Winter Solstice

Today is a holiday in China, called Dongzhi. It celebrates the Winter Solstice. Traditionally, it is a time for families to be united together. In the past, all people with the same surname would gather to celebrate and renew family ties.  

A big feature of this holiday is the eating of tangyuan, balls of sticky rice. The rice is bound together, which symbolizes reunion. Dongzhi celebrates families coming together.

As you read this, would you take a moment to pray for our family? Our desire is for our family to be bound together with our Chinese child, and this holiday reminds us that we are not there yet. 

We appreciate your prayers and your support in helping us make this family union a reality.

The Pancake Report

Well we did it...we had a pancake brunch/auction! And it was a beautiful thing. For those of you unaware, we gathered together this past Sunday at our home church and our family, along with another adopting family in our church, joined together with our growth groups and several other volunteers in the church. We collectively made over 600 pancakes, along with bacon and eggs. We also auctioned off over fifty items donated to raise monies to help bring our children to their forever families. Watching all these people come together to help us “have” a baby was humbling to say the least. I was in tears multiple times throughout the whole experience. I have to say, out of all the treasures of the day, by far watching our fifth grade Sunday school classes serve was the most beautiful experience. You see...out of the class of about 14 girls, over half of them have been adopted. It was their job to cut, paste and place the adoption statistics on all the tables. As these girls hurried through their task, they couldn’t help but read some of these jaw dropping numbers about orphans. Numbers like: EVERY DAY, 5,760 more children in the world become orphans. It is estimated there are between 143 million and 210 million orphans worldwide (recent UNICEF report.) Studies also show that 60% of the girls become prostitutes and 70% of the boys become hardened criminals. Approximately 250,000 children are adopted annually, but… 

Each year 14,505, 000 children grow up as orphans and age out of the system by age sixteen. And their response was the most beautiful thing. They saw these numbers about other children...not themselves. Why is that? Because these beautiful little girls, who where once orphaned, left alone and unknown are now in loving homes where they are cherished, built up and valued. They have full hearts. And what were they doing with those full hearts? They were helping two families bring home another child that no longer has to be a statistic. So the ugly cycle is stopped in its tracks and a new cycle begins...one of love, generosity and compassion. We ask you to continue to pray for our little one...but not only our little one but the countless children that are longing to find a home where they too can stop the cycle.

“Defend the cause of the weak and the fatherless; Maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.  Deliver the weak and needy from the hand of the wicked.”  Psalm 82:3-4

TED Talk on Orphanages

I came across this TED Talk, and I thought it was worth sharing. It is about 10 minutes long, but it captures some good thoughts on orphans and orphanages. The fact that the US and UK and other developed Western countries have stopped using orphanages should tell us something about the detrimental effects of life in an orphanage. As you watch the video, please pray for our child and all children who begin life in this context.

A Touching Video from an Unlikely Source

We're still so early in our adoption process, yet God has already given us some awesome stories to share with our future child. (You can read some of our stories here, and here, and here). But what is cool is that everyone comes to adoption with their own story. We came across this story of a Chinese adoption by Seven Levitt, an economist and author of Freakonomics. It's a bit long, like many good stories, but I hope it inspires you, as it has us. 

We'd love to hear your reactions and feedback, too. Let us know what is on your mind.

  

Roll Tide!

So the next step (and almost the final step in phase one of our adoption, the Home Study) is some education. With the money we raised from our most recent fundraiser, we have enrolled in the required online courses we have to take.

One of the classes we have to take is 12 hours of online reading and videos through the National Council for Adoption.

Our other class is a parenting class that we are required to take through the University of Alabama. So, this would mark the 5th institute of higher learning where I've taken classes in my lifetime.

I thought I was done with school. But, if it helps us bring our child home, I'm all for it. Roll Tide!

Wild China

In our quest to learn more and more about China, we've stumbled upon a really fascinating documentary. It's called Wild China, and was produced by the BBC. If you watched Planet Earth, Wild China is a lot like that. Incredible images of an incredibly beautiful country. Here's a shot of terraced rice farms from the first episode:

It is a fascinating country, full of much beauty. 

Watch all the episodes Wild China for yourself here:

Thanks!

We just wanted to say a word of thanks for your support through our most recent fundraiser. We were so excited to see so many of you shopping at delicatefortress.com and making a difference in the lives of so many women. And, the money we raised helps us accomplish our next step in our adoption process, which is awesome.

Let me encourage you to continue to shop at delicatefortress.com. Even though our fundraiser week is over, it is still a great place to shop where your purchases can help break the poverty cycle for so many people.

Also, if you would like to continue to support us, there are still ways to do that. You can see a full list of ways to help here. The easiest way to help is to buy things through Amazon, using the link on our blog (here). It doesn't cost you any extra money, but we get a percentage of every Amazon purchase you make.

So thanks again for your support. We are so grateful to each of you for your prayers and your contributions.