Approved!

Yesterday we received, finally after 46 days, our approval to adopt a child from China!  There are 13 documents that have to be notarized and then approved by the Secretary of State and the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco and this is the last of the documents we needed.  Once we have the approval from these two places, off to China our documents go (DTC)!  This is always a great relief because this means everything on our end is all completed.  No more going to appointments, having things notarized, filling out paperwork, etc.  Now we just wait.  Once our paperwork is mailed to China, hopefully in a couple weeks, we will then get a date that our paperwork is logged into their system (LID) and from that point travel will be about 4 months!  That means early October is very likely!  Not very far away, really!!

Karsynn's birthday is the end of this month so we had a couple things sent to her.  We sent a photo album of some pictures of all of us so she can get familiar with us along with a letter, a Hello Kitty stuffed animal and a birthday cake!  When she gets her cake we will get some pictures of her with her cake...can't wait!  Love you, sweet girl!

Long Overdue Update

Well hello blogging world.  My apologies for not keeping up to date on this realm of social media.  Between adoption paperwork, making necklaces, my "regular" job, and the family...this is the last thing from my mind.  However, I thought I would take a second and at least update all you who are curious about where we are with our process to bring Karsynn home.

We are currently waiting for our I800a approval from Immigration.  We took our fingerprints on April 6th and are just waiting for that letter of approval in the mail.  With Brayden's adoption it took 4 days after fingerprints to receive approval.  Great example of how things change in the adoption process!

Once we receive that approval we can send it off to the Secretary of State and the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco for their approvals and then we will be DTC (Dossier/Documents To China)!  This is always a sigh of relief because that means everything is done on our end.  Then we just wait until China says we can come to bring Karsynn home.  Right now, it is looking like October sometime could be when we would travel!!  It snows where Karsynn lives and so I am praying that we travel in October and before the weather gets bad.

I have been working overtime to make necklaces and keychains to raise money for our adoption expenses.  We are so blessed of this opportunity God gave us and the support of so many people making it happen!  We are still needing a large amount of money by October (about $19,000) but I know God WILL PROVIDE every penny!  We are planning on taking Kennedi with us because she is at a point where she is embrasing her Chinese heritage finally (if you know Kennedi, you know this is a huge step for her) plus it is a great thing for the adopted child to have another child around.  Karsynn also lives in an area that requires an extra week in China so instead of 2 weeks we have to plan on being there 3 weeks.  These two things add a huge amount to the costs of this adoption.  We are waiting to hear on a couple grant applications in the next month or so and are praying at least one of them come through.  This would be a huge blessings on this journey.

So can you please pray that we can travel by October and that the grants are approved and the funds keep being provided, if you think about us?  We are so blessed by all the people who have surrounded us with love and support during this journey.

World Down Syndrome Day!

Today is a day that has taken on a whole new meaning for us in the past few months. World Down Syndrome Day. A few months ago I didn't even know this day really existed. But God, God has been growing in me over the past couple years this love for those blessed with an extra chromosome.  Maybe its because way too many of those in the US who hear their child has Down syndrome feel their only answer is to abort their pregnancy (somewhere between 70 and 90%). Knowing the heartbreak an abortion can cause, my heart breaks for these parents and for the precious unborn child. My prayer is that I can somehow shine a light on the fact that children with Down syndrome are Fearfully and Wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14) and I have a big feeling Karsynn is going to help others see that.

God has not only placed adoption of a Down syndrome child in my path but He has been opening many other doors as well. I have been asked by the owner of Gigi's Playhouse in Des Moines Moines, Iowa to design and sell some of my Handmade Hope necklaces in their store! Gigi's Playhouse is a nationwide achievement center for those with DS. You can read more about them here. Praying one day we will have our very own local Gigi's Playhouse that I can be a part of! In the past week alone, God has also provided me the opportunity to be moderator of a Down Syndrome Adoption Facebbok page and our agency has also asked me to be in charge of advocating for their DS children they have waiting for families! Do you know China did not feel children with DS were adoptable and so they wouldn't bother using their time and resources preparing their files for adoption? Until recently they realized Americans, and others, will adopt and love DS kids so they began preparing files.  Today there are many adorable DS kiddos ready and waiting for their families.  I couldn't be more honored to have these new opportunities and I can't wait to see what other doors open along the way!!

