And The Blessings Continue!

I don't know why this always happens, but I tend to think God is finished with something right when He's in the middle of His greatness! Last week, we ended up with the exact amount of money to pay for our travel arraignments that weren't covered by the plane ticket donor or my dad who gave us the hotel points! I thought we would just use the extra check Tony would get this month and be very frugal on our trip. Then, I thought, well I could just borrow some money from my mom and pay her back when we got home. Well, God told me last year we would be debt free with this adoption...why do I keep under estimating him?

On Sunday, one of the pastors asked if he could meet with us on Tuesday (yesterday) since we were leaving next week. So, Tony, the boys, and I headed to the church office just thinking they would pray with us and wish us well....WELL....of course God had something better planned! We received ANOTHER donation from someone in the church! We weren't told who...just that God laid it on this family's heart to bless us! Oh...we are blessed...that's for sure! God has provided spending money for food and things for Lynleigh through this donation and I am truly humbled!

Tonight, we have been asked to be interviewed on stage during the service and to allow those at church pray over us! This will be the most humbling part of it all for me! I love to pray for other people! I'll pray all day...but for some reason when people pray for me, I cry uncontrollably! Let's hope I survive tonight!!

So, here we are...one week away! Can you believe it? I'm so excited I can't stand it!

It's Always Just Enough!

God always provides just enough! In my chronological bible study, I have been learning about how God always provides a solution before there is ever a problem. I love that we asked God for his adoption and the funds and he knew how it would all end before it even started!

I know that I have mentioned time and time again about how HE has provided for us during this journey. Well, he showed up and showe off again today! After the kind soul that donated the plane tickets, we only had to buy Lynleigh's. Ok..no problem since Tony sold the Camery. Well, we got our invoice for the rest of the travel last night and it said we owed about $2700 for the rest of the trip. Cool! We had $2000 left from the sale of the car! Well, about an hour later, the travel agent emailed us to let us know that she sent us a wrong invoice. Well, it said we owed about $3600. Ok..that's not to big for my God, right? I'm cracking up right now because my friend Amanda asked me if I just sat there expecting it to fall in my lap! Haha! Well, I got a text from Tony today that said, "You know how God's always had just the right amount of money for us? Well, He's done it again!"

So, apparently there are some really generous people at Tony's work who donated some PTO time and we got yet another gift from a family member...and guess how much that added up too? $3700! Can you believe that? Nothing is too big for God!!!!! Now, all we are needing is spening money...so I will sit here on the couch...Praise God for how he has provided and for what he has planned to finish this thing off debt free! And I will wait patiently for the Lord!

When we wake up tomorrow...we will only have 12 days to wait until we leave and 15 until we hold that sweet little girl at the top of this blog!

Booked and Ready!

Well friends, we have booked our tickets and hotels! It looks like we will be leaving Wednesday evening. We will be spending the night in Detroit and then heading out Thursday night to Beijing!
We will spend Friday night and Saturday night in Beijing and then wake up Sunday morning and head to Xi'an. We will get Lynleigh Sunday afternoon!!!!! I can't believe it's almost that time!!! Then we stay in Xi'an until Friday and then head to Guangzhou for the rest of the trip. I'm super excited about something that is really stressing Tony...we will have to take an overnight train to Hong Kong for our flight home! I know we won't get to spend any time there but at least I can say we went, right?

There are several scheduled tours for us to take while we are there. It will really all depend on how well Lynleigh is adjusting to us whether our not if we get to go.

I am so grateful to Tony for taking time off work today to plan our trip! That is such a load taken off of my shoulders! 15 days!!!! In 15 days we will travel to China! In 19 days, we hold her for the first time! wow! It's all so real now!

God Always Provides!

I know I've blogged a few times about how awesome God is and how he continues to provid for this adoption. We are just 18 days from travel and HE is showing us a glimps of what his plan has alway been. You see, God has provided every penny for us to bring Lynleigh home! And the best part, HE always provided it at just the right time! If we needed $250 then we would get $250. If it was time to pay a bill for adoption HE would give Tony over time or we would have a fundraiser. I've probably told you about how HE has worked it out that someone we don't know would want to give us thir frequent flier miles. Or how my dad has enough hotel points to pay for half of our hotel fees! I mean, the list continues! Just two weeks ago, we got a call from the church...an anonimous donor had given $1700 for our adoption! I mean seriously...it keeps going! That money was enough plus some to finish paying our adoption fees. Then, this weeknd, God sent someone interested in buying Tony's car! It wasn't even really for sale! Today, a small group leader that is a good friend said his group always takes a collection each semester and they use it to help a family in need. It was put on their heart to give it towards our adoption! It's enough to cover one night in a hotel! God wants Lynleigh home in our arms...and HE is making that way!

A month ago or so, my mom asked me how we would pay for the remainder of the adoption and my answer was, "I don't know...but Go does!" And boy did HE! It's funny...after last summer, when we tried to refinance our house and I felt the Lord leading us towards a debt free adoption...I didn't really worry where the money would come from. And here we sit...mearly weeks away from holding our little girl and I am in awe in HIS glory!


I didn't really have any news to share tonight...I just wanted to be able to look back at how faithful God has been in this adoption!

Test Drive

I am actually blogging from my email!  I'm trying to figure out everything I need to do before we leave!  We got our consulate appointment (CA) today!  We will be getting Lynleigh's visa on September 28th.  So, it's official that we will be traveling to China on September 15th...getting Lynleigh either on the 18th or 19th (her birthday!)...and then leaving China on September 30th (our 11th anniversary)!  I mean...it couldn't be a better situation...right? 

 

I can't believe that in less that 20 days we will be headed across the world to encounter a dream that God gave me all the way back when I was about 10 years old!  This really is a dream come true!

 

And if you can't wait to learn about China until we get there...please stop by my friend, Rita's blog and meet her sweet boy...Michael!  He is SOOOOOOO CUTE!!!!!  You will fall in love with him!  He's doing really well and I couldn't be happier for their family!  Her blog is http://endofthethread.blogspot.com

It's Official!

Well, this may come to no surprise to the many of you on Facebook...but we are headed to China on September 15!!!! We are now waiting for our consulate appointment before we can make our travel plans! I plan to start packing this weekend!

Article 5!!

Well, our computer is down so I'm updating from my phone. So, I apologize in advance for what ever happens with the auto correct!!

We are happy to report that we are officially waiting on travel approval! Can you believe it? Lynleigh Ren is just around the corner! What is article 5? I know you're asking that right now. Basically, it means that our paperwork has been handed from the US to the Chinese officials and the US is saying they are done with us and we are approved to come when ever China invites us! So, now we wait! I looked online and the average wait time right now for TA is about 19 days. Some people have gotten theirs in a week! I'm praying to be on the "not" average end of this and know somethin by the end of the week! I'm ready to be on a plane to get our little girl!

As for here at home, I am almost finished with her room! Just need to finish painting a few things and then wait for the custom bedding we are getting from Tony's sister and mom! The boys are so excited they can't wait! We celebrated Brady's birthday last night with a swim party and sleep over. We all survived!

The big news of the week was someone (we don't know who) felt led to donate a large amount of money to our adoption! It was probably the most humbling thing that has ever happened to us! This donation will help us pay the last part of the adoption fee we needed and give us some left over to go towards travel! God has been so cool through out this journey even when it felt like he had forgotten us he privoded!

I hope to have news to post later this week! Keep praying for us!!!