My heart hurts for your son...

On Sunday we were invited to go to lunch with Joel's parents. The restaurant was packed. We were seated next to an older couple. The gentleman kept looking at Dane and I wasn't sure how to take it. Did he think Dane was cute, was he trying to figure out our family....I almost wanted to say something to him, but I wasn't even sure what to say. There is one thing that I learned when we became a multicultural family - you tend to stand out, people will remember us, well at least remember Dane.

We finished our lunch as the same time as the elderly couple next to us and we got up to pay and leave at the same time. The gentleman then started to talk and smile at Dane. He then me asked about our family, he wondered if they were all ours and I joyfully said, "Yes, and we have one more sweetie waiting for us in China!" He then got really quiet and stepped closer. His hands started to shake and he said, "My heart hurts for your son... I was adopted too, I was 2 and a 1/2." We were then interrupted by the waitress. I could tell that he truly felt the pain of adoption. I could see it on his face. I wish he would have finished telling me his life story. As we were putting on our coats I told him that I hope and pray that I can be a good mother to my son and that I felt like Dane deserved so much more than I could give him. I told him that my heart hurts for my son too. He then asked me if we took him to church, and again I said, "Yes." This time though, it was much more somber. He replied by telling me that taking my son to church was the best thing I could do for him and he also wanted to make sure that I told my son that Jesus loved him.

Wow. A simple lunch turned into something much more.

I know when I look at my son that life has not been fair to him. That the circumstances of his life are very sad. The reasons he is a part of our family, as much as a blessing he is to me and our family,  are incredibly sad. I know that I can never take that pain away no matter how hard I try. I am reminded of that everyday. Dane struggles emotionally. Life is hard for him...he struggles everyday. It breaks this mama's heart. And yes, someday it is hard. I feel like I have failed him miserably. Some days I see the progress he has made and life is good. I wish love could fix everything. I wish my love was enough. Wouldn't life be easier if our love could fix...if our love was enough??

That gentleman in the restaurant was right though. Telling Dane about Jesus is the best thing I can do. I can't take Dane's pain away. But we serve a God that can. Our God is bigger than any problem or pain that we have. Our God's love can fix it all....His love is enough.  I am so thankful that I serve a God that can fill in all the "gaps" that I miss with my Dane. I am thankful I serve a God whose love is enough! God knew what He was doing when He placed Dane in our lives.

    Psalm 34: 17-20 

¹⁷ The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;
he delivers them from all their troubles.
¹⁸ The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

¹⁹ The righteous person may have many troubles,
but the Lord delivers him from them all;
²⁰ he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken.

I800 approved & weekend fundraiser

Well, our I800 (permission to bring Aliyah into the US) was approved on Friday!! YIIIPPPPEEEE! Our agency will soon be sending more paperwork to China for her visa and there are a couple more things that need to happen before we get our Travel Approval  from China. All that really means is that we expect to travel in the next 7-10 weeks.

We had our big garage sale fundraiser for Aliyah this past weekend. It was a lot of hard work, especially since Joel was gone all week and Dane was not feeling well, and the weather was not the best...it was FREEZING!!!  But we pulled it off. We did not have a set price for our items, everything was donations only. Some took advantage of that but most were very generous. I met and talked with so many wonderful people! What a blessing those people were to me! The cash total came to $727 and we have a ton of change that we did not count yet.

I am so thankful for God's blessings!! He is so good and so faithful!!

Aliyah update -Oh happy day!!

The great ipad2 giveaway! And the winner is.....

Dee M. and family!!! CONGRATS!!

WOW!! We are so very blessed. The outpouring of love, support (both financial and emotional) and prayers have overwhelmed our family, especially the last 2 days. Thank you does not even come close to enough.

Our fundraiser started off   v.e.r.y slow. We thought for sure we would never hit our goal of $1000 since 2 days ago we were just over $400...but you all have proved me wrong!!

We raised a total of $1310!! 100% of this will be going towards bringing Aliyah home. And again I stand in awe of God's goodness and faithfulness as this amount is $10 over the amount we needed to pay our latest fees -our invoice arrived on Friday.

Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. You have blessed our family beyond measure.

LOA!!

We received our LOA (Letter of Acceptance) on Wednesday- our agency called us with the fantastic news!! Thank you God for your goodness and faithfulness!! Basically China has said that all of our paperwork is approved and we can now file paperwork with our government to bring Aliyah into the US. We should be in China in about 3 months!! It feels so good to know that Aliyah will be home soon. Continue to keep us and Aliyah in your prayers. Also pray that the remaining "paperwork steps" will all happen in a timely manner and be without issue.

