Great News!!

Hello again friends,

We have some amazing news! Our Both Hands project amount is up to $2294!! This is so SO huge for us because, as many of you remember, Lifesong (a grant organization) offered to double what we could raise up to $2000--so just with this project so far YOU all have helped raise $4294!  And we are not even finished yet!! We are getting closer every day and lifesong will continue to allow people to donate to this (remember--tax deductible!) until he is home and the local adoption papers have been filed. ***Reminder to myself and update for you all. I am adding this number in our sidebar total so we have a good update of funds so far**

We are so thankful for your generous hearts, for the love shown over and over to our boy and for the prayers being said daily for him. It is possible we will be able to travel in late July (Aaron always shakes his head at me when I say this--I am definitely a "best case scenario gal") but it is more likely we will travel early August. Our generous families are taking care of our older kiddos and will be in our home holding down the fort.

Please pray for our Both Hands project this weekend, pray that this will be helpful for the woman we are serving and that she will feel love through this. And, as we always request, please pray that our Luke (see the last post if you missed the name change!) will be well taken care of until we are able to bring him home. Pray that he will adjust as well as he can and know we are trying to give him a home, and pray that we will help him through the potential grieving process.

Thank you all again
Sarah

Short and sweet update!

Things are really moving forward for our Both Hands project that is set for Saturday 6/13--the current total raised with this project is $1657 (which will be doubled by Lifesong for a total of $3314 so far!  **Please note I am not updating this to my total on the sidebar as it is increasing daily and difficult to keep track of otherwise**

We are gearing up to serve the sweet woman, Karen, who needs projects done around her house. Home Depot called us this past week offering a couple of gift cards to help with supplies we may need for Karen's home. We are so thankful there are companies out there willing to help put money toward service projects! We are still looking for a company to provide snacks and/or lunch for all of you who have generously donated your time!

We were able to get more news on our boy this week, he seems to be doing well but often asks his

nanny at the orphanage when we will come get him-which totally tears my heart out. We are coming soon, sweet boy!!

Paperwork-wise, we have filed for our visas, filed for Z's visa, and are waiting on more time-sensitive documents to arrive in the next few weeks. We are getting CLOSE to being through with this paperwork and onto being this boy's family! It is no wonder people call adoption a "paper pregnancy" it is uncomfortable and mentally exhausting but at the same time is SO exciting!

We have also had to decide what our boy's American name will be. We have been encouraged by many, including the director of his orphanage who knows him well, to give Z an American name. For those of you who don't know, the name he is using right now is not the name he was given by his birth mother, it is the name the orphanage assigned him. So, his name will be officially changed to Luke!! We have both always loved this name, we love that it means "light giving" we love that it has Biblical roots-just like the names of our other children.

Please continue to keep him in your prayers, that he would be comforted when he is hurt, that he would know how much we love him and pray for him daily. There are times I almost think he is here, even though I haven't even held him in my arms yet. He is already part of us. Please continue to pray for our paperwork to go smoothly and quickly---if there has ever been a time I believe that God hears us it is now. We have had such smooth paperwork so far and although I know God doesn't always answer us in the way we *think* He should, I am so grateful that He has chosen to move this paperwork smoothly so far.  Lastly, we ask for prayers for our dear friends Jonathan and Shawna, they too are on this rocky road of adoption and are currently in Uganda meeting their (hopefully) future daughter. They will not get to bring her home yet, but had a meeting with a judge and are hopeful they will be able to travel back soon to get her. Every country's adoption requirements and processes are so different and this is the way Uganda has chosen to carry out adoptions for their country. So please pray for all of their hearts as they leave their sweet girl and pray that they would be allowed to go back soon to get her and bring her into their family.

--Sarah

Again and again we are amazed!

***UPDATE! The totals you see in the sidebar DOES NOT include our both hands project--it was proving to be very difficult to keep the numbers for that straight with the doubling from Lifesong and funds still coming in. I will update that part onto the sidebar after our project! Thank you!!!**

We have had such a busy but amazing week. First of all our Both Hands project is rolling and we already have $1209 in donations!! This number will be doubled (up to $2000) by the grant from Lifesong. We are beyond thankful to all of you who have shown such love in helping us serve a widow and bring our boy home.

