UPDATE FROM ORIGINAL POST:

Two hours after posting the blog below I got an email that her file has made it to the place we need it to be!!!! Praise Jesus!!! Now, we need them to release the file to my agency ASAP. So pray that they release the file to us and that we can move forward at lightning speed! I’ll keep you posted!!

“And we are CONFIDENT that HE HEARS US whenever we ask for anything that pleases Him. And since we know He hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.” 1 John 5:14-15

Happy New Year! I wanted to give you a another update and specific direction on how to pray for our adoption. I want to say again, that I realize the adoption process is very confusing if you’ve never done it before so I’m trying to just give you one step at a time. We have seen HUGE miracles on how fast we have been able to move our paperwork so far. Last update I asked you to pray for our fingerprinting appointment and a quick approval of the associated document. We were successfully able to walk-in and be fingerprinted yesterday and our immigration officer approved our file within three hours of us walking out of the fingerprinting place. This is a HUGE praise and miracle that it was approved this fast! For those that have adopted internationally before you know what I’m talking about and that this is not the normal time frame. We have one other document that has to be processed through immigration but it can not be processed until we have her file and have gone through some other steps. The approval that we got yesterday we overnighted to our sweet friends in Austin to walk-in to the Secretary of State for certification for us. She’ll then overnight it to our courier in Virgina who will walk it in to the Embassy in D.C. for authentication for us and then overnight it to our adoption agency.

The major prayer request is still for her file to come in. Please pray that whatever or whoever is holding it up would be moved out of the way and her file would move forward to the office we need it to get to. We have done every bit of paperwork we can (at record speed) without her file and so now all we can do is pray and wait. As soon as it does arrive our agency will lock-in her file to us and then the remaining paperwork steps will be expedited. If I’m counting right I think there are about 7 more steps once we get her file and we only have about 7 more WEEKS. So we REALLY REALLY need her file ASAP. So please pray. You can look at the sidebar on the right side of my blog and see the timeline for Lilli’s adoption which maybe will give you some point of reference for all these steps I keep referring to. The approval we just got yesterday is noted on Lilli’s timeline as “December 24, 2010 I-797 approval received.” Lilli’s adoption went way faster than the normal time frame as well and we’re trying to shave months off of that time! So you get the idea that when I say we need miracles, I really mean MIRACLES.

I spoke with our adoption agency’s travel department last week and she prepared me that we will probably have two days notice before we travel to get her and that it will most likely be within a week of her birthday! That FREAKS me out! Well, it freaks my flesh out. My heart completely trusts God and His plan for this girl and our family. Now, if I can keep my flesh out of the way.

Oh, and for those that have asked… because her file has not come in yet and we do not have an approval from her country to adopt her we cannot post specific information about her yet (such as her photo, name, or any other identifying information). Once we are “locked-in” I will be happy to post pictures and more info. Until then I appreciate your understanding. We don’t want to do anything that would jeopardize the work God is doing!

I want to write a separate post about this later because this one is already overwhelming but I wanted to throw in that there have also been huge financial provision MIRACLES for our adoption. I am confident that we are on track to have ALL of the money we need for the entire adoption possibly before we even receive her file! I will update more on this later but know God has provided in miraculous ways and we are ALMOST there on the money side. So keep spreading the word about the t-shirts.

I am excited and filled with great anticipation for what 2012 will hold not only for our family but for yours as well. There is a Revolution starting in the “Church” (and by “church” I mean the people… those who identify themselves as followers of Christ) and things are shaking up in a good way! One small (hahaha) part of that Revolution is Adoption! There is a movement (REVOLUTION) beginning in which more and more people are stepping up to care for the fatherless. More and more people are doing THEIR PART to care for the millions of orphans around the world (Did you know the USA is in the world? So that includes domestic adoption, foster care, etc. Just saying…)  by supporting ministries that care for these precious children, supporting another family that is adopting, advocating for these children, praying, or adopting a child into their family.  THAT is exciting!! And I have to say to those of you who have linked arms with us to help us bring home Lilli and now another daughter… thank you for joining the Revolution! Don’t stop being a Revolutionist when our adoption is complete. Keep charging forth and answering the call… there are opportunities ALL around you! I hope to be able to highlight some of those for you in the future.

