5 Good Reasons

We are so excited about the orders that have come in for these shirts! If you haven't ordered yet, here are 5 really good reasons to order: 

#1 Share in our adventure!! Y'all really can't understand the gravity of your support for our family. We know it takes a village, and to have countless people walk alongside us as we grow by one more... well it's just mind-blowing. 

#2 Proudly Proclaim that our God is Bigger! My mind is just blown when I think about this... like a slug trying to understand Einstein's Theory of Relativity. God is infinite in power, sovereign in dominion, self-sufficient, and all sufficient. He is so strong, and so mighty that nothing is impossible for him.  God is Eternal and Unchanging. That means: what God is, he was from eternity, and will be so for eternity. And he is creator of all things (just think about the kind of character He must have to create all the crazy things just in the ocean) His love has no ending... there is nothing I can do to change his mind to ever stop loving me!! Y'all God is Bigger.

#3 All seriousness aside, these shirts are darn cute! Shall I say more?!? I'm so excited to have one and see these on my kids!

#4 It all adds up! Every one of you is helping fund the crazy expense of adoption! It does not have to be large donations, every $5, $10, $20 adds up. We are so humbled by each and every donation and sale of a shirt! 

#5 God says to do this stuff! God's heart for orphans is clearly displayed throughout the Bible and he invites his people to be the hands and feet. Don't you know that it makes God smile when people get involved in caring for what matters to Him??  

>>ORDER SHIRTS HERE<<

God is Bigger

My beautiful friends!! Y’all are the best! We are so thankful for all the sweet messages we received, the prayers for our family, and the many of you that have donated towards our adoption. We’ve already reached 16% of our goal in less than two weeks!!

Our paper bun is officially in the oven! We have now been through the adoption process two times before, So we’re old pros at this thing, right? 

Along with a mound of paperwork, the home study process also requires you to do some odd things, we’ve had our septic tank inspected which included digging it up and lifting the lid, just to say we are in good shape. We’ve given blood work and urine samples for our medical exam, written an extensive autobiography that felt a lot like an invasive personal interrogation. And on Sunday we will have our first home study visit from our social worker. She will interview Cody and I, and the kids (I hope I get to be in there with the kids, I want to hear what they have to say!) We will have our last home study visit on June 5. And when that is complete we can file for our I-600a. Not unlike pregnancy and birth, adoption is a true labor of love, only this time it is in warp speed.

I’ve mentioned to a few of you that we’d be selling t-shirts again to help us link arms and bring home this baby! Well, I am so excited to share with you the design!

Below is a mock-up, but the shirts will be very close to what you see. The Adult and Youth shirts are Charcoal/Black and the toddlers will be on Black shirts. These are going to be super-soft tees and will fit true to size. I’m so excited to have one and see these on my kids!! I only wish we had one of these God is Bigger Tees on Jovie when we left the hospital with her after her heart surgery!

The shirts are available in Adult, Youth and Toddler sizes here.

Adult XS-2XL

Youth XS-XL

Toddler 2T-5/6

We created these shirts as a a way to represent this journey and as a reflection of what God is doing! The t-shirts are so important to us, it’s not only that you are providing a donation to our adoption, but you are sharing in our adventure, and we are all a team. THE GOD IS BIGGER TEAM! We have been so crazy blessed by each and every one of you that walked alongside our family over the years. And I am so astounded every time we see anyone wearing our rescued shirts from Ian and Jovie’s adoption. 

1. Buy a shirt. We will need to pre-sale these shirts so that we know what sizes to order. Once we have enough for the minimum we will go ahead and order our first batch. We hope that you will be a part of this first order and join us on this God-Sized adventure! We also hope you will wear your shirt, share it on FB and Instagram and help us spread the word!
2. Donate. Partner with us and play a part in funding the (crazy!) expense of adoption. We will have $45,000 in adoption fees. Cody and I have $25,000, but that leaves us vastly short, and we must raise the $20,000 in less than 90 days. As overwhelming as that is, we know if 1000 people gave $20 we will reach our goal. 

 You can be sure that God will take care of everything you need, his generosity exceeding even yours in the glory that pours from Jesus. Our God and Father abounds in glory that just pours out into eternity. Yes. Phil 4:19

xo, Kristen

BIG NEWS!!

