The past is painful....

As our travel date gets closer, I am reminded that Annika is not going to come as a child without scars, both physical and unseen and that for the past 8 years, she has been in the care of other people. I have not had any control of whether it has been good care or bad care.... I am reminded that once she is home with us and begins to feel safe and feel the love of her family... that she will begin to open up and reveal hurts, fears, joys, sorrows of her past. My heart and arms are anxious to hold her, protect her, love her, and reveal Christ's love for her. I know I will not be able to undo any hurts from her past, but her future now holds hope, possibilities, love and safety. 

Adoption is beautiful, yet it is messy, it comes with sorrow and grief. Before God adopted us as His sons and daughters, our future was without hope. But, He adopted us as His own, healing our hurts, giving us everlasting life, making us whole in Him. Jay and I cannot heal any inner hurts of Annika, we can't undo her past whether good or bad, but we can love her just as Christ loves the church, we can give her a future filled with hope and possibilities, a family to call her own. She will be an orphan no more. She is loved, cherished, and soon...safe.

No Hands But Ours wrote an article in November 2015 that I recently read....  it's worth the read...

http://www.nohandsbutours.com/2015/11/19/when-tragic-pasts-meet-hopeful-futures/

~ Shannon

Fully Funded

Two weeks from today... there will be one less orphan in this world and one more Sappington.
<3

And by the goodness of the Lord, our adoption is fully funded. Jay got a bonus from work today...it paid the remaining costs we have. Our funds are funded, our hearts are full. We're going to China.

Thank you for supporting and pouring into us over all these past nearly 10 months....for buying shirts, pumpkins, books, donating garage sale items, donating time, giving money, eating BBQ, participating in our raffle, giving gifts and so much more...... thank you. Jay and I are sincerely and deeply grateful. Our prayer for each of you who have given to us in some form or fashion, that the Lord will bless you in big ways. And our prayer and goal is to pay it forward someday. 

Praise the Lord. God is good.

~The journey is hard, yet it is just beginning. And it is so worth it.~

We have our travel itinerary and final costs!

I am literally a ball of emotions these days!  SO many feelings....
- of excitement (we are gaining a new daughter!)
- nervousness (we are gaining a new daughter!)
- anxiousness (will our new daughter like us? How will we finish paying for this? We are gaining a new daughter!)
- sadness (we will be away from our boys for 2 weeks.  Our daughter is about the leave everything she has ever known for the last 8 years to go with a family she's never met before.)
- gratitude (for all the Lord has done along the way in this journey He has called us to; for all the friends and families and complete strangers who have come forward and supported us in this journey)

Overall: we are so excited that we leave on Dec. 7th to adopt Annika and bring her home on Dec. 22nd.  On Dec. 13th, EXACTLY 10 months to the day we stepped out in faith and started this journey, we will officially sign adoption papers making Annika Faith Fang Sappington a new daughter and sister and she will forever be one less orphan!  

We have our Itinerary set and are ready to go to China! You know it's getting REALLY REAL when you get the itinerary 

We also have concrete numbers of our remaining costs: 

Guide Service Fees (Beijing/Shanxi/Guangzhou) - $1,250 plus tips (minus $1,000 grant from SowingRoots) = $250

Hotel in Shanxi province - $560

Hotel in Beijing - $360

Transportation/Driver costs (Beijing/Shanxi/Guangzhou) - $1,380 plus tips

Transportation via van from Guangzhou to Hong Kong - $370 plus tips

Flight from Beijing to Shanxi for 3 of us - $387

Flight from Shanxi to Guangzhou for 4 of us - $825

Flights to and from Dallas Fort Worth/China for all 4 of us - $4,800

GRAND TOTAL REMAINING: $8,932 plus food and tips

We are receiving a grant from SowingRoots for $1,000 (Praise God!!). This was the last grant application I was waiting to hear from and God is good! 

Lastly, IF you feel led to donate, any amount you could give to help us with this remaining cost would be a HUGE blessing. No amount is too small! (I hate to even ask since so many of you have already given us so much....). 

We are literally just DAYS away from bringing Annika home. Please keep our family in your prayers. We are excited, we are nervous, we are anxious to have her home. Please pray for Annika's heart to be ready to be loved by her family and for the transition to go smoothly. Pray for Jadyn, Eli and Asher as they are about to gain a sister. Pray that Jay and I would be able to be the parents each of our children needs... that we will reflect the love of Christ in all we do. Our God is a big God and a loving Father Who has nothing but good things for Annika and our family. To Him be the glory.

OH MY GOODNESS, WE ARE GOING TO CHINA AND WE ARE GAINING ANOTHER DAUGHTER!

#onelessorphan

We got TA!!! It's official! We are heading to China....

Praise the Lord! There is a lot of rejoicing in our household!

We got our Travel Approval late Monday night and today, we got our Consulate Appointment set and we are officially underway booking flights, hotels and making travel arrangements!!

