Encouragment

There has still been no movement in our adoption. No file has been locked. Nothing. One of my friends from my online group said it the best when she said to me, "You're waiting for the ok to fall in love with a girl you've already fallen in love with." So true, so true. It's really painful and I don't think I could have understood it until I was in the midst of it.

There is one thing that is keeping us in this without completely going over the edge. God keeps showing up in small ways to remind us we're on the right path and that He's still in this. When I was in college, a few friends and I went to a church about an hour away from our school. We lived on campus, so the distance to the church caused us to miss lunch by the time we arrived back to the school. In this wonderful little church were several families that would invite us over for lunch so we wouldn't starve. We mostly went to one family's house and they were so welcoming and fun. They always had amazing food and a nice place to rest and do homework. I still keep in touch with them and they have since adopted their daughter from China. She sent me this email today:

Just wanted to let you know that we are still collecting coins for your adoption. Our jar is about half full. I love how God provides coins and just wanted to share the last couple with you. This week when I went down to do laundry, there was 51 cents laying on the dryer. And yesterday, we were eating lunch out and looked down on the booth seat and there was a quarter. It wasn't there when I sat down, because I slid over that part of the seat! Love how God provides!

I love how God not only provide funds, but encouragement when you feel so defeated. Thanks to this wonderful family for thinking of us, helping us with funds, and for their reminder of God's faithfulness!

We can't do this alone...

Dear Friends & Family,

I decided today that enough is enough and I have to admit I can't do this alone. We need you. We need you to pray. Three weeks ago, we reviewed the file of the down-right cutest little 21 month old you ever did see. We love her. So much. But we haven't been able to lock her file due to some issues I'd rather not get into. We need to lock her file in order for us to adopt HER and for the process to keep moving. We're at a complete standstill without knowing if we'll even be able to do this. Can you please pray for us? Pray that we can lock her file, pray that the obstacles to locking the file will be resolved very quickly, pray that we have the strength to keep waiting. Twice now I've told God, "I can't do it God, I can't wait even one more day. Today has to be the day; if it isn't, I don't know how I will keep going on not knowing." Within minutes of both times I've prayed that, I've gotten an email that said I'd be waiting at least another week (not from God; although, that would have been interesting...). And then, after much anger, irritation, and crying, I realize I CAN go another hour, day, or even week if I am depending on His strength and am trusting Him to make this all work out. Just pray for both Mark and I as we are both feeling emotionally drained and lonely in our waiting. I wish so much that this was a time of celebration; I wish I was shouting to the world that we found our daughter. But instead we don't know. We feel like we know, but really we don't.

Thank you for your prayers.
Love,
Jodi & Mark

The Low Down...

Monday night the list, yes the LIST, came out of available children. We did not receive a match off of the list due to the small number of children added to the list. So many emotions resulted from this. After sifting and listening, the emotion at the forefront is fight. If the list was small because the need was small, then AMEN, I say. But I know the need is huge, so I've learned that my prayers need to be huger (yes, huge-er). Not for myself and my desire to bring this child into our home, but for the children who wait even longer now. There are some changes being made in the system and my agency is assuming there won't be a list until after this system is implemented (maybe the end of June?). All of this is hard to digest, but I'm over my own pity-party and am 100% calling upon God to intervene and get these kids home. Please join me. And if you haven't signed the petition that goes along with the movie STUCK, please see the link below - read, watch the movie, sign the petition. More needs to be done.

http://www.change.org/petitions/make-a-child-s-right-to-a-family-our-priority

The News Is...

....there's no news! We did get an email from our agency that their best guess is that the list will come out next Monday night (5/6). But, like they said, it's just a guess.

The great, amazing, wonderful thing is that God has reminded me that this is His dream and plan for my life. While I want it too, He really is the one who has orchestrated my life to draw me to this point at this moment. If I keep fretting and trying to control things, I might miss out on something more exciting than I could have come up with on my own. I mean, what if he wants us to bring TWO kids home? (That's probably not happening, but you never know what He's up to!!)

So we're still waiting and there's lots more waiting even after we get a match, so I might as well learn to wait with a smile on my face and peace in my heart because I think it's just going to get more difficult from here.

Calling all junk!!!

