Esty's Friend Branch Needs a Family

Something happened on the way to the hospital yesterday.

Esty opened up.

She had me in tears in minutes.

As soon as we dropped her sister off, she began to chatter. She had purpose. Something had been on her mind.

Up to this point, she has only answered questions I have asked in effort to learn more about her past. 

Yesterday was different. She had something to say.

"Mommy, I have a friend at my orphanage," she began in Mandarin. (We still speak in Chinese about matters of the heart as it's still easier for her.)

My ears perked up. I turned off the music.

"Tell me about your friend," I answered.

"I'm so worried about my friend, Mommy. I don't know if he is okay or not." And she began to pour out her heart. "He is in a wheelchair like me. He was my friend. So nice. But his legs cannot bend. They are stuck in a bent position. He sleeps in a ball, with his feet tucked under him. I don't know if he is sick or not, Mommy. I don't know if he has a fever. I'm worried if he doesn't get adopted like me, he will die in China. The doctors we have here are so good. The orphanage had two doctors, but they didn't do much. They didn't help me when I was so sick."

I was speechless.

She continued.

"I want him to get a family. I want him to be able to go to good doctors. I am so worried, if he stays in China he will die."

I had tears at this point.

She proceeded to tell me how he was in 2 different foster families, but both families only had a mother. 

Sweet boy. He has never had a father figure.

Oh my heart.

I asked her his name but she said, "Oh but Mommy, if I tell you his name, you won't know him."

I told her that I could ask my friend to see if she could find him. Find out if he has been adopted. Find out if he is okay.

She couldn't believe it.

She asked me how this was possible. I recounted the story about seeing HER picture posted…people were looking for her family to find her. 

And we did.

She was on the edge of her seat.

And in between doctor appointments, I emailed my dear Annie. I used Pinyin to write out the boy's name. In order to find a particular orphan, you need their Chinese name and date of birth. Esty knew he was 9, but had no idea when his birthday was. I hoped for the best.

I knew which orphanage to search in, his Chinese name, approximate age and special need...I felt hopeful!

Within 24 hours, I had an email back from dear Annie.

 SHE HAD FOUND HIM!!!

I showed Esty his picture. "That's HIM!!!! Oh Mommy, that's is really him!!! Is he okay? Does he have a fever?" 

(Interesting to hear her worry about him having a fever. This was the key symptom she presented when she had that severe kidney infection that went septic and would have died if we didn't get her proper medical treatment. She is aware. She wants the best for her friend!)

Of course I had to answer that this information did not tell us whether or not he had a fever. But it did give us his birthday and he is now 10 years old.

He is on the Shared List. 

If you haven't adopted from China that means that any agency at all can request his file and do his adoption paperwork. He is not locked in with any particular agency.

I have his file. What a precious soul.

It amazes me: his file was prepared precisely one year ago.

I have goosebumps. Do you?

As I read his file I love what I read.

"All nurturers and kids like him very much."

and

"He hopes to have his family with dad and mom."

How much more awesome to know that my Esty vouches for his delightful personality!

So friends, let's share this precious boy we are calling "Branch." Let's find his family!!!

If you want to more about Branch, please contact me. He has the same special need as Esty: spina bifida with lower limb paralysis. He also appears to have club feet. What a treasure!!!

Someone PLEASE go get Branch and we will meet up with you!! Esty wants to know that her friend can live a better life, have a daddy and not die in China unloved!!

How's that for a cause?? :)

Love my dear daughter! Who better to advocate for the orphan than the former orphan who knows both sides of the coin?

Let's get Branch a family.

Sweet Esty's Update!!!

Nothing brings more joy to a waiting adoptive Momma like pictures and video of her sweet baby girl who's waiting in an orphanage. Oh to scoop her up and draw into our family with loving arms!

We received an answer to 10 of our questions that we asked about her back in May, right after China gave us pre-approval to adopt her.

In those questions, we learned she:

 loves bunny rabbits,

can crawl around using the strength in her arms,

likes to:

paint

sing

handcraft (we have a precious video of her creating an intricate origami boat--all from memory!)

cook

and serve tea!!

She :

is very active and outgoing

loves to play with other children

and is really excited to have so many brothers and sisters!!!

And does anyone remember that I sent her a very special necklace while we were in China adopting Toby? (If not, you can read about it here.) Well, here's what was said about it:

"She keeps that necklace for herself all the time. She doesn't wear it during the daytime though as she doesn't want to break it. She cherishes it very much."

"She cherishes it very much..."

These words stick in my heart...and catch in my throat. Just like the words from her original update I read when we fell in love with her. The question was asked, "Does she want a large family or a small family?"

The answer from Esty, "I just want a family."

Those words pounded through my heart for days.

A sweet, most precious little girl, just longing for ANY FAMILY.

Oh. It makes me teary even still.

