Why Break With Tradition?!

It's time for the annual First Day of School post. And for the "First Time In Forever," you all get the added treat of updated peeks at my gorgeous gang. I know, it's been a while since you've seen their faces 'round these parts o' the blogosphere!

{You are more than welcome for THAT ear-worm... 

it's blasting in the kitchen right now and I succumbed. 

I am weak. I admit it. And now I'm laughing at you

because you are hearing Ana in your head just like I am.}

Anyhoo.

Our "bonus daughter" had a VERY momentous First Day yesterday. She returned to us late Friday night from summer at home with her family in Beijing. She's still a bit jet-lagged and trying not to be anxious about all the SAT prep work she has ahead of her and layered on top of her Honors course load. In spite of it all, she made it to the bus on time and is officially a SENIOR!!!!!!

Today, we sent our LadyBug back to the public school bright and early. For those not following me on F@cebook, she came home in January to do cyber-schooling after some health issues that made the public school pace and routine pretty hard to manage. It was a great season of refreshment and retreat for her and she is confident that she is ready to handle her JUNIOR year. Seriously, how did this sneak up on me like this?

Next to head out the door was Li'l Empress. This girly of ours was so ready for her new school year to start. She's super excited to be in the upstairs of her building - it's a milestone that all the rising third graders wildly anticipate in our little school community. Yes, I said it. THIRD. GRADE.

After Li'l Empress climbed happily on her bus, Mei Mei and I ran inside to finish getting ready for the morning. Then we were OFF to the elementary school for their annual Back To School Celebration. It's always so fun to meet the new teachers, say hi! to the old teachers, and catch up with friends after the long summer apart. I'm particularly thrilled that Li'l Empress is going to be with her sweet little buddy "S" again this year. She's a sweet friend and so very encouraging and kind to all her classmates. It goes a LOOOOONG way for my girl to have that security and confidence in her friendships.

As soon as Li'l Empress' class was escorted into the building to start the day, my little Mei Mei fell apart in a puddle of tears. She kept saying over and over, "I miss my sissen" and wiping her tears with her Beebee. She was a soggy mess by the time we got to the van. It was decided that a little pit stop at the local Chick-Fil-A was in order, to cheer our spirits and distract both of us from missing our Li'l Empress.

Then, suddenly, it was time. Yes, that's right, the day has arrived. Mei Mei began her first day of PRE-SCHOOL today. Oh, my heart. This girl was a STITCH to listen to once I told her it was time to get ready for her drive to school. Giggling to herself while I dressed her. Wiggling in her seat trying to eat lunch. Covering her mouth in "OH!'s" of anticipation and looking over my shoulder on the 5 minute drive to see if we were "dere yet?"

Until we walked into the building. Upon which time she started muttering under her breath, "I not want go pee-kool, Momma" over and over like some tribal chant. I exercised HERCULEAN effort to not crack up and to take her anxiety as seriously as she wanted me to, but man, it was hard. SUCH a HOOT.

Oh, and yes, Yes, that IS in fact the very same dress that Li'l Empress wore on her very first day of pre-school. I'm totally a sap like that and I am so excited that she chose it from the line-up. And that I'm still smarter than my kids most of the time to make her THINK she chose it. Yeah. I still got it, baby!

I hung out with her for about 20 minutes, chatting with the teachers and helping her feel comfortable. It was fun to point out to her all the things that Li'l Empress enjoyed when she was a student there. Once she was sufficiently distracted and feeling comfortable, I headed out and the teachers reported that she only cried for about five minutes. And I didn't cry at all. :)

It sure helped to have her little buddy in the classroom - he's the youngest son of the director from our adoption agency AND LadyBug babysat for him and his big brother all summer long. Here she is watching for his car to pull up to the drop-off door. Both his mom and I got the story later that they held hands when they walked together and that he is her new "bess fren." So cute!!!!!

When we headed back to pick her up at the end of the afternoon, her very first words to us were "I had SUPER! FUN! today! Mom!" She had all kinds of great stories to share and pretty much was wiped out and ready for bed by 6:30.

