Adoption update: The good news is that our dossier is finally off to China! It seems like this has taken SO long, but it is finally out of our hands. We are praying to travel on March 18 or 19, but we are not sure it can happen that fast. That would be the beginning of our kid's spring break, so that is the perfect week.
Along with that good update, we have a prayer request. This morning we got a couple of new photos of Miles. He does not look good. He is so jaundice, so puffy. And the dark spots on his face and hands seem a little darker. We are told this is probably a symptom of liver toxicity. We have got to get this boy home. He just looks so sad and so sick. It breaks my heart.
So, friends, PLEASE pray specifically for his health to be stabile, and for him to not be having any pain or discomfort. And please pray that things would move along in record time, so we can GET HIM HOME!!! Thank you! God bless you!!!
Tuesday, January 26, 2016
Saturday, January 9, 2016
A Familiar Journey
Hmmmm, now can you guess what journey would be very familiar to me? If you know me at all, you probably guessed an adoption journey, and yes, you would be right. We have 2 home-grown children, and we have adopted 11 children. 5 were newborns- adopted domestically. 3 were toddlers- adopted from China. 3 were a sibling group of tweens- adopted domestically. All were considered special needs, although technically only 7 have ongoing medical/therapy needs. Adoption is my passion, my world, it is partially what created my amazing family. I LOVE adoption. I love "almost" everything about it. When I grow up, I want to turn my adoption ministry into an adoption agency, and I want to spend my life finding forever families for orphans. That would be an absolute dream come true! I pray that one day God will grant me this desire of my heart!
So, I guess it is also no surprise that we are adopting again! Actually, it kinda was a surprise to us! We had absolutely NO intention of adoption again. Well, truthfully, at least not soon. We have always felt we would adopt until we were no longer able, but we were choosing to slow down and let our kids grow up a bit. Until we heard about "Miles" AKA Mao Xin Dai. Miles was found abandoned as a 5 year old. Left in a train station in southern China. I am sure he was old enough to have memories of this trauma. I cannot even imagine. For the past 8 years, he has been living in an orphanage. But he is sick. Very sick. He has Beta Thalassemia, just like MengYan. This is probably the very reason he was abandoned. It is very difficult to get care for a child with Thalassemia in China. In fact, most children in China with Thal, do not live past their 5th birthday. Here is the US, it is a very treatable disease. So, for his entire life, he has had very basic treatment of his disease. He is not getting blood transfusions as often as he needs them, so he is chronically anemic, which is damaging his organs and his bones. He has never received the required iron chelation therapy, so he has a severe iron overload in his liver, his heart and his pituitary glands. His heart is already showing signs of damage, which may or may not be correctible. His swollen belly is full of gallstones. I cannot imagine how that hurts. And all of this without the love and support of a family. Heartbreaking. Literally.
We advocated. We prayed. Hundreds of people did. He doesn't even know how many people have prayed over him!!! We watched as 2 different families stepped forward, excited to commit to adopting him. And then we watched, as both families backed out, for various reasons. And then we felt that familiar feeling. That Miles was OUR son. The more we prayed, the more God confirmed it! His name is to be Miles Xin Dai McKinney!!!
So here we go again!
We started the process in September. We are almost DTC at this point, and then things will move quickly. We are told we should travel in March/April at the latest. The unfamiliar thing about this journey is that we have never adopted a teenager who doesn't speak English! That could be.....interesting! But we are determined to make this work, and we know God's hand is all over this adoption. He has blown open closed doors on two separate occasions. He is little by little removing the financial hurdles, that are overwhelming. He is preparing our hearts, and the hearts of our children. Miles is our son. And very soon, we will meet him!!!
We covet your prayers. We ask you to consider helping us financially. But most of all we ask you to try to understand. God puts these crazy notions on our hearts. We have to be obedient! Being in the will of God is exactly where we want to be. It is not in God's will for any child to be an orphan. We praise Him, that we are chosen to be Mile's family!!!!!
God bless!!!
Would you like to help us financially? Miles has a Reeces Rainbow account. All donations to this account go directly to our agency, to help with our adoption expenses. And they are tax deductible. Here is the link to our page. http://reecesrainbow.org/98043/sponsormckinney
So, I guess it is also no surprise that we are adopting again! Actually, it kinda was a surprise to us! We had absolutely NO intention of adoption again. Well, truthfully, at least not soon. We have always felt we would adopt until we were no longer able, but we were choosing to slow down and let our kids grow up a bit. Until we heard about "Miles" AKA Mao Xin Dai. Miles was found abandoned as a 5 year old. Left in a train station in southern China. I am sure he was old enough to have memories of this trauma. I cannot even imagine. For the past 8 years, he has been living in an orphanage. But he is sick. Very sick. He has Beta Thalassemia, just like MengYan. This is probably the very reason he was abandoned. It is very difficult to get care for a child with Thalassemia in China. In fact, most children in China with Thal, do not live past their 5th birthday. Here is the US, it is a very treatable disease. So, for his entire life, he has had very basic treatment of his disease. He is not getting blood transfusions as often as he needs them, so he is chronically anemic, which is damaging his organs and his bones. He has never received the required iron chelation therapy, so he has a severe iron overload in his liver, his heart and his pituitary glands. His heart is already showing signs of damage, which may or may not be correctible. His swollen belly is full of gallstones. I cannot imagine how that hurts. And all of this without the love and support of a family. Heartbreaking. Literally.
We advocated. We prayed. Hundreds of people did. He doesn't even know how many people have prayed over him!!! We watched as 2 different families stepped forward, excited to commit to adopting him. And then we watched, as both families backed out, for various reasons. And then we felt that familiar feeling. That Miles was OUR son. The more we prayed, the more God confirmed it! His name is to be Miles Xin Dai McKinney!!!
So here we go again!
We started the process in September. We are almost DTC at this point, and then things will move quickly. We are told we should travel in March/April at the latest. The unfamiliar thing about this journey is that we have never adopted a teenager who doesn't speak English! That could be.....interesting! But we are determined to make this work, and we know God's hand is all over this adoption. He has blown open closed doors on two separate occasions. He is little by little removing the financial hurdles, that are overwhelming. He is preparing our hearts, and the hearts of our children. Miles is our son. And very soon, we will meet him!!!
We covet your prayers. We ask you to consider helping us financially. But most of all we ask you to try to understand. God puts these crazy notions on our hearts. We have to be obedient! Being in the will of God is exactly where we want to be. It is not in God's will for any child to be an orphan. We praise Him, that we are chosen to be Mile's family!!!!!
God bless!!!
Would you like to help us financially? Miles has a Reeces Rainbow account. All donations to this account go directly to our agency, to help with our adoption expenses. And they are tax deductible. Here is the link to our page. http://reecesrainbow.org/98043/sponsormckinney
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