A Family For Hope... Lord Willing

We have decided to go for it! I mean, we are talking about a child here, not an atomic bomb. These past 5 months have served as a time of great learning for me. I have researched everything from older child adoptions to children with Down Syndrome... I have followed along with some amazing familes who are doing amazingly sacrifical things to bring very sick children home. Is this easy? Um, no. Is it worth it? ABSOLUTELY. Better yet, it has changed their families for the better, in ways that our selfish human minds just don't understand on the forefront. To a normal person these decisions might seem extreme or dangerous. I have heard all the questions... "Aren't you afraid of how this might impact your kids?", "Where are you going to get that kind of money?", "Will she need counseling or more surgeries?", "How does she feel about leaving her country and moving to America?", "What if it doesn't work out?", "Why don't you just adopt a child here in America?", "How do your kids feel about this?"...
I will get to all of that later, but for now I just want to ask you to please pray for us. We are working with an amazing agency called Lifeline and they are doing all they can to help us out. We have to go back to the CCCWA and beg for forgiveness and ask for grace. According to our last agency, once you back out of an adoption, there is no turning back. That's also what they told me when I had my tubes tied after having Aidan;) I know that if this is the will of God, nothing will stand in His way.
How did we come to this decision? The heavens opened up and Chinese children came raining down on us! :) I'm only half joking. During the week of VBS we had the privilege of babysitting Mia for 2 nights who was adopted a few years ago from China. On our way up to Canada we stayed with some friends who have a chinese daughter, on our way home from Canada we stayed with my best friend who also has a Chinese daughter, when we got back we were asked to babysit Mia again and then the very next day I received a text from a neighbor asking if we had any interest in hosting Chinese exchange students and so they arrived 4 days later! Before we left for Canada I had a lady email me who was very interested in adopting Lihui. Her first question to me after she read this blog was, "Are you sure she isn't meant to be yours?" Um, no. (BTW, they decided on a different little girl) Then I had a lady email me from the yahoo group of families who have adopted children from LiHui's orphanage asking me if we'd brought LiHui home yet and telling me that she and her Chinese daughter were headed back to the  Wanzhou SWI at the end of the month to see her friends who are still there. Her little girl remembers LiHui. She offered to take more pictures of her for us if possible. So, my thought was, "OK Lord, I get it, but you're gonna have to tell Matt. It can't come from me and I can't bring it up anymore." These exchange students (ages 12 & 13) have blessed us beyond words. It has been such an amazing experience for our family and of course, it has only made us think of our sweet Hope all the more. I showed the girls her picture and wrote down her name for them and they taught me how to correctly pronounce it. It is Wan Li Hui; pronounced "Lee-Hway". We'd been calling her "Lee-Hwee". That evening (the same evening I prayed and asked God to move Matt's heart) I told Matt that they taught me how to say her name correctly he said, "Do they have any in's with the Chinese government?" I said, "what?" He said, "Can they hook us up?" I told him I had been thinking about LiHui. He said, "Me too, let's go get her." So I placed a phone call to Lifeline and told Lisa our story. She said she'd never had anyone do this before (meaning change their minds) but that she'd do everything she could to help us out. We've been filling out paperwork, and applying for new insurance, (which got approved today) and PRAYING. We had a guest speaker at church on Sunday who was pretty much the voice of God as he challenged us, the congregation, to put our fears behind us and surrender to the call that God has placed on our lives. He even asked the congregation if God was calling any of us to adopt and if so, what were we waiting for? SO, we know that this is our calling and we are taking a big step of faith. I am not at all fearful anymore. If God has called us to this, I know He will fathfully walk with us each step of the way, good times and bad. As Christians, we are called to live sacrificially. This means giving up our earthly securities and comforts to become radical for His purposes and glory. As I said earlier, this is a child we are talking about. A child who has no one to call family. In 2 short years she will never have that chance. We love her. Will she love us? I hope so, but there are no guarantees. When we started down this road in December, we had very unrealistic expectations. Things have changed. We have changed. We will invite her into our lives with no strings attached; hoping for the best. Will you please pray with us and for us that the CCCWA will accept our apologies for our previous uncertainty? With God all things are possible.
Love,
Matt & Rebecca