Prayer Requests--THANK YOU!

We are one week from meeting our Hannah! WOW!! We have lots left to do so we thought we'd ask for prayer.

1. Pray for safe and uneventful travel. Dan, Matthew (12), Nicholas (3), and I will be traveling. Pray also for the 6 other families from our agency who will be meeting us in Beijing. Pray that we will all remain healthy; it more common than not that we would get sick during our travel.

2. Pray for Benjamin (9), Elizabeth (8), and Nathaniel (5) as they stay home with Dan's Mom. Pray for Dan's Mom as she cares for our children; she will need extra strength and energy. We are blessed by many friends who have offered to play taxi, have our children over to play, mow our lawn, and provide meals in our absence--to name a few.

3. Pray for Hannah. She has faced so many losses in her wee little life that no child should ever have to face. Pray that God would prepare her heart for yet one more loss. While she gains a family, she loses everything familiar--people, sights, sounds, food, etc. Pray that she would grieve this loss well--unfortunately necessary for attachment--and that we would have the wisdom in knowing how to comfort her.

 

4. Pray for her foster mother. She and her family will be heart broken. Pray that we will have a chance to visit with her. 

 

5. Pray that what little Chinese I can speak will be enough to communicate with Hannah. We have been blesssed these last several months to have a sweet lady and her son come teach us Chinese, but I am sure we speak with quite a twang!!

6. We still have lots left to accomplish. Pray that we would still have time to rest, be still, and enjoy each other before leaving. 

Thank you so much for your prayers. We covet them and are blessed by each one of you!

 

Surprise Shower

On Friday, we went to the park for what I thought was going to be a play date with a couple of friends, and instead, our friends threw us a surprise baby shower!! And yes, we were surprised! We had a great time visiting with everyone! Elizabeth and Nicholas helped to open the gifts. Elizabeth and I love all the girly clothes--so fun to open girls clothes again! Hannah is going to be one well dressed little girl. 

We have been so richly blessed in all the ways that our friends have celebrated the arrival of Hannah with us!

Letter to Foster Mother

Yesterday, I tried to write a letter to Hannah's Foster Mother. How do we thank this woman who has given selflessly of herself to our daughter knowing full well that some day she would be giving this child that she has loved to someone else that she doesn't know? How do we do that? Words are inadequate to express our gratitude to her. I'm not done with the letter. And we need to give her a gift. How do we do that? No gift is enough for all she has done for Hannah.

I have so much that I'd like to know about our daughter's life with them. I'd love to talk with her about her family and know everything about her life. Though I did ask to spend time with her, I do not know if we will have the opportunity to meet with her. I pray that we will have a chance to visit with her on Gotcha Day and thank her in person.

We will never have a chance to thank Hannah's birth parents. They chose to place her in a place to be found quickly. I cannot imagine the grief that they must have felt and continue to feel. The wonder of not knowing what became of their daughter; it will follow them all the days of their lives. 

These are two sets of people that amaze me. Both, willingly, out of love for Hannah have made choices that are heart breaking and sacrificial. They loved our daughter and continue to love her and yet are giving her up for "a better life." For the birth parents, they knew that the possibilities of seeing her again are slim to none. Her foster mother just hopes that maybe the adopted parents would send pictures or letters, which of course, we will. 

The parallels about the above circumstances and a "little" Bible story I know is not lost on me. Yet the Bible story has a much different ending with eternal life as its gift.

Please pray that these two families will get to hear all about that "little" Bible story as really that is the ultimate letter and gift that we could give to them.

Testing...1,2,3,...Testing!!!

This is our test done by our resident computer expert, Matthew. We hope to be able to post some pictures once we get to China.