Our Plea to All of You

Judging by the feedback we have gotten from friends and acquaintances thus far, our adoption blog is touching peoples' lives in two of three hoped-for ways. Firstly,the words contained within these pages are intended to lift up the Holy Name of our Lord and Savior and thus provide a ways and means that He receive all the praise, honor and glory for the conception and actualization of our dream of another daughter for Randy and me and a sister for Sonya. People are clearly being touched by God's Hand in all of this and the simple faith we find ourselves clinging to day-to-day.

Secondly, judging by the feedback thus far received, perhaps we are, with God's help, succeeding at educating the public on the plight of the countless millions of orphans world-wide who need forever families, and who, due to no fault of their own "age-out" at 14, becoming ineligible for adoption and are then sent out through the orphanage doors and onto the street at 16 years of age. Once this happens, it seems they would be expected to make a way for themselves with no one to care about where or how they might end up or where they might lay their heads.

It is our great desire and hope that just as our eyes and ears have been opened to the mission field before us in the matter of saving these children and giving them a future and a hope so too will your eyes and ears be opened to the great task before us as Christians to provide them homes. Not everyone reading these words will be called to adopt, but perhaps you will be called to financially and prayerfully support an adoption or two in your lifetime.

Which brings me to our third hoped-for goal in writing this blog, which is yet to be realized, and that is the garnering of financial support from our readership in the matter of purchasing our daughter's freedom so that we can bring her home to America this year. As things go, we are still waiting on the finalization of our home-study. If you recall, this document seems to carry much weight for without it, we cannot apply for adoption grants. So we are waiting...

In the meantime, by the first of February, we will owe another $4,000.00 to the adoption agency to prepare our dossier. As of right now, we do not have that kind of money. I still hold to the reality that if we do the footwork, then God will do the rest. In saying that, we are open to every means possible of gathering those funds in a timely fashion because we desperately need and want our daughter home with us. We have been separated from her for far too long, and the ignorance of such a reality as this is the only thing that has sustained us through these years. But now, now that we know the truth of her existence and we have looked upon her face and tiny stature in the pictures of her, it is now time and of an extremely critical nature that we bring her home soon. Whatever it takes...

Our plea to all of you is to consider giving to this little one, our little daughter, so that we can hold her in our arms and never let her go. Whether your gift is $10.00 or $100.00 or $1,000.00 it will all be welcomed and greatly appreciated.
Another means of helping us is by sharing our adoption blog with everyone you know or come into contact with. Such widespread exposure as this would certainly generate a population of donors with a heart for international adoption and the means to help us out monetarily. Please help us to "go viral" with this cause! You can evidence that we have added a "chip in" button to our blog. By either this payment method or by sending money directly to Hand in Hand, your support will go directly to and only for the adoption costs of Mei Mei.

A mother of six told me today that some people have remarked to her that if she and her husband cannot afford international adoption on their own (they are preparing themselves for their fourth China adoption) then how do they anticipate being able to provide for these little ones once they are home? I believe that if people who can get pregnant on their own were told that in a matter of a nine month period they would need to come up with $30,000 or so in order to retain the rights to their children, they would be in for some serious heart ache in trying to get that money together without going into full-blown panic mode.

Unfortunately, the initial cost of international adoption is so daunting that many families get talked out of helping these children before they even begin to conceive a plan to come up with the ransom money. I am sure you have heard the expression, "two can eat as cheaply as one". Just like any family who gets pregnant naturally, once our children are with us, we can manage, but the chasm which separates us from them in the way of adoption fees must be crossed with courage and a strong element of humility.

It is with utmost humility, then, that we ask for your help now. Thank you so much!