Sometimes the answer is "no"

China will not allow us to complete Luke's adoption. This is not at all what we were expecting and the opposite of what we were praying for. There is a big hole in our hearts that I think will always be there. While we don't understand this at all, we do know that God loves Luke more than we do and that this is His will. Thank you for your prayers.

Miracles

They do happen today. That is what we are praying for and believing in. If you would pray for us, we would be so thankful. We were told last night that China will make a decision within a week. Greg and I truly believe that they will allow us to adopt Luke. And we are praying that they will not make us update our homestudy, but pick up right where we left off which would be traveling for Luke. Thank you for your prayers.

Peace

   From the moment we began Luke's adoption, this is what I felt- Peace. And every day, the Lord led me to scriptures or just little things throughout the day that reminded me of this. We knew that God had placed Luke on our hearts and in our life. I bought myself a small, inexpensive peace sign necklace to help remind me of this blessing and of God's faithfulness as we waited. Every time I would read about peace in the Bible, Luke was the first thought that came to mind. It filled me with such joy, feeling so close to the Lord, that He would "whisper" encouragement to me throughout the days and months.
   When our adoption of Luke was placed on hold and as the picture of holding him began to fade, so did my hope. And my peace. And my joy. For weeks now, I have allowed my joy of life to fade. Knowing very well, how very much I have to be thankful for ,each and every day, my sorrow has overshadowed my joy.
   We are still waiting to hear if China will allow us to complete our adoption of Luke. We are praying and believing that they will. This is a tough wait. I am praying that God will reveal to me what it is He wants me to learn from this trial. One, tiny breakthrough I have had though, is the hard realization that with or without Luke, I must remain Thankful. Luke is not my Peace. Luke is not my Joy. I can only find these things when I keep my heart and mind focused on Him.

P.S. For everyone who donated to Mama Kong, please do not worry- I am waiting to hear from her son how I can transfer the money that was donated, to his China account, for her. As soon as it is done, I will let you know. Thank you again.

Devastated

This is how we felt on Thursday when we received the news shortly after my last post, that we may not be able to bring our son home. We are waiting. I'm not completely sure who we are waiting on or when we will receive some kind of news. We woke up on Thursday morning expecting to travel for Luke in about 3 weeks and we went to bed Thursday night not sure if we would ever meet him at all. Please pray that we will be able to adopt Luke. Our hope is in the Lord and no one or anything else.

Very Close!!!!

We are very, very close to traveling for Luke. And we are very excited! Luke has never lived with a foster family, like Cate and Cai did; he has only lived in the orphanage with hundreds of other children. We expect some developmental delays due to this and we are perfectly fine with that! We have been praying for him since the first time we laid eyes on him and know that this is a very special little boy. We have lots of love ready to pour onto him and we can't wait to begin. His name will be George Lucas and we will call him Luke. Luke, because we like the name, and the book of Luke in the Bible has so many great promises. We are naming him George, after "our" George, who when he married Mom, automatically married two little children. Two children who he would have to endure the teen years with and learn to love and accept when surely it wasn't easy. We definitely didn't always agree with George's strict dicipline when we were young, but he stayed by our side and on our side. And while we never called him Daddy, because at the time, we already had a daddy, George was always our father. When our first child was born, we wondered what cute name George would become, but lo and behold, he remained George. But not just any George; "my" George or "our" George. Which just seems fitting. Because it doesn't take an endearing name like daddy or GG, or watever; it just takes a lot of love and acceptance and committment. And that's what George has poured out on us from day one. Even when the times were tough. And that's what we're going to do for Luke.

"Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me." Luke 9:48

And the necklace goes to.....

SHARON!!!!! Congratulation!

Thank you to every one who donated to Mama Kong. And thanks to everyone who spread the word about this family. We can all keep them in our prayers.  I can't wait to tell her how very much she is loved and prayed for.

How We Can Help

Update- I have been asked about Paypal. If you would like, you can send money by Paypal to my email address below. The funds will sit safely there until we are ready to visit Mama Kong! :)

I have been thinking about this, and this is what I would like to do to get started raising some funds for Mama Kong and her family. I have an 18 inch pearl necklace that we bought from the Pearl Market in China. For everyone who posts a comment or sends me an email saying that they would like to contribute to Mama Kong and her family, I will put your name in a box. It can be any amount that you feel you want to give. Every cent is appreciated, no matter how large or small. It is absolutely the thought and prayer that counts here! We will pick a name out of the box on Sunday, October 14, and I will be sure to announce the name that day. Please tell anyone that you know about this- the more the merrier!
Our email address is gksmith@windstream.net if you would like to send an email rather than leave a comment here.
Thank you for helping!

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. Luke 12:48

Let's Multiply!

If you haven't already watched the video about Mama Kong and her family, please watch it (it's in my last post). I don't have any definites yet, but I hope to fly to Shanxi before we meet Luke. I want to spend a couple of days with Mama Kong and her family. We want her to know that she is loved and being prayed for.And after watching the video, I know that they would appreciate some financial assistance. We do have to make sure that this is safe; only because of the government officials. We don't want to break any of their laws despite how unfair we may believe them to be!

