Truth be told, there hasn't been much going on with it. We are just waiting, waiting, waiting....We are waiting for our approval from the U.S. Government. It is several weeks overdue. I am about to begin hounding them. I know they are busy, but the longer it takes them, the more our process gets pushed back. I have been hearing chatter online that there might not be any travel for adoptions in China during the summer because of the Olympics. This would really push picking up Max back, possibly even into 2009. I am praying with every bit of me that doesn't happen. I am trying to be patient-I know that God knows when we'll be going to pick Max up, but it kills me to think that our own government is making the situation worse because they are taking SOOOOO long to give us the one form that we need in order to send our dossier in. Once the dossier is in, we can start the countdown to picking up our son. But until then......
On a happier note, JASON GOT TO SEE MAX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He took a suitcase packed full of goodies for him. :-) What a
blessing it is that because Max is at Harmony House, Jason got to visit with him. He said it was an amazing feeling to be able to hold him and play with him. He also mentioned that it was really hard to say goodbye to him and leave him-he hadn't anticipated that it would be. Jason took a video camera with him and got some fantastic video that we had planned to post to share with all of you. Unfortunately, somehow the video was erased. We think it happened at a security scanner at an airport. We don't know for sure. We were able to get a few pictures from some other people that were there with Jason. Lastly, I wanted to give an update on our fundraising. God has continued to amaze us with His goodness and His provision. We have been stunned numerous times when checks just showed up out of nowhere from people who felt led to donate. It is such a humbling experience for me to see the generosity of our friends and family, and even complete strangers. The money aspect of the adoption was the single most frightening aspect for Jason and me. We have been working hard to get in a better place financially, to get out of debt completely. So the thought of having to come up with a huge sum of money was scary. We knew from the beginning that if indeed God was calling us to do this, that He was not calling us to go back into debt to finance it. We knew that refinancing our house, taking a second mortgage on it, or getting a huge loan to pay for everything simply wasn't an option for us. Sinking deeper into debt was not being good stewards of the money God provides for us. So how would we come up with the money? We have been scrimping and saving, making changes in our budget and spending habits to eek out every last cent to put aside as much as possible.
More importantly though, early on, God promised us that He would provide for all of our needs during this journey, whether that be money, patience, the strength to make it through the process, whatever. He has been with us every step of the way. Sometimes I am completely surprised that God chose us for this, other times I am so grateful because we have seen God move. We have seen Him work miracles on our behalf. If we had not been obedient to begin the adoption process and go for it, we would have missed out on all of it. What a loss that would have been for us.
We did a total on all of the expenses related to adopting Max. The final number is quite a bit higher than what we had originally anticipated, but we switched agencies last year to get matched up with Max (which cost more), and we have decided to take the girls with us (which really costs more). We feel very confident about the decision to take the girls with us so the increased cost is worth it. The final total is around $31,ooo. We were stunned when we saw that number on the calculator.
But can I just blow your minds for a minute? Let me now tell you how much we lack. With some anticipated money coming in (tax rebate, a check for leasing the mineral rights under our property, some pledged donations, and money we anticipate being able to put aside) we only need $3695 more to pay for everything outright. Unbelievable!!!!!!!! I simply cannot believe that we are almost there in reaching our fundraising goal. God truly is a miracle worker. To be honest with you, money stresses me out. It always has. I am responsible for our budget and am always looking at the numbers to make sure we are on track. But money has always been a sensitive issue for me. I have really come a long way in my spending habits. But God's promise to provide for this adoption has carried me through this whole time. I was never worried that it wouldn't come through or that things would fall apart in that specific area. We have been very proactive in working to raise the necessary funds, but it has never been an area where Satan was able to attack by placing doubts that maybe it wouldn't work out. That is a miracle-all God. But it is the truth. So to do the calculations on our finances and find out we had less than $4000 to raise was incredible. I know that God will continue to work to provide it.
Jason and I want to sincerely thank all of you who have been a part of the fundraising and the "prayer-raising". We have been overwhelmed with the support we've received. We are enormously blessed by all of you and feel honored to have you in our lives. I guarantee you that Max will be told about all of you! Thank you for making such a difference in his life, and in ours.
We pray that someday we can somehow be as big of a blessing to you as you have to us.
