God Has Spoken Again ... Pre-Approval (PA)!

Dear Lia Faith,

We have been praying that God would show us your face for so many months now. And it has seemed like an eternity since we acted on His plan to try to find you. We’ve completed a lot of paperwork and we’ve prayed a lot and we’ve waited a lot. Suddenly, God has decided that the time is now. And we couldn’t be more excited! The past month seems to have happened completely in a single day that lasted for year. Sleep has been a commodity in short supply. Uncertainty has been present in record quantities. God is at work in an awesome way here at the Greens and we’re doing our best to keep up and keep obedient. His plans are unfolding before our very eyes and our choice is to participate or question His desires. We choose to participate, be obedient, and wait for His blessings, ever hopeful that we’ve made prayerful decisions and that God is pleased. We have seen pictures of you and don’t know how we ever made it this long without you in our lives. Lily Grace already loves you and keeps asking about you and when she will get to play with you. We need to tell you this story so that one day, you will know how God planned for you to come home with us and be our daughter forever.

Somehow, we’ve known since Lily Grace came home that she’d one day have a sister to play with and to keep her company and to share life with as time passed. We just kept it inside us, wondering if it was just us, or if it was truly God’s plan. Friends kidded us when we brought Lily Grace home that we should just go ahead and adopt again immediately. If only they knew, there are no more quarters under the seat cushions. No loose change lying around to accumulate into a small fortune. We laughed outwardly, but inside we knew that could be God’s plan. And so we waited. After having Lily Grace home for a year, we went back to Lifeline to complete her one year post adoption assessment. While we were there, we asked about adopting again. Your friends at Lifeline were very excited, but didn’t want to seem too forward. They wanted to make sure that it was our idea, not theirs. I’m sure that they would like to see every one of their families enjoy multiple adoptions, but they wait on God to make the call.

To be honest, at the time I didn’t know how we’d possibly do this again. The financial and emotional aspects seemed overwhelming. And the process had changed and was continuing to change. If there was one constant, it was change! But, we just kept praying and waiting on God. We asked Him if we should adopt again and He said Yes and that we should name you Faith, to be a constant reminder, not only in our lives, but yours also, that He is Lord and everything and everyone is His. Including you.

Austin really liked the name Faith and thought it went well with Lily’s middle name Grace. Connie picked out your first name Lia. I got to choose Green as your last name – original, don’t you think? Then, He started opening doors and making provisions for you. When I began asking “How, God, can we do this,” God said “Don’t worry about how, I’ve got it covered.” And He has. He has provided everything we have needed financially and He has loosened emotions within us to help us see why He wants this done. Suddenly, the company I work for started an adoption assistance program and provided the financial tools and instruments to make this happen. It is becoming apparent that when we finally get to bring you home, it will be God’s doing and not ours. He has provided everything and we have been blessed.

So, back to that year-long day that lasted a month. It all started when we attended the Memorial Service for Maria Sue Chapman, Steven Curtis and “Mary Beth” Chapman’s youngest daughter who was called home at such a young age. Maria Sue was a little girl born in China and destined to become an American girl, just like you. We don’t know why things happen as they do, especially when they happen to someone so precious as Maria Sue. Only God knows that to its fullest extent and I’m so thankful that He doesn’t burden His children with such heavy loads. The day before the service, Connie told me we had to go and I was reluctant. She said that since Steven Curtis Chapman had such an impact on us during our adoption of Lily Grace, that we should go. But Maria Sue’s service was a family and invited friends service, I told Connie. A private, family affair. And besides, I didn’t think I’d be able to sit through what I thought would be such a difficult thing. Connie's persistence eventually won out and we attended the service, Austin and Lily Grace in tow. By the way, the last time your mommy was so adamant about us attending something was the night we met another “Mary Beth,” the first little Chinese born American girl to run away with our hearts. Mary Beth was a little 3-year old girl whose father was speaking at Isom’s Chapel one night about his service in Iraq. Connie didn’t know about Mary Beth or her father, but knew that we were supposed to be there. This little Mary Beth was used by God to help us see His plan that would eventually bring Lily Grace into our family.

Maria Sue’s service was absolutely was about Him and His little girl, Maria Sue, with whom He was now celebrating, and we were allowed to be there in the background observing and being taught. He insisted that we see this powerful Faith through the Chapman family and take notice and learn from it. It didn’t even occur to us that there was a reason for us being allowed to be there. Duh? God must be so disappointed sometimes that He puts something right before us and we simply miss it. So, now another “Mary Beth” was a part of God’s plan to shape our family again. In this case, a mother who had just experienced the loss of her youngest child, taken Home at such an early age. And this time, God was showing us an indescribable Faith. “See My children’s Faith,” God seemed to be imploring us. “Even in the days of still mourning their loss, they have Faith to praise and worship Me, for I know the plans I have for you” He seemed to say.

