2 Corinthians 9:8

Hi Everyone!!

 

On July 6, 2016 our lives were forever changed.  This was the day that we had our first glimpse into the promise that God had for our family in February 2013.  This was the day we saw Emma’s face for the very first time.  Since then we have been working on finalizing paperwork and preparing to travel to China to bring our little girl home.  There is so much paperwork and preparation involved in these final weeks and we have been working diligently to complete these final tasks so that when our travel is approved by China, we are ready!

 

That all being said there is still one area of our adoption we are working on to make ends meet so we are able to travel in either September or October.  I have mentioned in a few blog posts about the financial aspect of our adoption and this is by far one of the hardest things to talk about.  It is not easy to ask for help, especially when it comes to money.  I want to take the time to thank everyone who has donated toward our adoption.  We are so incredibly grateful for generosity and love!! 

 

The financial cost of adoption is around $30,000-$40,000.  As of today, we have spent around $12,000 for our China adoption (this does not include the money we spent when we started the process to adopt from Ethiopia in 2013).  These costs have covered government fees, physical appointments, visa and passport fees and sending our paperwork to China for translation and review.  Currently, we are still around $16,000 - $18,000 short of being able to travel to China to bring Emma home.  These remaining costs will cover our airfare, hotel, and orphanage donation.  While this may seem like a lot of money, we know that God will help us find a way to make ends meet. 

 

“And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”

2 Corinthians 9:8

 

God has blessed us in so many ways.  We feel so incredibly lucky that He chose US to be Emma’s parents and we are not going to let anything stand in our way of bringing our little girl home.  Today, we plan on going to the bank to get information on taking out a home equity loan to help us finance our adoption costs.  God is helping us find a way to make a way!!

 

We also have been blessed to received a $2000 matching grant with Lifesong for Orphans.  Through your generous donations we have been able to raise $1000 in donations and $1000 in matching grants!!  Because we have a $2000 matching grant, that means we still have another $1000 that can be matched through Lifesong!  This is an amazing opportunity and blessing for our family.

 

If you would like to partner with us financially to help us bring our daughter home, please check out the link below for more details:

Lifesong for Orphans Matching Grant

Or if you would like to make a donation via check:

Please make checks payable to “Lifesong for Orphans. In the memo – note “Ayres/#6091” – this assures it will go to the correct account. Please mail to Lifesong for Orphans, PO Box 40, Gridley, IL 61744. 

Lifesong for Orphans is a 501 c 3 organization and all donations are tax deductible!!!

We want to thank everyone again for their generosity and prayers!  God will make a way to help us make ends meet.  He did not bring us this far for us to fall short.  We are merely God's instruments in His plan to give one beautiful girl a family and a home.  We will continue to have faith in His power and we truly beleive God has a way of making what seems impossible, possible!!

Take Care and God Bless!!!

Our Video for Emma

Hi Everyone!!

We have some very exciting news!!  When our I800 document was approved, our adoption agency had provided us with contact information to two wonderful families who had adopted a child (one of them adopted two children) from the same foster mom as Emma.  We were so thrilled about the possibility of learning more about Emma's foster mom and about Emma.  But what these families gave us was even more of a blessing, they gave us the personal contact information so we could reach out to Emma's foster mom!!!  We feel so incredibly blessed for this gift, because most families do not have the opportunity to see more than 2-3 pictures of their child, and we have the opportunity to ask questions to the individual who has been caring for Emma for the past 3 1/2 years!!  Emma's foster mom is amazing and we love her and are so grateful for the gift she is for our family and for all the information, pictures and videos she has sent us!!!  God is so incredibly good!!!

The reason we want to share this with you is because it is such an amazing God moment in our story.  We can't even begin to describe how awesome it has been to be able to reach out to Emma's foster mom (we call her Emma's China mom), to learn more about her and about Emma.  We have put together a little video we would like to share with everyone from the pictures and videos Emma's China mom has sent us.  To view this video, please click the link below:

A Video for Emma


Currently, we are anticipating traveling early October.  We were hoping for September but we are going to just miss the cut to make this possible.  We are around $16,000 short of being able to fully fund our adoption.  If you would like to partner with us financially to help us bring Emma home, please check out the link below.  We currently have $1300 left in matching donations we can receive from Lifesong.  This is an incredible opportunity for our family. 

Lifesong Matching Grant

Thank you all so much for your love and support!! We are so grateful for your donations and prayers that are helping us get one step closer to bringing our baby girl home!!

God Bless

 

Each day is one day closer...

Hi everyone!

This week has been a very exciting week in regards to our adoption. Our i800 was verbally approved over the phone and the official approval came in the mail, and we received the necessary information to proceed forward with Emma's visa! We have officially completed all the documentation in the USA at this point!!! We are so ecstatic to be moving closer to meeting our little girl!!

Currently we are waiting for an official letter from the NVC so our agency can file all Emma's visa paperwork with China. Once we receive this letter and AWAA sends it to China, our count down officially begins. Typically it takes China 10 business days to issues what's called an Article 5. From there families can expect to receive what's called TA or travel approval within 7-10 days (the average wait). After TA, we would work with AWAA to plan travel - usually around 2 weeks after TA.

AWAA has not ruled out us traveling in September. However, we would need to get TA by September 1st to be a part of the September 15th travel group. It's possible, but cutting it close. It is probably more likely we will be in the October travel group. We hope for September but we know God has everything perfectly planned out in His timing. 

We are over the moon about preparing to meet Emma. I have already set out her clothes and toys to be packed. Travel will be here before we know it and we will be ready.

We want to thank everyone again for your prayers and support. We are so grateful to be surrounded by such amazing family and friends!!! 

Take care and God bless!

One Step Closer!!!

We received some exciting news today!!  Our i800 has officially been approved!!!  Long story short, this form is a petition to classify Emma as an adoptive child and helps with her immigration process.  This approval also helps to get the ball rolling to help determine our travel timeline.  Basically the faster you get this form approved, the sooner you get to travel to China.

Now that we have our i800 approval, we will need to complete what is called a DS260.  This will be for Emma’s Immigration visa.  Unfortunately, we have to wait a few days to get some additional documents before we can file this next round of paperwork.  Sometimes it seems that the adoption process is all about hurry up and get things done so we can wait.  :-P

As far as travel goes, our agency is does not know if we will be traveling in September or October.  The goal is of course September, but we are at the mercy of waiting for documents to be approved by 2 separate governments.  There are also 2 holidays coming up in China, September 15-17 and October 1-7.  These dates SIGNIFICANTLY affect our travel plans because China will not have any government official working during these days.  Considering we have to be in China for over two weeks, trying to plan travel without overlapping with these holidays can be challenging.  At the latest, we will travel to China after October 7^th.

We are so incredibly excited to be so close to meeting our little Emma. We have been blessed tremendously by the out pour of encouragement and prayers.  We are also very grateful for those who have partnered with us financially.  We are still around $16,000-$18,000ish short of fully funding our adoption costs.  The fluctuation is due to travel expenses changing and the change in exchange rate in China.  If you would like to donate toward our adoption costs, please click on the link below. J

https://mystory.lifesongfororphans.org/stories/journey-daughter-china/#.V6j4No07y_R.email

*** Lifesong is a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization***Lifesong is a 501 ( c )3 exempt orgnaization – so all donations are tax deductible.

Thank you so much for your support and prayers.  We are so grateful and feel so blessed!!!

God Bless!