DTC!!!

Wonderful news! Our Dossier was sent to China today, so we are now officially DTC - May 20th, 2008! DTC!!!!!! Again. How cool is that? We are ever so slightly closer to a sister for Austin and Lily Grace. The confirmation that this is what God would have us do is all around us. Just like with Lily Grace. I'm not usually an emotional person, but this adoption, even moreso than with Lily Grace, registers a 10.0 on the emotional scale. When I close my eyes and think about Austin and Lily Grace and Lia Faith in the future, I see God, up close and personal. So personal that tears fill my eyes and blur images of two little girls playing together, safe and loved more than anything, observed by a young college student, home for the holidays to spend a few more precious moments with his sisters. Two little girls, comforted and provided for, not by us, but by God, Himself. And the comfort of knowing that when Austin heads off to college in a few years, Lily won't be left behind without a playmate, a soulmate. She will then become the older kid in the house, showing her little sister how things work around here (she already shows us!). Wait a minute, as I write this, it's not Austin who's ventured out, but Lily Grace. Spending the night with Memaw to allow his Mom and Dad to spend some extra quality time with Austin.

Today was a bittersweet day, however. A milestone reached with great joy, yet tempered with sadness. Sadness that so many children in the world's most populated country live, no they simply exist, with little hope for their future. Please don't misunderstand. Obviously, there are hundreds of millions of children who live in China and who are loved by caring and good parents. But there are also many who do not share in the riches of a parent's love. To be sure, the same is true around the world, including here in these United States. And these orphans are the "least of these," the focus of God's plan for our own lives. We have been lead, once again, to adopt from China. We can only bring home one, that's what the paperwork says. One child. One dream. And even now, as the earthquake aftershocks continue to strike fear among the least of these, more and more children are left alone and in desperate need. Yet, I believe God has it in His plans for something extraordinary to emerge from this seemingly hopeless situation. Reaching Back, God's Plan of Salvation for the Lost Children of China, how will we answer His call? Please pray for the people of China in their time of need and celebrate with us that we are now one step closer to walking in God's plan for adding to our family. And know also that this isn't something that we chose to do on our own, nor that we take lightly. Friends will tell you that I said no initially. But then God ... . I can't explain it, but you just know that you know that you know. You know?


While Each Child Cried

A world full of children with bright, happy faces.
Suddenly, noise all around, everything shaking.
No where to run, nowhere to hide.
Just sit silently, while each child cried.

Is this world ending, they must have imagined
As everything they knew around them came crashing.
Try as they might, they couldn't withstand
The shaking and the rumbling of their great land.

Schools without books and lessons undone
Children left wondering and wandering around
Classmates gone in an instant of horror
Those who remain wonder if there's a tomorrow.

Never before have so many felt so helpless.
Never before have so many felt such pain.
Each passing day brings less and less hope.
Each passing day so little to gain.

A child gives his parents a world of hope.
Then taken away in an instant.
No where to run, nowhere to hide.
Just sit silently, while each parent cried.

Please pray for the Lost Children of China. Many of those lost in the recent earthquake in China were children, going about their daily activities oblivious to the danger that would eventually claim their schoolhouse and their lives. Had anyone told them about Jesus, yet? So many times people ask "Why do bad things happen to good people?" None of us know the answer and so we can only offer comfort and encouragement to those at the epicenter of a crisis like this. And from such a distance, we feel so helpless. As parents of children from China, we know beyond a shadow of doubt that these children were good people. And their parents were good people too. Trying to raise their children and do their best for them under the circumstances. Some children lost parents and some parents lost children. For some, there is now no one else. Hopes erased in a moment of unfathomable fear and distress. And what can we do? Everything seems so futile, but yet it is not. Especially if done for His glory. Jesus said that "anything you do for the least of these, you do for me." Anything. And so we are thrilled that we are now DTC and one step closer to receiving the blessings that God has preordained. Anything.

One thing we can certainly do is pray. We can pray and ask God to have mercy on the good people of China and to lift them up in their time of great need. Pray that through this, the Chinese will be able to witness "good works, which He has prepared for us in advance." Pray that relief organizations focus squarely on the needs of the people, letting their "good works" be the only witness to God's great love. We can pray also for the mommies and daddies who now have lost their only child, a child treasured as no other, because he is the hope and the object of their love and for them, there is no other. And pray for the children who remain. Pray that they will be cared for and loved in accordance with God's will.

For the members of Athens Families with Children from China, someone has already mentioned that we should get together and pray for the Chinese and do what we can to help out those many, many people in need. Please, let's pick a date, separate from our June Dragon Boat Races (that's a plug for June!) and pray together and do what we can to help out. Perhaps we can make a donation to one of the orphanages in China as they do their best to provide for the Lost Children of China.

Love,
Jerry, Connie, Austin, Lily Grace (and Lia Faith, out there somewhere)
Green, Party of Five