Going After One

Songs

2012-02-28T10:14:00.005-08:00

Here are three songs that I listen to a lot right now. All three songs have links attached in this blog so that you can easily listen to them.

The first song "SAFE" is very meaningful to me. I heard about it from one of the women whom God connected us with, who has cared for Ryan in his Eastern European orphanage. She wrote:

"Back when I was volunteering at the orphanage, one of my favorite things to do was sing to the kids. More than just singing to them, I loved to sing words of hope and truth over them. I had a sort of repertoire of songs that I would sing and as I sang my prayer would be that, despite the language barrier, they would understand the meaning of those words in the depths of their soul and that they would fill them with strength, hope and peace. For some of my kids I had a special song that belonged to them. Although I might sing that same song to the other kids as well, it had a special meaning for the child it belonged to, words that captured the truths I so desperately wanted them to know, and I sang it over them as often as I could."

When I asked her if she has a special song for Ryan, she continued,

"It was Safe, by Phil Wickham. I would sing that song over him all the time and pray that God's presence would be tangible to him as He held him in His arms and that He would send His angels to guard and protect him from everything around him. That continues to be my prayer. I cannot wait until Ryan is safe not only in the Father's arms but in yours as well."

(If you go to click on the song title- it will underline, then click on it and a new window will open up so you can hear the song on Youtube.)

Safe ~ Phil Wickham

I love hearing it and singing it. I also think not only about his earthly home (Lord willing with us) but also his heavenly home where God is preparing a place for him and myself, and all of those who accept God's mercy and forgiveness through Christ's death. I love the lines about "Cause the hands that hold the world are holding your heart"..and "Have you heard of the one...who can pull the lame up to their feet." So perfect for Ryan, with his heart condition and his inability to walk. Wow, songs can sure be powerful.

Here are two other songs that remind me of Ryan, esp. when I tweak the words in my head to fit our situation.

One is Find Me, by Selyne Maia...but it is more like "Till the day we find you or hold you" or something like that...and of course with other lyrical changes. It is hard to find songs that fit just right.

Find Me ~ Selyne Maia

And another is from Fernando Ortega, called "If You Were Mine," from the album "This Bright Hour".

If You Were Mine ~ Fernando Ortega

It wasn't until this posting that I found out that Fernando wrote this song after he and his wife Margee had attempted to adopt a child, and after the long process it was unable to be completed. Praying this doesn't fit our situation too closely after all. But, I am thankful that God is the God of all comfort and if our hearts get broken (and in this world there is no promise that they won't and in fact the Bible makes it clear that we will suffer and experience hurt)...He will be there to comfort me.

If there are other songs that you think I would like, please pass them along! I love to hear new music.

Thanks for listening, Julie

This is totally bananas!!!

2012-02-24T15:31:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone. What I'm about to ask of you is, as I said in the title, totally bananas. In a couple of hours, a local filmmaker is coming to our house to film an interview with Julie and I. He will then make a teaser for a documentary he wants to film about Ryan's adoption story. Yes. That's really what I said. Please pray that if God wants this film to be made for His glory, He will open that door.

This filmmaker is hoping to use the teaser he will shoot tonight along with a fundraising website called "Kickstarter" to raise the funds necessary for himself and his sound guy to make the film. He hopes to interview people all over the globe (via Skype or something like it) who have been praying for and advocating for Ryan since he was a wee lad, travel with us to film the fundraisers that our friends are doing to help cover the cost of Ryan's adoption, and even to travel with us to Eastern Europe for when we first meet Ryan.

His goal is to make a film that advocates for adoption and highlights the lengths that our all-powerful, totally loving God will go to in order to place his children in families. This could really happen!!! I take great comfort and get super excited about the fact that this is not a film about Julie and I...but about the JOY of adoption and the GOD that first adopted us. So...pray that if God wants this film to be made, he'll provide the funding for it to happen. The teaser could be online in the next week or so. We'll keep you posted!