Here is our timeline:

Dec 7 - depart on a jet plane for Beijing
Dec 8 - arrive in Beijing and spend the next couple days touring and adjusting to the time zone
Dec 11 - leave Beijing and head to Taiyuan 
Dec 12 - GOTCHA/FAMILY DAY!!!
Dec 15 - head to Guangzhou for rest of appts
Dec 19 - Consulate appt (happy birthday to Papa, Annika's great grandfather!)
Dec 22 - come home with Annika!!

Merry Christmas to us!!

Still waiting for TA

I hope when this is all said and done and Annika is home with us, our adoption agency will remember us as the family who had humor. Even in tense situations when I'm waited with baited breath for news, I try to find humor in the situation.

I just emailed me agency a bit ago saying I may or may not be eating popcorn and watching my phone for news of TA. True story.

I hope that made her laugh when she got my email. ;)

It is also a true story that my agency is working diligently to prepare for our travel and they have been AMAZING through this whole journey. I can only imagine the emails and calls they get from adoptive parents like me, freaking out at different moments in the process, impatient of the process and ready to have their child in their arms. I can imagine that their job gets very stressful at times. I can also imagine they go through the same range of emotions that we do... the sadness of a child who is without a family, year after year.... the hope of a family interested in that child, only to change their mind for various reasons..... then, the hope of another family for that child and then the joy of seeing that child become a part of that family.

We are so close to travel, I can FEEL it! It's like the anticipation of a momma going into labor at ANY moment. Our sweet child will soon be in our times, and it will happen right in the Lord's perfect timing.

As of right now, the 'portal' between our agency and CCCWA's website still shows we haven't been issued TA. So, we continue to wait. It's the middle of the night on Tuesday morning right now in China. In a few hours, they'll be back at work and hopefully, our TA is on their agenda for the day..... hopefully, prayerfully.

Adoption Update

Any moment now, we anticipate hearing the big news that we have Travel Approval.  We are so excited, overwhelmed and can't believe we are finally down to the last steps before we get our sweet girl!  We are praying the Lord is preparing her heart for us as we prepare to travel to bring her home!

MORE GREAT NEWS:
This past Sunday, 11/13, some very dear friends and family through us an Adoption Shower for Annika.  The attention to detail they put into it was so sweet!  The shower was Chinese-themed with red and gold decor and pictures of our Annika throughout the house.  They even put framed signs of tidbits of information around the house too, like: "Annika's favorite colors are red and blue."  "Some of Annika's favorite foods are apples and bananas."  This momma got all choked up and cried several times throughout the shower!  We were blessed by friends and family showering Annika with gifts of clothes, school supplies, gift cards to take her shopping, bedding, backpack and lunchbox, sleeping bag, family games, a Chinese cookbook and more!  Thank you to everyone who came and who blessed our family with precious gifts, sweet cards and beautiful notes!  Thank you to Stephanie, Tiffany and Lisa, for ALL that you put in to making this shower one of my all-time favorites.  I love you, ladies and am so thankful the Lord put you in my life!

 The love everyone has been showing our family is blessing us beyond words! Our precious Annika is so loved!  Jay and I cannot express our thankfulness enough to you.

FUNDS UPDATE:
We have the funds we need to pay for our in-country expenses!!!! God is good!!! Thank you to everyone who has been so generously donating to us.

In-Country and Travel Fees:

Orphanage donation: ~$6,000 (PAID)

Provincial Civil Affairs Child documents: $350 (PAID)

Provincial Justice Office Notary documents: $650 (PAID)

Annika's Passport: $150 (PAID)

Annika's Medical Exam Fee: $275 (PAID)

In-country driver/Ground Transportation/Guide Service Tipping: ~$600 (PAID)



REMAINING COSTS:

Beijing 3-day tour: ~$1,700

Domestic Flights In-country: ~$4,000

Hotel: ~$1,500

International airfare (3 people Roundtrip): ~$4,000

International airfare (Annika's 1-way ticket): ~$1,000 


APPROXIMATE total cost left: $12,200


God has been so faithful in this journey.  He has provided every step, every need along the way.  We are prayerfully trusting Him and seeking Him for the remaining amount needed.

God is good!

"And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:19

"For I know the plans I have for you", says the Lord, "Plans of peace and not of evil, to give you hope and a future".

Jeremiah 29:11

We have Article 5 pickup!!

We have Article 5 pickup!!! Our paperwork has been picked up from the US Consulate in Guangzhou, China and will now be submitted to the China Children's Center for Welfare and Adoptions (CCCWA) so that next China can issue our Travel Approval! BIG NEWS!!

We are super excited! Please be praying:
1. for a fast issue of our Travel Approval
2. a quick timeline for our Consulate Appointment
3.  The rest of our funds come in that we need

God is good!!

#nationaladoptionmonth
#onelessorphan

Prayers please... our grant application is going before the board...

I just got off the phone a few minutes ago with A Child Waits Foundation. They called to ask us a few questions to update where we are in the process and timeline to travel. It is always nerve-wracking talking financial status, where we are at, what we have left to go and what are our options for the remaining. Our grant application is about to go before their Board. Would you please pray for the Lord's favor in all this? We are still about $13,000 short. I have no idea how much, if at all, that A Child Waits will grant us. 

What we do know is that God continues to speak loud and clear to Jay and I that He has got this journey.