Disappointing Update!

Well, I emailed the agency yesterday, hoping that something exciting had happened, but I was wrong.  This is the email I got in return:   

     This month (list was updated this past Monday) was very disappointing – only a handful of children were posted. We placed only two boys. We were unable to find any girls with minor problems.

     How long to a referral will depend upon how many young girls with minor difficulties show up in the next few months, and, of course, how vigorous the competition is for these children. We have accumulated in the past couple of months a rather long list of families seeking young girls and I expect that the same as happened with the other agencies which means that young girls seem to be increasingly difficult to lock.

So, can you say discouraged and disappointed!!  This news for a 'practicing patient/impatient'  person was not what I wanted to hear, but there is absolutely nothing I can do other than pray.  So I will continue to wait, pray and prepare her room in hopes that we will get that call sooner than later.

"What do you mean, 'If I can?" Jesus asked.

"Anything is possible if a person believes."

Mark 9:23

I have been teaching the boys scriptures the last couple of weeks and this is the one they are learning this week:

"Don't be afraid, for I am with you.  Don't be discouraged, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you.  I will hold you up with my victorious right hand."

Isaiah 41:10 

Nough Said!

 

~Patient Endurance~

ADOPT:  to receive the child of another and treat it as one's own....

WAIT:  to stop until arrival of some person or event, to be temporarily postponed; to be expecting....

PATIENCE:  the quality of enduring with calmness; quiet perseverance....

I wanted to know the Webster's Dictionary definitions of these words so I can visualize mostly what patience looks like.

Overall, I feel I am doing well, (most of the time).  There are the other times when my mind wanders, I over analyze the whole process, and wonder why everything has to take so long.

I know that we haven't been 'officially' waiting that long, but if you calculate from the time that the we officially looked into adoption, was back in March 2009.  Mind you the desire was in my heart long before this. 

When I look back on where we started, I can so clearly see that God has had His hands on our family, how he has changed Chris's heart to be open to adoption, how I so longed for another biological child, but God knew our little girl would not be born from my womb.  He knew that in China there was a woman who would give birth to a baby, she would love her dearly, but in unfortunate circumstances not be able to care for her.  God knew this is how our family would grow and I am so thankful for this.  He has brought us so far and has had His hands completely engraved in this adoption. 

So when practicing patience while waiting to adopt our daughter, I need to remember how far we have come and embrace the sweetness of quiet perseverance.

Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God's will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.  Hebrews 10:36

Exciting Start To February!

The first of January I received an email from Adoption Bug about a T-shirt design contest.  So I thought, why not, I will try and come up with something and send it in.  If your design is picked they would feature it on one of their shirts and give you a portion of the sales to go towards adoption costs.  Well, anyone that has adopted or is in the process knows that any little bit helps.

On Tuesday, February 1st, I received and email from Adoption Bug saying that my design had been chosen as one of the finalists.   WHAT??  Are you kidding me?  I actually had forgotten about the contest and honestly didn't think I would really have a chance anyways, but I guess I was wrong.

So the chosen 7 designs were showcased on the Adoption Bug Facebook Page and in order to win you had to receive the most likes on your design.  I was so excited; posted the news on my wall and encouraged family and friends to vote for my design.  Well it became an Island wide event, friends of friends were posting to their walls and encouraging their family and friends to vote, etc. etc.

Nearing the end on Friday the competition was fierce, but let me tell you what, this community has my back!!  I can't even tell you the work everyone did to get votes for my design, it was absolutely AMAZING!!  In the end my design won by only 7.  Altogether I had a total of 967 individual people 'like' my design. The population of our Island altogether is only around 2500!  Wow!

Words can't even express how blessed and thankful I am to live close to so many loving, caring people.  Even if I hadn't of won, I feel like this was such a blessing that God wanted to show me all of the love and support of this community.

I am not sure if others feel this way in their adoption process, but sometimes you wonder if people get tired of hearing about it, or tire of your fundraising?  I have wondered this; since it is such a long process; and I think this was one way of showing me that people are excited, supportive, and not totally annoyed with us yet.

So THANK YOU so much to everyone that voted, especially the people who posted and re-posted it over and over.  Thank you to those who recruited family and friends who have no idea who we are, but cared enough to help out a friend, we definitely feel very loved and supported.

So if anyone would like to purchase a T-shirt all you have to do is go to www.adoptionbug.com and look for the shirt by Kim Rayner (Where In The World Is Your Heart Calling) or go to the link on the side of this page and check out our other shirts for sale.

I am so excited to one day show our sweet little girl all of the love and support our community gave us in order to bring us one step closer to bringing her home.   Thanks Again!!