So as I sit here at the beach enjoying the amazing views and weather I can't help but think of how amazing my life has unfolded to become once I allowed God to lead the way. 20 or even 10 years ago I would not have even imagined I would have 3 children from China and one of them with Down syndrome or that I would be an advocate for the orphan and those rocking an extra chromosome.  I am so humbled God chose broken me to fulfill His purposes!! What is He calling you to be used for? Will you let Him?

I-800a Submitted

I realize for most of you reading this, you have no idea what the title of my post even means.  You'll see many abbreviations like this throughout the China adoption process and for someone who is new to it all, it can sometimes be a bit confusing or overwhelming.  I-800a submitted basically means we submitted our application to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to determine if we are suitable to adopt a child from another country, including a fee of $975.

We should have had this application in the mail last Monday but Katelyn became ill all week and so we just got them in the mail yesterday.  Adoption process had to be put on hold for the week.  What's a week right? Or at least that's what I keep telling myself...

We, along with Katelyn because she is over 18, will now wait for our fingerprint appointment date to go and take our $1000 fingerprints.  Once we receive approval from USCIS, we can get our documents on their way to China.

That's about all the excitement around here.  Waiting to hear on some grant applications we submitted, super busy making necklaces which has been a HUGE blessing, and spending the passing days at the pool at swim meets because it's that time of the year again and I love it!  It has been in the mid to high 70s here...perfect weather to be poolside!  I also went on Thursday to see The Drop Box! If you missed this short showing in theaters, please be sure to look for it when it comes out on DVD!  It is the amazing story of Pastor Lee in South Korea who began opening his home to the many children who were being orphaned on the streets.  He eventually built a "drop box" that the babies can be put anonymously inside the box instead of leaving them to die in the cold.  This man LOVES like God loves.  He puts the needs of these children above his own needs.  Truly a story that will break you and hopefully move you.  You've heard this saying before but "we can't all adopt but we can all DO SOMETHING"!  I hope you get to see it.



Here's your #6 Seeds of Change Devotional, enjoy!

Why do we do what we do for the sake of others?  What motivates us?  How does God view these motivations?  Is the purest motivator a sense of Christian duty to meet the needs of the poor?  Is faith the best stimulus in our doing for the sake of another?  I am fond of Henry Drummond's writing on this matter.  He explains, "We have been accustomed to be told that the greatest thing in the religious world is faith.  That great word has been the keynote for centuries of the popular religion; and we have easily learned to look upon it as the greatest thing in the world.  Well, we are wrong...in 1 Corinthians 13, Paul takes us to Christianity at its source; and there we see, 'The greatest of these is love'."

It is curious to me that in some translations of the Bible, the word love is translated in English as charity, which many of us today understand to mean financially giving to those in need.  It is therefore important to look at the differences between these two ideas, love and charity.  We find in 1 John that if we see someone in physical need and refuse to help him, then the love of God is not in us.  In this sense it is impossible to love without charity.  But the distinction comes when Paul, being inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote in 1 Corinthians, "And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profits me nothing."  Did he say nothing?  Yes indeed, nothing!  His charity could have indeed returned a blessing to him greater than what he gave, but it did not.  It may have in some way helped the poor recipient, but because it was not out of love, this act of giving was missing the power of God and as a result it profited the giver nothing.

But how is it possible to be assured that love is our true motivation for giving when we are flawed and fleshly creatures and often do not feel loving towards our brethren?  The Word confirms that "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it" (Jeremiah 17:9).  Well, I believe that understanding our frailty and the weakness of our hearts is actually the place we must start in order to end up loving as God loves.  We must begin with the recognition that apart from God, we can do nothing!  All things of God, even and especially love, must come back to a complete dependence upon the Spirit of God in order that it may profit our souls now and for eternity.  Only the flowing of the Spirit of God through a man's soul can produce the pure motivation of agape love.

May we consider others better than ourselves; let us make allowances for the faults of others and be quick to forgive and not judge falsely.  May we put gossip and slander far from our lips; there is too much hurtful talk in our churches and in our homes-enough is enough; it is the time for Love.  God desires and promises to impart a full life of peace and joy to those who are submitted to His ways, and He wants to use such souls to impart blessings to others.  We cannot love without love Himself.  May we stay attached to the vine so that we can bear much fruit!  If, out of our dependence on God and His love, we will sacrificially serve and love those in need.  God will perfect His love in us, and we will experience the fullness of God and all the blessings and profit that come from Him.  As Drummond exhorts, "Where love is, God is.  He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God.  God is love,  Therefore love.  Without distinction, without calculation, without procrastination, love!"

