We're Moving On Up!!!

No, not to the east side, to the Far East.  We just got word today that our dossier (paperwork) has been forwarded for translation and submission to the Taiwanese government.  Things are moving forward and we are really excited about all that is taking place.  In fact, if wait times remain consistent for referral, our baby could already have been conceived and his/her birth mother may or may not even be aware she is pregnant.  We pray that she will be responsible and make the best decisions for the baby!

Things are moving well on the fundraising front as well.  Our fundraising team, Team Taiwan, is so supportive and such a blessing to us.  We currently have three major fundraisers in the works right now.  First, we are having a huge yard sale September 30^th – October 1^st.  Second, we are having an auction and dinner on November 5^th.  Finally, we are building a puzzle and selling pieces for $10 each.  Below are some of the details for each of these events.

Yard Sale

We need any spare stuff that you’d be willing to donate, in fact, we’ll even come get it if you want.  We are open to just about anything from knickknacks to furniture.  There will also be a drop-off time scheduled for Friday and Saturday September 23^rd and 24^th.   Check back in a few days for some times and places.

Auction

That’s right -- a dinner and auction complete with an auctioneer!  We are in need of some really great items here.  Mrs. Glenda Jones is heading this up for us and we are so thankful for her leadership and service to our family.

Our Puzzle

The puzzle is more than a theme for our blog and adoption journey.  We are actually building a puzzle and asking folks to sponsor us by buying a piece of the puzzle for $10.  Anyone purchasing a puzzle piece will be allowed to sign the back of their piece of the puzzle (you can always purchase multiple pieces and then use them to write a special message too).  If you live out of town, we'll put your name on your piece(s).  After all the puzzle pieces are sold, we are going to have the puzzle double framed and hung in the baby’s room as a reminder of the fact that this baby is a result of the partnership of so many different people.

If you want to help or participate with any of these fundraisers please let us know!  Or if you’d prefer feel free to use the Donate Now button at the bottom of the page.

Thanks for checking in!!!!

Where do we begin?

Some folks get a dog or cat, others a goldfish or hermit crab, us – well we just go out and try to get a kid from the local baby store.  At least that’s what Emma and Eliza may tell you.  This past winter we began the process of talking about adoption again.  It just hit me today as I was preaching that three weeks from today (Sunday) we will celebrate 7 years of being given one of the greatest gifts God could possibly give us.  On September 18, 2004, Emma Claire was born and we couldn’t wait to get to the hospital in Memphis to meet her.  And so began our journey putting together our family puzzle!  Three years later we were met with another surprise and blessing as we almost couldn’t wait to get to the Jackson hospital to meet Eliza.  No, literally we almost couldn’t wait -- we were there about 30 minutes before Gina gave birth to Eliza!  Talk about cutting it close!

Now we are looking forward to welcoming our third child into our family.  This time it won’t be Memphis, Jackson, or even somewhere in our own time zone.  We are literally going half-way around the world!!! The next piece of our family puzzle will be coming from Taitung, Taiwan.  The reasons why we are going to Taiwan are several and we’ll post a blog soon that will talk a little more about some of those specific reasons, but for now we’ll let it suffice to say we are simply pursuing what God is calling us to do.

After coming to a point of understanding that we were being led to adopt from Taiwan, we began searching out an agency who operated there and we found All God’s Children International (AGCI) and we immediately knew we’d found the agency for us.  We began some initial paperwork, followed by a home study and lots of online education.  We have now completed tons of paperwork – certain that we are responsible for some small forest being decimated in order to make enough paper for all we’ve done.  We now have completed our Dossier (this is the paperwork that gets translated into Chinese and is sent to the Taiwanese government and court system).

And so our waiting period begins!  We guess all great puzzles take some time to put together. 

We’ll take some time over the next week or two to fill in some of the other gaps here including details about our anticipated timeline, some specific needs we have, how you can help or even begin your own process of adoption finding your missing piece, as well as some general thoughts and reflections about all things pertaining to life.

Blessings!!!