Introducing Ivy Ming!!!

Ivy Ming

 

 

As you can see sooooo much has been happening!  God has been working in ways we never imagined!  Our dossier was to country on Feb. 1st and we were logged in with China Feb. 6th.  It took 2 weeks for us to complete our waiting child paperwork and have our medical openness conference call.  For those of you that prayed us throught that call, THANK YOU, that was so not easy.  This call was done on Feb. 20th.  We were told by our agency to expect a match within 6-12 months, then they said based on our openness to expect a match sometime in the next 6 months.  God brought us a match in TWO WEEKS!!  We were shocked and in complete awe!  I have been saying for months that God would do the impossible if we got a match in the first month and traveled in the summer and that is what is happening.  The rest of the process...we are now in our wait for LOA (letter of acceptance).  This is our official acceptance from China of our baby.  This could come any day or as long as 60 days.  We then submit more immigration paperwork to USCIS and wait a few weeks for what is called an article 5.  This is sent to the US Consulate in Guangzhou, who then submits it to CCCWA (China) who then issues us a travel approval.  We will leave to get her a few weeks after our travel approval.  It could be late June or as long as September.  We are praying as soon as possible!!!

 

Now onto Ivy, isn't she adorable???  All 5 of us are completely in LOVE!!  Ivy is 13 months old now, her birthday is Feb. 5, 2012 (she was born 4 days after God told us to adopt!)  She will be around 18 months when we go get her.  It is so good for Dawson, Jayden, and Hallie to have a face to this baby we have been talking about and praying for about a year.  We are so in awe of God's provision!  Please pray for her health and safety in the months to come until we are able to get her and bring her HOME!

 

 

Now to him who is able to do

 immeasurably more than all we can

ask or imagine, according to

his power that is at work within us.

Ephesians 3:20

 

 

Thank you for your prayers for her and us as we continue this awesome journey!

 

Love,

Jason, Dawn, Dawson, Jayden, and Hallie



 





Hallie's Sweet Heart

Brace yourself for some Hallie cuteness!!  Today Hallie and I were laying on the bed snuggling when out of the blue she says "When I growed up, I want to be a Mommy".  I told her that is awesome, that I wanted to be a Mommy when I was a little girl and I love being her Mommy.  She got quiet for a few seconds then says, very somber, "Some little kids do not have a Mommy and I will be their Mommy".  I was floored by her heart and compassion.  I said, "You mean adopting just like what we are doing with Baby China, because Baby China does not have a Mommy to take care of her and I will be her Mommy".  She looks at me and says, "Yes".  And that was it. So simple, yet so profound.  She gets it!  At the age of four, she gets it!  What God can do in the heart of a small child is amazing, no matter how young, God plants dreams!

"Learn to do what is right!

Seek justice, encourage the oppressed, defend the cause of the fatherless,

 plead the case of the widow and the orphan"

Isaiah 1:17

 

 

I thank God for moments when I feel him kiss the air around us! 

 

 

Blessings,

Dawn

 

It has been far, far too long since I have posted an update.  This post is not necessarily an update on China Baby but more about a great experience only God could orchestrate.  Sometime around October 2012 there was an insert on our notes at church for a organization called PRISM.  It stands for Pittsburgh Region International Student Ministries.  The organization is a program for international students and visiting scholars attending colleges in Pittsburgh.  One of their ministries is looking for families that are willing to host students in their homes for the holidays.  Most of these students have not experienced our holiday traditions in America.  Jason and I thought what a great way to bless someone and get to know people from another culture.  Haha, only God could work out what happened.  We ended up getting placed with 3 students from CHINA who spent Thanksgiving with us in our home.  It never even crossed our minds that we could get students from China.  God used them to stretch us.  This family of mine is going to be a American-Chinese family very soon and we learned so much more in those few hours about our new daughters culture than we ever would have reading books or searching the internet.  We had a blast!  It was hilarious to us that they had never had turkey, apple pie, lemonade, or stuffing.  We had so much fun sharing our culture with them and hearing about all they were experiencing while living here for this short time.  I love how God works our needs before we even realize we have a need.  One of the girls lives near Beijing and offered to meet us when we are there and show us the hidden gems of the city.  How fun!  And so random that only God could put this together.  The evening ended with us feeling unbelievably blessed possibly more than we blessed them.  We pray they left our house feeling loved, accepted, and seeing Christ in us.  Here is a picture of them playing with the kids.

Then at Christmas they came with us to the North Way's Oakland campus for Christmas Eve service.  PRISM does not usually facilitate families with students for Christmas but we fell so much in love with them that we invited them to church then went for chinese dinner after.  I write this because Easter is coming quickly!  The organization matches families for Thanksgiving and Easter.  If you have room at your table and in your heart, consider opening your home to the amazing people in our area.  They are so far away from their families and just may need a little bit of love shown to them.  You just may end up being blessed as much as we are by getting to know some of these students.  The website is www.prismpgh.org, call them, you will be glad you did!!

Love,
Dawn and the crew