Humbled and Grateful

Just an update for our family's sake and anyone who is actually interested in the process that wants to read our journey, give some details about what it looked like to get here.

We began this journey, as most families do, with a timeline in front of them and high hopes that ours would actually be smooth, unlike most other families that seem to hit huge bumps in the road. HA. First mistake. Actually, we knew that obstacles and hurdles were going to come up, and we have had our bumps. Our wiggle room is getting smaller and our next steps are feeling farther and farther away. We spent the majority of the month of March feverishly applying for grants. We applied for a total of 10 grants. To the unsuspecting eye, that may not seem like a big deal. It's just an application. In one sense, yes, that is true. But the truth is, these applications are almost just as involved, if not more on some levels, as the initial application to begin the adoption process. And while each organization asks the same general questions about finances, testimony, calling, parenting and lifestyle, the questions are worded just differently enough that you have to write your answers differently for each one. While we did copy and paste a lot, it was still a difficult task. But we got them done. We had to step out of our comfort zones and ask for even more references, often having to burden the same people again and again to fill out a reference form. Oh and it needs to be turned in like now. :/ But fortunately, we have some great friends and leaders who went above and beyond to help us out.

The next task was fundraising. The month of April we poured ourselves out completely asking anyone and everyone that we knew and even those that we didn't know if they would be willing to donate an item or service to an online auction that we were hosting. It was a TON of work, but in the end we ended up collecting over 100 items and we were able to raise about $3,500. We also sold T-shirts, which astonishingly brought in almost $900. We are overwhelmed at the generosity of friends and complete strangers!! During this time of fundraising, I think we pushed half of our Facebook followers away and I'm sure we were deleted several times. But that's ok. We also saw God provide in really big ways through people that we didn't even expect and we are so incredibly thankful!

When we started the process, we really didn't think that we would be able to fund raise money successfully. First of all, we lived overseas and so "traditional" fundraisers were obviously out of the question. And second of all, we have spent the last 3 years raising money for ministry and our circle of influence are already so incredibly generous to give to what we do. But we did fundraise and were pleasantly surprised with the success. We could not have done it without the help of our friends and family, mainly our brother and sister in law, who were themselves in the process of adopting. The biggest fee that we have had to date was certainly our agency fee of $6,000, which had to be paid before our agency would begin work on compiling our Dossier packet. This seemed almost insurmountable to us, but through our fundraising efforts, very generous donations, personal savings and an organization that awarded us a $1,000 grant, we will be able to turn that in within the next week! (During our fundraising, we also received our USCIS approval, which was so exciting!!)

The next financial hurdle is a fee of $3,100 that covers the document preparation, registration and authentication. This amount had to be turned in before our agency could actually send the paperwork to China. We had been hoping that this was an amount that they could bill to our family, as they had several fees in the past. But we found out that it in fact had to be paid before they could mail the papers. This is honestly disheartening for us. We have worked so hard for two solid months, and we are flat worn out on fund raising. We know that God is the only one that can make this happen, because He is the only one that has made any of it happen so far. And deep down we know we can trust in His timing, whatever that might be. But if we are honest, we are discouraged because we feel like this just meant more waiting. More time before we could be with our son and he could be with us. We want so badly to be able to send him a message and say Mommy and Daddy are coming! But from where we were standing, already more than a month behind our timeline goal, we just know that we have to surrender our desires to God's sovereignty. We have sent out one last plea to our friends and family, and put on our best face. We are choosing to keep the faith. We still have a couple of weeks. And we know from experience that a lot can happen in a couple of weeks!

One Less

Gotcha Day. It's such a weird word for me. It doesn't settle right for some reason, but it's the word that we use. That day when all of your waiting and all of the paperwork and all of the mystery comes together and you get to meet your child and he or she officially becomes a member of your family, even though their picture has been plastered all over your house for months now. But now, it's official. On paper, not only with your signature, but with your thumbprints too. It's a big deal.

There is not a single time that I look at pictures of Gotcha days that I don't wipe away tears. Today was one of those days. I am sitting in the living room of a friends apartment, literally just a few meters away from a family that welcomed a precious little girl into their family today. I'm looking at her pictures on Facebook and just praising the Lord through tears of gratitude.

