What a weekend!

This weekend was a whirlwind to say the least!  We had our fundraiser garage sale on Friday and Saturday. In addition to raising money to bring home our sweet guy, here are some highlights of the weekend:

*starting weeks ago, we had so many generous people donate items for the garage sale. The amount of stuff we had was somewhat overwhelming…but what a great problem to have!

*When I announced on Facebook that we wanted to do a bake sale, I had 6 people within 20 minutes offer to bake! All of these people were from ZPS (what an awesome place that I get to work!).

*Our sale was set to open at 12:30 on Friday…Chris had a rush of people shortly before 11:00!

*Shoppers were so generous, many making donations or offering that we “keep the change”!

*Many acquaintances who were unable to make it to the sale donated instead!

*The neighbor boys visited the sale often. At one point, one asked “how much more money do you need to adopt him?” He was bound and determined that we would raise enough money to cover the entire adoption!

*We got to meet a sweet, sweet little girl from the subdivision across the road who was adopted from China (their family even went through the same agency from Colorado). Sam had so much fun playing with her!

*So many people asked about our little guy, his health condition, when we get to travel, our adoption journey…and shared their experiences and support.

THANK YOU to everyone who helped us in ANY way. We appreciate it!

Garage Sale Fundraiser

To help raise money to bring our little guy home from China...and to help pay for medical expenses once he is here...we are having a garage sale fundraiser! 

Friday, May 2 from 12:30-5:00 and Saturday, May 3 from 9:00-3:00. 

3618 Lohman Drive

Hamilton, MI 49419

(this is just west of Hamilton High School)

Here are some of the items available:

TOYS: Fisher Price, Baby Einstein, Little Tykes...

KID GEAR: Britax boosters, Chicco, ...

 CLOTHING  & PURSES: American Eagle, Lucky, BKE, Big Star, Coach, Vera Bradley, Ann Taylor Loft, Banana Republic, North Face, Gymboree, Gap...

 HOME DECORATING, APPLIANCES, ELECTRONICS: Pampered Chef, Pottery Barn, decor from Great Lakes, UBU, True Vine Creations...

FURNITURE: Broyhill, Pottery Barn, Flexsteel, Craftsman, Herman Miller...

SPORTS & HUNTING GEAR: football, baseball, camouflage... 

This is just a sample of the items that we have. I'll keep posting pictures of available items!

Please feel free to send information along to friends and family...the more shoppers the better!

Welcome!

Yesterday, while Chris, Sam, and I read Jesus Calling, our morning devotions taught us 3 little words: Trust. Wait. Hope. The devotions went on to explain that faith begins with trust… choose to trust His way more than our way. Then, wait. God will answer our prayers, but it will be in His perfect time and in His perfect way. But, while waiting, hope.

This devotion came at just the right time for our family. I’m sure all adoptive families experience discouragement and frustration. That’s where we have been at the last week or so. It is such a “hurry up and wait” process – we rush to get paperwork completed and sent out, only to find that it takes forever to process. In all honesty, we haven’t been in the adoption process that long that I should even complain, but I just said to Chris this week that everything just takes so long and “it feels like it is never going to happen.”

So, after reading that devotion, I felt a little guilty (or a lot guilty). Of course I realized how impatient I had been! Chris and I talked that we did need to trust that God knows our baby, but that we needed to wait until God decided we were ready to reveal him/her to us. In the meantime, hope that our baby is protected and that God will help us to prepare our family for a new addition. This seemed really easy to say, but really hard to do…but what other choice is there?!

WELL, TODAY WAS THE DAY THAT GOD DID REVEAL THE SWEET PEANUT THAT HE HAS PLANNED TO BE PART OF OUR FAMILY!!!

Chris received the call from our agency in Colorado this morning, saying that we have been matched with the sweetest little boy. Naturally, Chris called me at school. In 13 years of teaching, I don’t think I’ve ever cried in front of my students before. Well, today it was all out sobbing and shaking! There was not much holding back! What an emotionally draining, but thrilling day it has been!

Now…the details. We can’t say much, only that it is a boy and he is ADORABLE. Seriously, I know I’m the mama, but this babe is ridiculously cute! Now that I’m not bawling anymore, his face just makes me giggle. He is 1.5 years old and chubby as can be. Really, is there anything more precious than a chubby Chinese baby?! He does have a congenital heart defect, which will require further surgery once he is home. Tomorrow begins the process of meeting with doctors and discussing his heart condition. We hope to learn more, find treatment options, and begin to wrap our minds around what this will look like. We are absolutely blessed to live so close to excellent medical teams.

