Garage Sale for Haddie!

We had a garage sale this last weekend to raise funds for our adoption of Haddie. What an amazing weekend it was! We received so many donations. It took an entire week to mark items and put them out. We didn't even have room for everything and were still putting things out on Saturday. The moment I began to tape up the posters of my little Haddie Hope the emotion got me. This was like our first big celebration of this little girl, my daughter. It was so wonderful to share about her with others throughout the weekend. It was AMAZING to hear how adoption had touched the lives of so many other people. That is what became overwhelming. The hearts of people that were so passionate about adoption and passionate about one little girl, Haddie Hope. This generosity was stirred by the hand of our Father and poured out through people. The total amount raised, just over $2,500!

The blessing received...PRICELESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A heartfelt THANK YOU to all of you who came out and purchased, donated and gave. You have joined in the rescue mission of Haddie Hope Jie Arnold and her family is so very grateful for you!

another glimpse of our beautiful girl!

Really the closest zoom without it getting too blurry.

My dear friend, has gotten me connected to so many amazing yahoo groups. (Thanks Christy!)One of those being a group for Haddie's orphanage, XinXiang. Last night Brad and I combed through posts and pics of others who have children in the same orphanage or have already brought their children home. We came across this ONE little snapshot of our little angel eating lunch. Brad picked her out right away! He has an eye for his girls!! This photo was taken on February 3rd.

I was struck by several things in this one little photo. It seems that she may be the only girl. It is hard to tell sometimes. The child on the end in the purple...maybe??? Then there are the humble surroundings. It is so sickening to think of all that I have, and yet, I think that I NEED more!

Brad and I spent some time just going to several different sights of "waiting children" in the Henan Province, which is where Haddie is. I truly do not think anyone could have sat with us and not been moved to tears looking at all the faces of these children. Some of them with mild disabilities and some severely challenged. Their eyes carried such a deep sadness that is truly haunting. It is really difficult to handle, but yet I find myself not able to stop looking at them. I pray over their little faces and plead with the Father to bring them HOPE! Why is it that these little ones must live in such broken, hopelessness?

I see You, Father, on the move in the hearts of Your people to care for the lost lives of the orphan. I place my HOPE for them in YOU today knowing that you will continue to MOVE, because you are RESCUER and RESTORER of all that is captive and broken.

Haddie's first care package - letter #1

What emotion is stirred up in this mama's heart. I was able to get Haddie's care package in the mail to her today. It was hard to cram so much stuff into such a little box. How I wish we could have just stuffed ourselves inside of it. Brad's advice to me was to keep it simple and not overwhelm her. Now, I ask you, how am I supposed to do that?

Contents:

*Copy of our approval from China

*Letter to the Director of her orphanage

*Letter to Haddie

*Book of photos of her new family

*Tiara

*Pretty Pink Dress

*Red Heart outfit

*Heart Bracelet and Necklace

*Hair Clips

*Disposable Camera

*Stickers, Balloons, and Candy for her to share

I just keep wondering what she is going to think and feel when she opens that box. How I wish I could be there. I am so thankful that we are the ones who get to prepare a package to let her know of this change that is about to come to her sweet little life. Can you imagine being 6 years old and finding out that there is a family who is going to adopt you??? Will she understand? Will she be scared? Will she be happy? I am so thankful that we are the ones who get to prepare a package to let her know of this change that is about to come to her sweet little life.

As I prepared to send this God brought along mom "seasoned" in adoption. She has recently brought home her own 6 year old daughter from China. She shared with me letters that she had written to her daughter, sharing all about their life, that would soon be HER life. I am including letter #1 below.

Thank you to each one who have joined us in this new journey to Haddie Hope. Your advice, support, and prayers are so valued!

Dear Zhu Xiao Jie,

We are so excited to write this letter to you. We have learned lots of things about you. We have learned that you are a very bright and sweet girl that has a lot of energy. We have seen pictures of you. You are very beautiful! This may seem strange to you, since you do not know anything about who we are. We are very happy, because we have the joy of being your new family. That is right, sweet Zhu Xiao Jie, you have a family. We live in the United States of America. That is where your home with us will be.

You have three older brothers. Jacob is 14 and likes to play basketball. Joel is 12 and enjoys playing outside. Jack is 10 and he likes to build and draw. You have a little sister, Libi Faith Jia Qi, who is 3 and she was also born in China.

We have a lot of paperwork to get done before we come to China. We hope that we will have it done in the fall before winter. Then we can come to China to adopt you.

We are so happy that you are our daughter. We will keep writing to you to tell you about us. We hope that you enjoy the things that we sent you. Share the candy and stickers with your friends.

We love you!
Daddy, Brad

Momma, Amy

Big Brother Jacob

Big Brother, Joel
Big Brother, Jack

Little Sister, Libi Faith Jia Qi

What we know about Haddie Hope

She was born on January 10th, 2003

She is 45 inches and 40 pounds.

She knows her shapes, letters and numbers.

She can write her name.
In Chinese, of course!

She is:
Active
Energetic
Talkative
Extroverted

Knows that a "chicken can swim" is wrong.

( Of all of the things I want to know about Haddie, this is SO important)

Likes to sing and listen to music.

Enjoys books.

Gets along well with others.

She is close to her caretaker and other children.

We hope that she has a special bond with one of her nannies.

What we know about our Haddie is so limited. Yet, it satisfies me somehow. As I read through the information we have I imagine her here with us. What she will enjoy doing and playing. What are her hopes and dreams.

We are so thankful for what we have learned about her so far, and hope to learn more over the months to come. We will be putting together her care package over the weekend and hope to mail it on Monday. She has no idea that she has a family! What an awesome gift to mail to a 6 year old princess!! You know this mama will be crying at the Post Office on Monday!

Fingerprint furstration!

Well, we have hit our first "bump". Our hope and prayer has been to get all of our paperwork together and have it to China by the end of April. We are still trusting the Lord to make this a reality.

Some of you know that fingerprints are a huge part of the approval process in international adoption. This becomes a HUGE problem when you don't have fingerprints! I keep telling Brad that we need a cleaning lady so I can "restore" my prints. Anyway, yesterday I got very excited to see a letter in the mailbox from the United States Department of Homeland Security. That excitement soon dissipated when I discovered it was not the approval we were hoping for, but a call back for more prints! Oh MY!!! Are you serious? Do they not have my file flagged by now as the "printless mama"?

So, I was a bit disappointed. I am set for an appointment to be reprinted in 2 weeks. Then, I thought it would take another month to get our approval...well, THEN GOD. God led me to the contact who is responsible for generating our approval. They gave me a couple of suggestions, but all of them resulting in us having our approval by the 27th of April. Praise you God! We may not have everything to China until the beginning of May, but we have learned through many journeys with our Savior that He is always PERFECTLY on time.

With that said, He "wowed" me with this truth about Himself. Just one hour after the disappointment of not receiving our US approval, we found out that we received our China approval! Basically in this approval from China they say, YES, we find you are a good family for this girl. One approval postponed, one given. So, I can give some more details about our daughter and more pics. We also can send her a package letting her know that we are her FAMILY and we are coming to get her to bring her HOME! Coming soon in another post.

As I am desperately hoping for my Haddie and for Spring to come, I am reminded of New Life. I am especially reminded of New Life with Easter just 3 days away. It was the work of my Jesus on the cross that rescued me and gave me New Life. This marvelous work made a way for me to be adopted, with all of my special needs, a daughter, a princess of THE MOST ROYAL FAMILY!

May your Easter be one of rejoicing over the great redeeming work of God through His Son Jesus.