertain. I had done everything I could to prepare to start dinner, but had some extra time. I was thinking through my options of things I could do for the next few minutes while I waited to hear people were on their way, but I was feeling a bit under the weather and decided maybe it would be alright to sit down and put my feet up for a minute. It was a bit hard for me to do and didn’t feel very productive, but I realized I had done everything I needed to do and it was alright to rest. As I sat down in the cushy chair and closed my eyes for a rare bit of relaxation, the thought occurred to me that I have done everything I can to move our adoption paperwork. There is nothing else I can do. I’ve done all of the preparing I can do for the next step. It is alright to rest. Somehow, I felt that if I stopped and just rested, rather than trying to make someone move or do something else, I was giving up on the process. I realized that perhaps I just need to use this time to rest.

One of the events of the weekend was The Race for the Roses. My husband, sister, her husband, a couple friends and I were signed up for this event. We had worked hard over the past several months to prepare. I had worked my way up to a good pace. However, as race day approached, several things were working against me, including getting sick. On the morning of the race, rather than making a pace, my new goal became to finish the race without getting pneumonia. That meant I needed to make myself go at a slower pace where I could run without being winded. Much to my surprise, it ended up being a much more pleasant run than I have had in the past. When I wasn’t pushing myself for my fastest pace or trying to keep pace with someone else, I was actually able to enjoy the run. There were things to see along the way and I wasn’t in pain. I realized with this adoption, I have been striving and striving to keep up a good pace. Trying to meet artificial goals for when I think things should be done or trying to keep pace with other people has caused great frustration along the way when I should be enjoying the miracle that is unfolding along the way. During the race last weekend, I knew I had a sprint in me when I needed it. When I got caught in a pack of people or there were times when I felt it was time for a short sprint, I had it in me to sprint for a few minutes. When I have an opportunity to move paperwork along in this process, I’m prepared to sprint again. I also knew that I had done everything I needed to do to be able to finish my race. Even though I was running slowly, I knew I didn’t need to worry about finishing the race. I need to remember that with this adoption too. God has brought us this far and showed us what we need to do. I don’t need to worry about whether we will bring him home.

“Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass. (Psalm 37)

Prepare

My mommy's heart has been broken more than once in this waiting process. Last week was a difficult week in waiting to hear news of our Referral Acceptance. This is the next piece of paper we need to move forward with adopting Joshua. Last week, it felt like we had waited long enough, other people had been receiving their acceptance letters and I was sure we were now prepared and ready to go on to the next step. No news. Today, there was news of more people receiving acceptance letters, people whose paperwork has been in China less time. Still no news. Last week, I was pretty sad and emotional about this. Then, I began to feel guilty for feeling sad, as if my emotions somehow meant I wasn't trusting God to be in control. I know that He is in control. I'm thankful for these emotions. It is truly a miracle that my heart breaks for a little boy I only know from pictures and second hand reports.
Throughout this process, even before we found him on an agency listing, I felt like God had spoken to my heart about being prepared. Last week, a friend told me that when she prays for us, she thinks of the word "prepare." I've spent the past few days reflecting on preparation. It feels like we have done many things to be prepared. However, that doesn't mean God is finished preparing us or Joshua. A couple of days ago, I went to the gym intent on running 10 miles at a good pace. I thought I was prepared, but a couple of miles on the treadmill revealed I wasn't as prepared as I thought. My new shoes were not working well, my energy was low and in the end, I realized I had started too late and didn't have enough time. I've been praying that God will show me the areas where I need to do more to prepare. Perhaps it has nothing to do with adoption paperwork or preparing my house. Although I have my next package ready to send to USCIS, a photo album ready to mail to Joshua and letter ready to send with the first care package...and I've organized some closets. Perhaps it has more to do with drawing nearer to the One who led us on this journey to begin with. I decided to do a scripture search on "prepare" to see what God has to say and found these treasures.

Psalm 23:5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

Mark 1:3 Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight.

John 14:2 I go to prepare a place for you.

1 Cor 2:9 Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man the things God has prepared for those who love him.

Eph 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Heb 11:16 But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

There is plenty there for meditation.

I also thought about inspiration from a movie that caused me to think about Joshua months before we knew whether we would find him for adoption. It is from the movie, Facing The Giants...

I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name." Revelation 3:8

There were two men with fields that needed rain. They both prayed for rain, but only one went out and prepared his fields for it.
Which one are you?
God will send the rain in His time, your job is to prepare your fields for it.

Finally, as I look at the list of scriptures above, I can't help but be drawn to the Hebrews verse. My children all know that Hebrews Chapter 11, "the hall of faith" is my favorite chapter in the Bible. It is followed by the verse that I would probably pick as a life verse (if I'd ever picked one...) It seems to be a verse that comes to my mind often. Hebrews 12:1 "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us... (okay, have to do part of next verse - 'looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith...' rest of Chapter is really good too -- this is why I've never designated a "life verse." I'm not very good at picking favorites.)

Thank you friends for your prayers, support and encouragement! They mean so much to us.

20 Years!!

Today is our 20th Wedding Anniversary. We had thought maybe we would do something glamorous, romantic and exciting for our 20th Anniversary. We were thinking of somewhere warm and tropical. Instead, we are happily waiting for letter of acceptance from China. The traditional 20th wedding gift is China. We will gladly do without new dishes this year. We would love to hear from China instead! Here is are some then and now pictures...