You might have noticed that BBE has no First Day pictures. That's because the poor kid got hit with a a nasty tummy bug that kept him up most of last night. Prayers that no one else gets it here would be so appreciated. We have BIG family plans for the holiday weekend and we've been looking forward to them for the whole summer long!

So there you have it. The Traditional First Day wrap up. Thanks for hanging in there for it all. Hopefully soon I will have something incredibly wise and deep and important to write about. Till then, all these cute pictures of my kids make me happy. And it's my blog, so that's all that really matters, right?

Hope your First Days were momentous and memorable too. Here's to a GREAT 2015~2016 school year!!!!!

Grace Like Rain is LIVE!

There's a big event going on over here that you might want to check out.... wait. Read the rest of this first. Then, go check it out.

This gal, Robin, has been an adoptive momma friend and cheerleader to SO many of us within the Chinese adoption community. I started following her original blog very early in our journey to Li'l Empress, having found her via our (then) mutual agency connections. She was such an encouragement during the long wait. And when we announced we were adopting again, she was equally supportive in both word and deed. While I've never had the privilege of meeting her in person (yet!), we've had many, many discussions and interactions over the last 6 years. Her heart is magnanimous. Compassionate. Steadfast. And Driven. This woman and her husband, in the last five years, have completed three adoptions of beautiful little girls from China. THIS time, they are going back for a little boy (oh, I could just eat him up!) AND another little girl (also quite delish!). Oh yeah. AND they have two older kids already in the mix!

Many of you are likely familiar with her work - I've shared some of it before - and some of you will be new to her creations. The stuff she sews is beautiful, creative, and intentional. She's been "firing up her mean machine" for months, crafting amazing clothing to auction in this fundraiser. This momma is no slouch - her efforts in bringing in the finances to bring these two (and her other kiddoes, frankly) are to be admired. Her work ethic and diligence have been impressive to witness. And the workmanship on these outfits is amazing. This auction is nicely rounded out by many other things donated by her friends and family for the purpose of finishing off the balance of the expenses for these two adoptions.

I know I'll be puting my name and my bid on a couple of the things lined up here. This particular event is near and dear to my heart as one of the kiddoes has a need quite similar to one of my girls. I'm always thrilled when Waiting Children come home but I love the additional connections that Robin and I will share with the addition of these two sweeties. Would you consider heading over and maybe sharing the auction with others too? Just don't bid on the stuff I'm shooting for - it might get ugly!  {insert big grin here}

Grace Like Rain
~An Auction for Caleb and Gabi~

Living Hope International

Saturday was a really priceless experience for The Boss and I. We had the honor of spending all afternoon with Lily Fang and her daughter Elizabeth. For those who aren't familiar, Lily and her husband Samuel are the founders/directors of Living Hope Adoption Agency. This is our second adoption with LHAA and after 6 years of interactions, they really feel like family to us. Their passion for bringing families together by adoption has obviously touched our lives. But further than that, what I find most admirable about this family is the scope of their work through Living Hope International.

As you can tell, our itinerary has been a fairly flexible and loosely set one. We had originally planned to go to The Great Wall, in addition to visiting LHI, and join the other LHAA family that arrived on Thursday. But we felt that it would be too long a day for Mei Mei and that we would be pushing her too hard if we tried to keep up with the pace they had planned. It's a good thing because their plans all got changed and shifted by the orphanage from which their child was coming. So we still haven't met them but we rejoice that another little one has met her forever family as of Saturday evening! And not walking The Great Wall twice is no big deal - we're still among the few folks we know that can say we did it once!

As I was saying.... LHI is a beautiful training center for children who have no family that can raise them. Run by a large board of directors from all over the world, and headed up by Samuel Fang, this home focuses on educating them while giving them a place to live during the school year that is safe and provides for all their needs so that they can learn well. The kids are all given regular school curriculum, music lessons, language lessons, household chores, and vocational training when they are of age, all in a family-style atmosphere in the process. In the past, I've talked a lot here about LHI and what they do so it was a great treat to see their operation in person (again.)

