Finally an Announcement!!

Finally I have sent an email announcement about Lydia! Many people that we see frequently already know---but, embarrassing to say, many of our family members are still in the dark!

This is the letter:
Dear Family and Friends,

Well, MUCH has been happening in the Kemper household throughout the past year---so much so, that we must send out a mass e-mail to share the news (maybe this should be considered my Christmas letter!) Many of you already know by word of mouth or through church, but many of our far away friends and family have no idea what’s been going on! So, if you know already, this is a repeat. If you haven’t heard the news---read on! Forgive me for not sharing sooner (as we found this out in June!), but we have been so busy with the boys and in making arrangements for our upcoming, sooner-than-expected ADOPTION!

Here are the details---

At the beginning of ’07, our hearts were burdened for the many orphans in the world who are without a family—we felt God calling us to take part in the miraculous building of families through adoption. We were then drawn to the sweet little girls in China who overcrowd the orphanages there—we were challenged by fears and a bit of hesitancy at first as we felt we were too ordinary to take part in such an awesome task—to be a Mommy and Daddy to someone we’ve never met, but who needs us more than anything. God proceeded to lead us as we began to research China, the culture and the social situation there, and also the financial aspect of adoption, also much discussion on how our lives would be different but quite enriched with the addition of a baby girl into our family forever J

Needless to say, the concept of adoption has become a part of who we are and in March ’07, with the support and encouragement of our parents and siblings, we began the dauntless ‘paperchase’ and began scrounging every penny for our baby from across the world!

It seemed at every turn, I would see the sweet face of a little Asian girl and my heart would break as I realized how long it would be before we met our baby. Because of the growth and interest in International Adoption, the wait for a baby in China is now 2-3 years!! But, willing to wait, we continued, neck-deep in gathering documents, notaries, and the immigration process…

What occurred next could only be described as God’s direct intervention. Our dossier was almost complete and ready to send to China when we discovered that our agency was getting ready to post a ‘Waiting Children’s’ list, which means that these children have some minor medical issues, deformities, etc. which consider them ‘special needs.’ We had really not considered this option, however as we thought about it, realized that these children need a family more than anyone---Lots of people desire ‘healthy’ babies, but these children are the ‘less desirable’ to some---but not to us! We decided to take a look at the list---what if our daughter was pictured there? We didn’t want to miss it. More research on medical conditions, treatments, and prognosis began as we waited for the list to post.

On June 20th, we fell in love with a beautiful baby girl, with only her picture and medical diagnosis posted on the site. She became our heart’s desire and we applied for her. Our chances for her were slim, since many people also apply for these children; however, we were content that God would hear our pray and answer our request to put this little one in the perfect family---of course, we hoped that would be us—but we were content if it were someone else. Three days later, through our agency’s ‘random’ drawing, our paper was selected for this sweet child, Fu Bao Xing! We know that it was not a random coincidence, as we trust that it is GOD who puts people in families and He chose us for her J

Our baby was 8 months old at the time and she has a congenital heart defect. We have named her “Lydia Grace” and she is now 12 months old (her birthday was Wednesday October 10th), and she is waiting for us in Chongqing, China. We hope to be in China by December to bring her home.

The last 3 months have been a whirlwind as we completed our dossier to China (even challenging the slowness of immigration with a US Senator’s intervention to expedite our paperwork!) Now, we wait as the Chinese government reviews our papers and then invites us to travel.

Lydia lives in a large orphanage that houses over 300 children. She seems to be in great health and is doing well we hope! It is VERY difficult knowing that she continues to be there each day in the orphanage and we are here enjoying family togetherness and comfort.

Attached are a few pictures of our sweet girl. Please pray that our papers will arrive soon and we will be in China before Christmas, that the remaining finances will fall into place, and that Lydia will quickly learn to trust us and love us---we already love her and she has no idea J

We will try to keep email updates and so that you may follow our journey to get Lydia, I have started a blog---a BLOG ?! you say?? Yes, I used to make fun of them, but it is the easiest, cheapest way to keep everyone informed and can store lots of pictures that would be difficult to send via email while we are in China!

Thanks to SO many of you who have prayed specific requests for us, and who have given us baby items to get her room ready, and girlie clothes!! We appreciate that so much---what we thought would be a 2+ year adoption process has turned into 8 months!! We have an awesome God, who does the impossible, and who is great and worthy to be praised in ALL circumstances. We can do nothing to deserve His goodness to us---it is a gift and for His glory.

Thanks for hearing our story…please remember to check in on our blog occasionally

Teresa

Happy Birthday Sweet Lydia!

Today, Lydia is one.

It is sad to be without your child on the celebration of their birth, even though I've never met her. We had a special birthday dinner for her, a birthday dessert, and wrote a birthday greeting on the board in the kitchen---it may seem silly, but someday she will look back, see the pics, and see that we loved her before we even had her here. Hopefully, so that she can begin to understand that she was special and loved as a baby, without us ever holding her and without us even knowing her personality or her having to prove herself to us, that we loved her....