Family for a year, and Fifteen years old now!

We have been home from China with our newest son for a whole year now.  The time has flown by!
Last year, we raced through the entire adoption process in just 7 weeks, arriving in China just six days before he would have no longer been eligible for adoption.  Those 7 weeks felt like forever.  And that time in our lives was SO WORTH IT!  I mean just look at this transformation --

In pictures, you can only see the physical changes.
But so much change, so much growth,
has happened this past year.

Our sweet son came to us a quiet, shy boy who
never smiled and spoke very little.  Now, well, now he is quite the opposite.  A couple of surgeries have improved his ability to walk.  Hearing aids and new eyeglasses have opened up the world to him.  He loves having a family!
He smiles all the time.  He laughs often.  He has an incredible, BIG personality that keeps us smiling.  He rushes to help his two "littlest" siblings every chance he gets.  And he loves to tease his "little" sister.

What an extraordinary, brave, kind, affectionate young man he is!  

I never could have imagined how amazing it would be to have this young man become a part of our family.  And, now, I could never imagine our family without him.  So many people, from all over the United States, helped us reach him in time.  I will never be able to express the gratitude I feel for all comforting words of encouragement, the listening ears, the donations, and especially the prayers we felt from everyone. Thank you!

Right now, there is a young man in China with only four months left until he ages out.  My sweet boy had only two months, and we got to him in time. So, I know this boy's family will reach him in time.  I have decided to help them all I can.  Several women "coached" me through the expedited adoption process and I learned so much.  Now, I have an opportunity to "pay it forward."  But, they are in the same situation we were.  There are specific steps in the adoption process.  Each step has its own set of fees that must be paid before you can move on to the next step.  They need help coming up with the funds needed to be able to move through all the steps at lightning speed!  

Fifteen months ago, I was begging and pleading for everyone to donate, share our story, and pray for our family.  Now, I am begging and pleading you all to do the same for this beautiful family!

Let's help this family get him home so

they can share pictures of him next year!

You can follow along on Facebook at
 https://www.facebook.com/orphan2son/

If you are able to donate, please do so at this link:

https://www.gofundme.com/qgudkqdr 

If you aren't able to donate, please share his story so others know

how they might be able to help.  And, please pray! Pray his family reaches him before it's too late.  Pray for his sweet innocent heart.  Pray for his brothers-to-be, and his parents as they navigate this challenging journey.

Thank you!

 

12 days !!

In just 12 days, we will likely be boarding a plane headed to China.  This whole process has been so rushed, and gratefully so.  It truly is best described as a whirlwind.  There has been no time to stop and think, only to stay focused on which stack of paperwork has to be filled out now.  Every time you finish a stack, there is a new one to begin.  Now, we are at a point where there is no more paperwork, no paperwork for me anyway :)  Now, all the paper processing is being done in China, while we sit at home staring at pictures of our beautiful young man, anxiously awaiting the day when we will stare in to his eyes in front of us, not just in photos.
This week, we expect to get definite dates, which will allow us to book our plane tickets and hotel rooms.  That's when we will know for sure exactly how much everything costs.  So, far the prices of plane tickets are sitting much higher than we had planned, and as the date gets closer, those prices just continue to rise.  But, I won't freak out just yet.  I am going to wait until I have confirmed definite prices.....and then I will likely have a freak-out moment!

I end this post with a beautiful smile, one that I can't wait to witness in person.......

Almost There !!!!

As far as the paperwork goes, we are almost there!  I think the Lord has given our paperwork wings and made it fly through this process.  Thank you Lord !!!

Now, we need to gather up the funds needed just as quickly.   We held a Thirty One fundraiser, a Younique makeup party, a Premier Design jewelry party and now a Pampered Chef party.  Next weekend we will be having a painting party to celebrate Chinese New Year and hopefully bring in more funds.  And, we designed a t-shirt and are trying to sell those with practically zero interest so far. 

All that is left now is to just outright beg!

So here goes..............

Please!

http://reecesrainbow.org/87088/sponsornorthrop

 

 

 

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE  help if you can, share so that maybe others who can help will, or say a little prayer for our sweet young man who we are trying so desperately to reach in time!  If you are able to donate, you may click on this link to make a tax deductible donation:  http://reecesrainbow.org/?s=George+Northrop

When God blesses you with new people in your life.....

He does that you know, brings strangers in to your life who suddenly become very precious to you.  Nearly two years ago, when we were in the process of adopting our two Chinese sweethearts, somehow I "met" a sweet woman on Facebook.  We chatted lots.  She lived in Brooklyn and I live in Georgia, nearly opposite ends of the world.  She was moving to the area of southern Alabama where I grew up.  But we had something bigger in common.  She was adopting her son from the same orphanage where our daughter lived.  And here is why she is now so precious to us.  She gave us such a wonderful gift that there are no words to describe how it made us feel.  When she went to get her son, she met our daughter.  She met her and took gifts from us, showed her our picture, and the best part of all......she video recorded our daughter saying hello to me, her Mama, and to Scott, her Baba.  I feel as though we will never be able to thank her enough!
Now, she has gone and done something great again.  After challenging her friends to donate toward our adoption fund, and her matching their donations, she raised $800 to help bring Li home.  Thank you God for bringing her into our life.


