Mizpah

     Memorial Day weekend finished up the Adoption Garage Sale Fundraiser.  I have to admit...I'm glad it's over.  Garage sales are a lot of work. My body aches, my hands are filthy, my nose is sunburned, my brain hurts from calculating change back in quarters & dimes (math is NOT my strength).  More than once over the last two weekends I've asked the Lord why in the world we are doing this. It's SOOOOO much work. The answer is this adorable face,

and the $2045 raised over the course of the three garage sale days!  Can you believe that?!  It's mind boggling.  And totally justifies the blisters & the bruises. 

     There was an elderly Filipino woman who stalked the sale on Saturday.  She obviously had a passion for Christian evangelism in her younger years, but this weekend she wondered through the tables at the sale quoting scripture and yelling out "Mizpah!" abruptly to anyone she could get within earshot of. Whether an evangelistic calling still rested on her or an ailing mind was confusing her speech was hard to tell, but she certainly grabbed your attention.  I tried to redirect her a few times, but when that failed (horribly) I conceded to the memory that God sends angels in many shapes & forms, so God bless her, and I "mizpah!"-ed right back at her. She seemed happy and then wondered off down the street belting out her own rendition of "How Great Thou Art".  It was in looking up "mizpah" when I got home that I was really touched...

"It was also called Mizpah, because he said, "May the LORD keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other."  (Gen 31:49 NIV)

Well, look at that...she was on to something. It's an adoption scripture! What a beautiful blessing over both Little One and myself while we wait to meet. I don't know that I'll be yelling "Mizpah!" to total strangers any time soon, but I think the word will have special meaning from here on out.  So, Lord I do pray you bless that lady as you are blessing Little One & I.  Whether You sent her or not, I may never know but I was oddly blessed by her.  

The UPS Dude

     I have been to the UPS store every evening this week overnighting something vital to the adoption somewhere important, so I've gotten to know the UPS Dude well. His name is Terry and he now knows how to meet ALL my mailing needs...including giving me the quickest route to catch the last UPS truck of the night that has already left the dock. (OH, I caught it alright!) 

     Of the $203.48 that I spent this week in shipping, the most treasured swipe of the credit card was for this package...

Little One's first gift.  A lovey (with my social worker appointed fragrance on it) & a story book of family photos...translated into Mandarin.  My first hope is that this package actually arrives (apparently not all countries have the sleet-snow-rain-sun mantra that our postmen have), and my second is that Little One's foster mother sits with our guy on her lap & reads him the story of the people who love him in the crazy American town with a Space Needle...for his sake and for hers.  Little One has been in her home and in her arms for over a year now.  I want her to know that he will be safe and loved and cared for...
     UPS Dude-Terry says he'll do everything he can to get this precious package where it needs to go.  UPS Dude-Terry has no reason to lie to me so I believe he might actually put this package on the plane himself!  Who knew that a UPS Dude would be a part of our story?!

Adoption Grants

A HUGE thank you to the Ibsen Adoption Network and their generous grant of $1000 to bring Little One home!

If you are looking for ways to help support and encourage the adoption of children with special needs, please consider Ibsen.  They are helping bring my son home!

The Best Checkbox EVER

      I got to hold this precious piece of paper for all of 5minutes today between rushing home from work to meet the UPS man & rushing to the UPS office to have it over-nighted back.  I check a lot of boxes & sign a lot of papers during my day...but this box & this signature...probably my best work EVER.

Loving Him Home

One year ago today, I called together my close friends & pastors to discuss the call of adoption into my family.  After two hours of discussion & prayer we went around the circle and 'voted', as it were, and (thankfully!) the group response was: "Yeah! We're adopting!!"  The adoption journey started.

Three months ago today, China officially accepted my dossier and I received my Logged In Date.  Nine months of meticulous record keeping, filing and organization came to a screeching halt.  There was now nothing more I could do to propel the process forward, except w-a-i-t.

