Our Newest Partnership

We wanted to take a moment to introduce you to our newest partner on our blog. You may recall a few months ago that we did a fundraiser with Delicate Fortress Creations. You can read about it here. We believe in the mission of Delicate Fortress Creations, which is to bring hope and healing to women who are trapped in the poverty cycle. Purchases that you make through Delicate Fortress go to rescue women from trafficking and forced prostitution. Now, you can shop Delicate Fortress anytime, and not only will your purchase accomplish these things noted above, but we also will receive 10% from every order placed. Special note to men: there are lots of great Valentine's gift options here. Just click on this link to do your shopping:

http://bit.ly/VV6QTu

Our other partnerships are still on going. The easiest one to take advantage of is our Amazon partnership. If you use this link to do all your shopping on Amazon, we get a portion of the proceeds:

http://amzn.to/P8gKmM

Lots of folks have asked questions about this one, but here are all the answers: No, your Amazon page will not look any different. No, you will not get any confirmation when you check out. No, the prices will not be any higher. Just click on the link, and shop Amazon just like normal. The best thing to do is to bookmark it in place of your Amazon link. That way, you just click on it and shop like you normally would. Couldn’t be easier.

Our third partnership is with Just Love Coffee Roasters. If you are like me and you love good coffee, this one’s for you. Just shop for fair trade organic coffee through this link, and 1) you’ll be helping local farmers earn a fair wage, 2) you'll get delicious coffee, and 3) we'll get $5.00 from every pound of coffee you buy:

http://bit.ly/WZebki

We appreciate all your support, and your prayers. You are making a permanent difference in the lives of our children!

Expedited Adoption

Because of the pressing medical needs of our adopted kids, we've been in the process of expediting our adoption. It can be a pretty long process, because you basically have to get two different governments to sort through your paperwork and green light it all. But, we've had some encouragement.

On the US side of things, they're expediting us pretty rapidly, all things considered. They told us that the whole process from their end would take about two weeks! This is a process that normally takes a couple of months. 

For part of this process, we had to drive to Yakima to get "biometric" fingerprints. They basically stuck our hands on a scanner and then scanned our prints and sent them on to Homeland Security.  Assuming that we are not hardened criminals, then they'll approve us and we'll be able to scratch off one more step to getting our kids home safely.

We got some major encouragement after returning from Yakima. The very next day, our paperwork was emailed to us, completed. We thought two weeks would be fast, how about two days! That was a real answer to prayer.

At this point, the biggest barrier we have is still finances. We've been encouraged by how God has met our needs up to this point, and we look forward to how He'll keep doing it.

Will you continue to pray that 1) our process moves quickly and 2) our financial needs are met. Specifically, we're still looking at travel costs and orphanage fees.

Chinese New Year

I know for most of you, today is just another day. But, today marks the Chinese New Year. And this year, we have a special request:

Would you take a moment--maybe over dinner or whenever you've got your family gathered together--take a moment just to say a prayer for our kids? 

We're looking forward to celebrating with them in person this time next year, but in the meantime, we just wait...

Thanks...You're Awesome!

 
We just wanted to say thanks for the great response to our cookbook. It is going to press this week, and we'll be sending it out as soon as we get it. If you didn't get a chance to order one, you can do it here.

Several of you donated, which is awesome, and several of you shared our blog post on Facebook, which is awesome. And we even had some folks share the info about our kids and our cookbook on their own blogs--awesome! Just today, a friend shared with us that her women's Bible study group has "adopted" our family as their prayer focus. What an awesome encouragement.

The result is that almost 1,000 people viewed our blog. That's pretty awesome.

That's awesome because that means almost 1,000 people have had the opportunity to pray for our family, and especially for our kids. We know that God hears prayers, and that he is working.

That's awesome because almost 1,000 people have now thought about adoption and their role in it. God is working.

We're thankful that you have shown such love and care for our family. We are still anxious to get our kids home, and get our daughter home quickly so she can have surgery. We appreciate your continued support.

Come to the Table

The adoption journey is an amazing, gut-wrenching, joyous and tear-filled experience. You give your heart to little faces that are so far away, and there are so many obstacles between you and them that it sometimes feels like you’ll never be united. And in an incredible instant...the big day finally arrives and your lives are forever changed. Each adoption story is unique, with its own ups and downs, valleys and mountain top experiences.

Our adoption story has been no different. When we knit our hearts not just to one kid but to two, we knew we were in for a wild ride. Waiting to bring them home is hard, but knowing our kids have special needs makes the waiting that much harder.

We have prayed and pondered ways we can help to bring them home. That’s when it hit us: we’ll make a cookbook. But not just any old cookbook. A cookbook that honors the many people who have shared our table. The recipes we've assembled tell a story. God has used food to connect us to others and now, the story continues as He is using this cookbook to connect us to our children across the world.

If you donate, you not only will get a great collection of tested recipes and accompanying stories, but you will be making an eternal difference in the lives of our children. We want to get both of our children home as soon as possible, but our daughter especially needs life saving surgery that amplifies the urgency of our desire.  

People who know us know that we love having folks over. We love opening our home and sharing our lives. From the beginning of our marriage, we’ve loved cooking together and  gathering around the table with family and friends, new and old, from all corners of the globe...toasting life and love as we have spent time fellowshipping with others. It is our prayer that through your generosity, you will have recipes to share with others and make new memories of your own, build community with others and make an eternal difference on the lives of our children as we bring them to their forever homes and invite them to come to our table. 

To make a donation, click the button below. Suggested donation for the cookbook is $25. Cookbooks should be shipped in February.

You Can't Miss This!

I just had to share how awesome this family is. I hope and pray that you are blessed to have friends who inspire you, lift you up, and love you the way our friends to do us. Check out what's happening in the heart of this amazing little girl:

http://jacksonfamilyjoys.blogspot.com/2013/01/a-heart-for-fatherless.html

Big Things

What happens when you say yes to God? Big things happen...

As we have been continuing on our adoption journey, we’ve seen God do some amazing things. No surprises there. But the flip side of that coin is that He has also asked big things of us.

You know those old game shows where the person wins a big prize, I mean really big, like bigger than they can imagine? And then the host says, “But wait, there’s more! Tell them what else they’ve won, Bob.” That’s kind of our adoption journey.

We’re excited to let you know that we’ve been matched with a child. We feel like we’ve won the grand prize of life. We’ve been matched with the sweetest little boy. We’re not allowed to blog details about him yet, like pictures, but we would appreciate your prayers for him and us. 

“But wait, there’s more! Tell them what else they’ve won!”

As we have been seeking God throughout this process, it has become clear to us that we should adopt two children. (Yes, we are a little crazy.) So, we’re also pleased to share with you that we have been matched with a little girl as well. Two kids! We can’t wait to get both of them home.

Both our children are considered special needs, and in fact their needs are great. We’ll create a separate post to introduce each of them individually in more detail in a couple months when some more paperwork is finalized, but one thing that you can pray about now is that our daughter needs rather urgent medical care. We are looking in to a lot of options to expedite our adoption process, so please pray for guidance for us as you pray for their health.

God is in the business of doing big things when we say yes. We can’t express to you how much we value your generosity and we are so thankful for your prayers as we navigate this new journey He has us on. 

So what happens when you say yes to God? He says, “I am able to do immeasurably more than all you ask or imagine, according to my power that is at work within you.” (Ephesians 3:21, paraphrased)