MEET THE WILLINGHAMS!

I'm so excited about this week! I met Paige at an artist market. I was selling my Love is Waiting tees and she was selling beautiful handmade dresses and clutches to raise money for their adoption. I love hearing her say, they "just know" that they have a little boy out there waiting for them! That's exactly how we felt about Arthur. It's amazing how the bond is already forming between this family and their newest brother! Meet the Willinghams!

Hello Love is Waiting readers! We are so excited and so grateful to be a part of this beautiful support system that Heather has begun to help families like ours bring their little ones home. My name is Paige, and my husband is Russell. We have three biological children, twin daughters Emma and Abby (6), and Samuel (3). We know without a doubt that we have another little boy across the ocean, who is waiting for us to go and get him. We have just finished our home study interviews, and are hoping to send over our dossier to China before long. With each passing day, I have a growing bond that is forming in my head and in my heart for my little boy. God has been so faithful, so awesome, so gracious in His goodness to us. It may be a long road ahead, but we are clinging to and trusting in His perfect timing. If you want to read more of our story, or follow along our journey, head over to www.willinghamfamily.blogspot.com.

MEET BRAND NEW, BABY HOLSOPPLE!

How adorable is this little one!? And big sister looks so proud! For the Holsopples, their wait is over! Kellen is home, but we know that doesn't mean they no longer need support! Their court date is in just a few days and I'm excited to celebrate with them this week and give towards their adoption. When you shop this week, a portion of the profits go to the Holsopple family.  Read their story below.

Soon after the birth of our daughter, Emerson, we knew that another pregnancy was not an option to grow our family.  Adoption was our next choice… but it wasn't in God's timing yet.  Kendall and I were on separate pages on what we thought our adoption should look like - international or domestic, infant or toddler, boy or girl, open or closed, etc.  We knew that unless we were united on every part of this journey, it wasn't going to happen for us. 

Years went by, and I mean years.  But we were finally united!  We already had an agency picked out (the same one we had picked years ago) and began our journey.  We started in March of 2013 and after many meetings, the home study, and mounds of paperwork, we became an official waiting family in August 2013.  Now the real waiting began - we were paper pregnant! 

Anyone who has been down this road understands the roller-coaster of waiting.  I teach and Kendall farms, so we were always able to stay “busy” and not let the waiting consume us.  Kendall was actually on his way home from a farm show in Kentucky when we got the call.  It was a Thursday night and we were told that a birth mom was in labor and we were the family!  Kendall was home in a couple of hours and then the real waiting began… through a long labor, our son Kellen Eugene Holsopple was born on Valentine's Day.  What an amazing addition to our family he is.  Emerson absolutely adores him and we are so thankful and humbled that he is ours.  Our court date to make everything official is on St. Patrick's Day - he will be forever ours. 😊.

Thank you for taking the time to get to know us!  We are so thankful and grateful for your  support.  Thank you again. 😊.  

Love Kendall, Heather, Emerson, and Kellen

DEATH & RISING : WAITING FOR ARTHUR

(December 1, 2011)

I've wanted to share this part of our adoption story for a while. Arthur came home just over two years ago and life has been happening at full speed ever since! It's the part of the story that is scary and hard and ugly. I have kept it close, but now I'm ready to share. And the timing just happens to go along with this season of death and rising.

It was November of 2011, I didn't know it, but we were SO CLOSE to getting the news we were desperate to hear. We had been waiting for almost 6 months to get clearance from the Embassy so we could go get our boy. And when I say "waiting" that doesn't seem to capture it well. In just six months we had experienced so many ups and downs, scary news and then more scary news. Over and over I had to face the idea that maybe Arthur would NEVER come home. I had moments of clarity and peace. Moments when I could declare... "Arthur is not the prize, Jesus is the prize. Arthur is yours, God and you are still good even if we never understand. You are good even if he doesn't come home."

But those moments would pass and I would be in BAD shape. And I don't mean just sad... I mean my physical body was being overtaken by anxiety. I could not sleep, I had no appetite. I saw a doctor who prescribed xanax (which did nothing), I saw a counselor (first time ever seeing a counselor) who had me try visualization exercises, tapping exercises, I put little drops of herbs under my tongue... I was drinking calming tea (I had to stop drinking coffee), I wasn't performing at work. I was crying all the time. And for those who know me... I am just NOT that way!

I still remember exactly what it felt like... I described it to my mom as a gear spinning in the middle of my chest. It would NOT STOP spinning... around the clock, my adrenaline was on overdrive! Finally my mom sat down with me and was determined to help me work through it... she said

"Ok, when you think about Arthur coming home, what does that look like? Walk me through the steps."