It's so funny (well, not funny haha) how all of this has really sparked some interesting conversation and realization about how people are, in general. People, as in practically everyone, us, very much included! Do you know how rich everyone that lives in America is? Even the poorest here, are rich compared to most. Why is it that we only care about ourselves, our families here and our needs? We are all in a position that we never have to think about the orphans or the widows or the hurt or the hopeless if we don't really want to. And who really wants to? It's not fun to think about them. It's actually a little depressing. It takes money and time. And who wants to give away precious time and hard earned money? Especially to someone we don't know, will probably never meet; someone who we can pretend isn't even real to us as we sleep in our comfy beds, eat out at nice restaurants, and enjoy so many luxuries. I mean, who would actually choose to step out of our comfort zone to get "uncomfortable"?

But that is exactly what Jesus has asked of every single one of us. It makes me so, so sad that the "normal" to most of us is a very selfish and worldly way of life. And the "weird" is actually how Jesus calls us to live.

Go and make followers of all people in the world.. Matthew 29:19
"And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply..." Genesis 1:22
Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:18

Tomorrow I'll post about how you can help!

Two Favors

I have two favors to ask of anyone who may be reading this. First, please go to You Tube and type in "Lost Children of the Coal- China". It is a short documentary about a tiny little woman in China who is doing amazing things. It was filmed just this past May. I know that everyone has not been called to adopt, but we are all asked to care for the orphan. There are many ways of doing this. I am going to post tomorrow how we are going to help this tiny but mighty woman. That is where the second favor comes in. I have spoken with her oldest son, and I would love your help in helping this family.

"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." Matthew 4:19

A special surprise

On Thursday a very special piece of paper came to us via Fedex. A piece of paper that we had been praying for daily. One huge step closer to a very special little person. About eight weeks away from holding a little guy who has only lived in an orphanage. Who has never felt the arms of a Mama or Daddy, the laughter of brothers and sisters. And we cannot wait to be the ones who show him.

I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. Psalm 40:1

The Beach

We had such a great time at the beach this year! Our family piles into one house and spends a week eating, sunning, playing, fishing, reading, laughing and eating some more! It just doesn't get any better. I can honestly say that it is the best week of the year for us. We are so blessed with such a great family who genuinly has a ball doing everything together! It is always so hard to leave after our beach week together. Thank you, Granny and Granddaddy! We love you so much.
I am going to try to do a better job at keeping up our blog. I have said that before so we'll see how it goes, but I would like to print it one day as a little family journal.
The summer has literally flown by, and I have no idea where it went. I can't believe it's time to start thinking of school supplies, and school activities already. Ugh. We enjoy our summers.
The past year has been a hard one for our family. We have experienced a lot of transitions. We are finally at a point of healing. We need it very badly and are ready to heal together as a family of seven.

A Miracle for Mei Mei

If anyone still checks in with this blog, please look at my friend Jan's blog, http://www.lillymakesfive.blogspot.com/. Jan brought home their daughter, Leiney Grace, three months ago. And while Leiney Grace is thriving and loving her new family, she did leave behind a special little friend who she calls Mei Mei (little sister in Chinese). Mei Mei doesn't have the best looking medical file. She has spina bifida. Her feet are also deformed. She has never had surgery to correct them, so she has carries her weight on these poor little feet. They are sad to look at. But one thing you can't miss about Mei Mei is her beautiful smile. When it was time for Leiney Grace to leave the orphanage to meet her family, Mei Mei held back her tears and told Leiney Grace "Go with your Mama and Baba".  I think it's time for Mei Mei to meet her Mama and Baba too. Jan and her friend Jennifer have decided to begin fundraising for Mei Mei. They don't know who her family will be, but their goal is to raise the funds for Mei Mei's adoption. Please check out "Moms on a Mission". Every little life is equally important. It's very easy to forget they exist while we hurry through our busy days. While everyone doesn't feel the call to adopt, everyone can help in some way to give a child a family.
Proverbs11:25  A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.
Luke 6:38   Give, and it will be given to you...

Last Call For Luke

This may be long. I have been thinking about what to say on this blog since it be will used one more time! Not that it ever gets read! My words are never as eloquent as I would like for them to be or express how my heart really feels. And I have sooo much that I would like to say about how I feel and how we feel and why in the world we are doing this again??!!?? Being placed in the "crazy" category was never really a life goal of mine but neither was having seven children. But things change. And lives..and hearts..and even goals. And I am so happy that they do. See, when we started Cate's adoption, it was pretty much still about us. Cate was a cute little girl with a very manageable special need. But our family began to change a little. We began to have this overwhelming feeling that we should be doing more. That we are here to do a little more. We felt like we have been blessed with so much, and we knew that we had the room in our home and hearts for another child. And then another. And another. I know that some people just can't imagine. Because they tell me. And I understand that too. Because children can be hard and time consuming and expensive. But when they say that God does not call the equipped, He equips those He calls, they were not even kidding. I remember sitting at my computer in China when we were there with Cai. Her special need was feeling quite overwhelming and we were actually surprised with a need that we were unaware of. Greg was here at home and I remember wondering how in the world were we going to do this? But we were given a peace that surpasses all understanding. We have seen answered prayers and healing and a love and peace that only comes from Him. It has had absolutely nothing to do with us. So, the newest member of our family is a beautiful little boy who we have named Luke. He is in an orphanage in the same province that Cai is from, but his orphanage is about six hours away. I promise to post his picture here soon. We would love your prayers for Luke and for our family as we travel this road one last time.