China program

So on Thursday June 6 we received a message in our portal.  Now the portal is what Bethany uses to communicate with their families instead of email.  This way there are no secrets...everyone at bethany can see ALL communication as it is like a private message board with each family.  You get lots of country info every month thru the portal as well as communicate with all case workers during the process.  Ok so this post was an official welcome into the China program.  Basically I knew we were entered in the program as soon as our paperwork was approved but to see those words were so exciting!!!!  I told Jason that adoption is such a crazy thing because it seems like at any moment something could happen to take the opportunity away.  I guess this is a little bit because even when I was pregnant we kind of always waited for something to happen to make it go away....after many miscarriages it just never feels real.  That is similar to how I feel about this adoption except it is just test after test that you have to pass.  I don't know that everyone that goes thru adoption feels this way but it is definitely how I feel.  In fact when I told Jason that getting that message made me feel like this was really going to happen his reply was, "this was going to happen as soon as we decided to do it".  I guess adoption is more of  a guarantee then being pregnant but still nothing is guaranteed!!!!  Just funny how he sees it vs how I see it!!!

After the home visits we will move on and be working with the China team after that.  So basically this new team will be the ones that will "match" us with our daughter....although we all know that God really is doing that.  What I love about Bethany is that just because you are first on the list doesn't mean you get the first little one that they find that matches your profile.  The people at Bethany pray about who they think is the best family for that specific child and yes it is probably going to be someone close to the top of the list but this to me allows God to move.

So a few things coming.  I am going to have a huge garage sale at my house at some point...looking like August.  I am selling LOTS of baby stuff and clothes and anything else that people want to donate to the cause.  All of the money raised will be put in an account to be used as a donation to the orphanage that we pick MeiMei up from.  So if there is something around your house that you are wanting to sell but don't want to do the work or care about the money then feel free to donate it to our garage sale for the orphanage!!!!  Anything that is not sold will be donated to my church's Hands of Mercy program that gives things away to people in need.  Also coming even sooner is a tshirt sale.  I designed a charcoal gray tshirt that is amazing!!!  All of the money raised from the tshirt sale will be going for a donation to the orphanage as well.  Not all of us are called to adopt, but we are ALL called to help orphans.  This is a great opportunity to buy a cool tshirt for your entire family and help a great cause!!!!  Here's a hint...."Love Crosses Oceans"!!!  So I am going to do a small order quickly for family and friends so that there are shirts out there so everyone can take order forms, show off their shirt and help sell them.  So look for an order form on fb or in my blog coming soon!!!!!