Numbering Graces

In the last month, I had two friends recommend the same book  -- One Thousand Gifts written by Ann Voskamp. Last week when Brody and I were checking out at the library, that very book was sitting there, behind the desk ready to be re-shelved. So, of course, I had the librarian add it to our already abundant pile. I won't bore you with a whole book review here (if you want that, you'll have to friend me on Goodreads), but one thing this book did was refresh my perspective and encourage me to be totally present in the now. It's a particularly good reminder for me, as there is so much we are anticipating in the future. The book is centered around Voskamp's decision to take note of the little things and write a list of 1,000 things she is thankful for - gifts from God. She has been numbering graces for over a year and half by the conclusion of the book, having passed 1,000 long before. If you like to read, I highly recommend it - just be prepared that she is very poetic, and it may weird you out at times. ;) Regardless, Sydney and I have decided to embark on a similar exercise this summer....and I cannot wait to actually start putting ink to the page. We plan to pass all this waiting time by numbering some of God's infinite graces to us! 

Our biggest news lately was that our dossier was sent to China on May 13th!! Get ready for a whole bunch of crazy adoption acronyms...the first of which is DTC = Dossier to China. We are now waiting and praying for LID = Log-In Date. In the meantime, we had our first matching grant interview, and we should have much more news a few weeks from now -- as far as both funding and paperwork progress!!

We are absolutely thrilled to be surrounded by a church family who is so supportive of adoption, and part of our church family/sweet friends, the Brannon family, is hosting a garage sale fundraiser for us on Saturday June 1st!! I can't tell you how encouraging that has been to us...God is using this experience to show us what a burden is lifted when the Body of Christ comes together on mission. We also just finished up our Pampered Chef fundraiser today, and we raised $240!! Thank you, ladies!! Lastly, we are working on our final (what a blessed word that is!!) fundraiser - a benefit dinner, silent auction and scavenger hunt - which will take place on June 22nd! Please pray that God would smooth out all the details - there are so many graces to count surrounding this event already...more on this to come. As for the quilt, I only have the label left to stitch on, and I recently found out that it's going to be in an upcoming quilt show called "Georgia Celebrates Quilts!" It's my personal prayer that this may create opportunities for gospel conversations among friends attending the show!! Another wonderful support we've been blessed with is our local children's hair salon, Pigtails & Crewcuts. They have been collecting change for our adoption (and sharing our story) throughout the month of May! Too many graces to count...seriously, all the cups we own are running over at the Wolfe home. If you are ready to order more coffee from Just Love, use the coupon code "MEM10" now through Memorial Day and get 10% off your order!

I pray you would not miss God's graces to you today...SLOW DOWN and watch a child play, listen to the birds and the wind in the trees, savor the taste of the food He has provided, feel a drop of rain on your skin, take in the sweet smells around you...and give thanks to the Creator and Sustainer of all things. No doubt there are times we become blind to God and His graces to us, but we have a God who turns ashes into beauty. Miracles surround if we just open our eyes to see His goodness and glory. I'd like to close by sharing two quotes from the book I mentioned above; these I found especially meaningful, because these are graces that have been given to all who follow Christ, regardless of what circumstances surround you: "He washed our grime with the bloody grace. He drove the iron ore through His own vein...Need there be anything more?" and "Anywhere - in the kitchen scrubbing potatoes, in the arching cathedrals, in the spin of laundry and kids and washing toilets - anywhere I can have intimate communion with Maker of heaven and earth." Believers, as children who have been adopted into the family of God, we have the unfathomable graces of redemption, reconciliation and relationship with God...praise Jesus!!

"Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." - Romans 5:1-5 ESV

Why China?

I realize it has been WAY too long since I've blogged - so sorry, this is LONG. It has been slightly crazy around these parts as of late. Anywho, I've recently had several people ask me why we decided to adopt from China, so I've been inspired to blog about that this time. Then I'll close with an update on all our recent adoption happenings!

