Covered and Loved

There is lots to do around the house (and two little girls who need some attention!) so I'm giving myself 30 minutes to write this blog ; ) So please excuse typos and such! It won't be proof read ; ) I've been so busy packing and planning that Anne and Molly have watched a zillion videos and played tons by themselves - so I really want to love on them a lot today!

However, I have been REALLY wanting to write a blog about how completely LOVED we have felt. Really through the entire adoption process, but it's just so strong right now!!! SO MANY of you are praying for us, texting, calling, emailing, dropping by, bringing meals and cookies and gifts and flowers... I mean, we feel SO LOVED!!!! We have precious baby sitters changing up their schedules to help watch the kids while we are away, James' sister volunteering to take and pick Anne up from school, Meme volunteering for all sorts of things, Carol and Charlotte on grocery store duty, various neighbors (Lauren and Ginger) on park playdate duty, Katie C. and Mary signing up to come over to have playdates with the girls when we are gone, tons of you signing up to bring meals, the Taylors offering to take the girls to church, the McCoys signing up to take the girls on a Saturday while we're gone, etc, etc. I know I've leaving out lots of things... but just to name a few ... and below I have some pictures - Lisa made us these adoption countdown calendars when we matched with Kate - there is one for each month and they are precious! My dad brought flowers ; ) Connie brought stationary with my name on it! I love stationary ; ) Joy brought cookies, crafts, and this precious little "He makes all things beautiful" soft baby toy make up kit for Kate on the plane ride home! So sweet! We would have had nothing for her on the plane ride home. I had totally forgotten about that!!!

My sweet prayer group gave me the awesome bag below, Charlotte my sis-in-law brought over the most precious magnet toys that occupied the girls for hours (she is really an amazing gift-giver! AND she called while I was writing this and offered to come get the girls today and do fun fall activities! WOW! Cool Aunt Award!!! Thank you, thank you!!!!), my mom sent darling stationary (like 10 boxes ; ) of the little clothesline with the three dresses (AHHHH! I will somehow plagiarize this design for Kate's birth announcement!), Kate (via James ; ) sent me roses, Becca got me some much-needed formula for Kate from Babies 'r Us (not pictured ; )...

My sister mailed 33 separate postcards (each with a reason that she loves me!!!!) in the mail to me for my birthday! Now COME ON!!! Who even does that? So kind! My mom (who sends numerous fabulous packages and I'm just hitting SOME of the awesome things she has sent) sent a Halloween goody for each child in Anne's class and something for her teacher, my prayer group gave me this sweet prayer door hanger with prayers for Kate's bedroom door (it is photographed sideways - it is just beautiful!), Lauren and Whitney and Suzie have brought meals to fill my freezer...

Mary has organized meal sign ups for when we're gone and when we get back, Carol may be up to something also ; ), Katie Taylor organized a prayer sign-up that literally makes me cry when I open it ... here's her email because I love it!

"Hi Friends of the Wessels,

As you all know, James and Liz are about to embark on an exciting adventure as they travel to China to pick up Kate and bring her home to Huntsville.  Please join us in lifting them up in prayer during this journey that God is leading them on from October 25th-November 8th (and beyond)!  Let's be intentional about COVERING James, Liz and Kate (as well as Molly and Anne who will be at home) in prayer the entire time they are in China!  Of course, you can pray outside of your time too as the Spirit leads :), but we want to cover them every day of this journey.  I have included a calendar that has details of what they will be doing each day while there, so you can keep that in mind as you pray.  China is 12 hours ahead of us, so you can pray for good, restorative sleep too!  

Please pray for their health, that Liz and James can focus on Christ and share their faith in China.  For Kate, please pray for an easy transition, for safe travels and no food issues (for any of them).  Please also pray for Molly and Anne back at home, that they are happy, and that the babysitters have patience and wisdom during this time.  Pray for a smooth transition and homecoming and however else the spirit leads you.  

Please feel free to pass on and share with others.

Here is the link to the google doc:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ArrqHnMdaKe5dDM2T0RraEx5bVoyM0llZGlRTVhKMXc#gid=0

Liz and James, we are excited to welcome Kate home and to see the beautiful story of her adoption into your family continue to unfold. 

"And anyone who welcomes a little child like this is welcoming me." Matthew 18:5

"The prayer of a righteous man in powerful and effective." James 5:16

Love,

Katie & Will Taylor"

and Katie Cochran is organizing an airport party - I love her email too!!!! I want all these emails and pictures in Kate's book (when I turn this blog into a book) so sorry to post so many. But they are precious and such a great part of Kate's journey! This blog post is more of a "universal thank you note" and "journal-ish record" than a usualy blog entry ; ) Back to Katie... the subject of her email was "Party @ Baggage Claim" which just cracks me up for some reason ; ) You are all invited!

"Hello all!!

