Dream Vehicle Delivered!

In 2008, one of my girlfriends encouraged me to start writing my prayer requests down and those things that I am believing God for. So I did... and over that year, I saw God fulfill many of those requests. But, one of my requests took a few years to come to a final decision.

One of those items was my dream vehicle... since 2001, I had dreamed of the Toyota Sequoia, but as the years went on, my dream changed... to some sort of suburban, to an Escalade, then a Navigator, until finally I realized, that when I drove down the freeway, I was most drawn to the Infiniti QX56. As I did my research, it seemed to me that the identical car, but much more affordable version, was the Nissan Armada. I was sure we could eventually afford it, and so I began to consider: "it would do." With three driving teenagers, we needed another car... and I was happy to give up our 10 year Toyota Sienna.

It seemed like God was pushing open a door for us to purchase a new vehicle... we were having some unusual issues with the minivan because it was dying for no apparent reason. Jason suggested to take it to the local Pennzoil to get the oil changed. When I got there, they found that I had been driving with no oil. Weird... the oil monitor didn't register "no oil". I also purchased a new battery from Les Schwab. The van seemed to be good to go now, but it convinced my hubby that it was time to get a new vehicle for the family.

He asked me what I wanted. I told him that we could probably pay cash for the Nissan Armada but I really wanted the QX56. So, I was just going to wait it out. But within a few days, faith rose up inside me that it was time to get the vehicle... the QX56. I told Jason that I thought it was time. He said, "I already found you a few, which one do you want?" We looked at all of them, did some preliminary research on our own, and then decided on the one. It was beautiful, but it wasn't a black QX56, nor did it have 8 seats.

Because it was in the next state, he drove there to check it out. It was visually perfect... until he took it in to have Infiniti look at it. It just had too many things wrong with it. I wanted Jason and I to have God's perfect peace about this purchase, especially since I wasn't there. I told him not to buy it if he wasn't sure. When he received the report, he just wasn't sure. That was fine. My prayer was that Jason would know whether this vehicle was ours or not. It clearly wasn't. I would see him the next day and we would keep looking.

But, that night, I felt like God told me to Craigslist "Infiniti"... since this has happened to me a couple other times in my life, it was no longer a question of whether I should do that or not. Each time, God had specifically put me in the right place at the right time to receive the right blessing. I had to trust my gut that I really truly heard from the Lord. I searched again... black, 8 passenger QX56 had just come available that hour... I arranged for Jason to go see it. Ironically, coincidentally, or perhaps a Divine Positioning, what I call a God Wink, Jason happened to be in the city of sale, because he was already there to look at the other vehicle. Had he not been there, perhaps it would have been easier to sell the vehicle to another person.

Jason later confessed that he had been looking on Craigslist for months for a QX56, he just didn't want to tell me. But today, God had it waiting for us. After having Infiniti check out the vehicle, Jason returned the next Saturday, September 24, 2011 and bought the vehicle.

To our surprise, when I went to date my prayer journal that my dream vehicle had arrived, I saw that God had divinely orchestrated things so that this vehicle would be purchased 2 years after I had written my dream vehicle request out before God... and, when I had finalized it and truly told him what I wanted, He delivered it.

Coincidence or miraculous... if you have read our stories before... you KNOW we believe this is miraculous... God allowed us this purchase on 9.24.2011... two years to the day that I wrote what I was believing for.

God knows the desires of our heart and wants to grant them to us.

Some MORE New Wheels

Over the last few months, but more specifically since we received PA for Amaris, I have been looking for a triple stroller.

After much looking, I finally decided on a particular one that could seat 3 princesses... 2 in regular stroller seats and one in the back to sit or stand.

For some reason, I decided to look again on-line to contemplate the places to purchase it and to remind myself of it's ridiculous price. I have seen much more ridiculous prices, but this was ridiculous for a stroller.

I felt very strongly that God was directing me to "Craigslist" for this stroller. But, I thought it rather odd, because the stroller has only been on the market for a few months. But, I did what I felt was so strongly directed.

To my surprise, the very stroller I wanted was on Craigslist, just 20 minutes away... it had been taken out of the original box, but the tags were still on it and everything was in mint condition.

I shared my story of looking on-line earlier in the day. I also asked why she was selling her un-used stroller for 1/2 price... she was a nanny with a new job... and, therefore didn't need it after all.

God is our provider... and, His timing is perfect.