We will be doing a garage sale Friday May 31 and Saturday June 1, as a fundraiser for our adoption. If you have anything destined for Goodwill or any other treasures you'd like to donate to our cause, we would be forever grateful! Contact us and we will come to you to pick up donations whenever it's convenient for you. After the garage sale, whatever doesn't sell, we will donate to Goodwill. Here are some things that sell well at garage sales: furniture, baby/children's clothes, tools, sports equipment, etc. But we'll take anything, so as you are doing your spring cleaning, think of us!

All money raised by the garage sale will go toward our matching grant, so your donation will be doubled! If you would like to simply donate funds to our matching grant, here is how you can do that:

Give by Check:

- Please make checks payable to Lifesong for Orphans.

- IMPORTANT: In the memo line please write "Potgeter 3556" .
- Please mail checks to:
           Lifesong for Orphans
           PO Box 40

          Gridley, IL 61744

Individual donations $250 or more and yearly donations totaling $250 or more will receive a tax-deductible receipt. Receipts for donations under $250 will gladly be sent upon request.

Give Online

*Please note that PayPal will charge an administrative fee (2.9% + $.30 USD per transaction). Your donation will be decreased by the amount of this fee.

- Go to www.lifesongfororphans.org/give/donate

- Select Give to an Adoptive Family
- Complete online form and fill in Family Account Number & Family Account Name Fields (Potgeter 3556)

Individual donations $250 or more and yearly donations totaling $250 or more will receive a tax-deductible receipt. Receipts for donations under $250 will gladly be sent upon request.

 

NO LIST FOR YOU!

Please read the title the way the Soup Nazi would say it, otherwise, it's a really dumb title. Thank you for your cooperation...

Just in case you're following along with us...word on the street (and by street I mean China adoption forums and my China Facebook group) is that there will be no list of kiddos coming out today. The list usually comes out on one of the last Mondays in the month. There is still one more Monday this month, but the other word on the cyber-street is that the people who put out this list will not be working next Monday, due to a holiday. So the rumor-conclusion is that.....well, nobody knows what will happen. I keep trying not to worry that there will be no list at all. Instead, I'm reminding myself 1,000 a day that God is bigger than all of this. And today I plan to thoroughly enjoy this sunny, 60 degree day with my little buddy. We're going to go to any park that we can find that isn't flooded and enjoy the >30 degrees and lack of snow/rain/other precipitation. Feel free to leave me an encouraging comment about how all this is in God's plan, our daughter will come to us at the right time, I'll survive the wait, etc., etc. I could use any and all of those comments right now!

Truckin' Along

WE. ARE. LOGGED. IN. *Insert gigantic, overly-dramatic sigh of relief * Our paperwork was actually logged in on 4/7/13, but our agency just found out today. So that means when the list (probably) comes out on the 22nd, our social worker can look for a match for us. That does not mean we will necessarily get a match, but she thinks there is a good chance we will. So here's how the process goes. China puts out the list on Tuesday morning their time, which means it comes out Monday evening our time. Our worker stays late and waits for the list, if she sees a child on there that we would be a good family for, she will put the child on hold. We will get a call that night (*insert mental image of me staying up until all hours of the night staring bugged-eyed at my phone*) and she will send us photos and medical information (since this is the special needs program, it's important to review medical info). We have 72 hours to look over the file, have the medical info reviewed by professionals, and then say yes or no. I plan on being very honest throughout this process, so I will probably tell you if we have to say no to a "file". I really don't want to, but I'm trusting that God will give us the wisdom to know if the first child presented to us is our daughter.

If we say no or don't get a match at all, there's a possibility of another match this month after the 72 hour mark, when many files go back to the list from families who have said no. If still no match after that time, we'll most likely wait until the next list, which comes out at the end of May.

If we DO get a match and she IS our daughter. We get to say YES! And write a Letter of Intent to Adopt, telling China that we would LOVE to adopt this child and tell them all the things we plan to do to love and take care of her. A week or two after that, we would get PA (yes, another acronym!) which means Pre-Approval. At THAT time, I can finally stand on top of my roof and shout for the whole world to hear that we have a daughter. Well, actually, it means I can show you her picture and share some information about her. Won't that be fun!?! It's what we're all waiting for, so stand by!