As of Wednesday May 14th we have been matched with a sweet little 4 year old girl in China. We cannot begin to tell you how much we believe God completely orchestrated this match, as he did with Ellie. He has been instrumental in both of our adoptions and we are so very thankful for His presence in these journeys. They can be long and tedious, emotional and costly and filled with both brokenness and joy.

Prior to about a two weeks ago we did not know who this little girl was and as we were working towards a completed and approved home study and knowing the “matching” process would be a logical next step we were a little anxious, both in wanting to find our child and wanting to follow God’s lead. And then there she was! The same week our home study was completd and approved we saw her face and knew she was who God intended us to run after. The story surrounding this was no accident. God placed opportunities and moments in our path so we would find her. Brian has become invovled with an organization called RODS, where the mission is to bring orphans with Down syndrome home to their forever families. They work to raise money to help ease the costs of bringing these kids home. Through his invovlment we became aware and began inquiring about a little girl and in that found out she was actually through our current placement agency. If you have not adopted before or are uncertain as to how it all works, you need a placement agency to work with you during the matching and all the documents to allow the match leading up to travel. We had chosen to go with Agape several months ago due to a file they had on a child that we felt very drawn too. However, we were not the only family seeking that child out and she was matched with another family a few months ago that had an approved home study (we were still in the midst of ours). In that moment, despite it feeling hard, we felt assured that God had led us to use Agape through this child because another child would be presented to us, and she was, 3 months later, through our connection with RODS.

So, what’s next? We submitted our Letter of Interest (LOI) for this specific child. This has been submitted to China and they will likely provide us with Pre Approval (PA). Typically they would also give something called a Letter of Acceptance (LOA) but they are currently not giving those due to the hault in some of their adoption processees at this time. But we will still push on, beginning work on collecting all documents necessary to submit our Dossier, waiting on our finger printing appointment and applying for some much needed adoption grants for the expenses to come. The timeline is unpredictable. With Ellie it took 12 months from start to finish. We know this is very unlikely given the closed borders and little movement towards reopening. But we remain faithful in God’s timing for this and there are things going on behind the scenes to get things moving again. Families are advocating with government officials and moving them towards finding ways that may potentially allow families to travel again to bring their children home. We are not giving up! China has been closed for over a year and we know there are hundreds of families ahead of us that have been waiting that entire time, some who were prapared to travel in March of 2020 when the world shut down. They had already completed all necessary steps and were simple waiting on their travel dates, they had known their child for almost a year in pictures, videos and updates and suddenly their ability to get them and bring them home was delayed. It has been excruciating for these families and all of those that have come after them. This is the reality we knew we were stepping into but we truly feel our hearts are in China and after seeing this sweet little girls face we know we will continue to move forward and pray daily for China’s borders to open, not just for us but for all those other families waiting.

We have already begun to raise funds to pay for fees as they come and have been blessed by friends, family and complete strangers. This past weekend Paul Paschal ran 94 miles on the White Pine Trail to raise money for our family’s adoption and to bring awareness to adoption. In one day we were able to raise close to $6500! It was absolutely amazing and Brian and I have both said that even if we thanked everyone who donated and/or prayed those words would seem insufficient to describe how we actullly felt in regards to this. A thank you just does not do it justice. So, if you donated and/or prayed please know that our basic “thank you” was coming from a place deep down in our hearts that were overjoyed and so grateful for everything, a place where words just do not do the job. And the sacrifice that Paul and his family made that day, spending their entire day running/supporting his running, was amazing. We had never met them until this past Saturday when Brian met Paul at 3:30am to join him for a couple miles at the start. But Paul has a heart for this, he was an orphan himself and his family is now seeking to adopt a child from South Korea. They wanted to pay it forward, as they have been blessed with others generosity. So they put an offer out to Rebecca (Clara’s Cookies–a fundraiser we did the last time) and she pointed them to us and that was it!

And now we are on to the next fundraiser, one thought of and planned for by our children when we were in the process of adopting Ellie. A Memorial Day weekend Lemonade stand. The last time they sat outside at the end of our driveway for 3 days and raised just over $800. It was so impactful and powerful for them to see the generosity of so many and to feel their work being a part of bringing their sister home. So they intend to do it again and are so excited! So, if you are around that weekend come out and see them! We will share exact days and times as we get closer.