Wow- I know Liz & James so appreciate everyone's prayers and encouraging words throughout this whole process and we are so excited that Kate will be home soon!!  What better way to welcome them home than at baggage claim, right?!!!  SO- their plane is set to land in Huntsville on Thursday, November 8 at 8:26 a.m. from Atlanta.  It is a work day/school day so no worries at all if you cannot be there!!  If you are available, plan to meet at baggage claim at 8:30- I plan on being total paparrazi, so we can snap some pictures if the plane isn't there yet!  We can touch base with Liz when they leave Atlanta so we will know if they are "on schedule" and I will email if anything is different!!  It will be so fun to welcome home the Wessel's, family of five!!  Feel free to make and bring signs to hold up or really anything you think might be fun;)  I think the plan is to take Anne and Molly up the escalator to greet Kate first, and then they will all come down the escalator together to our group.  

Obviously, they will have been traveling forever, totally exhausted- it will probably be overwhelming for everyone, especially Kate, so we won't stay long or try to ask a million questions (I promise I will try Liz!! haha) ... but just to show support for them coming home (maybe get a group picture) and let them head home!!  Also, this is not an exclusive email- it's basically several email lists put together (so I apologize if you get 2 or 3 of these!)- I think they feel like "the more the merrier", so if someone didn't get this email, they are still welcome!"

and another Katy (so many Katy/Kathleen/Katie's involved here for baby Kate!) Side note, but we named Kate after all these (and other) amazing Kat-folks! So another Katy sent this insightful and wise email out to help our friends and family understand some of this next step:

"A couple of you have asked, “how can we help”.  I thought I would share what some of our friends did for us when we adopted our Ella Grace a year ago that was especially helpful:

1.        We drove ourselves to the airport, so one of my very best friends came and took our car home (so we wouldn’t have 3 weeks of parking fees).  There was also a group of about 30 people who met us at the airport when we returned.  They also brought our car out to us so we could drive straight home in our own car.  We need to run this by Liz, but I LOVED seeing a crowd of familiar, smiling, crying faces!  Maybe (if she likes that idea) one of you could shoot out an email with their arrival date and time. If we do meet them at the airport, don’t plan a big long gathering… They will be exhausted!!  And, Liz it is ok if you DON’T want this!!
2.       Also, Kate’s ride from the airport to home will probably be her first ride in a car seat.  They don’t use them in China!  (At least they didn’t a year ago).  A nice gift may be some car seat toys or mirror.  Our Ella cried the whole ride home.
3.       Also, the jetlag after returning home is HORRIBLE.  It literally took us six days to get back to normal.  Several of our church friends brought food over, and stocked our pantry and fridge with fresh, healthy AMERICAN food before we got there.  That was wonderful.  They will not be ready for company for a while, so be patient!!  We could not drink the milk or water in China, and they did not have the “Diet Coke” that we know.  These were a few items we CRAVED!!  Also, a good old AMERICAN hamburger, and Southern BBQ!
4.       Some of our friends also brought small surprises for our biological son, Jack so he did not feel left out.  That was wonderful!
5.       Another very important thing to know is that James and Liz (and Molly and Anne) must bond with Kate.  This takes several weeks (sometimes months).  PLEASE DO NOT ASK TO HOLD KATE.  This will be very confusing to her.  She has no idea what a Mommy or Daddy is (or sister).  Even if she reaches for you, do not reach back.  Kate is accustomed to being passed from caregiver to caregiver, so it will take a long time for her to realize that she has ONE Mommy and ONE Daddy, and two sisters that are different from everyone else. 

Also, as Katie Taylor has said PRAY!!!      PRAY PRAY PRAY!!      Adoption is an incredible blessing to everyone involved!    I’m so thrilled that they are sharing this wonderful journey with us!       

God Bless the Wessels!"

And boy, do we feel blessed!!! We've just felt covered by your love and prayers! My Tuesday night prayer group surprised me with a baby sprinkle this week too!!!! So precious! And it was great timing b/c I hadn't done my bible reading ; ) How cute are they! Thanks Paula, Kelley, Katie, and Garrett!!! Our husbands meet together on Tuesdays as well and have also blessed James with such encouragement and love ; )

And then... there's God. Who continues to meet us every day and hold us in His hands. We got some new information about Kate that sort of worried us. The doctors are looking into it. I won't go into details. I'm SURE Kate is completely fine! However, we were a bit taken aback by the thought that there may be other challenges (besides the cleft lip/palate). It took me a couple days to wrestle with this and reaffirm that she is our child no matter what! You technically have 24 hours once you receive your baby in China to "give her back." Had I not found out about these possibilities until we got to China, that would have been a very scary and confusing 24 hours! It would have been hard to research from far away and talk to doctors and see past the constant crying and homesickness that Kate will likely feel - that is totally normal and not indicative of anything weird - but it would have freaked us out if we had been surprised. But from this side of the pond, we can pray, talk with specialists, pray some more, research, and listen for God's voice. Which we both hear as being "she is your child" ... God has affirmed us countless times in this process. And really, none of us ever knows what the future holds ... except God! And we just have to trust Him and rest in His perfect plan. But that doesn't mean I haven't shed my fair share of tears these past couple days (some of which were observed by an innocent and unsuspecting neighbor as I cried on my way to the mailbox while he pulled up and tried chatting with me. awkward! poor guy!). Anyway, God has been so good. The verses He keeps bringing before me are about being "under His wings"and "in His shadow" which is just where I feel!!! Both the pics of these verses below came this week!