And then, to be in China and be able to send her the necklace...for it said on the back "Jeremiah 29:11"
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."

God Almighty has an incredible plan for our Esty. I believe this because for the first time EVER in my life, God told me something directly in a dream. 

Our first night in Hong Kong, on the way to adopt Toby (this is even BEFORE Brian was on board to adopt her!!) I dreamt that God came to me and told me to name HanHan (her current Chinese name) Esther because He wanted her in place for the special job He has for her. I knew in the dream that that placement was in our family, in America. Not in an orphanage.

If you are not familiar with the amazing biblical story of Esther, you should really go read it.

The clincher line that has always stayed with me is when Mordecai says to Esther, "who knows if perhaps you were made queen for a time such as this?" when he bolsters her with courage to do a very important job to save her people.

Similarly, our daughter must no longer be an orphan in order to do the job she must do.

Hence, the name "Esty." (Yes, we know it's like Etsy...and even though we adore art and all things crafty, we are not naming her after that website!) hee hee

As I watched the 3 minute and 44 second video of her silently, carefully folding the paper into a paper boat I realized many things:

she is patient,

she is intelligent,

she sees things through to the end,

she is good with her hands,

she loves to create,

she takes pride in a job well done.

You might note that those are all things really necessary for a doctor. 

In her original video, shot two years ago now, she said that when she grows up she wants to become a doctor!

I don't know if that is the job the Lord has for her or not, but one thing is for sure: she won't get there sitting in an orphanage in China!

OH! We are sooooo thrilled to become her family!

I couldn't help creating this photo montage when I realized I had an image of her pointing to something else she had made:

Will you join us in praying Esty HOME???

A MONUMENTAL DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's time for a HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Are you ready!?!?!?!?!

(drum roll please...)

We are FULLY FUNDED for Toby's adoption!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YES!!!! IT IS TRUE!!!!

Our amazing and incredible God brought in $32,000 in just 9 months time to fund the adoption that was HIS IDEA in the first place!!!
HALLELUJAH!!!!

But...

there's more!

WHAT?!?!?!

Did we get Travel Approval? 

Nope.

Listen to this amazing story:

My crazy awesome friend Chasity Cole is also adopting. We adopted in Uganda together back in the summer of 2011. She called me last week to let me know that God had performed a miracle and they were fully funded.

She wanted to help me with funding.

So she invented and pulled off a MOST AMAZING auction. (see previous post!!)

Then, today Tuesday February 26, 2013 God brought the rest of our necessary money in and we now share the status, "Fully funded."

I have a sweet friend, Angie Rylands, who is also adopting as well. (go figure!) This family is adopting TWO children at once from China. (VERY EXPENSIVE!) The two children are older boys...the ones who often get overlooked. A 9 year old boy and a boy who is about to age out (almost turning 14.)

Side note: In China, children are allowed to live in orphanages until they are 14. Upon their 14th birthday they are moved along in life. They are put out on to the streets. If they have any kind of special need, this is a death wish. Sexual slavery, drugs, street life awaits. 15% commit suicide. Most have no education or job skills. At age FOURTEEN. This is a desperate situation.

So, anyway...back to the Rylands...they have been raising a CRAZY amount of money to go and bring these boys home. I often thought, "wow, glad that's not MY amount..." And today...they saw God move mountains as well...

...their number went from $30,000 left on December 1st to $17,000 on January 1st to $12,900 on February 1st...and yesterday their need was $7,778 And today...with our full funding we were blessed to be part of polishing off their need and now they join us as:

FULLY FUNDED!!!!

And this leads us to another family, the Smiths, who are in dire need of funds. They were in China last August adopting and fell in love with this sweet girl who is deaf: 

Guan Ya

They knew that God had her for their family and they worked their tails off to return to China to bring her home. One problem...she ages out on March 8th!! They leave in THREE DAYS to go bring her home before she ages out...so Angie and I thought we would help THEM raise their final funds!! 

God has blessed each of us: Chasity, us, the Rylands...now it's time to bless the Smiths!!

But wait!!!

SCREEECH!!!

They are now only $200 odd dollars away from ALSO BEING FULLY FUNDED!!!!!

So I was telling Niki, "We are going to blow that outta the park!" And she said, "Nope! Got someone on it! Go find someone else!!"

HA!!! LOVE IT!!

So...we now issue out a challenge from ALL of us:

CHASITY, ANGIE, NIKI and MYSELF:

We want you to help us get Jennifer's daughter home!!!

Jennifer has traveled to China multiple times and has ministered to many orphans over her trips. There is one orphanage especially founded for children with Brittle Bone Disease. There is one very special child who has captured Jennifer's heart in a way unlike any other orphan ever has. 

Jesus whispered, "She is yours."

So along with some red tape that none of us can do anything about...Jennifer needs funding to be able to travel to get this sweet child and attend to her medical and spiritual needs.