We also continue to have our sock fundraiser! I know it’s getting warmer and most of us are gladly putting those socks away but you can always stock up for fall! And Michigan is super unpredictable so you might need them out at some point this summer:) We have a goal to sale 600 packs of socks. We sold 500 the last time and believe we can do that again plus some! You can use the link below to shop for some fun funky socks: https://go.wehelptwo.com/campaign/?campaignid=11144

Thank you again for continuing to follow our journey and pray for our family. We could not do this without our village and we appreciate each of you!

Recently we were connected with the Paschal Family. They are currently in the adoption process as well and awaiting a match. One of the ways their family raised funds for their adoption was through running. Paul Paschal is an avid runner who has ran some pretty impressive miles! In fact, he ran 100 miles during their fundraising efforts!! Paul has now offered to run 94 miles on May 15 on the White Pine Trail in hopes of supporting us in our adoption efforts. Can you imagine if someone you had just met said “sure, I’ll run a bunch of miles to help raise money for your family!” What a selfless and caring act this is! When we started our first adoption process we were blown away by people we had never met who stepped out in faith with us and supported us along our journey. Going into this adoption we continue to have complete faith that God will place people and opportunities into our path to do the same, and here He is doing it! So, as we run the race to adopt again, Paul will graciously be giving us his time and using his gifts to run for us. This journey can be weary so it’s absolutely a blessing to have people like the Paschal family to come alongside us. See the link below to follow his journey and see how you can donate towards our adotpion through sponsored miles.

https://www.facebook.com/Paul-Paschal-Heartland-Hundred-100595141844943/

And if you’d like to follow their journey, check out their blog.

https://bethanypaschal.wixsite.com/website

After bringing Ellie home in November 2019 Brian and I knew we would adopt again but did not put a time frame on it, as we wanted to adjust as a family of 6. Our plan was to begin the process once Andrew got a bit closer to high school graduation. However, as we found out the first time around God’s plan always trumps our plan and when we listen to His plan things begin to unfold in ways we would have never imagined. So, here we are, a bit sooner than we had anticipated but fully open to the plan God has set forth. We are currently in the home study process, very close to being done! We are seeking to adopt another little girl from China living with Down syndrome, somewhat close to Ellie’s age. We fully believe that God has a child picked out just for our family.

We know there are many obstacles to this, as China has been closed to families traveling to adopt children for over a year. We know there are so many families that have been waiting to bring their children home since they closed and we pray daily that China will open up to these families and for future families. We know that God goes before us and is beside us every step of the way and we trust in His goodness.

As we learned the first time around there are expenses in adopting a child. However, we experienced generosity and blessings beyond words during that time and have faith it will happen again. We will be doing some fundraisers and we will be applying for as many grants as we can. Please pray as we move forward in these things, that they will allow us to offset many of the costs of bringing another child home and that we will remain encouraged by this.

Speaking of fundraisers our first one is live!! We have once again partnered with We Help Two! We are so excited for our friends and family to be able to pruchase new socks, I mean it’s been a couple of years. And, this fundraiser is perfect timing as we enter March and prepare to celebrate World Down syndrome day on March 21 with our funky socks. Some quick information on our sock fundraiser:

• We currently hold the record for sock sales for an adoption fundraiser through We Help Two (our goal is to break this!)
• For each pack of socks sold we will get a pair of warm socks to distribute to a local shelter. Last time around we delivered over 500 pairs of socks to Met Trotter Ministries (see picture below)
• For each pack of socks sold ($15) we receive $9 towards our adoption
• We Help Two has some great, fun new designs to choose from! (see picture below)
• Visit our fundraiser directly to order your socks using this link: https://go.wehelptwo.com/campaign/?campaignid=11144

As most of you are aware, we have made it home after being in China for 16 days to adopt and bring Ellie home. Brian and I traveled to China while our kids stayed home with Brian’s parents. They were loved and cared for by so many and we are so grateful for all those who took time to make sure they were doing well in our absence. It’s so hard to be away for so long but the love they were surrounded by was reassuring and allowed us to stay focused on the reason we were away, fulfilling God’s plan for our family in bringing Ellie home. Prior to leaving this was our focus and our prayer with our children to prepare for our separation, to stay focused on the finish line and the reasons behind this separation. We have never been so proud of our children. They were strong, courageous and just amazing. They had their moments but they were focused and wanted so desperately for Ellie to be home, understanding and accepting what it would take for that to happen.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