Last summer, one of their campus sites was destroyed by flooding. A new location was imperative. And boy, did God provide big! So much so, in fact, that the facility that we toured in '08 has been combined into the site we saw today. This one houses about 40 school-aged kids, various staff members, and still has room for guests of the organization. In fact, The Boss and I had thought about staying on site but with the great distance and so many unknowns about Mei Mei's medical needs, we thought easier access within the city would be wiser for us.

Lily picked us up from the hotel on the way back from violin lessons for some of the children. It was such a treat to see a familiar face from home. We all joked that it is pretty sad that we have to travel all the way to China to spend the day with someone who literally lives just across our little town.

Once we arrived, the staff had a hearty lunch waiting for us. Mei Mei just ate, and ate, and ate. We couldn't believe it, especially since she had a late breakfast and a snack before Miss Lily arrived! They got a kick out of her and her very spunky (demanding!) insistence on "MORE!"

This is the cafeteria where everyone eats together

for all their meals.

There's also a big screen at the end that they

use for presentations and so on.

Shaggy, I just had to snap this picture of all the rice.

I know how much you love rice!

Then the staff, Elizabeth, and Lily took turns showing us around the campus. It was great to see Elizabeth "in her element" - she is such an engaging and mature young lady - I just know God has great plans for her!

Around this center "family room" they have a computer room, a conference room, a beautifully stocked library (YAY!), study rooms, and a nice open "family room" for group gatherings and movies together.

This "family room" is in the center of the main

building and offers lots of seating, a very large fish tank,

and a roomy place for "movie night" for the kids.

All of the classrooms, guest rooms, library and conference

rooms are on the perimeter of this center space.

This large tree-looking structure

used to be a fountain but they have it decorated

like a Christmas tree.

From this vantage point, the kitchen is off to the left.

This is the main entry to the center.

The courtyard out front is wide and spacious and

several boys were playing dodgeball when we drove in.

Wouldn't it be nice to see a basketball court set up at one end of it?!

As we were walking, I was asking Lily what LHI needs the most right now to keep functioning well and keep meeting the needs of even more children. Her response was so gracious and telling of the heart behind this organization: "We don't really need more things from America like clothes and so on. The kids have enough things." But she went on to share that they are regularly in need of prayers for protection and safety, as this new location is governed by officials who are not empathetic to the mission of the school. Further, they are in need of regular monthly support to be able to run the facility, afford the rent and expenses, and still pay for high quality, skilled staff members to train the children for productive adulthood. The lessons for violin, voice, and vocational training do not come cheaply but in this culture, they are vital to making sure that these kids leave this boarding home well prepared to support themselves and their families.

I promised Lily that we would indeed pray and that we would work to share the word about the physical needs of the organization. If any of this tugs at your heart and you feel led to support what Living Hope International is doing, please go to their website (CLICK HERE!) and check out what they are all about. You will be making an investment in the eternity of several young lives that could change the world!

Thank you, Lily and Elizabeth, 

for a fabulous day and for showing us

the amazing work you are doing there

at Living Hope International!

Another Delightful Day!

Yesterday (Friday, April 12th) was another "delightful day with Dion!" Seriously, this guy is a gem - we are so grateful for the blessing of his companionship and guidance through this part of our journey.

We had requested to visit the LHAA offices here in Beijing so after a nice leisurely morning with Mei Mei and lingering over breakfast, we met Dion in the lobby and whisked off to the local Carrefoure, which is the local "carry it all, at decent prices" kind of store. We needed a small suitcase since the in-country flights have a lower weight limit than the international ones and we were looking for a few food items to help our voracious little one make it between meals. Like right now - I'm sitting here trying to type this and Baba is cutting up some fruit for her - no matter that we finished breakfast less than an hour ago. She's had no adverse reactions so far to any of the foods we've offered, we just find that she is always, always, always hungry for something. As tiny as she is, I'm sure that she has some nutritional catching up to do....