And the picture below of the yellow iPhone note is from over a year ago (must have been updated by a child more recently and added to ; ) but before we began the adoption process, when we were just praying about it, Anne had my phone. When I got it from her, it said what you see "YuyuyEvery child deserves a chancebxxmxkddngxieq" which at the time, really spoke to me! Not sure if she pasted it from somewhere else or how it got there... but it certainly was God encouraging us on our adoption path!!! Also below is a book from joy that was in a set of books. I've blogged before about the verse about the lost sheep ... when James and I were trying to decide if just he or if both of us were going to go to China to get Kate, God led me to the passage about the lost sheep - and how the shepherd would leave the group to find the one... which spoke to me about it being ok to leave Anne and Molly and go to get Kate... that He would protect Anne and Molly ... and we could go get our little "lost sheep" ... so those verses have been special to me during all this. Well I pull out the books from Joy and the first one is about the lost sheep!!! Such a "God thing" ; )

There have been / still are SO many things to get done before we leave - flu shots, prescriptions, forms to fill out, packing, organizing childcare while we're away, appointments when we get back, contacting teachers/neighbors/friends, etc... and something will come to my mind "I need to do xyz!" and I never seem to have anything to write with at the time... so I just pray to God that He will remind me at the right time... and He keeps doing it! Bringing back those little things one by one at perfect times to do them - they just fit right in. I don't have to stress (not saying that I don't stress!) but I don't have to - if I just rest in God, He will see to it that all that needs to get done comes to my (or James') attention and gets done! It's a great feeling that He is over it and won't let our feet slip!

And the little onesie below I got yesterday at Gymboree for Kate. I was still sort of praying through the whole "what if she has other issues" stuff and really wanting to affirm to myself and God that I was deciding to not believe lies that satan may toss my way (that's too much to handle/ you can't do that/this is all so scary and uncertain) and CHOOSE to believe the gospel - Christ died for me, I am part of His bigger plan, He is in and over and through all things, He is holding me and loving me and caring for me, He hears my prayers and answers them... etc. So what better way to affirm a promise from God than shopping? I realize this is uncustomary and it wasn't my plan - I was just needing another long sleeved outfit to take to China... but when I say it and it said "Mommy's snuggle bunny"I just knew right away that it was a shirt for Kate - from me - her Mama ; ) Who will love her UNCONDITIONALLY because I am loved by God (and all of you!) unconditionally... "we love because He first loved us" ... not to say we are called to adopt every child we see no matter what the need or circumstance... but in THIS case, right now, that's what we're hearing about sweet Kate. We just love that little girl!!!

Ok, that's all for now. So thankful for all of you and for Jesus ; ) ps. this may have to suffice as a giant thank you note for those of you I've mentioned! Thank you notes will certainly be delayed... if they even ever do get sent!!! Hehe. Take care everyone!

A friend went to Kate's orphanage...

I think I posted about the amazing mama I met online whose son was in Kate's birthday party pictures? Well, she is in China picking her little one up now. She visiting the orphanage yesterday! Here's her post about it. So insightful! Kate is in some of her pictures!!! (She is sitting in the the little red Mickey Mouse shirt). SO crazy to see pictures of her and her orphanage! Just in case you want to check it out:

http://journeyforisaac.wordpress.com/2012/10/17/fitting-the-puzzle-together/

A Post by James...

October 17, 2012

James here again as a guest blogger.  I hope to write one more time about Pickles the Fire Cat if Liz will invite me back.  I guess it depends on how I do this time.

In no particular order, here you go.

THE AIRPORT - I flew in from Houston today – the airport was quiet and empty when I came through the terminal.  Hard to believe the next time I walk out of the airport will be with Kate.  With Liz.  And with Anne and Molly – seeing them for the first time in two weeks.  And maybe with you.  Several people have e-mailed about coming to the airport.  Everytime I think about it my eyes water in a second.  I mean literally it happens instantly.  I’m not sure even how to describe it.  If you want to come – absolutely come on – we would love to see you and to show Kate and the world what it is like to bring an orphan into this unbelievable community of love and support.  Do you think this is what Heaven looks like?  Seriously – I have played this out in my mind of arriving at the airport – exhausted – 30 hours straight of travel – after 14 days away from our kids – our community – and crossing the finish line into the loving arms of each of you – and just what a joyful and celebratory moment that will be.  Is that not the exact parallel of Heaven?  As we labor in the world – facing at times seemingly insurmountable odds – and to know that the Heavenly realm is filled with God’s people who are there to welcome us home when we finally cross the finish line.  Just a thought…

LIZ AND THE LOST SHEEP – Liz and I agonized and prayed over if we should both go to China or not for Kate – we are not much on leaving Anne and Molly.  But as Liz faithfully prayed and searched the scriptures she felt God speaking to her that Kate was the lost sheep, and we were to leave the flock to get her.  That has been a defining moment for us.  A sweet sister in Christ came by tonight with a gift – included in it was a children’s book – first thing we pulled out of the box – about the lost sheep.  I just thank God for the way that He reveals Himself, affirms His presence, and brings His peace.

