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!