Esty's Adoption UPDATE!

All this goes on here…meanwhile she waits.

So…the question of the hour:
HOW MUCH MORE MONEY DO WE NEED TO BE FULLY FUNDED?
I so wish I could answer.
Let me explain what is going on for us…
It's a tricky situation.
So…as you (probably) saw on Facebook with our goofy song…we got our TRAVEL APPROVAL!
But…
what we got was word that our travel approval was ISSUED and COMING from China.
That was last Friday.
We hoped and prayed the hard copy would come to our agency on Monday.
It didn't.
Then…a phone call came.
Our sweet social worker had some news: 
…because Esty lives in Beijing, we cannot have an early consulate appointment. They take 5 complete business days to get the passport processed and it is not possible to have anything but a Thursday appointment.
I was crushed.
You see, we had HOPED and PRAYED to return to the city where we lived and served for 2 years. Our hearts have ached to once again visit and share on heart levels all that the Father has been doing among them. We had hoped to do this trip before meeting Esty…but now that we cannot finish the adoption part of our trip until Thursday (which is really Saturday because you have to wait to pick up the visa in the child's passport)…it would make the time away from our other children TOO LONG.
I grieved for a good solid two days.
And I'll cry again if I think about it.
I SOOOOOO wanted to visit with our dear Pretty friends. ("Pretty" was a code name for the people we worked with years ago.)
{ache.}
Anyway.
Our agency is closed all week so they will not have our hard copy of our Travel Approval until next Monday. 
Which, by the way, is Oskar's birthday. (There are a lot of reasons why this is a crushing time for us…and THIS may be the biggest!) (If you do not know, Oskar was our beloved son who ran ahead to Jesus 7 years ago. My Momma's heart always grieves for him.)
So, the timeline now goes: Monday our agency receives the travel approval and applies for our Thursday consulate appointment.
Then we wait 2 more days now 3 more days (because of the New Year holiday) to hear back if we get the consulate appointment we apply for.
IF we got the January date, then we will immediately book flights and go in a matter of days.
This is the best case scenario.
It is also however, the most expensive scenario as flights are filling up on the return leg already and buying just before you fly is ALWAYS EXPENSIVE.
The difference of this is in the THOUSANDS of dollars. 
sigh.
The other thing that is VERY LIKELY to happen is that the date we can apply for in January will be FULL. (There is only ONE THURSDAY we can apply for due to the Beijing requirement and Chinese New Year.) 
Then…
then…
we would have to delay getting Esty out of her orphanage for another MONTH. Or longer.
sigh. Adoption is truly full of opportunities to grow in patience.
We would have to wait until AFTER Chinese New Year finishes…
which would then allow us to go for less money because we would be buying the tickets a good month in advance.
So THAT'S why I can't give a quick answer to "how much more" because even the quotes we have now for flights will still GREATLY INCREASE if we get to go in January.
Bottom line: we need to keep fundraising. (Trust me, 3rd adoption in a row, I am REALLY READY to be done!!)
I promise to let you know when we know!
In the meantime…keep sharing about our Tshirt blowout sale: 

and keep PRAYING for God to fund this thing.
Ask:  *We can raise enough to purchase our tickets on the spot. *That we can get the ONLY January Thursday consulate appointment. *Pray for Esty's heart. Sweet girl is going to have ENORMOUS LIFE CHANGES AHEAD.

Praise God!!! She IS coming home!!!

WE GOT OUR TRAVEL APPROVAL!!!! (FINAL CALL for Love Endlessly shirts!)

As stated before, we will only offer our Love Endlessly shirts through TONIGHT!!!

Please consider snagging yourself or those you love (or all of you!!) a hoodie or long/short sleeve tee!! The art on the shirts comes from the art auction we did last week (was that THIS WEEK!?!?!):

The surprise blessing of this shirt is making the difference between still needing to fundraise and being FULLY FUNDED for Esty's adoption!  Please click the above tab on the top right to order…or click HERE to go straight to the ordering page. 
THANK YOU!!!! We are ALMOST there, Esty! Hang on!!!!!

Art Auction Surprises…

Hillsong United has a song called "Oceans" that sings how the Spirit calls us out upon the waters…"the great unknown, where feet may fail."
This is how accepting the challenge to paint 20 canvases and then (gulp) put them out there to be auctioned felt to me.
I prayed like crazy and then slid my toe out into the great, vast waters of the unknown. Boxes of blank canvases sat at my feet on the left, bottles of paint on my right.
And taking His hand, I began.
Now, after the first day of the auction…I am in utter shock.
Not only have you sweet friends and family bid on each painting…the first day's total is over $1,000!!
WHAT?!?!?!??!
…Hillsong sings, "Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders, let me walk upon the water, wherever you would call me…"
And so, I'm walking...
It's been scary, and then downright humbling and tear-inducing.
Then the surprise of all: everyone seems to want a hoodie/t shirt in one of the designs!
Seriously, I am so blown away.
Through all of this, Esty is coming home! 
We begin the Travel Approval wait tomorrow! This approval is the final thumbs up before we buy our tickets and GO!
This wait can take up to 4 weeks. But recently I saw a family get theirs in FIVE DAYS. (double gulp!)
I thought I would share the paintings here that can be bid on through MONDAY NIGHT. If you see something you like, please jump on over to the Facebook group to add your bid!

This is the design we are working on putting into a hoodie/T shirt. If you are interested, comment below or let me know on Facebook! 

The State of Things.

It's Sunday.
We had a wonderful morning with our church family and came home for a family meal. All eight of us around the table…missing number 9.
After the crazy post-meal routine, many of us went upstairs for a nap.
Others read.
Littles woke.
Kids watched a movie.
Parents read on Kindles. (one in particular took an unintentional nap!)
I now dine on Cheerios for dinner (my Sunday special! no cooking here!) and my man works out in his "woodshop" with his youngest daughter at his side.
The house is cluttered with toys, shoes, hats, gloves and homework pages that await parental signatures.
I hear a clarinet, a drum, a guitar and then the feet march past. 
"We are in a PARADE!" they say.
The night sky has darkened to black and I look: 6:00 pm.
Thoughts of summer and playing outside and dirty feet flitter across my mind.
I snuggle into my hoodie a little more. 
It's not warm now.
Tomorrow our Article 5 gets dropped off in China.
In 2 weeks it will be picked up and our Travel Approval wait begins.
That date is December 16th. This is the birthday of one of my lifelong favorite people. It's also the day of the Boston Tea Party. {Do make a note of it! Everyone needs a reason to party!}
We have begun the month of December…and now I can say that NEXT MONTH, we meet Esty and bring her home forever.
How cray-cray-crazy is THAT!?!?!?
We have thousands of dollars yet to raise, but I rejoice in our Usborne Book, Thirty One parties and our puzzle fundraiser that all completed this week with upwards of $3,600 for Esty!!!
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION IN THESE FUNDRAISERS!!!!
Our Chosen tees will be ordered on Wednesday (have you ordered yours yet???) and I am working on TWO MORE fun ideas to bring Esty home. 
Seriously, a mother's brain only gets started at 1 am dreaming of OTHER WAYS to raise funds to get that sweet girl home.
Natives are getting hungry and our thoughts begin to swing to the orchestration of basketball practices, groceries, meals and all that goes on around here in a week.
Happy Sunday.
Happy December.
Happy me because of you.

Travel Approval!!!

It's the loooong awaited (most painful) travel approval!!!

In other words: MY WATER JUST BROKE!!!!

Instead of packing bags and running to the hospital...

                         ...we are packing bags and buying flights and going to CHINA!!!

WOOOOOO HOOOOOOO!