Blessings Abound

God has been caring for us and blessing us in the past week!

First, Hope grew! That may sound weird, but she grew!!!!! Hope’s pituitary gland does not work, and thus, she does not produce growth hormones. No big deal, right? Wrong. Everyone, even a 98-year-old man or woman, needs growth hormones for their organs to work. Without growth hormones, a person can die from organ failure.

Since Hope came to us almost three years ago, I have been monitoring her growth (or non-growth). Her hands have not grown, and she has remained in a size 8.5 shoe since we received her. And she stopped growing vertically at 40”. Her body was done growing.

My 9-year-old and my 7-year-old with their 5’6” daddy:

After trying to find any other option but not finding one, Hope went on growth hormone therapy earlier this summer—to protect her organs and to help her grow vertically.

Then, this past week I noticed a change in Hope’s feet! She had filled in her flip flops! Hope had grown! In addition, her finger nails had growth on them, and I got to clip her finger nails!! Tears gushed to my eyes as I was able to hold a nail clipper to my child’s nails! Weird. I know.

On Sunday, August 7^th, our pastor prayed for anyone in the congregation who needed the Lord to work mightily in his/her life. As I was praying with Hope I felt a sense of peace flood my soul. If God has chosen to heal her, praise His name. If He has chosen not to heal her at this time, praise His name. He is ALWAYS good and His ways are always best!

Second, due to unexpected delays in paperwork over the course of our adoption process, Derek and I didn’t realize we had crested over the 6-month validity to enter China with our passports.

We debated various ways of expediting our passports. In a quick and final decision, Derek and I both went to Miami to have them processed. While we were there, BOTH of our passport pictures were rejected. We had to have new pictures taken. We were SO THANKFUL we had not wasted money overnighting our passports to a courier to have them walk the passports and pictures into the agency. We were both available to have our pictures retaken!

In addition, Derek’s parents—who had been out-of-town for weeks—came back into town just when Derek and I needed them. (Though the timing had not been planned.)

Derek’s parents graciously babysat our children so we could skedaddle down to get the new passports. It was a long ride back and forth, and a long 6-hour wait for the passports. The children were much happier with Pappy and Nanny!

The third blessing came in the form of leg room. We had purchased airline tickets in Economy, and well, you know the leg room space. But that wasn’t the big deal. I get blood clots, and as I walk my way to China, the “track” on the plane is rather small (and I’m sure I annoy a lot of people). Well, accidentally, four of us were given an upgrade to Economy Plus. Derek called the airlines, and they admitted it was a mistake from a glitch in the computer system. But, since they had mistakenly offered Economy Plus to four of us, the airline decided to go ahead and honor the offer, and, in addition, bumped the other two travelers up as well! So, all six of us now have seats in Economy Plus due to a “glitch in the computer system”. How wonderful!! We will have more leg room, the children who get motion sickness will have the opportunity to sit over the wings, and momma will have a much larger walking track. We are all so thankful!!

The fourth blessing looks like this:

We were able to pack in two check-in pieces of luggage, so we will be able to fly five bags of orphan supplies/humanitarian aid over with us! (Who knew that even Samuel—with a 1-way ticket—gets to have a bag fly over?!)

For all those who donate/have donated money and/or supplies to care for the sickest of orphans, God knows! He will bless you beyond measure!!!!!

The fifth blessing came in the form of a double-umbrella stroller. We found the stroller at a second-hand store. We were so excited! It has hardly been used, so we’ll have lots of years ahead to use it!

Now, we will be able to keep Daniel and Samuel safe and be able to still have hands available to guide our other children while traveling internationally and while walking the streets of China.

The sixth blessing looks like this: 

A sweet friend and her mom made shirts for our whole family to wear while traveling! The bright color helps us to be able to keep our eyes on the children, and the verse continued along the shirts ties us all together. What a sweet kindness! Thank you for the beautiful surprise, Corey and Nancy!!

The seventh blessing is that Cherish and Hope began another year of dance—due to the generous gifting of the same precious family who has been supporting them in the past. What a wonderful gift for the girls to learn how to express their worship through the use of dance! Thank you, family!!!!

And, for our eighth blessing, I want to thank the LORD for sending us “Teacher”! The children’s Chinese language teacher has loved on us, accepted us (with all of our craziness), and taught us so much—about language, culture, food, and love in general. What a blessing she has been!

Thank You, LORD, for each and every one of these precious blessings!!