Travel Approval!

I am a little late in posting this but we have been crazy busy around here. On November 18 we received our official invitation from China to enter their country and come and get our boys! Woo hoo!! I will likely be traveling alone unless we are able to expedite a passport and visa for more sister Amanda. My trip will be from December 8 through the 23 and in that time I will travel to Beijing, Jinan, Qingdao, Changsha, Guangzhou and back to Beijing!! Whew!! So, while I am gallivanting all over China, sleeping in beautiful hotels and eating yummy Chinese food, my sweet Love will be home holding down the fort and trying to keep the natives tame. So, if you think of it while I'm gone, say a prayer for my husband. Please. Cover that man in prayer. He is gonna need it!
As soon as I get my itinerary I will let y'all know!

In His Grip,

Xbox KINECT Winner!

And the winner is:

Sarah Mitchell !!

I will be emailing you to arrange the delivery of your new Kbox KINECT! Thank you to everyone that donated. We are really are so grateful for your love and generosity extended to us. We hope to be hearing about Travel Approval soon! Please continue to pray for us as we work to get our sweet boys home. Blessings!

In His Grip,



It's a LIFE not a choice







"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be."
~Psalm 139:13-16

Welcome!

Asa James

For those of you who have found our blog through No Greater Joy Mom, thank you for taking the time to come and visit our blog! We are Tim and Nikole Hilton, the proud parents of 7 children- 3 boys, 2 girls and 2 more boys waiting for us in China! In November of 2009, our youngest son Asa was born with Down syndrome and the Lord used the circumstances of his birth to open our eyes to the blessing of having a child with special needs. While still pregnant with Asa, a friend of ours who also had a son with Down syndrome, directed us to a ministry called Reece's Rainbow which helps to advocate for and match adoptive families with children that were born with special needs including Down syndrome. Our hearts were deeply touched and we began to discuss the possibility that one day, Lord willing, we would add one of those very precious children to our family.

We started our adoption process about a year ago when we made the commitment to adopt a precious little boy, named Wu who was born with Down syndrome. We felt strongly that the Lord was asking us to also bring another child home during the same trip and we obeyed, adding an adorable 7 year old to our adoption named Ke Xin.  We are now nearing the end of our journey and hoping to travel in November or December of this year! So far, the Lord has faithfully helped us to fund raise over $25,000 but we still need $20,000 before travel time!! Would you please consider sowing into our adoption? We, along with our children, would be eternally grateful. You can do so by visiting the Reece's Rainbow website where you can make a tax deductible donation on our Family Support Page. You can also enter for a chance to win an Xbox 360 KINECT by clicking on the Chip In located in the top right corner of this blog. It is $10 an entry. If you donate and post about our efforts on your blog or Facebook we will give you 1 free entry!

In closing, we are having our fourth fundraising garage sale this weekend. Would y'all please pray that the weather would be beautiful and that the Lord blesses our efforts? Thank you and God bless.

In His Grip,





"I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."
~Lamentations 3:24

Waiting on Our Boys

Abel (Wu)

Archer (Ke Xin)

New Pics of Abel!

Last month we used Gifts to China With Love to send care packages to Archer and Abel. Included in both boys packages were disposable cameras which we were hopeful that their orphanage directors would use to send us current pictures of our boys. Well, Saturday morning when I checked email there was a message from Sheri, the owner of Gifts to China With Love, letting us know that she had an update on Abel and some new pictures!  This was my favorite of the bunch because we could see how much he has grown! First, just look at this precious little face. Oh Honey! I cannot wait to smooch those sweet chunky cheeks!

In addition to the pictures we were also forwarded a message from the director of Abel's orphanage:

He cannot walk by himself.He only can walk with help.

He cannot speak well.He knows something but not much. His intelligence is not the average of his age.

The director suggest the family think twice about the adoption of Min Wu.

Goodness gracious, our hearts were broken when we read that last line. I couldn't help but cry as the full weight of the reality that our precious boy is living in a place where he isn't loved and valued settled into my heart. We would have flown to China that very moment if possible to bring him home! No doubt, that the waiting now will be so very hard....We sent a message in return, letting the director know that we are fully aware of Abel's delays, that we love him very much already and can't wait to be his forever family. He sent back a message letting us know that they will take very good care of Abel. We will be leaning heavily on the Lord to faithfully ensure that this will be so.

