TNT Adoption Journey: January 2013

The Prayer Walk

On Saturday, the boys and I were watching a movie about Joseph. When Potipher had Joseph thrown in prison, it showed him being cold and sleeping on the hard ground.

It reminded me of something I had recently read about. In some of the orphanages, the babies cribs do not have mattresses in them, but rather just wood. It is more sanitary that way. I knew that this was a tangible thing the boys and I could pray for.

I began to tell the boys that baby sister may not have a matress or anything soft to sleep on. Jeremy immediately jumped in by saying, "Mommy, you better make sure you pack her a pillow when you go to China!!!"

I assured him I would and then I asked what we could pray for her for. Jeremy said, "that she wouldn't get any splinters!!!" That was something definitely tangible my boys could wrap their minds around. I told them we would pray for that for sure and that we could also pray for comfort and peace as she rests in her crib!!!

We took the walk, and Jeremy took special care in picking out just the right place to stop and pray for her. He settled on the front yard of someones house that had big rocks to sit on right next to the sidewalk, as well as lots of wood chips. He proceeded to give each of us a woodchip to hold in our hands. He said, "let's each hold a wood chip as we pray to think about baby sister and the wood that she might be sleeping on..."

Although we haven't been doing these prayer walks very long, our little boys are blowing my mind away with their thoughts and prayers!!! What a blessing!!! Again, I see why the Lord said, "Let the little children come unto me, and do not forbid them! For such is the Kingdom of heaven."

The WAIT...

So, here we are... in the dreaded "wait stage..." The truth of it is, from here on out, it's pretty much all waiting... FUN???!!!

I must admit that after sending off our dossier, I was glad for this stage to come!!! It was nice to not have to be doing so much paperwork and not have too much stress!!! The hoidays helped a ton with it too being that my mind was distracted by so many things!!

But here I am, January 21, and still no news of who our daughter is... The silly thing is, our wait really hasn't been too long compared to many others (we started the process in April and joined the referral program in September), but I've come to realize one thing... Long or short, waiting is HARD!!!

It has also been a little difficult given the fact that one of the families we started "Join the Journey" with is in China right now bringing their son home, and the other is headed there this week!! Of course we have nothing but excitement for these families, and can't wait to imagine how our trip will be through their stories and pictures!!!

So, I have to confess, these past few months I've had a little bit of a "woe is me" attitude... Have you ever been there? When you're in that place, as I was, it takes something drastic to snap out of it!!!

Thanks to some great adoption blogs, I came up with some good ideas... First thing...I had to stop reading the blogs :-(... You see, I was looking at everyone else's time table, and their story, and I needed to stop in order to not compare!!!... So, looking at other peoples adoption blogs are on hold for me until we know who she is and more information about our daughter that will be helpful to read others blogs about.

Second, I HAD to open the WORD!!! You see, in the "woe is me" attitude, I had lost sight of the fact that this life is not about me at all, but rather about HIM!!! I just needed to soak up TRUTH which is only from His Word!! I began reading a Psalm everyday for this waiting period (an idea I found on a blog)... there are 150 Psalms, and I may get through all of them before we find out who she is, but that's okay!!! I have also been committing a verse from the Psalm everyday to memory. How great it has been to meditate on these words!!

Third, I decided to DO something productive. You see, I don't know if you are like me, but when I'm a little down and thinking mostly about myself, it's no fun to eat healthy and exercise :-)...I decided to take a "Prayer Walk" everyday with the boys... What a blessing that has been!!! I will share our prayer walk story in another blog post...

Taking a walk and really committing to praying for our precious daughter wherever she is has been such a wonderful blessing and has helped me keep on pressing on!!!

So, the question I get daily, by usually at least 3 people, "When are you going to China? Do you know who your daughter is yet?" can only be answered with a simple, "I don't know..." But there is something I am sure of: We serve a God who is completely faithful, who is the sustainer of our life, and is in control of everything!!! His timing is PERFECT and I will rest knowing that He knows who she is and is preparing us for whatever the future may hold!!

As a side note and word of prayer, the next group of kids eligible for adoption comes out tonight...will our daughter be in this group? I don't know, but I do know that if I keep my eyes fixed on Him, it doesn't matter which group she is in... I will just be ready for whenever that may be!!!

"The China Experience" Fundraiser

I realized that I haven't really posted anything about our fundraiser we had in November,

silly me :-)!!!...

What a great, and amazing night it was!!!

When Tim and I first decided to adopt, we knew there was absolutely no way that we could ever do this without the help of others, and lots of fundraisers!!!! We also knew that we wanted to do 1 really big one!!! We were so overwhelmed and blessed when it finally all came to fruition!!!

This night was the work of months of preparation as well as the help of soooo many people!!! We were so overwhelmed by how much stuff ended up getting donated!!! A special thanks to Melissa, Shauna, and Deanna for all your help getting the food and silent auction items donated!!! A double thanks to Melissa who made the silent auction a HUGE success!!!

The gym also looked beautiful thanks to my mom Debera and some of her friends who came up with the decoration ideas!! A special thank you also for my amazing friends, Jamee, Rebecca, Lindsey, Malee, Lynette, Karen, and others who helped fill bags of rice, and decorate tables!!!

Another special thank you to Jamee for her amazing job running "The China Experience Kids Program!!" They had fun playing Chinese games and making crafts as well as enjoying some "authentic Chinese" chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese :-)!!! Thank you to the many volunteers who helped with the kids!!!

The Men's Ministry (especially Bruce) did another fabulous job of cooking an amazing meal and we couldn't be more blessed to have such a supportive group of people to help with everything!!!

Jeff was able to keep things running along with his amazing Emcee skills and was even able to get people to dig a little deeper in their pockets for the cause (which is very near and dear to his heart as he has adopted 2 of his own)!!!

With all that being said (and I'm sure there are many more thanks you's left out...), Tim and I were completely blown away by our church's amazing support!!! What a blessing!!! I am so thankful that God has allowed us the great opportunity of sharing our story with others in hopes that everyone would find a way to "Join the Journey" to change an orphan's life...whether that is through adoption or partnering with others who have chosen to adopt!!

So...silly us...we forgot to take pictures...oops!!! Here are some pics that someone sent us, as well as a few my mom took from her phone... I wish I had some of the kid's program, but you can just use your imagination :-)!!!