Hello Dear Friends and Family,
Well, it's been an awful long time since I've blogged. Life has been crazy!! Let's see....since we last "talked", a lot has happened. For one, Evan went to Prom with a sweet Senior friend, Cara Hartwig, and had a great time. He is working and paying for all of his responsibilities, including a mission trip to Jamaica. He's such a great guy! Grace has worked her little tail off babysitting and has pretty much all of her money earned for her mission trip to Jamaica this June. She is an amazing girl! Cate won third overall in her category at the greater K.C. area Science Fair so we all went downtown to the Science award ceremony and see her receive her ribbon. So proud of her!! Jack has sailed through his roughest surgery yet; a premaxillary setback with nasal fistula closure. Whew, that was a scary one, but he did fantastic! Next surgery is scheduled for June 21; a lip and nose revision. He has also been invited to be a part of a pilot program at Blue Springs Schools, a Transitional Kindergarten Program. Next year he will have 8 kids and two teachers and a para. So we are super excited for him to be given this chance to excel in a low-key environment with caring teachers. He will also get to stay with his beloved private speech teacher, so that's a relief.
And for our adoption.....well, for me, this has been a very rough season emotionally. I have had a very hard time picking and staying with a name, and we (ok, I) have finally chosen to go with my favorite name right now, Claire. So, as you can see by the title, it will be Claire Sophia Jia Fuller. I love it!! The hard part has come into play in that all the "stuff" that just happens....the stuff that happens to everyone all the time....hit all at once and the enemy had me convinced that this adoption was just NOT a good idea or even possible anymore. The A/C went out in the house, the dishwasher, dryer, and vacuum broke, the house payment went up, someone "hit and ran" into Evan's car, Chris is making less at this new job until we get overtime after this initial orientation period, we have to fork over all the deductible for insurance coverage that we just met in February for Jack's speech....it just went on and on!! And guess who came down with strep throat again after having a tonsilectomy and enduring the most painful 3 weeks of her life??? ME!!! I was so so defeated! I even had the phone in hand to call our agency and tell them that we were out-this adoption was not going to happen. But, my sweet husband kept showing me her photo and saying, "look at her Les...this is what it's all about....the enemy wants her to be an orphan...the enemy wants her to not have proper medical care and thrive...the enemy wants her to be thrust into prostitution or even organ harvesting when she 'ages out"....and so I prayed...a LOT! that God would help me. Then that Sunday our pastor's sermon was on: How the enemy uses discouragement, deception, and division to hinder what God has called us to do. Are you kidding me?!?! So, as Monday came, I shared with our life group our struggles and fears. They prayed with us and were so encouraging. On Tuesday, my dear friend Dawn and I were talking and sharing with each other and she was so encouraging. Then on Tuesday, she brought me a brand new vacuum! See, she had one given to her, and then another one given to her, and so she gave one to me!! Now, I know it's just a vacuum, but it was the wind that I needed under my sagging wings to get back up and fly with my Lord. Then on Tuesday morning, two friends from life group showed up at my door and yelled, "Woman! Answer the door! We brought you a dishwasher!" And they hauled in a brand new, in the box, with a beautiful bow, dishwasher!!! Again, I could hear the Lord saying to me, "Les...trust me, I've got this. I will supply all of your needs". And that night Chris told me that he talked to the home loan company and the house payment will NOT be going up, and we will be receiving a $500 check from overpayment in the 2011 tax year! To say that God lifted us up is an understatement!! I watched HIM provide not only our needs, but even down to a dishwasher! Oh, what a generous God we serve!!! So.....I'm back on track. I'm flying high again. Dawn suggested (strongly) that we throw together a garage sale, and today we raised another $637 for our travel fees!!! We also decided this week to not take Jack with us to China to get Claire, for many reasons, and that has greatly reduced our financial burden. So, within a handful of days, our lives have been so touched by the hand of God! We KNOW that we were called on this journey! We KNOW that God has set our sweet daughter apart, and that HE is working diligently to bring her home! We KNOW that she is WORTH the tears, overcoming fears, fundraising frustrations, and wait that we are going through right now. She is WORTH it!!! Please continue to pray that God will squash the enemy and all of his lies as we move forward to bring Claire home.
Tomorrow is Mother's Day. I wish you each a wonderful day full of pampering, love, celebration, memories, and joy. Thank you so much for all of the prayers, support, encouragement, and help on this journey.
In Him,
Leslie