-Chris

USCIS

2012-02-23T21:09:00.000-08:00

Major paperwork part 2 of 3 has been completed. We have sent in our USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) papers and are waiting to hear that they have arrived at their destination. It usually takes about 2 months for them to look over the papers and information we sent and then to make a decision of approval or not. They are looking to see that Chris and I have done everything on our end legally (adoption home study, marriage, etc.) and that Ryan is a legally adoptable orphan from his country in Eastern Europe.

We have requested that the USCIS process be expedited due to Ryan's medical needs and our pediatrician sent a letter recommending the same thing. Later we will call our senator to see if they can make sure that our case is getting processed in a timely fashion. The timeline from here on out is out of our control and totally at the hands of others. It can also vary greatly depending on hundreds of factors. Our desire is still to have Ryan home with us before the end of the summer. We would appreciate prayers that we will wait on God's perfect timing, and that He will be preparing Ryan, our hearts, and our family for this transition.

God's personal, specific, and powerful encouragement have been very sweet to us during this time. Thanks for your prayers and for the role you have in this story!

Thanks, Julie

Learning to Trust

2012-02-17T16:55:00.000-08:00

Today was a bit crazy as we set out to hammer out the last bit of our adoption paperwork. Our PC crashed a couple of days ago and we still can’t get it up and running, my laptop was out of commission for almost 3 hours today (but is back up in working order), our finalized home study has yet again another error (so we still can’t move on to the next step in the adoption process), we “lost” one of our needed documents on the computer (it was there, but would not pull up), when I retyped it and tried to print it the printer was out of ink, the restaurant we went to was closed for dinner tonight…you get the idea. So the following conversation (spreading through facebook) is a little over the top and a bit cheesy, but the lesson is valuable, and timely. I wonder how God is moving today, and if we will know this side of eternity? So glad He is trustworthy!

Me: God, can I ask you a question?

God: Sure

Me: Promise you won't get mad ...

God: I promise

Me: Why did you let so much stuff happen to me today?

God: What do you mean?

Me: Well, I woke up late

God: Yes

Me: My car took forever to start

God: Okay

Me: At lunch they made my sandwich wrong and I had to wait

God: Huummm

Me: On the way home, my phone went DEAD, just as I picked up a call

God: All right

Me: And on top of it all off, when I got home ~I just want to soak my feet in my new foot massager & relax. BUT it wouldn't work!!! Nothing went right today! Why did you do that?

God: Let me see, the Death Angel was at your bed this morning & I had to send one of the other angels to battle him for your life. I let you sleep through that.

Me (humbled): OH

GOD: I didn't let your car start because there was a drunk driver on your route that would have hit you if you were on the road.

Me: (ashamed)

God: The first person who made your sandwich today was sick & I didn't want you to catch what they have, I knew you couldn't afford to miss work.

Me (embarrassed): Ok

God: Your phone went dead because the person who was calling was going to give false witness about what you said on that call, I didn't even let you talk to them so you would be covered.

Me (softly): I see God

God: Oh and that foot massager, it had a shortage that was going to throw out all of the power in your house tonight. I didn't think you wanted to be in the dark.

Me: I'm sorry God

God: Don't be sorry, just learn to trust me.....in all things, the good & the bad.

Me: I will trust you

God: And don't doubt that my plan for your day is always better than your plan.

Me: I won't God. And let me just tell you God, thank you for everything today.

God: You're welcome child. It was just another day being your God and I love looking after my children...

Today was a hard day for Chris and I. There are parts of this process that are really stressful and we are both exhausted from staying up late working on the paperwork. We got into a conflict this morning, were able to talk at lunch and apologize to each other. This afternoon we continued to try to give each other the benefit of the doubt and to forbear with one another. Please pray for us that we will remember that God's timing is perfect and that we will act like we believe it. Thanks!

Home Study and Easy

2012-02-09T14:08:00.000-08:00

J: This will let you know 1) where we are in the adoption process and 2) the thoughts swirling about in my head.

Things with the adoption are progressing well. For those not familiar with the process there are a number of significant paperwork bridges to cross. The first is the home study. We got to celebrate the completion of this step this in January… until an error was found (a later blog will be about that problem turned miracle-in-disguise.) We just got it back today (2-9-12) so celebrate with us! Wahoo!

