BabyCakes featuring HopeCakes & LilyCakes!

Now you have an excuse to eat cupcakes! For years people have told me I should sell my cupcakes. They go on and on. I don't know what the big deal is....but I decided to do it since we are about 2 months away from our trip and about a month away from needing to buy plane tickets and we still need the finances. So here goes! By the way, the LilyCake is white cake, white icing. Its the one that started it all...so I recommend it.

These are LilyCakes! I am making them to help raise money for our trip to China!

Husband made this fancy card for me.

Mmmmmm.

This is my faithful friend Wendy who is helping me! And she provided the cute aprons!

We got orders for over 20 dozen the first weekend!

This is a HopeCake. Chocolate, like Hope's hair. LOL

And this is pink strawberry. Just because I like pink. Plus, it has real strawberries in it to make you feel good about eating it!

Lily and Hope....the Harvest

This photo was taken right in front of the orphanage where Hope and Lily live. It is the field directly across from the orphanage. When I was there in June I looked at that field every day when we arrived and left the orphanage. I always thought about how beautiful wheat fields are.

Just last week I remembered those fields again and something else came to mind. The Harvest. Wheat fields in the Bible represent souls. And I think about those little boys and girls in that orphanage. They are eternal souls. In need of a mom. In need of a dad. In need of proper nutrition. In need of love. In need of education. In need of stimulation. In need of God's love. In need of a Savior. So that when they grow up they have an opportunity to know and accept Jesus as their Savior and be saved.

And by adopting them into Christian families, they will know God's love everyday of their life.

Orphans. The Harvest.

Lily and Hope will know God. They will hear about Jesus. They will be raised along side brothers and sisters who worship, love, and give their all to God. How easy will it be for them to believe when they are in this family.

Jesus said, "The food that keeps me going is that I do the will of the One who sent me, finishing the work he started. As you look around right now, wouldn't you say that in about four months it will be time to harvest? Well, I'm telling you to open your eyes and take a good look at what's right in front of you. These Samaritan fields are ripe. It's harvest time!
John 4:35 (The Message)

Signing to be Lily's parents!

Here is the official document we received by FedEx all the way from China! We signed it and a bunch of other important papers and sent it back on its way! What a moment! I have thought about this moment for so many years. I guess I expected it to be so weird and scary when this all happened. But since I have actually met Lily and am already in love with her, AND BECAUSE IT"S BEEN 3 YEARS, it wasn't. It seemed so natural. So easy! Yes, we will sign! Where? Right here. OK, there you go! Easy as that!

Easy as that! No matter what the future holds, Lily is now in it! And we are so excited!!!!

Lily's Family Book mailed to her yesterday!

A note from Lily's orphanage

Dang Ning Li was found abandoned by the road about 10 meters west of Social Welfare Institute of Qingyang City at 8:00 on October 12, 2001. She wore a colored cotton coat and wrapped by a little red and blue quilt. The person who found her reported her to Wenquan police station on the same day. They tried to search her birth parents and relatives, but no one claimed her. After she was brought to the institute, an abandoned announcement was published in a local newspaper called Gan Newspaper. Still no one claimed her. She was then adopted by the institute.

It's hard to believe that after 9 years of living in an orphanage that you'd be able to smile like this now! When I think about Lily I think about how she doesn't know what's she's missing. Does she even understand what a family is? Does she even know a world exists outside of those four walls? I really don't know. But for some reason, she smiles! And she laughs. And she loves! She loved on me that week, and I on her. She cried when we all left that week. She yearned for love and attention and fun!

And then I think about the things we complain about sometimes here in America. About how the parent at school never waves at us when we pass her in the car. How our food at the restaurant was NOT the right temperature and we demand it to be! How the light only stayed green for 5 cars in rush hour. Or how the blinds in the guestroom are so ugly and we can't sleep until we get nice new designer ones. Or better yet, how we got mistreated as a child and felt unloved. Or how our dad never came to our football games when we were a teenager and we will NOT forgive him.

Do we really have a right to complain? Lily's not complaining. Don't you think if anyone has a right to complain in this world then a special needs female orphan in China that hasn't had a relative to love her in 9 years would??? But I guess we shouldn't compare, right? Cause everyone has pain. And everyone goes through junk in their lives. And everyone is important and so are our feelings.

But...doesn't Lily sure help our perspective on life. I mean, if you are reading this, you probably live in America. Reason one to be grateful! We could have been born in another country and left on the side of the road a day old. And most likely we have at least ONE person in our lives that loves us completely and truly. Reason number 2 to be grateful. And if we are a follower of Christ and have been redeemed from Hell....need I say more?

Perspective....it's all how we look at it. What we compare ourselves to. What we expect. And our attitude.

There is no greater perspective than God's. And what do you think He thinks when He looks down at me in America, with people all around me that love me, and I have so much, yet I'm still trying to get over the offense from eight years ago. Or if I'm complaining that I don't have baseboards in my safe, happy house. And He gave His only Son to die for our freedom, for our salvation from Hell. Hmmmm. What would make God happy?

I know. If I was as grateful as Lily. If I loved like Lily. If I smiled at each new day like Lily. And found joy in sorrowful circumstances. I want to be like Lily. I have a feeling I'm gonna learn a lot from my new daughter.

How much we have left to pay...

It's hard to believe we are in the last stage of our adoptions! Many people are interested in the costs of adoption so I thought I'd post our expenses.

Here is what we've already paid:
Program and application fee to our agency- $6,250
Home Study and to update it twice because of the long wait- $2,200
USCIS Fee and Fingerprinting (twice)- $1,660
Notarization, Certification, & Authorization of documents- $500
Post Adoption Report Deposit- $1,000
Dossier Assistance Program- $1,200
Dossier Service and Translation- $1,075
Referral Translation Fee- $325
Passports for five- $500
Doctors fees for physicals and updates- $500
Trip to China to find Hope (and found Lily too!)- $3,500
Miscellaneous costs of travel for home study, fingerprints, birth certificates, etc.- $500

Total we have already paid so far- $19,210


Here is what we have left:
Required money needed for Hope in China (which includes orphanage donation, medical tests, Chinese passport, US visa, administrative fees)- $7,500
Same Required money for Lily- $7,500
Visas for all five of us and courier fees- $850
Plane Tickets for us- $7,000
Plane Tickets for Lily and Hope- $1,200
Travel package for us (in country flights to Langzhou and Guangzhou, some meals, guides, transportation and tipping)- $7,000
Spending money for our family (extra meals, emergency)- $1,500

Total we have to go is $32,000

Someone has offered to pay Lily's entire amount needed of $7,500 WE GIVE GOD ALL THE GLORY!
so after that and what we have received into our adoption account through gracious supporters...

We now have around $19,000 left to pay within a couple of months.

We are standing in faith for the rest of the finances and that we will be able to take Phoebe, Rob, and Johnny with us to China. Adoption is expensive but so worth it. It's all the details and documents and travel. God has put the desire and joy in us to accept these girls into our family. We can afford to raise them. It's just the huge amount of money needed to get them! Going by myself to get them isn't an option anymore since we are adopting Lily and Hope.

Will you pray that we will have all we need when we need it? With travel nearing (maybe in two months) we will need to start purchasing tickets perhaps in a month from now.

God is faithful.

“Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.” Proverbs 19:21

Adoption is not about finding children for families, it's about finding families for children. Joyce Maguire Pavao

Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go!” T.S. Eliot