ONE WEEK FROM TODAY!

ONE week from today we begin our journey to China to bring home Allyson Kate JingXin Campbell!  She will officially join our family on 2/10.  She will make #7 for our family! She is officially the caboose of our nuclear family.  I have said that before but sure of it this time. We will be complete.  My husband had NO idea what he was getting into when he married me in June, 2000.  He had one daughter then and now will have 6 daughters and 1 son and four grandchildren!

We need many prayers and positive thoughts sent our way.  Jing Xin lived at an orphanage from the time of her birth until she was three years old.  She was then sent to live at a group home where she remains.  She will be taken away from every single thing she has ever known.  We do not know anything about the home where she is living so we do not know the type of care she has been given.  She will be taken away from her caregivers, housemates, classmates, friends, familiar food, sights, smells, language, faces, etc. - anything that is current "security" to her and "familiar".  She will enter an unknown world. I look at my Anneli who is only eight months younger than Jing Xin and picture this happening to her.  I can't even imagine the grief, trauma, confusion, and turmoil she would experience. A part of me feels like I will be "kidnapping" her from her life.  In spite of this I know that God fully intended for her to be a part of our life.  There was clearly divine intervention with us being led to her.  I have shared the details with those very close to me. We know this journey in the beginning will not be easy.  We do not pretend that it will be.  We know that God will equip us with what we need.  Leigh Anne if you read this we will likely be calling you friend for professional guidance.  Mrs. Sue we will likely need you on speed-dial for translation.

We need prayers for patience.  We will be traveling with our three girls and then adding Ally Kate. As many of you know Billy's mother passed away while we were in China adopting Maya Grace in December, 2012. Since we did not have Maya Grace's visa to enter the USA yet and to change our airline tickets would have been astronomical he was not here for his mother's funeral.  He said his mother was gone and he knew she would not want him to leave us alone in a foreign country. He was raised in a single parent household and was extremely close to his mother.  To say he "worshipped" her is not an understatement.  He is still grieving her death as we were not able to have closure as most do when someone passes.   I wanted to travel alone with one of the big girls to China to bring Ally Kate home but he stated that he could not emotionally handle being separated from any of us for such a great distance. He said that he could not risk something happening to one of us and him not being there.  He said we would all go or no one would go.  Due to his strong feelings it was a battle I chose to not try and fight with him. We will be on planes, trains, and automobiles in a very crowded country and in one hotel room which will be very crowded!  I am thankful that my girls will have the opportunity to once again visit their native country and immediately begin the bonding process with their new sister.  We feel it will also make Ally Kate's transition easier by having them there.  We have plans to visit Maya Grace's orphanage the day we arrive in China since it is near the Guangzhou airport.

As most of you know as well this was a HUGE MAJOR leap of financial faith for us.  There are not sufficient words to express how thankful we are for those who have helped us to work toward the $30,000 that was needed to bring Ally Kate home.  We are proud people and do NOT ask for help at all.  We are very self-sufficient.  This process has been extremely humbling and totally out of our comfort zone.  I worked as a social worker for 17 years.  I am the GIVER and not a TAKER.  I have had to realize this is NOT about us at all.  It is about a little girl who has lived almost 9 years without a family. It is about a little girl who has no future in her home country due to her disability. At this point we have everything we need except for $6200.  We started our fundraising efforts in June, 2013 and to be in need of only $6200 is a testament of God's provision.  So many have helped us in various ways - financial donations with a very large one being given by a complete stranger last Friday, donations of items for our auctions, consultants have given us their profits from direct sale on-line events, bids in our auctions, a sweet friend sent me a box of new clothes for Ally Kate, many bought our T-shirts, dollar drive, etc.  Billy worked extra jobs.  I did craft fairs, sold my Usborne Books, Thirty-One, Trades of Hope, and Young Living Essential Oils, etc.  Little by little the money has come.  I compare it to the five loaves and two fish in the Bible that God multiplied to feed a crowd.  Matthew 17:20 also comes to mind "Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."  The money to bring Ally Kate home was our "mountain" it has been moved. 


There are those who disagree with fundraising in adoption.  This was posted today and I love the words - 
 “When a family seeks help in raising funds for an adoption, it’s not like asking people to pitch in toward a new boat, or help pay for a vacation. What they are doing is committing to heal, with God’s help, a child who has suffered the profound damage of being unwanted and unloved. They are obediently living out the command given in James 1:27 to care for the orphan, clothing the gospel of Christ’s redemption in flesh and blood and now. When they ask for the body of Christ to come alongside them financially and prayerfully, they are giving us the opportunity to be a part of the miracles God works through obedience.” -Ashley Paradis Moreno


We are still in need of $6200 to be fully funded. Adopting two children in a span of 14 months has cost $60K.  Our yearly income is only slightly over that amount.  We live extremely frugally and can easily absorb the cost of caring for another child on a day to day basis but the amount to bring them home has required us to call on our "village".  If anyone who reads this would like to help us reach our final need  by making a tax deductible donation you may do so here - http://reecesrainbow.org/63380/sponsorcampbell-2 . A direct donation may be made to our paypal account at ajajd464@bellsouth.net . We are not told who donates into our Reece's Rainbow FSP so if we do not thank you personally please do not be offended.  Blessings to all of you!

