In July of 2010, almost one year ago, while living in China, We received a mass email from an acquaintance I knew concerning Lei Lei, an orphaned Chinese baby boy that was not doing well and in desperate need of getting out of the orphanage and a family to take care of him and help to get him healthy enough for surgery. He was almost four months old and weighed less than 10lbs with a cleft lip and pallet and a small hole in his heart. We knew that The Lord was telling us to care for him. After receiving this email he was brought to us a week later. He was smaller than all three of my kids when they were born!:) From that first day we asked what it would look like if we wanted to adopt him as our own and everyone involved told us very frankly that it would be impossible and to not even think about it because there was no possible way. The law in China states that a foreigner cannot know the child that they wish to adopt and Lei Lei’s orphanage was for some unknown reason not willing to release children for international adoption. This was hard to take in but one thing we did know was that it wasn’t a matter of any law or human willingness but that if our God wanted him apart of our family then it was a done deal!:)

So a week after receiving the email we got Him and Loved Him and he got healthier and healthier and was an instant natural part of our family.

After a couple months of waiting and praying we felt led to start the process to pursue adopting Him despite the huge opposition facing us.

In December our time in China had come to an end and we needed to move back to the States. Leaving Him there and moving back without him was by far the hardest thing I have ever had to do personally. My heart hurt so bad as I sobbed for days that it actually hurt physically. There are still days now that I still sob for my son and it hurts like that and I long to just be able to hold him. This process feels like forever and we are living with a hole, a missing piece in our family. It has been a hard past six months trying to adjust our life back to normal with a missing member while at the same time missing him so much and missing all of his growth!

But our God has done amazing works in our sight and even though we are not through this process yet we have seen Him answer every prayer so far and felt His presence as we’ve walked. He has taught our family a deeper measure of what it means to walk in Faith and trust Him no matter what He has for us or what the outcome will turn out to be. Through this journey God has changed us, I know He has changed me forever and I am so thankful!

For now we continue to wait.....