While in China Brian and I were able to take advantage of some touring, including visiting the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City, Beijing and Tiananmen Square prior to traveling to Ellie’s province. This also allowed us to adjust to the 12 hour time difference! After being in China for 3 days we traveled with our guide to Hebei Province from Beijing via the bullet train. Once there we then traveled by car to Handan City where Ellie’s orphanage was located. Meeting Ellie was amazing, it’s actually hard to even describe. The experience was nothing short of God’s plan coming full circle. This little girl we had met on paper and fallen in love with was now in our arms and it felt like she had been there forever. All that waiting, all the questioning, yearning and doubting were done. And not only were we blessed to have her placed into our arms and become a part of our family but we were also able to meet her foster parents (they were referred to as grandparents). This family that had taken such good care of our little girl for over 3 years were nothing short of amazing. You could see and feel the bond they had with her and the love they felt towards her as they expressed a desire for her to be a part of a family with children, to feel a part of something so much bigger. The sadness of her being placed away from them was combined with their absolute happiness in seeing her with her forever family. This is one of the parts of adoption that feels so broken, so hard, but just as her foster family found beauty in this brokenness through the sacrifices they made for her, so do we. Ellie was able to go with us that evening. After completing all the necessary paperwork in province the following day we left the next day to travel by plane to Guangzhou China where we would complete Ellie’s medical and visa appointments and experience some additional tours.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

During our travel we were accompanied by 5 other families through Bethany Christian Services. These people became our people, we toured together, ate meals together, worked through adjustment issues together and just kept each other going each day. We are so grateful for these families! Brian and I prayed God would place people into our lives through this experience and those we traveled with were all placed there for a reason. And interestingly enough 2 of the 5 other families were from west Michigan!

• 

• 

Ellie did great, considering the circumstances, on the trip home. We took a flight from Guangzhou to Beijing and then had a 7 hour layover in Beijing before heading to Detroit. Then it was just a short wait and a quick plane ride to Grand Rapids! We were greeted by our family and friends and able to finally hug our kids and be reunited as a family. Another moment in this process that is hard to describe in words. The feeling of being together as a family of 6!

• 

• 

We are so thankful for those of you who prayed for us before, during and now after our adoption journey. We felt completely covered in God’s love and guidance. This process has been life changing for our entire family. It has been faith building and has provided both joy and challenges beyond anything we could have ever thought imaginable. We know there will be more joy and challenges ahead but we know God will still be there, walking alongside us in these moments, celebrating in times of joy and lifting us up in challenging times.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

The last time I updated the blog we were “rounding the last corner.” Well, we rounded it and we are sprinting to the finish to bring our sweet girl home. It’s hard to believe but Brian and I will be leaving for China on October 23! Yes, you read that correctly, we are leaving next week!!!

We will try to provide updates via this blog while we are there but might have challenges with that. So, just so you know the travel plans (if you want them!)…….when we first arrive we get to do some sightseeing/touring first before traveling to Ellie’s province on October 27. We will likely meet her and have her officially become a Gard on October 28! After spending some time in her province we will make our way to the embassy where we will eventually fly home from on November 8.

Most of the time when I sit down to write these updates out I have a lot to say but today I am somewhat at a loss for words, but yet overflowing with so many emotions and thoughts! Lately I have thought mostly of Ellie’s foster mom and birth mom and the sacrifice they have both given to allow us to be her forever family. It brings about joy and sadness all at once, as we are joyful for their sacrifice but sad by the grief our sweet girl will endure in this transition. I have been fortunate to surround myself with some pretty incredible and wise people who have given us insight on their experiences and one in particular said to me just yesterday, “give her space to grieve, you’ve spent months falling in love with her and she is just now being introduced to you.” These are wise words from someone who has lived it, who gets it and who cares for these sweet children. So, pray for this process, pray she can grieve and move through all the good and bad moments and feel love from us along the way. Pray for us to be patient and aware in these moments. And pray for her foster mom for pouring into her for the past 3 years and then letting her go and her biological mom for giving her life and allowing her light to shine in this world.

And please pray for a smooth, safe trip for us, but more importantly, pray for our sweet kiddos. They have been on board since day one, despite the unknowns. They have stood alongside us in each moment and felt excitement and uncertainty all at once by this process. They have asked questions, had conversations, but never resisted any of it. Being away from them for over 2 weeks will be so hard. We are all struggling with this. Each of us handling it in our own ways but together focused on the finish line. We have a village left back to care for and love on them and we are so grateful for that. We have been surrounded by so many friends and family during this process and we could not have moved through this journey without them. The love is palpable. And God knew all this, all these moments, all these interactions, all these emotions and thoughts right from the beginning. He knew how it would grow our family, how it would challenge us, how it would change us. But He also knew the worth behind it and so He sent us on this journey and we could not have done it on our own. He knew all of this and He knows how it will continue and if there is one thing we know for sure, He will be there right along with us, carrying us through all the moments to come, no matter what they may be because this was His plan for us all along.

