Holidays Are Here...

Hello friends and family~
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you. My heart is so full today as I was able to see pictures of our friends' new little one that they met today in China!  He is sooo beautiful and precious!  We are so happy for you Joel and Melissa!   Check out their blog at http://www.fromchinatochambers.blogspot.com/.  They are a wonderful family, and they brought their daughter Iris home last year from China.  Congratulations, Chambers!!  We can't wait to meet Owen!
We are so ready to be on a plane to meet our new little girl!  I want to hear her laugh, see her smile, hold her and watch her while she sleeps...Oh, how my arms long to hold her!  Its such a hard feeling to try to explain to others how you really can MISS someone you have never met.  My mind races with thoughts like, "how will we fit another child in this house?"  Or, " should we bunk Jack and Sophie, or not?"  I have so many questions like that.  But none of that is important, is it?  I mean, who thinks that she cares?  Doesn't life have a way of showing you whats really important?  Healthy food every day, medications and medical attention when needed, love and care, a family.  Those are things that matter.  Those are NEEDS, the rest is just fluff.  The rest is just incidentals.  We have more than enough space for her and all her things.  I just want her HOME!!!!  Please continue to pray with us that the paperwork and waiting process go SUPER fast!  Pray that God will put her file on the top of every stack!  Pray that God will blow our minds in how He provides the money for her to come home.  Oh, how I love Him!!
Merry Christmas!!!! 
Leslie

The winning draw!!!

Growing Faith

Hello dear friends and family,
My, the weather here has been beyond beautiful!!!  We are certainly enjoying the beauty and warmth of fall.  As someone who does not enjoy winter and detests cold weather, you won't be hearing me complain of the unseasonably high temps.
The last couple of weeks have been a little hectic.  Cate had pneumonia and we had to take her in several times to get the right medications and an inhaler to relieve her of high (103-105) temps and make her comfortable.  On top of that Jack had speech and we enrolled him in preschool, and Evan and Grace had band trips and volleyball games.  So, we are really blessed with a reprieve from some of that busyness right now.  Jack started preschool yesterday and it was a HUGE success!!  He attends four mornings a week and even rides to and from on a school bus!  He is a big boy!  On a side note, he has gained seven pounds and grown 5.5 inches in a year!! I MAY have shed a few tears ;) yesterday, but we are so thrilled for him and ever amazed at his courage and bravery.  He is one special kid!!  He also had his fitting for his long-awaited obturator on Friday.  It's not quite the fit we need, so he will be going under general anesthesia for a better impression to be created as well as a few adjustments to the new one.  It will really help him out and we are constantly humbled by and grateful for our team of doctors that take such great care of Jack.  The are so wonderful!  We will be going in for that in the next month. 
I talked to a friend for quite a long time on Saturday and we prayed for one another's families and adoption situations.  I can't even put into words what a blessing that was!  As I listened to her pray for my children, Jack and Sophie, I was both laughing and crying.  Laughing because I knew that every word she said was praying was spot-on for their needs. Crying because my heart was broken for my children and here was this other mom praying for my kids the way only a mom can.  Isn't God good?  Isn't God merciful?  Isn't God faithful?  I have also been reading two thought provoking books:  Reckless Faith, and The Hole in The Gospel.  WONDERFUL books!!  I want to share a line from Reckless Faith that has really challenged me.

