GPS

So the other day, Kris and Kate and I were driving up to Atlanta to have our fingerprints made as part of the process of adoption, and we had put the address of the building we were going to into the GPS.  I know God has a sense of humor because when He put Kris and I together He was teaming up probably the two people with the worst sense of direction in the free world.  He had to giggle a little when He looked at our future at all the times we would get lost together – HA!  But isn’t that one of the things that makes marriage so much fun?…….getting lost together and breaking down in hysterics?  The most useful wedding present we received was when my parents gave us our first GPS system.  I mean, it changed our whole mind-frame for traveling.  In our pre-GPS life, Kris would drive and I would read the directions.  That worked out ok as long as I could read my own writing.  But then we would get on a long stretch of road for 30 miles or so, and I would set down the directions and we’d settle onto some good conversation.  We would just be talking away until one of us realized that we’d driven 20 miles past our turn.  Ooooops!  That’s when everything would go south, we’d turn around and try to find the right road, but we’d inevitably agree on the wrong one and get ourselves further away from our destination and more and more confused until we would eventually have to stop at the gas station and ask directions (SO incredibly thankful that my husband has no issues with this, or we would have wasted another hour here pretending he knew where we were when we both knew he had no clue!)  So that was our pre-GPS life.  The first time we took a trip with our GPS, everything was so different!  We just stuck in the address, and that was that!  The nice lady tells us where to turn and even what time we’re going to be there!  And in those times when we get into those conversations that make us forget we actually have a destination, and we miss our turn, it’s the lady that sounds a little stressed out and frantic, “RE-ROUTING!!  RE-ROUTING!!!” and we just relax and wait for her to tell us how to correct our path. 

So, the other day when we were driving to Atlanta for our fingerprinting, I got a text from my mom who was worried about us traveling.  It said, “where are y’all now?”  Well, Kris and I looked at each other and realized that we had absolutely no clue.  We were somewhere on the path between our house and the fingerprinting building, but that’s about all we knew!  We starting talking about how different driving is now that we have a GPS, and all of sudden we realized…..driving with a GPS is like navigating life while you’re following Jesus!  He is the ultimate GPS!!  Before we were following Jesus, we were trying to navigate through life on our own….stressed out all the time from trying to understand “maps” and figure which direction to go and then bearing the weight ourselves when we made a bad call and got ourselves into trouble.  But when we set our eyes on the real GPS – Jesus – we are just along for the ride!  We know where we will end up at the end of this story, but the where-we-go between now and then is really not up to us, and there’s no point in us wasting our energy trying to make a specific life-plan or worrying about the trails He may lead us through between now and then.  And when we really truly and intentionally set our eyes on Jesus, so much of what we are worrying about becomes completely inconsequential.  And the best part is, when we screw up, Jesus forgives us and "RE-ROUTES" right around our sin!  :-) 

We have realized that defines this adoption process for us.  We are simply along for the ride, and it’s not for us to worry about the timing or the finances or the medical issues or anything else – this is God’s plan, not ours.

When we first started the paperwork for this adoption, we instantly had questions and worries….how long would it take?, what if our baby’s special needs are more than we can handle emotionally and financially?, How in the world are we going to afford the $30,000 bill that goes along with the adoption?  God used some very special people to encourage us through this.  I remember a very sweet lady that has adopted three children told me, “……and I know you are probably stressed about the finances, but I’m telling you, don’t worry about it, God will provide for this.”  Then we heard more adoptive parents tell us the same thing.  And then we realized they were right!!  God would not call us into this if He wasn’t going to provide EVERYTHING we need for it, including the patience, the finances, the strength and wisdom to lead and raise an orphaned child, the emotional support, and things that I don’t even yet realize we will need at this point.  So, we traded in that worry for some trust…..trust that God will provide for whatever His plan is with this, and we haven’t looked back since!  We curiously anticipated the how God might provide for the adoption, and imagined ourselves standing at the other side of it encouraging them through their worry with our story of how God provided for our adoption!  So, you can imagine our excitement the other day when we found out that we had been awarded a matching grant for a total of $10,000!!!  (Hand in Hand Christian Adoption will match up to $5000 of donations for a total of $10,000.)  This is such an awesome gift from God, and we could not be more humbled about this part of God’s story in our lives.  So, we wanted to post the information here on the blog so if you would like to be part of God bringing this little girl into our family, you have the opportunity to do so.  Any amount helps and will be doubled thanks to this awesome grant!

