MATCHED!!

On December 16^th 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

We leave you with these precious pictures of our beautiful daughter, Aynsli Quinn (open to spelling suggestions- that part is not final yet :) )