Even with my anxiety, I couldn't help but smile at the thought. I started to explain,

"Well, the Embassy will call the police department and they will agree that the information recorded is correct and we will get clearance!

Still excited, I kept on going in great detail,

"Aaron and I will probably yell and scream and dance around the house and then call our travel agent to get the next flight out. We'll tell our family and friends, call into work, make an announcement on social media (of course). It would be a day of celebrating."

"And then... ?" my mom asked

I couldn't get much further into the story without shaking. The anxiety would flare up again. As soon as I got to a place where I would visualize being reunited with Arthur, instead of being overcome with joy, the fear and sadness would set in.

"Wait! What happened?" my mom asked "You were  getting to the best part, why did it stop?"

"Almost as soon as I think about having that sleeping baby on my chest, I stop myself and think... 'but what if that never happens?'"

As soon as I said that out loud, I lost it and the tears began to flow. My tears were met with equals parts compassion and frustration from my mom. She hated to see me hurting, but she also wanted me to stand up and fight for my boy! It was clear to her what was happening. I was grieving the loss of my son maybe a hundred times a day and it was wrecking me! It was a cycle of grief and hope all day every day for 6 months and it was time work through it!

The next day, I went out for a run and I prayed and prayed... It may seem weird and maybe I will be the only one to really understand what happened that day, but it became so clear to me that, in a way, I was burying Arthur alive every time I had that thought. It was so crazy to come this realization! I was so disappointed in myself as a brand new mom, but I became very excited about the opportunity to fight these thoughts and believe in something bigger for my son.

...so I started to "dig" ...until I saw his face. I wiped the dirt away and he opened his eyes and gazed at me. Are you weirded out?? Maybe you are, but it's ok because this is the image that God gave me to help me work through the last hours of my long "labor" with Arthur and it's probably one of the most important things I have ever done.

Just a few days later, we got the call we were waiting for and the spinning gear was forever quieted when my son was back in my arms, sleeping soundly on my chest.

GRATEFUL

I've been so excited to enter into the Lenten season this year. For whatever reason, I was very motivated to commit to fasting and I'm ready to spend some good time over these 40 days to pray and prepare for Easter. I knew right away that I wanted to/needed to fast from watching television. What I didn't know was that this decision was going to deprive me of joy of watching the SEASON FINALE of the Bachelor. Yes, I watch the Bachelor and a lot of other dumb, life-sucking shows... which is why I'm fasting from television. 

It's been pretty interesting these first few days to see how my time is spent when tv is not an option. The first night, I slept, the second night, I went out and celebrated my birthday and tonight... 

Tonight I put my boys in their beds, cleaned up the kitchen and then got totally lost in Instagram. One comment led here and then this hashtag led there and I ended up on an instagram account of a mother who lost her infant son about 5 weeks ago. I went back in her history to her pregnant belly and then back to the day she gave birth to her 10 pound son. I read her post, sharing sad news and asking for prayer. I saw this beautiful, perfect newborn baby change into a sick, swollen baby with tubes and cords. I read the post she shared the day she lost her son. I got lost in this gut wrenching story. 

When I was finally able to peel my eyes away from my phone, I thought about my two boys sleeping in their rooms. They came to us in different ways, but they both CAME HOME. Healthy, happy baby boys. Tonight I'm not taking that for granted. Thank you, Jesus for these two AMAZING boys. I am grateful. 

NICK & KATIE WELCH

The other day I told someone that when you start the adoption process, it's almost like finding out you're pregnant! Maybe you've thought about adopting, maybe you had a plan about when you might start the process, but when you actually make that first call or sign that first piece of paper. It's real! It's miraculous! You become pregnant! And the timing or the way it happens might take you by surprise... just like taking a pregnancy test. There's a baby being formed, there's a child waiting for you and the timing couldn't be more perfect. 

I have been going crazy over here with excitement over the news that some of my dearest friends Katie and Nick have just found out that they are "pregnant"! After having one biological child and experiencing the pain and grief of two miscarriages, they will bring home a second child through adoption. Something they've wanted to do for a long time now! I've always admired Katie's honesty and bravery. She's never afraid to be vulnerable. She invites people in to walk through the hard places with her. She doesn't pretend that she's perfect! She doesn't pretend she's ok if she's not. She is so strong! Katie and Nick were our rocks when we were fighting to bring Arthur home. They rejoiced with us when we received good news, they wept with us when we were discouraged, and they continue to support and encourage us. I cannot wait to do the same for them as they begin this exciting journey!!! 

