Matching Funds in April!

We have a very generous friend who is willing to match all money raised in April dollar for dollar up to $2000!  If you were considering donating to help bring Ai Lan home, April would be a great time to do that!  We have a Paypal button off to the right that you can use for secure giving online (and you don't even need to have a Paypal account to use it).  We want to thank our friend (you know who you are!) for his generosity and for believing in adoption!  Thank you so much friend!

Moving Forward

Hello friends!  Well, things are steadily moving in the right direction for us!  Thought I'd give you a quick summary of the past few weeks so you know where we stand as of now.

Upcoming Fundraiser:  Rummage Sale 

April 13, 2013 - 7 AM - 4 PM

Parking lot of St. Andrew's Lutheran Church

4910 Claremont Avenue

Stockton, CA 95207

We got quite a few donations for our rummage sale and my garage was filling up quickly!  So I decided to have a small yard sale at my house last Saturday and made $600!  I'd say that's a worthwhile way to spend my Saturday!  This was items donated from only 6 families!  Imagine what we can do at the big sale at St. Andrews on April 13 if many more families are willing to donate their unused and unwanted items!  I'm hoping we can pull in a few thousand that day.  We shall see!  If you have anything you don't need and would like to donate it to our rummage sale, please call me and let me know!  I'm quickly running out of room at my home again, so if you can hold on to it until April 12, that would be great.  But, if you really need to get rid of it now, then I'll take it off your hands and store it until the rummage sale.  I'll take anything!  Clothing, housewares, books, toys, kids gear, sports gear, furniture, electronics, tools, home decor, etc, etc, etc.  I learned last week that people will pretty much buy anything if the price is right, so bring it on!

I also need volunteers to help staff our rummage sale.  If you are interested, let me know.  I need help on Friday evening sorting donations, as well as Saturday working the sale.

The Paper Trail

Last week we knocked a bunch of items off our dossier list...things like criminal records checks (we have none, in case you were wondering), doctor's clearances (we are healthy enough to parent a new child), and much, much more!  We've done all we can do at this point to get this large stack of "proof" ready to send to the Chinese Embassy in San Francisco that will convince them we are able to adopt Ai Lan.  We are in a holding pattern right now waiting for a form to return from the Department of Homeland Security that needs to be put into our dossier.  After that arrives, all our dossier documents need to go to the Secretary of State's office in Sacramento to verify that the notaries we used were acting legally.  Then once that happens, we send our dossier to the Chinese Embassy and cross our fingers that it gets processed asap.  This part of the adoption process takes months and months...so I'll be praying for patience every day, I'm sure!  This paper trail also costs a lot of money to complete, so if you are one of the generous people who have already donated to our cause, your donation has helped pay for this very important step in our adoption process.  Thank you!

In the Meantime...

While we wait for our dossier to be completed, we have a few more pleasant tasks to undertake.  My favorite is that we will be putting together a photo album that will be mailed to Ai Lan.  She hasn't been told that she's been matched with us yet because they want to wait until the dossier is accepted (understandably), but as soon as this happens, her caregivers will use this photo album to introduce us to her.  I'm excited to assemble it!

Secondly, we are in the process of moving our bedroom to our upstairs room and turning our room into a playroom for the kids.  This will allow us to move much of the girls toys and books out of their room and into the playroom, thus making room in the girls' room for Ai Lan.  Now, whether she sleeps in there when she comes home is another story!  I'm guessing she'll be sleeping close to us for a while, but who knows!  Josie told our caseworker, "I'm excited to have Ai Lan sleeping our our room.  Then if she wakes up in the middle of the night crying, I can just bring her into bed with me and rub her back and tell her it's gonna be alright.  Then she can just sleep in bed with me."  My goodness, how I love that girl.

We are also working on a list of medical questions that we can request answers from by Ai Lan's caregivers. They are not doctors and can only give answers to the best of their abilities, but this will help us find out things like whether she has been having seizures that may not be recognized as seizures (such as blankly staring for a few seconds or punching the air with her arms unexplainably).  We have not been told that she had seizures, but that doesn't mean she hasn't, and since seizures are a common symptom of Sturge-Weber Syndrome, we will be on the lookout for them as soon as we take custody of her.

Please Pray with Us for Ai Lan

And of course, we will continue to pray for Ai Lan daily, and we ask that you do the same!  We pray that her caregivers take the best possible care of her.  We pray that her Sturge-Weber Syndrome is mild and stays that way, but if not, that God prepares us to care for Ai Lan's medical needs.  We pray that God prepares our hearts and homes to receive our  new love.  We pray that God keeps her safely in his arms until we can bring her home.  We pray that our Father whispers in her ear every day, "You are loved, you are valuable, you are cherished, you are wanted, you are not alone."

Rubios Fundraiser Result

Thanks so much to all who came out for their Sunday lunch or dinner at Rubios and supported our adoption!  We found out today that we got $205.38 from Rubios.  Every bit helps!  Thanks again!

Half the Sky...when one couple decided to do something

One day an elephant saw a hummingbird lying on its back with its tiny feet up in the air.

"What are you doing?" asked the elephant.

The hummingbird replied, "I heard that the sky might fall today, and so I am ready to help hold it up, should it fall.”

The elephant laughed cruelly. “Do you really think,” he said, "that those tiny feet could help hold up the sky?”

