Let me try to answer some of the questions I have been asked.
We are leaving early Wednesday morning from our local airport and we will fly to Atlanta then to Newark and then over the top of the globe to Beijing. Caleb our middle son is going with us. That decision seems strange to many. We were not going to take any of the kids but due to it being helpful for Rachel to see another child with these people who she is being sent away with, it is a great opportunity for anyone to see China. It would be difficult to keep up with all them and give her the attention she needs and the cost would be very difficult as well. We prayed about this and Eli our oldest actually suggested Caleb. He is very good at always playing with younger ones, so to us this all makes sense.
We will be in Beijing seeing some of the sites until we fly on Saturday night (China time: Think 14 hours ahead of Central Time). Sunday will be getting used to Wuhan and trying to sleep before the big day. Monday morning (we believe) we will go to a government building and someone will open the door to the room we will be waiting in and we will go to the door, and there we will be handed our daughter!
****** We would very much appreciate your prayers. Both for safe travels, our boys at home but mostly for Rachel to somehow be prepared for this HUGE change in her life.
The rest of that week will be spent taking care of paperwork there in Wuhan, touring the orphanage, seeing some sites around the area and getting to know each other.
We will fly to Guangzhou (home of the US Consulate) on 1/16 and we will be there taking care of all the necessary steps for Rachel to become a US Citizen. On the 21st we will take a train to Hong Kong and then the next day starts the long trip back home.
We will be posting updates as often as we can. At this point I think we will probably post all the updates at Kim’s blog Innocent Lamb
I will try to either note here that there is a new post or copy it.
We are packing (people go to war with less stuff) and trying to get last minute things crossed off our list. We have wired our money, have our plane tickets, bought apparently one of everything in Walgreens, packed voltage converters, mentally prepared for a huge range in temperatures and even have a portable pulse oximeter so that we can get an idea of how Rachel’s heart is doing.
Hopefully I will post again before we leave.
We all listened to this song together as we were riding in the van tonight. It expresses part of this Christmas.
We have purchased plane tickets to the other side of the world! Honestly I dread that flight, but at least this time Kim and I can put Caleb and his skinny self between us. Last time I flew that long a flight I was between two very large guys (read misery). But, it will all be more than worth it to get to Rachel.
We have been waiting on ‘a’ Rachel for over 13 years. Eli, Caleb and Titus were all going to be Rachel…but the name didn’t seem to fit.
So we are leaving on the 7th of January which is my birthday! It will be an exciting day for sure.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the idea of a coming child. I “preached” last Sunday. (that is joke that a friend an I shared about teaching/sharing/speaking/preaching) I try to be conversational…. but The idea of Advent is that we are “toward the coming”, something is coming and we are moving closer to that. As I have thought about us approaching the day we see our daughter face to face for the first time, I can’t help but think about the idea that Jesus comes again and again. That anticipation of finding him in all this that we call Christmas.
Neither of these is easy. Finding Rachel or finding Jesus in the middle of what can seem like Chaos. Both can be overwhelming and can be robbed of Joy. there is though this amazing thing that I am trying to learn. That Joy runs fear out of the room. When Joy comes, fear leaves. So I am asking for Joy, trying to concentrate on what has come and not on what ‘might’ come, and realizing that Joy in part comes from realizing life is a gift.
our TA (travel approval) is signed. Although we don’t have it yet. Our agency is trying to get a copy of it in China and set up our appointment at the US Consulate. Yesterday afternoon was crazy, on top of having company and more on the way, it looked like we were going to leave on Christmas Day. We frantically were faxing documents and talking to a travel agent and looking on line.
The prices for flights were outrageous!
It looks like now we will wait to travel in January. Good news is flights will be cheaper (I hope). Bad news the “donation” to the orphange goes up $2000. Worst news of all is we don’t get to hold Rachel quite as soon.
This is the Hug Me Pillow that you can buy at Overstock.com for that person on your list that is …..well….. a freak of some kind. (Creepy)
Since I haven’t posted anything in almost a month, I felt I had to share something. So what is your worst Christmas Present ever?
We have been busy with normal life stuff plus getting a room ready for Rachel and last minute adoption stuff. We have applied for our Visas and hope to travel sometime in the next 2-5 weeks!
I received a version of this last week. I have edited it for today.
Friends, my hunch is you already have been, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask you to be praying about next week’s today’s elections. I think the prayer is simple, really: That God would constrain his people by his Spirit in them to do what is right. This is a good prayer because so many other things can motivate us, like fear, or the power of the advertising, all that gets thrown at us as an election approaches. Emotions are high, but I’m not sure clear thinking is. I wish I had the confidence that God’s people would not be phased by any of it, but we are human and sometimes we are swayed by things other than the Spirit of God. So that’s the prayer for this weekend today, that God’s people would be moved by his Spirit and nothing else.
Just an update on life.
We received some new photos of our daughter last week. One of my favorites is below. We are still waiting on China to give us approval to go and get her. I think we may in the calm before the storm of when we get this little one. It is amazing how much you can love a picture.
