Much

Last weekend, someone completely unexpectedly handed me money for the adoption, and said "It's not much, but..." But it was much. It wouldn't have mattered how much she handed me, it would have been much no matter the amount. You see, we are not asking anyone to just give us money, and we are certainly not expecting anyone to. We are very sure that God will provide the funds needs for this adoption. And we know that He uses people to provide. But we also know that He will use us. We believe that adopting a child is part of His plan for our lives, but we don't expect it to be handed to us. We are willing to work and save and sacrifice when necessary. Please do not feel like we expect money from you. We really don't.

So when a kind person, out of the blue, hands us money- any amount of money- it is much to us. It reminds us that the money for this adoption is going to be provided. It encourages us. It makes us feel loved and cared for. Most importantly, it makes us feel like our Chinese baby is already loved and cared for, so much so that our friends and loved ones are also sacrificing to help us bring him/her home.

We still have a long way to go in the adoption process. We are STILL gathering documents and completing homestudy paperwork. It's feeling like it's a never ending process. After that, we have immigration paperwork and the possible very long wait for a referral. After we accept a referral, we wait for travel approval. The process doesn't even end after we travel and finally have our baby in our arms.

We have felt so loved during the small part of our journey that is behind us. There has been so much support for us; emotional support, prayers, financial support (random, unexpected gifts and also buying my blankies or something from our yard sale), and acts of service. We are very blessed. You may not think you have done much, but you have. To us, it is much. And we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.