As we begin to prepare for welcoming our babe into our home and seeking medical advice, we would greatly appreciate your prayers. We cannot wait for all of you to see and meet our little guy!

P.S. Can you tell there is an excited Grandma? She's already made a run to TipToes! Of course, the boys needed matching Great Wall of China pajamas!

Generosity

So, yesterday I had the day off from school. That meant I had quite an extensive to-do-list. A good chunk of  that list was in relation to our next adoption fundraiser (the pancake breakfast and hunting outing on Saturday at our church). I wanted to sit down and run calculations of how many people to expect...get food priced and bought... decorations planned...an email reminder sent out.

Well, I didn't get around to all of that. Thanks to a little Chinese woman, my plans changed. Thanks to a little Chinese woman, I was reminded to stop focusing on all these "details". I was reminded that God has already shown that He provides and has placed some generous people in our lives.


Around 11:00 yesterday morning, Chris and I walked into the Asian market in Muskegon, looking for a few ingredients we needed for our Chinese New Year/Spring Festival party. The store was relatively small, but PACKED with clothing, drinks, food, vitamins, etc. Of course, none of the packages were written in English! So, after wandering aimlessly for a while, an older Chinese woman approached us to ask what we needed. Considering the language barrier, Chris did his best to explain what we were looking for. After some pointing and saying the few Chinese words he knew, she figured out what food we needed, but had a question: why? I guess she doesn't get many very Dutch-looking, English speaking couples in the shop looking for authentic Chinese foods! Not knowing how to describe it, Chris simply said, "we're adopting". The smile on her face showed that she knew what he meant!

That woman, who could not have been more than 4.5 feet tall, became a flurry of activity. She not only helped us find what we came in for, she also showed us other items that we, and our baby, might like. The entire time she smiled from ear to ear, almost giddy.

After we paid for our items, she threw her hands in the air and said "calendar" and proceeded to pull out a box of them.  This woman showed us several different Chinese calendars. Honestly, we weren't quite sure why she was showing us these. Was she was just really excited about them? Was she wanting us to buy one? We must have looked confused because she handed one to me saying "You adopt. For you. Your baby. China. I wrap."

We left the store with way more than we had planned on, much of which came about because of this woman's generosity. Sure, her generosity won't help cover the check that I had to write today. But in a lot of ways it was more important because it didn't have anything to do with writing a check...it had to do with love. She was generous with her time to show us around; she was generous with her excitement; she was generous with her possessions.

I realized that I didn't need to just run calculations and price food, I needed to give thanks for the generous people that God had placed in our lives through this adoption. So, for those of you who have helped us financially, offered prayers, or shown us love...Thank you!

 

Why?

Although we announced our adoption a few months ago, Chris and I still are often asked variations of the same question: Why adopt? Our answer is simple.

Because our child is in China.

There is a birth mother in China that, for either physical, financial, or cultural reasons, is not able to care for her child. God has asked us to step into this role.

You see, adoption is not our "plan B".

It seems that often people think that adoption happens when a couple cannot have children...that adoption is a "last resort". We have not experienced infertility. In fact, the opposite is true. I have been pregnant multiple times. True, we have had many heart-wrenching pregnancy struggles. We have experienced everything from miscarriage to ectopic to delivering Sam. It is exactly for that reason that Chris and I must adopt.

During one of our miscarriages, I realized that, while I could not deliver and care for my child, God could. Not only could he, He willingly is doing so! I cannot see my babies we've lost, but I have peace knowing that they are being taken care of in a safe and loving place. I am humbled that I can do that for someone else. 

Five years ago, Chris and I gave birth to Sam and we thank God everyday for him. That boy melts my heart! Our 5 year old is curious, enthusiastic, and creative. Most importantly though, he is made in God's image. More than 100,000 abandoned children from newborn to age seventeen are living in orphanages across China. Over 95% of these children are impacted by minor, major, or multiple physical conditions. All of them are also made in God's image.

I recently read that adoption is not a “spur of the moment decision. Neither is it a haphazard, emotional decision to do something good for someone else. It is a conscious decision to limit one’s own options and pleasures for the sake of extending the story of God to children who, without a link to you, may never discover their link to God”. So, we do not rejoice in the fact that children are abandoned or living in overcrowded, impoverished orphanages, but we do rejoice in the knowledge that God has a child set aside for us and that we can be that link to Him!