Hi friends,

We are so excited to share with you all that WE’RE ADOPTING!! (again) 

As you know, Cody and I have such a heart for adoption. The Lord has placed it on our hearts three times before to grow our family…and now a fourth! God has been working on both of our hearts in a really neat way—first a thought, then the back and forth until we came to the conclusion together that God is definitely prompting us to adopt again. Last week, while we were still on the cusp of making that decision, I got a call from one of my dearest friends who told me about a program in Japan that her agency was working with. The program is very small and would almost always be closed to new applicants. BUT instead, the agency is in a position they have never experienced before, and they are SEEKING out families to hustle through the United States' paperwork and be ready to fly to Japan to adopt a baby in need of a family…quickly.

This is still a little unreal to me, and I am feeling more like I am walking around in a dream. Because of the way this program works, we will actually be bringing home A NEWBORN! I have never had a newborn, and I am going from excited to overwhelmed and back to excited. I have so many sweet thoughts throughout the day, and then of course a little panic sets in too! 

PROGRAM DETAILS 
Japanese adoption is very rare because there isn’t a government adoption program in place. As I have researched more, I have been so saddened that while there are children in orphanages in Japan, there is an exceedingly large percentage of abortions—HALF of all pregnancies in Japan end in an abortion. I saw this staggering statistic over and over again. 

In Japan, the birthrate for unmarried women is almost zero. In order for the child to be recognized as a Japanese national, the mother must be legally married to the child’s father; without this, the baby will become a stateless person. And, culturally, they think it is wrong or shameful to bring a child into the world without an arrangement of marriage. Our agency told us that an unwed mother would also never be able to find a husband. So, you can imagine the pressure from their families to resolve this and the shame that they feel. 

This program is in place to help the mothers while also taking action for these unborn children. They offer help to mothers, counseling and advising that there ARE other options while offering help every step of the way. Some mothers need housing, transportation to doctor appointments, and financial assistance. They are often under 20 years old and don’t have anyone supporting their decision. What brave women!

All this to say, when this fell into our laps, it was a lot to take in.

WHAT THE NEXT FEW MONTHS WILL LOOK LIKE
There are two rather LARGE obstacles keeping me up at night:

1. The timeline for this adoption is incredibly fast. We are # 4 on a waiting list, and that means that there is already a mother in Japan who is pregnant and has made the choice to give up her baby through international adoption with the help of this program. That’s a whirlwind…

2. The REAL obstacle for Cody and me is not knowing how we can come up with $45,000 for adoption fees in 2-4 months. We have money allocated for this adoption but we don’t have nearly enough. Not by a long shot! 

Some people might ask, why would you say “yes” to something you can’t financially cover? Our “yes” is scary. Our “yes” is really uncomfortable. Our “yes” really is keeping me up at night. BUT GOD IS BIGGER!!! And we would not be saying “YES!” without believing that this whole thing is from our Lord and Savior, and that this baby across the world God has already planned to knit into our family. 

We’ve already seen that GOD IS BIGGER…

I *thought* I never wanted to have children — GOD IS BIGGER
We adopted Mae in 10 months' time. She was supposed to have epilepsy and had a lot of seizures while she was in China, but has never had another seizure! —GOD IS BIGGER
We started our process for another adoption, and then Cody felt like we were called to bring home TWO at the same time —GOD IS BIGGER!
We raised $24,000 of the $43,000 need for our adoption fees for Ian and Jovie —GOD IS BIGGER
We brought home Jovie with a severe heart defect. It was a miracle that she was even alive, and we had open heart surgery 3 months after we came home from China… this was the hardest thing this mama has ever gone through, but GOD IS BIGGER!!
Ian was born with imperforated anus and the doctors didn’t know if he could ever have continence of stool. Y’all, this boy is completely in big boy underwear!! GOD IS BIGGER!!!

God is so much bigger than our limited view, expectations, and me-sized ideas. GOD IS BIGGER!!! 

HOW WE NEED YOUR HELP
Our goal with this adoption is to raise $20,000 by the end of July. Even as I type this, I am overwhelmed by all the zeros here, BUT if we have 1,000 people give $20 we can make our goal! We'd like to invite you to prayerfully consider how much you are able to contribute financially toward the cost of our adoption. And friends, we need your influence… would you share our page? 

We will be posting updates of our adoption story and fundraising on this blog. Check in again soon!

one year... can it be?

It has been a whole year from this life changing day (and one week —thanks to my delay in posting this!). In one years time a great deal has happened and the journey has been filled with so many celebrations and a lot of hard things. Ian and Jovie are amazing children who have their own little opinions, personalities and a whole history before us that we don't even know about. It has been incredible getting to know these little people that I call my own. We have introduced them to so many new thing, celebrated family traditions, holidays, vacations, and had many firsts together.

