5 days!!!!
YES, we leave in just 5 days to embrace our Gianna Lilyfaith FINALLY!!!
Our hearts are bursting and we are completely excited to travel as a family to scoop her up!
Yes, as a FAMILY!
call us crazy….we are crazy! we will be the first to admit it, but when God says something: you do it!
God revealed to us before we even knew we were adopting, that we would be taking a missions trip as a family in the near future and we just stored up that revelation in our hearts and pondered it with excitement.
then a month later He surprised us and invited us to step out onto the water and adopt precious Gianna. What a privilege to be chosen by the Lord to be her forever family, she is a dream come true!!
We are stepping into many unknowns, but the God who knows all has revealed SHE IS OURS. We are so thankful that we didn’t miss her….oh, to think how close we were to “fear winning”
Thankful for HIS GRACE that doesn’t LET GO!!!
We know He does not call us because we are able, but we trust He will be able thru US. He does not call the equipped, we are learning…but, I do know He will equip the “called”
Well, as soon as we got pre-approval, we then knew exactly what God was showing us:
We were to all go get Gianna as a family, this was indeed a FAMILY mission! This is what He was preparing our hearts for.
It was so clear to us, SO CLEAR!
so we marched on in faith wondering how God would do it.
Our first confirmation was when we told Brian’s parents, the first thing they told us was :
“WE WANT TO COME TOO, We are coming!”
WOW….yes, this was to be a bigger family mission than was first thought…But, that does NOT surprise me. GOD is so much bigger than the neat and tidy box we put Him in.
He was going to do this! WOW!
Another confirmation came when we found out that we will get to serve in the private Christian-run orphanage that Gianna has been staying at. We will get to love on all these precious children as a family while getting to know our daughter on her terms and in her territory!
Our children will get to be Jesus’ hands and feet.
We saw what going to China did for our then 12 yo daughter last time. it changed her life forever. We are excited to give this amazing God-sized experience to all our children. They are truly invested, heart and soul. they have sacrificed a BIG Christmas and Big Easter, they have been saving money, fundraising and PRAYING PRAYING PRAYING that God would make a way for them!
They have been collecting donations and toys for her orphanage and praying for the children who live with Gianna.
They know each child by name.
How amazing it will be to meet each precious one there!
So, all 9 of us (Brian’s parents included) are on a family mission to bring Gia home!!!
We are beyond thankful for the family that are going with us!!
and we are so thankful for the family that are praying from the home-front, both of which we need desperately!
We are so thankful for supportive family and friends who have supported, encouraged and prayed us through this journey to Gianna. GOD has used each one of you….you are a gift we do NOT take lightly!!
We couldn’t do this with out you. It really does take a village-church to bring one child home.
God is so amazing, He has literally blazed a path through each mountain and gotten this whole process done (starting from scratch) and has us on a plane in what will be 8 months from time of PA (we had not even started homestudy yet at time of PA)!
He is so faithful!
This past weekend was amazing! We had an incredible Fundraising event..
Here were some of my thoughts that I shared on FB this week about our Fundraiser day, so I thought I would write them here too!
When I had pictured the event in my mind I had always imagined looking around and seeing a TON of strangers because we had advertised so much in the most random of places (and which would have been great) but when I walked into the rooms and saw that 99% of those that were with us were friends and family who have been there every step of the way and supported us, it blew me away. We had so much fun!
I COULD NEVER be a public speaker, geez how do they keep it together? I couldnt even read one verse w/o wanting to lose it!
I was just so overwhelmed with the BIG HUG God was sending us off to CHINA with. It was truly beautiful.
The auction was a BIG HIT!! Thank you to certain friends who STRONGLY encouraged us to do one, even though the idea was SO intimidating and it was a LOT of work. It was worth it! I couldn’t have done it without the incredible donation, and the help of Nana and Pop-Pop who took all day Friday with us and helped us bundle everything and my bff who stayed up with me till 3:30am setting starting bids and increments, and creating bidding sheet ;P. It was a bit comical, to say the least!
SO MANY MEMORIES!
Actually, I gotta tell you, this event was SO intimidating, that’s how I know GOD DID IT!
This isnt our natural ability to put on something like this, it was ALL HIM thru your prayers and encouragement to follow the vision He laid on our hearts. The kids and I kept reflecting back at when were sitting at the school table together and realized we had gotten an email from Miss Pattycake responding to our crazy request if she would come do this for us! I still can hear our screams of joy!
GOD just kept flying open the doors and we HAD to walk through because He knew we were to have a celebration glorifying HIM.
IT WAS A BIG PARTY for Gianna and my favorite part was that it was centered around and for the little special children in our lives!
CHILDREN ARE GOD’S HEART.
Here are some pics, we are mostly grateful for the amazing friends and family who stepped up to volunteer their time, energy, and hearts to our event!
We are so grateful and humbled!
I was thrilled when I would go up to a sweet kiddie (with arms full of balloon animals and cheeks decorated in face paint) and ask if they were having fun and they would say (with a HUGE SMILE) YES!!!
What a blessing!
So…..as I passed out on the couch, Brian counted up our funds. We wanted to report the incredible results. After subtracting the costs of the event (which in my mind were not costs, they were true investments) we made….drumroll….. just over $3000 (including donations, auction, and food sales)!!!!!
CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT!!!????????
SO GRATEFUL!
And, I shared this on my person wall: God had been showing me this past week that This was not about fundraising. It was about praising Him for allowing us to be a part of bringing hope to the orphan and bringing awareness to the orphan crisis.
What a joy to come together as a village with those we love most to bring sweet Gianna home.
ahhhhh, WE WERE BLOWN AWAY! Thank you again for carrying us physically and prayerfully through this amazing event!
after we celebrate Mother’s Day today and re-coop, I guess we should start tackling the packing. BECAUSE WE LEAVE IN 9 DAYS!!!!!! ahhhhhhh!!!!
again, thank you to each of you who helped us yesterday make it happen, we could NOT have done it without you! WE LOVE YOU ALL.
— feeling blessed.
Here is the video we shared at our event! I am so thankful God called us out of the boat…..It’s truly amazing to experience His miracles!!!
Praying for our faith to grow in direct parallel to the monumentous journey ahead!!
We are humbled that He would call US to our daughter to be her forever family! She is ours….WOW….a true miracle!
ahhhhhh….we are still amazed at HIS GRACE!
Again, our hearts are bursting with joy!
Ok, back to packing!! ugh.
(can’t I just skip that small essential step and get on the plane now??) 😉
