She's so beautiful

We sent a care package a few weeks ago that included a photo album of us so that Harli could get to know us all before we head to China next month.  We hope her foster family will explain who we are (each photo is labeled) and that it will make her transition easier.  You can tell that she is thin, her measurements tell us that she will wear 12-18/18-24 month clothes.  She really must be tiny!

Receiving these pictures and getting closer to travel, it really has made me wonder about her birth mother.  I would love to be able to tell her that she is healthy, beautiful and we will love her unconditionally.  I can't imagine how much love it takes for a birth mother (parents) to leave a child so that they can have a better life.  We know that she was left at the orphanage doors at about 3 months old.  We assume that her heart condition, which we will have repaired when she returns home, is the reason.  We take so many things for granted here in America.  The access we have to insurance and medical facilities is one.  She likely became an orphan because her family couldn't afford the costs to repair her heart so they did what they felt would be best for her.  I can't imagine ever leaving my baby  no matter what the circumstances are, but the world is much different there.  I also feel sorrow for her foster family.  She is close with her foster mom and I can only imagine that will cause much grief for both her foster mother and her.  They have been together for over a year and we are prepared for the grief that she may go through.

I know that her joining our family will be best for her in the long run, but I am a mix of emotions right now as we prepare the final details to bring her home.

Update

Our Trivia night/Silent auction was on Saturday!  We have been so blessed to have a great turn out and raise some much needed funds towards the balance on our adoption fees.  Thank you EVERYONE who helped or attended our night - we cannot even tell you how much your support means to us.  Because of you there will be 'one less' orphan.  We love her so much already and are so happy that God chose us to be her family.  We still have a long way to go, as you can see by our vine, but we know that God will provide.

We are also excited to have received our LOA on day 57 of our wait.  For those of you not in the adoption world, that is our Letter of Acceptance and it was a pretty quick wait for us.  An LOA is China's formal approval for us to adopt Harli and we signed it as a formal acceptance of her as our daughter.  It seems like we went from waiting and waiting to a whirlwind of activity!  We've been filling out more paperwork and starting to think about when we might be traveling (looks like August!).

Only a few more steps and we'll be able to go to China, hold our beautiful little girl and let her know that she has her FOREVER family.  God is so GOOD!

Here's an updated picture!

BLESSED

We have asked Stacy at Jubilee's Jewels to design a necklace for us as an adoption fundraiser.  We are thrilled with the result.  We want this necklace to represent God's blessings in our lives and be a reminder of how precious each day is.  Sometimes it's easy to forget how blessed you are when life is busy and overwhelming.  This will be a beautiful reminder.  You may also want to give this necklace as a gift to someone you consider a blessing in your life.  You can view and purchase the necklace here:   http://jubileesjewels.com/adoption-fundraising/blessed-heart-necklace  Thank you so much for your support, we are so blessed by you!


  

Does this mean we're Paper Pregnant?

She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare to her

Proverbs 3:15

We are elated to announce our daughter; Harli Faith

We weren't expecting a referral until the end of April, but we received Harli's referral on March 23rd.  At the start of this journey, I had my heart set on a younger child - as young as we could possibly get.  Troy had his heart set on a toddler.  We decided to move forward and let God lead the way.  I have to say that I'm blown away with the way her referral came to us.  The timing, her birthday, and the many other obvious confirmations we received that this girl is meant to be ours.  There was nothing I could do except set aside MY plan for this adoption, be faithful and follow His lead to our sweet little girl.  We are so excited to welcome her into our family!

Here's what we know about Harli:

She is 3 years old

She can count two blocks

She likes listening to music

She has a ready smile

She is fairly extroverted

She likes playing with toys

She likes to build towers

She can wash her hands without help

She eats with a spoon

She goes up stairs one foot at a time

She likes taking a bath

And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me

Matthew 18:5

DTC!

                                            

Our dossier will be on it's way to China tomorrow!  After all these months of paperwork, we're almost ready to be matched!  Our next step will be to receive our LID (log in date) and LIN (log in number) from the CCCWA.  The next Shared List should come out around the end of March.  We have no idea what month we will be matched, but we are super excited to see who God will choose as our new addition!  It's all His timing and we know it will be perfect.

We have also started to plan for one of our fundraisers.  It will be a trivia/silent auction to be held on June 16.  Mark your calendars, it should be lots of fun!  More details to come closer to the date.

Orphan Banquet

Do you live in Central IL?  Looking for something to do to help orphans?

Click on this link to read more about an upcoming orphan banquet featuring Mark Shultz!

http://www.inhishandsorphans.org/

WHY?

WHY are we adopting?  This is a question we answer daily as we have started to really share the news that we are adopting.

Proverbs 24:12 tells us this:

Once our eyes are opened we cannot pretend we do not know what to do.  God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls knows we know and holds us responsible to act.

Our hearts and minds have been opened and we want to make a difference; for this child, for ourselves, for our biological children, for our family, for our friends, and most importantly for our God.  Adoption is something we WANT to do and we already hold this child in our hearts.  We have compassion for these children that is so strong it cannot be ignored.  That compassion is what's causing us to act.

Here's a quote I love:

Adopting one child will not change the world, but for that one child, the world will change.

Sure, this adoption has caused us to make some 'sacrifices' compared to the way we used to live.  We're eating at home more, saving more money, watching our spending.  But, through this we are realizing what's truly important, relying more on God and we are spending more quality time as a family.  In the end, these are not sacrifices, but blessings.  God is transforming our world, too.

The second WHY question we get is 'why a girl'

Honestly this has brought up more discussion than we ever thought it would.  It's simple; we have four boys and one girl.  We are out of balance.  We feel like a girl will be the perfect addition to our family.  Some people think it's because boys aren't available - that 's not true, there are many boys available and we could love one of them just as much.  We simply feel led to adopt a girl at this point.  God already knows who she is and I'm sure that he is putting that on our hearts.

Something to think about.......

What's God calling you to do?  Are you listening?