where do I start...

Well, my beloved has been gone for over a week now...........he is in China ministering in case some of you readers don't know. I am so ready for him to get back, but we are all getting along great on a schedule of how mom wants things!!

Anyway, please do pray for our work here with unwed moms and adoptions. AIT (American Institute of Taiwan) is trying to pull the "I am the gov't I know more than you" trick.......when in reality..........they are trying to just save themselves and extra work. I understand Chinese just fine people!!! If they had told me back when that we couldn't do what we are now doing, then we would have not proceeded this way. But you know what, the man specifically said "privates are ok, they just take longer." I talked to a lawyer today as well, there are somethings that he just made me feel better saying. So, we are going on. God has brought this to us, things come up to learn from right? The main issue they are saying we are not of orphanage status. An orphanage status makes things a whole lot easier, but not necessary.

Well, please pray for the following:
H1 family: AIT is causing issues for them, technically there is no reason their case doesn't fall under an orphan, but again AIT is struttin' their stuff.

H2 family: they need a foster family here fast please pray for their family

R1 family: we have probably 85% of the stuff done, haven't registered yet, but trying to get things done and well, again AIT is causing stress..............

Momma J has not come yet. I am not sure why, though they know that dh is away, so that might be part of it.

Pray for wisdome for us as we continue to do what God wants us to do for the sake of the little ones.

we got the air conditioner!!

Well, dh and I went to pick one out. They were a little cheaper as our main hot season is over now, so we got one. They are coming to install it on Tuesday or Wednesday. Mom J is not coming til the 15th or so, so this is all working out perfectly!!!
PRAISE THE LORD!!!! Thank you all so much for your help with the a/c fund.............it is amazing how much you all have helped. I'll get pix for you all as evidence!!LOL!

OH, Momma A had her baby tonight. The dr (a friend) asked (sorta told really) me to be in the room. It was a different angle for me!!LOL!! usually it is me laying on the table, not standing there saying "you can do it" "good job"..............it was a happy yet sad time for me..........happy that this little life came into the world screaming, that a family will have a new little one someday to love...........yet sad to see this young unmarried mom have no one else support her. Her family didn't even know she was at the clinic to deliver. Granted, her family is kind of "you made the problem, you fix it." But she had no one there when she needed them. Her mom was to be coming over later, but still.........................Sad to see how things went................sad to know that she is giving up her baby.....................but she loves him enough to give him up..........this one loved baby!!!

where to begin!

Life has been quite hectic. I really need to get into a schedule of sorts especially since we home school.
YEAH!!!! I took a case in to register for court date today. I am so relieved. Please keep that case in your prayers!!

One of our former foster daughters has moved back for a year and will be helping out some. We can see in many ways the problems she faced and moving back here at this particular time is all in God's timing. The boys are enjoying having P back.

We have Mom A at the clinic for an induction today (readers don't get antsy please). She should have baby boy tonight sometime. Her family seems non supportive and won't be at the hospital with her. I took her in today and was with her while they set stuff up and all and will go back later today. I am thankful that she was fine with me praying for her and the baby during this time. I sat by her bed thanking God for this new life and that all will be healthy. Please pray as we use this as a witness time to her.

Mom J (thank you all for the $150 so far.......any others:-) )....will be coming Sep. 15th probably. The 14th is Moon Festival and a time for families to be together. Her mom decided to wait til after this holiday to bring her here. That is fine, though Luke will be in China then.......actually just starting his 2 week ministry trip!!AHHH!!
We are in need of maternity clothes. I know shipping is expensive, but if you have some or know of some, please contact me. We hopefully will have a family or two coming before February for adoptions and maybe they can bring some stuff.

I met with an organization that works with abused women and unwed mothers. Mom J was their original case, but since she wanted to stay in Taitung, they kinda just let her do her own thing. The organization came to us and asked about her, what we can do for her, etc. They seemed ok with it all. We are a family style ministry, not......here's a bed.......but here's a home away from home.