Have a blessed day and New Year! Love from our family to yours!

I just have a quick second so I’m sorry but this post will not include any jokes that I crack myself up with. We found out several important things about our adoption process today both of which require prayer to “push them along”. We still have not received the file for this sweet girl we are trying to adopt. Our agency has staff in the country she is in and has been checking on it several times a week. We found out today the reason it has not moved on to the next office (the office which “matches children with families”) is because it is sitting on the director’s desk waiting to be signed off on. Once she signs it it will be sent to the “big office” where we will be able to be matched and then expedite everything from that point on. So first please pray that the person that needs to sign the file signs it TODAY and it is overnighted to the next office TODAY.

Second, in the mean time while we’ve been waiting on her file we have been filing necessary paperwork with immigration. Long story short our paperwork has made it through that process MIRACULOUSLY fast. The only thing we are waiting on is our fingerprint appointment letter to come in the mail. A little birdy was able to tell me it was mailed out yesterday. Will you please pray that both of our appointment letters come in the mail tomorrow and that we are successfully able to take it and walk in for fingerprinting before our scheduled date?

The adoption process is really confusing if you’ve never done it before so I try to keep it really simple when explaining. But I will ask for one more prayer. Please pray that our fingerprinting is done and our file approved this week so that we have time to send it to Austin, Houston and then to our agency before her file arrives. We (us and our agency) had planned to send everything without this document if her file had come in and pray for favor that they would accept it but now I really believe God is allowing us time to get this done so that when her file comes in we have everything in order just the way the other country likes it. I know it’s confusing but just trust me when I write out the entire story someday it will be filled with one miracle after another.

Finally, please pray protection for our family. I especially have felt the weight of the “spiritual battle” we are in. Please just pray for us. I don’t want to give the enemy any sort of platform at all so I won’t go into detail but just know he has been at work especially against me and I could use your prayers.

Thank you so much for your support!! I can’t tell you how much all of the encouragement you have given means to us. Seriously, we know we are not doing any of this alone. We know God is leading, we’re following, and all of our family and friends are pushing us along with their prayers, love and support. We love you!!

So to recap here are the prayer requests:

1) Please pray that the person that needs to sign the file signs it TODAY and it is overnighted to the next office TODAY.
2) Pray that both of our appointment letters come in the mail tomorrow and that we are successfully able to take it and walk in for fingerprinting before our scheduled date.
3) Please pray that our fingerprinting is done and our file approved this week so that we have time to send it to Austin, Houston and then to our agency before her file arrives.
4) Please pray protection for our family.

For those of you wondering what has happened in the adoption process since last week there is not a lot to report. We have moved forward with a lot of our paperwork and accomplished quite a bit in just one week but the most important thing to pray for right now is for “her” file to be available for us to be matched with THIS week. Time is of the essence and if her file can’t be matched soon there will be no chance of anyone being able to adopt her. We are trying to position ourselves paperwork wise in the best possible place so that when her file is available we can move at lightning speed. Our agency said they will do everything they possibly can to make this work but if it all comes together and the adoption is finalized this will be the biggest miracle they have ever seen.

Other immediate needs are for funds. You may remember we just completed our first adoption 7 months ago. Because this adoption is going to go down in 2 months we don’t have time for multiple fundraisers or to plan a big event. While we are not “worried” about the money (if it’s God’s will He will pay the bill ) we believe God gave us an idea and said to run with it. So, here’s the challenge. We designed brand new t-shirts that are on our www.hopebelieveobey.com website. The challenge is to sell 3,000 shirts in 30 days!!!! Sound a bit lofty? Well, we know if we try to do that by ourselves it is but if our friends share with their friends and their friends share with their friends then pretty soon way more than 3,000 people have heard about it. And for the 30 days of the challenge shipping on all shirts is FREE! And this time there are Kids, Women’s and Men’s Sizes!!

