9 Months Home…Toby has a Message for You!

Today we mark 9 months of having sweet Toby in our family.

And he has a message for everyone.

We pray you will listen to his precious voice and know there are MILLIONS of "Tobys" waiting to be chosen!!

Matthew is Going HOME!!!

Do you remember Matthew??? 
Well, I have some VERY EXCITING NEWS!!!
He has a family! And that family has FLOWN through the China adoption process!
And guess what?
Matthew ages out THIS THURSDAY...
but his new mama is getting on a plane TOMORROW to go get him!!!
YAHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I want to plea with you to pray for her.
She will be traveling to get "Matthew" whom will be named Levi Matthew, by herself.
But WE KNOW she isn't really going alone.
Jesus, Almighty God and lover of the fatherless, is leading her, guiding her, going ahead and behind her and filling her with His presence.
Please pray that nothing hinders her path to get Levi Matthew!!
I would also ask you to be in prayer for Matthew himself as ALL HE HAS EVER KNOWN in this world will drastically change.
Oh yes, he wants a family.
Oh yes, he wants to be adopted. To belong. To have a mama.
And he will...but there is such a loss also that dear Matthew will endure, that we really must uphold his precious heart and emotions in our prayers.
Suddenly all whom he has known, everything he has ever experienced, the food, the language even his name (his Chinese name is not Matthew) WILL UTTERLY CHANGE on a dime.
Once he comes to America, or perhaps even before, grief will need to be experienced. 
And as one who has walked the road of grief (albeit a different kind), I will tell you it is WORK.
HARD WORK.
Matthew (Levi Matthew that is!) will be desperate for our prayers. 
Please join me in praying for him, his adjustment, his grief work, his acclimation to his new family, his bonding time with his new mama in China, their details of the adoption to be smooth, their trip home and then ALL THAT IS AHEAD of them once he comes home.
You will probably want to read THIS POST from his amazing mother-to-be as she writes from her heart (on her family blog) about what song she will sing to her new son when they meet! (Oh, this post MELTS MY HEART!!!!) Be sure to follow their journey!
What a JOY: He is going home!! 

Da Big One!!

I have long loved birthdays!

And...as much as it's not "proper" to...I love MINE! :)

And this year folks, it's the BIG ONE.

Yes, somehow it happened and I'm turning:

and our little Toby is turning 2 on the very same day!

As I see it, I got to use this fabulous day for my birthday for forty wonderful years. Now it's time for me to give this wonderful birthday to someone else...a very special little boy in China.

You see, it was the sharing of our birthdays that God used to speak clearly to us that Toby is our son. He went from being another unwanted orphan on a waiting list to standing off the page as our child. And it was that AUGUST 13th that did it.

So, I got to thinking...what best way to celebrate this momentous occasion????

Although I have much excitement over turning 40, my heart is broken because on the other side of the planet, a little boy sits in a crib and needs to have immediate medical attention so his muscles and joints do not further contract with his condition. That little boy will spend a birthday with no fanfare, no cake, no funny little songs that our family sings. In short, he will turn 2 without any celebration at all.

This simply breaks my Momma's heart.

So, I propose to you we do a little something.

In place of my birthday, I choose to have 40+2 friends/family donate $40+2 to our Adopt Together account to help bring him home.

I want to be SURE that he is HOME for his next birthday, and every single one after that!!

Will you celebrate my 40th and Toby's 2nd by giving to our adoption account? If you have a big birthday celebratory heart, you might consider giving more than $42...say $420? Or $4,200! I don't want to stop the celebration by limiting anyone! ;) 

And you get an extra little giggle by reading all the way to the end...a genuine circa 1974 picture of ME at age 2...the same age as our little Toby!

Let's bring this little boy HOME!!