Thank you Lord that we can trust you to watch over Abel and Archer. Please continue to help us to raise the money that is needed to pay their ransom. We trust that you will and thank you in advance for your faithfulness and provision. In Jesus precious name. Amen.

"I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those that sit in darkness." Isaiah 42:6&7

PROVISION!!

So, has anyone noticed that our ticker made a seriously dramatic jump?! Woohoo!! We got an email yesterday from the JSC Foundation saying that they have graciously awarded us a $10,000 grant!! Is that unbelievable or what?! God has been so AMAZINGLY good to us. We are humbled and incredibly grateful for His provision so generously extended to us. How could anyone doubt that we serve a FAITHFUL and LOVING God?  Quite honestly, like alot of families that answer the call to adopt, we have struggled with uncertainty and discouragement many times during this process. Without a doubt, this experience is teaching us to rely on Him like we never have before. Folks, we started this adoption process with nothing, seriously nada. But, we KNEW that this was what we were called to do and so we stepped out in faith, trusting that the Lord wouldn't expect us to accomplish this endeavor on our own. And he has proven to us time and again that He is there, guiding us, encouraging us and PROVIDING for us every step of the way! Thank you Jesus!

I have to share a sweet experience that I shared with our two daughters Abby and Avonlea a couple of nights ago- I had struggled throughout the day with anxiety about the amount of money that we still needed to raise. As we sat on the couch enjoying some chocolate ice cream together before bed, I shared with our oldest daughter, Abby that I was feeling anxious and we agreed that we needed to stop talking and start praying! As we prayed out loud together for Archer and Abel, I was close to tears as I heard my precious daughters pouring out their hearts to the Lord- asking Him to help bring their brothers home and praising Him for all he has done so far. After our time in prayer I finally felt the peace that had eluded me all day. And it was the very next day that we received the wonderful news about our generous $10,000 grant! I will always remember my sweet little Avonlea Love joyfully twirling in circles, singing praises to God and repeating over and over "You, Lord, are a God that always sees and hears us!" Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.......

Would y'all please pray for our family as we continue to work hard to bring Archer and Abel home? We are having a fundraising garage sale in two weeks to raise money for the required orphanage donations for our sweet boys. We still need $20,000 to be fully funded and we will likely travel in November. Yep, that's 20,000 smackers in under 2 months time. While this seems completely impossible to us, it is TOTALLY possible for God! After all, he loves our boys even more than we do!

*Just a reminder that our AWESOME Xbox 360 Kinect giveaway is still going on! C'mon you know you want it! You can enter by clicking on the Chip In in the upper right-hand corner.*

In His Grip,






"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"~Matt. 7:9-12

Adoption Update and Awesome Giveaway!

We were notified by email today that our I800 has been approved and that we will be receiving a hard copy of it any day now! I800- An application to have your adopted child viewed as an immediate relative upon adoption.

So now we wait for:

NVC- National Visa Center- Where you petition for a visa. This group then cables the US Embassy in China to let them know the petition has been approved.

Article 5- The Consulate pre-approves your child for an immigrant visa.

TA- Travel Approval- You are approved to travel to China to adopt your child! :)

GOTCHA OR FOREVER FAMILY DAY!- The day that you meet your new child!

CA- Consulate Appointment- The date of your appointment at the U.S. Embassy to finalize the adoption!

We think that based on this timeline we will realistically travel in November. So that gives us approximately 6 to 8 weeks to raise the remainder of what we need for our adoption.

So, the Mr. and I are going to be completely honest and open here...we need about $25,000 to get Archer and Abel home. That's alot of zeros behind that 25! But, like we have said from the very beginning of this journey- God is bigger than our finances. We are obeying His call and we KNOW that He will provide. He is just AWESOME like that! So, we are keeping calm and carrying on, giddy with excitement to see how God will ultimately pull this whole shebang off. So, now on to the giveaway that I referred to in the title of this post:

We are excited to be giving away an XBOX 360 KINECT !

This gaming system includes:

~ Xbox 360 Console

~4GB Memory

~Kinect Sensor

~Game (Kinect Adventures!)

~Xbox 360 Wireless Controller

~Composite AV Cable

~Internal WiFi Capability

~XBOX LIVE

So how do you enter?

It's easy peasy.

A simple donation.

1 entry is $10

2 entries is $20

5 entries is $50

10 entries is $100

and so on...

So $10 is doable, right?

$10 for the chance to win an XBOX 360 KINECT ?

