When did our journey begin?

Our journey of adoption officially began January 13, 2011. That is the day we sent our application in to Holt International. Holt has been a great agency to work with by the way. However God planted the seed for this in our hearts over 10 years ago when we lived in Birmingham. Ann and I were at a Steven Curtis Chapman concert and he talked about the adoption of their daughter and the charity Show Hope they created to help others adopt. After the concert we both felt like we needed to look into adoption. We looked and researched and prayed and talked about it for several weeks. We decided it was not the right time for us for several reasons. One, we just never had peace about it. Also, we knew we were moving soon and that would throw some kinks into the process. We have also felt a pull towards international adoption and at the time we were in our mid 20's and in most countries we were too young to adopt. 


The idea of adoption never really went away. Every so often one of us would bring it up. We would then spend weeks praying, talking, and doing a little research. For some reason it just never felt like the right time. Sometime in the summer of 2010 we began talking about it again. I'm not sure exactly what brought up the conversation this time, I think it was actually the result of several things. It seemed like every book I read talked about adoption. Each time I read about it I felt we needed to be doing something. A friend of ours (also named Steve, but no relation to the previous Steve mentioned) and his wife had adopted a few years earlier and on several occasions he had shared with me about their journey. We had also become increasingly aware of the number of orphans. The estimates vary, but a good estimate is somewhere around 140 million worldwide. The reality of what happens to many of these orphans when they age out of the system is heartbreaking to us. Many become involved in crime, drugs, prostitution, or are trafficked for either slavery or sexual exploitation. We wrestled for a while about how to be involved. There are some good organizations that are dealing with these problems, and we thought maybe what we should do was support them. But we continued to feel more and more that God was calling us to adopt. It seemed like everywhere we turned adoption was there. In the fall I had the opportunity to go to Haiti with my brother and a group from his church in Gardendale. It was truly a great trip for many reasons; we helped finish a church, we had the opportunity to share the gospel, but for me it was good to see a group of people truly living out the gospel in various ways. Of course we were on a missions trip, but to see people that lived out the gospel each day. Some living it out in their job or community, one couple who were literally selling all they had to follow Jesus, others who were in the process of adopting and fostering. At this point no one knew we were considering adoption and had no idea how encouraging it was for me. It was great to hear these guys tell how God directed them to follow Him in various ways. One was in the process of adopting a son from Uganda, which before they finished ended up being two sons. As we were there one got a call from his wife that they would be foster parents before he got back. Another one of the guys is fostering two kids and in the process of trying to adopt one of them. As I look back at how all the pieces have come together and the people that God used to bring us to this point it is truly amazing. We understand that we can't adopt every child, but we know that we can adopt this one and see where that leads. Hopefully just as we have been inspired and encouraged by others, we can encourage others to do the same. We also understand earthly adoption is not the end. More than a loving home, clothes, food, and a warm bed we want to point them to a heavenly Father who has much more to offer. What we are doing only mirrors what He has done for us. In a later post I'll talk more about that, but it is summed up in   1 John 4:19 "We love because he first loved us."


A quick update on where we are in the process. Not much has changed in the last couple of weeks. We have received our visas to enter the country. The kids were excited to see the page inserted into their passport. We are still waiting on the US Consulate to issue our Article 5. Hopefully that will be issued soon and we will receive travel approval and be able to book travel. It is looking like the possibility of traveling next week is quickly dwindling. If we do not travel next week the next possible travel date is the first week of April.


Many have asked what to pray about specifically, here are a few things. The Article 5 and travel approval and of course the actual date that we travel. We are anxious to travel as soon as possible, but know that God has a plan. Pray for us as we wait, these last couple of weeks the waiting has seemed the hardest. Pray that upon meeting Addie she will bond quickly with us. Pray for her transition. Although we know this is for her good she has no idea what is about to happen. It has the potential to be a very traumatic experience for her. If you can only imagine that all of a sudden she is pulled away from everything she has ever known. We look different, we smell different,our food tastes different, and we sound different.(Even in my most fluent mandarin I'm sure it still has a southern twang to it. So far I've mastered Ni hao which is hello) Then we will fly her half way around the world and she's awake when she used to be asleep and sleeping when she used to be awake. Her world has literally been turned upside down, and there is nothing familiar to her. Thanks for your continued prayers as we walk down this road.

