China Itinerary

4/21 –  Depart the U.S.A via plane at 1:55pm (ET)

4/22  -  Arrive in Beijing around 4pm China time, which will be 4am (ET)

4/23  -  Tour Beijing – Great Wall of China!!!! And exchange money to RMB for adoption expenses.

4/24 -   Depart Beijing for Zhengzhou via train – will be about a 2.5 hour journey

4/25 -    Today you will receive your children! Congratulations!

4/26 -    Adoption registrations and then travel (1.5 hours) to Esther’s city to complete necessary adoption paperwork and hopefully visit her orphanage.

4/27 -    Travel to Xavier’s city (2 hours) to complete adoption paperwork and possibly visit orphanage.

4/28 -    Tour day or rest day – we’ll see how we are feeling at this point.

4/29 -    Tour day or rest day

4/30 -    Depart for Guangzhou to do the U.S. side of adoption process completion!!!!

5/1 -       Prepare paperwork for consulate appointment and free time!

5/2 -       Free day – China’s Labor Day Holiday – Logan’s 15^th birthday!

5/3 -       Medical appointments

5/4 -       TB test check and free time

5/5 -       U.S. Consulate appointment to take oath for our new children’s citizenship!!!!

5/6 -       Pack up, receive visa packets, and take van to Hong Kong

5/7 -       Return home!!!!

The journey to China begins on Thursday!

Sorry for not keeping this blog updated, I'll just say, life with six kids, two exchanges student, preparing to travel half way around the world for two weeks, plus an internship to finish up my master's degree - keeps me on my toes.  Thankfully, things are calming down in time for our journey to China to meet and bring home our two new family members!!!!  I am excited, nervous, and doing my best to mentally prepare for this. Michiael (17), Logan (will turn 15 during the trip!), and Kailey (13), our kids who are traveling with me, are pretty excited as well!!!

Even though this is my third adoption journey, the feelings/worries have been the same as each of the prior. Am I packing everything I think we will need?  How will these new kiddos adjust?   Dreading the flights to and from China, praying I will be able to sleep some on the way there this time.  

Doing my best to remember Philippians 4:6-7 in the midst of all of this:

6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

If you would like to pray for us:

• ·         Pray for Esther and Xavier’s hearts that they will be prepared for this big change. 
• ·         Pray for all our health and safety.
• ·         Pray that we will be able to understand and meet their needs despite the language barrier.

I will do my best to post an update nearly daily.  I share our journey to inspire others to hear their own calling and to take the leap of faith.  I also share our journey so other adopting families see the how challenging, yet amazing this journey is.  From experience, I know for a time it will not be easy but to see these kiddos blossom is beyond amazing and so worth it!  We’ve been blessed time and time again!  So excited that we took another leap of faith to bring these kiddos home! 

Thank you for your continuing prayers and encouragement!

LOAs!!!

I'm a little behind on this but we received our letter's of approval to adopt both kiddos on February 4th after waiting for 44 days.  We have signed and accepted these two kiddos as our own!  Now we are waiting for U.S. Immigration's approval, which we should have later this week!  Can't believe we are getting so close.  I can't wait to get to these kiddos but there is so much yet to get done - ahhhh.

Over the weekend, we were blessed to get pictures of Esther celebrating her 8th birthday - sharing the cake we sent with a table full of friends!

Look at this beautiful cake!

If all goes well with the paperwork  process, we plan to travel during the later half of April!

We still have a ways to go to meet our fundraising goal.  Would you consider partnering with us to bring these precious kiddos home - you can do so by making a tax-deductible contribution at our AdoptTogether webpage.

Stay tuned for exciting updates!

Exciting week!!! LID and Introducing....!!!!

What beautiful blessings the week of celebrating Jesus's birth!!!  The very spirit who showed us what adoption and serving others looks like!  The loving Christ who sacrificed his life for us, sinners.

As you know, last Friday our dossier was sent to China.  A mere four days later, China already has us logged into their computer system - official LID is 12/22/15!!!!  That is blessing number one!!!!

Blessing number two is that our puzzle fundraising is complete!!!!  

Our goal was Christmas and we did it!!!  You did it!!!  20% of our fundraising goal is complete!!!!  

Thank you for blessing us with your support!!!!

Now that the puzzle is complete, we are blessed to introduce you to our son, Xavier, who waits in China for us.  He is almost 5 years old!  I cannot wait to see a smile on his face, I have only ever seen pictures of him with this hopeless look on his face - it breaks my heart.  

Below is the first photo I ever saw of this precious child, 

soon after our adoption of Corban and Tegan. 

I fell in love and I advocated (along with many others) for the past three years to find him a family.  I have watched him grow through updated pictures, with a continued sulky look on his face.  My heart broke from him, again and again. When I learned that he resided in the same province as Esther, I felt God was talking to me.  Therefore, I challenged God (I still chuckle at this) to prove that this was His will for us and this precious boy.  Well, God answered over and over again.

