God never moves without purpose or plan...

Well, we were given permission by our agency to contact New Hope in Beijing in order to obtain permission to tour their facilities and take pictures of where Andrew spent the first 15 months after being found. When I e-mailed New Hope in Beijing, I received surprising news. Andrew was never in Beijing--as our agency had told us. He actually spent his time in Maria's Big House of Hope in Luoyang (Henan Province) for all those months. The reason our agency thought he was in Beijing was because all his paperwork is marked with the heading "Hope Foster Home Beijing". Yes, New Hope knew about our son, and they had all the paperwork on him, but he was under the care of Maria's Big House of Hope in Henan Province--which is under the "umbrella" of "New Hope Foundation".

Here is where he stayed for 15 months:

The extremely horrible tragedy

that led to the launching of this facility to save lives,

has indeed saved. another. life.
Andrew's:

In October 2010 I had the flu that knocked me off my feet. I was bedridden for over a week. In that time, someone lent me a book to read: Choosing to See by Mary Beth Chapman. I read almost all of it during the illness. I was so torn up from the reality of the horrific tragedy they had to endure as a family, that I cried. and cried. and cried.

Then, when I got to the point of the book where Mary Beth shared about how they channeled their grief into helping other children survive and thrive by starting Maria's Big House of Hope, I talked with Derek and we immediately e-mailed the staff to ask permission to come in the summer of 2011 to serve the children. They told us we were not able to be accepted in 2011, as they were seeking church groups to come and serve (as missions trips). They asked us if we could bring the youth group from our church. We could not--as we do not hold that leadership role in our local church body. Thus, we very sadly let that dream go, trusting that God was in control and had "closed the doors" on us going to Maria's Big House of Hope in 2011.

But, God. He moves in His way and in His timing.

In June 2011, Derek found Andrew on a list of adoptable children, and we were given the opportunity to adopt him. So, we dove into the paperwork.

Fast forward many months, and here we are...going to China, to adopt a little boy, and going to visit Maria's Big House of Hope-----in 2011.

No, we didn't go this past summer to serve. God was planning on us going in December to permanently rescue one of the children that we would have met at Maria's Big House of Hope if we had gone on the summer missions trip. If we had gone in the summer of 2011, we could not be adopting Andrew!

Just a coincidence? Nope. We are talking about THE Sovereign, All-Knowing, All-Powerful God Who knows what is BEST for us. As His children, if we submit to His leading, He will bless us beyond anything. we. could. ever. imagine!

WHAT. A. GOD!