Faith of a Child

Believe and have faith. Faith is often easy to talk about, but hard to actually put into practice. I think my problem is that I usually think logical or practical. I need to see the cause and effect. It needs to make sense to me. In many ways this can be a good quality, however when it comes to faith I don't think God wants me to be practical. He just wants me to have faith and believe in Him.
As we have journeyed down this path of adoption I have learned so much. I have seen God in ways that I probably never would have otherwise. Faith is one of the areas that God has grown me the most this past year. I honestly feel I have a come a long way, but apparently I still have a ways to go. As I mentioned in the last post we had talked to our kids this past weekend about everything that needs to happen so that we can travel in March. We talked about how at this point it is all out of our hands, God will have to make it happen. I asked the kids if they believed God could do this and without hesitation both said they believed He could. I asked why they thought that. They said because Ann and I said He could. Just like that I say it and they believe it to be true. I realize that I need faith like that, when God says something to just have faith. When I ask God for something just believe and wait for Him to work.  We put them to bed Saturday and Landon prayed for our letter to come soon. 
I thought I had really learned something until the next morning and I realized there was more. As we sat down together as a family to eat breakfast Sunday Landon began to pray just like many other times. He thanked God for his food, family, his friends, Addie and then he said something I wasn't expecting, "God help our letter to come today so that we can get Addie on March 16th." My first thought was it's Sunday and he does not realize the government offices are closed and our letter is not coming today. And almost in an instant my heart was broken, my faith is shallow and my logic tells me it's Sunday and the letter is not coming today. Whether he realized it was Sunday or not he believed God could do anything. I'm thinking it's not possible and he believes that anything is possible with God. Most days I'm trying to teach my kids how to live their life. How to follow God, praying that they love God with all of their heart, soul, and mind. That they love their neighbor as themselves. However on days like Sunday they're teaching and I'm learning. 
The letter we have been waiting on from the NVC came on Tuesday. We forwarded it to our agency who then sent it to the US Consulate in Guangzhou. Next the US Consulate will issue an Article 5 which asks the CCCWA to issue us travel approval. Then our agency will help us arrange travel and our appointments at the US Consulate's office and then we are off to China. Today we also received our visas from China that allow us to travel. We are thankful that God continues to move things along in this process. We are continuing to pray that these next few steps happen quickly so that we can travel in March. I realize this puts our travel only three weeks away, but we are praying and believing in a God that can do anything. We would be grateful for anyone else who would like to pray with us.

"I wouldn't say it's impossible, it's just not probable."

We hope this blog will be a good way to keep everyone that is interested in our adoption process updated on what's going on. I'm sure we will write about other things as well, but right now it will mostly be about our adoption. Over the next few weeks I will probably account for everything that has brought us to this point, but wanted to write today about where we  are now. 


On Monday we received our I-800 form, this gives pre-aproval for Addie's citizenship. Right now we are waiting on a letter from the National Visa Center saying our clearance has been forwarded to the US consulate. We will then get travel approval from China and be able to schedule our travel to go and bring Addie home. It sounds simple enough, a few more steps and the process we have been in for the last 13 months is nearing an end. 


In January when we received our Letter of Acceptance(LOA) allowing us to adopt Addie our agency gave us three possible dates of travel: March 16th, April 6th, or April 13th. Right away we knew we wanted to travel on March 16th for several reasons. Obviously it is the earliest date and would bring our family together the soonest. Another reason is the kids are on spring break the last week of March and that would be less school they would have to miss. At the end of October when we found out we were going to be able to adopt Addie our agency said it would be about 6 months before we traveled, so about the end of April. Landon began asking if we could go to China and celebrate his birthday which is the end of March. We told him if everything processed quickly there was a chance that could happen. He told us he didn't want presents; Addie could be his present and we could celebrate with a moon cake. 

Since the end of October Landon has been praying for us to spend his birthday in China. He has prayed specifically to travel on March 16th since we found out that was a possible date. As we have looked at the possibilities of traveling these three different dates we have found airline tickets to be a lot less expensive for the March date. We really thought things were looking good to travel the middle of March. Wednesday as we were waiting in the airport to return home from Chick-fil-A seminar I called our agency to ask a few questions and mainly see what they thought about us still being able to travel in March. When  I asked about travel he replied, " I wouldn't say it's impossible, it's just not probable." We talked a few more minutes and I hung up the phone a little disappointed that we probably will not travel in March. He explained the time frame things usually take to happen and he just didn't see that it could happen quickly enough for us to travel. As I thought for the next several hours as we waited in the airport and flew home I realized I worship God that makes the improbable things happen. I have a Dad who cares for his children and likes to give them good things.

As we got home and were putting the kids to bed we told them about the call and reminded  them the only thing we can do is what we've been doing all along: Pray. We prayed that God would work out the details, speed the process up and allow us to be in China March 16th. We know that God is more than capable of doing the improbable; He is more than capable of doing the impossible also. God spoke and created the world in Genesis 1. In Genesis 2 he created man from the dust of the earth. In Joshua 6 God's people shouted and blew trumpets and the walls of Jericho fell. A few chapters later in Joshua 10, Joshua ask God to make the sun stand still and He does. We are not asking for the sun to stand still, just that God do the improbable and work it out so that we can travel the middle of next month. We would greatly appreciate any that would like to join us in praying.