Immigration Happy Dance....God does provide!

When we walked in the door at the immigration office, (for the second time because the first time they made us return my purse and our cell phones to the car), we handed our IDs and appointment letters to the guard, and I quickly explained that while this was not our appointment date, we knew that we would be allowed in because my Soldier was wearing his uniform. The guy looked at me and asked, “So you’re just going to use him like that?” And I said, “yes.” Luckily, the guy laughed instead of arresting me, or kicking us out, or something silly like that.

I was going to tell you that we did a happy dance while standing in line waiting to be given another form to fill out, but my husband wants me to make it clear that it was me who danced, and he just stood there in uniform and supported me, which is good, because a few minutes later some very official looking federal officers walked in the door, and if they had seen a Soldier dancing in uniform, who knows what would have happened?

After a lovely conversation with a friendly British immigrant, our numbers were called and our fingerprints taken on a fancy, computerized, biometric fingerprint-taker, and when we had left the building, escaped the rainstorm outside and closed our car doors, we both squealed in delight...both of us, uniform or not, and that’s the truth, because we’re sooooo excited and thankful! Finally, we’ve jumped through the hoop of having our third set of fingerprints completed for our adoption application! And now, we wait for India and the U.S. to decide that we’re allowed to adopt our daughter, which we will be, because God is all about adoption, and this whole thing was His idea, but maybe it just makes the authorities feel better if they get to have a say.

God has been faithful to provide!

• We have received two grants, one a matched $4,000 from Jeeah’s Hope/Lifesong for Orphans, the other $8,000 from The JCS Foundation.

• Lifesong for Orphans has been helpful, caring and easy to work with. All checks made out to Lifesong with our name and number (2600) in the memo line are tax-deductible and go directly toward paying our adoption fees! In the past few months, Lifesong has managed all of the funds from donations, sending checks directly to the adoption agency as fees were due.

• Generous donations of time and money from family and friends, combined with proceeds from various fundraisers such as Quilting for Orphans, Flowers for Families, Ergon handmade Indian stationary and Amazima handmade Ugandan necklaces from 147 Million Orphans. 

• Last month’s Project 5x7 silent art auction was a huge success, bringing in almost $7,000 to be shared among the four adoptive families who are raising funds to adopt from India as part of Project 5x7. 

• Through God’s provision of these grants, donations and fundraisers, we now only owe our adoption agency about $3,000 more! After that, we will need about $6,000 for travel. Isn’t that amazing?!?

Just look what God has done! He promises that He will provide for our needs, and He has! And He will continue to do so!

In addition to our ongoing Amazima and Ergon fundraisers, there are two more fundraising projects in the works:

• An adoptive family who owns a local pick-your-own-blueberries patch has generously offered to donate all proceeds from this summer’s harvest to benefit Project 5x7, the adoptions of the four families (including us) in our area who are adopting from India!

• A local Chick-fil-A is sponsoring a Spirit night this week to raise money for these four adoptions! Twenty percent of sales from patrons who mention the Project 5x7 cause at the counter will go toward the adoptions!

• We plan to apply for more grants as necessary, and we know that God will provide every penny we need to bring our daughter home, just as He has been doing already.

• A local newspaper is publishing our story this week, along with the stories of the three other adoptive families involved in our adoption fundraising. I can’t wait to see how God continues to work!

God is good. Thank you for supporting us and loving our daughter. Thank you for your prayers!

Glory to God in the Highest! 

no preference

I've been painting our daughter's dresser and bookshelves. So far, I've done three coats of white primer. My vision is to recreate Sleepy Beauty's forest on that furniture, with trees, flowers, squirrels, birds, chipmunks, you get the idea. But there will be no Disney princesses decorating her room, because I don't want her to ever think that beauty means being skinny, busty, blonde or fair-skinned.

Not that I have a problem with Disney. It's magical. Our daughter will have the movies and sing the songs, and we will let her play with Disney princess toys if she likes. But that image won't be presented as the ideal, I hope. At this point in her life, I'm pretty sure she doesn't have a favorite Disney princess, or a favorite color, or a favorite animal. She hasn't been given the privilege of developing such preferences. She's never had a lot of choices. But she will.

If you've ever been outside the US for an extended period of time and freaked out when you returned to be confronted with the many choices available at any given US store, you might sort of understand how our daughter will feel when she hits the US. She's already going to be traumatized by the fact that she's just been removed from everything she's ever known, even if everything she's ever known is nothing that any of us would ever want to experience.

She probably has some understanding that her life in the orphanage, consistently having something to eat, clothes to wear and a school to attend, has made her so much more fortunate than many other children who have nowhere to sleep, nothing to eat and no chance of education.