MORE importantly, that is $10 to help bring our boys home!

So, how do you donate?

Just click on the Chip In located

in the top right hand corner.

AND if you post about our Giveaway

on your blog or on Facebook

you get an additional entry FREE!

Just leave a comment

letting me know so I can keep track.

This Giveaway will end on October 30.

The winner will be chosen using Random.org

and announced on Monday, October 31.

So, come on and give our boys some LOVE.

Whatever Jesus lays on your heart to give,

whether it's a little or alot, please help us

bring our sweet boys HOME.

In His Grip,

"A father to the fatherless, a defender of the widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families..." ~Psalm 68:5&6

HELP!

We are praying and brainstorming about some creative ways to do so some SERIOUS fundraising. We will likely travel at the end of November and we still have a WHOLE lotta money to raise. Currently we need $800 to finish paying our agency fees. In addition, we need $10,000 for orphanage fees and about $13,000 for travel and in-country fees. We plan on having a HUGE garage sale next month. We are waiting to hear back from a few different organizations that we have applied to for grants. Any ideas about items that we could use for a giveaway?

Please pray that we would stay focused on the Lord as we work to fund the rest of the adoption. I have struggled with discouragement and fear, but know that He remains faithful and in control. God is good all the time........

In His Mighty Grip,

"I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples.

For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies." ~Psalm 57:9&10

LOA! LOA! LOA!

At 2:00 yesterday afternoon I received a call from our China Coordinator that our LOA's have arrived!!! We are hopeful that this put us in a position to travel late October to mid November! Our next wait is for TA(travel authorization)....This could take up to 8 weeks. Thank you to all of y'all who were praying for us!! We are excited and humbled to bring two of God's precious treasures home!!! Now, where is that extra $20,000 that we had lying around?! Ha, not!.... It's ok. As my kiddos would say - "IT'S ALL GOOD!" God knows exactly what we need...
He is FAITHFUL and He did NOT put us on this path to just abandon us at the finish line. This I know for sure.....

Archer and Abel, we love you and can't wait to take care of you forever!!!

Blessings,

"I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him!"

~I Samuel 1:27

An Emptiness in My Heart...

We are on day 35 of our wait to receive our Letters of Approval to adopt Archer and Abel and the waiting is starting to get really hard. It is a difficult thing to explain how you can love someone that you have never actually met but I do....immensely. Although I have not seen our boys face to face, God has placed an overwhelming love for them in my heart. Just as I loved my biological children before they were ever placed in my arms for the first time, I love these two precious boys. The Lord has surely begun an intertwining of our hearts and is preparing me to become their Momma and I can. not. wait.......Until then, I can trust Him to watch over our two precious treasures, and what a comfort that is to this momma.

In His Grip,

"A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling."~Psalm 68:5

I'm Back....

I know it's been like crickets chirpin' around here but honestly there hasn't been anything to report on the adoption front for quite awhile. That is until today. We are SO excited to announce that we are......

Our agency informed us yesterday that our dossier is on it's way to China!! We are SO incredibly relieved to have this very important step behind us. Now we settle in for the long wait for.......LOA(Letter of Approval)!!!! And then we wait for....... TA(Travel Approval)!!! And now with all of the paperwork behind us we can focus on continuing to raise funds to get Archer and Abel home. At this point we think that realistically we will travel in December. It's exciting to think that we may be celebrating this Christmas as a family of 9!!

That's all for now y'all. I promise to try and be a better blogger and post more than once every two months. :)

In His Grip,




"Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed."
~Proverbs 16:3

Loved

Amazing love! How can it be, that Thou my God, shouldst die for me?

~Charles Wesley, 1738

"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."~John 15:13

Read This

go and read this

Oh. My. Word!!!

Y'all LOOK at Abel's donation box!! Somebody or somebody's :) has given us $1,000! Woohoo!! Wow! Completely unexpected! Whoever and wherever you are-THANK YOU!! This has been an amazing week as far as fundraising goes. God has showered us with over $8,000 in a little over a week's time!! AMAZING!! Thank you Lord! We feel so blessed to serve such a generous God! Hold on boys! God is faithfully paving your way home!!

In His Grip,

"...but the righteous give without sparing." ~Proverbs 21:26

And The Winner Is....

Well, after a not so scientific drawing method.....

We are VERY excited to announce that the winner of the iPad giveaway is........

