Grateful

just a quick note of thanks to express how grateful we are to those of you who have supported our little Elizabeth... for those praying (we feel it!), for those giving - whether 5 bucks or 500 (we are giddy!),  for those purging their homes for items to donate (we are humbled!), for those sharing our blog with their friends (they are responding!), for those purchasing bows from our Etsy shop (we are laboring in love for our girl).. for the phones calls, the messages, the encouragement, the love poured out  -  you have no idea how blown away we are at your generosity. for that...

a four year old HERO

my phone was binging off the hook that day. three friends had texted me, simultaneously asking if they could swing by the house to drop off yard sale donations… oh yeh! we are having a yard sale! THEE yard sale of the century, I might add. all the funds will go toward our next wave of fees – about $6000 is needed by Sept. there’ll be another wave soon after– like labor pains (agh!), they come on slow and steady- you can certainly feel ‘em, then they’ll ease off for a sec only to come back harder and stronger and longer. But let’s not talk about any of that. God IS providing and believe it or not, He’s teaching me so much right now.

Back to the story…

that evening, those three texts turned into three people arriving at perfectly random consecutive times. While unloading a carload full of retired items and receiving a thoughtful present- the kind with a Starbucks logo (thx Kelly), I spotted my girlfriend, Tess, pull up and park across the street. Assuming she was dropping off items for the sale I tried to make it quick and painless, but as she walked away from her locked car and toward me, I knew something was up. Toting a reusable recycling bag, her 4 year old daughter stood shyly beside her mama waiting for me to finish unpacking the previous carload. My guess was that my friend Tess was attempting to teach her daughter a lesson in giving away her rejected, unplayed-with toys. We, too, get the kids to purge their toys on a monthly basis. Adam is militant about excess, while I hoard. It’s an ongoing dispute.

 Organizing the newly acquired stuff, I nonchalantly asked the precious one what she had in the bag.  Totally bashful in reply she looked to her mama who previewed a peek of a piggy bank. But this wasn’t just any old piggy bank. This was a special bank divided into three sections. One labeled GIVE, one labeled SAVE, and one labeled SPEND.

I invited them into the house because I could tell her face had a story to tell. We all sat around the kitchen table; I waited eagerly for further insight (too bad my kids were at the pool with grams and missed out on the lesson of a lifetime). her mama went to recite the conversation they had earlier that morning.

I collaborated with Tess for this part to ensure I wouldn’t butcher it:

TESS: Since my friend is adopting a beautiful little girl with DS, I wanted to give Anberlyn the chance to be a part of something cool. When she woke up I sat down with her to talk to her about adoption and how there are children, babies of God who don’t have a mommy and a daddy here. I told her that they lived in a place, where they don’t get to eat yummy food, and play with lots of fun toys and that they don’t have grandmas and papas to take them shopping for anything they wanted. I told her that Miss Christine found a little girl that she wants to adopt and love, that Miss Christine is going to be her mommy, but that it was gonna cost her a lot of money. I told her that Miss Christine was doing a fundraiser and asked if she wanted to donate $5 from her GIVE money to help out {{Anberlyn works on commission, when she does a chore it goes into 1 of 3 banks, give, save and spend, give being the first fruits, she always puts into give first}} She said, No, and that she wanted to give it ALL to her, I said ALL her GIVE money.. she said NO all the money from her give, spend and save! My heart melted. She had been saving for a magnadoodle, and now she wanted to give it to someone she didn’t know!

I asked her if she wanted to put it in a baggie for Miss Christine, she said No, she wanted miss Christine to help her count it! She was so excited to help out, and kept asking me questions about her new baby, asked what color her hair was and how long it was, she then asked if we could go to a baby store and get a baby who didn’t have a mommy or daddy to love them.

****

:)

Tears flowed from her mama’s eyes as she recited the never to be forgotten dialogue between them that morning. Initially i stood there frozen with my jaw stuck on the floor. then bending  to her level, I was able to squeeze her tight and thank her and feel... just soooo horribly inadequate. who am I? seriously. This child with her dollars and quarters and nickels and pennies spread out all across my table, like a sea of little sacrifices given as an offering for Elizabeth, I had become undone.

