Day 3 in China

 

Day 3

Lines, arrows, and street lights only exists in China to be compliant with some traffic code.  Apparently, they serve no other purpose.

Today, we went to the government office of civil affairs to sign two sheets of paper.  While we waited, we passed the time by "fake fishing" for Coy, throwing our gum as high as we could into the air and seeing who could catch it in their mouth, and playing the rock game (the game like jacks but played with only rocks).

From there, we went to Louyang to have the application for adoption notarized.  It was about a two hour drive from Zhengzhou.  We passed many people relieving themselves on the side of the road.  Choosing to be more civilized, we decided to use a public bathroom.  Wow! 

We decided to eat and walked into a restaurant that didn't look like a restaurant.  The man behind the counter only greeted us with one hand as the other was busy dislodging something way, way, WAY, up in his nose.  This too is apparently permissible behavior...

The food was good!  Reusable bamboo chopsticks from a communal bowl made the experience that much more authentic.  We met Joe, the assistant coordinator at the restaurant.  I love him so much!  He became a Christian while in America. He is so excited for the boys!!  He kept saying, "They go to Měiguó"!

 

He said that he loved Měiguó (America).  He pointed out the window to the grey smog filled sky and said that in America, the sky is always blue.  I take so much for granted.

 

We then went to Luoning Children's Institute to have a going away ceremony for the boys.  All of the other children were there and they were so beautiful!  As we walked the dark halls, and passed room after room of bunkbeds with bamboo covers, it hit me how good we have it.  The kids were very open to hugging, and one little guy didn't want me to put him down.  They have very good caretakers, but these little children are starved for affection and love. 

 

 

"Break my heart Lord for what breaks yours"

The boys said their tear filled goodbye's, and we left back for Zhengzhou.  I am certain in the good future of their lives, but they just have no idea.  They are now leaving a home, again, and starting over, again.
Uncertainty and instability have been the one constant in these boys lives.  They only have faith in that what this "father"is promising to give them is true.  We too have a Father who promises us a future...

 

We have a hope because of our faith in HIM. It is our prayer that our boys and all of our children can see the lived out example of such LOVE a Father has for His Children.

 

Gotcha Day!!!!!!!

Day 2

Gotcha Day!!

The boys are here and they are now and forever Allen's.  Never again will they be abandoned.  They now belong.

I drove to the Zhengzhou government office today to fill out all of the paperwork.  

As I drove up to the building to give these boys new life, some person across the street was trying to end their's.  The firemen were taking someone down off the top of a building.  

John 1:5 says, the light had come into the darkness and the darkness can never extinguish it.  It was so sad to see desperation lead someone to the top of a building.  All the while, two boys were right across the street receiving new life.

I cannot express the overwhelming joy of seeing my boys walk into the office.

Signature after signature, I became closer and closer  to adopting these boys.  It was amazing. 

Ironically, the custom in China is to stamp your fingerprint on top of your name.  It shows that even if you think there is any slight possibility that this isn't me...BAM!!  Here's my unique fingerprint, the one thing I have that no one else does, so that there is never any doubt that this is really me.  And the fingerprint, it was in red.

Christ came to redeem and to be our passover lamb.  He covers me in red. Any doubters, just pass on by because I am His!  Just look at his signature on my life and his stamp of red!  

God really used the adoptions today to show me that he has painstakingly marked me as His.  What an incredible truth!  Thank you Jesus!

If you think you are good with directions, come to China.  I am terrible with directions!  My only hope is that my guess will be bad enough to eventually get me to where I am going faster.  I am awful.  And that is in America!  Well, as a spark of genius, I announce to the boys that we are going exploring around this city.  300 million people in Henan Province, and they were all on the same roads we were today.  

I don't know how, but all of the Chinese characters started looking the same.  We headed down one street and ended up three streets over.

Lost, scared, curled up in the fetal position sucking my thumb and whimpering, the boys knew that it wasn't good for all Americans or myself to be seen in this situation for long...so they took charge!

Never have the boys been in Zhengzhou but they took The lead today.  They looked around, didn't panic, and guided us safely back to our hotel.  A street sense I never knew they had.

It really hit me that maybe this is to be expected from children in their situation.  These are the children who walk around outside all hours of the night, and parents don't care.  