Ally Kate/Jing Xin - We will see you in less than two weeks!!

December/Early January Update

Sorry for the late post from December.  Life... well ... life was a little crazy.  My two older girls danced in a Nutcracker performance which took up many days and nights.  We fundraised with a T-shirt sale and auction.  Then our sweet Maw-Maw (my former mother in law) passed away the week before Christmas.  She was the grandmother two my two older children and a major grandmother presence in my younger children's lives.  We greatly miss her but know she is in a better place.  We know she this is just a brief separation and that we will see her again one day! 

MAJOR progress in our journey to Allyson Kate! We received a copy of our pdf and approval from the National Visa Center.  This approval plus a form called the DS-260 was then sent to the Chinese Consulate in Guangzhou.  This requires an approval which is to be picked up on 1/7.  The final step will then occur. We will await travel approval from China! At this point we are expecting travel in early February. Chinese New Year occurs on 1/31.  This is China's major holiday so we will have to avoid that travel time due offices being closed. Beside that it is said that Chinese New Year is the largest migration of people in the entire world each year.  Think us slow moving Southerners need to avoid that too! 

We sent our Chinese visa applications off last week.  We should have those back the week of 1/12. Sending those off REALLY made it seem REAL! We also were able to send a care package to Ally Kate last week. We can't wait to hear that she has received it and knows that we are coming for her. This sweet little one will have lived eight years and 11 months without a forever family.  

We ask for prayers for Ally Kate aka Jing Xin and for us as well.  Ally Kate will leave everything she has ever known in her life. She will leave her group home, foods, friends, school, language, smells, sites, etc. She will see new faces, a new country, a new language, different food - every single thing in her comfort zone and in her life will change.  While we have been preparing months for her and anticipating the excitement of her joining our family she has been living her life as she knows it.  We pray that God will prepare her heart to receive us and that her grief will be minimal.  We pray for wisdom, patience, and understanding as we walk with her on her grief journey and adjustment to all of the upcoming changes in her life.  

I will not list our fundraising link efforts on this post but do want to thank those who have reached out to help us.  While we can easily absorb the day to day cost of caring for another child we did not have the $30,000 in fees which are required by various entities to adopt her.  We have been BLESSED with $5,200 in grants - $4200 from our agency and $1000 from Trades of Hope.  We have been BLESSED with Facebook friends who have offered to do direct fundraisers for us and donate their profits. We have been BLESSED with friends and family who purchased items through these direct fundraisers.  We have been BLESSED with donations into our Reece's Rainbow FSP and in our Project Hopeful account.  One sweet former homeschool friend sent us a check for $100! We were BLESSED and surprised the week of Christmas with a monetary gift from local homeschool friends which allowed us money to pay for our Chinese visas.  We were BLESSED with those of you who donated items to our auctions and those who bid on these items! We were and are being BLESSED by those of you ordering T-shirts.  Yesterday a box full of new clothes from Crazy 8 for Ally Kate showed up at my door which were sent by another China adoptive family!  This family recently lost one of the children that they adopted and are grieving.  For them to reach out to us really touched my heart.  I am BLESSED by those who ordered through our Amazon Affiliate link.  I am BLESSED that my husband will work every second of the day that he is given the opportunity to provide for our family.  I am BLESSED that my girls are willing to make material sacrifices to help bring their newest sister home.  I pray that they will always keep their servant's hearts and be mission minded. 

Those of you who know me personally  know that I worked 17 years as a social worker. I am a GIVER.  Being in the TAKER role is NOT anywhere on my radar.  I started supporting myself when I was 18 yo and  have very rarely in my life asked anyone for anything.  I am fiercely independent.  God has shown me that it is "ok" to lean on others through Maya Grace's adoption and this adoption of Ally Kate. It is difficult for me and so very humbling.  I have set my humility aside so that this orphan can have a forever family. God placed her before us and we are obeying His calling.  We know adopting an older child will be a challenge.  We do not pretend that it will not be.  We know God's grace and mercy will get us through whatever we face. We thank all of you from the bottom of our hearts for your prayers and support.  Blessings and Happy New Year to you all!