Package sent to Mei Mei (baby sister)

LuLu's been down with a cold and fever for the last week so this was later than I wanted. But we got to shop yesterday for MeiMei's birthday and mailed her package today! It was very hard not to be with LuLu on her first birthday and it's harder still with "Mary", not knowing how soon we can get there, and so many obstacles still to overcome. I am so grateful to those who've shown
us their commitment to help us bring her home! My trust is being stretched once again, as when I can't see an end, it's hard to keep walking the path. The package will likely arrive after her Birthday, on Sunday. We will celebrate as a family with Cupcakes, LuLu's choice. And also by having our final Home visit with the social worker. Then it's on to waiting for his report to apply to immigration ($830).
Hoping that tax returns will arrive as stated, as we have put a hefty fee on the credit card, and need to pay that by March 10, I think. It's one of the 2 fees we can put on our credit card. It was good that we could, so we could keep moving forward, but still need to pay it when due.
The girls have set the Scrapbooking Crop Date to March 6, 2010 Saturday, 9am-4pm. Let me know if interested. I'll get you connected. The cost is $30 and it is fully catered. I have not been told the outcome of the first fundraiser yet, but will post when that's available. Thanks for all the support so far. We have raise $175.00 through the chip-in on Facebook and our blog! So we have a total of $175 raise total to-date.
** update- the Valentine's Baby-sitting fundraiser raised $160, Thanks to Abby and Brytt :) we've had another donation of $60, and I recently sold my Ipod Shuffle on Ebay for $50.00. This brings the total raised to date to: $445

2 Fundraisers in the Works

Some friends of ours (Abby & Brytt) have one fundraiser scheduled for this Saturday. They are offering babysitting for couples to bring their children down to the Seaside Church Building on Sat. February 13th from 6-8:30, so that they can have a date night for Valentine's Day!
Also, Tanna & Bridget (along with some other recruits, still in the works) are planning a fully catered Scrapbook Crop for a Saturday in March. The date has not been chosen yet, but I'm sure they will do it shortly. These girls are amazing and I just wanted to get the word out. If anyone's interested in this, let me know and I'll pass on the info. to you so you can come!
I put a new picture of "Mary" (that's her name in her foster home) up for you to enjoy! She's so precious, isn't she?

We'll call her "Mary" -for now

I never would've guessed that the day after my last post, I would receive a phone call giving us the amazing opportunity to adopt another beautiful child from China.

Since that day, God has been impressing it upon me just how important it is to put my cares on Him, and to make my requests known to Him. I have prayed repeatedly that as "Mary" waits He would protect her, but not only that, that He would surround her with Christians who would love her with His love, and bring Him glory. Yesterday I learned that She is in Foster care in a Christian home, run by a couple from CA that felt the calling to move to China and start a foster home.

Isn't this amazing, that He had already woven this to be? I know there's been lots...of questions. This is a shock to most. Trust me; it was a shock to us just the same! Truth is, we don't now when we will get to China, and this adoption is being done backwards. We are matched and now need to do all the paperwork, and pay all our fees to keep moving along in the process. And that means speediness in getting funds, and also in each government entity processing the paperwork.

The reality is, that this adoption will cost us between $23,0000-$25,000. Thankfully, we will receive $7,000 in tax returns this year, and we praise God for this! That still leaves us with up to $18,000 needed to complete. (We could travel as early as 4-6 months if the funds are there) Very few of this can be charged to a credit card, so that's not really an option. We have to have the cash for most of it, in order to travel to get her. We have seen God's provision in LuLu's adoption, and trust Him in this. He did not impress this upon our heart, without seeing us through to provision.

But I will say that if anyone desires to help us with this, whether by fundraising for us, directly helping with a donation or giving some insight on how to fundraise, we need it!