Anyway, we whipped through the store fairly quickly and grabbed a taxi to go to the offices. Miss Grace, the newest facilitator who was with us on Gotcha Day and Adoption Day, was working from home. But we got to meet Zhang Mei, who is the in-country gal that has been feeding us our updated pictures of Mei Mei. She runs this office and all of the parts of the processes for the Living Hope families. I joked with them that "this is where the magic all happens!"  The Boss got a chance to chat on the phone with Samuel Fang, the director of our agency when we first got there, as he was on a business call with Zhang Mei

It was incredibly gratifying to see the humble little apartment where they work and to meet her and thank her in person for all the help and the pictures and information they were able to get us on Mei Mei. I reminded her of the blankets that should be coming in small bunches for the orphanage that we made and thanked her for taking care of delivering them on our behalf.

I don't have the pictures of our time with her and Dion yet, but while we were there, The Boss snapped this cute one of Mei Mei falling asleep after the excitement of taxi rides, long walks in the sunshine and shopping at Carrefoure.

She had a death grip clutch on that snack cup - those whole wheat puffs we brought are almost gone and the dried yogurt snack chips are completely gone! We tried to find more at Carrefoure but will have to keep looking as they had none. 

After shopping and the visit to the offices, we dropped off our load here at the hotel and headed out to find some good old fashioned pizza. The Boss is fully recovered and that is what sounded good to him so that is what we found.  The Pizza Hut was crazy - soooo many foods on the menu beyond pizza. We ordered and enjoyed it all immensely!

Unfortunately, we returned to the hotel to find that we had new neighbors. LOUD, CHAIN SMOKING, RAUCOUS neighbors. The noise didn't quit from when we arrived around 4 till literally 4 a.m. And the room still feels dark and foggy with their smoke. We spoke to the manager about it once last evening and they agreed to contact the guests to remind them that this is a non-smoking floor. But we had to go to the manager again this morning to let them know that one of the rooms had to be moved - ours or theirs. With Mei Mei just recovering so recently from pnuemonia, we can't take any risks with her. Just now (11 a.m. on Saturday, our time) the manager asked us to let them clean our room more thoroughly (deodorize, etc) and to check back around 6 to see if a room had opened elsewhere that would be smoke free.

Soon, we are heading off to one of the Living Hope International Training Centers to tour the new orphanage facility and visit with Samuel's wife Lily and their daughter Elizabeth, who are here in China for an extended visit to work. I'm so excited to see someone from home - we just love the Fangs so much and are so grateful to have the relationship with them that we do. It's one of the things we love the most about our small, family-style agency. It's shaping up to be another slow-paced, easy going day and we're very excited to spend it with Lily and the kids.

Don't Squash That Little Nudge

For the last two days, I've really struggled with the wait for our Letter Of Approval.

I mean, I've been bothered by the length of our wait for a while now but I haven't really paid it much mind until last week. Last week, somehow, I had fully convinced myself that our LOA was coming. I knew our agency had a "package on the way" and that we were "due." Over-due if one looks at the current trends on the charts. Which, I was doing. More than I really wanted to and certainly more than I had during waits between milestones previous to this wait for LOA. The last update we had gotten was that we were "in review" and that the next step would be the dispersal of our LOA. PLUS, last week, I was processing the imminent departure of Shaggy to Thailand. And the thoughts of celebrating Christmas without our boy were really hitting home. I think my melt-downs into puddles every couple hours on Thursday and Friday were some kind of internal release valve letting off the steam of it all.

But this struggle, these last two days, has been very different. It was more of a niggling doubt that everything was proceeding normally. An occasional twinge of "something isn't quite right" and not really knowing what to do with it. Frankly, I didn't do well with it. FRANKLY, I've been a bit like a bear with a thorn in her paw for the last two days. (I've made reparations to my family already. They love me and graciously forgive me. I'm so blessed!)

The gals in my DTC group (DTc means "Dossier to China:" this group is a bunch of comrades-in-arms who all sent their dossiers to China in the same season that we did, banded together for information and support) have been looking at our charts, too. A couple of us who are waiting had a chat or two over the last two days about the trends and it seemed apparent to us all that something indeed was not quite right. But I have tried so hard NOT to be a "day counter" or a "chart obsessor" and to trust the process. In doing so, I completely squashed that little nudge I thought I might be sensing. I pushed aside my niggling doubts and occasional twinges. Thus the "release" valve I mentioned. Sigh. One of these days, I will learn. I will!

