Do you hear rumbling?

The LORD answered Moses, "Is the LORD's arm too short? You will now see whether or not what I say will come true for you." Numbers 11:23

The mountains are beginning to move...We continue to see God work in amazing ways, and we are so grateful.  Against the odds, we continue to pray that we can travel over Savanna's spring break.  We have been praying for this date for a long time.  We believe God has told us to continue to pray for this date, so until we get another word, we will continue to pray for travel the week of March 17.

We got word yesterday that our Article 5 will be picked up on March 5.  Then we will be waiting on Travel Approval.  Then we wait on a Consulate Appointment...so, we are making progress, but there is more to be made.

But we know that God is faithful.  His timing is perfect.  We are excited to wait to see how God continues to reveal Himself on this journey.   

PS.  The mountain in the picture is in Medellin, Colombia...a place where we saw God move in amazing ways in our first adoption. 

A Blessing!!

This has been the week of Chinese New Year.  That means that on the adoption front, nothing much can happen for those of us who are adopting from China.  So, we decided instead of moping, we would celebrate!

We celebrated with Chinese food...some homemade (won ton soup) and some purchased.  I also made some really good spring rolls.  Proud of myself!  :)

But, during this week that we expected to hear no news, God had a surprise for us!  So, although most aspects of our adoption are at a standstill, we still got some great news :)

We have been approved for a $2000 matching grant from the James Fund and Lifesong for Orphans!!  This is a huge blessing as we are on the homestretch for bringing Hope home.  When you donate to Lifesong for Orphans, an awesome ministry, you can express a preference for your funds to go toward our adoption. Lifesong sends funds directly to our agency to help with our expenses.  For up to $2000 in donations, Lifesong will match the donations!  You can check out Lifesong here...

www.lifesongfororphans.org

For those of you who are reading this who have or are adopting, you know that adoption is expensive.  For those of you who are not aware of the cost of adoption...our agency estimates that our total expenses for this adoption will be around $30,000.  God has provided for us in wonderful ways along this journey and we are up to date on our payments to this point; however, some help during this home stretch would be very greatly appreciated!!

To donate, send a check to Lifesong for Orphans.  In the memo line of the check put "preference Johnson/#3341 adoption"  Per IRS guidelines, your donation is to Lifesong which retains full discretion and control over its us

Send your check to

Lifesong for Orphans
PO Box 40/202 N. Ford St.
Gridley, IL 61744

And always, we covet your prayers...especially as we are in the final days of waiting. 

A Change of Heart

During this wait, God has continued to work on my heart.  To shape and mold it to be a little more like His.  It is a slow process.  I'm so grateful that He is patient and merciful toward me as I stumble and fall in my attempts to follow Him in obedience.

From the beginning, this was the surprise (to me) adoption.  I wasn't looking, thinking, or dreaming about adoption.  The idea to adopt seemed to come from nowhere...and everywhere.  I've been able to see God placing people and events in our lives to lead us down this path.

And we have gone obediently and with confidence that we were following God.  And for the most part, we have been excited about the adventure, but as I shared previously, I have had a lot of apprehensions about the initial days home.

I know that it is important to prepare spiritually and mentally for the tasks ahead.  I believe that it is important to walk through the process well-armed with prayer and information.  At the same time, it is impossible to plan and anticipate exactly for what is coming.  And that made me anxious.

Gently, repeatedly, God has reminded me that His grace is sufficient.  Whatever the challenges are.

And with the change of heart, new thoughts about the first days come.

Mostly, I am thinking about firsts.  I am sad that I missed a lot of Yuly's firsts...and that I have missed a lot of Hope's firsts.  But I'm looking forward with joyful anticipation for other firsts...

The first time she calls us Mom and Dad...

The first time she rides on an airplane...

Her first time meeting her sisters...

Her first time meeting her grandparents...

Her first birthday with us...

The first time she sees the ocean...

That last one...I don't know when that will be, but there is something about seeing the ocean is so awesome, so fun, so exciting.  I remember Yuly's first time in February 2010.