SARAH GOODMAN!!!!!! Congratulations! Please get in touch with me asap! :)

Thank you to everyone that invested in our precious Archer and Abel by participating in our giveaway. We are truly blown away by the love and support that has been showered on us. What an AMAZING group of people y'all are! We received donations from other couples that are currently fundraising to bring their own children home! Single mothers that are not only raising their bio kids on their own, but are ALSO in the process of adding another child to their families through adoption!! Veteren families that have "been there and done that" and know first-hand what an incredible honor it is to be able to offer the gift of a forever family to a waiting child. A single woman whose heart was burdened by the plight of the orphan and now devotes her time and energy advocating for these precious little ones who SO desperatly need loving people that will share their stories. And other caring folks who just wanted to be a part of helping our two sweet treasures make their way home. What a blessing to be on the receiving end of such true sacrificial love. If we could, we would give EVERY single one of you an iPad!

Also, thank you for those of you that left us comments and sent emails sharing your kind words of encouragment and support. We were profoundly touched by your thoughts and well wishes. And thanks so much to those of you that posted on your blogs, FB, and twitter accounts about our efforts. It was unreal to watch the activity on our stats spike like they did! Very cool!

We humbly ask that y'all would continue to lift up our family in prayer as we work hard to bring Archer and Abel home. We still have quite a ways to go and it would mean the world to us if we knew that we could count on your continued prayers. Thanks again and God bless!!

In His Grip,

"Blessed is he who has regard for the weak; the Lord delivers him in times of trouble."

~Psalm 41:1

Wordless Wednesday (Sweet n' Sassy)

Humbled and Truly Grateful

I just wanted to pop in here and extend a rousing "THANK YOU!!!" to all of you who have generously contributed to our giveaway over the past 24 hours! When we stepped out in faith about a month ago and purchased the iPad, our hope was that this giveaway would be the "BIG ONE", so to speak and that we would be completely blown away by the amount that we raised. Well, as it turns out, the numbers are nowhere near what our goal was, but instead of disappointment we are feeling downright EXCITED and ENERGIZED by the love and generosity extended to us over the past day or so. I posted on the Reece's Rainbow yahoo group late yesterday afternoon about our less than stellar results thus far and a fellow RR mom said that she would post about our giveaway on her Facebook (thank you Traci!). Another momma chimed in with advice and tips on how to make our Chip-in more visible (thanks Shanna!). A little stirring of hope began growing in my heart as these sweet ladies began to offer their kind words of encouragement. And that stirring grew to a full-fledged flurry as donations started coming in! My kiddos and I were busy praying and the good Lord was busy moving! I can't tell you how AWESOME it was for me to get to share that experience with my children! To watch their sweet and joyous reactions as God poured out His blessings on us again and again! The memory of last night, watching my children dance and sing praises to the Lord, will stay with me ALWAYS. Although this giveaway may not result in the numbers we were hoping for, it has MORE than increased our faith in God and His Saints. So, THANK YOU again and again to all of y'all for your LOVE extended to us! We are humbled and truly grateful...

In His Grip,

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

~ 1 Corinthians 13:13

Downpour!

We are doin' the Happy Dance around here y'all! We got AMAZING news from our agency, wacap (World Association for Children and Parents), yesterday! They graciously gave us a grant for $5,400.00 toward our adoption expenses!! Just look at that ticker would ya?!! Now, that is a sight for this little momma's sore eyes I'll tell ya!! To say that we are ELATED would be an understatement! I have to admit that the fact that our iPad fundraiser hasn't brought in the numbers that we were hoping for has been pretty discouraging. Hearing about this INCREDIBLE blessing has once again lifted our spirits and restored our energy! God is so good that way. To lift us up when the weariness threatens to start sinking in. Even when my faith is small and I take my eyes off of Him, He continues to faithfully provide. We serve an AMAZING and GRACIOUS God, who LOVES to pour out His blessings on us!

Ok, y'all only a little over $23,000.00 more to go! I know that sounds like a lot, but God is bigger than finances and He is MORE than capable to raise that amount. Remember that our iPad fundraiser is now in it's final week! C'mon folks, you could be the lucky winner of this very cool prize for a donation of only $5!! Not to mention, that you will play an integral part in changing the lives of two little boys forever! Also, we have been blessed to join an AMAZING ministry, Reece's Rainbow, that advocates, helps to match children with Down syndrome with adoptive families, and helps families adopting children with special needs to raise funds for their adoption. They have graciously set up a Family Support Page for us and if you feel led, you can visit their website, http://www.reecesrainbow.org/, and make a tax deductible donation to our adoption fund. You can find our page listed under "New Commitments" or "Compiling Dossier". We would be so very grateful. Thank you to those of you who have donated so far and a SPECIAL thanks to those of you who have helped to spread the word about our efforts! As always, we ask for your continued prayers and support.