One week ago today, I was given the depressing news that there was a very real possibility that I was still 4-6months away from wrapping my arms around my son.  I asked my case worker to hold while I cried on the phone; she waited patiently and then walked me through the rush of paperwork that would need to get done when my Letter of Acceptance finally arrived...and oh, by the way there are only squatty potties in Little One's country, so be prepared.  I didn't know which piece of information was more depressing.

Today, I received my Letter of Acceptance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  This means that China has officially accepted me as Little One's forever mommy. Shy of one signature while I'm in China, he is mine & I am his & we are us!  (About time, eh?!)   The rush of immigration paperwork as started: extra passport photos, notarized letters, money orders & tons of photo copies. By the end of the week, couriers will take one packet to the Chinese Embassy and another to US Immigration.   I'm praying both agencies will process these packets QUICKLY so the travel agency can do their thang!  A third package will be sent to Little One directly...his first gift from his forever mommy and his first look at the family who has been loving him home...

First family photo
Little One, 9months old

Please continue to pray for favor over the remaining bits of paperwork and for God's perfect timing. And keep checking back for updates!

Yard Sale

Yard sales are a lot of work. 

For nearly 6months donations have been stacking up in my garage. About 3 months ago my Jeep got kicked out of it's nightly home to make room for additional donations. It was a good problem to have when you're fundraising...but as you can see, slightly overwhelming for this super-organized, type A personality.

Hello, palpitations.

While we got rained out on day two of the yard sale, the first day was awesome!  The sun was shining and people brought their pocket books.

Look at ALL that stuff!

A LOT of dimes & quarters flying around.

Here is my little buddy Caleb manning his lemonade stand. 

It was a BIG hit on a 70 degree day in Seattle.

The total amount raised in one day...?

$650!!!

That is the exact cost of Little One's return ticket set to come home. Isn't that awesome?! Totally worth 6months of a messy garage. :)

Given the large amount of goods still left over, we are going to try the sale again next weekend and see what happens. Praying for TWO sunny days! 

Moses's Birth Mom

     I have been kind of obsessed, of late, with the story of Moses's mother, Jochebed. (Yo-heav-ed).  As you recall, Pharaoh had grown fearful of the growing numbers of Hebrew slaves under his evil rule so he ordered the Hebrew midwives to kill all the male newborns (Exodus 1).  Thankfully, they did not (good job ladies!) which allowed the birth of Moses to Jochebed and her husband Amram (Exodus 2:2). By then, Egyptian soldiers had been ordered to cast every male infant into the Nile so for Jochebed to care for her child in public would be certain death.  She hid her sweet tiny Moses for three months and then was faced with a horrible decision: to save her son's life she had to 'give him away'.  In fact, the safest place for him was floating alone in the same river that carried the blood of every other Hebrew infant male.  Can you imagine her absolute & total heartbreak?!

     I'll skip ahead a few verses to Pharaoh's daughter finding Moses in the reeds, having compassion on him, adopting Moses KNOWING he was a Hebrew (a trans-cultural adoption!)  needing a wet nurse, and hiring...Jochebed!  In fact, little Moses stayed with his birth family until he was fully weaned, which most likely was five plus years of age (breastfeeding was WAY different back then). Now, you cannot tell me that Moses didn't know exactly who his birth mother was growing up.  Developmentally speaking the long-term memory of most children 'turn on' about age 3, which gave Jochebed (& probably Amram) 2-3 years of speaking their love, culture & God's word into their son's life. I've read that Jochebed most likely had access to Moses growing up in Pharaoh's palace. Therefore, Moses was in an open adoption!