Soon though, our daughter will be even richer! She will be among the richest people in the world, simply because she will have health insurance, a roof over her head, nutritious food at least three times a day, plenty of clothing, her own bedroom and family and friends who love her dearly and will protect her always. That is how God has chosen to love us, and by His grace, that is how we will choose to love our daughter. God wants to give us all that is good and pure and true, and that is what we want for our girl. All will be done to bring her safely home to blessing and peace. And for now, she has no choice in the matter. :)

Thank you for praying. Thank you for supporting our cause. Because of God's grace in giving us the support of friends like you, our daughter will know that she is loved.

faithful care

Under different circumstances, our daughter might not be in an orphanage right now. It could have been much worse. Had God not seen to it that she was cared for, that someone was merciful enough to leave her in capable hands, she might be on the streets fending for herself. But she's not. She's safe. Jesus rescued her.

Sure, I worry that she might be malnourished and unhappy in the orphanage, sharing her living space with so many other children, but compared to most orphans around the world, she's hit the jackpot.

These were some of my thoughts as I lay awake last night: Where was she born? In a shack? On the floor? In a crowded hospital? In an alley? Praise God for the orphanage. Praise Jesus that our daughter is being fed, clothed and educated.

God is providing for our daughter's needs, just as He has always provided for us...comforting for a mama whose baby is with strangers half a world away, and whose husband will soon be deployed in that direction.

Praise God for His faithful care.

As an update, we're waiting for US immigration to approve our application so we can go get our biometric fingerprints taken. Always waiting. Please pray for us.
Praise God for providing the funds we need, when we need them.
Please pray that the funds continue to come in. We're waiting to hear from a grant organization, and our silent art auction is next weekend! Can't wait to see how His will is accomplished!

The Sound of Music

You may not know that my husband is a talented musician. He doesn't advertise. Our daughter is a musician, too, even if she doesn't know it yet.

Her Hindi name means "song," yet another indication that she will fit beautifully into our family.

If she has musical roots, she will be right at home in our house. We will sing to her every day. We already sing every day. That's how we communicate.

When our wonderful social worker asked routine home study interview questions regarding how we would respond to various scenarios involving our daughter's emotions, we said we would sing to her and with her.

We'll sing when she's worried, we'll sing when she's sad, we'll sing when she's happy, you get the idea...and when she needs to learn a life lesson, there might be puppets involved.

wonderings

"Maybe now it's time, or maybe when I wait, they'll be there calling me baby, maybe." -Annie

Yeh. We've been singing the Annie musical songs a lot. Because we pretend that our daughter is sitting somewhere in India daydreaming about us the way we daydream about her. I mean, I'm sure she wonders when her mommy and poppy will come to her, just as all the children in the orphanages do, but I wonder how much depth there is to her wonderings? I imagine she spends more time thinking of the family she has lost than the family that might someday be hers. Of course she does.

We're getting ready to bring her home. We bought her these pieces of furniture at a yard sale this weekend, and we're making plans to sand and paint them and turn her bedroom into a little girl's dream come true. One friend gave us some clothes and toys for her, and another friend is giving us an art easel! I'm not sure what size she will wear, so we probably won't really start building her wardrobe until we're in India and she needs something to wear besides the mismatched clothes the orphanage puts on her when it's time to send her home with us.

Oh, my sweet girl. Please come home soon.

YES, we do!

Exciting news!

Our adoption agent just wrote me saying she had mailed some legal papers for us, and do we happen to have $3,000 now for legalization of the dossier and orphanage fees? And...thanks be to God...

I was able to say, "YES! We do have that amount in our Lifesong account!
I will authorize that payment right now!"

What a GREAT feeling to have the funds we need for the moment! Manna from Heaven!

There was already about $2,500 in our Lifesong account when we found out that some dear person anonymously donated $1,500, which brings us up to the $4,000 we needed to make the $8,000 matching grant! We are everso grateful to everyone who has donated!

See how prayer works? In the words of my adoption agent, "Yay, God!" :)

Please continue to pray, and I know we will have all the funds we need as needed!
Thank you so much for praying.

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!

Wait and Pray

"Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord." 

Psalm 27:14

Great news! Our adoption paperwork (300+ pages) was finished yesterday! 

The hard copy of our home study has been completed and mailed to the adoption agency, the immigration office and another grant foundation. 

Now we can only wait and pray that the American and Indian governments will approve us and the finances will be provided. Please pray! 

My husband has been home from his Army desert training for a few days now. It has been so much fun watching "Anna's" video over and over, memorizing her voice and giggling as we mimic her accent in repeating her words to each other. 

At night, we ask each other what she might be doing at that moment in the orphanage. Is she eating breakfast as we go to sleep? Is she surrounded by other children? Is she playing? Is she singing? Is she at school being drilled with the English alphabet and numbers? In her video, she shows off what she's been learning in school, and we are so proud of her! 

Please pray that she will be safe. 
Please pray that God will prepare us and our daughter for each other while we are waiting.
Please pray that she will be home soon!