Closer and Closer

Every day I feel it...we are getting closer and closer to Olivia coming home!  I am so anxious to meet this little girl that has occupied our thoughts and prayers for the past months.  We are praying for that LOA from China...I remember with Hannah's adoption that things felt like they were really moving after that point!

We've decided after tons of deliberating to take Hannah with us to China.  There are a whole bunch of reasons and even though it may not seem like it, we really think it is the best option for our family.  I am excited and super nervous about how things will go taking her on that looooooooonnnnng flight!

We have made some major changes around our house this week, splitting up the kids into the two bedrooms and moving our bedroom somewhere else in the house.  This seems to be alleviating the pressure in our house so much as there is so much more room to play on the main floor!  I just love it even though it is making nights more difficult for the time being.

Yesterday we got great news - someone from our adoption agency is heading to China in a couple of weeks and she will be visiting with our Olivia!  We will get new pictures and video, and we get to send her a care package!  I am so, so thrilled.  I know she won't understand, but it is very special for us to get to send her something, and I also hope it helps her foster family in the transition ahead to see how much we love her and a little about us.  I can't wait to go shopping!

We are all a little sick at the moment, nothing major, but it has made me realize just how few times this winter we have been sick!  It used to be all the time, every week someone was sick.  Last winter was so difficult!  I am so grateful for our good health this winter.

It's early in the year but I am starting to think about school for next September and make some plans. It is fun and overwhelming and exciting and stressful and I'm just thankful for the opportunity to homeschool right now.  We continue to reassess and evaluate and discuss sending the kids to school but for our family right now this is just a great fit, so we press on in this direction.  It will be interesting to add in another little one (my eyes just got really big at the thought of it....) but I'm sure we will find our new normal after a while.  I am so ready for her to be here with us!

Blessed Beyond Measure

There really are no words for how full my heart feels tonight.  I am absolutely blown away by what God has done for us.  I am humbled, overwhelmed, astounded...it is just so crazy.

Three months ago we had a $14,000 need for our adoption.  We didn't know where it would come from.  This whole adoption has been so much more of a step of faith for our family than we have ever experienced before.  Truthfully, it was scary.  I like to plan, I like to know what is going to happen and how everything will work out.  This adoption has been the opposite of that in so many ways.  My faith has been stretched, and changed, and it has been deepened day by day as I have seen the hand of God at work in our lives.

He has done what only He could do.  He has provided everything we need in ways we never could have imagined!  It has been an incredible, amazing journey and I'm so glad we had this need so that we could see just how BIG He really is!

I came across this verse at the beginning of our adoption journey and it became my prayer:

"Help me, O Lord my God;
Save me according to
Your lovingkindness.
And let them know that
this is Your hand,
You, Lord, have done it."
Psalm 109:26-27

I feel like our need HAD to be big so that it could be so obvious - He is the only one who could meet our need!

How has He done this?

• Through friends and family who have donated to our adoption fund
• Through a $3000 matching grant from Lifesong that at this point is only $300 from being complete!
• Through a grant from our church's adoption ministry
• Through a refund from our home study agency because someone in China decided LAST YEAR to change post placement requirements for adoptions (and we had prepaid for post adoption visits for Hannah and Olivia!)
• Through a grant from JSC Foundation (we just heard today!!)
• Through an unexpected raise for Brad that totally came out of the blue
• Through my mom crocheting gloves and selling them to friends to raise funds for our adoption

He has blessed us in ways that will never be forgotten.  My heart is changed; my faith is changed.  

I just wanted to share one last thing.  At the beginning of this adoption right before we decided to adopt Olivia, a friend at church gave a lesson during Sunday School about the Israelite spies going into the land that God has said He would give to them (Number 13).  They came back and gave their report: it was good, like God had told them.  BUT...the people were powerful, and the cities were fortified and large, and the people were stronger, and the people were HUGE!  Humanly speaking, everything said they should not do this.  There was only one reason they should do it: God said to.

As I read over this passage over and over again, the question came to me:

Is that enough?

Is it enough when God tells me to do something, even if there is every reason in the world why it is a bad idea?  

As we wrestled with the thought of adopting again, there was a list (a long one!) of reasons why, humanly speaking, this was a bad idea.  Here's the list....from my journal :)

• Three little ones who are needy
• A small house
• Finances
• We're spread so thin!
• We're so tired!
• Leaving the kids for 2 weeks
• Olivia's medical condition could be serious
• Oh the paperwork!

And yet, as time went on it became clear to us that God was saying GO!  Bring her home!  And the question was...

Is that enough?  Is it enough that God says do it?

It was a big step of faith for us to say yes.  Honestly, there have been some really difficult days at the Hunt house over the last few months.  We have dealt with struggles and challenges with our kids (one in particular) that came out of nowhere and have pretty much knocked the wind out of us.  It has been hard in ways I cannot explain.  My list of why not got even longer!  I thought maybe this was a mistake.  I wondered why we said yes.

But tonight I sit here more convinced than ever of God's faithfulness.  He will not fail us.  I know this deep within me.  No matter what comes.  Even if her medical condition is something I can't imagine facing.  Even if adjustments are hard, for her or for our current kids.  Even if our house is full and loud and we are tired and stressed.  He. Will. Not. Fail.

He is enough.