Think Pink!

Today was Min Zhi Monday here in Hamilton! We made and put up over 3 dozen hot pink signs announcing the day. Two of the local businesses, Hamilton Family Eye Care and Trestle Stop Restaurant, put the announcement on their signs. The kids and I (Minnie, our exchange student) made over 130 mini-thank you photos of Min Zhi, including our blog address and a teaspoon of loose Jasmine tea. We put these at the businesses to pass out to their patrons today. I have no idea of any numbers behind today, but I can say that I have been richly blessed by so many wonderful people. Pastor John and Cathy Byker, Kim, Jane, people we don’t know their names but yet mentioned that they shopped at Hamilton Food Center today or they went to the Trestle Stop for dinner…

Now, don’t get me wrong. At the end of the day, money is still needed to pay the bills. BUT, had we progressed as originally planned, if we would only be having a bottom line of under $10k, we never would have reached out for help. I STILL DON’T LIKE asking for help, especially financial help. But if it is part of HIS plan on getting us to a place that we realize that we are dependent on HIM, and we meet awesome people who have either walked this path before or are considering embarking on it themselves for the first time, then how can I complain?

So, here’s a shout-out to the sponsors of Min Zhi Monday, held August 31, 2009: Hamilton Food Center, Trestle Stop Restaurant, Shear Style Salon, and Hamilton Family Eye Care.

Hip-Hip-Hurray! Thank you for investing in the life of a child!

PS If there is anyone of the area who didn’t get to visit these businesses today, PLEASE still give them your patronage! I pray that they will continue to be blessed for being our blessing!

God Stop

In Beth Moore’s bible study, Believing God, she describes moments worthy of remembering what God has done as “God Stops”. Let me share what HE has done for us.

As my 40^th birthday rapidly approaches, David set up a night away in a Hampton Inn in Holland. Between the fact that we were 30 minutes from home and our kids and the fact that he was able to use his hotel points accumulated from work travel, it worked wonderfully for us. Far enough to not do laundry, close enough to respond to any emergencies that might have popped up, and FREE! Anyway, when David went to the hotel room early to set it up he grabbed a Holland Sentinel newspaper from the front desk for us to read later. We cancelled our newspaper over two years ago as a cost savings measure and haven’t read one, especially a Holland Sentinel, in that time. Fast forward to about 11:00 that night when we are getting ready for bed—I start reading through the paper. Intrigued by a front page story, I follow it to page 2, then start skimming page 3, then page 4, then OH-MY-GOODNESS-DAVE-COME-LOOK-AT-THIS! WE are on page 4!!! There was a 14” story smack in the middle of the page about the family and community behind Min Zhi Monday. I had spoken to someone from the paper about possibly putting something in the local section about Min Zhi Monday for free advertisement. Little did I know that it was going to be an official story, complete with quotes from all the businesses that are coming alongside us.

Now, if you consider how long it has been since we have read a local paper, and how long it has been since we have been in a “hotel just the two of us”, and the fact that we didn’t even know that there would be a story covering our adoption of our daughter, it was a moment that we just sat in awe of how God brings things together. We continue to trust that HE will bring us together with our daughter with as much flair as he has shown us thus far.

Praise be to God!

Went Out with Pink Posters, Came Home with Abundant Blessings!

In preparation for our upcoming fundraisers, I sent my boys out to post the hot pink signs around town. Although they have posted them on lamp posts, in storefront windows, and on message boards in the past, I also wanted to have them posted in the local churches. Two of the three Reformed churches in the area just accepted the posters, but for the third one, Austin had the opportunity to talk to the head pastor. Pastor John Byker had adopted a daughter from Vietnam through Operation Babylift back in 1975, and he also has a son who has adopted from Haiti as well! After talking for 10 minutes or so, Pastor Byker then prayed over Austin for another 10 minutes! Not only did he bless my son (and me!) through conversation and prayer, he has committed to bless us by posting our info for Min Zhi Monday on the overhead announcements before both services this Sunday, he will include the info and a photo of our daughter in their electronic newsletter, and has invited us to take part in their Sunday night service this weekend! He will introduce us to their church, pray for us, and make a verbal announcement about Min Zhi Monday!