THE AIRPLANE – Most of you know but when I was 21 I started battling panic attacks.  At some point I started having them on airplanes.  They got so severe that I simply stopped flying and swore I would never fly again.  Ever.  Honestly, even picking up people at the airport caused me to start having anxiety attacks – seeing a plane fly over – seeing one on TV – whatever – it would absolutely freak me out.  If you say “I understand I get a little nervous on planes too” then you actually don’t understand – I mean I would freak out just thinking about it.  So for years I did not fly.  I have 374,000 miles on my Tahoe to prove it.  In August of 2008 missionaries from Germany visited us.  They called me out in love about my fear of flying.  They anointed me with oil and prayed over me extensively.  Through the spirit of the Lord working through them, I was healed of that fear.  Not to say that I am never uncomfortable or anxious or that I don’t still have panic attacks sometimes when I fly, but I rest in knowing He is bigger than those.  Looking back, I see now God laying the groundwork for Kate’s rescue.  Driving to China to get her would have been a challenge.  I thought it was sweet when we got our final itinerary for the China trip and realized that our first leg is Huntsville to Dallas at 6:45 – which is the exact same flight I was on 4 years ago as my first flight after Jesus healed my fears.  I still have the boarding pass in my Bible as a reminder of God’s love and power.  I thank God that I am even able to make this trip.  Looking back I never would have dreamed it possible.  I have flown maybe 40 or 50 times since God’s healing – I have met amazing people – shared the love of Christ with them – had the love of Christ shared with me – and to think I almost missed all of that in bondage to fear.  So I say this to you – be open about your fears – pray for healing – have others pray over you – read John 5 and know that when God brings healing we are to know the healer by name – Jesus Christ.  God is restoring and redeeming the years I lost in fear to flying – I am thankful friends like those in Germany love God and love me enough to help set me free from the bondage of that fear. 

There is more I want to say about this.  This is important for me to share.

John 5:1-6 – The invalid had been trying to find healing in the waters of the pool that supposedly had magical healing when the waters were stirred up.  Oh, how many times I looked for healing in something other than Christ.  I tried to just “man up” and face my fears – couldn’t do it.  I tried to pretend to myself I was a slick businessman and air travel was just part of how cool and slick I was – couldn’t do it.  Years I tried “the power of positive thinking” and on and on – guess what – no airplanes.  This passage just screams out at me in looking back how I tried and tried to get into the stirring waters for healing. 

Judges 10:13-14 – you have forsaken me and served other gods…Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen – let them save you when you are in trouble.

The places I sought healing in never brought me healing. 

John 5:6 – Jesus asked the invalid “do you want to get well?”

Seriously – what kind of question is this?  The dude had been coming to these waters indefinitely to be healed.  Why would Jesus ask this?  Our friends asked me if I wanted to be healed.  Of course I did!  Well, kind of.  All of the sudden when it is right there in front of you…and you start thinking….if I am healed that means I have to fly again….do you have any idea how freaking scary that was to me?!?!?!  After all of those years in bondage when God threw off the chains I wasn’t sure that I didn’t just want to put them back on.  I understand why Jesus would ask this.  It is an important part of the story. 

John 5:8 – Jesus said pick up your mat and walk. 

Okay – wow – so this is what healing looks like.  I knew for me that taking up my mat and walking was to buy a plane ticket.  Which I did 4 years ago.

John 5:11 – the man who had been healed had no idea who had healed him. 

Later Jesus would find him and reveal Himself.

John 5:15 – the man went away and told the Jews it was Jesus who had made him well.

Sometimes I think I fly because I am cool.  I fancy myself the sophisticated business traveler.  Well, guys, need to jet down to Houston for a quick overnight meeting – short stop in ATL and back in HSV by noon.  What a moron.  How quickly I forget.  How often I don’t name the healer.  What really happened was a weak, fearful, broken man was given healing by JESUS CHRIST and in HIS power I was able to get on airplane. 

Pray that as the biggest trip of my life comes next week that I would name the Healer.

Ephesians 6:19 pray for me that whenever I open my mouth…that I would fearlessly make known the mystery of the Gospel.

And maybe someone who reads this lives in bondage to a fear of some kind – maybe has looked for healing in the wrong places – maybe doesn’t want to get well – ask yourself and others if you want to be healed – and be willing to name the healer – and pray that I would as well.

Isaiah 41:10 Do not fear for I am with you.

Isaiah 61:1 – we have been sent to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, and release from darkness for the prisoners.

This is all true.  

We're going to CHINA!

On October 10, while we were on the beach, James checked the email on my phone and found this message from our agency:

"Congratulations! I have confirmed that you have a US consulate appointment scheduled for Tuesday, 11.06.2012 at the US Consulate in Guangzhou, China.