Mary Beth and Steven Curtis’ Faith in God was absolutely overpowering and could in no way be dismissed or misunderstood. When God teaches, He teaches! God was beginning to work on building up our Faith for what He had planned next and He needed to have us there as part of His plan. Of course, we were unaware, and unsuspecting at the time, that He had planned something so miraculous, but needed to teach us a few things first. And to prepare us for something He would ask us to do in just a few short weeks. When we came home from that service, God continued to work on us. Even to the point of having me “preaching” to the church about a need to increase our Faith. We had long since decided to name you “Lia Faith,” not even thinking about how close the name was to “Leap of Faith.” God knew different.

So now, God had things in place and moving really fast. We got all of our paperwork completed in May and sent it to China to be reviewed to see if we would be allowed to adopt again. This step is called DTC, or Dossier to China. With all the changes in the adoption program for China, we had every reason to think that we’d probably wait another year before we would be blessed to meet you and see your face. But God had put us on the fast track and was beginning to line things up. I'm certain that He was thinking of you all along. Our paperwork was accepted by China and we were granted a Log in Date, or LID, pretty quickly. And while we were waiting on that, God decided to go ahead and show us His power and glory. And he decided to lead us to His fountain through a child – sound familiar? One night, Connie asked Lily Grace what she wanted for her birthday and she said “A picture!” Connie asked her “A picture of what?” And then Lily Grace spoke words that could come from only God, given what would happen next. Lily’s response was “A picture of Lia!” Of course, we didn’t understand or even think about what that meant. “Oh woe is me, oh Lord, for you have spoken yet again and I have failed to hear.” Oh, that was cute, we thought. The very next day, barely 12 hours later, Lifeline called us to say “Please, would you review this file we have. It is a file for a little girl in China who needs a home. There are pictures for you to look at. But we need your answer tomorrow.”

And just like that, God had shown us our daughter, Austin and Lily Grace’s sister, choosing to reveal her to us through Lily Grace. And now, we begin the process to bring you home. Today, that process was shortened yet again by a God who knows we can’t wait to see you. On Friday, June 27, 2008, we were granted a pre-approval, or PA, another important step in the journey. Only a few short months now until we hold you in our arms and thank Him for allowing it. In the meantime, we are praying for you every day. We have done a little research and have learned that your name means "To Praise, Glory and High Honor!" Wow, we are stunned and in complete awe of an awesome God, who even chose to have you named in His honor, both in your native Chinese and in English. See you soon, sweet tater!

Love,
Jerry, Connie, Austin, and Lily Grace
Green, Party of Four – and You’ll Make Five!


A special note to all of our friends. In deference to CCAA and due to certain other concerns, we have decided that we will not be able to post pictures of Lia Faith to this site unless the site becomes restricted. Since we have essentially used this site as our family happenings journal since we came home with Lily Grace, we do not wish to make this site restricted. Therefore, we are creating another site, Green, Party of Five, for updates on Lia Faith. We will restrict access to that site. You are all welcome to request access by sending an email or commenting to this post. While we certainly want everyone to share with us in the joy of bringing Lia home, we have been advised to be cautious about what we share and we don't want to do anything that might jeopardize our adoption. We will show pictures of Lia Faith on the new restricted site and hopefully this will allow all of our friends to see pictures of Lia, without them being disseminated to all users of the internet. We hope to have the site working in a few days. And then we will show pictures.

It's Official! We Have an LID!!!

"So Let's Dance and Celebrate!"

"Austin Gathers the High School Band to Celebrate the News!"

With every passing day, we inch a little closer to being able to wrap our arms around a little sister for Austin and Lily Grace. Her name is Lia Faith and she waits for us just as we wait for her. The other day, Austin remarked "We need to hurry up and bring Lia Faith home or somebody's gonna burst with all this emotion!" I couldn't have put it better myself (and I think a couple of us have already burst, some of us more than once!). But we know that God is arranging things in His time and according to His plan. And so we wait. Others have certainly waited longer and continue to wait. And we pray for them and thank God for their demonstration of Faith in His plans.

"Aunt Martha Drives Up from Mobile to Celebrate!"

In the course of our preparations for bringing home our little Lia Faith, we have had a very exciting and very emotional past few weeks. Long nights spent praying for God's direction, trips to doctors' offices to learn of things we'd never before heard about, and late night exchanges of critical information that had to be in a certain place by a certain time with a certain accuracy. Through all this, we have learned that our little planet is not really that big when God gets involved. Unfortunately we cannot say much more about our exciting news right now. But one day soon, we hope to be able to share more of the good news we've been receiving. And to tell you about the miracles and amazing things God's already done and is doing, even now, to bring Lia home. It's very difficult to explain the emotions to which Austin was referring and the awkwardness of asking someone to pray for circumstances which you cannot share. But, we have made a decision based on a little information, a lot of prayer, and a supply of Faith. And we're excited to see how God's plan now unfolds. We'll tell you more when we are able.

"Walking and Talking About Lia Faith"

In the meantime, we learned this week that our Dossier was received by the Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) and we were granted an official Log In Date (LID for all the Adoption Acronym junkies!). The CCAA received our DTC and reviewed it quickly to grant us an LID. Now I know my ABCs, next time won't you BLOG with me! May 29th, 2008 is a day that we will always remember as the day that CCAA became officially aware of our intention to follow God's heart and bring home one of His little children. A day that CCAA noted that they have more work to do, preparing for yet another adoption. LID, May 29th, 2008.

Every day we inch a little closer to bringing home our little Lia Faith. Please pray with us and for us, that we may see God's plan brought to fruition before somebody bursts!

Love,
Jerry, Connie, Austin, Lily Grace, and Lia Faith
Green, Party of 5ive

A Worthy Cause ... and a Round of Golf

Every year, Lifeline Children's Services hosts a Celebrity Golf tournament and this year, they asked us if we'd like to volunteer to help. Of course, if you've read much of the writings and ramblings on this site, you know by now that we think Lifeline placed the moon in its earthly orbit. Lily Grace is with us today because, first of all, God had planned it that way, but also in no small part due to the efforts of the Lifeline staff. And now, we are blessed to be waiting for another little angel, Lia Faith, who has also benefitted from Lifeline's dedication to children. So there was no question. Of course we'd help. And since Austin is such an avid golfer, we knew that he'd fall in line and do his share. What we didn't know was how much fun we'd have, especially Austin. But then the day arrived for the tournament and ...

There's absolutely no way I have time to take off work, I thought to myself Monday morning. With three projects, no four, waiting to be finished in June and with a significant new project set to get started, I simply had too much work to do. Customers and employees were depending on me. Ditto for Connie. Deadlines and end dates. Meetings and working sessions. All lined up like the cars of a Southern freight train. And so what did we do Monday? We got off the train for a day. We took the day off!! And spent it with some of our new best friends. Best friends because they work tirelessly for the benefit of children they've never met. Best friends because they volunteer to support a cause for children they will never know. Best friends because I see them now and know of the contributions they have made and are making to bring our children home. Children who need an angel working on their behalf, without whom they would have very little hope. Left to wonder whether they belong in a world that seemingly doesn't know they are there at all. Best friends toiling away to make the lives of children better in any way they can. That's why we like to think of them as our best friends.

So, even with the customers calling my cell phone as we arrived at the golf course in Birmingham, I didn't flinch. "Hey Karla, oops hold on a second while I answer this - yes I can go to Washington Thursday, but I have to go now, I am busy." Stick to the plan. Tell them no, we have other priorities today. I'm already in Birmingham, a hundred miles away. I can't be bothered right now.

That was really cool, but don't tell my boss I did that. On second thought, go ahead and tell him. Fortunately, he understands, having adopted a little girl of his own a few years back. And Connie's boss? Couldn't ask for better. God knows where our heart is and so He makes a way for us to pursue that, even on a busy workday.

So, we got to catch up with Anna and Karla and visit with Lauren again. We met two new friends, Crissy and Kristin - I hope they don't mind me posting the picture, but here they are smiling beneath the Lifeline banner. Crissy and Kristin worked diligently to make sure things went according to His plan. There were certainly many other volunteers, God's army clad in blue and bearing the battle slogan Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." Hope and a future for His children. Indeed God does have a plan and He has Lifeline Children's Services hard at work on that plan!

The coolest thing of the day - ask Austin. He was privileged to caddy for John Croyle, you know, he of the Big Oak Boys and Girls Ranch and father to Brodie Croyle. Drove him around all afternoon, ate dinner with him. Even got to putt and drive and chip a little using John's clubs (oops, ignore that, scorer's table!).

Austin had a great time and was blessed to spend the day with an awesome Christian man chatting about golf, football, and life -what a cool day for a young teenage boy.


In the course of this day, we met several more of our Lifeline friends, angels doing God's work. We met one lady who had been foster parent to over 50 children since starting her ministry a few short years back. Over 50 children!!! God Bless Her. We also met two new interns with Lifeline - smart move interns, absorb all you can! As an added bonus, we got to mingle with lots and lots of former Alabama and Auburn athletes. And most importantly, we got to see how God works in developing funds for Lifeline to carry out His plans. FYI, John Croyle is one funny man and auctioneer, though he may have a few broke (ex)friends today!

Thank you Lifeline for letting us hang out with you. I hope we weren't in the way too much! And thank you to all those who participated, athletes from Alabama and Auburn who know a good cause when they see it (a round of golf and a steak dinner notwithstanding).

Oh, what about Lily, you ask? She spent the day drinking Sun Drop with Papaw. But Papaw wasn't allowed to drink Sun Drop "cause he would be wild" according to Lily Grace.

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