Our home study in general has a large mark of God’s perfect plan on it. We had to rush like mad to get our first home study completed for our youngest daughter’s adoption back in 2010. We were matched with her birth-mom in December 2009 and had not yet even started the home study process… and she was born early in March 2010! It was a whirlwind trying to get all the paperwork done and we prayed that our home study would be completed quickly and in time. When we got the call that her birth mom was in labor, and as we traveled over state lines to be there for the birth of our daughter I confess I had to fight lies that God didn’t care, or that he didn’t hear our prayer, as we still were waiting to hear that our home study was finalized. Chris says that he remembers clearly when our social worked called on that road trip, just a few hours before we got to the hospital, to say that our home study had been approved. Later we found out that it was actually finalized just days before she was born. Whew, we had our faith stretched! To us it appeared that God came through just in the nick of time. Now I see he was way ahead of us, growing our faith muscle, and preparing us for another adoption.

That particular home study was set to expire in March of 2012, so when we found out about Ryan in the end of October 2011, we determined that by acting fast we would only have to update our home study as well as convert it from domestic to international, without having to start from the very beginning. Now, if our first home study had been approved earlier as we had prayed, we would have missed the opportunity to simply update our home study! This cut down on a lot of paperwork, and about $2000, but most importantly it saved precious time (even though it still took over 3 months to do). Lord willing, Ryan will be home with us a lot sooner because this step was shortened quite considerably. And, perhaps, I won’t be as crazy :)

So now we are working on the second stack of paperwork called the USCIS, for Ryan to become a citizen when he enters US soil as our son. USICS stands for U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services. We need to follow the “Orphan Process”. Once completed and turned in this usually takes about 2 months to get approval. Some of the various aspects of this hurdle, if you are interested, are to prove that we are U.S. citizens, establish that we will provide proper parental care to the child, confirm that Ryan is an “orphan” as defined in U.S. immigration law, and that Chris and I have plans to meet him in person before the adoption proceedings…and then the government will verify that we have obtained a valid adoption or grant of custody, prove that the child does not have an illness or disability that is not described in the orphan petition, determine whether the child has any special needs that were not fully addressed in our home study, and determine whether there are any facts showing that the child does not qualify for immigration as our adopted child- I have no idea how they will do all that, but when they do…they will approve it, Lord willing!

Later, I will blog more about the third hunk of paper work…the dossier! But for now, although the paperwork is time consuming and tedious, we are so thankful that we get to do it. I love thinking about Ryan and the nights that I can do “work” on his behalf eases the pain of being away from him. Each day God is growing my love for this little guy. Some days it hardly seems possible that I have never actually met him; my love for him is so great. What an act of God and what a blessing! If he can change my heart, he can change any ones.

2) Just some reflections…

I know that God doesn’t promise “easy”. When you read about people that love God (Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Esther…) they never had it easy. And those who follow, Jesus (the Jesus who certainly didn’t have it easy, not from the second He was born till his agonizing death) like Paul, the disciples, Julie Zaragoza from Fishersofmenmexico.org, the staff of Back2Back (see many of the blogs that I follow), Katie from the book Kisses from Katie, the high-schooler whose parents don’t understand her love for Christ, the wife following the Lord who has an unfaithful husband, parents grieving the death of their child, the person in my home group who has to forgive another believer, and many other Christians all over the world- they don’t have it “easy”. Since I have decided to follow Jesus as well, I don’t know why I would expect that it will be easy for me, but I do.

That being said, there is something about a life committed to following the Lord and the joy and peace that comes with it that I want for myself- a dependence on the Lord and an inward transformation (which come from a very intimate relationship with Him) that looks even more appealing than “easy”. God seems to be growing that tension in me- in the small and large choices that I get to make about how I spend my thoughts, time, energy, money and life. Lord help me grow in your love, so that I will be strengthened to follow the plans you have for me…to seek not what is easy, comfortable, familiar, and socially acceptable, but to seek what you would have me do and to be who you have died for me be.