This means you need to be in your provincial city (the capital city of your child’s province) no later than Saturday, 10.27.2012. Your “Gotcha Day” will most likely be Sunday, 10.28.2012. You may depart from Guangzhou anytime after 7:00 pm on Wednesday, 11.07.2012."

Woo-Hoo!!!! SO exciting to get this fabulous news! We had been checking our email fairly obsessively for the previous week and a half just waiting for this news!!!! Usually after you get your travel approval, you get your consulate appointment (which means you can schedule travel) 2 days later. But with the national holiday going on in China, we ended up waiting a bit longer ... but now we're rolling!!!! Fabulous!!!!

We (James and I) leave October 25!!! We'll return home November 8. The girls are staying home with a variety of fabulous baby-sitters, friends, and family. When we get home, my mom will come and help. We feel so loved! The girls will be in great hands. Here's the basic run-down:

October 25 - we leave super early, fly to Dallas, then fly to Vancouver (where we'll get to see my sister, who will come up from Seattle! Yipee!) Spend the night in Vancouver

Oct 26 - fly from Vancouver to Beijing, Beijing to Nanchang...

Oct 27 - for some reason we don't arrive in Nanchang till 10 pm this day (they are 12 hours ahead over there...)

Oct 28 - we will get KATE!!! Her orphanage is 4 hours away so they will bring her to nanchang

Oct 29 - James' bday ; )

Oct 30 - We sign papers to adopt Kate!

Oct 31 - Nov 2 - Just more time in Nanchang. We will be waiting for her passport, which will be done Nov 2, Lord willing. We'll have an option to visit the orphanage and we're still praying about whether or not to do that. 

Nov 2 - travel to Guanghzou

Nov 3- medical appointment for Kate

Nov 6 - consulate appointment

Nov 7 - we pick up her visa and head out of town!!!!

Nov 8 - HOME!!!

That's the schedule! The agency has guides with us so there are sight-seeing missions scattered throughout to keep us busy! There are a few other Lifeline (our agency) families traveling with us - one family will be in Nanchang with us and the others will be in their child's provinces - then we all meet up for the second week in Guanghzou. Since this is where the US Consulate is, it's where all families adopting spend their second week. 

We are so excited!!! Just to catch up on what we've been up to, it's been a really busy (but fun) few weeks. The four of us traveled to Lexington, Virginia to Washington and Lee University for my 10 year college reunion. It was so much fun! Here are some pictures... 

We went to the football game and the girls and I watched the cheerleaders (this is what I do at football games ; ) I cheered for a lot of years and was blessed to get to help found W&L's squad all those years ago... so it was awesome to see them still up and running! They were doing awesome!!!! I was so proud ; ) Then there's a pic in front of the "colonnade" at W&L of Anne with the 2 daughters of one of my best friends from college, Elizabeth. And Molly in front of the sorority houses... and our shadows by Lee Chapel (we like taking pics of our shadow ; ) 

Below we have a family picture, then a picture of my girls and Elizabeth's girls all in bed watching TV (we got adjoining rooms! it was fabulous! James stayed and baby-sat all the girls Saturday night while Elizabeth and I went out on the town! He did GREAT! Taking a 2 and 4 year old to a college reunion is pretty crazy - James was FABULOUS to watch them while I socialized! Sweet James!!!) And then the bottom picture is of me, Elizabeth, Bess, and Kate - we lived together sophomore year and are all great friends ; ) So sweet to see these girls and so many others!!!! Super fun weekend. 

And the reason we took the girls to the reunion was because it was going to be fasted to have them with us so we could maximize our time on our next vacation - THE BEACH!!!! We flew straight from Virginia to the beach in Florida ; ) The rest of James' family was down there (and brought our minivan for us! thank you!!!). It was such a fun trip! Pics below:

Anne on the porch, the girls playing on the beach, who doesn't wear goggles to breakfast??? and the girls walking... so sweet. James took most of the pics on this blog entry on his iPhone. I mean WOW! We're really thinking of not taking a "real" camera to China... the iPhone does GREAT. I mean, that girls walking pic with the sun behind them - that is with an iPhone!!!

And here we are right after finding out we were going to get Kate! James wrote "we love you, kate" in the sand and we got our picture with it (sorry for the swimsuit shot, I try to avoid those, but that's how we looked! ; ) We came back 24 hours later to that part of the beach and the writing in the sand was still there! Which is really miraculous. So we took a shadow pic ; )

And a couple days before, on October 8, we got another super fun email! We got this update on Kate:

"72cm, 8.8kg, 47cm head, 48cm chest, 12cm foot, 8 teeth."

Which I think means she is fairly average for a 15 month old... which is great!!! And we got new pictures!!!! They won't "diptic" (make collages) for some odd reason, so here they are FULL size! Which is more fun anyway for new pictures of our Kate!!!