In His Grip,





"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."
~Galatians 6:9

Wordless Wednesday-Spring Sillies!

Keepin' the Faith

Some friends of ours that are adopting from Eastern Europe are in country meeting their little girl for the very first time. Their names are Gus and Ashley. Her name is Baby J. She has beautiful brown hair and eyes and the blessing of an extra chromosome just like their little boy Mason. They have looked forward to this trip for well over a year and we are hoping and praying that their time together is everything that they ever imagined that it would be. I wish I could be there to see their excitement as they lay eyes and hands on their precious angel for the first time!
I know that as they hold, cuddle and play with her they also will be fervently praying over her. Praying that this first visit will lead to another one and then that they will be allowed to bring her home to live with her two brothers and two sisters where she belongs.
That is the norm in these situations but our enemy the devil is busy with an evil scheme and our sweet friends have found themselves smack in the middle of it.
What was meant to be a joyous first meeting will instead be a meeting where an unwanted cloud of uncertainty hovers above.
Unfortunately last week a judge in their daughter's region denied the adoption of another child with Down syndrome to an American family, stating that it would be best if he were to stay in the institution where he is currently residing.
Can you believe that?! I couldn't breathe as I read about the ruling in an email my friend had sent. We have been told that the entire courtroom was in shock when the ruling was read. This sweet boy would have been the first child with DS adopted from that region. The family is filing an appeal, but in the mean time they have had to return to the states without their precious son. I can't even begin to imagine how very difficult that must have been. I read a statement from the mother yesterday and was completely brought to tears by her grace and determination during this very difficult situation. She is holding on to HOPE and clinging to her FAITH and TRUSTING in her GOD to claim victory over what satan has intended for evil!
Y'all PLEASE join with us in prayer about these children and their fates. Children with Down syndrome are considered to have absolutley NO value in that part of the world. This is truly a life and death situation for these precious little ones! Please storm the gates of heaven on behalf of these helpless children!!

In His Grip,

Wordless Wednesday-SO BIG!!

Wordless Wednesday- Monkey See Monkey Do

Progress

Tim and I are having the rest of the necessary documents for our dossier notarized tomorrow! Wahoo! After notarization the next step will be sending everything to the Secretary of State in Austin for verification. After verification our paperwork will then be authorized in Houston at the Chinese consulate, and then we will send the whole agglomeration to China!! We are slowly but surely making our way through this "paperchase" and starting to see a little light at the end of the tunnel! Praise the good Lord for bringing us this far!

"For great is your love, reaching to the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches to the skies." ~Psalm 57:10


In His Grip,

iPad Giveaway!!

So, all of you who have been following our blog might have noticed that our fundraising efforts have been a lil' bit on the slow-pokey side of things. Well, we are hoping to shake things up a bit 'round here and get some momentum going! We are SO excited to announce our first giveaway to raise funds for our adoption! We are giving away a 16 GB iPad w/WiFi!! It's easy to enter. Donations made to our adoption fund will enter you for a chance to win this very cool prize! Here is how it works-

$5- 1 entry

$20- 5 entries

$35- 9 entries

$50- 13 entries

$75- 19 entries

$100- 25 entries

$150- 40 entries

Tell your friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers about this AWESOME opportunity to win a GREAT prize and contribute to an AMAZING cause as well! Please spread the word about our fundraiser and help us bring our boys home!! One FREE entry will be given to those of you that will post about our giveaway on your Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, website or blog page! Just leave us a comment with your email letting us know and we will make sure that you get your free entry. We will contact the winner by email. The giveaway starts today and ends March 31. We will announce the winner on April 1st!

Before I close, Tim and I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to our cause so far. We are humbled and incredibly blessed by God's provision and faithfulness. This venture has helped us to look up, draw near, and trust our Savior. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we work to get our sweet boys home. Have a blessed day y'all!!

"For nothing is impossible with God."

~Luke 1:37

In His Grip,

Wordless Wednesday-Yummy!