Sometimes I just can't (edited & hopefully less cryptic)

2012-02-05T19:41:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it's like there is a log jam my soul. There is so much to say, so much happening, so much to reflect on and process...that I just can't get any of it out. I want to tell all of you everything. All of the miraculous things God is doing to rescue Ryan, all the amazing ways people are supporting us, all the encouragement God is sending through people (via text, email, random donations), verses, songs, etc... But that would take too long. And I couldn't find the words if I tried. But I will try. Not tonight. But little by little, I'll try. The story God is weaving as he "leaves the 99 and goes after the one" is easily one of the most exciting things I've ever seen and it needs to be told to give God the glory he is due. But sometimes I can't believe it's really happening, and I just can't process it all...
For now, thank you for praying for Ryan. Please keep fighting for my little boy...please keep praying.

-Chris

What Now?

2012-02-02T11:38:00.000-08:00

Today my friend Linda told me about this song: What Now?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1YcViDGO28

While I was watching the video I just had an overwhelming sense of gratitude for Ryan's orphanage and the care takers there. I am thankful for this change in my heart and in my thinking. I am thankful that he is there, in an orphanage, and that he is NOT homeless and living on the streets all alone, NOT abandoned in a field somewhere, NOT thrown out in a garbage dump. He has been found, he is known, he is cared for (as best as he can be, with the knowledge, information, experience, staff, and funding that they have). He is loved by people all over the world. People are praying for him daily. And we are praying for him to come home, to be our son, to be a part of our family and our extended family, to be in our neighborhood, to get the medical care he needs, to belong in our circle of friends, to be in our Christian fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ...to be LOVED.

There ARE kids in those circumstances for which I am grateful that Ryan is not...Lord, move us to action and then comfort our hearts.

The verse that keeps coming to my mind is, "Give thanks in all circumstances..." from 1 Thessalonians 5:18. The rest of the verse is "for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." I don't fully understand what that second part means, but so far God's ways for my life have been better that I could have ever hoped for or imagined, so I will continue to practice trusting Him.

Potentially HUGE! Please pray.

2012-01-08T13:59:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!

Its Michael Stagliano guest blogging today on Going After One...

Crazy excited to be writing about a HUGE opportunity that the big guy upstairs has put together. It is a profound and humbling thing to experience and makes me so excited to write these words as I write them.

Here's what happened:

I arrived in Columbus a few days ago staying with Chris and Julie Faulkner. We had been talking for some weeks about an orphan named Ryan in Eastern Europe who needs a home, and Julie and Chris have graciously and and selflessly set out to help him and get him into their home.

Ryan is 5 years old, diagnosed Noonan's Syndrome and has other special needs that are not being met in the institution that he is currently living in. This is time sensitive as conditions are NOT good over there and hopefully by the end of the Summer he will have a family and no longer be an orphan.

Today, January 8th, 2012 Chris and I were sitting in his family room talking about how to raise funds through my company Stesso Sports that tries to support people in need, and how to work with Graham Bunns' company 46NYC to help adopt Ryan...

That led me to call Graham who kept saying, "how ironic it is that I called him." While I had been having this conversation with Chris, Graham had been talking with his Board members and co-workers in 46, about setting up a concert on April 6th, 2012 (4/6), and how they wanted to help 1 person and make it personal. After hearing Ryan's story Graham decided to have the funds raised from this potential concert go towards financial aid for Ryan.

It costs $25,000 to get him home with the Faulkners and without mincing words...to save his life.

If you are in the NY area and can make it to this concert (still TBD) you will be helping save a child in need, and if you are not in the area you can donate by hitting the button to the right of this blog and that money will go directly to Ryan. NOT the company, not the Faulkner's but to a fund set-up to save him.

Times are tough and people are in need, and I understand that. Any amount helps and if you can't donate then please keep him your thoughts and prayers.

The big guy upstairs is pretty incredible. I wish you all were here to see the tears in our eyes after talking to Graham and being swept up in God's will.

If you haven't yet figured out what it's all about... It's about love.

Help us LOVE Ryan and get him saved.