For as long as I can remember, I have been interested in, drawn to and burdened for other countries. Some of that may be in my blood. My Grandpa Thompson had an incredible "heart for the nations" (a phrase I am borrowing from my lovely cousin Hope). He and my Grandma traveled extensively (to more than 20 countries on 5 continents), preaching the gospel, training pastors and loving on children everywhere they went. Grandpa had a special love for orphans and children living on the streets. My parents also spent time living in Haiti on a mission/school project. My older sister Sharon actually spent her first year growing up in Haiti. Because my family had been so involved in international missions, I grew up with family friends from all over the world. What a blessing and privilege I consider that to be!! I have always had an adventurous spirit, so I was thrilled to take my first mission trip to Brazil during my sophomore year of high school. I was thrilled to see more of the world and to serve the people however I could. I didn't realize how much that trip would change me or how much I would be blessed. We visited a small orphanage in rural Brazil, and my heart has never been the same. I can still close my eyes and picture several children that I bonded with on that trip. Those images are tattooed in my mind. My heart was torn in two to leave those kids without a family. I still remember our bus pulling away, and just praying through sobs, "Lord, what can I do?" At that moment, I knew God was calling me to something more than "the American dream." David Platt expresses it perfectly in his book Radical, "We learned that orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names. They are easier to ignore before you see their faces. It is easier to pretend they’re not real before you hold them in your arms. But once you do, everything changes.” Now more than 15 years later, I'm getting to see the beauty of God's work in my heart unfold. Oswald Chambers once said, "If through a broken heart God can bring His purposes to pass in the world, then thank Him for breaking your heart." Broken heart, thankful lady...right here.  

When Josh and I first started pursuing adoption, we began talking about where we would adopt from. We are insanely systematic in our decision-making (just ask me about how we came up with our children's names sometime!), and we tried to talk and pray through every consideration. Our first inclination was international - mine, because of all the history I just finished telling you about, and Josh just had this overwhelming tug toward Asia from the get go. However, being the calculated, over-thinkers we are, we did a lot of praying and a lot of research. We first reached a clear decision on the adoption agency that we wanted to use (Lifeline Children's Services). Check out their website, and you may just melt like I did! What an incredible blessing they have been through this process!!!

What I think people are most curious about is why we chose China over domestic adoption. Obviously, this is not meant to discourage domestic adoption (or adoption from other countries); this is just the story of how our family came to adopt from China. We've said before - adoption is awesome, regardless of location! EVERY child deserves a loving forever family, regardless of where they happen to reside or what ethnicity they are. That being said, there is a dramatic difference in what domestic orphans are facing versus those in other countries. I'd like to share some statistics on international orphans mentioned in an article by the Adoption Law Firm: 

"In fact, out of the 167 million orphans, 120 million will never receive any education whatsoever. About 60% of these orphaned girls will become prostitutes, and 70% of these boys will become criminals by the age of 18. 10-15% of these children will commit suicide before the age of eighteen. Every year, 1.8 million are forced into human trafficking, prostitution, or the pornography industry, and 11 million will die of a preventable or treatable disease. These children have no chance at improvement. While orphans here are struggling, orphans oversees are dying."

Read the whole article, if you'd like more information about this. Internationally, children age out of the system very young (in China it is at 14), and they basically have nowhere to go at that point. Having seen and known personally what obstacles orphans face in other countries, I was all the more drawn toward international adoption.  We began speaking with a lady from Lifeline about different countries that they work in and devouring all the information. We knew that (at this time) we wanted to adopt a child close to our other two children in age (0-5 years), and we were open to and excited about children who needed specialized medical care (we've been through lots of that with our bio kids). We had not mentioned Josh's draw toward Asia, but she immediately thought China would be a perfect fit for our family. This being our first adoption, we were even more attracted to their program as we researched it further - it is established, predictable and stable. The fees stated are the fees charged...no hidden costs, no bribes, and they are reasonable compared to many other countries. It is also part of the Hague Convention, with laws designed to protect the rights of these children. The China program requires only one visit in-country (and only about two weeks long), which was great for us since we have two other littles at home. Orphans in China have literally been abandoned or removed from their homes, because it is illegal to place your child up for adoption there. China does a local search for birthparents and screen of each child prior to deeming them eligible for adoption, so custody is final. So, when both parents travel, the adoption is finalized in China. Every new piece of information we received just confirmed that China was where God was leading us; it was a great fit for our family. Again, it was a personal leading/calling because we have a personal God!! I hope this sheds some light on all those questions, but feel free to e-mail me if you have any others! Sydney and Brody are getting so anxious - they talk about her every day. We were at the zoo a couple weeks ago, and they wanted to take a picture in the bamboo. They are thinking of their sis and asking "Where are you? Come home!"

