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Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Waiting and Counting
We are still waiting on the 797c (the US Immigration paperwork that allows us to complete our dossier). We have been waiting since the end of September. For someone who is keen on efficiency like me, waiting on this seemingly endless bureacracy is a struggle. I fight feelings of depression, anger, and despair as I know that Hannah is spending her days without a family and we are so eager to bring her into ours. As a Christian I am so thankful that I have faith that God is in control of all things. I know that He planned Hannah for us from before her birth. I know that He has cared for her daily and still cares for her. I know that His plans cannot be thwarted. I know that His timing is perfect. Yet, I still battle the impatient thoughts that try to bring me down. There's an old hymn that comes to mind and brings me out of the "doldrums" as Eric calls them.
When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,
And you will keep singing as the days go by.
When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings—wealth can never buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.
So, amid the conflict whether great or small,
Do not be disheartened, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.
I guess this says it all. Adopting Hannah is a blessing. God is taking care of her, and He is teaching me to trust Him more. Well, I feel better already. I guess this is part of building that "patient endurance with joy."
May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Col. 3:13-14
When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,
And you will keep singing as the days go by.
When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings—wealth can never buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.
So, amid the conflict whether great or small,
Do not be disheartened, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.
I guess this says it all. Adopting Hannah is a blessing. God is taking care of her, and He is teaching me to trust Him more. Well, I feel better already. I guess this is part of building that "patient endurance with joy."
May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Col. 3:13-14
Friday, November 7, 2008
Unexpected Blessings
It is amazing how God supplies our needs - even when they are needs for pictures of our daughter across the world from us. I joined a couple of Yahoo groups for folks adopting from China and I have received many more pictures of our little Hannah than I ever dreamed. We have pictures from her babyhood all the way to the present. We were even sent a little video of her from this summer.
A wonderful family who had adopted from the Gaoming orphanage a few years ago returns from time to time as a mission. The father was drawn to our Hannah on his last trip and asked several questions about her and took a few minutes of video of her. Their family is thinking about adopting a girl around her age in another year and so she just captured his attention. They told me that they had been praying that she would find her family soon since they wouldn't be ready to adopt soon enough for her. Isn't that awesome? A family we never knew was praying for our daughter that we didn't know yet to be united with us! His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts higher than our thoughts.
I'm going to post as many of the photos and video as I can fit on the site.
A wonderful family who had adopted from the Gaoming orphanage a few years ago returns from time to time as a mission. The father was drawn to our Hannah on his last trip and asked several questions about her and took a few minutes of video of her. Their family is thinking about adopting a girl around her age in another year and so she just captured his attention. They told me that they had been praying that she would find her family soon since they wouldn't be ready to adopt soon enough for her. Isn't that awesome? A family we never knew was praying for our daughter that we didn't know yet to be united with us! His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts higher than our thoughts.
I'm going to post as many of the photos and video as I can fit on the site.
God directs our path
Welcome to our blog. I wanted to create a way for all our friends and family to follow the exciting journey towards bringing Hannah Shan home. I'll try to post new photos and videos as I get them.
To bring everyone up to date, God laid on our hearts the desire to adopt a little girl with special needs from China last summer. It seemed that every Bible verse about being adopted as sons, taking care of the widows and orphans, being bought with a price, being sought out by God... just kept coming before us. Combined with our unexpected desire for more children, we knew God had a plan for us. We also had a great peace from God about adopting from China. We first considered Ethiopia but never really had a peace about it. Then, we attended a conference call about minor special needs children from China and we both knew that's where God wanted us. We were uniquely suited to take care of a special needs child and the lost daughters of China just captured our hearts.
We started our homestudy and application process in July. I pushed through the paperwork as fast as possible, but soon found out that efficiency on my part didn't equate to a fast process. Adoption is a seemingly endless wait. It is clear that God was using this to teach me to wait on Him and be content. Once I finally rested in His timing and plan, He surprised us with an early referral of a little girl. We weren't expecting any referral until our dossier was logged in, but this referral came even before that.
Most of you know this part of the story: We received the phone call and emailed file of little Ming Shan - DOB 7/14/06. She has thalassemia minor but is in good health. We had to make the decision within 24 hours. Eric sought the counsel of a hematologist and his partners for medical advice. It seems she may not even have thalassemia but just the trait. That would mean no symptoms. We won't be sure until she gets to the US for some more blood tests. Either way, the prognosis looks good. We prayed about it and were quickly sure that this was our daughter. How could you not fall in love with that sweet little face?
We were all elated. We immediately put her referral picture in a frame on the mantel and decided to name her Hannah Shan. This little girl that we prayed for without a name or a face is now known and loved by our family.
WHERE ARE WE IN THE PROCESS? We have just sent off our documents to the Chinese Consulate in Houston for authentication. Hopefully, we'll get them back in a week or two and then send them along to our agency for review and translation into Chinese. We're still waiting on an immigration form called the 797c. Whenever that finally gets to us, we'll get it authenticated, sent in, and then our dossier should be complete. It would be great to get a log-in date around the first of the year.
WHEN DO WE GET TO GO GET HANNAH? We have been told that time to travel after your dossier is logged in is about 3-5 months. I'm telling myself May/June. It would be great if it were earlier, but I'm not counting on it.
I'll keep you updated. Pray for Hannah. Pray for us. Thank God for his merciful care!
To bring everyone up to date, God laid on our hearts the desire to adopt a little girl with special needs from China last summer. It seemed that every Bible verse about being adopted as sons, taking care of the widows and orphans, being bought with a price, being sought out by God... just kept coming before us. Combined with our unexpected desire for more children, we knew God had a plan for us. We also had a great peace from God about adopting from China. We first considered Ethiopia but never really had a peace about it. Then, we attended a conference call about minor special needs children from China and we both knew that's where God wanted us. We were uniquely suited to take care of a special needs child and the lost daughters of China just captured our hearts.
We started our homestudy and application process in July. I pushed through the paperwork as fast as possible, but soon found out that efficiency on my part didn't equate to a fast process. Adoption is a seemingly endless wait. It is clear that God was using this to teach me to wait on Him and be content. Once I finally rested in His timing and plan, He surprised us with an early referral of a little girl. We weren't expecting any referral until our dossier was logged in, but this referral came even before that.
Most of you know this part of the story: We received the phone call and emailed file of little Ming Shan - DOB 7/14/06. She has thalassemia minor but is in good health. We had to make the decision within 24 hours. Eric sought the counsel of a hematologist and his partners for medical advice. It seems she may not even have thalassemia but just the trait. That would mean no symptoms. We won't be sure until she gets to the US for some more blood tests. Either way, the prognosis looks good. We prayed about it and were quickly sure that this was our daughter. How could you not fall in love with that sweet little face?
We were all elated. We immediately put her referral picture in a frame on the mantel and decided to name her Hannah Shan. This little girl that we prayed for without a name or a face is now known and loved by our family.
WHERE ARE WE IN THE PROCESS? We have just sent off our documents to the Chinese Consulate in Houston for authentication. Hopefully, we'll get them back in a week or two and then send them along to our agency for review and translation into Chinese. We're still waiting on an immigration form called the 797c. Whenever that finally gets to us, we'll get it authenticated, sent in, and then our dossier should be complete. It would be great to get a log-in date around the first of the year.
WHEN DO WE GET TO GO GET HANNAH? We have been told that time to travel after your dossier is logged in is about 3-5 months. I'm telling myself May/June. It would be great if it were earlier, but I'm not counting on it.
I'll keep you updated. Pray for Hannah. Pray for us. Thank God for his merciful care!
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