We are floored, we are humbled, and we are blessed!

Big Weekend

We have a garage sale planned this Friday. Marcia Kwantes and I spent hours last week pricing stuff—er—treasures in my garage. We had hoped to hold it last week Friday, but a rainy forecast had us postpone it. We will be having it at the North Pole Ice Cream Shoppe on M-40 in Hamilton, as our garages are rather out-of-the-way. Hopefully we will have a good turn-out.

We will have “Min Zhi Monday” on the 31^st of August. Four local businesses: Hamilton Food Center, Trestle Stop, Shear Style, and Hamilton Family Eye Care have agreed to donate a percentage of their daily proceeds to our adoption. If you are anywhere in the area, please come by and tell these wonderful business owners “thank you!”

Unexpected Surprise

Last week I received an e-mail from a woman in Ohio. She said that she saw my signature line on a posting on a YAHOO group, and recognized Min Zhi’s name. This woman, Mary, proceeded to explain that she adopted her daughter, Miao Zhan (Mariah) from Wuzhou, China, 4 months ago, and that Min Zhi was her daughter’s best friend! While she was picking up Miao Zhan she took a bunch of photos, and to my delight, Min Zhi was in many of them. It was SO GOOD to see her playing as well as posing for photos!

Apart from a handful of e-mails and playing phone tag, I haven’t been able to talk to Mary more about her experience yet. But, as Mary said, we’re family now, so I KNOW that there will be time to talk, share, and get together for fellowship once Min Zhi gets home. Who would have thought that these two little girls would be adopted halfway around the world and still be able to stay in touch with each other?!?

Our God is an awesome God!

IT’S OFFICIAL!

We are REALLY, truly, and 100% DTC!!! Our Dossier is on its way To China!!!
Doin’ the Happy Dance!!! YEA!

IT’S THERE!!!

I just received notice from our agency that THEY RECEIVED OUR I-797 (immigration approval) TODAY!!!!!!!
PRAISE THE LORD!!! It got there overnight from Chicago!!! Now we are anxiously awaiting the next step…
(check back tomorrow!!)

AUTHENTICATION—CHECK!

I received word from the Chinese Consulate in Chicago that our authentication was DONE and would be mailed out TODAY! Praise the LORD! I am dancing…even while I type, I am dancing on the inside! Now we need the USPS to move that envelope to our agency in rapid time! Can I dare to hope that we will be DTC (dossier to China) in the next few days? Please pray with us!!!

We Got! _ Fingerprinting is Done!

Our fingerprint approval just came via e-mail! I am off to notarize, verify, and will authenticate on Wednesday! YA-HOO! Thank you Kirk Griffen!!!

One More Little Step

I just called the National Benefits Center (NBC) and found out that our file was picked up today, and we officially have an officer!!! Please pray for God’s blessings on Kurt Gibson as he QUICKLY accepts our fingerprints!!!

Praise!

I just got off the phone with CIS and was told that there are only about a dozen in line ahead of us, and our case should be picked up THIS WEEK! I didn’t want to push it too much, and ask the next questions, but if we have an officer, I can’t believe that it will take a month to get through!!! I think that we just had a group of dossiers be sent over last week, so we may just miss the next shipment, but who knows??? We may be DTC sooner than we counted on!!! WOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!!!

Waiting In Line

I just got off the phone with NBC (not the tv company!) and they said that we are #48 in line for fingerprint review. They are currently working on June 16th fingerprints!!! Oh, the visions of flying through the system have gone out the window! I wonder if I sent super-caffeinated coffee to their office they would get more work done in less time…

OT—I heard from Austin. He hasn’t made it to China yet. One of the girls in their group had a diabetic attack mid-flight and stopped breathing w/no heart beat. The airplane had to dump 30,000 gallons of fuel to prevent the brakes from breaking in an emergency landing in MN. The girl was revived, went to the hospital (obviously) and is in good condition. The plane re-fueled and went to Narita, Japan, but was 3 hours late so the kids had to be put up in a hotel for the night. They will go to Beijing in the morning, but all the flights are full, so the kids will have to be separated. The silver lining? Austin will have “officially” been in Japan, and will have the stamp in his passport to prove it!
Thinking about all that could have gone wrong, how can I stop from praising God for his continued care and protection!?!