Another pleasant surprise-Titus checked the mail yesterday and brought it to me-i opened a letter from a grant organization called Families Outreach--and in it was a grant check for $1000!!! I have applied for many grants-and the paperwork on them is a little grueling-but we are so very thankful to have received this one from Families Outreach and the matching grant from Lifesong!! 

Our last bit of news--we have HARD LOA!! This is a fancy abbreviation for a paper that China sends after reviewing my our dossier-the title is "Letter Seeking Acceptance. This is China's way of asking if you actually approve of the child you are matched to. We signed that piece of paperwork so quick and had it back at our agency within a couple of hours! This is BIG news in the adoption world!! For many people travel is just 8-10 weeks away! We are praying that God will just continue to work everything out for us as He has so beautifully so far.

For now, please please continue to pray for our sweet boy. We are so excited to hold him in our arms-but the reality is, he will face the loss of everything he has ever known when he comes into our family. Please pray for the rest of our paperwork to go quickly (mostly visa stuff and Chinese travel approval at this point.) Please continue to pray for our Both Hands project to go well and that we can show love to the woman we are serving. We are so grateful for everyone's support!!

Much Love

Aaron and Sarah 

A little reflection

We are so happy that our Both Hands fundraiser is already off to a good start! Just a reminder-this project involves helping a sweet lady do work on the exterior of her house that she is no longer able to do. We are asking for support while we do this-in the same way someone may ask for you to support them to run a 5K or play golf to support a good cause--only with this you are supporting a good cause (our adoption!!), helping a widow, AND it is tax deductible! 

We have had $492.20 donated to this great project. We are so thankful for those who have already donated to help bring our boy home, prayed for us, and asked how things are going. Your words of encouragement and love hold us through the tough times and we can never express how much it has meant to us.

Recently in a discussion with other adoptive parents, there was some concern that those who help support adoptions don't always have the "inside information" about what the adoptive parents are doing to help raise money, which can lead to confusion on why the adoptive family is asking for donations but not sacrificing. We want to be very open and honest about this, you may not be interested in this part-but indulge me so I feel that we are being transparent with all of you. Aaron is picking up overtime whenever he can-lately he has been working 12 hours extra per week-sometimes night shift, sometimes day shift-whatever he can get. I was also working extra October-Feb (full time instead of part time) but Aaron's overtime pays much better than my extra hours-so he has been working more than me since Feb. We do not have cable TV, we have cut our grocery bills drastically, only go out to eat for VERY special occasions (we did go out on Mother's Day and it was SO NICE!) and I have been trying to buy things from second hand stores or garage sales. But--through all of this-we have actually learned we don't need that much!! Many things I used to buy were actually luxuries and I didn't realize it.  

Through this process we have also had clarity in our giving. I have had such appreciation for every penny that has been donated. So sometimes, we may only be able to give $5-10, but we have tried to be more intentional about giving at the opportunities presented. So thank you all for helping us learn this!!

Enough rambling, we will leave you with some sweetness...please continue to pray for our sweet boy that we can't wait to hold!!

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!

Yesterday our boy turned 4. It was so bittersweet. It was good to know this is his last birthday without a family, but sad that we couldn't celebrate it all together. But, without going into too much detail in a public forum, we were able to hear his sweet voice and see his sweet face. I may have almost ugly cried when I heard him say "I love you Mama." There was no greater moment in our adoption so far and we are so thankful. He speaks more English than we were expecting. His nannies at the orphanage seem amazingly dedicated to easing his transition.

We feel like we are getting so close to having him home. We are waiting on on our "Letter of Approval" from the Chinese government--if timelines stay about the same, we should have this around June 15-at this point the ball really gets rolling again with paperwork.