Last night, I went to bed and fell asleep praying for Shaggy. Early this morning (as in 3:22 a.m. which would have been 4:22 p.m. Beijing time, IF I've calculated correctly. That's regular work-day hours there.) I woke again, praying for Shaggy. As I prayed, I had a sense that I needed to be praying for our LOA. For our dossier. And of course, for Brynna. So I did. I slept quite fitfully for the next couple hours until I finally just got up and started my day.

After I made a cup of coffee and got Li'l Empress settled with her cereal, I jotted off the following note to our sweet Social Worker:

"So, we are on day 75 of our wait from PA (157 from LID).... it's now inching up to the "longer" end of the wait from the DTC group I'm a part of. And when considering that our LOI went in with the request for expedite, we're wondering what's going on. Is there any chance, if you don't get a package today, that you can investigate this for us? I've just seen too many fellow-DTC'ers moving on from LOA even tho their numbers were trending like ours. When it starts to get too "out of the trend" is when these gals start seeing problems or delays with their files. We want to be sure it's not the case with ours."

To which I got an immediate response. This is how I summarized it to our families and some friends this morning, in a request for prayer:

Seems that our trusty SW was already feeling some concern. She had contacted her "on the ground" gal in Beijing on our behalf yesterday. (She was further tipped off when LHAA got a pkg yesterday of documents including one LOA for a family on the EXACT SAME TIMELINE as us.)  Here's what they think is happening: After the Eligibility Review #1 (also called Dept. 1 - which was our last up-date), it looks as  if our dossier was MIS-FILED  into the "Standard Program" (The Non-special needs program... which is currently running on a 6 year wait. Ummm, yeah. RUH ROH!).

If this had NOT been caught this week, we'd likely be waiting indefinitely. When our "on the ground" gal inquired, she was told that the only employee who can rectify that mis-filing is the one who is assigned to our file and that employee is out for the day. So she is going back tonight (our time) to follow up and get it moving.

Our sweet SW is NOTHING if not "ON IT" for our family. When she emailed me back, she had JUST finished getting the scoop from her Beijing gal. JUST! I have spent most of today feeling so humbled and blessed. Really. I mean, I could be feeling totally disgruntled and stressed or even angry at the glitch in the process. Indeed, I was ALL of that last week. And again for the previous two days. But now that we know what we're facing, I am instead feeling so awed that God gave us such a gift in this lovely Social Worker. I'm amazed that He was trying to speak to me all along, nudging me to listen to my gut and trust my instinct that something wasn't right. By the fact that He has given me this fierce momma's heart for my girl before I even know her. And finally by how I know He is going to work on our behalf.

We are expecting an answer of some kind tomorrow. Of course, the best possible answer would be our LOA is in the mail WITH the medical expedite being honored forthwith. But I have to be honest, I'm feeling pretty good about whatever answer we get tomorrow. He is always faithful to move on our behalf, in all the seasons and events of our lives. He's even faithful when I'm trying to squash that little nudge!

Can You Pray?

Many of you may have heard of the terrible flooding and subsequent damage in the Fangshan district of Beijing city over the last weekend. If you haven't, check out this link for details:

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/329320

The Gang and I are asking that you please, please join us in prayer for the many who have been affected. This region is particularly close to our hearts. The sister organization of our adoption agency, called Living Hope International runs one of their two homes there in Fangshan. You've read here numerous times of our love and passion for the work of LHI. (Like, HERE or HERE and more recently, HERE, for example!) We are proud sponsors of the young lady below, named Lois.

They are truly changing lives and doing the work of God in the communities of Fangshan and Fuzhou. And with the wide-spread devastation that these storms and flooding have left behind, they really need our prayers and our support like never before.

I've been in touch with the contacts for LHI here in the States and right now, the best thing we can do is pray for safety, for minimal losses, and for health for those working in the rescue and clean up process. You can bet that when I know what else they need, I'll be sharing the information with you all here.

On the Living Hope International home page, you'll notice a section about the China Angels. This is a dance troupe of students from the Fangshan and Fuzhou homes that is currently touring here in the States, all over New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina. Their purpose in coming is to raise awareness of the ministry of Living Hope International, as well as raise support and funding for the children who live in these two homes.

