God listens!

Well, it's been 2 month since my last post. We've been slammed with adoption homework, Todd's 2 jobs, Elijah got tubes in his ears, and traveling to FL to visit my Mom.

As I was reading my last post, I smiled because God has answered 2 of our prayer requests since then......

1. Our adoption fundraiser yardsale was a hit!! I asked for $2500 and the Lord provided $2700!!! The Lord always goes above and beyond! We had 33 families donate. My house was wall-to-wall stuff for a week. We had people knocking on the door all week long to bring stuff, and shop. I never want to see a round sticker again.

2. Our country decision. We were so unsure about Congo. The Lord led us to China. We are excited! China is one of the few countries, other than Congo, with a short travel time and young kids available. Their adoption program is only for kids with medical special needs. We requested to be matched with a child with only the most minor/correctable conditions (minor developmental delays, cleft lip, extra/missing digit, crossed eyes, birthmarks). And we have a good chance of getting matched with a girl, as a result of the "One child policy" that requires many families to abandon their 2nd female child. There are 1 MILLION kids in China waiting for their "forever family"

What's Next....

• ONE more document left for Todd to do!! He's been so busy that he hasn't had much chance to get it done. And that will conclude our homestudy!!!
• Our 4th and FINAL homestudy meeting with our social worker (this meeting will be in Birmingham) will be in June - Lord Willing.
• Our social worker is typing up all of our MANY documents into one official package called our "dossier" pronounced doss-ee-ay
• Our dossier will be sent to the State Dept. and translated into Chinese
• Then it will be sent to China and we will be officially "in" China (hopefully by the Fall?)
• Wait for immigration approval
• We will then wait a few months to be matched with our child!
• Wait for travel invitation (~ 10-12 months from now?)

 How our fundraising is going...

• Still selling coffee! The Lord has used it to provide $800 so far!
• Our total is about $17,000 thus far! Thankfully switching to china will not increase our fees too much. Our goal is still $28,000
• Trusting God for donors for our $2500 matching grant (give $2500 and get $5000)

a typical baby room in china, where the child-adult ratio is VERY low

can you imagine- no hugs, no holding hands, no reading books together, no family movie night...

just waiting for your next bottle to be propped up on a pillow