Not long now! Tiffany

Well it is the night before our last day in China for a couple of months.  Tomorrow I finish up the last 40 of my over 300 finals!  So many emotions flood through my mind as we get ready to leave.  We couldn't be more excited to see family and friends but we will certainly miss the people we have come to know and love here.  After one of my classes last night I found a student/friend waiting for me in the classroom next door just to give me a precious letter and walk me home.  So sweet and loving - so many precious relationships have been brought our way and many, many seeds have been sown.
I recently found a fun way to connect with some of the students.  I invite a couple of girls over at a time to paint and make cookies.  They seem to enjoy it - most of them have never made cookies before so that is a fun experience and our time sitting around the table painting has been a real natural time to talk.  We now have an entire wall of paintings!
I have to share a story that is long overdue, but too funny not to mention.  After our COLD, COLD winter, we were incredibly excited to see the warm weather come.  One of the first especially warm days, I broke out a short sleeve blouse and headed out to teach class.  Everything was in full bloom along the way, sun shining and birds singing.  I walked into class and all my students let out a gasp at the same time!  I wasn't really sure why, but I knew that it must have something to do with my new choice in clothing.  After class, a student came running up to me with total concern on her face and asked that I please take care of myself.  She didn't want me to get sick because of the "cold" - although it was no longer cold!  I smiled and said thank you.  Then I noticed that as I walked back among hundreds of Chinese students, I was the ONLY person in a short sleeve shirt.  Not only were they not in short sleeves but they were all still wearing their jackets!  I obviously didn't get the memo!  Well come to find out, in China they dress by the calendar - not the temperature.  So I had certainly upset the norm by breaking out the short sleeves too early.  It was so funny to watch though, because as the temperature continued to rise but the "day" was not yet right, the students would continue faithfully with their jackets even though they all arrived to their destinations very hot and sweaty.  Then, just like that, one day everyone had put their jackets away and brought out the short sleeves.  I just love cultural differences!  They make for so many memorable, funny, challenging, special moments!
I will close for now.  We are really, really looking forward to getting to see many of you over the coming weeks!  So grateful for your love and friendship.  Many blessings to you all~
Tiffany

 Some of the End of the Year Events that they asked us to take part in.  We sang in one, the kids did a Snow White Presentation in another, and Ayden did his Magic Tricks in a couple - he was pumped!

Latest (adoption) ~Wendy

Well, a lot has happened since last writing.  

Refresher:  The last update was that they reopened the orph*nage to Chinese visitors.  They also allowed Brinson to go with a group of students to play with the kids.  During that visit Brinson learned that Pierce was, in fact, still alive and well!  Praise!  

I waited at home that day, prayerful and nervous.  Then I received this simple text on my phone, “He’s there!”  I can’t describe the feeling.  This is huge after not knowing for nearly 3 months if anything had happened to him during the winter months.  Every day of not knowing ticked by as though a month had passed. We firmly believe that God has led us to this particular boy.  We have felt confident in His ability to see us through the multitude of hurdles and this was one of the ‘biggies’.  

Brinson wasn't able to get Pierce's Chinese name at that time (his name is very important info needed by our adoption agency) but the next day a friend of ours was able to point him out in a group photo to a student who is very familiar with the kids' names.  Finally, we had a (Chinese) name!!!!  Praise! 

Immediately, I e-mailed it off to our agency to get the following response:  “I heard back from China today, and I am sad to say, but********** is not available for adoption, and the orphanage has no plans to make him available.   It is totally up to the orphanage.

Sorry about that!  Have a good day, and I hope we can match you with another special needs child.”

Yet another devastating day in this process.  Again, we are happy to adopt a different child but we have been led by our Father to this one.  The response just didn’t measure up to a ‘promise’ so to speak that God has given us; that ‘Pierce’ is ours.  

The answer “No”, is simply not in my vocabulary at this point.

Soon after this email I found a friend to go to the orphanage with me as my translator and see if we could make any headway now that we had a name.  The director was in a meeting but we were invited to a big city wide program that was to be held at the orphanage the very next day.  We were shocked that we were invited.  The program was partly to present a fresh start before the community.  If we hadn’t shown up on that particular day we never would have known about the program.  Praise! 