Sometimes it is hard for us to see God’s vision or plan for our lives, but if we trust in Him and have faith, He will guide us down the road that He’s built especially for us. And who wants to miss that!? We can’t wait to share with you a picture of the amazing gift our family has received on this road that God built just for us. Stay tuned!!!

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
Proverbs 3:5-6

If I had a way to explain what part of the process we are in I would say we are at the point in a marathon where you are rounding that last turn before you hit the straight away to the finish line. It’s still the point of exhaustion but with determination and grit you just keep digging because you know once you get around that last turn you will see the finish line in front of you. It’s an exciting and anxiety provoking place to be where you feel uncertain and elated, tired and energized all at once and feeling like you could fall over but some how you just keep going, sometimes feeling like you could run another marathon! What does this all mean in the adoption world…..it means we received our official I800 approval….what does that mean? It means Ellie is eligible for classification as a convention adoptee and we are finalizing the immigration process! This also means we now get to apply for her visa. The last step we will complete before travel. The last step!!

Yesterday Brian and I celebrated our 15 year anniversary by purchasing visas for each other…..travel visas that is! We made a trip to Chicago to the Chinese Consulate. All went smoothly but it made for a very long day. But it is done……

A few more exciting updates are:
-We received our grant from Show Hope….yeah!!!
-We also received a grant through Bethany Christian Services and the Bamboo Project…..double yeah!!!
-Our team, Ellie’s Entourage, will be walking this Saturday at the Step Up for Down syndrome walk with the Down Syndrome Association of West Michigan and have about 20+ walkers who will be a part of our team. Brian’s Aunt Andrea did our team shirts for us and we can’t wait to get a big group picture of Ellie’s Entourage! Her village is already so amazing!!
-We continue to shuffle bedrooms around and add Andrew’s bedroom to the basement. If you could say a prayer for continued progress with these projects that would be awesome! The last thing we want to do is come home with Ellie with home projects still needing to be completed….yikes!

Clara Cookies recently held one more fundraising opportunity for us at the Farmers Market during the labor day holiday weekend. Unfortunately we were out of town that weekend so we had some amazing friends and family volunteer to run the table for us! Have we mentioned how amazing Ellie’s village really is!?! We are blessed by so many!

• 

Keep those prayers coming, God has moved mightily in this process! Our next update should be travel dates!! We have been told to expect our travel approval at the end of October, with travel likely occurring in November. We know in actuality it will be in God’s timing, as he has made that abundantly clear as we have moved through this process. So we pray for His timing. And in the meantime, we long for the joy we will feel when they place Ellie into our arms!!

“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings of eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31

WOW, what an amazing update we have to share! On August 16 2019 we received notification from China that they had translated and reviewed our dossier and we were approved to officially adopt Ellie! So, on August 21, 2019 we checked the box, signed and submitted it back, acknowledging that we agree to adopt our sweet little girl. This is a huge step in the adoption process.

So, what’s next……
-We now submit our LOA document with more documents (I800 and I864W–don’t you love all these document names!?!) to the USCIS (US Citizen and Immigration Services) that once approved will finalize the immigration process. Once we receive that notice we will then file something called a DS-260 to the US Consulate in Guangzhou China on behalf of Ellie, which is an application for immigrant visa and alien registration. The completion of this will eventually trigger our appointment date and time! We have consulted with the China Team at Bethany and will be participating in a travel call to discuss all things travel in early October. We have been told that based on current time lines we will likely travel to get Ellie in November. We have also been told that we will likely receive 1-2 weeks notice before travel…..yikes! So, as we move ahead we will be applying for our travel visas, completing travel forms and will begin working with a travel agency connected to Bethany to talk about flights.

And as we wait we have begun moving bedrooms around so our house is a bit under construction, as we shift Ian into Andrew’s room, get Ian’s room ready for Ellie and add a bedroom to our basement for Andrew (lucky for Addison she stays put!). This seems like such a daunting process……but we are again blessed by so many who are willing to help! We cannot begin to express how thankful we have been and continue to be for our village.