This arrived on Thursday. Praising God again for His faithfulness as our LOA package was lost and delivered to the wrong address.  At around 3pm it was found and in our hands.

Our LOA

Proverbs 13:12

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life."

For those who want to know our dates and the details - we were logged in on 2/6 and moved to in process on 3/1 and in process for 5 1/2 weeks. Got our LOA on day 65.

Having fun at home

Playing soccer

Taking pics of the kids. Dane in his outfit form his foster mom.

Making sparkly silver hairbows for China

Sewing gifts for Aliyah

Painting bird houses

Don't they look great!

Dog sitting Shyla - the kids and Joel miss her!

Weeding and watering the plants...and playing too!

We are so very blessed!

The great adoption giveaway- an iPad 2!

THE WINNER IS...Dee M. & family!

Thank you everyone for your support!! We are so blessed!!


With travel a few months away we find ourselves needing about $8,000 more to cover the final expenses of Aliyah's adoption.  We really have come so far and we could not have done it without the support and prayers of our friends and family. We are getting so close to having our baby in our arms!

We have a white iPad2 to giveaway! 100% of the profits will go towards our adoption expenses and help bring Aliyah home from China.

All entries for the drawing need to be in by Sunday, April 22nd, at 5 pm. We will notify the winner later that night.

Just click on the PayPal donate button on the right. Please specify "donation" on PayPal. You can also pay by credit card on the donate button. For those that rather not pay via the website but want to enter please contact me at jbwachter@frontier.com

• $ 5 for 1 entries
• $ 10 for 3 entries
• $ 25 for 10 entries
• $ 50 for 25 entries

Thank you so much and good luck!

60 days closer - a celebration

We are 60 days closer to our LOA and to meeting Aliyah. We still have several months of waiting left, but last night we celebrated that we have made it this far!

Thank you God for all of your blessings.

Psalm 40: 1-5

1. I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry.2. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. 3. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD. 4. Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods.5. Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare.  

We are waiting on you God and trusting you to see us through. 

God is faithful; He is near.

Well, the day after my last post God brought some sweetness to my day. God is so good that way!  He is so faithful!! He knew we needed a bit of a "pick me up."

Another mom traveled to pick up her son, who is in the same orphanage as Aliyah, a few weeks ago. She was given permission to visit the orphanage. And guess who she met while she was there....my sweet Aliyah!! She was told that she was not allowed to to take any pictures but when she explained to them that she was in contact with me and had Aliyah's date of birth they allowed her to take 2 pictures of her!! I am not going to share those because this mom agreed that she was going to only share them with me. I do not want to risk anything so I am going to keep them off my blog, but I assure you they are beautiful pictures.

This mom also went on to tell me how she thought that the orphanage was very clean and that the children seemed to be getting great care. She thought that the children looked healthy, including Aliyah.

The staff allowed her to give Aliyah and the other children  a treat. She also told me that Aliyah was very shy at first but after she spoke softly to her she seemed to relax a bit (talk about melting this mama's heart). She said that Aliyah was very beautiful and very sweet.

I cannot even begin to put into words how wonderful it feels to know another mommy met my baby girl. She saw her and spoke to her.

Thank you God for blessing us with this gift.

This mother also received a disposable camera when she met her son. After returning home she had it developed.... and look who appears in several of the photos!

I had to be careful to not show the faces of the other children so I had to crop the pictures. Some of them are not the "best" pictures of Aliyah, but they all are priceless to me.

We also received a sweet gift for Aliyah yesterday in the mail. Joel is part of a Facebook China adoption group and we have a "secret pal."  She sent the sweetest sparkly, silver, princess shoes (with instructions that Joel cannot try them on) and cute children's book by Max Lucado. She not only brought a smile to our faces but a good laugh as well.

Again God had blessed us.

He is reminding us that He has not forgotten us; He is near.

 Hebrews 13:5-6:  for He has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you”, so we can boldly say, “the Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me.”

Despite the fact that we are still waiting we will be celebrating tomorrow that we are 60 days closer to Aliyah and our LOA!!

It will come all in HIS time..... 

Alivia's Prayer

Dear Jesus,

Please help my sister come home soon.

I love her

and I really, really want to talk to her.

I love you Jesus.

Amen

I do not think I could have said it any better. We are still waiting to hear from China about our LOA. Somedays we seem to handle the wait alright. Somedays are not so easy. Today has been one of those not so easy days, even for the kids. We knew going into this adoption that the wait would be long and hard, but it still does not make it any easier. Our hearts are getting tired and we are clinging to the words of Jesus with all the strength we have left.



Proverbs 3:5-6

⁵ Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
⁶ in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.