We have decided that our unwed mother's ministry will currently stay private, as in nonregistered. It is our adoption ministry that will be registered. We are praying for a house to rent or allow us to use........the latter would be best!!........but again, resources...........that is so difficult................I'd like to do a walk a thon, or Christmas sale or something here for funds for a home and the ministry there..................but then again, we need helpers.............we know God is in control. Please do keep praying.

We need your help!!

We got the call.........Mom J, the 19yr old is coming to stay with us. Honestly, I am a tad nervous about this, but we know that God has worked this out.
Ok, so, we need someone to "adopt" Mom J................any takers? we have paypal if you don't need a receipt, or I can get you information on how to get the support to us. She is 5.5months pregnant and her mom is tired of hearing all the gossip in the village. Sad I know, but we are praising God that HE opened all this up for us. We made it known that she will be required to go to church services.....not an issue! We will be using her as a guinea pig for our program!!LOL!!
Seriously, need your prayers and support on this one. Please pass it around. We need at least $500US to support her so that is does not cause a burden on us or on her family. Her mom is the only one working, no dad in the picture, and her two younger brothers are still in school..............her 18yr old sister is already married!............

Please do pray about helping us!!

Well, I can't go into too much detail about things, but God is moving right along. I love to see how God works things out. It is so awesome. I have had some people interested in supporting or partially supporting a mom, that is great!! We will need one supported SOON!!!!

Mom J is 19yr old and her mom is becoming embarrassed of her growing stomach. Due to some health issues, and the fact that she was already 5months along, she didn't/couldn't get an abortion. They have approached us and will give us a decision this week about her staying here. She lives at a village out of town, so it would be good for her to be near the hospital to give birth. She will turn 20yr old before birth. Can you help support Mom J? Can you support this mom when alot of her family and friends have left her?What can you do?

There is a kindergarten near here for sale...........my heart wishes for it, but financially.......we can't buy it. I have a FATHER in heaven who owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and if he wanted us to have it HE would.....it is a little over 1million US......it is a great size, has buildings, water,electric....etc......and room to play outside!! a great place.........but God would bring the money to us if HE wanted it. Will you pray for us for the next step?what and where God would have us to buy.....
Current Prayer Requests:
1. the rest of the paper work needed for registration
2. a social worker needed for registration
3. maternity clothes for moms
4. the current adoption cases and unwed moms---wisdom for what to do

thanks

Never a dull moment

This past week has been a rather exhausting one. I told my dh, in our work, sometimes, being busy is not exactly a good thing.
Mom A we'll call her, contacted us about giving up her baby for adoption. Actually, our ob/gyn made the referral. I talked with her via phone last Friday. She said she hadn't been to the dr in a while because of no money. Well, we made an appointment and took her in. Much to my suprise, the nurse said "any pains? you are at 39weeks you know." I about fell off the chair!!! I was not quite expecting her that far along (and she sure doesn't look it.........man, I always look like I am carrying triplets by 39 weeks). So, dr told she HAD to come next week and I assured him,we'll bring her. So, now we are on stand by in case she goes into labor. She is 24yr old, unwed and the baby's dad refuses to accept the baby is his and won't have any responsibility. That's how it is alot of the time unfortunately.
Wednesday, we get a phone call from a pastor's wife. She has a 19yr old girl from their village (and church) who is about 6months pregnant. Actually, we thought that last month they went and had an abortion. WE PRAISE GOD THIS BABY IS ALIVE AND WELL!!! She is due in November. The father has changed cellphones, left town, that type. The family says they can't afford to keep baby. PLUS, 19yr old's mom is a tad embarrassed that her daughter's stomach is getting bigger. So, obviously, not alot of people know about the pregnancy. They went to an office here in town about a place to stay. See, our county has no unwed mother's home, so the office was going to send her someplace else. The girl's family didn't feel comfortable with that. We brought up the idea that she could stay here at our house, so they are going to give us a decision next week.
Between those and previous girls have problems all at once, it has been a rough week. But we know that God is in control. HE has HIS reasons for all this happening at once and pushing us to rely more and more on HIM.
If you want to support a mom for Morning Light Mom program, it is $500US/mom.....you don't have to support all of it, but part of it is fine. This will take care of from the time they come til birth and maybe some help after birth. Please email me and let me know.