As for recent happenings, we have received our USCIS/Homeland Security approval from our biometric fingerprints!!! Now we are waiting on the consulate, then the next BIG step with be Dossier to China (DTC)! All the paperwork on our end is ready and waiting with our agency. We've begun to work with our matching buddy, too, which is REALLY exciting!! We'll be sure to keep you posted. We have also been approved through an organization call AdoptTogether, so that families can make tax-deductible donations towards the last half of our adoption expenses! See the link on our sidebar for our AdoptTogether page, and I also put together a flyer on the sidebar if you'd like to share our story with others. I have finished the quilt top, and I'm starting to practice on the longarm so I can quilt it this month.

We also sent in an application for one more grant, held a fundraiser at Panda Express and we're planning what I hope are our last few fundraisers. I am hosting a Pampered Chef party on May 16th (see details on the sidebar), awesome friends of ours are hosting a garage sale on June 1st in Acworth, and a really fun benefit dinner is in the works for June 22nd. More details to follow!! Let me be honest, I'm exhausted. Fundraising has been a full-time job, but it has also been a tremendous blessing to see God work through so many individuals and families to bring our girl closer to home! Thank you for buying a necklace, thank you for sponsoring a quilt block, thank you for eating egg rolls, thank you for handing us a check, thank you for donating books and other goods, thank you for volunteering your services, and thank you most of all for your prayers and encouraging words. We are incredibly blessed to be surrounded by such a supportive community of folks!        

"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you." - Philippians 4:4-9

Wholeheartedly Waiting

"If the Lord Jehovah makes us wait, let us do so with our whole hearts; for blessed are all they that wait for Him. He is worth waiting for. The waiting itself is beneficial to us: it tries faith, exercises patience, trains submission, and endears the blessing when it comes. The Lord's people have always been a waiting people." - Charles Spurgeon

So, we are waiting. We sent off our paperwork to immigration almost two weeks ago now. We know they received it, because they cashed our big fat check and sent us a letter saying so. Within the next week, we hope to receive an appointment from them for our biometric fingerprinting. Then we'll be back to more waiting! We sent all our other dossier documents to our agency last week, so they are ready and waiting for our immigration approval....then we will be "DTC" or Dossier to China! Then we'll be back to more waiting! And this is how it goes in the world of adoption. We signed up for this year plus of waiting and expected it, but some days it still seems SOOOO long. We're anxious to see our little one's face for the first time, to give her a name, to bring her home. I've been studying the book of Genesis with BSF International this year, and it's been so good for me to be reminded of all the patriarchs of my faith and how they had to wait (frequently decades) for God's perfect timing and fulfillment of His promises to them. I also remember a sermon by Gary Brooks (our pastor in St. Louis) from a couple years ago on "waiting." He spoke about some biblical examples of waiting, and how it's so clear that God values waiting and He wants His people to be a waiting people. You see it in almost every book of the Bible. Knowing this, I am excited to see what God does during our waiting period! While we actively wait, we've completed 6 adoption grant/matching grant requests; I mailed 4 of them off today! We probably won't hear news from those until late summer/early fall, but I'll keep you posted if we do. Most organizations have periodic deadlines and only make grant decisions a few times annually. 