These are the children to which those "things" that shouldn't happen to children, happen to.  And it broke my heart.

I see the Gary and Willy of today, not the Gary and Willy of the painful past.  But God does.  And he heals.  He closes open wounds, usually creating a scar to remind us and others of a time to learn from.

There is not a scar on my body that my kids have not asked, "How'd you get that one??"  And lovingly I respond, " that one there reminds me to never hold a lizard with teeth again, and that one there reminds me to never ride my bike into a tree again."

Please pray that God will begin to close wounds on these boys, so that they may tell others of times when all felt lost, but God,in His love, was sufficient.

I asked The boys today if they were scared.  They said, in decent English, "we're nervous".  

And so I pray that my boys will be able to live this quote;

“I am no longer anxious about anything, as I realize that He is able to carry out His will for me. It does not matter where He places me, or how. That is for Him to consider, not me, for in the easiest positions He will give me grace, and in the most difficult ones His grace is sufficient.”

J. Hudson Taylor, missionary to China

Thank you for all of your prayers

Doulos

Sent from my iPhone

DAY 1

Day 1

Hartsfield Jackson, check.
Check in, check.
Go through security...................................check.
Sitting at the gate.  Check
It is so hard to believe that I am actually on my way to China today.  It had been 6 months in the making, and so so so much has been completed to get this far.

And now it is just me, and my God who goes before me, with me, behind me, and all around me.  Felt alone, but actually anything but.

Deuteronomy 33 comes to mind as Moses said,
“There is no one like God,who rides across the heavens to help you and on the clouds in his majesty."

Well boys, your God is riding across the heavens and on the clouds to come and help you today!
Why?  Because you are special to your God.  You have been hand selected  by your God who lavishly loves you.

He rescued me when I was orphaned and he rescues you. 

He even says,
"I will not abandon you as orphans!  I will come to you", -Jesus

Sin has separated us from our father and we have been orphaned.  But he comes to us, and adopts us into his family.  My hope is that God will show you through this acting out of the gospel, how he pursues you, and you need only to surrender to him.

Today, is the last day you live abandoned.  Tomorrow, your Redeemer steps into the field to meet you, and brings you into His home. 

Feeling so much like John in Revelations right now, I get a front row seat to watch our God's magnificence at work!  Awesome!!

I love you boys.

Dad

Just tryin' to breathe...

Article 5 APPROVED and picked up by the CCCWA on August 30th...and now TRAVEL APPROVAL should be this week!!!  I can hardly write those words without DANCIN'!!  We have been given tentative travel dates and my heart is just racing!!  WHOOOOO- Our boys are going to be here so soon!
We had sent Gary and Willy cameras to be taking pictures of whatever they want. Pictures of their friends, family, and of what they have called home for their entire 13 years of life.

Some people when they think of adoption get all excited about the "new addition" to their family and they forget that it comes with a price... not the actual $$ for the adoption, but the cost of our boys leaving all that is familiar, all that is comfortable, and everything they've called home.  They have to let go of a life to start a new one.  This is all a natural part of adoption, especially of older children, but it should be never looked upon as an easy adjustment, or something "the child just has to overcome."  They will morn their once familiar lives as they begin new ones.  We, as the Allen family, will go through a since of loss as well as we learn what a new normal is.  We have to learn "a new groove" as we start to fall into the swing of life.  Our children will find new roles and have to learn how to adjust to the new norm.  Adoption comes with a price, there is a loss of the life that once was "normal", to enter into a life of newness and hope....

We learn this, by no greater example, than by our Father in Heaven and His son... He adopted us and there was a price.  There was a death of a life to bring new life.  For us to become children of His Majesty, we have to surrender our old lives that we found so familiar, to gain a new life of hope. Learning to live as adopted heirs brings a time of change, adjustment, and growth.  And while all this is for the best and perfect glory of our God, it is not always easy.  It is not always fun.  But oh the joy to be apart of HIS family!  A family that brings everlasting life, brings hope.. It brings rest and a comfort that is like no other, a peace- more wonderful than the human mind can understand!

I ask that you please pray for our family as we go through all the joys and changes that come along with adoption. And pray that all of our lives will bring glory to God.

Ephesians 1:3-8

 

³ All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. ⁴ Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. ⁵ God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. ⁶ So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.^{[b] 7} He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. ⁸ He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.

