There is a GIRL!

There is a girl.
She is 11 years old, healthy, and lives in a faraway land called China.
She lost her parents in the 2008 Chengdu earthquake that killed 68,000 people.
She was brought to the Chengdu orphanage from a relief care center.

She is an orphan.
She is beautiful.
She wants a Mom and a Dad...A forever family.

She is a child of God.

Are we called to be her Mom and Dad? Her forever family?
Or do we turn away and pretend we don't SEE??????????

These are the things Shon and I contemplate.

 We have been given much and have much to give.

Or are we just CRAZY????!!!!!!

CRAZY INDEED! Crazy in love with this girl we call "Our" Daughter.

A girl named Yan Ping.

A child we can't wait to have in our arms to love and care for...

FOREVER!

We hope to be welcoming Yan Ping into our family late Summer 2012!

Is that the phone ringing? Nope...that's God calling...AGAIN!

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.  Luke 12:48

These are the things Shon and I contemplate after bringing home two orphans, our children Jax and Jaida, whom God gave us and we are immeasurably blessed.

Why did God give Shon and I a heart for the plight of orphans? Why did we take so literally that we are to care for God's orphans?

We have been so quick to follow God's will in this area of our lives. How funny to think where our marriage began (and how we were a divorce waiting to happen)...how God had a plan for us to stay together because he knew what the future held for us and the children He would add to our family...the children he has entrusted to our care and raising. How inadequate am I indeed!

All these years of my incessant praying for patience have brought me more children to practice on--God definitely has a sense of humor!

No matter what, God has always seen us through the journey and has never left us.

So Then....

Should we care that people think we are already crazy with what we've got and who could think of adding more?

Is there a time when one should say "enough is enough" and how do we know when that time is? Hmm...we said that after our last childbirth with our son Josh...and after we adopted Jaida in 2008...and after we adopted Jax in 2010. Maybe this time, God will say "enough!"

Once we know the reality of the millions of orphans in our world, can we truly turn a blind eye and pretend we don't see? (Obviously we can't!)

When people say we should take care of the ones we've got, we've done our share...Is that a viable truth or just something people say because they themselves can't picture doing what we have chosen to do with our lives?

Is it too risky?

What if this?....or what if that?...