If you click HERE, you'll be able to see if there is a performance scheduled near your home. We took the kids last weekend and it was such a wonderful experience for all of us. There are always beautiful souvenirs for sale and opportunities to interact with the staff who travel with the kids. The Boss picked up a snazzy tie, since his new job requires a suit and tie every day now.

Please, keep Living Hope International and all of its leadership team and workers and students in your prayers. Keep our sweet Lois in your prayers. Our hearts are heavy for those sweet people who care so deeply for the children in their community.

Thank you.

The Wait

We knew when we started this journey to our Brynna girl (seriously, still taking suggestions for a bloggy name for this girl!) that it was going to be a long haul. I'm not sure when we sent off that application that we thought it would be quite this long,(Remember this post?! Yes, that date does read 2010. Sad, but true.)

We were okay with the idea of the long wait After all, we'd done it before. We knew we could do it again.

Even in the midst of the delays we couldn't avoid (Remember the bathroom project? The one from the upstairs toilet overflowing into the relatively newly-done kitchen project?) and the obstacles we have chosen to plow through in the process (re-vamping our finances to further reflect Godly principles of stewardship thanks to Financial Peace University at our church?), I rarely felt myself growing impatient or antsy.

I settled into The Wait kind of like one does a comfy old chair on a lazy Sunday afternoon. I had kind of taken on a "it'll happen when it is supposed to" kind of perspective. Which, given the frustrations we've faced, has served me well. In fact, I've been able to And believe me, we've already faced our share of difficulties the most frustrating of which occurred only more recently, minor though they may be in retrospect.

Lost a social worker 3 interviews into a 4 interview process

(Resolved very well with a GEM of a new Social Worker

and a partial refund that blessed us beyond words)

The Boss's job loss and subsequent financial changes and stressors,

certainly too numerous and now tedious to enumerate

(Also resolved well but definitely a difficulty

that I don't wish on any paper-chasing family)

Authentication and Sealing snafus both at 

the state level and at two consulate offices

(Resolved, certainly not huge hang-ups but only after a 

three - four week delay we hadn't really counted on)

Four files reviewed and returned

(The first one was a vague inquiry, the next two were sweeties

but older than we can handle. The fourth one was a really

hard choice but definitely the right one for the family.)

And now the wait. Oh. The Wait.

Yes, we are full-fledged into The Wait. And I'm finding something very curious happening in my heart since we got our LID notification. That "it'll happen when it's supposed to" thing has flown right out the window. It's gone. And it took with it any sense of perspective I might have had given that this is our second adoption and I "know" the dealio.

In the last 6 months of this journey, I've talked a couple waiting friends of the ledge of insanity and desperation. :)  LOL.... you know who you are!  I've studiously avoided any "day counting" between milestones for the sake of my sanity. I've only occasionally checked the forums and "rumor" sites, and mostly only to connect with other BTDT mommas over specific needs I've been researching. I've been okay with it all.

Until this week.

I am not sure if it's that I've finally had a relatively quiet week as far as my daily pace is concerned. Or if I've been feeling more pressed in my prayer time to dig in for the wisdom and discernment we need to "know" our Brynna when we see her. Or if it's even a sense of impending-ness that I'm not totally aware of yet. Or what it is. But I am no longer "okay with it all." At all.

(I'm not on the ledge of insanity or desperation or anything. I promise!)

I'm starting to feel an urgency in my heart and mind in the last couple days. I am stalking sites and forums, searching for tidbits of information and details of timelines for other waiting families. I'm paging through pictures of babies, some who are waiting for their mommas and some who are not, and crying at the drop of a hat. I'm fighting a sense of being consumed with the need to find my daughter. To see her face. To start the process of "knowing her" even if it is only via a medical file and occasional updates while we wait.

I'm THERE again. I remember it well. Opening the file that held Li'l Empress's little life story to date. Looking into those eyes, knowing that I get to spend the rest of my life taking JOY in looking into those eyes.

And I'm not okay with The Wait after all.

Your prayers for us as we prepare our hearts and our minds

for the next release of the Shared List would be appreciated.

