Toby

Our tiny boy will be 23 months old in just a few days.  He's in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China, and we are SO ready to go get him!  Unlike the referrals from our previous adoptions, Toby's contained little information about his personality.  So, we don't know much about him, yet, but we already love him!
We continue to try to approach this adoption differently from the others.  We wholeheartedly believe that God gave us a heart for children and placed a special calling on our lives to adopt.  Nevertheless, we insisted on maintaining control of every aspect we could.  (Of course, those who have been there and done that KNOW how false any sense of control is in the world of homestudies, dossiers, and approvals.)  I guess that's why I (Brad, the guest blogger at Kim's request) resisted so long the call to adopt again.  I couldn't say with certainty where the money would come from.  I couldn't say for sure what impact it would have on the ongoing bonding struggles within our family.  In short, I wouldn't be in control.  But, the Holy Spirit used a combination of many things - realizations or discoveries I made about myself on our mission trip to Honduras last year, clarity I'd gained from recent study of the Gospel, and a challenge from a recent study to stretch myself and allow the Holy Spirit to work, to name a few - to prompt us to trust Him and follow His call.  So, that's what we are doing.  Would you please join us in prayer over some specific things?
First, for the completion of our homestudy.  Our homestudy was delayed in getting started due to some miscommunication, and its completion has been delayed by my fingers!  (I don't know if I abused my fingers in my days as an electrician and then as a phone man, or if I was just born with bad fingerprints, but I have a terrible time getting good prints taken for the various background checks required in the adoption process.)  Our second set of my fingerprints is currently in review, and we need this final background screen to be DONE to complete the homestudy and move on to our USCIS application (and yet another fingerprinting appointment)!
Second, for Toby's continued care.  Not only did the referral not contain much about his personality, the medical info was somewhat limited and in some areas, conflicting.  What we do know is that his special needs are being attended to, and he is showing improvement.  Our prayer is that God equips his caretakers to continue to help him until we can bring him home.
Finally, that God will continue to provide the resources for us to see this through.  Our friends and church family have been so awesome with their support of this adoption.  It has been amazing!  We've had friends come up with and implement their own creative fundraising ideas, and they've jumped in to help us with the fundraisers we've put together.  It's been humbling to watch the Lord provide just what we've needed as we needed it, and we trust Him to continue to do so.  We are so blessed!