Hey Jude!

So, thanks to my great friend, Becky, a dear social worker from our church family, Lynn, came over on Saturday and checked the place out!

Upon receipt of her safety checklist we will be one step closer. We sent in our deposit. Just $1000 to go.
Living Hope gives the kids English names so we can refer to them by name with out butchering their real name or having to call them "case #35".

So, even though we will call him by his Chinese name, we can only refer to him as Jude on the internet. My bad.

The kids and I have been trying to learn Mandarin in the car or shall we call it, "Po-tung-quwa"  which is how you say "the common language" or Mandarin.

Let's just say the first time we heard the conversation on the cd we were like, "WHAT?" but now that we have been listening to lesson one, over and over, WE ACTUALLY UNDERSTAND IT!

The younger the brain the better the memory. Now when the kids and I are in stores and such we seek out Chinese people in hopes we can eavesdrop. Is that weird? Why am I asking. I know it is, but my kids are excited about connecting with Jude through his language.

Then a gentleman was having trouble at Aldi's with the quarter/cart system and as I helped him I politely asked if I could try out my "Po-tung-quwa" on him. I said one word and he responded with about 10 of which I understood 0.
Back to square one.
I am going to brush up on charades.

We will call him Jude!

We found out his real name! But then I read the fine print and can't disclose it!
Getting very excited and feeling VERY loved already by all of the social worker leads. I have 2 strong leads from Becky and Kelly that I think one will work out.
THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!

There are 5 more days if you want to join this adventure with us and host a child. Host fees are cut in half to $1500 plus a couple hundred more for training etc.

Please do not hesitate to contact Tracy Scoggins or myself for more information. we4perrys@gmail.com

It is through Living Hope International and our contact is Philip. His office number is 215-540-8810
Kids will be coming from approximately 6/25-7/23 and you can take them on vacation with you as long as it is in the US.

www.livinghopeintl.org

The world will think we are crazy (and you may too) but we are hosting this summer!

 I don't even know where to start, so I will give some bullet points to update anyone not walking our recent journey.  And start by closing the Alyona chapter.

• A lovely family from the Midwest flew all the way to Ukraine to adopt Alyona a year after she declined us and she said, "no" to them in the court. Word was that the mother in law of her brother came to the orphanage and told Alyona not to be adopted that she would help her. I haven't heard if that lady every pulled through. I saw her picture on the orphanage website for a year after that, but have no idea what happened to her now that she has aged out. Pray for her.

Now an update on our lives:

• In November my greatest fear (as lame as it sounds) happened. Perry was laid off from CarMax after 12 years because his job was eliminated. He still SAT/ACT tutors which has been great!

• Dare I say my worst fear has been a big blessing?! God has used this time for incredible growth in our faith, our marriage, our relationships with our children, and in our eternal perspective.

• He currently has an "in" with a State job that he REALLY wants and has a long, slow, but promising plan for a job that we hope will start end of August. Although it is not guaranteed, we are going to see this lead through. If it ends up it doesn't work out like we hope, the burden is on Jesus to provide. And I will ALWAYS bet on Him!

• These is what I have learned during this season:

1.  Jesus does EVERYTHING He says He will do!  And God is our Hope and Provider not a job nor a savings account. He promises to provide for us.  (Matthew 6:26 Look at the birds of the air: they do not sow or reap or store away in bars, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?) And He has!! Loaves and fishes over here! In awe of the Body of Christ, their generosity, and how our bills are getting paid and we are not going into debt. Inexplicable except to say He is faithful!  

2. It is actually to our benefit to fail and suffer! Seriously! Peter was so much more affective in his ministry as a result of his denying Christ and being restored, then had Christ prevented him from failing in the first place. (Luke 22:34 and then later in Acts/1,2 Peter we read how on fire Peter was). We are living proof that suffering actually has enriched our lives and invigorated our relationship with Jesus.

3. The world values earthly treasure and tells us to toil and worry. But knowing Jesus more, is the true treasure. He is redefining success for us.  He who sows sparingly, reaps sparingly, but whoever sows generously will also reap generously (2 Cor 9:6). Our treasure is not our money. Do not store up for yourselves reassures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven. (Matthew 6:19).

After all of this eye opening work the Lord has been doing in our hearts, we are hosting a 7 year old orphan from China for the month of July.

Yes. Crazy. I agree. It will be uncomfortable, expensive, and inconvenient.  We are hopeful that the Lord will use this month to sow seeds of faith in this orphan, our children, and ourselves.
We have time! And love! And a family we can share!

If there is a chance that us laying down one month of our lives will bring this boy to his forever family.....bring it! We plan to advocate for him and basically advertise for him on adoption sites. Kind of like, write him a review after his hosting internship!

It will cost $1500 to host him. If you are interested in partnering with us, you can make a tax deductible donation to this organization (note our names).
Zero pressure! God has been blowing us away for months with provision and we are confident He will continue.

We also need a licensed social worker to do a safety study for us. We have a check list they need to go over and sign. If you know of one who may be willing to cut us a break, send them our way.

http://www.livinghopeintl.org/

Living Hope International

449 Pennsylvania Avenue

Fort Washington, PA 19034

Please pray for us as we prepare for his coming. I am excited to get back to this stale blog.