One less.

It's so easy during this process to get caught up in the paper chase, the money, the waiting, the uncertainties, and the insecurities. All of that is necessary, but all of that aside, this is what it's about. One less child spending another day without a family. One less child who will never know the love of a mother. One less human being who doesn't understand what it feels like to belong to something, to be loved or to be wanted.

One less. Hallelujah, today, there is one less orphan.

T SHIRT FUNDRAISER

By popular demand, we have decided to re-open our Tshirt orders!!

We pray it will be a huge success because who doesn't like a new T-shirt? 

Especially a Super Soft one like this one! 

AND especially when the purchase of this shirt is 

helping to unite a sweet little boy with his family!

But the cool thing is that this is so much more than an adoption T-shirt.

This is one that you can apply to any area of our lives.
It's about LOVE.

"This is real love--not that we loved God, 
but that He loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins." 1 John 4:10

Let that be what fuels you. Let LOVE be your guide.

YOU KNOW YOU WANT ONE!!!

Adult Sizes: XS-4XL

Click to Enlarge

 Our shirts come in 3 different styles with lots of color choices!!

Prices:
Super soft ADULT T's: $20 each  
 (add $2 for 2XL/3XL).

Super soft KIDS T's are $18 each
Super soft WOMEN'S TANKS are $24 each

Click to Enlarge

Special Thanks to our stellar brother in law, JD, who created the design.

Check out his work at www.jdreeves.com

Kids Sizes:  M(10/12), L(14/16)
Click to Enlarge

Women's Tank Sizes: S, M, L, XL, 2XL(+$2)
Click to Enlarge

You can order as many as you want and shipping is one flat rate of $5 per order.

(Or if you are local to the Williamson/Maury County area, you can choose free pick up)

To place a Tshirt Order, please click on the Tshirt order form tab at the top of the page or
click here.

If you would rather make a donation in lieu of purchasing a Tshirt,
please read HERE! to find out how your generosity will
have an impact on Qi Long for years to come!

Mountains and Valleys

Mountains and valleys are both beautiful places.

On the mountaintop you can see what seems like the whole world laid out before you and the possibilities are endless. If you are on a mountaintop, you most likely have just climbed that mountain and the adrenaline is making you feel like you can conquer anything that comes your way. Nothing can shake you. The sun is shining on your face and for a moment you can almost reach out and touch heaven. Nothing is impossible on a mountaintop.

In a valley, however, you have a very limited view. You can only see the mountain in front of you and without the right perspective, it can feel isolated in a valley. When the sun goes down behind a mountain, it gets cold in a valley. And you might even begin to wonder and hope for what lies over that mountain in front of you. 

But if you take a step back, you will see the beauty, the awe and the grandeur of that mountain. You will feel how small you are against a mighty Creator and find yourself in the perfect place of humility to truly receive His grace and joy. With the right perspective.

We are blessed to live in a place where we get to experience these differences between mountains and valleys in a very real way. And it brings new insight to the circumstances in our lives that we classify as mountain or valley circumstances. I am reminded of the familiar passage in Ps. 23 where David sings to us about our Shepherd who makes us lay down in green pastures and leads us beside still waters. That sounds so peaceful and refreshing, right? But let's think about it. We often separate the part of this same passage that talks about walking through the valley of death from this first part of peaceful still waters and green pastures. But it's actually the same place. You will never find still waters on a mountaintop. Water on a mountain will always be moving. Will you find green pastures on a mountaintop? This beautiful place with green pastures and still waters that refreshes our souls, is in the valley of death!

Perspective.

When we began this process, we hit the ground running. We received our home study packet on Oct. 8 and we got to work, sending in paperwork the very next day. By November 24, we had all of our paperwork turned in, minus our health checks and we had approval to wait for a little while to do those so they didn't expire. We were feeling really good about things and even though we have to wait until Justin's 30th birthday on April 1 to turn in our paperwork to China, we knew we needed that extra time to apply for grants and get our account with the adoption agency in good standing before we can submit those papers anyway. We had heard of so many people with so many bumps in the road in a never-ending paper chase, but we had also heard of people that just zipped and flew right through the process with little to no snags at all. We were really praying for the second option. 

