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Another blessed Saturday... Thank you  AK Photography  for offering to spend yesterday taking portraits to help bring Emily home! Because of Anna Kathryn, her amazing helper Tatiana, and 10 special families, $1,000 was raised yesterday for our adoption expenses! Can you believe our fundraising thermometer has almost reached $30,000?! Unbelievable. I can't wait to see all the beautiful pictures from yesterday! Thanks again to everyone who has stepped up to help bring home our Mei Mei. We thought the finances would be one of our biggest obstacles in this adoption but because of so many loving hearts, and a God who constantly provides, we are almost fully funded! Makes me want to do it again! I know, I know, let's get Emily home first (that's what my logical hubby tells me anyway). ;-) I pray that we can return the generosity to some of you who may decide to adopt one day. We would be honored to walk with you every step of the way! This was the last of our fundraising efforts....

Our Orphan Awareness Fundraiser on Saturday was a big success and we have so much to share about this wonderful day! First of all, thank you to everyone who came out to support us and our mission to bring home Emily Hope. We were overwhelmed by your presence, hugs, words of encouragement, and donations for our cause. Because of your support, we raised $8,018 at this event! Seamus and I prayerfully decided to share $1,000 with (un)adopted. We felt a 10% tithe (plus a little extra) would be appropriate and we hope you agree. Take a look at our fundraising thermometer! (you have to view web version if you're on a smart phone) We are less than $5,000 away from being fully funded to bring home Emily Hope! Thank you to Garth Thorpe, with (un)adopted, who shared in this great day with us. Your presentation was inspiring and we are thankful for your ministry in Christ's name. Thank you to Joe Bergeron and some fabulous guys from St. Timothy UMC for sharing you...

The face of an angel, no doubt... We received yet another dose of great news just yesterday. Emily's heart echo came back translated and our International Pediatrician in Birmingham studied the results and called to tell us that her heart is perfectly healthy! Her congenital heart defect has completely healed itself! The only very small concern left is the minor brain atrophy I mentioned in a previous post. They are calling it cerebral palsy but again, it is very minor. She is currently receiving some massage therapy for her muscles and improvement is being noted. Although we don't have a perfect picture of the CP, we do know that it doesn't seem to have affected her cognitive ability at all! Our hearts are so full. We love this precious girl with all that we are. She is our daughter, plain and simple. She is our sister. She is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. But her real story is not our love for her, rather the love that Christ has for her. It's infinitel...

There are an overwhelming amount of people we need to thank! We will happily be thanking people for days, weeks, even months to come. There were so many details that went in to the planning of our Orphan Awareness fundraising event that will be happening on Saturday. Thank you to Renee Cresap, our chair for the event. I don't have the words to explain how instrumental she has been. God knew Seamus and I couldn't organize it all alone and He so perfectly placed it on Renee's heart at the perfect time. Wow! Thank you, Renee, from the bottom of our hearts. And I know you want ZERO glory so here's to your request... Thank you, Jesus, for this precious friend!! Thank you to all our precious friends (old and new) who have volunteered to work at our event. There are many, many people who will be behind the scenes and working different tables on Saturday. Thank you!! We love you so much. We have had many businesses and individuals donate their services as well as items for our ...

We have been eager to share more about our sweet girl. So much has transpired over the past several days and we continue to gather incredible information every day. Many of you have been asking about Emily and we are now able to share so much about her! Our daughter is 15 months old. She was abandoned when she was 5 days old, left outside an orphanage located in Northern China. This orphanage is called Baotou Social Welfare Institute and it is located in Inner Mongolia Province, which borders Russia. She lived at this orphanage for the first few months of her life. Here, she was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect. She was transferred to another home in Northern China called Harmony House. Harmony House is in Langfang, China, part of Hebei Province. She has been at Harmony House since she was only a few months old and still lives there today. It turns out Harmony House is an American run, Christian ministry! Many people have confirmed that this is absolutely a best case scenario f...

It is with pure joy in my heart that I am able to share with you that we have been matched with a precious angel. 8 months in to our adoption process, 49 days in the "waiting for a match" phase... on Monday, November 4th, we looked in to the eyes of our Emily Hope. The Lord has done it again. He has provided. Of course He has. That's a promise he has made... to always provide for those who love Him. He provides despite my daily doubt that he really is who he says he is. Not only has he provided but he has once again gone above and beyond to bless us immeasurably. Our God who is too big to comprehend loves to bless us. He loves to gift us with joy... joy that reflects who He is. Why the creator of this universe loves me the way he does will forever be a mystery. This precious child was marked by God before time began. She has been set apart. She is our daughter. She is HIS daughter. When I looked in to her soulful eyes, I sobbed. I knew. I knew the same way I knew when my ...