On a side note, I wanted to share a coupon with you for Just Love Coffee. If you order from them through our link on the sidebar, part of the profits go directly toward offsetting our adoption expenses. This code is good for 10% of your order from now until April 8th! Just enter "KISSTHERIM" in the coupon code box at checkout. We also still have some beautiful handmade wooden cross clocks ($40), soaps ($3), scented wax tarts ($3), a 31 thermal tote ($15) and jewelry for sale ($24 - more jewelry coming in a couple of weeks) - just check out the facebook album HERE and HERE to see what is left! Also, Josh's dad (who made the clocks) is now making custom furniture, and he has offered to donate 10% of any orders to our adoption fund. If you have any interest, let me know - I'll get a brochure to you! 

Quilting has been another exercise in patience for me! This is only my second quilt top, and I'm so thankful to have my Mom teaching me! I have made quite a bit of progress lately. I finished making each of the 20 blocks, and now I'm working on piecing them together and getting all the borders ready!

  

We'll keep you posted on any further developments! If you are also in a state of waiting, be encouraged!!! God is faithful and is always at work. His plans will not be thwarted.

One Step at a Time

We had our second garage sale fundraiser over the weekend, and it was a great success! We could not have done it on a colder weekend, and there were snow flurries both days. In spite of that, we had steady traffic and raised over $1,200!! It was a lot of fun, too. We got to talk to about a dozen people who have either adopted, are in the process or who are involved in orphan care. We even talked to a few people who are praying about pursuing adoption! So exciting!! A great big THANK YOU to all those who helped in a variety of ways! 

Last week, we received a draft copy of our home study report, too!! We sent it back with a few minor changes and should get the final copy very soon. Thank you for persevering in prayer with us!! We are now one step closer!!!

I have been making progress on the quilt, as well. Here's a recent pic of the quilt blocks that I have finished, and I have another 4 blocks started.

We are still selling the pottery jewelry - I have 5 pieces from the new batch left (see the Facebook album HERE), and I should have more pieces in a few weeks. See the post "Jewelry, anyone?" for further details. Josh's parents and sister-in-law have also donated some items for us to sell to raise funds - solid wood cross clocks, handmade scented wax tarts and soaps and a couple of Longaberger and Thirty-one items. See pictures of the available items HERE.

We are so blessed to be a part of the Church, and we have seen the gospel in action all around us throughout this process. Our brothers and sisters in Christ have sacrificed time, goods and money to be a part of God's work in this world and in our family. We are so humbled to see God's hand in this every single day!!! Let us continue in this state of grace as we press on to a state of glory!! 

"Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality." (Romans 12:9-13 ESV)

Jewelry, anyone?

The necklaces are in, and they are beautiful!! We are selling handmade pottery necklaces by Rebekah Blocher. Rebekah has a heart for adoption and is using her talents to help families fundraise for adoption expenses. LOVE IT! She carves a Bible verse reference on the back of the pieces. Each piece also comes inside of a small bag that was handmade in China by Scarlet Threads, a fair trade boutique that helps seamstresses in rural China and Uganda to provide for their families in a safe, dignified manner.

We are selling each piece for $24 (plus $2 s&h, if required to be mailed to you). HALF of that money goes directly toward our adoption expenses!  The pieces are gorgeous and would make fantastic gifts - thinking ahead to Valentines Day, Mother's Day, graduation, etc. If you want to know what Scripture reference is on the back of a specific piece, or just to get a closer look - CLICK HERE to see the Facebook album with individual shots of the pieces remaining (I have a feeling I'll be ordering more very soon!). 

Thank you for your support!!

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;

his mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

(Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV)

A Time to Sew

I am starting to make some progress on the quilt, and I just wanted to share a few pictures with you! I finished up two of the blocks last night. I think it's going to turn out so cute!!

Thank you again to everyone who sponsored blocks! All 20 blocks were sponsored in less than 72 hours, thanks to the outpouring of your generous hearts! We have finished up our home study meetings, too. We hope to have our completed home study report back in the next month, and we're preparing to start on our immigration paperwork. Meanwhile, we are still selling books online, coffee through our Just Love link and organizing our next garage sale fundraiser! The garage sale will be MARCH 1 & 2 - SAVE THE DATE! Let me know if you have anything sitting around collecting dust that you'd like to donate.

