It has been 6 months and 20 days since we officially started our journey to bring Penelope Joy home. Those months have been filled with applications, interviews, a trip to Lubbock for fingerprinting, background checks, doctor visits, online education courses, fundraising, and paperwork upon paperwork! It has been a long road, but we are SO excited to say that all of these documents have been put together (which is called our dossier), and were finally sent off to China THIS MORNING!!! We are overjoyed, and it feels so good to be able to take a deep breath, and know that we have done everything we can. Now, all that is left to do is wait. However, we know the hardest part of this process may be ahead of us, as the waiting may be long, but we are confident in the Lord's perfect timing. We believe He has chosen Penelope for us, and will lead us to her when it's time! Of course, you can join us in praying that it would be sooner than later ;)
As we have talked to people about everything that goes on with the adoption process, a couple comments that have been repeated a lot are, "why is it so hard?" and, "why is it so expensive?" As we were in the thick of it, we found ourselves asking each other the same things. Now that we are on the other side of all the work, I am truly thankful that it wasn't an easy process. I want Penelope to know that it was hard, and that it took a lot to bring her home, but that we chose to do it because we loved her so much. Before we even knew what she looked like, her life was precious to us, and we were willing to cross the ocean to make her a part of our forever family. It is our prayer this sinks down deep into her heart, and gives her just a glimpse of what God did to make her a part of His family. It was anything but easy, and it took more sacrifice and pain than we will ever be able to fully comprehend, but God CHOSE to do it so that we could His sons and daughters. The gospel is truly the most amazing story of adoption, and being able to share it with Parker, Paisley Jane, and Penelope is such a gift! As always, thank you so so much for all of your support and prayers! It means the world to Jason and I!
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The past couple months have been filled with a lot of sleepless nights here at the Allen house. Our sweet Paisley Jane has been struggling with teeth, and has a strong need to be cuddled in the wee hours of the morning. I'm not going to lie, and say I have been enjoying this "only getting a few hours of sleep" season, but in the middle of those long nights as I am rocking my baby girl, God has been speaking to my heart. I have really felt like Penelope has needed my prayers, especially on those nights where Paisley seems to be wide awake for no apparent reason. It has made me appreciate the simple fact that I am able to hold and comfort my girl when she is sad, and it has broken my heart knowing that I am not able to do the same for my other daughter during her first few years of life. This makes me soul ache, but it is this ache that leads me to pray for her more, and to ask that God would be the one to wipe the tears from her eyes when she is crying from the pain of teething, and to be the arms that hold her when I can not, and to give her sweet heart comfort when she is hungry or lonely or sad and no one is able to come to her aid right away. So in turn I am so thankful for all the sleepless nights, and times of quiet to pray! On one of the nights that I was feeling heavy for Penny, it helped to do some online shopping for some treasures that we will be able to send her once we get matched with her. I knew I wanted to get her a verse swaddle blanket, and found one that perfectly said what I have been praying over her. I posted about it on instagram, and the next time I saw one of my dearest friends she had it for me. . . Oh the tears!!! So thankful knowing this verse is true for Penny! And I am also so thankful for our precious friends! We couldn't do this without them! And speaking of precious friends. . .This past weekend, our church was a local host for the IF: Gathering in Austin. As always, the conference was amazing! This year we had an ambassador for Noonday set up a table so the girls could buy stuff throughout the day to support artisans around the world. Little did I know that they were also supporting me. . .They had some drawings throughout the day, and I was so excited to hear my name called, but when I got to the stage to claim my free bracelet, they said they hadn't really drew my name. They instead, had a surprise for me that everyone was in on. The women of our church had all been sent emails, and were told that 20% of all the profits they made from what they bought during the IF: Gathering weekend was going towards Penelope! Y'all! I just immediately burst into tears. How amazing is that? I just can't tell you how much it means to have such a supportive church, and to have so many people rally around you, and do what they can to help you bring your daughter home! They are sharing Jesus love with our girl before they even know who she is, and it makes this mommas heart nearly explode with gratitude! What makes this even more amazing, is that last year at the IF: Gathering, we were given dominos to write 2 things we felt like God was calling us to do, and look what I wrote on mine. . . Before this point, Jason and I knew we were called to adopt, but we were going back and forth between domestic, and international, and didn't feel like we had clear direction. It was at the IF: Gathering that I felt God pull my heart towards international adoption, and to see what He has done in just a years time is just incredible. He gave our hearts peace about China, He lead us to an agency that shares our hearts cry when it comes to why we are adopting, He sent us a social worker who worked in an orphanage in China for 3 years, and adopted a little girl from China herself, and then exactly a year later from when He tugged us in the direction we were supposed to go, he blessed us with this precious and wonderful financially surprise from the women of our church! Wow. SO thankful for the sweet assurance He has given us through each step of our journey so far, and for the amazing village of people He has surrounded us with! To Him be all the glory and praise!