The hummingbird kept his feet up in the air, intent on his purpose, as he replied, "Not alone. But each must do what he can. And this is what I can do.”
–  A Chinese Folktale

Our daughter, Ai Lan, is one lucky girl.  She is in a Half the Sky project in China.  That means she is in an institution where she is not just provided with the basics of food and shelter, but also is nurtured in order that she should develop on track with her age, and even more importantly, learn how to love and bond with others.  This is HUGE!  Until the last 10-15 years, most orphans in our world were never held, never nurtured, and never taught how to bond, so that when they are adopted, the new families have many developmental and emotional obstacles to overcome.  Unfortunately, many still face that bleak reality.  But when an adopting family from the US went to China in 1997 and found this to be the case for their own adopted daughter, and actually did something about it.  Jenny and Richard Bowen started a organization called Half the Sky, based off the Chinese adage that says "Women hold up half the sky," that trains orphanage workers in China how to properly care for and nurture orphans in order that they reduce the amount of developmental delays and attachment disorders that the child will face later in life.  The model worked.  It worked so well that it has multiplied many times over!

Follow this link to the website for Half the Sky.  Believe me...it is worth a look!

www.halfthesky.org/

You can also check out this link to a Vimeo video that shows these orphans and nannies in action.  So cute!

http://vimeo.com/37625589

I hope this answers your many questions about what kind of care situation Ai Lan is in.  The answer is...the best we could hope for!  We have video of her getting cheered on by her nannies while she is mastering her walking.  She is bright-eyed and laughing her head off.  It warms an adoptive mama's heart, let me tell you.  When I get to her institution, I want to hug every woman that helped nurture Ai Lan while I could not.  I think I will!

If one couple can start a movement that has trained 21,825 workers and has transformed 94,253 and counting orphans' lives, what can I do?  We may not all be called by God to such a huge task, but each of us, like the humming bird, and do SOMETHING.  Just do something.

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

That means "Happy Chinese New Year!"  Today is the beginning of the Chinese lunar calendar.  2013 is the year of the snake, and while I'm not a huge fan of snakes, 2013 is also the year that Ai Lan gets to come home to us, so the Year of the Snake will forever have a special place in my heart!

Don't know much about the Chinese New Year?  Here's a few facts for ya!

• The festivities run for 15 days, from Chinese New Year's Day itself to the Lantern Festival
• Traditionally, the festival was a time to honor deities as well as ancestors (we will just use it to celebrate Ai Lan's heritage)
• Often, the evening before the New Year is a reunion dinner for families, and in preparation of that, every family thoroughly cleanses the house to "sweep away" any ill fortune and make way for incoming luck (love the cleaning house part!)
• Windows and doors are decorated with red color paper-cuts and couplets with the popular themes of "good fortune," "happiness," "wealth," and "longevity."
• Firecrackers are set off (hmmm...I'm going to have to stock up at 4th of July) and money is given in red envelopes (kids will like that!)
• On the last day of festivities, the Lantern Festival," lanterns are put out to represent people letting go of their past selves and getting a new one, which they will let go of the next year.

I especially love the idea of the lanterns, and I think I can put our own family's Christian spin on it using Ephesians 4:22, which says, "...put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desire, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness."

I'm so excited to incorporate Ai Lan's heritage into our family! As she grows, this will be such an important thing to helping her know who she is and where she came from.  She may be our daughter, but never should discount her heritage...it's part of her identity and it's important for us all to recognize it.  

Gung Hay Fat Choy!  And in 2013, may the the peace that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord! 

I'm Missing One

As Miriam and I have responded to God’s leading and embarked on this journey of adoption, a strange thing has occurred in my mind that quite honestly I wasn’t really expecting.  While out in public I do what many parents do and constantly count my children to make sure all are accounted for.  In the last month there has been several times when I realized I am missing one.  So I count again and realize one is still missing.  As “papa bear” instinct begins to kick in I realize I am counting to five, not four.    I am missing one of my children.  She is not here.  She is not in my sight yet.  My heart and mind have already made her mine, but my eyes have yet to behold her and my arms have yet to wrap her in a loving embrace.  But not for one moment do I consider her less a child of mine than those that are around me already.

            Again, I must admit I was not expecting this.  This did not occur with my other children, perhaps it was because I knew my newest child was always safe in the womb of my beautiful wife.  For me to begin counting to five, instead of four, has made me realize the power of choosing life and love in my own soul. 

            I recently preached a sermon on a passage from Acts 18.  In this passage our Lord Jesus encouraged Paul to stay in the city of Corinth and be a witness to the Good News concerning what Jesus has done for us.  The Lord says this to Paul, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, 10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.”  The last part, which I have italicized, seems to refer to people who have yet to believe in Christ, but the Lord is sure they will become His own soon.  He has already chosen them as His children and if Paul would just stay and witness to the work of Christ, these people will indeed call on Jesus as Lord and Savior and be brought into the family of God for all eternity. 

            God essentially tells Paul that His family is bigger than it looks.  That God has already chosen to adopt more into His family that we can see right now.  The God of love and grace has more love and grace to give, and He is working to draw them into His arms and make them a part of His family. 

            I think I am just beginning to understand the power of God’s love in this light.  I had already begun loving the babies developing in Miriam’s womb well before they were born, but to begin loving a child as my own on another continent is a new experience for me.  A beautiful experience.  I am missing one of my children.  There is much work I have yet to do, but I will do whatever it takes to make her mine. 

            God is missing some of His children.  He has already done all the work through Jesus to ransom these children and make them a part of His family.  He called Paul, and I believe He calls us, to share this gift of family to those around us so that they too might become children of God and experience the love and joy He has for all who call on His name.  As Paul said to the church in Ephesus, “In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:5-6).”

Now you can donate through PayPal!

Thanks to my amazing bestie, Carrie (who also, by the way, designs my blog), we now have a PayPal donation button on the side of our blog!  So if you want to help get us to our goal of $30,000, feel free to press the magic button!