We have an update!!

We got an update of our boy on Thursday night with pictures, a video, and a report on how he is doing in his orphanage preschool! These little snippets into his daily life are so good for our souls. Things are still moving right along and we are so thankful for that. We will update again soon with our update on our Both Hands project.
In the meantime, keep praying for this sweet little face and for our paperwork to continue going smoothly so we can kiss this sweet face as soon as possible!!

Much Love,

Aaron and Sarah

Matching grant!!!

In my last post, I referred to a HUGE BLESSING--a matching grant....here is a little update on this! We applied through a group called Lifesong for Orphans and are so excited that they have offered us a grant up to $2,000!! This is HUGE news for us, this could make such a difference in helping to fund our adoption and we are so grateful for organizations and supporters like you all that are fighting for the babies out there that don't have parents and the families that desperately want to bring one or two of these sweeties home. I can't think of a better mission in life-and I hope to advocate for organizations like this both now and after we get Z home. Here is a link to their website for anyone that is interested http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/

So, how are we going to raise this money to take advantage of the matching grant? We are doing what is called a "Both Hands" project. Here is a short explanation of this amazing opportunity from the Lifesong/Both Hands organizers:

Our family finds a widow in need of help around her home. We assemble a team of friends to complete a Both Hands Project. Then the team (including us) sends out letters to family and friends asking them to sponsor us for one day, as we work on the widow’s home. All funds received will go toward our adoption expenses. It’s just like asking someone to sponsor you for a 5K race.

Here is a short video clip that gives a good explanation as well (get the tissues ready).
https://vimeo.com/threadandfilm/review/102788071/7a509a4f3d

They have already sent us a paypal button that you will see on the sidebar of our blog =====>>>
It is set up so any donations made through paypal with this button go directly to our lifesong/both hands project--which means any donation you make is tax deductible AND it is doubled through the grant we have been awarded!  

I know this may seem like we have already asked of all of you. And you are right, we have. But, we will never stop asking for what our boy needs. We already feel the direct relationship parents feel to their children-no matter how they come into the family. We will fight for him and love him and give him every opportunity we can.

Again, we are so thankful and proud of all the people we know who have shown love and support and prayed to help us on this journey. We are halfway to being fully funded for our adoption and we know this is a direct reflection on all of you who are fighting for a child who has no home, no parents, no family. We are so joyful to be able to be this for him in 4 short months, but we know we have not done this alone.

A little reminder of the adoption timeline

Some other BIG news from just today---we have a "log in date" or LID for our dossier-today 4/15/15!! This is such a big deal because it is one more step of China combing through our dossier and hopefully soon approving us so we can get our visas done and get to travelling so we can hold this boy in our arms and show him what family means!!

A few pictures to share with all of you before we sign off...we are so proud of how our older kiddos have handled all of the changes and sacrifices we are making as a family. We could not love them more....

Abby made Titus a birthday cake- so sweet!

A paper Hallie brought home from school--makes me have a little tear!!

Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!

You guys! This is the best email week EVER! Look at this email that is so beautiful I want to kiss it!!!

Is it not so beautiful?!? Seriously, I feel like we have been waiting on this day for so long-SO much hard work and tears and some of my sanity  have gone into these documents. We. Are. THANKFUL. So thankful to be on this journey, thankful that we have already been blessed by this little boy, thankful that we have been able to grow and realize how *great* the need is for adoptive parents, and thankful to see the support of our families, friends and community to get our guy home!! 

So, where do we go from here? Our next steps involve more paperwork for immigration and fundraising. We got another email this week (I told you-best email week EVER) and have been awarded a matching grant through lifesong and the permission to do what is called a "both hands" project. This involves helping a widow while raising funds for our adoption. We are so joyful to have this opportunity-a chance to live out James 1:27-to care for widows and orphans in their distress. If any of you know of a widow in the Boise area who could use help with projects-house painting, yard work, building a wheelchair ramp, ANYTHING--we would love to hear about them and consider them for our project. 

Again, we are so thankful for you all-for your love and gentleness toward us and our little 3 (almost 4!) year old boy half a world away. We want to bring him home as quickly as possible and are doing everything in our power to make it happen! Please continue to pray for quickly processed paperwork and for Z's every day well being and for him to feel loved and secure until we can get to him and bring him HOME!!

Much love--

Aaron and Sarah

Joyful in hope...

This has been my verse the past few weeks-I have set it on my phone lock screen, I have prayed it over and over when the stress is heavy.

 And today-I have so much joy!! Our final piece of our dossier arrived at our door. Getting Aaron's birth certificate properly authenticated has been time consuming. It has eaten up 2.5 extra weeks that we were not anticipating. But every day, I have had to remind myself that God is seeing our needs, He already is taking care of us and our adoption and actually my worries and anxiety don't help things move any quicker :)

So as of today all of the dossier paperwork is out of our hands, it will finish the review process, go to China, and be translated. 

So, friends please keep praying for the paperwork to be quickly reviewed and accepted by the Chinese government, pray for our boy to feel loved, and pray for our fundraising. We have had more donations and we are more grateful than we can ever express. We also

Got a call this week from a grant organization-we are being considered for a matching grant and a project where we could do community service for widows in the area and seek donations from companies and individuals for the project that would be later granted to our adoption fund-it is called a "both hands" project by an organization called lifesong for orphans. If you have time, look them up-they are an amazing organization.

Thank you again for the prayers, keep them coming. And I am keeping our donation totals updated on the right side of the blog (read in web version if you can't see it). Thank you for helping us make this all possible

Much love

Aaron and Sarah 

 https://purecharity.com/aaron-and-sarah-johnsons-adoption