Oh my goodness, where do I even start?! Jason and I are feeling SO grateful! We were overwhelmed by the amount of donations we received from our church family and friends for our garage sale! We had so many items that our garage was packed to the brim, and we had to start storing stuff in the house. After two weekends of sales we raised enough money to cover our first payment to the agency, and the homestudy costs. What a BLESSING!!! We also are so thankful for all of you who bought a shirt to support us! We sold way more than we were thinking, and were so touched by everyone's generocity! Your pictures and support brought Jason and I so much joy. One of the reasons we are choosing to do so much fundraising is obviously our need for the financial help, but even more than that is our desire to have as many people as possible be a part of Penelope's story! We can't wait to sit her down one day, and show her pictures, and tell her the stories of what SO many people did in order to bring her home! So whether you bought a shirt, donated items, or have been praying for us, please know that it is making such a difference, and you will be remembered! I have said it before, but I just hope you know that you are making an eternal difference in this sweet baby girl's life! So from the bottom of our hearts, we THANK you!!!!! We also are SO happy to say that we are completely done with our homestudy!!! So excited knowing the big bulk of paperwork, and interviews are behind us! And we have really felt God's hand on us, specifically regarding our social worker. Because our agency is located in Alabama, our case worker was not able to do our homestudy, so we had to find a different agency to conduct it for us. After some research, we landed on an agency in Houston which seemed amazing, but we were going to have to pay for the flights of the social worker to get here to Midland (it was going to be at least 5 flights which are not in included in the adoption costs.) After thinking about this extra expense we went ahead and did some more research and found an agency in Amarilo. We figured paying for gas would be better than plane tickets. Well after going through the application process and getting accepted, we were sent an email that said they had a social worker in MIDLAND! This is the only social worker in town that could complete an international adoption homestudy, and the only way to have her was to go through that one agency which I randomly chose from a google search! God?! We definitely believe so!. . . .After meeting with our social worker, she told us that she had recently adopted a little girl from China, and she had to fly her social worker in, and she didn't want other families to have that added stress so that is why she does what she does! I am so thankful that God put that desire on her heart. She has been such a blessing to us!!! . . . We still have a lot of waiting ahead of us, but we know that with each month that goes by, we are that much closer to Penelope Joy. Please continue to join us in praying for her! Being neck deep in paperwork usually isn't something to celebrate, but we definitely are because it means we have officially begun the process needed to bring our daughter home! This started on October 11th when we found out that the agency we have been hoping to use accepted our application! We are so thrilled, and honored to partner with an agency who sees adoption as a way to bring the message of God's extraordinary love to vulnerable children around the world! We can't sing high enough praises for them. They have already been such a blessing to us! We know this is just the beginning of what may be a long, and not so easy journey, but we are so thankful to officially be on it! Seeing something you have been praying for, for years start to happen is just the best, and we give God glory for how He has, and will continue to guide us!
If you would like to help support us by buying a shirt, that would be such a blessing, but even more than financial help, what we ask for are your continued prayers for our daughter, Penelope Joy! www.bonfirefunds.com/bring-penelope-home Thanks for being a part of our village, and joining us on the journey! We are now about 2 months out from being able to start our paperwork, and as eager as we are to get things started, we are trying to be still, and use this waiting phase to pray over our sweet girl. We would love for you guys, as our "village," to join us in lifting up Penelope. Here are a few specifics we are asking God for. . .