We are also getting ready to receive our first shipment of jewelry that we are selling as a fundraiser. The jewelry is handmade pottery by Rebekah Blocher. CLICK HERE if you want a sneak peak of what some of her jewelry looks like! It's really beautiful and would make great gifts! I will surely keep you posted as soon as that is available - should be later this week!

Let Your work be shown to Your servants,

and Your glorious power to their children.

Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,

and establish the work of our hands upon us;

yes, establish the work of our hands!

(Psalm 90:16-17 ESV)

God's Perfect Provision

In the middle of December, I was doing our finances and feeling a bit down as I looked at the balance in our adoption bank account. I knew our next payment would be coming up in January, and we just didn't have it...yet. I felt a little doubt creeping in. What if we didn't have the money when it came due? Would we have to put the adoption on hold? Worry was ready and waiting to consume my thoughts. But praise the Lord for the Spirit's sweet assurance, who called to mind the countless times that God has provided for our family. Josh and I have been through this before...the numbers just not working. We went through almost two years of making two house payments on one income. I'm a CPA, and I can tell you - the numbers were impossible. Impossible, ha! Luke 1:37 reminds us, "For nothing will be impossible with God." The truth of this verse is so real to me. God has proved it in my life time and time again. So, I told that doubt where it could go. ;)

That afternoon when I opened the mail, I found a check that I was not expecting this month. And wouldn't you know, it put us over what we needed to make our next payment! There was an error in our home escrow estimate, so we got a very large refund and an escrow payment for the coming year that is almost $100 less than we've been paying! I danced my little jig up the driveway, and I just shook my head - blown away again at how He perfectly provides for us. But you know how God is - just when you think He's blessed you, He just keeps pouring His grace out. A dear sweet neighbor of ours was moving that week, and I filled her in on our adoption. She asked if we would like some donations for our next garage sale fundraiser. And by "some" donations, I mean a TON of furniture, tools, etc. She just kept saying how thrilled she was that her garage sale hadn't gone so well, because it was God's plan for her to pass these things on to us. Again, blown away.

Just before Christmas, we started collecting used books to sell online for fundraising purposes. Our church family from Ohio was a tremendous blessing in their donations!! I am still getting them all listed online, and I'll be listing more as we receive them. If you have any books to donate, let me know! If you are interested in checking out our online bookstore, click here. Please pass it along to any of your friends and family that may be interested. We've priced everything very competitively - going for quantity here! 

$30,000 is a pretty "impossible" number for our one-income family, but we have been able to pay for every cost that has arisen - just in time. God truly provides where He guides! Our brothers and sisters in Christ have been abundantly generous - we have felt bathed in prayer, received over $800 worth of goods donated for our first garage sale (and lots more since that we are storing for our next sale), 10 boxes of books donated and over $700 from cash donations and Just Love coffee sales. A huge THANK YOU to all of you who have supported us along the way! We have enough to make our next payment now, but we will still have about $18,000 in remaining costs to come up with. We can start applying for adoption grants once our home study is complete; we are supposed to have our final home study meeting next week - so it won't be long! We'll keep you posted on that. In the meantime, we're fundraising away! 

Our newest fundraiser is a "Sponsor-a-Block." My Mom and I are going to be making a quilt for our daughter. My Mom has graciously donated the fabric, and we are asking for 20 people who would be willing to sponsor a block of the quilt for $25. We will be putting all sponsor's names on the quilt label. You can contribute via PayPal through the ChipIn widget on the sidebar, or you can send a check in the mail. If you want to pass along our ChipIn page, send friends to this link. Below I have put a picture of the quilt pattern we're doing and the fabrics we're using. I can't wait to see it come together!!

Please keep praying for our little girl! We also ask that you pray that God's hand will be upon our paperwork and our fundraising - we are confident that He will continue to multiply our loaves and fishes for His glory! We are praying regularly that He will bless you all.

"And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work." - 2 Corinthians 9:8 ESV