~Scott Hasenbalg

{LOVE}

more pictures!

Just received some new pictures from our agency! Love!!

Moving Right Along

Our process to Karsynn is now moving right along.  We received our finalized home study finally on Monday.  Receiving our home study is really the end of one step of the process and allows us to begin the next step.  We are now officially done with the original agency and have completely switched to the agency we need to be with to help us through the rest of this journey.  We now send a copy of our home study to homeland security for our I-800a application, along with about $1000 for fingerprints (because Katelyn is over 18 and has to be fingerprinted as well), for their approval to adopt internationally.  As we wait for that approval, we send our documents all off for authentication and certification with the state.  Once those all arrive back, we will finally be DTC which means our documents will be on their way to China!  That is always an exciting time because that marks the end of all the endless paperwork.

Here at home we are entering into our busy time which is also known as swim season.  The good news is that this year it is only Bradley we have to get to and from practice (including 5:30am practices) and attend meets of.  Tomorrow is his first meet.  Katelyn is flying through her first year of college already and has recently met the most amazing guy.  She is looking forward to her spring break in a week.  Brayden is doing pretty well in school and we are working hard to remind him that his hard work in school will help him in the future; he thinks his video games will.  We are looking forward to celebrating 7 years with Kennedi home with us next month and cannot believe she will be 13 soon.  We just went to Disneyland and experienced their Chinese New Year Celebration which was a blast!

Here's your Day 5 of the Seeds of Change Devotional:

"When our family stepped out of our comfort zone and into the world of adoption, our lives were forever changed.  Having personally witnessed the plight of orphans in Haiti, China, El Salvador, Africa, and here in the USA, having seen their pain and heard their heart's cry, we knew we needed to respond.  Our journey has not been easy, comfortable, or something for which we were even prepared.  Yet God was calling us to step out, be different, and start responding to the command of James 1:27 to care for orphans in their distress.

I have sat in church services with thousands of Christians, all crying for justice, saying that God is up to something-that a new "thing" is happening.  But we are staying there, in that place, arms raised high but not reaching out.  After we hear the plight of the hungry, the needs of widows, the reality of the fatherless...what?  How do we Show Hope in a world that is so desperate, a world that is truly hopeless?  How do we respond?  Beyond what is comfortable, beyond what is easy, beyond simply enough to cross it off of our list of "Christian" things to do.

If we will respond to the needs of orphans to the same degree that God responded to the need of His orphans, by sacrificing His only Son, then imagine, just imagine what could start happening.  If we respond beyond our ease, beyond our convenience, with our focus on Jesus Christ and Him crucified for us, what would start to happen?  If we respond like a people who have been given the best, the greatest gift in the world, life eternal, through the hardest sacrifice ever made, what would we do?  Would we take the path of least resistance?  Or would we throw ourselves before the Lord, exulting in His goodness and plead with Him to show us what our role is.

All of our parts are different, and I am the last to pretend to know what is right for each of us. That is truly between you and God.  But I am asking one thing.  Be willing to go beyond easy.  Ask God to have His way with your life, even if it means that He must really stretch you, really push you to the limit.  You may find yourself adopting when you thought you couldn't.  You may find yourself serving in another country when you thought you would never go.  You may get involved with the fatherless children in your neighborhood who were orphaned by divorce or death when you thought it would be too much.  I am so glad that our family has walked some of the harder roads, because the difficulties we have experienced pale in comparison to the blessings of the peace, joy, and purpose that God has given, just as Christ could take our place at the cross because of the joy that was set before him.

Really pray, and really consider the cost that has been paid for you.  Our salvation was purchased at an astronomical price, the price of an only Son.  How great is the love of God!  are we willing to share that kind of sacrificial love with the orphans for whom God has asked us to care?  Jesus called us to love as He loved because He wanted His joy to be in us so that our joy "may be complete" (John 15:10-12)."

~Mary Beth Chapman

I am always so glad that we decided we would not play this thing called life "safe".  God has sent me (and our family) on some amazing and humbling journeys that I could have never imagined going on.  Be brave.  Follow God's calling on your life, you won't regret it!

Karsynn Yu Yang 

we are coming for you!!!