" Is my faith reckless enough to trust first and think second?  Can I grow my faith strong enough (like a muscle) that when faced with a heavy reality, I can easily lift it and still have hope?"
  WOW!!!  I want to get to that point!!  I want to face my life in a way that I don't shrink back in fear and depression in the face of hardship and opposition, but hold my head up and declare the truths of our Lord!!  I want to stand on The Foundation and NOT BE MOVED!!!  I want to be that tree, planted by the River that never runs dry!!  I want that!
I have also been reading a lot more about the promises that God has made to and about the orphans:  that He will not leave them, the He will maintain their cause,that He will incline His holy ear toward them,  that He will provide for them, the He will be their Father.  Thank you God!!!  I am 14,000 miles away from my daughter.  I am able to make NO decisions concerning her care and nutrition, hygiene, stimulation, administering of medications...NOTHING!!!  BUT, I can rest in the knowledge that God is not restrained by distance or time.  I can rest in the knowledge that HE watches over her and gives His angels charge over her.  He will sing and dance over her.  He will be her sustainer.  He is and will be her provider!!  The money that we need WILL COME!!  He WILL get her home in record time.  I have been praying a verse over her since God led me to it:
 Isaiah 5:26 "He lifts up a banner for the distant nations, He whistles for those at the ends of the earth.  Here they come, swiftly and speedily!"
 I'm closing my eyes and seeing God throw that banner over Sophie's homeland and I can hear His whistle to call her home!!!  Praise God!!!  No longer will she be from desolation and oppression!  No longer will she hunger and thirst night after night and day after day!  No longer will she be an ophan!!  She is part of OUR family and most importantly, THE FAMILY OF GOD!!!  Praise God!
Please pray for a few friends of ours that are going through hard times.  I will not reveal names, God knows who they are.  But please pray for healing, answers, peace, resolution, and joy.  Thank you!
Have a wonderful week!!
Leslie

In full Swing...

Hello dear friends and family~
We are in full swing around here; school, band, dance, volleyball, sleepovers, Bible study, football games, etc.  And we are in full swing with this adoption, too!  Our homestudy is almost done.  It should be written up this week.  We are raising funds as fast as we can, and in as many ways as we can.  So, if you feel like you are being bombarded by us right now asking you to purchase raffle tickets, buy t-shirts, or order gourmet cheesecakes, we sure aren't trying to beg or be off-putting.  It just has to be done to get our sweet girl home.  We have had a pretty good response to the I-pad2 fundraiser, but could always use more.  We have sold a few t-shirts.  And we haven't really started on the cheesecakes yet.  We DID receive a LARGE, humbling, donation last week, and oh my, what a blessing that was!!  We also heard from Holt yesterday and they are giving us a matching grant-we raise $2,000.00 and they match that, so that's super cool.  We will start finding grants soon, since our homestudy is almost done.  Gotta have that for grant approval.  I HATE that the financial side of adoption is so daunting!!!  I HATE that her (and millions of others) little life sits on hold while papers are processed and money is raised!!  There are no words for how frustrating that is!  BUT, my God is never late or early, He is always on time.  So, my trust and hope is in Him.....not the calendar, the clock, adoption workers, or dollar signs.  Him alone.  HE will lay it on the hearts of those that HE is using to bring her home.  HE will provide the money and bless those that are praying, supporting and loving us and her.  My- how I can't wait until the day that we are in a position to write large checks to grant providers and individuals that are adopting.  One day, we will be on the GIVING side of adoption.  Now, THAT will be fun!!! 

Pease continue to pray for Sophie.  She really needs to come home.  Please pray that God will sustain and protect her, that He will provide the money that we need, and that this adoption will go super quickly and blow everyone's mind how fast and smoothly it goes.
Enjoy this beautiful weather!
Leslie

I'm not sure what to title this post.  Today we finished all of the manditory physicals for the whole family and we have fingerprinting on Friday.  I've been doing the paperwork this time, and I have even printed and made copies!  (If you don't know me very well, then you don't know how monumental that is for me!)  I want her home so badly that I will do ANYTHING to get her here.  Some things are exactly the same as with Jack, where I buy her clothes and lay them out and look at them and then fold them neatly and put them back up.  I love to imagine the different colors against her beautiful dark skin and hair.  I love to daydream and wonder if she will be a "girly-girl", or pull the bows and headbands out like my other two daughters did.  Will she be as dainty as she looks?  Will she be loud like the rest of my kids, or will I finally get a quiet one???  Yeah, not likely!  Will she love music?  Will she have a special blankey or stuffed animal?  Will she be as snuggly as Jack, and therefore I will never again only share my bed with my husband?  Do they even make a bigger bed than king??  Will she take to our dog as quickly as Jack did?  I pray for her almost constantly.  I have her city's weather on my phone so I always know what it's like there in comparison to here. She is so beautiful.  I have been reading and watching youtube videos of Lanzhou, Gansu China, trying to learn all I can about where she is.  Oh God, please be so close to our sweet girl.....please hold her and protect her......please send Your angels to guard over her.  Please let her love and receive love......please make the time until we can go get her be short! Please send the money so quickly so it's not an issue.  Please blow all of our minds with how fast and smoothly this adoption goes!! Please allow more sweet kids that need homes to find them!  Make heavy the hearts of those  that You want to adopt....there are children all over the world that just need a home and a family, love and protection, medical care, and guidance, laughter and a reason to laugh and enjoy life.  And mostly a chance to know Jesus, to love and live for Him!  I can think of nothing better to do with my life....What an honor to raise them for Him!

