"God Has Responded"...

What an amazing day today has been. Yesterday, the reality of deadlines hit, and hit hard. Due to the implementation of the Hague in the United States, we must have our I-600A filed before April 1. If it is not filed, the adoption of Elliana would be jeopardized.

In order to get our USCIS, immigration, form filed before the Hague deadline of April 1, 2008, we still needed to get physicals for everyone in the house...that's 6 physicals and Rodney and I have to have additional blood work on top of that. Because Rodney is self-employed, our insurance is not the best in the world. We pay for all of our office visits out of pocket…so a nice chunk of change. These must be done so that we can get them to our social worker so that she can finish up that portion of the home study and get it to the USCIS office before we file. Along with that, the last date in March for us to file the form in Kentucky is March 21. Yes, less than 2 weeks away and the fee for the I-600A form and fingerprinting is $830.00. I was totally stressed.

So the time was short, costs were big and the finances were not there. I have prayed for God to make it all work out and I have brainstormed to try to think of fundraising options. I have just started selling Avon in order to help with the adoption costs, but it wasn’t going to be enough or even available yet. At my wits end, I again began to plead with God to show me what to do. I had seen on several adoptive parent’s blogs a ChipIn account for friends and family to contribute to their adoption. I thought maybe we could do that, but I didn’t want to ask for help from others. But I kept going back to the idea and with the reality of the deadlines breathing down my neck, I felt there was not other option. So, I swallowed my pride and made a plea for help.

Throughout today, people, some that I knew through the adoption group and other’s that I don’t know contributed to the fund. I was blessed by each one and encouraged that God was providing for us. It wasn’t the way that I wanted Him to do it, but along with His provisions, He was trying to teach me a lesson about my pride. I know that I cannot do anything without Him, but I wanted Him to provide on my terms. I have had to ask God to forgive me for being ashamed to ask others for help. I have had more than one person today to tell me that we need to let others know about our needs. God can speak to people about our needs, but sometimes we need to tell others so they can help us “bear one another’s burdens”. I want others to be able to share with me as a matter of fact, I love when people can confide in me about their needs, but I guess it is very hard for me to do that in return.

After my request for help, there has been over $500.00 contributed today!! That should be enough to cover our physicals and hopefully part of our blood work. God has again amazed me and I have been humbled by the fact that people responded to our need so willingly. I know that there are so many people that love our family and love this little girl we so want to bring into our family. I will forever be grateful for every word of encouragement, prayer and contribution made to help us bring her home.

The main reason that we picked out Elliana as her name was because of the meaning…it is a Hebrew name that means “God Has Responded.” Yes He has! What a story this little girl will have of all those that loved her.

Sending thanks to all of you, praises to God above & love to Elli,
Rodney, Marcy, Carter, Jacob, Parker & Anna Mei

Where We Are...

Unfortunately, pretty much at the beginning. It is a little disheartening at times. When we were matched with Anna, we had all of our paperwork completed. We just had to tie up a few loose ends in order to specifically adopt a special needs child. With Elliana, not so much. There are some pretty major steps that we need to complete which cost a nice chunk of change...so we are having to "wait" for the chunk :-)

I keep telling myself that if we can just get these done, we seriously could be ready to send in our dossier in less than a month and a half, but we just can't seem to get it done. I know from Anna's adoption everything works as it should, but it is hard to accept when you are having to wait. When I look back at how things worked with Anna, I see that the timing couldn't have been better. But when you think about a little girl without a family having to wait...it makes my inability to control things much, much harder. I know that God's wisdom far surpasses mine, but it is my prayer that things start falling into place soon...I really want her home.

The boys are starting to talk about her a lot now. They are referring to her by "name" and making plans for the 5 of them. Parker, who is 3, keeps telling us that Elli is his friend and his sister. I was thinking tonight about how really neat it is that my 3 year old son thinks about his sister, that is in China, and knows that she is coming to be in our family.

Hearing my kids talk about the hopes and their honest desire to adopt again really makes me love the adoption process even more. I love the fact that it brought us Anna, but also that it has caused my children to think about other children on a global level. I want them to understand that there are children, people all over the world that need us - and we can make a difference in their lives. That was one of the things that I initially struggled with when we began the adoption process which lead to Anna...the fact that I could do this. I am just me...just Marcy, what could I do? I can do all things through Jesus Christ. He strengthens me. And in Him, I can do whatever He calls me to do - regardless of the circumstances, regardless of the obstacles, regardless of my inabilities.

So we are in the waiting game. We are waiting on China to issue our pre-approval, we are waiting on the means to process more paperwork and we are waiting to bring our daughter home...we are waiting on God.

Sending love and hugs to a little girl waiting from a family that is waiting,
Rodney, Marcy, Carter, Jacob, Parker & Anna Mei

God's Timing Is Perfect & His Plans Are Complete...

That was my motto for our first adoption. I went back to it many times when I was discouraged and needed reassurance of what God was doing in our lives. It holds true not just for our first adoption, but for life. We have to come to grips with the fact that we don't control anything. Our lives are much easier when we trust in Him and know that He has a plan for us. There were times when things just were not working out the way that I thought they should, but God would remind me that His timing was not my timing and His plans are complete. He does not take us somewhere to leave us...everything we do is for a purpose. We just have to go where He leads and wait for further direction.

God was faithful to His promise to us, as always. We adopted our daughter, Anna Mei, and it was just the way it should have been. She joined our family on June 4, 2007. We arrived home with her on June 15th and from the beginning she was a perfect fit. She has adjusted well, done better in every aspect than I could have imagined and we are so proud of her. The boys just love her to pieces. I cannot imagine our lives without Anna. Adopting has been one of the greatest miracles in my life. Rodney & I talked about "one day" adopting again, but it would be much later. Many times I would tease Rodney about wanting to adopt again and he would say, and I do quote "it will be a long time from now, unless God puts it on us." Little did he know what he was saying.

At the end of December 2007, we were asked to consider a child. A child that we had already grown to love, but we had only been home 6 months with Anna. Even though Rodney was very closed when I would tease him in the past, he was open to the possibility from the very beginning. We both wanted to be obedient to what God wanted for us, but this was so soon. We didn't have some of the resources we had when adopting Anna. The financial piece was going to be harder this time...more kids at home to provide for and less money on hand to pay for the adoption process. But we agreed to pray and be honest with each other about our feelings. We prayed for God to give us a clear, undeniable answer to what He wanted us to do. I prayed and pleaded for God to direct us, both of us. I knew that Rodney needed to "know" for himself if this was God's plan. After 4 days, God gave me a peace that this was part of His plan for our family. Rodney too became more and more confident that this child was to be with our family. I could see the excitement on his face when he would talk about her. He was falling in love...daddy love. We spoke with our parents and siblings and although a bit shocked initially, they were very supportive of our decision to move forward. On January 4, 2008, we were officially "matched" to Qing Zu Qiao, soon to be named Elliana Kate Qiao Gross.

I know that there will be some who will think that this is too much, too soon, but I really can't explain why or how it will all come to be. All I know is that God has given me a burden for these children. I know that I can't be a mother to them all, but can I not be a mother to one more? God is who gives me the health, strength, courage, wisdom, and provisions to care for the children I have now...can He not do the same for this child? God loves Qing Zu Qiao more than anyone on this earth can fathom. All I can do is be willing and obedient. The rest is up to Him. I have seen His mercies, I am living in His grace and I have experienced the miracle of His love. I know - God's timing is perfect & His plans are complete.

Waiting on His promises & sending love to Elliana.