In the meantime, we are rapidly approaching our Both Hands project date. Some of you will be getting letters in the mail explaining this further. We are so excited to be helping a sweet older woman while fundraising for our adoption. We will be helping her work on her home with painting, staining, and landscaping on June 13. We have already had some donations to our account for this, and we are so amazed and humbled-thank you to those who have donated!
Our goals for this fundraiser (besides the obvious raising funds for our adoption) are to help this woman with some needed home repairs and show our children and others how good it is to help others and to bring more awareness to adoption and just have an overall great day serving and talking and laughing. This project is an amazing opportunity for us and we know we will look back on it feeling proud of the job we did, but in all honesty, this project is a lot of work--so anyone in our area willing to help with the planning and day of service, please let us know!!

Please continue to pray for our boy. We are so thankful for the care he is receiving and pray that it continues to be good until we can get to him. Pray for our paperwork to be processed quickly and without problem. Thank you all for your love and support. We are getting closer!!

--Sarah

Sweet boy...

We are getting closer to our boy every day! We are still waiting on the Chinese government to approve our dossier paperwork. It typically takes around 60 days from the time it is logged in so we are hoping to have that approval around June 15. The waiting is hard, but we are staying busy catching up on things around the house we neglected while we were so busy gathering our dossier and with fundraising the last $15,000 we owe for the orphanage fees, our last agency fee and travel to pick up our boy.

We have been so thankful to get another email with pictures, a video and an update of our boy. It makes this wait easier knowing he is living in a clean facility and really-as far as orphanages go-he is in a good place, but obviously, it isn't a home or a family. 

Our boy opening his birthday box

Thank you to all of my friends who ordered t-shirts from us as part of our fundraiser! My sister and her husband are gracious enough to take on this project-and I LOVE them so much! I love that they signify our boy coming home to Idaho. They should be here soon and then I can start delivering!

We also have our "Both Hands" project is in the planning stages. We are so thankful to have found a woman who will help us in this fundraiser-she is gentle and kind and has some things on her house that need done that she is unable to do for herself. We are excited to be able to help her and she in turn is helping us bring our boy home. We are looking for people who want to help us serve her. The date is set for June 13, we will be washing windows, trimming hedges, painting trim, staining porches and railing among other small projects. We expect this to take about 4-5 hours at the most. We are happy to have all ages help-this is a great community outreach, while at the same time a great fundraiser to bring our boy home!

As always, we are so thankful for your support-your prayers, your love, your kindness, and financial support. We are constantly in awe of how much our world and perspective have changed over the last 7 months.

-Aaron and Sarah

Family

I brought some of the teens from church to a youth rally in a town near my parents house this weekend and all I can think is how thankful I am to have family. I am sometimes overwhelmed at how much we have-how much Aaron and I have always had-just because we have a family. Love. Security. Honesty. Advice. People who actually care about what is best for us. 

We want to be this family for Z. It completely boggles my mind to think that he actually doesn't know what family is. He has nannies that care for him in the orphanage-and I am so thankful for them. All of the information we have points to a well run facility with children learning and being active. But this sweet little boy who is turning 4 in a couple of weeks has never experienced a family. He has people who have taught him good things, but he had never known the security of a brother and sisters and parents and cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents who will always love him, always want him, and always care about him. Even when he is an adult-we will love him and call him and ask him about his struggles and find interest in his hobbies and his life-because we are his family.

I can't wait to show him little by little that we will never leave. That he will never "age-out" of our family. We cannot wait for him to be here with us, to be part of us. Come home soon sweet boy. 

Our paperwork is still going smoothly,we are still hoping for August travel. We have a "both hands" fundraiser project scheduled for June 13. We need volunteers! We will be working on a widows house while raising money for our adoption--this is such a wonderful program and a chance to give back to our community. Please contact me if you are interested in volunteering a few hours of your time to help both an orphan and a widow. Most importantly, please continue to pray for Z and for us. Pray for his continued safety and for our process to be smooth so we can bring him home as quickly as possible. Please pray for our continued fundraising efforts. And please pray that someone else will be affected by our story and soften their hearts to a sweet little one who needs a family.

We are so grateful to all of you--

Sarah