The lady with her is the same lady in her previous pictures - so she must have a key role in Kate's life! We hope to meet her. James is scheming ways to bring her home as our nanny, but I'm not sure if that will pan out ; ) It was such a treat to get these pictures!!!

We have 3 friends in China now who are in / were just in Nanchang - Nina from Birmingham picking up Grace - she comes home today. And my other friends Shannon and Michelle (I may have used code names for them in previous posts to protect identity, but I think we're safe now!) who are adopting from Kate's same orphanage, just got their little ones last Sunday! Michelle went to the orphanage a few hours ago so I'm anxious to see what it was like and if she got any pictures of Kate! Everyone says to bring a lot of food to Nanchang ; ) Their emails all start with "we are really hungry over here" ... I think the food is pretty authentic! It's a "small" China town (5 million) so it isn't westernized. I have enough food ready to pack for that whole week!!! I'm not a happy hungry person so we're gonna be ready! Guanghzou (15 million) should be fine food-wise! Isn't that crazy that cities of this size exist and we haven't heard of them? There are many many more cities of these sizes over there. Bigger than NYC and we haven't even heard of them! Crazy ; )

So that's the news! We've been packing ...

The clothes packing is taking me SO LONG b/c I love playing with all her little pink clothes! James has offered to just pack her clothes in hopes of saving me hours of time... but I love it!!! I mean, what is cuter than baby clothes??? Babies I guess! hehe ; ) But I've had a good time! And here's the costume I got her after Halloween last year on sale (our friend baby Mary wore one like it and it was the cutest thing so I copied!). My older girls are set to be cowgirls and Kate a cow - is that even legal? Can you adopt a child and then dress her like a cow? Or will they take her back? I mean, it is a CUTE cow!!! You can't see the tights but they are great. I'm thinking about whether to take this and trick or treat at the hotel with the other American families... we'll see. And meds - we have a lot of meds. We are gonna be ready!!!

Despite all this craziness, we have totally had God's peace. Which is just astounding! I feel so much less anxious than I did before we knew when we were traveling. I feel like God keeps telling me that I am just resting safely in the shadow of His wings. Yesterday without looking for these verses, they all just popped out to me:

"rest in the shadow of the Almighty... cover you with His feathers" -psalm 91

"because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings" -psalm 63:7

"hide me in the shadow of your wings" - psalm 17:8

So sweet. God loves us so much and cares about these little details in our lives. He speaks right to us and just what we need. Thank you, Lord, for being our peace!!! Some sweet friends came over (Will and Katie - who also happen to be the parents of baby Mary - who dressed up like the cow for Halloween 2011 and was SO CUTE) right when we got back from the beach and prayed over us too - so their prayers are playing out for sure - we have really felt like we're in the "calm" - which is such a gift. 

And SO MANY of you have reached out and offered to help, watch kids, make meals, deliver meals, etc, etc. Thank you! What an amazing community we have. Can't wait to bring Kate back to this special community. She will be so loved. Much loved little girl!!!!

Take care and hopefully we'll be able to update the blog during our travels!!! Woo-hoo!!!!!

TRAVEL APPROVAL!!!

WE HAVE OUR TRAVEL APPROVAL!!! KATE, WE ARE COMING FOR YOU!!!

This is SUCH big news!!!! On September 24, our Article 5 came. Then our agency applies to the Chinese government for our Travel Approval. That usually takes 3-4 weeks... and with the entire country of China on holiday this first week of October, we REALLY weren't expecting this! But it has arrived today! Woo-hoo!!!

So now our agency will apply to the US Consulate in China for our consulate appointment. Once we have that appointment date, we'll book our plane tickets and travel to China!!! WOW! Hopefully we'll have our consulate appointment date by this Wednesday. We'll either travel at the end of this month or sometime in November - we're getting there! and FAST! We are so excited and ready to go get little Kate and bring her home ; )

So, what have we been up to since our last post? I'm trying to keep track of our lives on this blog since I'm going to turn it into a little "while we waited for you" book for Kate. 

James and I went to Chattanooga for a night to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary. We had a blast! We had our first date in Chattanooga so it's a special place for us!

Also in the above picture are 2 different business cards that Allison, an awesome gal who works with James, made for us for our China trip. The top picture is a red card that we can give to cab drivers, waiters, orphanage workers with gifts, and other Chinese people that we encounter. We have various gifts that we take over to give to different folks along the way, so this just says "thank you" in Chinese characters. It's just perfect! And the two pictures below are the front and back of the second business card. This one will go to other Americans - it has our contact info and blog address. I LOVE these business cards and it's so fun to have them all ready to go! Thank you, Allison!