two more goin' HOME

The D family has really had lots of set backs with their boys and things they were told they needed at the last minute, even an issue of something written wrong by the US Immigration!! But alas, I got this email today:

"Everything is finally official. We’ve been approved to take our sons home with us!! Now the problem is getting home. The travel agent said the soonest she can get a seat for all of us is Sept 8th, almost 3 weeks out! We are going to call American Airlines tomorrow and see if we can arrange something with them directly. All I can say is, please be praying for us. "

So they really need prayers to get HOME. I can't imagine waiting 3 more weeks!! Goodness.......so please pray that they can get home.

The D boys ages 7 and 5.....ain't they cute!!

Update on God's working...

Well, let's see. Someone told they were proud of me jumping right back into all of this work right after having a baby. I guess I saw it as no choice. It's not like the world is gonna stop cause I had a baby:-).
We hopefully will soon be getting the a/c put in. Why? well, today we met with a 19yr old (will be 20yr old in October) unwed mother. We are counseling her, though she came with her pastor's wife. They are from a village outside the city. We found out that the family and pastor's wife had gone to the one and only unwed mother office/service in our county. They could send her to a home run by an orphanage that does overseas adoptions. But mom was afraid 19yr old wouldn't settle in. Luke piped up that well, she could stay at our house (Luke rarely does things like that so when he does, I don't take it lightly). So, we will see her next week and go from there. We will put her in the Morning Light Mom's program, so we will need some sponsors............anyone? please contact me if you are interested.

Thursday (the 21st) I meet with a 24yr old mom to take her to a long overdue prenatal appointment. She is also unwed and deciding what to do. She is due soon though.

As you can see, God is really working and showing us more and more..........these people who most ignore or give the cold shoulder, you need to talk to them and help them and their children.

I have more to write, but need to get things ready for church tonight.

oh.....by the way.....

Morning Light Mom that is what we have decided on, though we'll have to see how it translates into Chinese. But that seems to be the name for our new adopt a mom program.
I am preparing (kinda slowly) information for Morning Light Mom program. But you know, this would be a great great program for ladies Sunday School groups to be in. What is better than a group of Christian women, supporting and praying for an unwed mother and her needs? If you want information on this program for your ladies Sunday school class, or any class please contact me.

And on we go...

We are working on paperwork for 3 different cases, but one is wrapping up. Hopefully next week the D family can take their boys home. But they will need prayer as the boys are older boys. An adjustment for both sides.

We are praising the Lord that the H family's little has been released. The bio mom has signed the release for adoption forms and had them notarized, as well as the Chinese adoption agreement. The H family is in the homestudy process................keep them in your prayers.

Another H family should be getting papers TECO'd and sent here for registration. Praying hard it gets here quickly and we can happily go to register for them.

Those are our 3 cases we are working on. In the midst of all this, we are working on registration. *sigh* that is another whole story in itself. The people in charge here don't tell you ALL you need to know right away. AND the gov't here in our county hasn't done anything like this before, so after we turn in our paperwork, then they will compare it with other counties then see if we need to change anything.......................I sure hope they don't make me mad!!LOL!! I can sortakindainaway see them looking at the format, but please don't look at other offices and compare us with them. PLUS we met last time with Mr. Yang and Ms. Wang........when I called the other day, Mr. Yang said just take the paperwork to him as Ms. Wang has left social work. They have quite a turn over rate.........that is like the 3rd person who has left since we have been pursuing this registration stuff.

I still haven't heard back from the 19yr old unwed mom...........if I can find her number, I MAY call her. That would be a weird call "so, did you get your abortion?"......no, I won't say that but you know what I mean? I will be hopefully getting some papers to my ob/gyn that he can hand out and asking him to write a letter or something to the other ob/gyn dr's about our service. Wouldn't it be great if I could meet with them all for lunch and discuss all this? hmmm........

well, just keep prayin' for us............oh, midAugust we will be looking at a/c's thanks to all those who gave. It is still open for giving:-)

Our next project should be office/counseling room furniture and computer, fax, phone...........

ok.......that's all for now