Life is good.  Busy, but good.  Evan is neck-deep in band practice. We all love to go to Friday night home football games and watch him play at half-time and see our friend Jordan play football. Grace is involved in volleyball.   Cate's dance and running club will start back up again in September.  Jack and I go to speech two days a week and will probably be adding more soon through the local school district. Chris is reffing little league football again, so that will be every Saturday until around November.  And I try to run an organized (insert the kind of laughter that makes milk come out  of your nose) household.  But, we make it work, and we are healthy and enjoy one another, so that's all that counts.  Our house is always loud, overflowing with friends and family, often messy, and somewhat cramped, but it's full of love and teamonade or coffee.  Come on over and hang out with us!  I'll make you something to eat :)

Please keep praying for sweet Sophie.  God bless you,
Leslie

Round Two!!

Well......I'm sure this will seem fast to many of you, maybe even extreme, probably not something that many will even understand, but we are adopting again from China.  We have felt for several months that we would love to go back to China and bring home another sweet child.  We didn't expect it to be a girl!  We thought we would bring home another little boy, about Jack's age, and our family would be complete.  We have read hundreds of bios on children in the last 11 months, inquired about a few, but never felt any of them were "the one".  A couple of weeks ago I opened the Holt file and saw this sweet face; this head of dark hair; those piercing dark eyes, and I knew.  I just knew.  We inquired about her and had her file reviewed by our sweet pediatrician and our wonderful plastic surgeon.  While we haven't heard from Dr. Jiang, Dr. Sauer did respond back quickly and told us some of the things that we may be faced with when bringing her home.  She is vey small, less than 20 pounds, and three years old.  She still doesn't walk on her own.  She can crawl and walk in the walker.  She has pretty much the same type and degree of open palate that Jack had. She has had her lip repaired.  There are many unanswered questions surrounding her inabilitiy to walk.  But we love her already, and we will face her medical unknowns armed with a team of physicians that we know and trust with her sweet and precious life.  We are going to be able to use some of the paperwork from our adoption of Jack, and so we were told to expect this adoption to go much faster.  We don't feel led to make this adoption as "community" as the last one.  We feel that there are so many amazing families in our wonderful church that are exploring adoption and fostering that we want to join in their time of excitement and newness, and not be in the spotlight with Sophie.  We know the drill now, and we feel that God has already covered this adoption's costs and answered the questions that we don't have answers to.  If you know me (Leslie) at all, you know that "at peace" is not a feeling I am known for.  Anxious, restless, sleepless, worried, and over- all stressed...?  YES!  But I can't even explain the peace that I have about bringing Sophie home and all that adding to our family entails.  She really needs to be home....she is fragile and not thriving in any way.  Please pray with us that everything she is fed will supernaturally nourish her body and mind.  Please pray that God will heal her sweet body.  Please pray that God will rain down the rest of the money that we need to bring her home.  We chose the name Sophia.  It is a family name, and it means "wisdom".  Please ask God to continue to give us wisdom and guidance on this journey to bring her home.  Who knew God would bless us with another beautiful angel from China???  Who knew that God would allow us the pleasure and priveledge of another of HIS amazing children?  We are so blessed.  We thank you in advance for supporting us as we set out to travel to a very remote area of China, desolate and poor, to bring home this treasure that God has for us. 
In Him,
Chris, Leslie, Evan, Grace, Cate, Jack and soon to be Sophie Fuller