      I find myself with an overwhelming protection of Jochebed's status in this story.  I've read that adoption was not an inherent part of Hebrew culture, so when Jochebed placed her sweet love in that basket in the river, the level of faith she had to believe that God would provide a safe home for her son was THROUGH THE ROOF, and absolutely unprecedented.  Ultimately, God blessed her faith with the opportunity to continue to raise her son (oh, and that little detail of her son bringing more than one million children of Israel into the Promise Land).  But this is what gets me...if we were to apply the terminology of today's culture, would Jochebed would be labeled a 'bad mom' who 'gave up her child'?  Of course, we have the benefit of 4,000 years of history to prove that she was not & did not, but how often have you heard the phrase in conversation about a woman contemplating adoption "I don't now how she could just give her baby away" or "did she keep the baby or give it up?"   I'm sad that American culture is not inherently supportive of adoption. Do we really know the hearts & circumstances of birth moms considering placing their child in God's hands? What if...just what if, God can work a miracle through the faith of that precious birth mother?

   As I've been getting to know Jochebed, I've challenged myself to look at adoption through her eyes and to think deeply about my son's birth mother.  She lives in a culture that does not support raising a child with special needs.  I wonder how dangerous it would have been for her to raise our Little One in her community?  Would her family have supported her?  Would she been able to work & provide for his medical needs? Did she know when she placed him 'in the river' that it would take him to the shores of the Puget Sound?  How much she must have loved Little One to entrust him in God's hands like that! I'm looking forward to the day that Little One & I are a COMPLETED family with his birth mother in Heaven! (Maybe we'll have lunch with Jochebed & Moses!)
           Happy Birth Mother's Day to my son's birth mother.  I hope you know how much I respect you. Please know, I will do everything in my power to raise Little One to honor your love for OUR son.

(artist unknown)

Immeasurably More

FIVE HUNDRED more dollars this week!! 

This is amazing!  God is SO good!

OK...I've got to tell this story.  There are no hidden messages or requests for donations,  just an awesome testimony of how God works:

     Six weeks ago, a sweet family in Texas (whom I have never met), who has been following our adoption story via the blog, sent me their tithe check.  They too are an adoptive family and felt led to give what they could despite feeling some financial crunch.  In fact, as the story came to me, this family had written their check and then within days their car broke down...the total to fix the car was the exact amount of the check sitting in unmailed envelope. They mailed the check anyway and believed God would provide.  AND HE DID.  Within a very short amount of time this family received a call that someone else had felt led to give this family a new car! (Hello, Bob Barker!)  I, of course, was touched!  The ripples of God moving in my little family's life was touching total strangers half a country away. This is just cool! 

     Fast forward three weeks.  I somehow had forgotten that I serve the Creator of the universe, who provides every breath I breathe, "holds my every moment & calms my raging sees" (love that song!), and was kvetching in prayer about the cost of adoption, yada-yada, and if I could just put my tithe towards the cost things I'd be closer to the final goal. God, in His sweetness, said "you can't do that, but you CAN put it towards someone else's adoption costs".  Yeah? But who? I don't even know anyone who is adopting right now.  Within minutes I got a text about a local family (whom I had never heard of) holding an adoption garage sale for their SON WITH DOWN SYNDROME coming home from Eastern Europe. Really, Lord?  Is it that easy?  I prayerfully went & scoped them out and felt overwhelming confirmation that this was the family.  I slipped them my check, remembering the family in Texas who blessed me, I prayed that this family would also be blessed, and drove away repenting that I had been so selfish.

     It has been less than 10days since I left that garage sale and m-u-l-t-i-p-l-e unexpected donations have arrived in my mailbox totaling THREE TIMES that of the check I left behind!!!!   I don't even know what to say to that! I had asked to keep a single tithe check, not even considering God's plan to bless me with immeasurably more that I could have imagined (Eph 3:20)...if I stepped out believing in His promise to provide (Phil 4:19). Thank you sweet -Texas-family for modeling that for me! 

     THANK YOU again to the amazing people who are giving to the Lord through my little family.  I pray that you not only receive His blessing, but that you get to see the ripples of your faith!!

    

Surprise Donations

     FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS in surprise donations this week!!  Look at the thermometer on the right -------> that's $21, 445 raised thus far!!  Thank you, thank you, thank you to all the wonderful people who are helping to bring Little One home!!  I am so very blessed...



     In other news...the adoption garage sale has been scheduled for May 18th & 19th.  Details to follow.  Spread the word!