On December 16th we got
a call that changed our lives! There was
a sweet 15-month-old little girl needed us!
That night we looked at her precious pictures over and over. We showed each of the boys her picture at
separate times and each one said, “AW!! She’s so cute!!” They love her so much already and they have
been praying for her for a year now (we have prayed much longer for her!). Walker (4.5 years old) has prayed for his
“baby sister” every day for the past year.
His faith is amazing and encourages us everyday. He has never given up praying for her health,
safety, and that we would be able to go get her quickly everyday for the past
year! I love how God has used our
children thought this whole process! True example of “faith like a child.”
We spent a couple weeks talking to
doctors regarding her medical condition and praying for her. After much prayer, consultation and thinking
about her day and night, we decided to write a letter of intent to adopt her! Technically our letter of intent was sent to
China on January 8, 2014. I guess there
are delays during the holidays everywhere!
In the meantime we had received an email detailing some of the next
steps. It mentioned that the average
travel time to China (we travel to China for two weeks to pick her up) was
approximately 6-9 months!?!? We were extremely devastated by this news, we were
under the impression it would NOT be that long.
So needless to say this set us back a bit and we became discouraged.
There are two main stages of
waiting until you can travel to China to pick up your child. The first stage is to wait for your letter of
approval. This typically takes about 1-4
months. However, Chinese New Year is at
the end of January and we have been informed how things shut down in the country
for a couple weeks. One night I was
talking to Luke and mentioned, “ We need to just pray for supernatural speed to
get our letter of approval. The only way
we are going to get this letter earlier than the Chinese New Year would be if
God speeds things up!” I had told
several people, who are praying faithfully for us, about this specific prayer
to speed up the letter of approval.
On the evening of January 14, I
received a phone call from our agency and the girl on the other end of the
phone said she had some good news for us.
Great, I thought, but what could it be?
She said she received our letter of approval that day from China!!!
WHAT?! Really, but its only been 6 days since our letter of intent went over
there!! It was true. I asked her if this
is a normal occurrence; for someone to get it that quickly? She informed me that this NEVER happens. AHH!!!
I was ecstatic.
I went on to tell her why it happened so quickly- we prayed
for this! She approximates travel time
from now- only 3 months! YAY! That’s what we were hoping for from day one- only
a couple months until we could go get her!
God’s timing all along has been absolutely perfect- did we expect
anything less?!
The next
step is waiting for our next set of paperwork to arrive before we can plan and
schedule our travel. We are hoping to
bring all the boys with us because of how amazing would it be to us a family to
have everyone there! They would never
forget their trip to rescue their sister.
However we have to see if finances will allow it and if other details
can be worked out.
We are
asking for prayer that all the final details will work out, that we will get to
travel by April to China, that our whole family can go, and she would stay
healthy and safe. Thank you for all the
support we have had already. We are so
grateful for our friends and family and feel so blessed by those surrounding
us!
As I think
about meeting this little girl, becoming her mom, bringing her into our family,
and taking care of her medical needs, I get overwhelmed and sometimes fearful
that I won’t know how to do it all.
There are so many unknowns, but then God reminds me that He is in
control and He will equip us for every good work. And that’s when I feel His arms around me and
the peace and strength only He can give.
Its amazing…His love for us.
That’s all I need to do- show this little girl the love of Jesus.
In church
this past Sunday we sang a song called, How
Deep the Father’s Love for Us, and I could barely get the words out. I just kept thinking about how much God, the
father loves us, and how much I love all
my children. He loves us more than we
can even imagine; more than we can love anyone here on earth, which is so
incredibly hard to fathom. It leaves me
speechless.
How Deep the Father’s Love for Us
How deep the Father's
love for us,
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure
How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One,
Bring many sons to glory
Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice,
Call out among the scoffers
It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished
I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection
Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure
How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One,
Bring many sons to glory
Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice,
Call out among the scoffers
It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished
I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection
Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom
We leave you with these precious pictures of our beautiful
daughter, Aynsli Quinn (open to spelling
suggestions- that part is not final yet :)
)