As a side note, I think it’s so awesome how God was preparing our hearts to depend on Him even before this journey began.  About a year ago, I was talking to a gentleman who was telling me about a mission trip to Turkey that he just had returned from that had changed his life.  I was curious about the cost (I’m a numbers girl!) and asked about that and if they had done fundraisers or how that had worked.  This is what he told me.  “Well, the cost of the trip was about $3000.  We were encouraged to send out letters to family and friends to give them an opportunity to support us, but I had the money, so I just paid it and didn’t think about it again.  Then on the plane ride from Turkey, I was talking to another member of our team about how his trip was paid for, and he had sent out the letters and God clearly showed His glory....... one, by providing the funding for the man's trip through his family and friends, and two, by allowing the family and friends the opportunity to be part of the mission trip that they were not actually going on through both prayer and financial support.  He really made me realize that I had done a disservice to my loved ones by not allowing them to be part of this.  I won’t make that mistake again.”  Well, I was honestly astounded when he told me that.  And God used that man to chip away another little bit of my “self-sufficiency” and realize that God does not want me to try to be dependent on myself.  So, that’s why the person who a year ago would have never dreamed of applying for a matching grant because it is dependent on the actions of others, is now putting this information about how to contribute to our adoption right here on our blog.  If you feel God is leading you to give any amount of money to help bring our daughter home, here’s a good opportunity to do so and it will be doubled.  If you do not feel led to give, PLEASE do not give. :-)  If you feel that God is leading you to put our daughter and our hearts during this process on your prayer list, we would be eternally grateful. 

-Allison

Please send all donations made payable to “Hand in Hand Christian Adoption” postmarked by August 22, 2012 to: (for tax purposes please include our name on the outside of the envelope only…do not put our name on the check itself)

 
Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc.     
Maguire
18318 Mimosa Court                                                                                                                                                      
Gardner, KS  66030

I-800a APPROVAL!!!

So, things are getting very exciting around here!!  We are moving right along in the process and inching our way toward a referral!  This past week, we found out that our fingerprints were accepted, and so we became I-800a approved!  I notice that in the adoption world, a lot of letters are used, and we’re slowly being indoctrinated into the language.  For example, Kris walks in….Kris – Are we DTC yet?  Me – No, but we’re I-800a approved and it looks like it’s taking families about 4 weeks to be DTC after they are I-800a approved, and then another 10 days to be LID!!  Hooray!  So, here’s a little decoding for all of that language.  And let me insert here that it is hysterical that I am attempting to summarize the process because these terms are so new to us, and I know that some of you who are reading this have adopted 2,3, or even 4 times!  We are just learning as we navigate this process.  That being said, when our I-800a was approved, it means that the US has approved us to adopt a child from China.  So, from here, all of our paperwork is authenticated and certified (all we know about that process is that it’s pretty expensive, lol!), and then will be sent to China.  This paperwork is called our Dossier, and so when it is sent to China, we will be DTC, or Dossier to China.  Hopefully, about 10 days later, the Chinese Consulate will approve us to adopt one of their children, and at that point we will be officially LID – (Log-in Date).  This is the point where we will be waiting for our referral, which means we will be matched with our little girl and will see her picture for the first time and be able to read her medical, developmental, etc, information.  That could take anywhere from 1 day to 6 months……hopefully closer to the 1 day!  J  This will also be the point where we can send her a care package!  Then it will still be 6-9 months before we can go get our baby!  So, as you can imagine, we’re very excited about all of these letters! 

So far, the process has run extremely smoothly for us, but I haven’t yet read an adoption story that didn’t have at least a little snag somewhere, so we’re trying to prepare for that.  We know that our God is good all the time…..when the adoption process is running smoothly AND when it is not.  This is all in His plan, and we know His timing is the only timing we need to be concerned with.

Another very cool thing that we recently found out about, is that a neat thing has happened for our adoption agency.  Several years ago, the Chinese government let our agency have a special relationship with one specific orphanage in China, so that they receive the files of that orphanage and can place those kids with families that are adopting through them.  Well, our agency did so well with placing the babies with special needs, that the Chinese government has just given them EIGHT MORE ORPHANAGES!!  This is cool because the agency can raise funding to meet the specific needs of those orphanages and also because families adopting from that agency may get referrals quicker than waiting for a referral from the “shared list” (the big list with all of the orphans with special needs in China that all of the agencies pull from.  So, whether our little girl is living in one of those orphanages or not, it’s so amazing to see how God is working through our agency to bring these sweet children to their families!!  And wherever she is, we know that she is the hands of our mighty Father, and there’s no better place to be than that!  God is so very faithful to ALL of His children!

As always, we thank you for all of our prayers for our little girl, you can’t imagine how much we appreciate those of you who have chosen to partner with us through prayer to bring our daughter home.  Hopefully I will have more updates very soon!  J

-allison