And thank you to my friend Katie for helping me figure out how to do these cool collage pictures  (Diptic - it's an app for iPhone). I'm loving them, obviously! We've had lots of questions about Kate's room, how it's going getting ready for her, etc... so here are some pics! Kate and Anne will share a room. They say that these little ones from the orphanages really like to be in a room with another child - since that's what they're used to. And Anne is super excited about her soon-to-arrive roomy! We'll try this and see how it goes! We can always do some shifting around if need be ; ) We just put a crib in Anne's room and redecorated the walls ; ) The three canvases have each girl's verse (we pray and choose a verse for each girl). Kate actually has two verses (just one is on the wall for now!):

"you have filled our hearts with greater joy" psalm 4:7

and

"all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be" -ps 139:16

Molly will stay in her room (not pictured) because her "sleeping" habits are different than Anne's (and hopefully Kate's too!). Molly's a super early riser so we'll keep her in a different room for now! If she starts sleeping in, we may put her in with her sisters and the three of them can be together! We'll see how it goes ; ) Pictured below is the bathroom ; ) I really had fun making their little canvases with names, birth dates, etc. And I love this great sign "Jesus knows me this I love" from Etsy (http://www.etsy.com/listing/74265387/jesus-knows-me-this-i-love-distressed) Just in case you want one too!

My dad moved to Huntsville! It's been great having him here! In September, we visited the rest of my family in Texas. We were heading there for my aunt's birthday party and my cousin's baby shower. My cousin ended up having her baby early - the day we arrived! It was exciting to be in town when she was born. The guests of honor missed their baby shower... but that's ok! Some pics of these things are below... There is one of the girls, one of Molly sleeping on me, one of the bday party, one of the girls tickling my mom, one of the girls looking in the fish tank at the hospital when we went to see their new baby cousin (sorry I don't have baby pics! ak!), one of some of my best friends from high school's children with my girls (we all went swimming ; ), a family picture, and some of the girls in the airport (the girls had fun with the suitcases my mom got for them) ...

James is on the missions team at our church so we got to help put together an Adoption/Foster Information night for the community last Sunday night. It was AWESOME! SO many people helped - WAY too many to list. But it was awesome to see the community and our church family come together to put this together. Right after church Sunday, tons of people stayed to help move tables and chairs. And after the event, everyone was buzzing about, serving in every way they could think of - trash, bathroom duty, cleaning toys, etc. So neat to see the body of Christ serve together! The hands and feet of Jesus were at work for sure. Other neat donors: Starbucks donated ALL the coffee (for almost 200 adults!); Fresh Market donated most of the desserts (and they were FANCY!!!); Newks loaned us some brand new center piece things ... the church staff worked super hard to take care of the building, childcare, etc (it was 100 kids!) ... Lisa did TONS ... Rachell at James' office made a zillion copies of handouts to give the attendees. Twenty families who have adopted or fostered came to each "host" a table of those who were interested in adopting or fostering. Four amazing speakers came to share their expertise and lots of agencies and support groups came out and set up info tables for everyone. It was just awesome! God is really doing neat things in our area in many people's hearts... it seems there is a wave of folks moving toward adopting and/or fostering. It's just awesome to see! I think I've posted some of these stats before ... but they are staggering so I'll post them again. There are SO many orphans in the world and it is just heart-breaking. Awesome that God is moving so many to help care for these precious ones! 

Scary Adoption statistics:

- there are about 150 million orphans in the world; 30,000 were adopted last year (the current US population is about 300 million as you know, just to give you an idea about how many children that is!)

- 5,760 children are orphaned each DAY in the world  

- If a child is not adopted, they will eventually "age out" and be kicked out of the orphanage by age 14-18. Each year 14.5 million children worldwide age out and end up on the streets with no family, no skills, and no home. 10-15% of these children will commit suicide before age 18; 70% of the males will become criminals; 60% of the females are forced into prostitution. 

- One study found that out of every 15,000 orphans that "age out" in the US, 1500 commit suicide, 5,000 are unemployed, 6,000 are homeless, and 3,000 are in jail within three years. 

So obviously the need is HUGE and immediate. The night went really well as we all learned more about orphans, adoption, and fostering. Great teaching, fellowship, and food!

I wish I had taken more pictures! I got a couple before the event but none of it! Ak! Thank you Will Taylor for taking some when everyone was there and talking (and serving in every other capacity that day!). It was such a special night. We had handouts with lots of helpful adoption info, so if you want one, email me and I'll try to get you one!

We've been hiking a couple times and done some skipping of rocks (see below). James is great at teaching the girls about all sorts of things (acorns, rocks, animals, leaves) - he's great at it!

We have a busy couple weeks between now and China - and of course we will drop everything just as soon as we can travel and head on over the ocean! Ok, that seems like a sufficient update for now. Thanks for reading along and following us down this crazy path God is leading us on. TRAVEL APPROVAL!!! WOO-HOO!!! 

(ps. how long does it take to upload pictures from camera, send them to phone, make them into collages, write a blog, barely read through it, mostly erase it once, change font and somehow mix up every sentence, put it all back, and post the blog entry? all while mostly supervising two little girls? 3 hours.)

..and now to clean up the house from the aftermath created by the girls... they can do a lot more in 3 hours than i can!!!

Approval Letter Cabled to China!!!

