UPDATE: 12/13/15

We are praising God that our home visit with our social worker went well in Friday! Phew! What a lot of work and stress (really, it's needless stress) goes into that visit!  This was a new-to-us social worker so it was nice for her to actually meet us and our children. We had a great time chatting about our new adoption and how Lila as fit in so nicely with our family. She's been with us for 6 months now, isn't that amazing!  God has blessed us to much in her. Some days it seems like she's always been here. Only God can make this beautiful, tragic, painful, joyful process called adoption work for our good and His glory!

Now that our visit is done we just have a few more bits of paperwork to gather before the update can be written. Then we can start working on the steps necessary to get our dossier logged in to China!

Please pray that all these steps go smoothly and quickly. Please especially pray for God to work out the details of who we are to adopt.  It's a long story that I'm sure I'll share at some point but this has been especially difficult this time around. We only want God's will for our family, that is our prayer! 

Pray also for all the funds to come in. One thing that we saw with Lila's adoption was that God is ever faithful - He brought all that was needed, when it was needed. And we have no reason to doubt Him this time!!

We are so thankful for each and every lesson learned, dollar donated and step completed. Thank you for sharing in our journey! 

Update: 12-10-15

We haven't really had much news lately but this Friday is our homestudy update home visit!  We're so excited to actually get this done and get this process moving! Ive been cleaning and not sorting and getting rid of stuff for weeks but I still don't feel ready. Although I will say that I'm not going quite as crazy as I did last time. I'm trying to just remind myself that this isn't a test of my cleaning abilities, they really just want to see us and how we are doing!  Please pray that all goes well. We are praying that once we have this piece completed they will agree to let us move forward with the child we have identified. God knows if we are to have her or not, we are praying he shows us his will. Thank you for continuing on this journey with us!

UPDATE: 11/19/15

Our family is so blessed to be bringing home another precious girl from China. We arrived home in mid-June 2015 with Lila but we knew even before we left that we would be returning soon to China. Why? Why would we decide to return so quickly for another girl? The answer is GOD. We have been broken as we have seen the thousands of children that wait worldwide for a family. God commands us throughout the Bible to care for widows and orphans, to love our "neighbors" and share His love with the world. We are stepping out in faith and are hoping you will join us!

We know that not everyone can adopt but we can all support it in one or another. This isn't about us, it's about a sweet child in China who is waiting for a family of her own to love and belong to!

A fellow adoptive mom, Jenny Garity recently shared this post, it pretty well sums up our reasons for taking on a second adoption at this time.

"When you see my fundraising posts you might be asking yourself: Why in the world would someone who just completed an adoption and used all of their financial resources go running back to China for another child? Why wouldn't they wait until they've had time to save money again? I know you might ask yourself these questions because I would have been wondering the same thing just a few short years ago. So why?

• Because once you've been down the adoption road, you can't stop thinking about all of the children that have been left behind. 

• Because children don't belong in orphanages and you have a great sense of urgency to see these children in families, where they belong. 

• Because you can't un-see what you've seen on this journey, whether it's the inside of an orphanage or the faces of waiting children looking back at you, page after page on your computer screen. 

• Because you see with your own eyes the impact, both physically and emotionally, that the love of a family has on your child.

• Because we were not put on this earth to love and serve ourselves. We are here to love and serve God and others...to put the needs of others before our own. 

• Because God commands us in His word to defend orphans and to satisfy the needs of the oppressed. 

• Because you realize that the things money can buy are nothing compared to the redemption of a child's life.

• Because you have faith that if God has called you to this, He will provide. 

• Because it doesn't matter how hard this journey is, what matters is that children need families. 

• Because you've had a fire lit in your heart, a burning passion to see the orphan crisis come to an end.

The 153 million orphans worldwide are not someone else's problem, they are OUR responsibility. We ALL have a role to play in caring for these children. We can adopt, foster, pray, provide support financially and in lots of other ways.
It takes a VILLAGE to adopt a child. Thank you for being our village!"

That pretty much sums up our hearts. We are so excited to see what God has in store for us and our new family member!  

You're Invited!!! May 16!

Hello friends!  We're in the finally weeks before we travel to go get our sweet daughter and everything at this point seems to be moving along fairly well!  We have 1 more form to complete and get filed and then we will just be waiting for our Travel approval!

We have one month left to finish up our fundraising and be fully funded!  We would like to invite you to join us for a Family Fundraising Dinner on May 26,2015 at 5 pm. We are still finalizing the details for the location but it will be somewhere in our area. We would be so thrilled to see all our local friends there!  There will be three different pasta dishes to choose from, salad, bread and dessert. There will not be a set cost to attend but rather it will be an open donation and all monies made will go straight to our adoption fund!!

We will also have a Silent Auction going on during the dinner. We are collecting some wonderful products locally and from contributors online and expect to have a pretty nice array of products for you to bid on! If you or someone you know would be willing to donate something to this auction, please let me know.

Please make plans to join us for a wonderful evening!  We are looking forward to seeing you and sharing this final stage of our adoption journey!  Thank you so much for your heart for our Lila!!

NEW - Get your new Summer water bottle HERE!