We also continue to raise funds and wait to hear back on grants we have applied for. As mentioned in our previous update we did receive a $3000 matching grant through Lifesong for Orphans: https://mystory.lifesongfororphans.org/stories/gods-plan-becomes-plan/. We were so grateful for this gift and were able to hit the $3000 to be matched and beyond already! We are in awe with each donation that comes in. I have said this before and I will keep saying this but this process has been so amazing for so many reasons. The experience of watching others so selflessly give and desire to be a part of this little girls story is overwhelming. We make sure to celebrate each donation with our children, allowing them to see the goodness in others and how much our family is loved and to show them the many ways God continuously opens doors for us to bring Ellie home.

We continue to wait to see if we are awarded a grant through Show Hope. We applied back in April and have been told our application will go before the board TODAY and we should hear back from them the first week of September….woo hoo! As we wait for their response we also have applied for 2 others, Angels in Disguise, which is an adoption grant specific to families adopting a child with Down syndrome and Every Child Has a Dream. This grant tends to place their focus on providing grants to families seeking to adopt children with special needs, waiting children or families adopting sibling sets.

At the end of July a family, who is also adopting, reached out to us and encouraged us to reach out to Bethany Christian Services regarding something called the Janna Fund. We had not heard about this fund and had no information about it. This family had reached out to us after talking with the couple connected with this fund. They felt that God was working in the midst of this interaction. We were so thankful they followed God’s lead on this one because on August 7, after supplying a family picture and adoption testimony, our adoption case worker contacted us to tell us we were being awarded the Janna Fund! This was so amazing! Something not even on our radar, a fund that we were told even our case worker was surprised we had been awarded because a family had already benefited from it and it is typically only given to one family per year we would be blessed with! We have firmly believed and trusted that God carved our adoption path so long ago and continues to provide resources to make it a reality. This is just one of so many examples that have affirmed our belief in His plan. Our God is so amazing!

Along with that beautiful gift we also closed out our Clara Cookies sales for July and the whole month was filled with evidence of God’s blessings! So many cookies were sold and local businesses got involved including:
-having a table at the sidewalk sales outside of SheActive boutique
-having a collection jar at Rouge River Crossfit, who also ended up purchasing socks from our We Help Two campaign to fill their swag bags for an event they are having in September. Our sock fundraiser is still going strong but will be closing out soon so if you need more socks visit our site at:
https://go.wehelptwo.com/campaign/?campaignid=1835
-Herman’s Boy has a offered to have a change jar set out for us for the whole month of August!
-We also will have a table at the Rockford Farmers’ market labor day weekend to sale more Clara Cookies, with profits benefiting Ellie. These cookies are amazing and so is the lady in charge (Rebecca!)….check them out at:
https://www.claracookies.com/

• 

• 

• 

• 

So basically our community is pretty amazing!!!

We also received a grant from the Down syndrome Association of West Michigan (DSAWM). This organization has been such a great support and resource throughout this process! This is the same organization hosting the walk in September that we are participating in for Ellie. There is still time to join our team and walk along side us as part of “Ellie’s Entourage!” Follow the link below to join us in September.
https://dsawm.ezeventsolutions.com/StepUp/ElliesEntourage

We are so excited and nervous about the months to come. As we take steps forward towards bringing Ellie home we are certain that God is leading the way. I would be lying if I said that the only emotion I feel is joy. It’s hard to face all the emotions that come along with this process, especially when they are feelings of uncertainty, fear, anxiety, etc. Don’t get me wrong I feel all sorts of joy in my heart, but those are all present too. Being Honest about feelings in this process feels awkward but I think it’s important. There are highs and lows, questions and certainties, joy and fear. The more I start talking about these things the more “normal” they become and the more accepting I become of everything that comes along with this. Of course I am not saying I have it all figured out, but I (along with our entire family) are learning so much through this process. And although lessons on being honest with our emotions, filling out mounds of paperwork that initially make zero sense, home improvement and fundraising are continuously being learned our biggest lesson has been what can occur when we trust God’s plan, listen to his nudging and surrender all to him over and over again.

On June 27 our Dossier was mailed to China and on July 3 it was logged into the Chinese Children’s welfare agency for translation and review!! This is great news and we could not be happier for this huge step forward towards getting Ellie home:) We were told that it typically takes between 6-8 weeks for translation and review to be completed and a letter of acceptance to be obtained. That takes us to sometime between August 14 and August 28….not that we are counting or anything! From there we will begin to plan travel and complete some additional paperwork along the way. There is definitely a lot of “hurry up and wait” in this process but we are so thankful for each step forward.