163 Million orphans in the world:

We are going 4 1.

#lovelikethis

LOVE

It's been a neat year

2011-12-31T20:35:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone!!!

It's been a wild year. God is doing something in my life that I could've never seen coming. If you had told me on New Year’s Eve 2010 that tonight Julie and I would be only months away from adopting a little boy from Eastern Europe with a list of diagnoses half a page long…well…I probably would’ve hit the floor. But just a short year later here I am beaming like a proud Dad and wetting my cheeks with tears of joy when I see Ryan's picture! God says in Matthew 17 “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Well I do have small faith (like a mustard seed) and the neat thing is that I know it is every bit as miraculous that God can change a heart like mine from not even knowing about Ryan, to being so terrifically in love with him before I've even met him, as it would be for Him to move a mountain from one place to another. God spoke and the universe came to be…but human hearts are often much slower to change. OK, so I’m not a theologian, but all that is to say, in the last year my heart has grown to include a son and our God is AWESOME!

Wanna hear how God changed my heart? I think it’s a neat story.

It started one night last spring when I had a dream that Julie and I adopted a boy with Down’s syndrome. Now, around the same time I had a dream that I played in the World Series. But the difference is that I never actually thought I’d play in the World Series. When I woke up from the dream about adopting I knew immediately that this dream was unlike any dream I’d ever had. It wasn’t the colors or what I saw in the dream; it was the origin of the dream. I remember very well waking up and immediately asking myself, “Did I just have a vision from the Holy Spirit?” I knew God has a rich history of communicating with His people through dreams, it just had never happened to me. So, I slowly set out to try to decipher if this could really be a word from God to me.

I know that God cares very much for the fatherless and James 1:27 came to mind right away; “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress.” OK, test number 1: does this dream line up with what the Bible teaches us is God’s will? YES!

Test number 2: Knowing it is God’s desire for his people in general to care for orphans, is it his plan for our family right now in this way in particular? Well, Proverbs 15:22 says “Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counselors they are established.” So after a couple of uncomfortably introspective days, I talked to Julie about the dream. Well, the truth is she lovingly confronted me because for a couple days I was so internal and quiet, she thought I was mad or hurt. But I was just processing. So we processed things together for a while. And prayed a lot. Next, I told my best friend and super wise Christian brother, Adam about it. And then we prayed.

Then, roughly six or eight months later, we were introduced to Ryan through Reece’s Rainbow and we knew. We just knew Ryan was the one. He wasn’t the specific boy from my dream; it wasn’t that I recognized his face or anything. But we knew that God gave me that dream to prepare Julie and for the day we’d first see Ryan’s picture. We didn’t know if we’d be able to adopt him. But we knew he was the boy we were going to be committed to advocating for. We came to the decision rather quicky that we should move toward adopting him and trust that God would open doors that seemed too large for us to open or he’d close them. So I told some men I trust at church & brought up at our weekly prayer meeting that Julie and I were considering adopting Ryan. And then we prayed. And we are still praying. And lots of people are praying. Will you consider praying for him?

Now the story gets even better. God set out to show us in wildly specific ways that we weren’t blazing a trail on our own but that for YEARS He had already been at work preparing the way for Ryan to join our family. Here are just a couple of my favorites:

1. The day we were officially matched with Ryan through Reece’s Rainbow (THE EXACT SAME DAY!!!) I got a note in my mailbox at school (I’m a teacher) that the parents of one of my students are artists and wanted to express their gratitude to the teachers by giving each of us a piece of their artwork. There were 20+ prints and we got to pick whichever one we wanted. The first one I saw broke my heart and had me weeping in the teachers work room. I’ll attach a picture of it if I can but it is the image of a man or woman holding a small (four or five year old) child in a fierce storm. The cloak of the adult is being blown taut by the wind but child sleeps peacefully, secure in the arms of the adult. It was me or Julie holding Ryan.