Luke 9:23

²³ Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me.

 

5 months gone...



                                      

So, today marks the FIVE month mark of when Gary and Willy went back to China.  Five months seems to have flown by, but at the same time has moved by minute by minute and hour by hour. Or really more like paper work, signatures, check writing, email checking, finger prints, medical checks, authentications, certified copies, sealed documents, stamped, tracked, notarized, and approvals...This all has kept our bodies busy, but our minds and hearts yearning for our boys! While today we were hoping for our I800 approvals, we did get a "provisional approval", which I am so happy to hear any words the have "approval" in it!  SO I am singing songs of praises!

We have also been made aware that just because we have gotten our LOA's, we are still not in the clear!  Guangzhou, the Department of State in China, still has the ultimate and final say of "Yay or Nay" on our adoption!!

This gives more room for God to display HIS GLORY!  To make the impossible-POSSIBLE!  Please continue your prayers and songs of praise till we have our precious sons in our arms!



 

 

ALL THIS GLORY
In the middle of the mess, there is majesty
In the middle of my chest, is the King of Kings
While the world was waiting on
A change to come along
Light broke in
Coming like a song

All this glory
All this glory
All this glory
In the middle of the night, all this light
In the middle of the night, all this light here

In the middle of the night, You are majesty
To the middle of our plight, came the King of Kings
While we were waiting on, Your love to come along
Light broke in
Coming like a Son

All this glory
All this glory
All this glory
All this glory
In the middle of the night, all this light
In the middle of the night, all this light
In the middle of the night, all this light
In the middle of the night, after all is quiet

Jesus, God with us
Jesus Christ has come, and I'm undone
Jesus, God with us
Jesus Christ has come, and I'm undone

All this glory
All this glory
All this glory
All this glory
Here

Jesus, God with us
Jesus Christ has come, and I'm undone
Jesus, God with us
Jesus Christ has come, and love has won

MAILED IT!

MAILED IT!! Today was so exciting!  We had received our Letter of Approval (LOA) for both boys last Friday  afternoon. We still were waiting on a few more documents before we could send in our I800's, and we got them today!!! I800's are in the mail on their way to USCIS!!!

Since we began this journey we have been surrounded by your prayer, love, and support!!  Thank you ALL so very much!  We would not be where we are right now without the hands and feet of Christ that have made this possible!

Our boys will be here soon and our hearts are aching till we have them in our arms!!

Please continue to pray as we are now waiting for our I800 approvals, visas, article 5 and travel approval (TA).

MY GOD IS SO BIG SO STRONG AND

SO MIGHTY THERE'S NOTHING

MY GOD CAN NOT DO!

 

 

A Little Reflection...

Reflecting on the 4th...

Today I am sitting on the couch, typin' up this blog on my phone, listening to the kiddos discuss the best rout to beat the joker on the Lego batman wii game, and listening to the rain pour. This being the second day raining and pouring and a week now without a car has given me amble time to "reflect"...

Last night Jon and I were asked to help out a host family for the first week during the summer host program. This means a sweet boy, from Gary and Willy's orphanage will be staying with us his first week in America. It also means we get to love on him and greet him at the airport with a sign and hugs and cheers, welcoming him to this new land. 

 

This land that is SO very foreign and so very new compared to his land of ancient cultures and long history. As we start to prepare for his arrival on the 9th, it brings sweet memories of preparing for Gary's arrival that seems so very long ago. The nerves, the fears, the pure overwhelming excitement! How we were so blown away by the instant we saw him we were head over heels in love. That just in that instant we knew, "this was our son." And, the day after mother's day this year we experienced it all over again as God opened our hearts to Willy.

I am awe struck, humbled and floored by how in less than 4 months, their adoptions have been fully funded. Who am I that I could possibly doubt that God could not handle the bill?? By His power and not mine, by His provision and not ours, by His love and not our own, our boys will be coming home.

 

 

America the Beautiful

Words by Katharine Lee Bates,
Melody by Samuel Ward
 

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare of freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for halcyon skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the enameled plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till souls wax fair as earth and air
And music-hearted sea!

O beautiful for pilgrims feet,
Whose stem impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till paths be wrought through
wilds of thought
By pilgrim foot and knee!

O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife
When once and twice,
for man's avail
Men lavished precious life!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee!