PS -- FedEx just delivered one of the checks I was expecting, and got an email saying that a work check I desperately needed but thought for sure would not come until after the trip is being overnighted today!! God is so good!
Me
Monday, January 11, 2010
Please pray today!
Hi, everyone!
Sorry it has been a few days since my last post. Lots of last-minute details and work and packing going on around here. It seems like the enemy is doing EVERYTHING he can to make this trip hard. But we won't let him defeat us!
First, my printer bit the dust Friday, which means I have not been able to print the copy of my dossier, travel documents, etc., that have to go with us. Went to get a printer yesterday and have been fighting to make it work right for the last 12 hours!! It still doesn't want to connect correctly. Urrgghh!
A check that was supposed to come this a.m. did not, and I am trying not to panic because even with that check, we are almost $5000 short -- and we leave TOMORROW night! Where are you, God? Adam and I heard a sermon a few years ago that has always stuck with us. The pastor said that God rarely works immediately (when we want it), but almost always works suddenly. So I expect to suddenly see how this is all going to come together, probably moments before we have to get on the plane.
Meanwhile, I have a terrible respiratory infection that came on since Friday, complete with migraines and throwing up and croupy crud--the works! Scheduled a doctor's appt. for 8:30 a.m. tomorrow so at least they'll let me fly out of here if I have an antibiotic. And I have a work project that is not finished and is adding to the stress levels.
All that to say, please pray! Pray that teenagers' attitudes will change, that bodies will be healed, that finances will show up....pray for peace. I pray the same for you and your families.
On a side note, it was 19 degrees when I ran an errand this a.m. and I had to pour water on my windshield so I could see, and the water froze!!! I live in Florida because I like to be warm!
Enough complaining. I had breakfast this a.m., running water for a shower, and plenty of clean water to drink -- I am better off than 3/4 of the world today. Yikes! Lord, forgive me for my attitude. China, here we come!!
Bless you all!
Natalie
Sorry it has been a few days since my last post. Lots of last-minute details and work and packing going on around here. It seems like the enemy is doing EVERYTHING he can to make this trip hard. But we won't let him defeat us!
First, my printer bit the dust Friday, which means I have not been able to print the copy of my dossier, travel documents, etc., that have to go with us. Went to get a printer yesterday and have been fighting to make it work right for the last 12 hours!! It still doesn't want to connect correctly. Urrgghh!
A check that was supposed to come this a.m. did not, and I am trying not to panic because even with that check, we are almost $5000 short -- and we leave TOMORROW night! Where are you, God? Adam and I heard a sermon a few years ago that has always stuck with us. The pastor said that God rarely works immediately (when we want it), but almost always works suddenly. So I expect to suddenly see how this is all going to come together, probably moments before we have to get on the plane.
Meanwhile, I have a terrible respiratory infection that came on since Friday, complete with migraines and throwing up and croupy crud--the works! Scheduled a doctor's appt. for 8:30 a.m. tomorrow so at least they'll let me fly out of here if I have an antibiotic. And I have a work project that is not finished and is adding to the stress levels.
All that to say, please pray! Pray that teenagers' attitudes will change, that bodies will be healed, that finances will show up....pray for peace. I pray the same for you and your families.
On a side note, it was 19 degrees when I ran an errand this a.m. and I had to pour water on my windshield so I could see, and the water froze!!! I live in Florida because I like to be warm!
Enough complaining. I had breakfast this a.m., running water for a shower, and plenty of clean water to drink -- I am better off than 3/4 of the world today. Yikes! Lord, forgive me for my attitude. China, here we come!!
Bless you all!
Natalie
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Busy, Busy -- and Miracles!
Working hard in the home stretch to China today -- parked in a booth at Denny's, where they have free WiFi. My family knows I am not coming home until tomorrow morning as I try to wrap up work projects.
God is still in the miracle business, and we are seeing new touches of His hands daily. For China, your orphanage donation must be made in American dollars -- brand, new $100 bills, preferably in consecutive serial number order. Now, finding $10k in new bills can be next to impossible, even for the banks, as witnessed by many, many adoptive families' online posts. However, I walked into our wonderful bank yesterday (Regions) and my awesome bank rep, Michelle, said it just "happened" to be her money-ordering day (Who knew banks "ordered" money? See, you learn all kinds of new things when you adopt!) and she would see what she could do.
Well, she just called me and said the $10k bundle came in -- all new and all in numerical order! PLUS, the bank will keep it for us until the rest of our funds come in by Friday.
Also, an awesome organization, the Abba Fund, approved a no-interest loan towards our adoption. They did it very quickly when we discovered how short we were and they are wiring the funds today. Woo Hoo!
God is good, all the time.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Eight days, sweet girls! And now about the rest of us...
Although this blog is primarily about our adventure to bring home our new additions, I thought it was time to meet the rest of the family. This is our Christmas Day 2008 Christmas photo. Adam and I are on the left, with 11-year-old Justin in front of me. Jessica (18) is in the middle (Go Gators!), then Josh (15), and Lydia (19) holding Amberlie Joy (4). Even though this picture is a year old, we all look pretty much the same, except Amberlie has more hair now.
And here is the first picture we saw of Amberlie. Honestly, we thought she was kind of funny-looking. How ridiculous we were! She is absolutely the most wonderful blessing to our family. God is good!
Monday, January 4, 2010
Where is the time going? Nine days and counting!
Xi Xi and Xi Xian at two-and-a-half
This is one of the first pictures we saw of the twins when we were considering adopting again. Aren't they cuties?
Today we got back into somewhat of a homeschooling routine. At least we got in Bible and math for all, Spanish and English for some. I am trying to learn some Chinese phrases that should be very helpful with 4-year-olds who only speak Chinese, except that my Chinese does not sound like the Chinese on the CD. I try to copy the phrases exactly, but mine come out sounding different.
Oh well, I'm gonna keep trying. Hopefully if I say something like, "May I give you a hug?" they won't hear, "I'm gonna get you, my pretties, and your little dog, too"! (Wizard of Oz reference, for those who don't get it).
Faith is trusting in what you do not see, and I do not see any way to get everything done before next Wednesday at the oh-so-early-morning hour of 3 a.m. when we need to leave for the airport. Nor do I see the last few thousand dollars we need rolling in. But it is perfecting my faith! And I am counting it all JOY!
We did get the bunkbeds up in Amberlie's room and the Christmas decorations down. And I started to make a little headway on my huge pile of work-work.
Tomorrow morning, I call Show Hope to make sure they received our request to visit Maria's Big House of Hope, the medical needs orphanage that Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife Mary beth and their kids built in Luoyang, China. We plan to love on the kids and take some suitcases full of donations before we go to the province where we will receive our girls.
I pray that the girls have received the photobooks we sent. Our adoption agency is so awesome, and made sure they were translated before they were sent. I included all kinds of pictures of our family and one of our house, as well as the pictures of the twins that we had received over the last 18 months. I doubt they have seen themselves in pictures or even mirrors much. Can you imagine not knowing what you look like?
Life is certainly about to change for them soon!
Oh well, I'm gonna keep trying. Hopefully if I say something like, "May I give you a hug?" they won't hear, "I'm gonna get you, my pretties, and your little dog, too"! (Wizard of Oz reference, for those who don't get it).
Faith is trusting in what you do not see, and I do not see any way to get everything done before next Wednesday at the oh-so-early-morning hour of 3 a.m. when we need to leave for the airport. Nor do I see the last few thousand dollars we need rolling in. But it is perfecting my faith! And I am counting it all JOY!
We did get the bunkbeds up in Amberlie's room and the Christmas decorations down. And I started to make a little headway on my huge pile of work-work.
Tomorrow morning, I call Show Hope to make sure they received our request to visit Maria's Big House of Hope, the medical needs orphanage that Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife Mary beth and their kids built in Luoyang, China. We plan to love on the kids and take some suitcases full of donations before we go to the province where we will receive our girls.
I pray that the girls have received the photobooks we sent. Our adoption agency is so awesome, and made sure they were translated before they were sent. I included all kinds of pictures of our family and one of our house, as well as the pictures of the twins that we had received over the last 18 months. I doubt they have seen themselves in pictures or even mirrors much. Can you imagine not knowing what you look like?
Life is certainly about to change for them soon!
Blessings to all who are praying, who care about the least of these, who have supported us and who love us. You mean the world to us!
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Organizing, Fundraising and Bears -- Oh, My!
Here are more recent pictures of Addixian (pronounced Addison) and Axi (pronounced Ax-ee). Addixian is on the left side of the teeter totter, Axi on the right. Axi has spastic cerebral palsy and her legs are very scissored. BUT look at her go on those stairs! Go, Axi baby!!
It's Sunday morning, and I did my devotions on my own and sent the rest of the family off to church so I could get some work done (such is the life of a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom who also works. Working at home is a joke unless everyone else is gone!).
On my list today: to get books ordered for my two college students, help my stepdaughter get the grandkids to JCPenney for a professional photo, take the Christmas decorations down (may not get to this until later in the week), make a packing list, work on an overdue work project, and try not to daydream about China! (I can do that on the 18-hour flight to Shanghai next week.)
I had a dream the night before last that we were in China meeting the twins at an orphanage, When the girls came out, to my surprise, they were 10 years old, not 4! And while Axi was quite disabled and not speaking, Addixian was Russian, spoke English, had short spiky hair and told us her name was Skyler! Very odd, but surprises are the norm in international adoption. Especially with China, because you have never met your children before adopting them, in most cases. You aren't sure until you get there what they will look like, what size they will be, and how serious any medical conditions are. I don't think the twins will be 10 years old, or Russian, but there are many unknowns. I have a great deal of excitement mixed with a healthy dose of fear, I think!
Please pray for us this week every time you think of us -- for our health, safety, and that the rest of the finances will come in for the trip (see yesterday's post for our awesome matching grant opportunity this week!). Lots of organizing, fundraising, and -- oh yeah, bears. I bought three incredibly soft little teddy bears that match for my three China girls to have in China (under $1 each. Go Target Christmas clearance!)
We love you all.
Natalie Gillespie
Saturday, January 2, 2010
We leave for China Jan. 13! At long last.....
After 20 very long months, we are finally about to head to China to bring home our precious twin girls, Xi He Xi (soon to be Axi Grace) and Xi He Xian (soon to be Addixian Hope). Currently, they live in the Wuxi Social Welfare Institute in Jiangsu, China.
On January 13th, we will leave Tampa and fly to Shanghai, then travel to Jiangsu's capital city of Nanjing, where we should receive the girls on Jan. 17. We plan to be back home on January 29th.
For the next 10 days, I will be scrambling to finish a big work project that is coming to a close after a long, tough year; pack for nine people and organize a housesitter, cat feeder, and dog sitter. I will also try to make my house at least presentable for when we come home, pack all of the copies of all the right documents, and somehow pull together the $18,000-plus that we will need for the trip. That includes a $10,200 required "donation" to the girls' orphanage (which we are happy to give, because it supports all the kids left behind who don't have families and may never have one). plus hotels for 16 nights, in-country flights and trains between the cities we must go to, medical check-ups and fees for the twins, tips for our translators and guides, and food for nine of us.
Adam and I are taking Jessica (18), Joshua (15), Justin (11), and Amberlie Joy (4), with us to China, along with our niece Ashley (14), who we consider part of the family! We will be coming home with the same group, plus the twins! Which should make for some interesting travel experiences! Pray for all of us -- for health, safety, patience and good spirits with each other.
Please pray, also, that the Lord will provide the last bit of finances we need to make the trip. Praise Him!! He led three very dear and faithful friends to donate nearly $4,000 to our fund last week!
We also received a call from an amazing ministry, Lifesong for Orphans, that they will provide a $2,500 matching grant THIS WEEK if we can pull together $2500 in donations. It works like this: if people donate to our adoption via Lifesong (this can be done on PayPal), then Lifesong will match each donation and send us a check before we leave! If $2500 is donated, Lifesong will match it and we will have $5,000 for our trip!!!
If you need a deduction, Lifesong is a nonprofit, so you can claim the tax deduction for giving! If you feel led to help, visit lifesongfororphans.org or call 309-747-3556. Our family account number is #1120.
Blessings, and we'll keep you posted!
Natalie
On January 13th, we will leave Tampa and fly to Shanghai, then travel to Jiangsu's capital city of Nanjing, where we should receive the girls on Jan. 17. We plan to be back home on January 29th.
For the next 10 days, I will be scrambling to finish a big work project that is coming to a close after a long, tough year; pack for nine people and organize a housesitter, cat feeder, and dog sitter. I will also try to make my house at least presentable for when we come home, pack all of the copies of all the right documents, and somehow pull together the $18,000-plus that we will need for the trip. That includes a $10,200 required "donation" to the girls' orphanage (which we are happy to give, because it supports all the kids left behind who don't have families and may never have one). plus hotels for 16 nights, in-country flights and trains between the cities we must go to, medical check-ups and fees for the twins, tips for our translators and guides, and food for nine of us.
Adam and I are taking Jessica (18), Joshua (15), Justin (11), and Amberlie Joy (4), with us to China, along with our niece Ashley (14), who we consider part of the family! We will be coming home with the same group, plus the twins! Which should make for some interesting travel experiences! Pray for all of us -- for health, safety, patience and good spirits with each other.
Please pray, also, that the Lord will provide the last bit of finances we need to make the trip. Praise Him!! He led three very dear and faithful friends to donate nearly $4,000 to our fund last week!
We also received a call from an amazing ministry, Lifesong for Orphans, that they will provide a $2,500 matching grant THIS WEEK if we can pull together $2500 in donations. It works like this: if people donate to our adoption via Lifesong (this can be done on PayPal), then Lifesong will match each donation and send us a check before we leave! If $2500 is donated, Lifesong will match it and we will have $5,000 for our trip!!!
If you need a deduction, Lifesong is a nonprofit, so you can claim the tax deduction for giving! If you feel led to help, visit lifesongfororphans.org or call 309-747-3556. Our family account number is #1120.
Blessings, and we'll keep you posted!
Natalie
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