Now one of the most AMAZING things is that Jennifer is the CEO of the non-profit ministry Into the Field that exists to serve as servants around the corner and around the world. A huge passion is loving orphans home. Once Jennifer's adoption is FULLY FUNDED then monies will be available for other adoptive families in grants! In other words: IT KEEPS ON GIVING!!! TOO COOL!!

So go here and keep the momentum rolling! Donate to her Razoo link on the sidebar! $15,000 is the number to hit! Ready...set...GO!!!

Join with us as we link arms as a body of Christ to help MORE ORPHANS HOME!!! LINK UP!!

(And please pray for each of our families as we go through the amazing process of adding a children into our families! This is delicate heart work and we need TONS of grace, patience and wisdom from God Himself!!)

Winter Yard Sale!!!

What?? WINTER yard sale?? That sounds c-c-c-cold!!

Yes, if it were really outside...

but it's not!

We have a sweet friend who had offered to host a yard sale to raise money for Toby's adoption and we had discussed when would be a warmish date to hold the event. We had talked about some time in the future that would be warm...

and then our LOA came EARLY!!!

So now we are having an INDOOR yard sale with a bake sale and a silent auction and a freewill offering lunch! BOOYAH!!! :) (thank you, sweet Andrea, you are such a blessing to our family and to dear Toby!)

So here's the 411:
Saturday January 19, 2013 from 9 am - 4 pm with lunch at noon, silent auction closing at 1 pm. This wonderful event is being held so graciously at Sara's Garden Hope Center. (Thank you, friends, for the use of your gorgeous facility!!!)

Yes, we need help!

We need:
* prayers to bathe this in His love,
* donations for the yard sale,
* donations for the bake sale,
* businesses to donate desirable goods for our silent auction (Note: if you would like to donate something for our silent auction but are not local, we welcome that! Please contact me at feet2ourfaith @ yahoo dot com to orchestrate that!),
* lunch servers,
* food for the lunch (some is already being donated! Thank you, Rita!!)
* people to help set up and tear down,
* people to advertise on their social media sites and around their areas of influence,
* people to help greet and make people feel welcome!

...Yes, it's gonna take a VILLAGE to pull this off!

Please help us SPREAD THE WORD!! We need your help!!

We have two weeks...ready...set...GO!!

Our Christmas Miracle!

We have some news!!

Friday we found out we have...

Jensi, Anneli and Oliver spell out "LOA" for "Letter of Acceptance"

This is our next GIANT step toward bringing Toby home! We anticipated the LOA to come anywhere from late February to early March!

SHOCKING!! To say the least!

The Letter of Acceptance is the official approval from the CCCWA (Chinese adoption authority) that we are specifically able to adopt Toby from China.

The letter is a very fancy, official looking paper that we sign and courier back to China.

We got so excited that we nearly forgot to check, "We accept the adoptee mentioned above," and what a mistake that would have been!

We at one time believed we would travel to adopt him in June...


...but now with this CHRISTMAS MIRACLE...

...we are anticipating traveling in MARCH!!!!!

Wha??? 

Hold everything.

While this is INDEED amazing news for our family...I hesitated to share.

Why?

Because I have been on the other side.

I've been the one waiting.

The one watching others get what they pray for.

Been the one in tears while others are dancing.

I held our news in (and I was about to burst!) because of the fellow adoptive mothers I know who ACHE to hear some good news.

To know a month when they might travel to meet or finally adopt the beloved children God has grown in their hearts.

To finally get a picture, a name and a story of the child they've been praying for.

To hear that they've finally been chosen by a birth mother.

I've held off for those whose hearts might be crushed by our advancing adoption.

Dear one, if this is you, I've been praying for you. I've been praying you would be filled with the grace that comes when we are forced to wait far, far beyond what we ever dreamed we would be forced to. The ability to hold on to hope. To hang on to faith when Jesus doesn't do what we expect Him to do.

Yes, I've prayed that you might find the ability to rejoice as you wait.

And in that spirit, I pray that you will keep your eyes on Jesus Himself. He has the perfect plan for each family. For us, it has included losing three babies. And now, it includes a second adoption that runs jumps and skips ahead of planned timelines and man's forethought.

We don't write our scripts, He does. Although we have choices that impact our lives the ultimate control is in the hands of our God.

"We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps." 

Proverbs 16:9

And so, we forge ahead!

We work on a final approval from immigration...the one that is called "Permission to classify an orphan as an immediate relative," the form title that threw my heart into shock last time!

And then we work on visas and plane tickets and a few other approvals!

Please pray for us as we adjust to this big TIME JUMP! I feel like I found out I'm in my 3rd trimester rather than my 2nd! AH!

Please pray for our fundraising. We still need to raise $17,000 between now and go time. That's huge. That's gonna be another miracle.

And so because of the God who writes our stories and is in the business of redeeming hearts and lives...

Merry Christmas!!