Sharon and I received an appointment with CSCIS (Homeland Security) to have our fingerprints recorded for background checks, etc. This will take place on January 26 and, hopefully, this will be the last hurdle in our paperchase. Following the fingerprinting we will receive our I-171H which, from my understanding, is the clearance we need from our Federal government to go through with the adoption.

We have plenty of other things to work through but we feel confident that we will have them completed between now and then.

Thank you for your continued prayers!

We had our first homestudy visit with our social worker this past week. During our first visit the social worker interviewed Sharon and me about our past - our interests, our favorite subjects in school, what our parents were like, etc. Trying to describe my father who passed away in '89 was a little hard for me. I quoted from a poem I wrote about him, I told a few stories, and I tried very hard not to give in to what could have easily been a lot of tears. My life (pre-Sharon and kids) was distilled into 90 minutes, which was about an hour longer than Sharon took to answer the same questions. I don't know if I'll live that down, but I am determined to be more concise in our next visit where our social worker will be asking us about how we met and our life since then. I won't, for example, tell her that Sharon and I met at a Wheaton College talent show where I was singing with my stomach and she was doing her ventriloquism. I'm not quite sure how that will translate into Mandarin. I also don't think I need to say that from the first moment I saw her throwing her voice I knew that I wanted her to throw her voice my way.

The third and final visit from our social worker will be in our home (the other two are at her office). During this visit she will meet our children and interview them.

Following these three completed interviews our social worker will put together an 8-10 page document that tells our life story. This will be interspersed with quotes from each of our personal references, etc. and will then be part of the completed home study that goes to Harrah's Adoption Agency.

To prepare the kids for her arrival, I told them about the entire process the other night at dinner. I shared with them that more than likely she will be asking each of them questions like, "do you want a sister?" or "how do your parents discipline you when you're naughty?"

At that point I asked them how they would respond to the question, "do you want a sister?" Ryan, one of our ten year olds, jumped out of his seat in the kitchen, grabbed a stack of 3x5 index cards, backed up into the family room and proceeded to ham it up. Looking up at us and then back down to the cards, he began flipping through the cards as if searching for something. We could hear him mumbling to himself, "wrong question" to a couple of the cards, and then he stopped on a card and pretended to read, "I really want a sister from China...smile big." Then he looked up at us and smiled big. What began as a serious discussion quickly gave way to a night of improv. I just hope the social worker is ready for my boys... (Pat)

Our little girl may have already been born. There is even the possibility that at this moment, while I am writing this journal entry, she is being abandoned. Her name should accompany her from the very start of her life through the prayers and thoughts of those who care about her. Our daughter's name is Grace. She will be God's grace to us, and Lord willing, she will be grace to others as well.

In coming up with names for all of our boys, we always had a girl's name at the ready. In one form or another, the name Grace was part of each of those names. We were ever mindful that were God to give us a daughter, it would be by his grace. This adoption is yet more proof that God works in unexpected and wonderful ways to shower us with His grace. We also feel that one of the qualities our world needs most in its women, is that they be women of grace. We pray that our Grace might live out her name in beautiful ways to the world around her.

She is real and she needs your prayers even now. We hope that knowing her name, as we do, will call her to mind even more often. Though none of us can be with her during her first year physically, we can all celebrate her life from its very beginning. (Sharon)

  Today we studied Hebrews 10 in Sunday School. It seems that almost everything I am reading these days is speaking to me in regards to our adoption process. Hebrews 10:24 reads, “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.”Sharon wrote about our college friend who came for dinner out of the blue and shared his two adoption stories. This was just the sort of spurring on toward love and good deeds that Sharon and I needed to hear. We will be forever grateful for how God used our friend's act of obedience to spur us on. As Sharon shared, we have always had a heart for adoption - hoping that one day we could. It is quite another thing to possess the feet for adoption, the hands for adoption, and the impulse to make it happen. Growing up with horses we had a lot of opportunity to use spurs - and often spurs were just the encouragement our horses needed to get going.

After hearing our friend's story of adoption (which was really a story of obedience and courage) we couldn’t escape God’s heart for orphans. We were later challenged by James 1:27, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans…” and I Timothy 6:17-19 where Paul says, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”

As I look at this last passage even now, I am challenged anew.We’ve got retirement to plan for, braces to buy, a car that is on its last leg, we're adding a fourth boy to private school education next year... but we are thrilled that God has entrusted us with this opportunity, and we are convinced that by walking in this obedience we will be taking hold of the life that is truly life.

Thank you for your prayers for us! The mountain of paperwork seems manageable, although it seems like the adoption agency wants to give it to us in piecemeal rather than all at once. Knowing Sharon, if we had it all at once it would be completed "all at once." As it is, we are going to need to exercise patience in the process as God gives us grace for adoption... (Pat)

Today we were blessed with an unexpected visit from friends who had just returned from China with their new 2 year old little girl last night. They were excited about our decision and wanted to share the joy of their little girl with us. For me and Pat, it was a delight to see her. I kept thinking that up until 2 weeks ago this precious girl had only known the confines of her crib. But here she was in our home, toddling about, playing peek-a-boo with Ethan and Adam, and playing drop-the-ball-and-see-if-he-picks-it-up with Sean. It was the greatest blessing this family could give to ours because it made it very real for all of us, particularly the boys. Later Ryan said, "she was so cute!" So thank you to our friends, and thank you to God for giving us encouragement and joy today! (Sharon)