But once we turned the paperwork in, the waiting started. The first wait was really out of anyone's control because it was the holidays and things slow down drastically around the holidays anyway. Our sweet case worker actually traveled to our house on New Years Day and did our home study in two days. But then somewhere between the time of her sending in her first draft and today, time seemed to stop. We have been waiting for a long time to see a final copy of our home study, and our case worker has been emailing every day trying to find out why it has taken so long. And we are excited to say that the final hard copy was placed in the mail yesterday and should be on it's way to the next step very soon.

Before I go further I want to say that things could be WAY worse. The other day we read about a lady whose paperwork had been destroyed in the mail. Like completely destroyed, illegible, couldn't even tell which document was which. It could be way worse. And we still have many opportunities for it to get worse. So I am very grateful. But still a little frustrated.

We are still waiting to actually receive a copy of the home study in our inbox, so that we can begin applying for grants. We received our next bill last week and we need to have $9,000 in about one month, so that we can hopefully meet our goal of sending our papers off around April 1, so we don't have to make this sweet little boy wait any longer than he has to. We are ready for him to come home!! Most grant agencies take longer than that to process applications, with many of them only awarding grants every quarter. So we are praying hard for God to lead us to the exact grants that He wants us to apply for. If you would like to donate to our adoption fund, you can click  HERE  to find out how. Please pray with us for these next few steps.

1. Mailing application for US Immigration approval for us to adopt.

2. Fingerprint appointment at US Consulate.

3. $6,000 due to continue to the next step of compiling our Dossier documents.

4. $3,100 due to authenticate and process those documents and send them to China.

In all of this, we are praying for the grace to see the beauty in the valleys of life and allow our Shepherd to refresh our souls in the way that only He can. Thank you Lord for still waters.

70 days!

We have 70 days to go until April 1, when we will hopefully be submitting our Dossier to China!! 

Please pray with us as we wait for Father to provide the finances needed for that next big step in the process. 

In the meantime, here are some pictures we received a couple of weeks ago. Wednesday, January 13, to be exact. We had woken up feeling pretty chilly and aggravated because our power had been off since dinner the night before and it was still not back on when we got up. But as I was checking my messages on my phone, it started to ding. A lot. And as I looked, my frustration melted away with the joy I saw on this little face.

Joy is what we have been praying for him. We sent a package to him and in it we included a hat for him and all of his friends in his class. I was in bed cuddling with all of my boys and we were able to look at these pictures together and pray that we are already making a difference in Qi Long's life.

We also sent a picture album that contained a few pictures of our family, including all 4 of us wearing a hat like we sent and a note and a few other things for him in the package. We don't know if they gave it to him. We don't know if they even told him that the hats were from us, but either way, he knows that someone cares for him enough to let him have a new hat and for that we are thankful. We can't wait until we get to snuggle him up in the bed with us.

Just 70 days until we are one giant step closer to that day!

Thank you for your love, support and prayers!

90 Days!

Today, we officially begin our countdown to J's 30th birthday! You don't normally hear of people counting down to a 30th birthday, but for us, being 30 means we are eligible to adopt from China. The exact rule states that both applicants must be 30 years old at the time the Dossier is submitted. So we have been working to get up to that point, so that on April 1, we can have that packet in the mail.

Before April 1, we have 4 parts to complete.

1. Homestudy: We have been working since Oct. 8, on this. Our paperwork was for the most part completed at the end of November, but because of the business of Christmas time, we were not able to meet with the case worker until January 1. Now, that is complete, but we will still be waiting for 2-3 more weeks for that to be finalized.

2. US Dept of Immigration: Once our home study is finalized, we will apply with the USCIS for approval to adopt from our government in America. This approval is generally the last document that you will be waiting on in order to submit the Dossier.

3. Document authentication. All 11 (I think it's 11. Don't quote me on that.) documents that are contained in your Dossier packet must be certified, notarized and authenticated by the US government, and then stamped with a final seal from the Chinese embassy stating that they are true and valid documents. This takes time with lots of back and forth work with important documents usually in D.C. Fortunately, our agency takes care of all of this for us, so it's not necessarily a stress for me, but it does equal time and money.