Along with this great news we also just learned that we were granted a $300o matching grant through Lifesong for Orphans. This is amazing and an answered prayer! Now when people choose to donate, their dollars are matched up to $3000, which allows us to double our fundraising to $6000 if we hit $3000!! Also, with this grant we get 100% of donations. With some other donation pages they take a percentage out of the money raised so we are very thankful for this new option! If you would like to be a part of this matching donation feel free to visit our page at: https://mystory.lifesongfororphans.org/stories/gods-plan-becomes-plan/

We are also patiently waiting to hear back from Show Hope, as we applied for a grant through their organization in April 2019. We knew when applying that it takes about 90 days for the review process. We are approaching that 90 day period quickly and pray each day for grant approval! We are applying for about 7 other grants as well as we wait to get our letter of acceptance.

Along with grants we also continue to work on fundraising…..yes, socks are still available for purchase both from us directly and online at:
https://go.wehelptwo.com/campaign/?campaignid=1835
We have sold 263 packs online and over 200 packs in person since we started this campaign. That’s $9 for every pack sold…..so awesome! We have appreciated everyone’s orders as it has helped tremendously with our adoption fees.

We are also continuing our partnership with Clara Cookies this month. They have generously offered to give us $10 for every box of cookies sold for the month of July. We have already been blessed with approximately $900 raised with a goal of $2000 before the end of the month! We were able to volunteer in cookie baking with other Clara Cookie volunteers this past week and it was so fun. If you haven’t yet, feel free to order some at: https://www.claracookies.com/ You might get some cookies we actually helped make;)

Rebecca Cruttenden, adoption fundraiser extraordinaire/founder of Clara Cookies and Team Orphans, has been amazing to work with and submitted an article in our local paper talking about our story and the cookie and sock fundraisers, as well as the upcoming Cookie 5k and we ended up on the front page!

We will have a table at the Cookie 5K with socks and Clara Cookies this Saturday July 20. This is a great event put on by Team Orphans where every dollar raised is donated to adoption grants provided to adoptive families through Bethany Christian Services. There is still time to register and come see us this weekend. Check out the race details at: https://www.teamorphans.com/5k/

I saved the best for last! For the past 2 years we have participated in the Down syndrome Association of West Michigan’s Step Up for Down syndrome walk alongside another family. However, this year Ellie will have her own team, “Ellie’s Entourage!” We are so excited to have an opportunity to be a part of this event in this way, as it has played a role in our family’s story from the start. If you are at all interested in registering to be a part of our team feel free to do so at: https://dsawm.ezeventsolutions.com/StepUp/ElliesEntourage

We’d love to have a huge team of people representing Ellie! We know we have so many praying for us and supporting us in various ways so how awesome for all of us to come together to represent Ellie in such a large way before she is even home!! So, come join us on September 21 at Fifth Third Ballpark in Grand Rapids, MI. If you have any questions about the event just let me know. We can’t wait to have her with us for next years event. PS…..we already have a team of 10+ people……how much bigger can we get?! That’s a challenge;)

We are praying that the next update we give is of more funds raised, grants approved and talk of travel plans!!! And as always we cannot begin to thank everyone who has been a part of this journey so far……we have an army of prayer warriors right alongside us and we talk daily about how blessed we have been, how God has shown us those walking this Earth as his hands and feet to help others and how much faith we truly have! When we reflect back on each step we can recall the anxiety and uncertainty but we also and more readily reflect on God’s promises that have been revealed, reminding us frequently that we serve a mighty God and he directs our path!

I was trying to look back at my May post to see where I left off and realized so much has happened since then! First and foremost we made it through the end of the school year…which isn’t always an easy task. This school year was a little different than years past. The end of the school year closed out 7th grade for Andrew, 5th grade (and elementary all together) for Addison and 1st grade for Ian, but the biggest change to this school year was that after 12 years with Rockford Public Schools I submitted my resignation to begin a new chapter of “stay at home mom” moving forward. This decision, although well thought out and difficult, was made with no regret and a grateful heart. I look forward to this new chapter, as it presents new opportunities for me and my family as we transition into a family of 6! I look forward to welcoming Ellie with unlimited time at home and being more available to our other 3 as well. I know this is not forever, as I do desire to get back out there when the time is right but for now, it’s an amazing blessing!

And, you guys…..we got video of Ellie!! The sweetest 1 1/2 minute video of her WALKING (yes she is walking now), chatting with and imitating her caregiver and engaging with a little baby from the orphanage who is also placed with her. She smiled, giggled and moved around with a mighty voice. And our hearts were overwhelmed by her sweet presence in that video. We have two opportunities to request updates, one when we get preliminary acceptance and one after we get official acceptance. Our hearts want more but we will have to wait. But until then we will look over her updates, figure out how to make food familiar to the ones she enjoys (Congee) and watch her sweet little face in those videos and be thankful for what we do have. We also hope to send her a care package, but have to wait until after we get our official acceptance.