This day a year ago Ian and Jovie were terrified, heartbroken and we were strangers. On this day, I don't just celebrate the day that we got our son and our daughter; this day that I had waited and dreamed of... I celebrate the distance we've come. I know that Ian and Jovie have lived more time away from us, than with us. We are bonded, we are whole-heartedly one family, and today Ian and Jovie know what family means. They have received a year of our unshakable, unbreakable, constant love. In a year, we have seen them transform. We have seen them come to trust and have confidence, learn to rely on us, and grow to have a deep attachment with each other, and a strong affection towards us. I'd like to say we've moved mountains in a year...

In March last year, I wrote about Mae's famiversary and the tradition we wanted to do for our children. We want to celebrate who they are and how they add to our family. Adoption is not WHO they are... and this day is not like a birthday, but is a milestone nonetheless. It is a day that is special and a day to look back on... much like Cody and mine's wedding anniversary.  But I want to be careful in our talk about adoption that it isn't an identifier for them. God created Cody and I to be together, but being beautifully and uniquely made by him is a separate thing. Mae, Ian and Jovie will have a story that is different from their classmates and friends, and when their friends meet their mom and dad for the first time they might be surprised we aren't Chinese too. I hope that these precious babies will understand the importance of WHO they are, the incredibly amazing children created by a loving father. We all have a story. We are his, all adopted by him.  And that maybe they aren't so different.

So, back to the tradition for their "famiversary" or "gotcha day"... back in March, I made a list for Mae, of characteristics of her personality. I wanted to do this because I believe so much of who we are as a child remains the same into adulthood. And won't it be neat to see how they stay the same, and what might change? This is the list for Ian and Jovie. It made me so incredibly happy just doing this exercise, and I encourage you do this for your children.

10 Characteristics of Jovie Ming

 

10 Characteristics of Ian You 

 We went out to eat authentic Chinese food (absolutely delicious!) and afterward we lit two lanterns to send off for Ian and Jovie.  A sky lantern is essentially a small hot air balloon made of paper with an opening at the bottom where a small fire is suspended. A long time ago the lanterns were used as signals during wars.  Now they are commonly used for Chinese festivals, for good luck and to send wishes skyward. I love doing this because it is bold and beautiful. As we watch the fire float away in the sky it is a magical. It will fly up to one mile high, and travel for miles in whatever direction the wind decides.  Watching it light up the night sky and float away is breath-taking. This time we made sure to emphasis we were sending it off and saying good-bye to the lantern. Mae was so upset last time that she didn't get it back agian.

And as the lanterns float away, I pray for their hearts... and will continue to. Almost every week we are stopped in the store by a stranger that tells me how lucky they are, and every time I respond with "we are the lucky ones". I don't think they will feel like they won the lottery, like people seem to think. At the moment they found this family their pasts weren't erased, one adoption decree didn't solve everything. Yes, they have a family (a quite good one, actually), they have parents that would fly to ends of the earth for them, and they live in America.

But the truth is, they will grow up without ever knowing their birth family, who they look like, and even their medical history. They are Chinese but have already forgotten their first language. Just a year ago they had a whole life without us: a routine, friendships, and people that were daily in their lives that we know very little about. They will undeniably have questions about who they are and why they were given up... and we will do everything in our power to help them find the answers, if that is what they want. I pray that the missing pieces would be filled with the Holy Spirit. That the one thing that they would cling to is that there was One with them from the moment they took their first breathe. One that created the fabric of who they are, that knows every hair on their head and can wipe every tear.

What a powerful thing that is for a mom to fully understand. Their hearts are precious, to me, and I know to God even more so. I can try to shield them from hurt, I can grow them up surrounded with love and acceptance, have discernment to know what to say to them, and teach them to guard their hearts... but in the end the most important thing I can possibly do is to introduce them to their Maker.

Isaiah 41:10  fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

The truth is adoption is a wonderful, but tragic thing. It is not without heartache... and I don't believe luck has anything at all to do with it. 

Candycane legs

Our house is filled of Christmas music, giggling children full of wonder, sparkling lights, and little girls in adorable candy cane leggings.  I have gotten teary several times just knowing the hope that Jesus brings, our God with us! Oh Holy Night can almost always do that to me. Seeing my grandmother's decorations on our tree and family traditions that Ian and Jovie have yet to know. It's really amazing as I look back to last year, knowing so well what the waiting and wishing for Ian and Jovie felt like. And now just the sight of their names on their stockings can make me all misty. You all probably know I am a tad emotional, but wow, this year really is full of all things bright and wonderful. My heart is so full to be able to share all this with these precious children God has given to us. Merry Christmas friends!!