What bounty, what love! My Lord is speaking and He uses a mere 4 year old to make His point! whew!

She sorted the coins, stacked the quarters into fours, and lined up the bills for a grand total of $28.64 That is a lot of money for a 4 year old. She knew her options. And coincidently, per her mama, she forgot her GIVE money the last couple weeks of Sunday school.

But we know there’s no coincidences. We know God had orchestrated it all.

 To show me, us, the world

His glory

through His ultimate role model

the heart of a little child:

who knows ....the source of her supply,

who trusts ....she'll be taken care of,

who depends ....without worry,
who forgives ....without question

who persists ...even when let down,

who doesn't think about tomorrow, period.. 

Without a second thought she followed her heart.

 she chose to lay it down on that table,
to be incarnated by Him

as a paradigm for this journey,

 for this life.

Matthew 18:3 Then he said, "I tell you with certainty, unless you change and become like little children, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.

To harken unto those words takes belief, trust, faith, surrender.

Lord, help us in our disbelief, help us remember what it means to be childlike.

I will never forget this little girl who sold her everything for our Elizabeth.
Anberlyn, sweet child, you truly are a HERO. Thank you.
Elizabeth has no clue right now, but i'm guessing the two of you are going to hit it off.
May we promise to love her and teach her just as your mama has done with you.
May God always bless you and your family.

every cent she had...

So yeh, craziness huh?! it's all around me at the moment, (more stories to come). I feel so humbled to see the hand of the Creator of the universe work on such a personal and real level, literally right before my eyes! oh how little am I, how weak my faith. But He knows so much more, he see’s the done deal – he see's me rocking my sweet angel in our prayer chair singing her favorite song.

He IS sovereign in all things and He chose this 4 year old hero to enlighten those who choose to see Him work..
can you SEE Him?

One more thing, Check out Clayton (on my sidebar)... we are his prayer warriors. Crazy thing is i found him on pinterest and couldn't stop staring... he looks A LOT like Adam at that age. Please join me in Prayer for him and his forever family to find him soon! Let's be the hands and feet of Jesus and protect these babies from their otherwise sick and twisted fate. Better yet, are you his mommy? he's got a pretty decent grant amount. click his pic to read more.

Be a piece of her Metamorphosis

"And mothers, they never stop believing in the miracle of metamorphosis. Because believing in the miracle of metamorphosis is the sum total of a mother’s job. The theological term for that is faith."
~Ann Voskamp

As my mind trips over that term “metamorphosis”, the word that elicits much of what I’ve been seeking, I can’t help but recall the numerous ways I’ve seen it applied in our day to day life this past year. If you've followed my blog long you will remember it specifically uttered when announcing my preschool business. Becoming Butterflies Preschool IS, in essence, metamorphosis. My objective: to give children wings to take flight by helping them break free of their worm-like ways and transform into something unimaginably beautiful, similar to the process of sanctification wherein God redeems our worm-like behaviors for that of His.

Again though, the word came out to play as I began to put the pieces of this process together. The concept of our adopting Elizabeth is similar to the cycle of metamorphosis. I know the symbolism for many of you is a little much, but to me it’s as if Elizabeth is trapped in her cocoon, unable to grow wings and thrive as she was so designed. Beneath the layers that hold her in place, a spectacular butterfly lives just waiting to be set free.

So here we are attempting to interrupt that wretched cycle with everything we've got. 100% in. Fighting for her right to live. And guess what? You too get to be a piece of the puzzle of her transformation. This next fundraiser is an exciting one! Not only will it last throughout this entire pilgrimage....it will last her entire lifetime as a meaningful piece of art.

You can help us set Elizabeth free by sponsoring a piece of her puzzle. That’s right! It’s a puzzle fundraiser!

I purchased this 500 piece shaped puzzle ‘Monarch in Flight’ to hang as framed art in her room.

To sponsor a puzzle piece: donate just $5 to Elizabeth’s grant fund and we will designate a piece of her puzzle with your name on the back (you can sponsor more than one if you’d like).

You can donate by:
-Using the paypal button on our sidebar (it prints your name on a ticker with the amount you have given)
-Using Elizabeth’s Reece’s Rainbow grant fund also on my sidebar (it's tax deductible!)