As many of you know, Xavier, who rocks his Nevus, will fit well into our family, which already has three other Nevus owners who rock their birthmarks!  We can't wait to get him home (and Esther too) to show him the love of a family and put a smile on his face!

Thank you all for your continued partnership, encouragement, and prayers! We still have a lot of adoption expenses to incur and funds to raise.  If you would like to continue to partner with usby doing a small fundraiser of your own or by making a monthly contribution, we would be so very blessed by your efforts to help us close the funding gap!!!  We should travel in 4-5 months, which doesn't leave us a lot of time.

Tax-deductible contributions can be made at www.adopttogether.org/downey - please share with anyone you know who may be looking to make a year end contribution for tax deduction purposes.  

Thank you!

We are DTC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So excited to get to announce this major milestone!!!!  The pile of paperwork that we have been diligently working on, for China to review to see if we will be acceptable parents for Esther and Xavier, was sent sent to China by our agency today!!!!!  We are DTC - a.k.a. Dossier To China!!!!!!!

With that the fundraising continues because the expenses of the process will begin to pile rather quickly as we near the later part of this journey.  We are now on limited, approximately 4-5 months till we travel!!!   Therefore, if you feel you would like to come along side us and be a piece of this adoption journey, we would graciously accept any size contribution you feel you led to give ($5, $15, $50, $500), it all adds up and closes the gap between the high cost of the adoption process and our savings account!  Can't make a monetary contribution?  Perhaps you could help us out by spreading the word or doing your own little fundraiser!  If you are interested in that, please leave me a message here on the blog (with a way to contact you) or via Facebook!

Tax-deductible donations can be made at our fundraising site: www.AdoptTogether.org/downey

The puzzle is nearly complete - will you accept the CHALLENGE?

Tears flowed today, a family contacted us to utilize our gift wrapping adoption fundraiser services and blessed us with a nice donation - we are so very blessed to have such wonderful new and long time friends, and some we don't even know, partnering with us in this journey! - every amount, small and big, as well as, time spent helping us fund raise- it's all given from the heart and adds up to us bringing these precious children home!!!  For that we are thankful!

Soon, our adorable boy's picture will be revealed - over $4000 has been raised (have you seen the goal thermometer?)- only 51 pieces left to complete the puzzle and this puzzle fundraiser's goal!!!!

CHALLENGE - We really want to share this adorable blessing with all of you, by Christmas eve!  To do that we need 51 people to make a $20 donation or more (or 20 people to make a $50 or 10 people to make a $100), to our AdoptTogether.org/Downey tax deductible fundraising site to reach the puzzle completion goal.  Who's ready to see this child who has waited so long for a family to call his own?  I know I can't wait to share him!

Donations can be made online through AdoptTogether, or checks can be sent as well, if you have questions on either of these, please ask!

BONUS: If local, gift wrapping is another option, get gifts wrapped with your donation!!!!

Who's ready to partner with us for the challenge?

Deuteronomy 26:12-13"When you have finished paying all the tithe of your increase in the third year, the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the orphan and to the widow, that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied.

Where are all the pieces to this puzzle?

37 of 252 pieces - that's 15% of the puzzle - but that means 85% to go till Xavier's picture is fully revealed.  I so want to share our precious boy with you all!

I am finding that raising money for this adoption is NOT "quick and easy".  We have incurred about 25% of the adoption expenses already and more will come due in about 4-5 weeks when the remainder of our agency fee and post adoption retainer fee will become due.  The fees add up fast when you take a leap of faith into an unplanned journey.  A journey to redeem the lives of two children who did not ask to be orphans.  Despite this, I know the cost my God paid to redeem me; therefore, regardless of the paperwork costs to redeem the lives of these two precious children who do not deserve the "cards" they have been dealt, I know this journey will be worth it in the end!  We will be blessed beyond measure and my God will build the necessary funding bridge when the time is right!

Until then, we will cut back where we can (which isn't easy with 8 kids in the house), I will substitute teach as much as possible, and continue fundraising.

Are you one of the missing pieces to our puzzle?  Here are ways you can be a part of the puzzle:

• Donate items for our upcoming silent auction starting on November 30th (if we get enough items together) - are you a small business owner, crafter, have special items to sell that you would donate?
• Bid on items in the silent auction that will go on Nov 30th-Dec 9th - Go here to like our silent auction page and to stay up to date.
• Purchase a $50 Restaurant.com gift certificate for only $20 at our fundraiser site: fundraiser.restaurant.com/c/31882
• Make a tax deductible contribution at www.adopttogether.org/downey

Thank you to all who have contributed items and made contributions so far!  We are so blessed by you!