The next morning I had knots in my stomach.  Finally, I would get to see Pierce and hold him!  I hadn’t seen him since October.

We arrived at the orphanage to find them setting up for the event.  Later government officials, college students, doctors, nurses, and many others began to trickle in for the big day. 

As the older children from the orph*nage began coming out they proudly came up to some of us displaying their new clothes, fresh haircuts, and new shoes.  There were reporters and TV crews there as well.  Later I found a giant video camera in my face while a reporter asked me multiple questions.  Praise!  God provided a platform for me to talk about why we like to come visit the orph*nage and that we are trying to adopt- for the whole city. 

During the interview, I saw out of the corner of my eye, about 20 little ones parading out of the doors in a line.  I wanted to jump up, run over, and scoop Pierce up.  I did restrain myself since I was on camera though. 

It was wonderful to get to then spend the next 3 hours at the program talking to his nanny, holding him, telling him he was loved, and taking a million photos of him.  It was a perfect day!  Such a beautiful gift considering all of the questions, unknowns, and fears.  Pierce must wonder who the crazy white woman is that keeps whispering, "I love you" to him.

While talking with the nanny I learned that the name we were given (after identifying him in a photo) was actually wrong and I got his correct name. 

After the program my translator and friend talked with director about Pierce.  She proceeded to tell us that he isn’t available for adoption because he is healthy.  (I beg to differ on this one b/c his has a history of heart surgery, his head is enlarged, and he is developmentally delayed).  She also said that they will never allow him to be adopted because they need to keep orphans in the orphanage (so they can stay open).  I will not use this as the place to share my opinion about this but I’ll just give you the facts for now. 

At this point, I hear info like this and just see it as another way that God will Wow me!  Again, “No”, isn’t an answer in light of His leading.

So within a day or so I had contacted a government official in our city and he suggested speaking with the Civil Affairs office.  I headed there to meet a kind man that was very helpful and hopeful about the possibilities of us adopting Pierce.  He seemed to not agree with the director’s viewpoint that she shared.  Whew!  Praise!

My adoption ‘file’ will arrive in China sometime in August or September.  Prayerfully, Pierce’s file will get started around that time and then arrive in Beijing to meet up with my file in maybe January or February. 

The big hurdle ahead of us now is that we are not allowed to mention him by name in our paperwork.  His paperwork can recommend our family but the orphanage is not supportive of writing this letter because they say it is not allowed. 

This is what you can pray for next!  Our 2 files must come together and the Chinese government must match us together.  Thank you so very much to all of those who are lifting this up and coming to Him on behalf of Pierce and our family.  We are encouraged, strengthened and challenged throughout all of this. 

Genesis 18:14 Then the Lord said..................."Is anything too hard for me?"

I think not!  :) 

~Wendy

Adoption Update by Tiffany

Well an adoption update is long overdue and I have some exciting news to share about God's faithfulness!  As you knew we were at a standstill for quite some time waiting for a letter from Deryk's doctor clearing his health.  We had done everything else possible, but needed this letter to be able to progress to the next step which was the home study. The home study is a vital steps in the adoption process.  This is where a social worker comes and looks at your home and your family and asks many, many questions over a 2 day period of time.  Well the social worker was on her way to evaluate Eric and Wendy and we had hoped that we would be able to do ours at the same time to make the most of time and money as our social worker was traveling quite some distance, but at a week out I told Wendy to go ahead without us, that our letter still wasn't in.  Wendy said, "It could still happen."  However, after waiting for months, a week seemed very, very unlikely to get the letter and get everything in order.  I guess my less than hopeful face was obvious so Wendy said, "God can move mountains, He can totally get a letter here on time!"  It was just the reminder I needed and just the perfect opportunity for God to work, and work He did!  Within a weeks time, our letter arrived, our agency went into fast gear to move paperwork along so that we could meet the deadline, a generous friend anonymously donated  5000 dollars towards adoption expenses not even knowing that was almost the exact amount needed for our next major payment in the process, and to top it all off, our University had a holiday that allowed us the extra time we needed to fill in the mountain of paperwork that had to be completed before our social worker arrived!  INCREDIBLE!  That is exactly what God meant when He said He will give us more than we can ever ask or imagine!  Praise God!