Happy Friday!! As I mentioned in my last post, we are working hard to raise the final amount we need for Lila's adoption!!  We have always had what we needed at each critical step along the way and we are praying that we will be fully funded in the next 6 weeks so that we will not need to delay travel!  We would get on that plane TODAY if we could!  :)

So, here's our latest and greatest fundraising effort!  

Beautiful, 24 oz. Nalgene water bottles, made right here in the USA!! Each bottle is BPA free, will fit in most cupholders and is the perfect size for travel!  These bottles are perfect to share your heart for orphans,and  your support for our adoption!!  EVERYONE needs a new water bottle for Summer - think about your children going off to camp - they need a water bottle! Summer trips - need a water bottle!  Summer sports, bicycling, running, trips to the beach, trips to the park - need a water bottle!  Flying to China, or Africa, or South America, or Eastern Europe to bring home your new child through adoption - NEED a water bottle!  We'd be so thrilled, honored and grateful if you'd chose ours!!  Each bottle is just $18.50!

Here is what the whole graphic looks like.

The top of the bottle looks like this.

If you would like to order one (or several) bottles, please just send me an email (jjmasse @ sacoriver . net).  The shipping one each bottle will mostly like be around $4 and for multiples I will simply charge you the actual shipping cost (it weighs about 4 oz.).

PLEASE feel free to share this post (or our FB post) with your friends and family!! The more orders we receive, the closer we are to bringing Lila home FOREVER!!!  THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Monday, Monday! 4/13/15 Update

It's Monday!  Monday's are happy days in our China adoption circles as they are typically "family" days - the days when families are united with their children in China!! Every Monday morning I eagerly look forward to seeing the pictures of families meeting their beautiful sons and daughters who, praise God, are orphans no longer!! What a blessing and an encouragement to watch these stories, share these journeys and then to finally see that first family photo!  We gaze longingly, knowing that someday it will be us holding Lila and shedding tears of joy to have her finally with us.

Latest pic from her BFF's
birthday party

It's hard to believe, but that day for us could be in just 8 or 9 Mondays!  Over a year of planning, working, fundraising, waiting (and waiting and waiting) will all be over soon and we can begin the work of bonding and attaching that is all a part of this adoption marathon. Please pray with us for Lila's heart!  We have read books, attending trainings and generally "know" what things we can expect, but really we have no idea. Each child is unique, with their own temperament, emotions, experiences, memories, fears, etc. We must learn how to love Lila in ways that she specifically needs.  We will learn what scares her, what soothes her, what makes her happy, what foods she doesn't like, what things she likes to play with, how she sleeps, how to make her laugh, and so much more!  We look forward to these lessons but also know that it will be hard work, there will be tears, frustrations, possible even temper tantrums (after all she is our daughter and 2!).  Please pray specifically we will have wisdom and patience as we love her and woo her heart.

As I mentioned we are in the final stages now with travel coming soon.  We are currently waiting for our I800 (permission from US Immigration to bring Lila home) approval.  Once we have that there are just 2-3 additional short steps until we will be waiting for travel approval (TA) from China. When that arrives we  will mostly travel within 1-2 weeks - fast!!! Please pray all these steps go smoothly.   It's a very exciting time!

The last piece is finances.  We have come such a long way and are so thankful for each and every source of funding - grants, personal donations, sales of bracelets, hats, tshirts, and baked goods.
In order for us to travel though we need to raise the last $6000. Its a lot yes, but not compared to how far we've come!!  I posted on our fb page today if just 100 people donated $60 each we'd be there - fully funded!!!  It sounds so doable to me and in fact, we already have our first $60!!!! Yea!  God has been so good to us, proving everything we have needed along the way and we are trusting that He knows exactly where this final amount will come from.  Would you please pray that God will bring in this last $6000. Please pray and consider helping us - any amount is greatly appreciated!!

Book Review: Bringing Lucy Home

Good morning!  I'm back with one more book review - this one more specific to adoption!  The author of Bringing Lucy Home, Jennifer Phillips brought home her daughter Lucy from China last year using the same adoption agency that we are using!  Here's my review:

Bringing Lucy Home tells of an adoptive family's unexpected separation and how God used these events in their lives to write a moving story of love, family, trust and healing. Since my family is currently in the adoption process I can somewhat relate to the events that led up to this family's heart-wrenching separation, but I could never imagine the difficult and emotional journey they ended up taking!

Due to circumstances no one could have foretold, Ms. Phillips and her newly adopted daughter Lucy were separated from her husband and 3 other children in Australia as she waited in American for Lucy's visa. You can feel the heartache and longing of this family as they wait week after week for THE news that will allow them to be together again. I love the honesty and openness as the author recounts each turn of events, each glimmer of hope, each devastating "no" given. At the heart of it all is a beautiful picture of God's relentless love for His children!! It was very moving to read how the author recognizes the hand of God working in their difficult situation to bring comfort, love, and even change into their hearts and lives. No one would wish to go through a hardship like this, but to see how God works all things for His glory and their good is an amazing and encouraging thing!!

Ms. Phillips has a wonderfully engaging sense of humor and writing style which makes reading this book especially delightful! You really will laugh, cry and be fully engaged with this charming book! I wholeheartedly recommend this book!

Today is the one year anniversary of the day we received our approval from LifeLine to proceed with our adoption!! God has done so many wonderful things in that one year and we are looking forward to holding our daughter soon!! :)