Checking In

Hey, I know I've been MIA. I plead for your grace and understanding. I am a busy wife and momma after all! :) Honestly, I don't know how others find time to blog and keep to all of their other responsibilities. I have really struggled to find the time to keep this thingy majig updated and still feel like I'm on top of everything that is required of me. Anyhoo, I thought I would just pop in, say "hey y'all!", let you know that we are still waiting for the approval of our homestudy, working on our dossier documents and hanging in there as we journey through this crazy adoption process. Before you go, take a look at the VERY sweet video that I have posted in the "Down Syndrome Spotlight". TOO CUTE!!

In His Grip,






DISCLAIMER: The video that I have referred to above was taken from You Tube. Please take this into account when viewing. I have not personally viewed the videos that appear after this one and cannot comment one way or other about their content.

DS Spotlight

I'm starting a new feature called "Down Syndrome Spotlight" to celebrate those born with DS and hopefully raise awareness at the same time. I will be posting videos and articles on a regular basis. For now you can find them in the right hand column of the blog. The first video is of a teacher with Down syndrome that teaches music to young children. Disabled? Sorry, I don't see it. But I'll tell you what I do see- a BEAUTIFUL young woman who exhibits intelligence, poise and an obvious love for others. Watch this video and tell me if you aren't blessed! I know I sure was! ENJOY!! (Don't forget to turn off the music on the playlist located at the bottom of the page before viewing.)

In His Grip,

Snow Snow and More Snow!!!

This morning we woke to see this when we opened the front door:


Such a fun surprise considering we were only expecting a few snow flurries overnight.
The kids were so excited to be getting another day home from school. After breakfast they couldn't wait to bundle up and head outside while Pop Daddy and I brilliantly politely declined the invitation to freeze our patooties off, thank you very much. Lucky for us we could claim the tired but true excuse of needing to work on adoption stuff. So, while the older kidlets were doin' whatcha do when it snows, the Little Man was plopped into his "play cage" while Mommy and Daddy enjoyed yummy coffee and filled out paperwork, much paperwork.



And while the Ace was warm and snug like a bug in a rug, I popped outside with my camera and found these two snow bunnies in the front yard who graciously stopped their fun to strike a pose or two for their momma.


Adam left his snowball fight with some of the neighborhood kids and joined his sisters for a quick pic. And later in the day, Abby and Adam went sledding down the hill at the nearby elementary school.




It was a great day. Hope y'all are staying warm and enjoying making winter memories with your families too!!

In His Grip,

To Die is Gain...

When you are forgotten, or neglected, or purposely set at naught, and you don't sting and hurt with the insult or the oversight, but your heart is happy, being counted worthy to suffer for Christ.

~THAT IS DYING TO SELF~

When your good is spoken evil of, when your wishes are crossed, your advice disregarded, your opinions ridiculed, and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart, or even defemd yourself, but take it all in patient, loving silence.

~THAT IS DYING TO SELF~

When you lovingly and patiently bear any discomfort, any irregularity, any unpunctuality or any annoyance; when you stand face-to-face with waste, folly, extravagance, spiritual insensibility and endure it as Jesus endured.

~THAT IS DYING TO SELF~

When you are content with any food, any offering, any climate, any society, any raiment, any interruption by the will of God.

~THAT IS DYING TO SELF~

When you never care to refer to yourself in conversation, or to record your own good works or itch after commendations, when you can truly love to be unknown.

~THAT IS DYING TO SELF~

When you can see your brother prosper and have his needs met and can honestly rejoice with him in spirit and feel no envy, nor question God, while your own needs are far greater and in desperate circumstances.

~THAT IS DYING TO SELF~

When you can receive correction and reproof from one of less stature than yourself and can humbly submit inwardly as well as outwardly, finding no rebellion or resentment rising up within your heart.

~THAT IS DYING TO SELF~

Are you dead yet?

In these last days, that the Spirit would bring us to the cross.

~Author unknown

Sanctity of Human Life Sunday

sanctity~godliness, holiness, sacredness

"For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be." ~Psalm 139:13-16

I pray that you will take time to reflect today on the preciousness of life and thank our loving Creator for His love extended to you.

In His Grip,

The Gift of Life

We have a beautiful 14 month old son named Asa. He is super cuddly, with a smile that will win your heart and blue eyes that pierce your soul. He is the sweetest little man you could ever meet. We soak up his kisses and delight in his giggles. Life before Asa was nowhere near as sweet as it is now.