A lesson I recently gave at church is up on the website HERE. The date is Sept. 14th. titled “What are you afraid of” or you can subscribe in itunes which I just noticed has another lesson of mine up that isn’t on the website. It is called “Your image of Jesus”
Our house is finally repaired, but it is worse than moving! Not only is all your stuff moved twice but it is all covered in dust and non of it is boxed up.
I can’t seem to find time to post and this is actually from a sermon I gave a few weeks ago. The text is formatting funky but you’ll get over it. 
Over a dozen years ago, the idea of adopting a girl from china was planted in Kim’s Heart. It was to me something we MIGHT do someday. Not even on my radar. Then a few years ago God started working on me. I’m sure due in part to Kim’s prayers. Steven Curtis Chapman had this song out about seeing the face of Jesus in a little orphan girl…and how Jesus said, that is where I told you that you would find me.
And I admit that impacted me. It was hard to get over that. I didn’t really.
And a friend was teaching a class on money and gave everyone a few dollars to advance the kingdom of God. Everybody thought and prayed over that little money and did some amazing and creative things and we all learned that we should treat all our money that way. But we started down the road toward adopting with that.
I got myself out of the way just enough for us to start.
Fast forward thru a lot of paperwork. The process was getting longer and longer and we decided we had to switch to special needs. Children with some type of medical condition.
We got a call from our agency not too long ago to consider a little girl. We received a medical report and some pictures.
We had 48 hours to decide! Is she to become part of our family. It wasn’t that easy. We learned that she had a serious heart condition, would require surgery and of course that takes lots of money. By the time we heard from the doctor reviewing her records, we only had a couple of hours. We were told the worst case scenarios and the other possible outcomes. The clock was ticking.
We wept and prayed and Kim was willing to take her even if it would be a short life, she said, I want to be with her and at least she will not be alone if that is the outcome. (an early death)
But I was thinking, what about finances and what if the worst happens, how will it affect our boy’s faith. And really, I was thinking if I give my heart to this little girl can I stand it if we lose her some day?
I went outside to pray and Kim texted a bunch of people asking for prayer.
Now prayers like “God help the Stewart’s with this decision” are good prayers, but in times of much drama like this what you need are listening prayers. People asking God, what do you want me to tell them. God what should they do? It risky. (those kinds of prayer and interceding for someone.
I was outside begging God to give me some sort of clear communication. Let me HEAR.
God chose an iphone.
My phone rang and It was Bo. His words were “I only have one thing to say, I feel I am supposted to tell you ‘God is bigger than her heart condition.’ ”
And I began to cry and it was in part because someone would pray and listen for us and would call and in part because I was risking much. I wasn’t playing it safe. I was taking what God has given me and trying to multiply it.
So let me introduce you to (sounds like Suwhey).
We will call her Rachel.
This is our daughter. We hope to rescue her before the end of the year.
It has been said that adoption is the visual gospel.
A child w/o a home will have one.
A child w/o a family will have one.
A child w/o a name gets one
A child w/ a damaged heart with hope will be made whole.
That is what God does for you. He didn’t play it safe to give you his name.
And we can’t afford to either!
I have a copy of this book to give away to one of you! Anyone who comments on this post before Friday will be entered into a drawing for the book. Each time you comment is another entry. If you don’t win, you can buy one HERE
I haven’t finished the book yet and I am late posting this, but there is a part in the first half of the book where Mark writes about how often it seems that we don’t receive confirmation or signs from God until we step out in faith. It isn’t until we step into the river in faith that the water parts (see Joshua leading across the Jordan, which is a great story). So if your wanting to comment and have an example of this, let me know. I am working on a upcoming lesson and would love to hear any examples you have of NOT playing it safe and God blessing it.
Now a bit about the book and author
Most of us have no idea where we’re going most of the time. Perfect.
“Celtic Christians had a name for the Holy Spirit–An Geadh-Glas, or ‘the Wild Goose.’ The name hints at mystery. Much like a wild goose, the Spirit of God cannot be tracked or tamed. An element of danger, an air of unpredictability surround Him. And while the name may sound a little sacrilegious, I cannot think of a better description of what it’s like to follow the Spirit through life. I think the Celtic Christians were on to something….
Most of us will have no idea where we are going most of the time. And I know that is unsettling. But circumstantial uncertainty also goes by another name: Adventure.” –from the introduction
Mark Batterson is the lead pastor of Washington, DC’s National Community Church, widely recognized as one of America’s most innovative churches. NCC meets in movie theaters at metro stops throughout the city, as well as in a church-owned coffee house near Union Station. More than seventy percent of NCC’ers are single twentysomethings who live or work on Capitol Hill. Mark is the author of the best-selling In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day and a widely read blogger (www.markbatterson.com). He lives on Capitol Hill with his wife, Lora, and their three children.
Hurricane Fay came to visit last night. She dropped a tree through our roof and has decided to apparently stay a while and dump as much rain as she can through the hole!
It is interesting to stand in your living room and look up and see the sky…even more interesting to feel the rain on your face.
I got about 3 hours sleep when what I can only describe as the sound of a car wreck happening in your bedroom, woke me. Kim and the boys were out of town visiting family. It didn’t take long to feel and hear the water dripping and realize what had happened.
as of 9 PM the tree is off, there is a tarp keeping MOST of the water out and somewhere out there is an insurance company with a LARGE bill coming their way.
