I can’t believe that we have started our journey to bring Benjamin home! Both Scott and I pray that we can ultimately bring glory to God through this adventure. It is amazing how God has brought us through each step in this process. We are no doubt about to experience the most exciting adventure of our family! As Scott mentioned previously, we were very content with our two wonderful children and had taken the actions to remain as a foursome family. God had other plans for us when we discovered a surprise pregnancy after the procedure. We went from being content to being excited about having another child. God does work in mysterious ways. After our miscarriage, the desire to add to our family continued to grow, so after about 2 years, we began the pursuit. I have always wanted to adopt from Asia. As many of you know, Scott’s mom is Chinese, therefore this people group is dear to our hearts and the fact that many are unreached and have never heard the gospel of Christ led us to desire to adopt from China. After talking to an adoption agency, we discovered that China has a 4-5 year wait, so they steered us to the possibility of adopting from Taiwan. After much prayer, we felt like that was where God was leading us. I firmly believe that God has ordained Benjamin to be in our family from the beginning and it is so neat to see how His plan unfolded! We officially started the process in Dec 2008. Everything was moving extremely quick and on the shorter end of the time frames. Our home study went to Taiwan in March of 2009 and we received and accepted the precious referral for Benjamin in late Oct 2009. When our dossier went to Taiwan, things slowed down and the one-month wait for a court date turned into 6 months! It was so hard to see Benjamin growing up in the “baby home” instead of our loving permanent family, but we clung to God knowing that His timing and plan is perfect. There are many delays that could have been avoided, so we just trusted His timing and knew that we were in His will! God definitely taught both of us a lot during this time.
So now here we are journeying to bring our long-awaited son home. We are aware that we are about to turn his life upside down and we pray that we can love and assist him in this adjustment period. We also trust that God is the ultimate healer and comforter, so we pray that He will miraculously hold him in His palm of safety! Our itinerary and prayer requests for our family are below; so we are off….
Ultimate Prayer Requests:
*Pray that we can ultimately bring glory to God through this process.
*Pray that God will give us wisdom and discernment in our parenting!
*Pray that God will unite and strengthen our marriage and family and allow us to grow closer to Christ as well as reveal more of Himself to us.
*Pray that God would allow us to have an easy transition and bonding experience in all areas and no bonding issues with Benjamin.
Itinerary:
9/20 (Monday)—Depart Birmingham at 8:00am
* Pray for safe travel and that Bryce and Elise handle the 18-hour flight well.
9/21 (Tuesday)—Arrive Taipei at 9:30 pm
*Pray for smooth travels and no lost baggage
*For all family members to stay healthy.
9/22 (Wednesday)—lay low in Taipei to adjust to time changes.
*Pray for comfortable hotel accommodations (for 10 days)
*For smooth adjustment to time changes (13 hours ahead)
9/23 (Thursday)—Drive to Nantou to interact with Benjamin.
*Safe travel to meet Benjamin
*Joyous union of our family with Benjamin
*That God may bless this day with a special blessing and place a desire in Benjamin’s heart to be excited to join us!!
9/24 (Friday)—Liberty Square in the morning / 2 pm go to Chung Yi for official pick up of Benjamin
*Pray that we have an easy transition with this “pick up” and no “surprises” =)
*Pray that we can meet Benjamin’s needs and communicate with him.
9/25 (Saturday)—Taishui
*Pray for a joy-filled weekend with quality time to get to know Benjamin.
*Pray for our family to unite together and bring Glory to God—that others may see a difference in our family!
9/26 (Sunday)—Yangming Mountain (1½ hour drive from Taipei); Shih Lin Night Market in the evening
*Pray that we can enjoy God’s creation and gain understanding of Benjamin’s culture.
*Pray for Benjamin’s heart in that he will miss his former caregivers.
*Pray that he bonds to us quickly.
9/27 (Monday)--Taipei 101 and Wanlong Dragon Mountain Temple
*Pray that we will be able to communicate effectively with Benjamin and that he learns our language quickly.
*Pray that Bryce and Elise adjust to having another brother.
9/28 (Tuesday)—AIT appointment and Taipei Zoo in the afternoon
*Pray that this appointment goes extremely smooth and no problems should arise.
*Pray that the kids do well during this appointment b/c we have heard that it can be lengthy!!
9/29 (Wednesday)—Play and get to know Benjamin around Taipei
*Pray that we can enjoy this last day in Taiwan
*Pray that God gives us a keen discernment on how to meet the needs and parent all 3 children wisely.
9/30 (Thursday)—Depart Taipei at 9:30am.
*Safe travel home. That we survive the plane trip with 3 kids!!
*The prayer really begins here! Pray that God to bless our family; unite and bond our family; strengthen each of our relationships with God as well as with each other!
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