Since Ace joined our family we have had the pleasure of answering the many questions that come with being the parents of a child with special needs. Rather than feel put out by these inquiries, we look at them as opportunities to share what a joy it has been to have a child with Down syndrome. By far the question we get asked the most is "Did you know he was going to be born with Down syndrome?" Often times this question is asked with an undertone of sympathy. There are those that will then go on to express grief for us and some have even apologized to us when they remark on Asa's condition. I think most are surprised when we assure them that we have never shared in that grief and have no need for sympathy.

In fact, we strongly feel that we are the ones that carry a heavy burden of sympathy. Sympathy for a world that fails to see the value in each and every life that God has deemed worthy of creation. We grieve and mourn the loss of the 90 percent of babies that are aborted every year when their mothers discover that they have Down syndrome. Our hearts break for a society that views children born with special needs as a burden. And as we look into the sapphire eyes of our precious son, it is us that grieve the reality that he will likely face ridicule and rejection many times over because of his condition.

But deeply intertwined with our grief is love. A consuming love for our son that drives us to pray for this fallen world and fills our hearts with the hope that there will come a day when ALL human life is viewed as sacred. Oh, how God must grieve when He looks upon His creation and sees how little we cherish the gift of life that He so lovingly bestowed on us!
This coming Sunday is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. Will you please take time on that day to celebrate the intrinsic value of all human life?

He was sent to us on November 20, 2009, born with an extra chromosome and our lives are richer for it...

In His Grip,

The Cost

Since starting our adoption journey we have been asked quite a few times about the cost of adoption. Most people are shocked when we tell them how much it will cost to bring both boys home. To tell you the truth, Tim and I were also taken aback when we first discovered the cost of adoption. We agree that it is a large amount of money. I think most people would also agree that there is NO cost too high to spare when you consider that this is the life of two children that we are talking about. For those that are curious, here is the breakdown of our expected costs, minus airfare, lodging and other expenses for our trip to China:

$4,ooo Adoption agency fees
$3,900 International processing fee
$400-700 Dossier documenting fees
$1,500 Overseas processing fee
$10,180 (2 children/orphanages) Required orphanage donation
$1,500 In-country legal expenses
________________________

approximately $21,480 with travel, lodging, etc added to that.

Sadly, these incredible costs often deter many from even considering adding to their family by this means. We certainly are not wealthy and our personal finances are limited, but we know that God is bigger than finances! We also know that He has a special place in His heart for orphans. James 1:27 tells us that "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." Keeping this in mind, we are confident that He has put us on THIS path, championing the cause of THESE particular orphans, and that He will be faithful to provide the resources to get our sweet boys home. How exactly? We aren't sure, but we are excited to see how He is going to work out His plan.

All that to say, we are not going to take a passive stance and wait for others to act while we do nothing on our own behalf. We have already been working hard to raise funds and are actively looking for ways to pay for the adoption. One thing we have done so far is a garage sale that we had in December. Friends and family donated items for us to sale and we were able to raise $700. It was so fun for Tim and I to share that experience with our children and for them to witness God's provision through the hearts of those that donated and those that purchased items. We have also been blessed to receive a couple of generous donations from friends and family and plan to apply for grants once our home study is completed. We have a few ideas for fundraisers that we would like to try and are looking for more ideas if anyone has any that they would like to share. Of course, above all we are trusting God to provide for His children to find their way home. After all, He loves them even more than we do and His plan for them is a good one.

"For I know the plans I have for you ," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."~ Jeremiah 29:11


In His Grip,

Here We Grow Again!!

I know, I know , I am a huge blog flunky! My last post was almost a month ago, but I promise I have a good excuse for neglecting my poor blog. In addition to the hurry and scurry of the holiday season, we have been busy working hard on bringing our boys home from China.

BOYS??!! Yes, I said boys! With an "s" ! Like more than one!! Yes, I'm officially announcing that this time next year, our family will have two more sweet blessings to share the holidays with. We are so excited!!