On this day, two years ago, I wrote down my desire for a particular castle bed in my prayer journal. A year later, EXACTLY, He gave me the castle bed. Read this story in in Gabriella's blog, SweetPrincessGabriella.blogspot.com. It's pretty amazing.

Two years ago, in the same prayer journal, on the same day, a few entries away from each other, I also wrote my dream vehicle down that I was speaking and believing for. Two years later, on the EXACT day of my original journal entry, the Lord answered my prayer. He gave me our new SUV, but that has it's own story.

Two new full sets of wheels in a day... September 24, 2011. Thank you Lord for your faithfulness.

An Unexpected Update

Sabrina, our Chinese liason for Wasatch (our placing agency) surprised us with two new photos and measurements on our baby Amaris. So exciting... I would like to see two little Chinese pigtails poke out of that hair shortly though. I had to ask this question though, "Is this my baby?" I didn't recognize her at all.

We Found Our NEW Agency

We are so excited to move on in our journey to our daughters.

Jason wanted me to move on since December 2010, but I kept hoping, praying, and believing that God would miraculously change the hearts of those currently in charge of our home study. That would not be the case.

So, when our home study was finally given to us August 10, 2011, we made the decision to write one final plee together. If that didn't work, we would leave.

I had a social worker lined up with a great agency for the last 3 months, just in case we ran into this, but I didn't believe she was the right person for our family. And, I knew that it was the social worker that made all the difference. She was for our family adopting two, but I didn't have the peace in my heart that I longed for helping me to know that SHE was our social worker to work with.

Through email networking though, I found OUR new social worker and agency. I knew that this gal was the one. We began working with her and the agency she represented even before we ever left our current homestudy agency.

We had already had a 4 hour home interview before the weekend had started, and God was already putting our pieces together.

Thank you to JoAnn Vesper and Agape Adoptions... you gals are AMAZING!

Homestudy from Hell... Completed in 221 DAYS!

Today is a big day... I guess.

We got our home study draft to review. We waited 221 days for this. Part of the wait, our family was put on "hold" for, but the other part is just another part of the story.

Part of the wait was for our oldest son to get his fingerprints re-done, I am hoping that the other part was purely DIVINE DELAY.

Our home study was not written to bring home our two daughters... even though that is what we hired them to do.

We will have to exercise our rights to not accept the home study. We can't, in good conscience, let another person, un-involved in our life, decide for us, something different from what God is calling us to do. Even if they have prayed a prayer over our family, or with their 3 friends.

We have been praying for 2 years, all the time, throughout the day, throughout the weeks, months, and now more than two years... prayer consumes our very being. Faith consumes us. And, we clearly have been led by God throughout our journey.

Someone else's 3 minute prayer about whether they have done the right thing or not for our family, can't take precedence over God. Their feeling of doing the right thing can't even compare to what we feel God is directing us to do.

So, we will not accept her home study; something that we made very clear to our agency when we hired them. If our home study is not being written for two, we wanted to know immediately so that we could move on for a second opinion. Well, we waited quite some time to get the home study in our hands.

Now, it's time to part ways.

"God, please let this be easy. Please let us keep our integrity." While our faith is great; and, our faith and prayers were that our current agency would see that God was directing every step we took, our "un-named" agency just wouldn't change their decision to let us bring both of our daugthers home.

"God, please show me whom our next social worker and agency will be."

Baba chose Annabella for her name!

Since 2009, we have talked about Amaris by name, but we never had a name for Baby #3.

I always felt like we would name Baby #3 when we saw her, but when I felt the Holy Spirit telling me to name her now, we started thinking about names more seriously.

I wanted her name to be Giavanna... Gia for short; but, Jason wasn't in favor of that name.

He finally texted me today his choice... Annabella. Annabella means, beautiful grace.

So, Annabella it is. This is the first child of ours that Jason has named.

We can't wait to find out who this little one is. We imagine her to be 2 1/2 years old at PA.

Naming the OTHER Sister

Today I felt very strongly that God said we need to name the girls other sister. We have always talked about her as adoption#3, but that's only because Jason and I can't seem to agree on a name.

I think her name should be Giavanna. Jason doesn't know what it should be. So today, I searched AGAIN for possible princess names based on their meaning. We are certainly open to other "foo-foo" names... especially names with "anna or ella" at the end.

We will consider her given American listing name, depending on it's meaning. It would most probably be her middle name with her full Chinese name.

