Friends & Family~
We are so excited to share with you that the time has come for us to travel to bring home Kai and Sophie Lu!!! Next week this time, my mom and I will be on a plane to China! On Monday, March 5th, Miss Sophie Lu will be placed in her Mama's arms forever. And on Wednesday, March 7th , Mr. Kai will get to hug his Mama and Grandma for the first time!! And on March 17th, they will be united with their big ol' FOREVER FAMILY!!!!
Every journey to our little ones is special, for obvious reasons. But this journey will forever hold a special place in our hearts. This is the journey where friends, family, strangers (now new friends) went above and beyond and gave of themselves generously and selflessly to LOVE on two orphans, two precious Children of God...to LOVE on OUR little ones... and on our family...to share their story so that others will be moved to LOVE on the the 163 million little ones who still wait. God's GLORY revealed... through each and every one of YOU.
We have been BLESSED.
Each and every one of you has been a blessing to us, in your own ways. No matter how big or small you feel your contribution to this journey has been, to us, it all looks the same. Blessings abound! You have LOVED on us in SO MANY ways.
Let us give you little snapshots of what that LOVE looks like. (and this is just a sampling)
*Many were praying, even before they knew we were going to adopt again. You prayed for God's will for our family, and for us to know where and who He was calling us to.
* You helped us get ready for home study visits.
*You watched our kiddos while we ran around town gathering documents for dossiers.
*You followed God's leading and sent us THE FILE, because you just knew HE was the one!
*You helped us design a gorgeous tee for our fundraiser.
*You went above and beyond to help us get matched with our little Sophie Lu.
*You designed thank you cards, and business cards, and websites... to make us look waaaaaay cooler than we are.
*You poured over that website with your Awesome-sauce skills and made sure we didn't embarrass ourselves, too much. Then you bit your tongue and left my random capitalization, and my goofy jargon, because you knew it wouldn't be US without it.
*You celebrated every acronym with us, through email, through text, through Face book, through phone-calls, through random mail-box treats, through snoopy dancing, and WHOOT WHOOTS!!
* You are the greatest adoption coordinator ever! You pray for us, and love our little ones, and you laugh with us through the whole process!
*You asked about our little ones, when you would see us in the hall at school.
* You Secret Santa'd us a beautiful Whiskey Joes candle holder for our table, and included twelve votives, one for each family member.
* You met for fundraising meetings in coffee shops,by the river, at parks.
*You stalked people in parking lots at the golf tournament, giving away water for donations out of our van. Then when we all pulled the plug on that plan, you all divided up the 1000 water bottles and stored them at your house . Water bottles everywhere. (That still makes me laugh thinking about it).
*You continued to pray.
*You asked how you could help.
* You donated clothes, toys,car seats, strollers.
*You mobilized friends and friends of friends, and their friends, and their dentists, and their friends of friends friends dog groomers, and so on and so on and so on to step out to love on our family and our little ones, and the orphans who still wait.
* You heard our story, and prayed over our family, and came together as an office(SOUTHERN SOFTWARE!!) and decided to sponsor a family you DIDN'T EVEN KNOW, our family, to bring home two little ones.
*You shared our story with your friend who is a doctor (who doesn't know our family), who was then moved to offer to cover ANY services Sophie Lu might need to help her feet.
* You gave to our fundraiser when you were raising money yourself to go on a missions trip.
*You reached out to us, and wrote us e-mails asking for advice on how to start the process!!!!! WOO HOO!!!!!
*You spent your Christmas money buying OUR shirts for your little cousins.
*You organized spreadsheets to keep all of our fundraising in check.
*You ran a secret Craig's list store out of your home to raise money for Kai and Sophie Lu.
* You made butter to raise money for your cousins to come home... and you are only 10.
*You wore your GOD IS LOVE tees EVERY DAY!
*You edited and framed pics for me of our little ones. over and over again, in-between raising your 10.
* You shared with me that God has moved your heart to care for orphans like never before.
*You set up a donation site, and processed and receipted every donation that came through( ITF!!)
* You stepped out when God called you, and donated to a raffle telling God that if you won, it would go towards Kai and Sophie Lu coming home. After God showed you the correct card in the huge pile, and you won the $1500 you would then donate to our family, you took the time out to share our story with a room full of people, in hopes they would be moved to love it forward, too.
*You took time to plant seeds, on many many occasions.
*You signed me up to speak at the orphan summit, even though you know I loathe public speaking, because you KNOW my heart for the orphans, and you know HIS heart, and you wanted to stretch me, cause you love me, and you love Jesus, and you love the orphans.
*You spent days on the phone contacting churches to share our story.
*You felt moved to start an orphan ministry at your church.
* You photo copied, and photo copied, and photo copied some more
* You spent your day off of work, hauling flyer's around town to spread the word about our fundraiser.
*You graciously gave of yourselves and your business for a day (Chick-fil-A!!)to LOVE on our family and BIG DAVE's family.... and you spent hours and hours and hours planning for that day, to make it SO VERY special...and you became family!!
*You spent hours and hours through the middle of the night, conceiving and bringing to life a gigantic Traditional Chinese Hat for the "Eat mor chikin" cow...it was a labor of love, and we felt the love.
* You took time out of your day to support our family, and Big Dave's family, and his orphans, and it meant so much to us all.
*You made cards for the orphans.
* You contacted businesses all over the city, to seek sponsorships.