I do want to note that you will not receive your shirt before Christmas. There is no way we could possibly guarantee that this close to Christmas so I didn’t want you to have un-realistic expectations. However, they will make great Christmas gifts and you could even print out a picture of the shirt and wrap it up and tell someone it’s coming AND that their gift helped bring a child to her forever family. Personally, I love meaningful gifts like that!

Some of you may be wondering what all this money is going to go towards if things don’t work out with this girl. Well, first off we believe it IS going to work out but for those of you with a need to know Plan B… if it does not work our paperwork will be in position so that we can accept another child’s file and move forward with a lot of our paperwork already out of the way. So either way the money is ALL going towards bringing a child to her forever family.

So the challenge is before you. Will you help us sell 3,000 shirts in 30 days? Get yours and then spread the word! Go to www.hopebelieveobey.com and click SHOP to buy your shirts. Thank you for all the prayers, love and encouragement you have given in the last week. More updates coming soon. Oh, and Bill will add a progress bar to the website soon so you can track how many we’ve sold.

First, I have to apologize in advance because although this post will give more detail than my somewhat cryptic tweet earlier today it is still going to be vague and require you to “read between the lines.” This is after all the dubya dubya dubya (for those who don’t speak slang that is W.W.W.) and ANYONE in any PLACE in the ENTIRE world can read this so I have to be careful. Especially at this point. That being said I will now de-crypticize as much as possible. Buckle your seatbelts.

Oh, but before I do that let me answer a few questions that will immediately pop into your head as soon as I begin de-crypticizing. I just want you to have your answers ahead of time so you don’t get distracted “wondering” and forget to read the rest of my blog post. That’s right, I’m always looking out for you! Ahem… here we go. No, we do not smoke crack. No, we do not smoke anything. Ever. We don’t even breathe therefore blowing smoke out of our mouths when we go outside and it’s really cold. No, we do not own a Sprinter Van nor have any plans to purchase one. No, we are not trying to get a show on TLC. Although, I am a self-proclaimed comedian. No, we don’t like it when you stare at us when we walk in public places as if we just unloaded a field trip bus into your establishment. Yes, we have a TV. No, we (we as in me) are not pregnant. Yes, we have passed psychological exams and have been found to be sane. No, you may not disagree. Yes, we love Jesus. Yes, we love our family. Yes, we love others. Yes, we will do whatever Jesus tells us to do no matter how cuh-razzzzy you think we are. No, we are not getting a dog. Yes, we will be disobedient if Jesus tells us to get a dog. Or a cat. Or anything of the animal species.

With all of THAT being said I really will now get to the important part. When we adopted Lilli earlier this year we knew that we were called to adopt another daughter in the future. We assumed we would choose a child younger than Lilli and we were just waiting and praying about that. However, God’s plans sometimes don’t match up with “our” plans. Earlier this week we found out about a girl who is 13 years old that desperately desires a family. She has lived in an orphanage her entire life and watched her best friends all get adopted last year. She has kept in contact with them via Skype and begs them to find her a family too. The “place” where she lives never started paperwork for her to be able to be adopted because they didn’t think anyone would want her. In this “place” once a child turns 14 they can NEVER be adopted. Even if they have a family waiting for them if the family does not have their Gotcha day before the 14th birthday they will NEVER be adopted. This girl is turning 14 at the end of February. Because the “place” she is at just started paperwork for her to be able to be adopted it has left a VERY short, almost impossible time frame for anyone to be able to get through all the necessary steps to get to her in time.