We got an email this morning saying that the US National Visa Center has cabled our approval letter to the Consulate in China!!! Woo-HOO!!!!! This is a big step! We had sent in our I-800 to the USCIS who approves it and then sends it to the NVC (National Visa Center). The USCIS took a few weeks longer than we had hoped to approve and send our I-800 ... but that's ok. God is in control and knows just the timing He has planned for us picking up sweet little Kate!!!!

WE ARE SO EXCITED!!!!

What's up next: Our agency will now submit our "Article 5" -not sure how long it takes for them to submit it ... but once it is submitted, we pick it up (not sure from where) 2 weeks later. Then we'll wait 3-4 weeks for our travel approval... then travel about 2 weeks after that. This could go a tad faster than that (I guess travel approval can come quicker than 3-4 weeks) but we'll see! We're probably looking at traveling in November. Woo-Hoo!!!!

Prayer requests: For patience on our end! And trust that God is in control. For that travel approval to come SUPER fast!!!! We'd love to travel in October. We want to get Kate ASAP of course! Also, October is a bit festival month in China - so many agencies don't let their families travel. Ours does, and we want to beat the crowds and go in October! If we wait till November (which may be God's perfect plan and it would be fine) there will be lots more adoptive families with so the trip could end up taking a few more days due to difficulty getting appointments. So pray for October travel and patience and trust on our end! Thank you, friends!!!!

Hi!

There is an organization in Ghana called "The Mercy Project" that is working to free children in slavery. They have asked 100 bloggers to post the post below today, on Labor Day, as part of their mission to make people aware of child trafficking, slavery, and other injustices facing children worldwide. What a great organization. So here goes... a post from "The Mercy Project" ...

Mercy Project Post

There’s an estimated 7,000 children who work in the Ghana fishing industry. Some of these children are as young as 5 and 6 years old. All of these children are slaves.
–Mercy Project


Today many in our country will take a day off from our jobs to celebrate the social and economic achievements of American workers. No matter if we’re celebrating at home or at the beach, we’re entering into a tradition that has largely been shaped by Labor Unions - organizations that are dedicated to protecting workers’ interests and improving their wages, hours, and working conditions. Today as we lounge around or hang out with friends and family, we’re not only celebrating hard work, we’re honoring fair, ethical working practices and the laws that prevent discrimination, abuse, and child labor in our country. Without these laws in place (and enforced), the most vulnerable members of society suffer. Who are the most vulnerable? Children.


Today as we’re celebrating the systems in our own country that strive to prevent injustices like child trafficking and child labor, we’re mindful of the many child slaves around the world who are unprotected and the organizations, like Mercy Project, who are working to free them.


As a mother, it’s difficult for me to imagine my children working 14 hours a day, 7 days a week. I’m unable to wrap my brain around the thought of my children engaged in long, hard days of physical labor, eating one meal a day, and then falling asleep at night on a dirt floor filled with other slave children. Yet this is the daily reality for kids who have been trafficked into the fishing industry in Ghana, Africa. As with much of Africa, there is a great deal of poverty in Ghana. Unfortunately, this leaves many mothers in an unimaginable position: sell their children to someone who can take better care of them or watch them starve to death. Most of the mothers are told their children will be given food, housing, and an education. Instead, the kids are often taken to Lake Volta where they become child slaves and their mothers never see them again. Thankfully, Mercy Project is working to break the cycles of trafficking around Lake Volta by providing alternate, more efficient, sustainable, fishing methods for villagers – ultimately eliminating the need for child slaves. Because of the work Mercy Project is doing in Ghana, the first group of children will be freed this month from Lake Volta.

VIDEO

We invite you to watch this moving, 10 minute documentary about the issues surrounding child labor and trafficking in Ghana and most importantly the hope Mercy Project is bringing to children and entire communities in Africa. Mercy Project is the only NGO working on Lake Volta addressing the injustice of child labor and child trafficking at its root - by strengthening the Ghanaian economy and eliminating the structures that cause the demand for trafficked children.

Whether these ideas of child labor, child trafficking, and modern-day slavery are new to you or you’re aware of these injustices, but need to hear some good news every once in awhile, we invite you to become a part of what Mercy Project is doing in Ghana. When Mercy Project frees their first group of children this month, we can all celebrate together.



Learn more and get involved by –


• Watching Mercy Project’s short documentary. [link provided below]

• Following Mercy Project on Facebook. [link provided below]

• Connecting with Mercy Project via Twitter. [link provided below]

• Spending some time on Mercy Project’s website. [link provided below]

• Sharing about Mercy Project’s work in Ghana with your friends. [link provided below]


Although child trafficking, child labor, and the unstable economies that result in these injustices are a tragedy, we’re grateful for what Mercy Project is doing to protect the vulnerable and for allowing us to be a part of this story. While we’re commemorating labor laws and ethical work in our own country today, we invite you to follow along on this journey with Mercy Project to protect and free children in Ghana.

Links You May Need

Link to Mercy Project’s Website: http://mercyproject.net/

Link to the documentary - http://youtu.be/b4Dwv5KbMYI


Embed code for the documentary –
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Mercy Project’s Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/mercyproject
Mercy Project on Twitter - https://twitter.com/mercyproject