*You held a bake sale to raise money for Big Dave's orphanage.. and you were 8.
* You generously gave to our fundraiser to bring home Kai and Sophie Lu.
*You donated to our fundraiser, and you didn't even know us.
*You gave when you were fundraising for your own adoption.
* You tell me that every time you wear your God is love tee,you think of us and of Kai and Sophie Lu.
* You have a heart for orphans and you bless our hearts when you tell us how we can make room for more, and not one of you ever once have made us feel like you feel like we don't have time for you.
* You get "it"
* You showed me that a life in service to Christ, and to his precious orphans specifically, is worth everything!! No matter what the cost. And you walked that out, and stood by your faith, when it was tested and it would have been so easy not to.
*You facilitated and organized a chocolate fundraiser, and worked out all the details so we wouldn't have to.
*You gave of your chocolate business for a day(Shakolad !!) and gave a percentage of your sales to help love them home, and helped us design a love them home chocolate!
*You offered to accompany me to China.
*You take the time to give advice on packing and how to entertain two toddlers for two weeks.
* You send me beach balls in the mail, cause you know no china trip is complete without it.
*You did blog posts showing beautiful pictures of your gorgeous kiddos in our tees, to help us spread the word.
*You did a giveaway on your "HUGE HONKIN BAJILLION PEEPS FOLLOWIN" blog for your blogaversary, and you chose to give away OUR tees to help support our family, and to spread the word, and to show your love.
*You single handedly ran this fundraising mission.. you kept everything organized, rallied the troops, and held secret fundraising meetings behind my back when you thought I might be too busy.
* You tell us that when you wear your God is love tee, you love telling the story behind the tee. A chance to witness God's love for us all!!!
* You offer to make little cards to raise money for Kai and Sophie Lu...and you are 6.
*You are going through one of the hardest seasons of your life, and you take the time to text to find out when I will be leaving to bring our little loves home.
*You offer to do anything to help out.
* You are my naming buddy. And I have thousands of texts to prove it.
*You offer to carpool our kiddos from the bus while I'm gone.
* You fb me to make sure I know how to post from blogger while I'm gone.
*You frame Kai and Sophie Lu's picture the day you find out we are adopting them, and their photos go up on the picture shelf, where you show off all your grandchildren, showing everyone, they are loved.
* You attach a little note to your donation, thanking US for allowing you to play a part in helping them home.
* You bring your tooth fairy money down in little bags that say, TO LOVE THE ORPHANS!
*You selflessly share your wife and best friend for two weeks, so she can be there to support her daughter in one of the greatest blessings of her life.
*You make pictures for Kai and Lulu and drop them off at my house every now and then, cause you are always thinking about them... and you are 8 and 6 and 3.
*You spend hours decorating your car windows with LOVE THEM HOME, mucking up your car... and you are a "neat freak"(I say that lovingly)... but you do it cause you love us.
* You text to marvel with me at God's meticulous orchestration of events. :)
* You donated your time to teach calligraphy, and to share Chinese culture.. then you THANKED us, for letting you be a part of it all!
*You spend the day, the whole day, crafting, greeting, crafting some more, and trying to find creative ways to let the peeps know they have to say "love them home."
* You go all around town, honking your horn, driving your LOVE THEM HOME mobile, trying to bring people in.
*You buy chocolate.. lots of it.
*You pray.
*Then you pray some more.
*You spend your evenings, after a full day of work and caring for three children all on your own, making beautiful God is love necklaces for our fundraiser.
* You made me laugh through the wait.
*You get how special everything about this is.
* You offer to document our airport party with your mad photog skills.
*You are my countdown to trip buddy.
* You will be Jeff's countdown to airport party buddy.
* You will make sure I have everything I need for the trip
*You will cover us in prayer all the way there and home again.
* You will make sure that we feel the love. And we will. We already have.
We look forward to the day when Kai and Sophie Lu are old enough to understand how much their Heavenly Father loves them! We know it will bless them greatly when they hear how he showed HIS LOVE through each and every one of you, before they were even HOME! HOW LOVED THEY WILL FEEL!!! Oh that makes this mama's heart smile SO BIG!
There are NO WORDS to express how grateful we are to each and every one of you for helping us to LOVE THEM HOME!!! We have been BLESSED immensely by the outpouring of your LOVE! You will always be a part of THEIR story, and a part of our hearts.
As we prepare to travel, I would love to ask for continued prayers. Prayers for safe travel (no anxiety for me), prayers for Jeff as he holds down the fort for two weeks, prayers for the kiddos that they stay safe, and they they don't get too sad while I am gone (especially the little girls and Johnathan.. though, life is always a party with Daddy around, so they will be fine), prayers for seamless transition for Kai and Sophie, prayers for Kai's heart to remain stable on the trip and have no issues on the plane, prayers for God to provide a support system to meet any needs we may have while we are there, prayers for uneventful plane rides, and prayers for divine appointments...opportunities to share the LOVE of GOD and to touch and bless as many hearts as possible.
THANK YOU SO MUCH for everything! Each and every one of you is a blessing to us!
And after we settle in for a bit, we will have a Welcome Home Party at Chick-fil-A!!!
We can't wait for Kai and Sophie Lu to meet YOU!!
Much Love~
Amie, Jeff, David, Katie, Matthew, Sam, Allie, Grace, Hannah, Johnathan, Kai & Sophie Lu!