Fundraising has been completely amazing! We are constantly in awe by the goodness and generosity of others. The kids decided back in May they would do a lemonade and cookie stand with all money going towards our adoption. We were so proud of them as they planned, purchased items and made posters. Never underestimate the power of children! They raised $800! There were several amazing things that occurred from this experience. One was the stories others would share as they visited. So many stories of adoption. Another was the shear delight our kiddos experienced as a total stranger would hand them $20 and not even take a cup of lemonade. Each time they would run up the hill amazed at the kindness of strangers and the power of what they were doing. Our hearts were so full watching them experience first hand how good people are and how selfless so many are willing to be. Another amazing thing was that at the same time they were doing the stand our paperwork (dossier) was being submitted to Washington DC and in order to do so we had to pay a fee to get it mailed out. They were able to raise enough money plus a little more to make that happen. It was so great for them to understand how they had contributed to getting their sister home, a part of something so much bigger then themselves.

• 

• 

• 

• 

In our “pay as we go” approach we have chosen to chip away at our fees, paying what is absolutely necessary to keep the process going. When we get more donations we pay more. I will admit each time I have looked at the amounts and felt a bit overwhelmed. But so many times, like with the lemonade stand, my doubt has been for nothing. As much as I tell myself that this is God’s plan for our family and that he is directing and leading us right to Ellie, I still find myself questioning each step. We were provided another example of this recently when our paperwork (dossier) was submitted to DC for what we were told would take about 2-3 weeks to process. However, just as most things seem to go with this, it took closer to 5 weeks. So frustrating! However, in the midst of this someone reached out to us with items to donate to do a fundraiser garage sale. Now, I have never done a garage sale and when beginning this journey said “I will never do that!” Well, God apparently had other plans, which seems to be a theme for us. We accepted the donated items and purged our home and continued to get items…..so many items! I’m not going to lie, it was overwhelming and emotional and may have led me to lose my cool a time or two (or three) but we had such an amazing crew of family and friends helping every single step of the way. They unpacked items, set up, priced items, ran the table, brought baked goods, volunteered so much of their free time for us, for Ellie because time and time again they show us how much they love us and our family. Once again we had a fundraising event were the kindness and generosity of others blessed us tremendously. Not only were people giving but again, we were filled with stories of adoption, some thinking of adopting, some in process, some having adopted or been adopted themselves. We saw pictures of adopted children, met them and just talked and listened to them. It was pretty amazing! And remember how I said our dossier got held up in DC (I’ve rambled a lot since then so you may have forgotten!)? Well, had it not been held up we wouldn’t have had this sale prior to it returning. And if we hadn’t of had this sale we wouldn’t have raised $2600 and if we hadn’t of raised $2600 we wouldn’t have been able to pay off the amount owed to now move our dossier to China this week! Along with this amount raised we also were blessed with several donations that came in this week, which allowed us to pay our fees worry free. Obviously we didn’t know God’s plan when our Dossier specialist contacted us to tell us our paperwork was being held up but we do now and it’s just another example of God constantly reminding us and showing us that he is in control and we need only trust and believe his plan for us.

• 

• 

• 

• 

So, what’s next……our dossier specialist says our dossier should be at the Bethany office June 24th. It takes her about 48 hours to prepare it for China and then it’s on it’s way! This is a huge step that we have been waiting for since we started the dossier back in February when we were matched with Ellie. It was a labor of love and we trust that they will receive it and provide us our official letter so we can start to talk travel. It’s still a lengthy process, with it still likely being 6 months until we travel, but it’s a step forward and we can pray it moves quicker;)

We are still doing fundraising, as once we get our letter of acceptance we will have more funds to raise. We are partnering with Clara’s Cookies for the entire month of July where we will earn $10 towards our adoption for boxes of cookies sold. Check out their yummy cookies at https://www.claracookies.com/. We are also looking at having a table to sale more funky socks from We Help Two, https://go.wehelptwo.com/campaign/?campaignid=1835, at the Cookie 5K on July 20th at Robinette’s Apple Haus in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Check out this awesome event at http://www.teamorphans.com/5k/.