Hard things

My dear friends,

I'm sorry.

I'm an on-again-off-again blogger... consistency in any social media form is just not my strong suit. If I am posting to instagram, then the blog gets forgotten—or vice-versa.  I don't know what my deal is really... I promise I don't neglect any of my children this way.

BUT this time I have a good reason for not keeping up... we have had a really HARD time since Ian's surgery. In an emotional, life-sucking, punch to the gut kind of way.  A week after Ian's surgery we started noticing things that at first I questioned. "Am I being an overly worried mother, or is this something I should be concerned about?"

Do y'all do this too? I want to trust my gut but I needed a little confidence to call the doctor. So Monday morning I was on the phone... left a detailed message for surgical at CHOA. I kept my phone in my pocket all day, waiting. And waiting. No call on Monday. Tuesday I called back and the recording says "do not leave duplicate messages"... Yeah, fat chance. By now I'm in full momma bear mode and my message was pretty direct. I NEED A CALL BACK.

So I started scrolling through my directory of folks we'd dealt with at CHOA, I called our urologist and emailed a PA over there, begging for a direct line or better way to get our doctor.

I finally got our doctor late Tuesday afternoon. She was concerned that he was still in pain and had a fever but didn't seem as upset by what I was seeing... which was gruesome to say the least, and I will spare you the details.

Right after I got off the phone, our urologist returned my call from my early frantic attempt. Sweet man. He was concerned and asked for me to send him pictures of the surgical site. He said Ian definitely had an infection and that he hoped we got ahead of this in enough time to let oral antibiotics work (he said "staph infection" and "we would need to go to the hospital if this didn't work." I panicked.

Looooong story short, this has been extremely difficult. It seems this surgery was unsuccessful and he will need to have another surgery with a temporary colostomy (to give him time to heal). The biggest victory has been that I feel like Ian and I have grown leaps and bounds. It was my prayer request to bond closer and that unquestionably happened.

Ian has been in a lot of pain, but has been in such good spirits despite it all. My sweet little boy was smiling from the moment they wheeled him back to us in the hospital and throughout this all. This has not been easy for him. Sitting has been pure torment. My precious momma took Mae to and from school every day. And we've been cooped up for two weeks. BUT his infection is gone. AND he is feeling much better.

We canceled our Thanksgiving plans, so it's likely you will see us at the Cracker Barrel, but here's my deep breath and my letting go.

Tomorrow is a new day. And I can do hard things.



 

buzzzzzz

On Saturday I got my scissors and took Ian out the back deck and started chopping his hair.  I've cut his hair a couple of times now but I guess I've been getting lucky... because I know zilch about cutting hair, and well Saturday showed for it. I botched it up real good. (To my credit Ian was pitching a fit the whole time, refusing to stay still and all in all was a nightmare!)

If you look below at the fall festival pictures you will see the sad shape I left him in. Every time I saw him I would cringe and I kept saying to Cody that we need to buzz him to fix my mess. So the clippers came out and yet again, my night in shining armor came to the rescue. Oddly Ian didn't cry and braved the clippers wonderfully. AND my boy is super cute with short buzzed hair. I absolutely love it more than ever. Buzz from now on... looks like Cody can add one more thing to his list of many talents. (:

fall fun

We went to Mae's school fall festival on Saturday night and enjoyed free entertainment and dinner for all of us (burger, chips, drink and dessert x5) was only $10.00—gotta love that!

If you've been following the blog than you've seen these whimsy little wings before... well, now Ian has a pair of dragon wings to match with his sisters!What do you think of the boy version?  I think a dragon is pretty fitting.

These wings have been the best gift to the girls... they put their wings on and dance around the house daily. And I love the new fanciful masks their Nonna found for them too. 

pillow fight!!

ocean splender

 How great is our God? No, that's not a question, How GREAT is our God!

The beach is just one of those places that draws me to Him every time. The ocean is something overwhelmingly grand, breathtaking in it's volume, and humbling to feel so miniature on it's shore.  

 I am small.

I have limitations.

God is immeasurable, infinite.

He created this ocean with a single word.

 

It leaves me astounded.

But not as much as this realization, that we are able to have an intimate relationship with God, 

because we are in Christ.

speechless.