While this little one wasn't part of my original vision 18 years ago, in June 2009 we both felt that God clearly was directing our hearts to a third little one... one that we believe He has shown us will be our "gift".

I have prayed for grace and favor for these next two adoptions:
Analena – grace and favor

I have prayed for two beautiful girls:
Arabella- beautiful
Annabella – beautiful grace (Jason's favorite)

I have prayed that faith would arise:
Amariah – given by God
Emmanuella – faith
Giavanna – gracious gift from God (Patty's favorite)

We are all so excited to see who God has for our daughter #3... but, she needs a name. She's a real person waiting for her mama and baba to come get her.

Who is she? How old is she? What does she look like? We want to be approved for a daughter ages 0-14, but we believe our little one is two turning three within months of getting her.

Gabriella learned to pray a year ago today!

Gabriella learned to pray to Jesus a year ago today, Monday, August 1, 2011.

It was her first full day in America... having come from Guilin, Guangxi, China. She became an American citizen the night before.

Each night since, she has prayed for each of her family members, but she especially loves praying for Amaris. We are diligently thinking of a name for her other sister.

God loves special days as much as I do... he gave us Amaris' PA (Pre-Approval) one year to the day when Gabriella started to pray!

We Got PA!

We found out Wednesday, August 3rd at 8:04am that we received our PA on Monday, August 1st.

It took 15 days to get PA. Many, many PA's have only been taking hours to 7 days, so for ours to take 15 days was a bit odd. I have to believe that there have been some divine delays in our life with our next two adoptions. Maybe because both girls files weren't ready at the same time, I am not sure.

Here's what Kathy wrote:

CONGRATULATIONS!!! Here is your pre-approval. This is just for your records. We will keep a copy on file in the office. So happy for you.

Sincerely,

Kathy Junk
Wasatch Adoption Inquiries

Her File is Locked!

This afternoon, while I was playing with Gabriella, I got this email in my box. Thank you Jesus... you are SO faithful!

Monday, July 18, 2011 at 3:51pm


This is the email Kathy sent.

YOU ARE LOCKED!!! Can you hear me cheering all the way from Utah!!!! Hope this is a meaningful day in your life and if not, it will be now!!! We should have pre-approval in about a week. Take care.

Sincerely,

Kathy Junk
Wasatch Adoption Inquiries


I was never nervous, but most "locks" right now literally happen within 1 to 5 seconds, so that our "lock" on Nanette's file took 25 days, is almost unheard of.

This WAS a special day... not only because we "locked" Amaris, but because one year ago today, I got to hold Gabriella for the first time on her "Gotcha" day.

God loves special days as much as I do.

We Sent in our LOI

We sent in our Letter of Intent this morning, Friday, June 24, 2011 at 7:17am for our littlest one.

We hope to lock her file today! We have many meaningful days in June and July though, so maybe the lock will happen on one of those days. I'm really into special days. Everything for Gabriella seemed to happen on a holiday or Thursday with her adoption.

Thursdays were her specific day that Baba prayed for her.

We were chosen to be Nanette's family!

God has given us grace and favor! Actually, He literally has! Nanette's English name means grace and favor as well as her Chinese name Nan... I have been praying for grace and favor since we started our adoption journey for our next two daughters on Thanksgiving Day 2010.

While numerous families were interested, eleven family's files were held, and then it was narrowed to three families before we were chosen.

Having waited 18 years for this little one, you can imagine we were ecstatic to be chosen!

We found out at 10:10pm tonight, Thursday, June 23, 2011. Kathy works all hours of the day and night when she needs to... she is amazing. It's past 11pm for her.

I happened to count our emails between each other from the time I emailed her Tuesday night until the time she said we were chosen... 44 emails. Kathy, you are AMAZING!

Kathy shared with me that she hates to play God, but it was very clear that we were this little one's family.

Thank you Jesus for being so faithful. When I first had the vision of our daughters 18 years ago, I could have never imagined that I would wait almost as long as Abraham and Sarah waited for their promised son Isaac.

It's down to 3 families... and, we are one of them!

I got an email today. It's now Thursday, June 23, 2011 at 12:59pm.

A year ago today, my mom became unconscious due to two sudden brain aneurisms... 3 days later we let her enter Heaven's gates.

So, today is bitter sweet. I lost my mom, but I will be gaining my promised daughter. It brings me joy that my mom knew about our two babies even though she would never meet them this side of Heaven.

