Saturday, July 30, 2011

Time is Ticking...Waiting on our Tax Credit for Jaidyn

Time is ticking by on our TA while we wait for our adoption tax credit from the IRS. This is the money we planned to use for our travel expenses to bring Jaidyn home. Our family really urgently needs prayer over our last adoption and our travel to bring Jaidyn home. We are still waiting on our adoption tax credit from the IRS. They have sent us another letter asking for our original adoption decree again.. We have sent this letter with our homestudy and a letter from our social worker at least three times! We just sent the letter and paperwork to them in June. Also We sent it with our original tax return. I dont understand how this can be lost three times? I don't understand why this is happening. This is our last adoption and we have our travel approval now. We have until October 15 to travel and not having this money is causing our travel to be delayed. All I know is that we need a miracle from God to finish this adoption. We stepped out in faith like Peter did when he stepped out of the boat to meet Jesus walking on the water. We could have stayed in the boat too and not adopted a third time. We knew it would be difficult and a financial strain. But we also knew that these three girls deserve to be together and have a family. They all have their own unique story and a bond of closeness that is evident when they are together. I saw that bond on our last trip to China when we adopted Jailynn and we visited Jaidyn at school. She was so happy to see Jordyn after they had been seperated for over 2 years. I just had a feeling in my heart that we would be back to get her. I knew that it was impossible and something only God could orchestrate. I did not even want to ever adopt again at that point because it is stressful and hard and emotional, ect... I also felt in my heart that they are supposed to grow up together. Sometimes when God calls us to do something and we look at the natural circumstances it seems impossible and beyond our ability. It looks overwhelming and like it could never happen. We only started with a small ope that someday we could adopt a little girl from China. We never imagined that we would truly do it because we already ad 4 children. But the dream never left our hearts and now we trying to bring home our third little girl from China. When we adopted Jordyn and found out about the other two girls it was impossible to adopt from the same orphanage again. That was in 2007 and then in 2008 the CCAA created the waiting child list of all the older or special needs children. Now, that was a God thing!!! We were able to adopt Jailynn because of that change in the system and now Jaidyn. I know that this was meant to be and that we were supposed to adopt all three girls. I believe that we will complete this last adoption in spite of the IRS. We are asking for prayer support for God to provide the travel funds that we need. Our IRS return is $12,000 which will cover most of our expenses. Our plan is that Tim will travel alone to bring her home to help cut the expenses down. We would appreciate all prayers on this issue. Here is an updated picture of Jaidyn that we just received. Here birthday was July 26 and we sent her a cake and care package so that she will know we are still adopting her.



Jordyn, Jaidyn, and Jailynn in 2009 when we adopted Jailynn



Thank you and Blessings,

Melanie

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Fundraiser for Jaidyn





We are having a fundraiser to raise money to bring Jaidyn home. We will send out a samaritan card to anyone that donates to help Jaidyn. The samaritan card can be used for discounts for resturaunts, entertainment, movies, travel discounts, flowers, and grocieries. I just need an address to send the card. I will post pictures of the card. Also, we will have a drawing at the end of the fundraiser for a digital camera and printer.

We understand this is alot to ask and Any help or donation to bring Jaidyn home is appreciated beyond words. I hate to even have to do this when I thought we had this adoption all figured out and covered. However, that is not at all the case. Please keep our family in your prayers.

Update....We Have T.A.

Yes. It is true. We have T. A.!! We are happy and excited that we finally have our T. A. However, things are not going as planned. We are still waiting for our tax return from the IRS and that is our travel money! UGG! I am still in shock that we have our TA but we do not have our funds to bring our daughter home. We are in serious need of prayer that God will part the red sea and send us the check from the IRS. We are stuck and cannot move forward with out our tax return. I wish that things were different and that we were ready to travel tomorrow...but that is not how things have gone. This is out of our control and we did ot expect to have this road block. I believe that it is happening for a reason. I believe that this is happening so that we can witness a miracle when God shows up with His provision for us to bring Jaidyn home. We await for our miracle. I believe that it will be a miracle and that we did not get this far to fail. I also appreciate everyone's prayer that we will have our check inour hand to complete our adoption and bring Jaidyn home

Monday, July 4, 2011

Apology

Hello,
I have to write this apology to everyone that reads my blog for several reasons. One, we were not able to go through the process to adopt Xiao Lei and get approved to start the process. I had hoped and prayed that we could raise the money quick enough to send in our LOI (letter of intent). However, that was not the case and my heart was broken over it. I am not sure if he found a family and I stopped blogging because I could not write this and face the fact that we could not bring him home along with our daughter. I know that it would have been difficult in reality, but my heart was already involved. Then, when it could not happen, I just ignored everything to do with adoption including our adoption. I guess I had to grieve over the failed dream and that it was just not meant to be. I hope he found a family. The truth is that adding two children at once to our family was probably too much for us to begin with. At times, we still have struggles with our children getting along and sometimes it seems like we have not adjusted or bonded at all. We have in fact bonded and adjusted to our girls, Jordyn and Jailynn, but we still have some bad days at times. After having committed to him in my heart and then realize we could not commit to him on paper, after I sought support help to raise the money, was just really hard. I grieved hard. Now, the reality is that we are still adopting our third daughter from China and I cannot ignore that fact any longer. Secondly, I need to apologize for asking for support before we had our LOI. I am sorry. I did not intentionally mislead anyone. Please feel free to email me or message me if you need to talk more about this situation.
Next, I just want to give an update. We have our Article Five and are waiting for our Travel Approval. I do not feel prepared or ready but now I have to face the fact that we are adding another child to our family. On one hand I am excited, but on the other hand, I know what we are about to face. She is our third daughter from China so I should be prepared right? Well, actually, I am nervous and apprehensive. I know what all is involved with adopting an older child. I just hope that she will adjust to our family and things will go smoothly. I am also getting better emotionally and trying to become more prepared. I hope that everyone will forgive me and understand.

Jailynn's 1st Thanksgiving

My GuestBook

Hi! I am glad you are visiting my blog! Please sign my guestbook or leave me a comment. It will mean so much to me, Jordyn and Jailynn!

The rest of our family

In case anyone was curious: Here are som pictures of my oldest son, Joey and his family. Joey and Kym have three children: my beloved grandbabies: Hayden 4yrs old, Noah 22 months old, and Phoenix 9 months old. We have been helping Joey and Kym get on their feet and they have been living with us since December. They are now able to get their own place and will move out in April. I will miss them and miss the babies. I will just have to babysit!

God Is Awesome!

myspace

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I am Praising God tonight because He has Heard my cries and answered my prayers. We have recieved a generation donation from a wonderful family toward our fund raising efforts. We have also recieved generous donations from wonderful people through this website and through Jailynn's Prayer. So far, the total fundraising has reached a total of $4000!!!!!!!! Thank you! Thank You! Thank you to everyone for helping us to bring Jailynn home! We are hoping to travel sometime this month and still need to raise money. I know that God is providing for our family through the unselfish and generous giving from special and wonderful people like you!

We have our LOA!!

Lilypie Waiting to adopt Ticker

Happy Holidays!

Happy Halloween (a little late)

Our Fun At the Texas State Fair

Amanda's Party!

Jordyn and Amanda's Birthday Party