Fingerprinted

Today we had our fingerprinting appointment. We were there before it opened, and I was the first one through. From the time the doors were unlocked to the time we walked out, only twenty minutes passed! I expected it to be like the SOS office, where the waiting goes on and on. Now we are waiting to hear that we are approved. THIS IS THE LAST PIECE OF OUR DOSSIER before it will be sent to China!!! Whoo-hoo!

On another note, our eldest son, Austin, boarded a plane this morning, ultimately headed for China. He will be spending 18 days in Beijing, Changchun, and a couple of other cities, soaking up culture and studying Mandarin. He started his learning of the language when we lived in Shanghai in his freshman year of high school. Last year he completed his virtual classes of Mandarin 1. Now he is combining both of those experiences this summer. Although he would meet up some of the other Confucious Institute students in Detroit, he boarded the plane in Grand Rapids ALONE!!! As a mom, I have prepared him for spreading his wings and flying since he was a toddler, but AS A MOM it was hard to see him go! Thankfully it is only for 18 days, and I have a couple more years of him at home. J I am glad to say that I did NOT cry when he left, although I may have “leaked” a little once his back was turned.

Great Day for a Car Wash!!!

When I woke up to thunderstorms at 5 am, I was worried about the weather for our car wash a few hours later. God had worked it all out without my worrying, and by the time we were hanging last minute posters at 8:30 it was clear, breezy, and warm. Our dear friend Marcia arrived by 9 and we set up the tent, bake sale items, and did the last minute details. By 9:30 some of our volunteers arrived, and we were washing cars by 9:45. More muscle arrived around 10, and for the next 2 ½ hours we worked on a steady stream of cars. There were some friends that showed up and had multiple cars washed, but there were SO MANY that came that we didn’t know. We washed everything from a Jeep with a dog sitting in the back seat (who growled at anyone who dared to stick a hand past the exterior of the car) to LARGE pick-up trucks that we couldn’t reach the top of the front cab, to a boat. Several people also purchased some baked goods from the bake sale. At the end of the day we were blessed with almost $600!!! I am floored and humbled by the generosity of the community!

None of this would have been possible without all the help we received. A BIG THANK YOU to our car wash “staff”: Peter Rau, Cameron Beyer, Matthew Kwantes, Mike Kwantes, Caleb Kwantes (and a few of his friends), Jacob Charron, Bryce Van Oss, Allie Van Oss, and of course, Austin, Hailey, Andrew, and Hannah Fathman! If it wasn’t for Hailey and Allie’s loud voices calling in the cars, I don’t think that we would have had a fraction of what we did! I do think the surrounding neighborhoods were happy that they eventually stopped yelling, though (J), not to mention that Andrew stopped playing his trumpet at passing vehicles…

A shout-out goes to all the ladies that worked at supplying our homemade baked goods for the sale. I don’t have a listing of everyone yet, but THANK YOU just the same! And without the motivation and hard work of Marcia Kwantes, who delegated the baking and worked the bake sale the whole day by herself, none of that would have materialized. THANKS AGAIN!

Thanks to Dave Kempkers for offering the Hamilton Food Center for the location and water usage for the day. Being an adoptive parent himself, I didn’t need to convince him of the importance of the cause. THANK YOU!!!

I am truly blessed.

Breaking Out the Bubbles!

Only one more day until our car wash! We still have posters to make and fliers to hang up in strategic places. No telling what kind of “last minute” things will pop up, not to mention who will actually show up to wash. I could try to organize it down to the last detail, but the best laid plans are often thwarted! Not to mention that I feel REALLY funny about instructing my volunteers to work times and duration they don’t want to. The LORD will provide, or else we will have a long day by ourselves!!!
Bless Marcia’s heart, she has made numerous calls for the bake sale part of Saturday’s fundraising. We have our own muffins and breads to make: Hannah has a list of delacasies she wants to bake for tomorrow.
Hopefully the rain will hold off…