Kathy has narrowed her search for the perfect family for Nanette down to 3 great families. We are one of these three families.

Kathy said her heart is broken to have to choose a family. This has been her absolute most difficult placement ever in all the years she has worked. She hates to play God, but at the same time, wants to hear His will.

She will get back to us tonight or tomorrow.

I got Nanette's file!

Wednesday, June 22nd at 9:17am I got Nanette's files. Oh my... she is precious.

I opened up her files... looked at her photos and then looked at her labortory reports for any blood diseases.

She was ours!

I immediately forwarded her files to the 4 doctors I had already secured. Then, I contacted Dr. Jenista for my final report. It did not matter what any doctor would report... we knew that this was our daughter. We would keep their information though so that we could help Amaris Nanette as soon as we get her home.

I finally got to talk to Wasatch!

By some miracle... one of my emails got to Kathy. She had received them all, but she was a bit hesitant to allow our family to adopt Nanette because we had let Giselle go after we had "locked" her.

But, we only let her go because the Holy Spirit had VERY CLEARLY said, "You can have Giselle, but your blessing is in June." It was for no other reason. We were excited about Giselle, but I had to honor the Holy Spirit's clear direction.

I did mention to Kathy, that there have not been many times where I had laid my head down where He had clearly directed me to do something different from what I had just done. I could have never have known that He was going to speak to me that night.

It's Wednesday morning, 8:54am my time... Wasatch has been open for almost an hour. Kathy said she can't take any more phone calls today. She was absolutely swamped with interest in this little one.

All I could do now was send her emails. Oh God, PLEASE let Kathy see that we are Nanette's family. Ironically, I felt a total peace in my heart. I KNEW that we were Nanette's family. I waited 18 years... what's another day?

EVERYONE wants OUR baby...

I hardly slept last night, not because I was nervous, but because I was excited. I knew Nanette was our baby.

It's Wednesday morning... last night I emailed Kathy at Wasatch, I responded to the RK listing (I'm not sure who at Wasatch get that response) and I think I left a message on the phone for Wasatch, but I can't even remember that now. Excitement is in the air. My heart is still beating fast.. but, this time with great joy!

Wasatch is one hour ahead of us. They open at 9am... I'm sitting at my computer with my phone in hand. I have seen no responses yet. What if they missed my email?

I called Wasatch at 9:01am... apparently their phones have been ringing off the hook all morning... in fact, their phones were in essence jammed. Marilyn didn't know if she could get me connected to Kathy or not because Kathy was working from her home office. I wanted to jump on an airplane and tell Kathy the news in person... God gave her OUR daughter!

I explained to Marilyn what had happened to me, about my shared birthdate with Nanette, waiting 18 years for her, etc. She wanted so desperately to get me in touch with Kathy, but Kathy's phones were busy because she was so swamped with interest for this little one. She was taking one potential client at a time.

It soon became more than overwhelming for Kathy, so Kathy removed the RK listing.

She's Ours... She IS the One!

The second I saw her name, I knew she was ours... but then God SHOWED us she was ours.

MIRACLE #1
Supernatural presence of the Lord...
As written in an earlier post, I opened the Rainbow Kids listing the VERY SECOND it posted. And, when I did, I immediately had Holy Spirit goosebumps and sweaty hands... just seeing the name "Nanette".

MIRACLE #2
"Heart" baby
As Jason jumped from his computer and raced to mine... we saw the picture of a beautiful baby. To my delight... she was a "heart" baby. I had told Jason back in December 2010 that I felt God was leading us to adopt a heart baby and a baby with developmental delays.

MIRACLE #3
Born on my 40th Birthday
This baby had my same birthdate. She was born on my 40th birthday. God designed Nanette to have my birthdate so that JASON would know that this truly was the one we had been waiting for. After all, he didn't get to feel the Holy Spirit's presence when I saw the name "Nanette."

MIRACLE #4
Agency the Lord had revealed 7 months earlier
Nanette was with Wasatch... the agency I told Jason I believed God was calling us to back in December 2010. I couldn't explain it back then, I had no idea why I felt the way I did... but, he knew that there was a pretty significant chance that we would be moving agencies... he just needed another sign. Well, here it is!

MIRACLE #5
Her Chinese and American names mean: Grace and Favor 
(the only thing I really prayed for with these adoption)
While I waited to hear from Wasatch, I looked up the meaning of Nanette. We named our first two biologically children with really cool names... but, we never even thought to think about what their names meant.