"Stand" Romans 14:4

2. Julie and I are a family of fairly modest means. I’m a teacher and Julie stays home with the kids so the cost of adopting is probably the part that scares me the most…because we simply don’t have the means to pay for it apart from God’s provision. I know that since God is calling us to do this, He will provide the means. So let me brag on the Lord for a minute. Our youngest daughter was adopted almost 2 years ago and our home study was set to expire in March. That means instead of having to pay for a whole new home study (+$2000), we could update our existing one for only $350.00. My grandfather passed away in 2005 but just weeks after paying to update our home study I got a check from my aunt that was the total amount left to Julie and I in his estate…$350.00!!! Exactly the same amount! God is so neat.

There is so much more to say but I’m tired and I bet you have read enough. Thanks for persevering to the end. My favorite part of this adoption process is getting to be a part of what God is doing. He promised to “Set the lonely in families” and Julie & I get to ride along as he fulfills that promise.

Happy New Year...and Ryan, WE ARE COMING FOR YOU!!!

-Chris

Beautiful Artwork

2011-12-10T14:55:00.000-08:00

Wow! Chris and I are amazed by how many people from all over the world have been praying for Ryan and are actively working to advocate for him and raise funds for the cost of his adoption.
Jane George is an artist from the United Kingdom. She has created this artwork in Ryan's honor and for as $5 it could be yours! The story behind it is amazing, and the work itself is beautiful. Plus100% of all money raised from the raffle goes directly to Ryan's adoption fund on Reece's Rainbow.

Help by taking part in this art giveaway here

Or, you can use this link:
http://textgeorge.blogspot.com/2011/12/becoming-butterflies-giveaway-artwork.html?spref=fb

Thanks Jane for using your creativity and talent in such a generous way!
Thanks to all who participate...every $5 is one step closer!

Love, The Faulkners

THE BEGINNING

2011-12-08T20:42:00.000-08:00

Right off the bat, I want you to know that this is not going to be the smoothest, most up to date, or best blog you have ever read or tried to follow. I am sorry. That will be my last apology for that, but it needs to be out there. Your patience and long suffering are appreciated, as is your love for Ryan, prayers for our family, and interest in the marriage of those two things; Ryan and our family!

I have been wanting to blog more about Ryan but I am already way behind. Things are going so fast! Praise the Lord! It is just hard to keep up to speed and keep everyone in the loop. I am praying that I will rest in God’s perfect timing and that He will prioritize each day what I need to do and when, and then give me peace about the rest of "my list" that is left undone.

The question that gets asked the most and a good place to start is “How did this all start?” In another blog I can share more about the things that pulled Chris and I towards adoption in general...But even Ryan's story in particular has a very long answer, so feel free to read it in chunks, take breaks and come back for more if you are interested.

THE BEGINNING OF THIS ADOPTION PLAN AS REMEMBERED BY JULIE:

SPRING 2011:

Sometime in the Spring (March, April, May) of 2011, Chris and I had a talk about our family and what we were thinking in regards to the size of our family. In a nut shell we landed on the same page, but with different hopes, concluded by the same prayer. I was content with our three girls, but was hoping that God might have more children for us. Chris was content with our three girls and was leaning towards feeling like our family was complete. We both agreed to pray that God’s will would be made clear and that we would choose to rejoice in His goodness and the blessings that He gives us, no matter what the answer or outcome.

Then, over the next two days Chris was distant, having a hard time looking at me and hardly initiated any conversations with me. Of course this was confusing and painful for me, but the Lord helped soften my heart, and I went to him and asked if I had done something to hurt him, if the conversation had made him uncomfortable, or if he was mad at me. Much to my surprise, he told me that he had a dream the night after we had talked and that he was still taken in by it. In his dream, which he said felt more like a “vision,” we had a son with special needs, and that the dream was so real he just couldn’t shake it. Here you can get a glimpse of the depth of the hardness of my heart in my first response, which was, “We’ll I’ve never even thought of adopting a child with special needs…” After some discussion, I agreed to ask God what His will was for my life, instead of clinging to my plans.