So, how did we go from adding one more kidlet to the crew to adding two? Well, I guess a little back story is in order here. We had let our agency know from the very beginning of our journey that we were interested in trying to bring home two little ones in the same trip. Our agency agreed to work with us on our efforts and we began discussing with them the type of special needs we would consider. We committed to Min Wu very quickly and then began to look at the files of a couple of little girls that we hoped would fit into our family. One of the little girls, Fu Mei, absolutely melted my heart and we requested her medical file so that we could determine whether or not we could adequately meet all of her needs. After receiving her file I began to research her condition on the web and realized very quickly that her needs were beyond our means of provision. My heart was broken. I cried as I called and told our case worker that we could not commit to Fu Mei. She asked if we would be interested in seeing more files. I really had to pause and consider her offer. I can't fully explain it, but there was a part of me that felt a real connection to this sweet little one that we had to say no to. I was not in a hurry to "replace" her spot in my heart. I declined the offer to view more files and hung up grieving over the reality that we just weren't the mommy and daddy that this precious little one needed. We were overjoyed to hear about a week later that she had been placed with another family and I rejoiced knowing that God had given her the gift of a forever family.

After some time I began to recover from the sadness and we began to talk again about looking at the files of some other little girls. At this point, something changed on our agencies side of things. They let us know that it was in their opinion that trying to bring home another child in addition to our Wu who has DS, was going to be too much when we already had two toddlers at home. We were disappointed at their decision, our social worker was disappointed, our children were disappointed, but we had no choice to accept it. That was early November.

We began to start putting the paperwork together for our impending home study. I have to say that I really had NO idea how much paperwork was involved with an adoption before we started our own. It really is an unbelievable amount and we haven't even started putting our dossier together yet!! CRAZY is the only word I can think of to explain how I felt trying to balance all of it with our already very full schedule. And even though busy can't even begin to explain the pace I was keeping with husband, children, home school, house and holidays, the idea that God still wanted us to try and bring home TWO children from China would not stop invading my thoughts.

So, although our agency had said no, I began to keep my eyes and heart open when visiting adoption advocacy sites. After reading many stories and seeing the beautiful faces of TOO many sweet children that were just waiting for their chance to belong to a family, I was determined to show our agency that we were capable of bringing home more than one child. While visiting our agencies website one day, I saw the picture of an adorable six year old boy with a beautiful smile and sparkling brown eyes. I was smitten and quickly clicked to view his bio. It described him as helpful, thoughtful, articulate and bright. It also stated that his favorite subject in school was English, that he loved super heroes and that when he grew up he wanted to be a police officer (hey, I happen to have on of those! :). He reminded me so much of my Adam and I instantly recalled the numerous times that he had asked us to "please adopt a brother my age to play with". I was so excited about this little boy and the thought that maybe he was meant to be our son. I could barely contain my excitement! But, I still needed to tell Tim about him and then there was the whole agency issue to overcome. Well, of course, Tim was on board right away. Knowing that he was committed and confident about adding this sweet boy to our family gave me the courage that I needed to make the call to our case worker.

I nervously dialed the number to our agency. I can't remember our exact conversation, but I can tell you that she did not in anyway communicate anything at all positive in regards to our chances of her director approving us to adopt this boy. As I listened to her try to find "good and logical" reasons for why we probably wouldn't be approved to adopt two at once, a bit of doubt began to creep into my mind. "It's over", I thought. "They are for sure gonna say no." She let me know that she would get back with me later that day. I hung up sad and dejected. To tell you the truth, I wasn't just sad I was also mad! I went to find Tim and tell him about the frustrating conversation that I had with the agency and of course to cry on his shoulder a little bit. "How could they say no?" I thought. "How could they let this child possibly miss out on the opportunity to have a family?" "Everyone in the adoption world knows how hard it is to place boys, especially older boys, for no other reason other than they are boys!" It just didn't seem fair! Before I could throw a huge fit, God reminded me that if He was for us, then who could be against us? I sat on the couch with My Love to try and think of how to pass the rest of the day while patiently waiting for the agency to call us back with their decision. Not even five minutes had gone by when we got the call from our caseworker letting us know that they had decided to approve our family to adopt another boy in addition to our sweet little Min Wu!! We were sent the file of the little boy I had seen online and learned that his name was Ke Xin, born June 15, 2004. We immediatly began the paperwork to start the process to bring him home. Within a couple of days we had submitted our pre-approval paperwork to our agency and they in turn sent our paperwork off to China. We were delighted to receive a call two days before Christmas letting us know that we had received pre-approval from China to adopt Ke Xin!!

So, here we grow again!!! I'm tellin' ya, our God is SO good!!!!

Ke Xin

In His Grip,