With our adopted girls, it was absolutely vital we name our daughters based on meaning. We knew baby#2 was going to have the Hebrew name Amaris (Un-mare-is) which means "God has promised." God promised her 18 years ago... she was going to keep that name forever.

But, we didn't have a middle name for her, other than her full Chinese name. We still wanted to have an American middle name as well. I decided to look up Nanette. To my delight, yet another sign from God, her name means "grace and favor"... I have been praying for God's grace and favor with these next two adoptions that I might know who our little ones were.

MIRACLE #6
That hasn't happened yet... because numerous families want MY baby... but, I KNOW she is ours... so, with confidence I am speaking she is ours in Jesus name! And, miraculously, I have total peace.

I quickly emailed Kathy... and then tried to fall asleep.

Holy Spirit Goosebumps and Sweaty Hands...

June 21, 2010... the day I waited 18 years for has finally arrived.

It was a Tuesday evening... I had been scrapbooking downstairs but felt I was supposed to go upstairs... I didn't know why though. I gave my husband a kiss on the cheek, rubbed his back for 2 seconds and abruptly turned to my computer. When I did, that VERY SECOND, Rainbow Kids popped up in my email. It was 9:26pm.

Since the summer of 2009, I have checked EVERY female Rainbow Kids posting, but this one was different.

MIRACLE #1
When I clicked on it, it was a girls name... Nanette. I immediately got Holy Spirit goosebumps all over my body (from the top of my head to the tips of my toes) and my hands began to sweat profusely. It was the most phenomenal experience. My heart started to beat rapidly. It seemed like a rather long time looking at this name, but it was probably only about 3 seconds.

That 3 seconds seemed like forever... I had no idea what this girl looked like, how old she was, what her special need was, or which agency she was with, but I KNEW she was mine.

A Vision 18 Years Ago

I found our baby... our baby that was promised to my husband and I 18 years ago.

Eighteen years ago God had given me an undeniable vision of two little tan-skinned girls with dark, shoulder length hair. They appeared to be the height of the middle of my thigh and just above my waist. The taller one looked at us, smiled and turned to run in the grass behind her.

This vision of these two girls has never left my heart and I have cried THOUSANDS of tears over these years for them. I prayed for them. How in the world would we ever find them?

Throughout the years, Jason and I would talk of the two little girls. We would share with our kids as babies, then preschoolers, school-agers, junior highers, and high schoolers about their little sisters.

Jason always said, "When God brings them to my doorstep, I know they are ours!"

Well, God brought our first one, Gabriella, in a miraculous way after Jason ended up in China for two weeks. Apparently God thought it would be better if Jason went to the doors of the orphans. It was there in April 2009 that God prepared his heart to adopt.

All of our miracles to Gabriella can't even be spoken, however, if you want to read about her story, you will get a glimpse into the amazing miracles that God Almighty created for us. Many of the miracles are the very first posts on her blog... SweetPrincessGabriella.blogspot.com

This photo was taken and added to this blog on 7/19/2012... 

Amaris has been home 3 weeks... she is 2 years and 5 months old... 

Gabriella has been home 2 years... she is 5 years and 7 months old...

My vision did NOT have two sweet little princesses in matching clothes, but I did know that they had dark hair to their shoulders and tan-skin. The older girl turned and ran in the field behind her. 

If you have read Gabriella's blog, you will know that Gabriella could not even sit without falling, nor stand when we got her. She still, to date, has not taken a valid step by herself unassisted. 

But, someday soon, she will walk and talk, run and jump, hop and skip and play basketball. 

How do I know? The Lord gave me a vision now 18 years ago. And, I believe Him!

No Longer on HOLD!

It's now June 4, 2011... our family was put on "hold" for 6 months before we could continue our adoption process we started Thanksgiving Day 2010.

Has ANYONE EVER heard of such a thing? If you have been home your agencies "required" amount of time from your previous adoption, was your family then put on hold again?

Anyway, we were excited to finally get our paperwork started to bring home our daughters... it was a bit awkward, but we managed to get through the review... ironically, the social worker really didn't talk with my husband and I. She interviewed our 4 teenagers and prepared to leave.

Before she left, I asked a few questions that had been weighing heavy on my heart. But, the final question was, "Based on your visit today, would you permit our family to adopt two girls?" She said "yes"... oh, we were so relieved... maybe the 6 month hold paid off... we thought we were going to have to start the entire process over if she said no.