In route to Elizabeth I will slowly be putting it together as sponsors come in. (I will do regular picture updates of it's completion). When it’s complete we will have it framed and hung in her room. And then one day we’ll be able to show Elizabeth the back of the puzzle and expound upon all the many people who loved her and helped her break free.

After you have donated, you must email me or comment below to let me know how many pieces you sponsored, what names you would like on them and what method you used to pay. My email is cherie1682@gmail.com. (If you do not email us, you will not get your names on the puzzle.) You can sponsor a piece for yourself, a piece for every member of your family, or you can sponsor a piece in honor or loving memory of someone! Also, if you've already given (through pay pal OR cash/check to me)- i will designate pieces to you/your family.

Can you help us get Ellie one step closer in this transformation to her forever family by being a piece of the puzzle? Play a part in her metamorphosis. 500 may seem like a lot! Sigh! But we are not merely asking for help, we are giving others an opportunity to serve an orphan. We are not raising money to add a child to our family; we are raising money to give a child a family. It’s about Elizabeth and nothing is impossible for God! Share this with your friends, help me get this puzzle put together!


While thank you doesn’t seem to cut it these days, (I wish there were more ways to show our response to your help)  THANK YOU so much for blessing her.

our "Little Light"

I listen to a lot of Pandora (an automated music recommendation service). Pretty much every other day or so while folding laundry, driving, blogging, sleeping... Discovering new tunes before they hit the radio is considered cool in some places, ya know? And… since I happened to marry a music FREAK, I gotta be in-the-know somehow or another, right?

Anyway, months ago on one of my stations, I came across this beautiful song about a little girl. The melody moved me and even though the overall pitch is somewhat sad, I saved it using Shazzam (a music identification service for your cell phone). Then instead of buying it on iTunes (a media player computer program), I easily made a playlist of all the recent songs I tagged using Spotify (a service that streams selected music from a range of record labels for FREE).

(Parenthesizes are for old people. ;))

On this Spotify playlist I have various uplifting songs mixed together with this one sort of depressing one. It was as if I fell for the sensation of the song, but because the words never really applied to me, I had a hard time singing/listening to it. {FYI - Adam and I, both, are not the kind of people that listen to music for the beat or the vibe it produces – instead we are nerds decoding every line and lyric, finding its meaning and loving it or hating it that much more. In essence, we especially appreciate music that makes you think/inspires. Like I said, we’re nerds.}

So, every time I chose to listen to that specific playlist, I’d skip that particular song. I couldn't relate it to anything. For months I did this...and I’m not sure why I didn’t just delete it? Ironically, it was mother’s day, I was driving back home - along with the rest of the IE- feeling a bit defeated from the response i got about our news, and there it gently played. This time, I let it go all the way to the end. This time… like a lightbulb, the lyrics clicked.

The "little light" is our Elizabeth.

From that moment, I knew God had hand picked this song for me (even months before I thought about adopting!), to sing over her as intercession. As I sing He sings to her and over her, knitting us together in the way He would as if she were growing in my very own belly. He's holding her until i can.

How amazing is that? Confirmation after confirmation has been received. There's just way too many coincidences to call them coincidences. It's undeniable His footsteps are guiding us… leaving breadcrumbs of grace to light our path... the pilgrimage to:

our little light. 

Just Listen…

Greetings

Greetings! And welcome to "the pilgrimage."

I am here to report the daily doings of our adoption journey. My intention is to journal an awe-inspiring story of hope and redemption, one that involves so much more than paperwork and fundraising. Rather, a testimony of preparation and refining, confirmation and trusting - as well as whatever else God deems necessary for the building of faith.. In addition to the legacy we hope to pass on to our sons and daughters, I’m compelled to leave a path well-lit for those considering the daunting pilgrimage to adopt themselves.

In reading through our posts, I plead for your prayers and for your support. Like the old proverb says, "kind words are like honey--sweet to the soul and healthy for the body." You have no idea the potential you have to influence us. Thus far, it’s not been unusual for God to speak truth through the people in our path. Truly, we are walking by faith alone on this venture, discerning the way through His word, His voice, His people and the circumstances we face.

Thank you for being here, for being a part of the army. May i suggest you arm yourselves, the war has begun.