Estimates put the release at either the 23rd-ish or the 30th-ish.

We'd love this list to be The One on which our Brynna girl waits.

But we want to be ready if it's not.

Wordless Wednesday {refresh}

Waiting with bated breath.

That little button is gonna see a lot of action today.

For more Wordless Wednesday fun,

head over to 5 Minutes for Mom.

To find out if I was chosen as one of the three

GRAND PRIZE WINNERS of the 

2012 Mary Kay Get Beautiful and Give Back

make-over contest, come back here.

*Update: I didn't win. I'm sad. But I'll get over it.

Sigh. I really did think my story was more compelling

and very focused on the "Give Back" part of the contest.

Why I've Taken To Begging

I thought this might be a good time to tell you all just what it is about this contest that has reduced me to humiliating acts of exposure and begging for votes.

Of course, there's the possibility of winning $2500. That's a nice chunk of change when one is scrimping, saving, and selling whatever isn't nailed down while working a part-time job to pay for all the documentation of an international adoption. So obviously, there's that.

But what really reeled me in, hook line and sinker; what really convinced me to bare my nekked face to the whole interwebby world was the opportunity to win FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS to donate to the charity of my choice.

Stop. Think about it.

FIVE THOUSAND SMACKEROOS.

That's a whole lotta moula.

And when I heard the big dineros being tossed around in the conversation, I knew I wanted to go for it.

Even if a teensy, tinesy part of me was cringing at the thought of ya'll seeing my splotchiness and "uneven skin tones" (say that last part in a somber, Mary Kay consultant's voice, please).

But I NEEDED to try.

Today I want to tell you why.

Living Hope International is a ministry dedicated to providing wonderful care to orphans in China who will likely never be eligible for adoption. These are children who have some kind of family in their lives but cannot be adequately cared for by that family. So Living Hope International takes children in, in agreement with their families (often grandparents too old or sick to care for the child, distant relatives who cannot manage the care of another family member, etc.) and sets about the business of educating them. They also work hard to provide a family-like atmosphere, and on many occasions, they are able to set up apprenticeships and vocational training for their students. All of this is done with the goal of helping the students become productive, respectful members of Chinese society who know how to work hard and give back to their community.

Here is their purpose, in their own words:

Living Hope International (LHI) exists for one specific purpose:

to operate Children's Homes and Training Centers
that offer a safe and loving environment
in which our children can develop to their full potential.

When we traveled to China in 2008, we had the privilege of traveling to the Beijing home and visiting for several hours. If you've been reading around here for a long time, you might remember me mentioning a certain young lady named Lois who stole my heart.  Our tour through the facility revealed such a warm and loving atmosphere. The classrooms were all decorated brightly and the students were all so incredibly polite and helpful. We had a lovely visit and came away humbled by the fact that we are part of something so incredible.

You see, Living Hope International is a sister organization to our adoption agency. It's a completely separate, stand-alone charitable organization that was created by the directors of our agency. Operating with its own board and accountability team, LHI is focused on it's stated mission with a clarity and a purpose that we respect and admire greatly.  You can read Samuel Fang's heart for this ministry here. It came out of a desire to do something for the children who will stay in China, for China's future, for the future of the children who will make up tomorrow's China. In fact, we often tell people that one of the "tipping points" for us in our decision to partner with Living Hope Adoption Agency was the existence of Living Hope International. Knowing that they were working to build families here all while working to strengthen and build healthy children from within China confirmed to us that this was the agency for our family.

We are incredibly proud to be in a relationship with an organization that works so hard and so creatively to help the children in their care become all that God created them to be. It's why I'm NOT to proud to beg for your votes. And obviously NOT to proud to bare my nekked face all across the interwebby.

So now that you know all that, won't you please go and vote 5 times each day, now through June 15th for my "Before" and "After" makeover? Using every email account you have in your home? And would you please consider sharing this post and this information with your friends and ask them to vote too? I'd so appreciate it. And I know the children of Living Hope International would too.

To register your votes, head to the picture of me at the upper left of the sidebar. Click on that and you will be taken right to my make-over gallery. Thank you very much for taking the time to read this. Thank you for caring for the children of Living Hope International.