Its February again and we just returned from a camping trip to the ocean.  Not sure why we seem to end up at the beach in February.  But, like before, watched Yuly and Riza play in the (freezing cold) water.  So fun to see them laugh and play!!  Even as I stood on the shore completely bundled up.

Can't look at the ocean without thinking of these verses with gratitude:

Psalm 139:17-18 
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them, 
Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. 
When I am awake, I am still with you. 

God is good.

I was finally right!

So, because things have been so crazy, this post is a little late.  The date I was finally right about receiving our LOA was Tuesday, January 15.  I was minding my own business, homeschooling my girls, and Logan called to tell me that our Letter of Acceptance had arrived at her office.  Very Excited!!!

Now to tell you about the craziness.  First of all, I should admit that I have a disorder known as "Time Optimism Disorder."  I always think I can get about 10xs as many things accomplished as humanly possible.  (A friend of mine coined the phrase "time optimism disorder" and I always thought she should try to get this diagnosis included in the DSM because I am pretty sure I am not the only one like this).  Anyway, when I got Logan's call, I had the delusion that I would have all of the paperwork done BEFORE the shipment came the next day and then be able to turn right around and overnight the package back on the same day.  Well, that didn't quite work out.  Between parental obligations :) and feeling absolutely horrible, I didn't get it done on Tuesday.  Or Wednesday.

Even though I was feeling quite sick, when the package came on Wednesday I was thrilled to see our long-awaited document.  One that originated in China.  Wow!

Thursday morning I got up really, really early hoping to get the paperwork done.  Nope.  Not done before I had to go into work for a couple of hours.  All day long I was weepy--crying at just about everything.  I was convinced that it was a medication side-effect, but I spoke to my sweet homeschool partner (who is also a pharmacist) and she told me that my crying was not a side-effect of the medication, but of something else: stress.

Todd came home at lunch and worked on the forms.  He had it almost completed before I came home from work.  I put the finishing touches on it and rushed it down to the overnight delivery place (that I will not mention for soon-to-be obvious reasons).  Todd was reluctant for me to overnight it because there was a snow storm coming through Birmingham (where the adoption agency is) and he was worried that it might get stuck on a truck somewhere, but I was determined to send our package on its way.  Tip from the Bible that I should have heeded:  Wives submit to your husbands as to the Lord (Ephesians 5:22)

I got to the store with 5 minutes to spare.  As I handed the man my document I said, "You will take care of these precious documents won't you?"  And he assured me that he would.  The delivery promise was for 10:30 on Friday.

Friday afternoon...no package at Lifeline.  I thought about the snow.  I thought about the fact that I forgot to put the package to the attention to someone in the China program.  I wondered where our package was.

Monday morning.  Todd asks for a trace of our package and we are assured that they will look diligently for the package.  They tell us it may take several days.  Monday afternoon...the package is found!!!  At the store where I dropped it off...

Tuesday morning.  The package finally makes it way to Birmingham.  Logan turns it right around and sends it on the USCIS for processing.  In the same day!  Yay!!

In the meantime, we have also applied for our visas :)  And I took the little girls on a trip to Knoxville to see my brother and his family.  I know we may not be able to travel for awhile when we get home, so we are trying to make the rounds.

And, as the diagnosis for my tears last week was stress, my sister-in-law showed me the perfect way to treat it.  She took us to a drive through safari.  The kids had buckets of food to feed to the animals and the animals (llamas, rhea, various cattle, goats...) stuck their heads in the van looking for food.  The kids were alternately rolling down the windows to feed them and then quickly rolling them up when the animal encounter gets too close.  Sometimes one child was trying to feed while another one was rolling up the window so food projectiles were careening off all surfaces in the van with some actually reaching the animals.  I cannot adequately describe it other than to tell you that it was totally hilarious and I recommend this treatment for anyone in the Knoxville area that needs a stress release.  Here are a few photos:

Oh, and the good news?  We got our overnight fee refunded.  Saved that money!!

We have complete confidence that God is in control of the timing of our travel.  We continue to pray for our daughter and our upcoming travel and we welcome any prayers offered in our behalf!  :)