1) If the timing that the agency told us works out, Penelope is either in her mommy's tummy, or has just recently been born. So we are praying for her mom, that whatever situation she is in that is leading her to put her little one in the orphanage that God would give her peace and comfort in that decision. 2) We are praying that everything goes smoothly with the paperwork, and that there would be no complications. 3) We are praying for all of the ladies who run the orphanage. We are asking that God would give them the abundance of energy and strength they need to care for so many babies. We also ask that God's love would pour through them, and they would have the desire to go the extra mile and love on the babies as much as they can! 4) We pray for Penelope's health, and that she would get the care she needs for any medical issues she may have. 5) We pray that she would feel safe and comforted from the ladies caring for her, and that she would feel a bond to those women. 6) And we are praying that God would already start preparing her heart to be a part of our family! "The Lord says 'I will guide you along the best pathway for you life. I will guard you and watch over you.'" Psalm 32:8 It is our desire that God would already give us such an overwhelming love for this precious girl. The more I pray that, the more I think about Parker and Paisley Jane, and how I would feel if they were across the world from me for months upon months. That thought makes my heart ache, and knowing that God has another daughter for me that is thousands of miles away is starting to give my heart that same ache. I am so thankful for this, because it leads me to pray for her on a daily basis! It gives us such comfort to know that God is close to her, and already has a plan in place to unite us with Penelope Joy! Thank you so much for joining us in praying for her! We know it is going to impact her life in an eternal way! Adoption has been on my heart since I was a little girl playing with baby dolls. I couldn't have told you why, but just always knew it was something I wanted to do. As I got older, and my relationship with God grew stronger, I became more and more affirmed that adoption was in my future. So of course, when Jason and I started dating I told him about this desire. He was always supportive of the idea, but didn't necessarily feel the same passion I did, and thought IF we did do it that it would be way far in our future. . .So I began praying. . .I knew that something this life changing wouldn't be good if I had to talk him into it, I needed the Holy Spirit to do that. Sure enough about 3 years into our marriage, God spoke to Jason's heart in a very clear way. I'll never forgot the moment I read his text message telling me he had a vision of what our future family looked like, and that he not only wanted to adopt but he wanted to do it soon!
So here we are at the very beginning of the process, and we couldn't be more excited! Unless God closes a door, and leads us in a different direction here is our plan. . . We plan to adopt a little girl from China! Right now China requires both spouses to be over 30 years of age, and because I am not quite there yet, we are in a waiting phase. But 6 months before my birthday we are able to start our application with our amazing agency, Lifeline Children Services, get all our paperwork done, and home study completed. So in October we are going to hit the ground running so that we will have everything done in time to send our dossier off to China on my birthday in April! We have had several people ask us why we are doing this, and here are the reasons. . .Simply, because we believe that as followers of Jesus we are commanded to take care of the orphans and widows. Secondly is because of Galations 5:4-7, "God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, "Abba, Father." Now we are no longer a slave but God's own child." We don't think there is a more vivid picture of the gospel besides adoption, and to be able to show a child a real life example of what God did for them is such an amazing honor, especially to a child who may never hear about the gospel otherwise. We know that this isn't going to be easy, in fact we know that its guaranteed to be hard, but God doesn't just call us to do the easy and comfortable. And my goodness, when I think about my relationship with Him, and how many times I have failed him, and hurt him, not just in my lifetime but on a daily basis, it's countless. He knew what He was getting into. He knew that I was going to break His heart time and time again, and STILL, He chose to send His send to a brutal death so that He could adopt me. He loves me as His own with a fierce and crazy unconditional love. Jason and I are human, so we won't be able to love our kids in this perfect way, but it is what we strive for. We want to give them the best picture we can of the love God has for them. Doing this for a child who doesn't have parents of their own to care for them is something we can't wait to do! We are SO thankful to know that we live in a community where our sweet girl. . .Penelope Joy. . .will be loved and cared for by so many! We fully believe that it takes a village to raise a child, and we couldn't be a part of a better village! We are excited for the months to come, and will keep everyone updated on our progress! Thanks for reading, and being a part of bringing Penelope home! |
AuthorI am a proud stay at home momma who unashamedly instagrams way too many pictures of her kids, loves decorating, Christmas, and coffee, and has a small obsession with Gilmore Girls. Archives
May 2017
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