A little less than a year ago, I flew with my two new cuties and their big sister to Dallas, Texas to see some orthopedic specialists there.  The plane was full both ways, and God did it again.  The woman who sat next to me on the way there is from China and she helped to distract and keep my little guy occupied for the long flight.  We chatted about adoption and China and became instant friends.  After exchanging emails, she exited the plane in Houston.  We were going to stay in touch via email.  We stayed in Dallas for a whole week, two days longer than expected.  I know why we had to stay longer....because when we stopped in Houston on the way home, guess who boarded the plane?  And, it was a full plane again and the seat next to me was the last seat available!  I called her name and she looked at me and smiled.  We talked on the flight all the way home, so happy to see each other again.  She lives only forty five minutes away from us.  She came to the hospital, postponing her business trip so she could, when our little guy had his first surgery.  We have plans to get together again and again.  How precious to have a new friend, but also for her to be from my children's homeland!  Thank you God for this new friend!


Now we are adopting our young man, and He is doing it again!  There are a couple of ladies who started a Facebook group to help people who are rushing to bring their children home like we are.  Some people have to hurry to their children for medical reasons, while others are like us, racing against the clock before their child ages out.  We have very very little time left to get to Li before he ages out.  These two ladies have responded to my questions at 11:00 at night!  They both gave me their cell phone numbers during our first conversation so they are available any time I may need them, amazing!  They don't even know us, and yet are so very willing to help in every way they can.  Thank you God for helping me find these ladies!


I hope that God will bring me into someone's life that I may help them when they need it!  And, I am so grateful for the ones He has brought in to my life!

Guess what !!!!

God has called and we are answering!!
It seems so crazy that He would call us to China again but He has.  I know, I know, am I sure?  Yes, I am positive!  I went through a good 3-4 months of denial, but just can't deny it any more.  Now, we are super pressed for time!  In just two months, he will age out, which means he will no longer be available for adoption.  So, all that paperwork that took us 12 months to complete for our last two, we have to get it all done in just two months!!!  Yes, it sounds crazy, but......



"With God all things are possible."

Matthew 19:26

Sorry for the short post, but just had to share our news!!  Here is a link to our fundraising page where you can see a picture of this cutie!  https://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/a-little-more-love-and-his-name-is-li/290443



10 more days!!!

     Ten more days til we board a plane and start the final leg of this journey that will change our lives forever.  I am SO excited, SO happy, and yet SO sad all at the same time.  So many times throughout this journey I have experienced this mixture of emotions.  I never knew you could feel so many feelings all at the same time.  Yes, I have cried because I was so happy about something, and I've laughed because I was so sad or scared. But, now, I truly feel happy and sad, and scared and excited....AT THE SAME TIME.  It's confusing and crazy!
     I miss my children who I have not even  met yet.  I love them more than I could ever imagine.  I am anxious to hold them in my arms even if they are screaming to get away from me.  I long to bring them home to their siblings to show them how wonderful it is to be a part of a family.  I want to watch them grow to love each of their sisters and brothers and of course their mom and dad.
     I am not looking forward to being away from three of my children while we go to China.  I am dreading packing and getting from plane to plane at the airports.  I am not looking forward to being on a plane for 15 hours straight at all.  Just thinking about it makes me want to freak out.
     But the prize at the end of all this..........priceless!!

As I sit here, I think about how badly I wanted to have our family together in time for Christmas.  Most of the time, I really felt that was not going to be possible.  Now, our flights are booked and our appointments are scheduled.  We will arrive home on Thanksgiving Day.  What a beautiful blessing!!! We will be together for Christmas as I had hoped and we will also have Thanksgiving together.  I cannot think of a more perfect way to spend Thanksgiving Day.  I plan to watch as my children meet each other for the first time, spend the day getting to know each other, and start to love each other.  This Thanksgiving will be the first day of a lifelong relationship between my children.  "Faith" and "Little Guy" will no longer be orphans.  They will be a little brother and a little sister, my son and daughter.


"Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His faithful love is everlasting!"
                                                                                   ---Psalms 106:1

Final Update!

It is getting close now! In fact, we could very likely be on a plane to China just one month from today. So, here's the photos we got of our sweeties :


Sweet, sweet "Faith"

Our Handsome "Little Guy"
 

And, we received measurements.....Our "Little Guy" is four years younger than "Faith" but he weighs more than she does. Of course, I was happy to see healthy chubby cheeks on his face.  And, sweet "Faith" was using a walker in her photos instead of the plastic kids chair she used to push around in front of her.  The best part of all was that her walker is PINK, my favorite color.  We are definitely going to have to find out if we can buy that one from the orphanage!

So, now that it is getting close, I am feeling a wide range of emotions.....excited, nervous, worried, crazy in love with my two China babies, sad to be away from 3 of my kids while in China, comforted to know they will be well taken care of and in good hands while we are away, mentally exhausted from all the thinking and attempting to plan with practically no details yet.......did I mention excited ?!

I don't know what all to pack, but I decided I will go ahead and start packing.  Then, I realized that I need to go shopping for some things, but who has time to go shopping when there are so many other things that need to be done.  I signed up to sell some things at a craft fair, thinking it was a perfect idea for a way to get the last bit of money we need to travel.  Now, I ask myself what in the world was I thinking ?!  I need to get enough items sewn to make it worth my time.  Plus, I need to go buy last minute items that we will need to pack, and diapers and clothes for the two new kids.  I will be flying for the first time ever in a month or so, and it's going to be a long flight.  I have no idea what it's like to fly, or what it's like to be so far from home.  And, let's not forget that I NEVER leave my kids with anyone, much less for two weeks.  Makes me crazy just typing it!  See, so much on my mind, that all the thoughts get all mixed up and then I'm left with what we all like to call "pregnancy brain."  And, of course, all those thoughts running crazy in my head leaves me totally mentally exhausted.  I am going to bed super early tonight, and when I wake up, the mental/emotional roller coaster will begin again.