SUMMER 2011:

Brief background information: Chris has been going to Monterrey, Mexico for the last 7 years to volunteer with Back2Back Ministries, usually for 1 to 3 weeks each year. They seek to care for orphans by providing Care for Today and Hope for Tomorrow. You can read more about them here:

http://www.back2backministries.org

https://www.facebook.com/back2backministries

http://back2backministries.wordpress.com

As Chris went and loved his time serving with Back2Back he began to pray (for about 5 years!) for me to go with him to Monterrey. Once again God wooed me with His love and softened my heart to want to go with Chris. In the summer of 2009, God provided for that to happen in really amazing ways. Again, I could go on in great detail about how this came to be but to put it quickly, many of my friends and family were praying for me, encouraging me through my fears, and providing the expenses for me to go. My (Julie’s) parents took care of our two girls (then, ages 1 and 3) here in the states during that week. It was an incredible trip with a hundred more stories to tell, but, to simplify- two outcomes were: 1) A deeper understanding of God’s call for Christians to take care of orphans and 2) Chris and I being on summer staff during June and July of this year, 2011- this time with our girls (ages 5, 3, and 1) coming with us. More about that here in the blog that we tried to keep:

http://back2backer.wordpress.com

One thing that we didn’t blog about was the night when Chris asked me, “If you could take one child home, who would it be?” I was deep in thought, there were hundreds of kids we had meet, quite a few that I had spent a lot of time with…how could I ever choose? So I evaded the question by asking Chris, “Why, do you know who you would take?” Without skipping a beat, he responded, “Bris, the girl at Del Norte.” I was so surprised that he had an answer! Bris is the one girl we met with Down’s syndrome. Honestly, I had no idea that this was all part of God preparing us.

After our summer we got back in touch with our dearly loved neighbors, reconnected with our friends from our home church and started back into a more “normal” routine. Chris works for a small, but great, Christian school system, as the gym teacher for 3 schools. I stay at home with our three girls; Our oldest daughter is 5. She is in Kindergarten five mornings a week and is learning to read, loves to play make-believe, and ride her bike. Our middle daughter is 3 and goes to preschool 2 mornings a week. She hates being alone, loves to laugh and wants to do whatever her sisters are doing. Our youngest daughter is almost 2 years old. She is a courageous explorer, likes music and dancing, and has a sweet way of comforting those who are sad.

As the school year started, Chris and I continued praying about our family (specifically its size and if we should adopt again), ways to advocate for orphans, and serve as God would have us. On October 18, 2011 my attention was arrested as I read a Facebook post from my best friend, also named Julie, from Bedford Jr. High School. To me, Julie is a best friend and in a lot of ways a super star- but really Julie is just a “normal” person… living an extra-ordinary life. Julie and her husband currently care for 18 children, most of whom were once orphans. You can read more about the work God is doing through Refuge Ranch at: http://www.fishersofmenmexico.org/ . I believe, and I know that she would agree that her lifestyle is only possible because of the truth of Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” So Julie, caring for 18 children with strength and wisdom from the Lord, feels led to post a link to Reece’s Rainbow, an organization that advocates for orphans in 25 different countries who have special needs …and she obeys! And, I see it, and my life changes! Our life changes! (The sweet details of Julie’s role will be in a later blog.) There was no way for Julie to know what Chris and I had been talking or praying about, when she posted that blog, but wow the timing was ripe! I see it as God's perfect timing.

FINDING RYAN:

For the next two days, I am drawn like a magnet to that site. I shared it with Chris and he wept as he read about these kids. I pour over the kids shown, I read, I don’t know, about 150 of the 350 profiles until on October 20, I read Ryan’s profile. I just can’t explain it… Why Ryan? Maybe it was his absolutely adorable droopy eye lid, his head banging as a way to comfort himself (which I can relate to personally), his medical needs that are not being addressed, his transfer out of his baby orphanage, thinking about him being almost 5 years old and never having had a family…I don’t know. I read 20 more and then went back to Ryan’s profile.

http://reecesrainbow.org/?s=ryan&x=0&y=0

I read 10 more and went back to his…I posted his link on my Facebook page without even thinking about why. I couldn’t stop, and can’t stop thinking about him. My heart is captivated and all I can think it that it must be Christ working once again in my heart.