We have also applied for a grant through Show Hope and should hear back from them in July and have also applied for a grant through Lifesong, which offers a matching grant program and a service project called Both Hands were we not only raise funds for our adoption but also get to help someone else. We have been told we will also get a grant through Bethany Christian Services once we get our letter of acceptance due to us adoption a waiting child with special needs and have or will be applying for several other grants along the way. It’s a tedious process between paperwork related to the adoption and paperwork related to grants so we go through cycles of working through the piles of applications and taking breaks to enjoy family and some down time. We are hoping the next update we provide will be news of grants provided and paperwork in China and moving along.

We continue to appreciate all the support, whether it is through prayers, donations, helping at our fundraisers, attending a fundraising activity, offering kind words, asking about Ellie, etc. Our hearts and faith have grown through this process and we can’t wait to see how much more it grows as we move forward in this process. We pray daily for our little girl and pray that she feels our love from afar. We also pray and think often of the transitions she will endure through this process and how to be compassionate and understanding through it all.

How quickly a month can pass by! I looked at our last post and it was from early April….how did we get to May already. As a family waiting to bring our little girl home we welcome this time passing. It’s strange, as we have become accustomed to wishing time would slow down with our 3 kids at home. Each time I look at old pictures, are reminded of things gone by or see them getting older right in front of our very eyes I wish to myself that time would just slow down. So, this wishing time would go quickly seems strange! As I was getting Ian to bed tonight we were talking about him being a “big brother” and all the things he couldn’t wait to do in this role. He just kept saying “I wish she was here already!” I could only respond with “me too.” I love hearing the kids talk about their desire to have her home and how their hearts are bursting to have her here with us. She is already a part of our family but the joy we will feel when she is in our home physically with us is immeasurable.

Our most exciting news is that after waiting for 5 weeks we received approval from US immigration to adopt from China! Now that we have this we can finalize our Dossier, which is a big packet of documents, and send it to China. This is what they require for review prior to giving us final approval (we already have preliminary approval) to adopt Ellie and begin planning travel. We have been told that once we submit our Dossier it typically takes about 3 months to get final approval. We are hopeful that will be by August.

Our fundraisers have been amazing. We have been blessed by so many! Between donations, our sock sales and our “Egg my yard” fundraiser we have received almost $6,000! Words can not express how thankful we are for each person that has stepped into this process with us through donations and prayer. Each of you are a part of this, a part of bringing our sweet little girl home. We cannot wait to tell her all about the amazing people that helped get her home.

Wondering what’s next??
* Our fundraising page is still open for donations. You can check it out at: https://adopttogether.org/families/?fundraiser=gard-family-adoption
* We are still selling socks! We have sold a total of 253 packs of socks…..crazy right! We do have a goal of 500. We have placed an order to have more socks on hand to sale, so if you live near us and still want socks, or want more socks, let us know and we will hook you up! Or you can still order them online, just visit this link: https://go.wehelptwo.com/campaign/?campaignid=1835
*We are also looking at future fundraising, including a bake sale (compliments of Addison!), spaghetti dinner, etc. We are meeting with AJ’s Family Fun Center this week to talk about an event there, so stay tuned!
*We are in process of completing grants also. We have been informed from Bethany Christian Services that we should get a $5000 grant through them once we get further into the process. We have also applied for a Show Hope Grant, but the review process is 90 days (minimum) so it takes time. We are in process of completing a matching grant through Life Song for Orphans and applying for a program through them called “Both Hands” which will allow us to build a team, complete service projects for a widow in our community and raise money for our adoption all at the same time!

This process has been nothing short of “interesting,” and I’m not even sure that’s the right word! Maintaining my focus on the processes and paperwork have caused me to often times push down my emotions (or at least drown them out) of not having her here with us now. I have moments where the sadness creeps in and my heart feels shattered into a million pieces knowing that she is ours but I cannot hug her, comfort her when she is sad or hear her giggle, see a smile or put her to bed each night. I have no control over these things, but I can keep filling out documents and fulfilling the requirements that are constantly placed in front of us. During these moments of sadness I often times feel frozen, which in turn slows my pace with all the other things. It’s such a delicate dance of allowing those emotions to come, experiencing them because they are real, and pushing through so we can keep taking steps forward to bringing her home. Trying to control all of these things but knowing that ultimately God has control. He had this story written long ago and it’s unfolding only as He perfectly created. Knowing this and REALLY knowing this are two different things. I pray each day my heart and mind can focus on his perfect plan and that in each phase I can take it in knowing that He is teaching us something with each step and guiding our way.

Thank you again to each of you that have supported us with either prayer, donations or both. We feel extremely blessed to have the “village” we have and we can’t wait for you to meet Ellie!