Home Improvements!

This week has been filled with last-minute preparations around the house, so I wanted to share some of the work we have been doing! But first...

I never gave an update after my post on the flooring that we were installing upstairs (http://fourtosixfamily.blogspot.com/2015/01/room-to-play.html). To be honest, it didn't turn out quite as nice as we were hoping. The Parr Lumber guys were right in that the pine was a bit too soft to use for indoor flooring, so each time a Lego is dropped we get a visible record of the event! :-) On top of that, the Rubio Monocoat didn't go on as evenly as we had hoped...so we have a good playroom floor that we are not worried about destroying and will certainly replace when it comes time to sell the house one day! Here it is:

If you look closely, you can scuff marks from our first day of use on the floor. It turned out not to be the best idea to let the kids drive their electric cars- gifts from Nana and Michael- on the newly finished flooring... c'est la vie! Also, for those who are waiting for Christian Warrior Wear shirts, we just got inventory in, as you can see in the corner. Most orders are shipping this week!

The latest project has been to get the beds put together. We still had William's crib from when he was a baby, so Emma and Rebecca will both have toddler-sized daybeds for a while (with Rebecca's having the safety barrier):

And Bill has been working non-stop sanding boards to make a bunkbed for William and Peter! The boards look AMAZING. He's using these plans: http://ana-white.com/2012/03/plans/side-street-bunk-beds.

(Can you see the detail?)

I leave for China early next week and will meet Rebecca on Thursday! A few days later, she and I will make the four-hour trip to meet Peter! I'M SOOO EXCITED!!!

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If you would like to help with travel expenses (which are high due it being tourist season in China), please give at: http://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/help-us-adopt-a-teenage-boy-and-a-girl-with-cerebral-palsy/278760. Thank you for your support and prayers!!!

Flights are booked!

We got Travel Approval yesterday and, after receiving confirmation of a Consulate Appointment in China, booked our flights today! I will get to meet Rebecca on June 11th and Peter on June 15th!

It was a bit of an ordeal booking the flights to China. We tried doing it online, but nothing would go through. We tried to call the Chinese airline directly, but they could not book over the phone. We finally ended up working with a Chinese travel agency and that went pretty well. There was a lot of back and forth (we couldn’t travel through Canada, we had to have long lay-overs, etc.), but it’s all booked!

The amazing part is that we will be on U.S. soil only days before Peter turns 14! It is so awesome how God worked out all the timing.

Please be praying for safe travels. Also, we are still thousands of dollars short of our goal, so please continue to give or purchase shirts (www.christianwarriorwear.com). Everything helps!

A tough decision...and an update on Rebecca

We got a brief update on Rebecca earlier this week.  I was not able to post it sooner because we spent the earlier part of the week racing to get a Power of Attorney notarized, signed by the Secretary of the State, and now it is off to the China consulate for final authentication!

Sadly, we were not able to raise sufficient funds to bring our entire family to China, so I will be going alone to bring home Peter and Rebecca. It is not ideal, but we just could not afford to bring everyone. Bill will continue to sell shirts while I am in China to help recoup a lot of the expenses (the fees are detailed here and are accurate, except we have had to spend much more in postage fees for all the overnight shipping of documents! http://fourtosixfamily.blogspot.com/2014/12/funding-adoptions.html). We are also planning to attend a local Christian festival in July to sell shirts, so that should help, too. If you would like to help, please purchase a shirt at: www.christianwarriorwear.com or give at: http://reecesrainbow.org/85271/sponsorrobinson-6.

With regards to the update, it was answering the questions that we had a chance to ask about her (what are her fears? what does she like to eat? etc.). It says she likes congee, eggs and carrots! :-) The update included two new pictures, which show that she is out of the hospital and back at the orphanage.

If you see her previous photos (such as this one: http://fourtosixfamily.blogspot.com/2015/01/therapy-options-for-cp.html), she looks much weaker now. She seems to be fully supported above by the wheelchair, which makes me think that she has lost a lot of her upper body strength.

As for the adoption process, we are waiting for our Article 5 to be picked up (hopefully later this evening!), then we just wait for Travel Approval, which will hopefully come very soon (as we need to finalize the adoption by July 1st).

Thank you to those who have already supported! Please keep us all in your prayers and please share our story as you feel lead.

Depraved Indifference

From Bill:

Today’s highlighted resource is a short film from the Ellerslie Mission Society, entitled “Depraved Indifference.” This was actually the first resource (outside of Scripture) that got me to start really considering our place, as Christians, to adopt those whom the world has thrown away.

By God’s grace, this video is just one of many Holy Spirit-empowered resources that the team at Ellerslie has put together. Pastor Eric Ludy is a great example of a Christian Warrior, empowered by the Holy Spirit to confront the world with the truth. Please share this video; there are just too many Christians for there to be so many orphans. Not everyone is qualified to adopt, but most can help those who do, if they choose to. What’s your choice? Who do you serve? (Really, if you aren’t broken when you look around this world, you may want to check if you have the Holy Spirit. Because the Holy Spirit opens the eyes of the elect to see the truth and then give them power to engage this world with such veracity that the Christians of today should no less turn this world upside down, then the disciples did back in the day!

Here is a link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWHJ6-YhSYQ

Thank you for following and, if you feel called, please support our adoption through your purchase of a shirt on ChristianWarriorWear.com, or you can donate on our Youcaring page: http://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/help-us-adopt-a-teenage-boy-and-a-girl-with-cerebral-palsy/278760. To God be the glory alone!