Chris and I reread the verses in the Bible on orphans, some of which can be found here:

http://reecesrainbow.org/new-family/why-rescue-orphans

What could we do? What should we do? While there are many ways to support adoption, and we know that not everyone is able to or called to adopt, we definitely feel called. I feel excited, like this is what I was created for. I have a passion for adoption! I want you to also know that I also feel fear and terror (more about that later). Then we decided to keep praying and to move forward by getting more information- nothing binding, no commitment, just getting the facts about Ryan and what it might mean to adopt him.

First we had to see if we even qualified to adopt in his country in Eastern Europe. We do. Next was getting information on Noonan’s Syndrome, and about the rest of his diagnoses: a congenital heart defect (atrial septal defect), an organic lesion of the central nervous system as a result of genetic pathology, severe delays of psychological and motor development, farsighted… among others. We requested the rest of the pictures of Ryan that Reece’s Rainbow had in hopes of better seeing what his abilities, disabilities, and needs might be. Well, that and because I was already in love with him. Out of the 33 pictures of Ryan that Reece’s Rainbow sent over these two caught my eye immediately, and not because of the purple marks on Ryan’s face…but it was her.

Pictures mentioned to come later...I have much to learn :)

ENTER ANDREA:

I know that as a form of self-protection most of the care takers in these orphanages are emotionally detached from the kids they care for…but not her. Her smile…she is kissing him… I cried and was instantly grateful for her tender care of him. I had a quick, fleeting thought, “Who is she? I just wish I could talk to her, she seems like she really loves Ryan and may actually know about him…” I am thankful that the Lord took my “wish” and in His loving-kindness answered it as a prayer. On October 24^th it happened- a miracle! I decided to do my “research” on Google images. I wanted to see if I might be able to tell if his physical characteristics from when he was younger matched those of other children with Noonan’s syndrome. After about 150 some pictures under “Noonan’s Syndrome” I saw a picture of Ryan. OF RYAN!!! What? I was so confused and clicked on his picture which went to a blog. I quickly scrolled through the pages, until I saw her face…the woman in my pictures, she has a blog? She speaks English? She blogs about Ryan?!? Tears of Joy!!! Amazement, wonder, reading new information about Ryan…I just couldn’t believe my eyes. After pouring over the 4 blogs specifically about him, and watching a video, I sent Andrea, my human connection to Ryan, an email mostly to see I could ask her more questions that could help us determine if we would be a good family match for him. And our friendship has continued. More about Andrea’s huge, God ordained, role in Ryan’s life in a later blog.

So, just to make this clear this is how it began- out of 163 MILLION orphans, the ONE that Chris and I found out about and began to pray for- God leads me to the one care taker from another country who has volunteered at his exact orphanage on the other side of the world, who speaks my language to answer questions about his specific care and needs. Does this remind you of the parable of the Good Shepherd who leaves the 99 sheep to find and protect the ONE that is missing? How amazing and personal is God! How sweet is the fruit of following Him!?! I praise the Lord for strengthening Andrea to go and serve. I am thankful she chose to follow the Lord out of the love that she has for Him. You see, Andrea and I both know that we were rescued too- with a price that is much, much greater than what we will spend on Ryan’s adoption. How much we love Ryan and the lengths we will go to get him home are just miniscule when compared to the lengths that God has gone to get us Home- in heaven with Him for eternity.

The story continues...

We are going after ONE!

2011-11-30T18:45:00.000-08:00

Thanks for joining us in this journey. I guess if you are reading this then you know that Julie and I are totally in love with a little boy named Ryan that lives (for now) in Eastern Europe.

We pray for him every day. We're certain God invited us to be a part of Ryan's life. A big part. We're doing everything in our power to adopt him as quickly as possible. Will you please pray for him? And us? He needs your prayers and having been through the adoption process once already...we need your prayers, too. This blog will be the place to come if you want to come along with us on this journey. Subscribe, look for links on Facebook, whatever you want to keep up with the latest information, joys & tears. Thanks.

-Chris