4. And finally the 4th part is money. We have to submit our agency fee (ours is $6,000, not including the cost for immigration and document authentication, and other fees already paid) in order for them to process our Dossier and get it in the mail for us. So even if the time works out and our packet is ready before April 1, if we don't have that money ready, we will still be waiting.

There are many grants available, but there are a few problems with grants.

1. You have to have a completed Home Study in order to apply for a grant.
2. Most organizations that provide grants only process their applications during specific time frames, for example, once per quarter, and they issue their grants all at once for that time period. The average grant application process takes around 90 days.

SO...I know that is probably a lot of boring information for most of you, but for those of you who are interested about the process, there you go! This is where we are and the goals we have in front of us for the next 90 days. I don't know that I can call them goals because a large percentage of these 4 parts don't actually include our involvement. I guess I should say this is our prayer points for the next 90 days.

Because this is so boring, here is a little thank you for making it to the end!
(Hint: Click Twice)

This was the day that we visited QL at the orphanage.
As he turns around he keeps an eye on his dad back there by the door.
What we would give to know what was going through is little mind that day!

I KNOW, RIGHT?!

In the meantime, if you have any ground shaking fundraising ideas, please share! We would love to hear about ideas that have worked well for you, or an idea that you would be interested in participating in! Click here to see our Puzzle Fundraiser!

Christmas Giveaway! Closed!

UPDATE!
Our giveaway is now closed. Thank you so much for your support!
We are very appreciative of those who participated!

And the winner is....

Thank you, winner, for your support and we hope you enjoy your new Tablet!

For the rest of you that donated, your name will be put on one of our Puzzle Pieces!
Thank you for being a part of our story!
_________________________________________________________________________________

Christmas is coming up fast! 8 days to be exact!!

Do you know anyone that might want a

Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 (7 inch Tablet)?!

Now is your chance to WIN one!

Not only could you win one for $10, but you will also be helping a BIG cause!!

Your donation will actually help not one, but TWO Robinson families provide a forever home for a child.

You can read more about our brother and sister in law's adoption journey here.

All you have to do is contribute through the Paypal button below.

$10 per entry

$25 for 3 entries

AND after you make a donation, if you share this post with a comment on Facebook,

we will give you an additional entry for FREE!
(Please use the Share feature on my facebook post, so I will see your share)

This give-away will be active for today and tomorrow only!

We will be drawing Friday night at midnight (central time)!

We will shoot a video and post it on our blog to announce the winner.

It will ship from Amazon on Saturday, December 19 and 

should arrive at the address of your choice JUST IN TIME for Christmas.

Thanks in advance for helping us along on our adoption journey and remember to SHARE!

Please click here to view product description.

*All proceeds will be divided between the Justin Robinson and the Jarred Robinson families

and will be used to fund their adoptions from China.

Check out our Puzzle Fundraiser here!

Putting the Puzzle Together

It's fundraising time!! You have seen the pictures of our boy. You have read about our first moments with him. Many of you are cheering us on as we pursue his adoption and we are so thankful! We have a lot of time and paperwork to conquer between now and bringing him home. But one of the biggest hurdles is going to be the finances. We all know adoption is expensive. That is a little bit of an understatement. But it is one of those few things in life that is simply worth it.

So we have a puzzle. It has 500 pieces.

Every person who makes a donation to help bring Qi Long home 

will have their name written on the back of a puzzle piece.

(If you would like to be an anonymous donor, we will write that instead of your name.)

As donations are made and pieces are added, we will put the puzzle together as a family.

When the puzzle is complete, we will hang it in a double sided glass frame.

We can't wait to be able to flip the puzzle over and show Qi Long

how many people care about him and helped bring our family together.

Anytime he questions his self worth, anytime he wonders if anyone really loves him,

anytime he is unsure if God is really there or cares, 

he will be able to read the names, some names he may never know personally,

but he will see them there. And it will be a small piece of reassurance for him.

If you would like to add a piece to our puzzle, please follow the following link. 

You can donate directly to our agency or to us through Paypal. Both methods will help us with the amount to keep our process moving. If you have any questions at all, email us here! And please share with your friends!

Click Here to Donate 

Or Here

We can't wait to show you our completed puzzle!