Our family (and that means the kids too) have prayed and we are going for her. We are trying to expedite every possible step so that we have a chance at getting to her before her birthday. Nothing is guaranteed. Her file is still not even in the “system” yet so we cannot even be officially matched. There is a huge chance that when it comes in we may not be allowed to be matched with her because of the short time frame. It is a very detailed process that needs to occur in two months!! So I’m not going to try and list all of the things that need to happen but I’m just asking you to pray for miracles. And I mean one miracle after another. We are prepared that there may be another family who is ahead of us in the process who might want her and be able to get to her faster. If that is the case we will gladly let her go to that family. The most important thing is that she gets a family. However, we cannot sit by and wait because there is no time for that so we will be charging forth like mad dogs until the door gets slammed in our face. So please pray!! Pray first that she gets in a loving family before her birthday. Pray second that if it’s us that He miraculously gets all of our paperwork through EVERY stinkin step it’s gotta go through at record, miracle breaking speed. Pray third that He provides the money we need to make this happen.

The boys are praying their little hearts out. I asked Ayden (8) why he would want to adopt this girl and his response was “Because she doesn’t have a family and that’s not right. Jesus wants everyone to have a family. We have a family and she can be a part of it. Go get her.” Needless to say, the boys are all on board.

The lady at our adoption agency said to me yesterday, “You realize you’re pretty much asking us to do the impossible, to move mountains.” My response was, “Yes, I realize that. But that’s not a problem for God. He’s in the mountain moving business.”

Ready. Set. Pray.

Three short (yet long) months ago today we were standing in a hot building in China with no AC awaiting the arrival of our newest family member.

That day held all the excitement and nerves of having a baby without all the doctors, nurses and big tummy! I remember wondering if I would recognize her from her pictures and if I would cry. I knew I probably wouldn’t cry because that’s just not my normal emotion when I have a kid. Usually I laugh. Yes, I know, I’m weird. But, I was so overwhelmed with joy that my daughter was finally about to be placed in my arms that all I could do was smile! Really, really big!

I remember when she arrived and came around the corner into the doorway of the building where we waited. Her nanny that was carrying her paused for a moment and we all knew it was her. That was our daughter. The one whom we had prayed for from a million miles away. Then they called out her name “Dang Xue Rou” and they came right over to us. She was so calm, and her countenance so different from the girl we know now.

They introduced her to us and then the nanny placed in my arms a quiet little sweaty girl wearing a white cotton blouse with thick black tights and hot pink sandals. She didn’t hesitate to come to me and was content to quietly take in the scenery around us.

We all took turns hugging her and telling her how much we loved her and she received our affection with a blank stare. Sweet little Lilli Hope’s world as she had known it for the entire two years of her life had just been turned upside down.

Her blank stare and lack of emotion on that first day didn’t last long. Not even 24 hours in fact.

Almost instantly we saw a sweet little girl blossom into a happy, expressive, joyful little angel. Well, that was then and this is now.

People ask me all the time how she is doing and the honest truth is she couldn’t be adjusting any better. I know I’ve said it a lot but she just jumped right in and it feels like she has been here her entire life.

Of course, I know she hasn’t and we make allowances for that fact but she really is doing beautifully! Lilli and London will be starting preschool soon and are taking a tap and ballet class during the day. It is sure to be lots of fun(ny)!

I love how Lilli is a constant, visible reminder of God’s faithfulness in our lives. I was driving to pick up the boys from school the other day and coming out of our neighborhood God reminded me of an afternoon six months back when I was chasing the FedEx truck who had papers I needed for our adoption.

Papers that at the time were my only connection to this little girl that I knew without a doubt was my daughter.

At that time I was running around like a crazy person doing everything I could (including stalking FedEx delivery drivers) to get this little girl to my arms. It was a complete journey of faith even down to the finances of paying for the adoption but I knew He would be faithful. Now months later, as I was driving to get the boys I looked in my rear view mirror and saw sitting in her carseat my little angel and was overwhelmed with His faithfulness.

“The more i seek You,
the more i find You.

The more i find You,
the more I love You

I wanna sit at Your feet
drink from the cup in Your hand.
Lay back against You and breath,
hear Your heart beat

This love is so deep,
it’s more than I can stand.
I melt in Your peace, it’s overwhelming”

~Kari Jobe – “The More I Seek You”