We couldn't be happier to share 20% of Love is Waiting sales with them for the next TWO weeks! Go shop!!

Read more below and follow along with the Welch family at welchpress.tumblr.com

"Nick and I have both wanted to adopt from a young age. I've always pictured my family being a large multi-racial family. It's my dream. My calling, I believe. I always hoped the man I married would feel the same way.

When Nick was young, he watched a family friend adopt 2 children from China. It inspired him, even at a young age, with the dream of someday adopting children. When we first got married, we decided we wanted to start a family through adoption. We watched a few of our closest friends start their families that way, and that made it seem less intimidating. When we began to pursue adoption, we found out we were pregnant with our first son, Judah. We were thrilled, and knew that adoption would be on our hearts forever, so we decided that maybe we'd have a couple biological kids, then adopt a few more. When Judah was 13 months old, we got pregnant again. Our plan was going just like we'd thought. When I was almost 15 weeks pregnant, I went into labor and delivered a tiny sweet baby that we named Emmanuel. This was confusing and extremely difficult for our family to walk through. Knowing that God had a perfect plan for our family, even if we didnt understand it, we marched on. We ended up pregnant again, and lost our little baby Hope at only 6 weeks. After that, a greiving process set in, but we took comfort in knowing that Emmanuel and Hope were with God, and that God knows what He is after. His plan is better than ours even when it feels horrible and out of control. The first thing that both Nick and I thought about when we lost Hope was adoption. Our heart has always been heavy for adoption. It's been a long time dream of both of ours and now felt like the time. We spend a month praying hard and seeking God's direction for our family. At the end of the month, we were both totally confident that He was leading us toward adoption now. We couldn't be more excited. Now the fun part, coming up with more money than I make in a year to pay for this crazy process. We trust that God's heart is for adoption and that He's bigger than $35,000, even thought it's SO scary. We trust Him. It was inspiring watching you and Aaron fight for Arthur. Watching you walk off the plane that December was one of the best moments of my life. The fact that we had invested in that process, and that our community had invested in it, makes the goodness in it even more beautiful. We all were fighting for Arthur. We fought for him in prayer and to raise awareness and support. We wanted him home with you guys so badly. The community aspect of adoption is glorious. I love it. I can't wait to walk into our home with our new son or daughter and be able to say that we couldn't have done it without the Lord putting a community of people around us, supporting this calling to care for the orphans of the world. Even if its just one."

LAUREN, GAVIN & ELIZA

How adorable is this family!? They have wanted to adopt for a long time, even before they met! They are well on their way to welcoming baby number 2, but with a big move to Southeast Asia next month, this family needs all the help they can get! Shop Love is Waiting this week and 20% of sales will go to the Pinkstons! Also, you have GOT to check out Lauren's blog 

http://applesandbandaids.com  

You can read more about their story, but she also rights about Motherhood, Faith and Social Justice. Couldn't be more excited and proud to feature them!

Gavin and I both felt called to adopt before we ever met each other. After four years of marriage, it seemed like the right time to begin the process! We applied for domestic adoption in 2012, but were declined when I became pregnant with our now 7-month-old daughter, Eliza. As happy as Eliza made us as parents {she is just precious!}, we continued to feel the burden of the orphan crisis wordwide. We are moving to Southeast Asia in March, and I was just certain that no adoption agency would be comfortable matching us with a child to be raised in a third-world country. God is so much bigger than our fears, though! Almost immediately after beginning our research, we found Small World Adoption Agency which specializes in expat adoptions for missionary and military families. We are finishing the home study process now, and are looking forward to awaiting a referral of a 0-1 year old boy from Lesotho. Thank you for helping us welcome our second child into our family! You can learn more about our journey here: http://applesandbandaidsblog.com/2013/11/30/the-post-ive-waited-years-to-write/.

JT AND DANIELLE CARROLL

Please take some time to read about the Carrolls. They are in the most difficult part of their journey. They've seen their child's face, he has a name, they've heard his story. He IS their son, but laws, paperwork, money and distance still keep them from being together. Join me in showing them some love this week! 

Leave a comment here encouraging them. 

Visit their adoption blog and check out their puzzle fundraiser!

http://www.loveinmandarin.blogspot.com/?m=1

And as always... 20% of  Love is Waiting's sales will go to help the Carrolls. 

http://loveiswaiting.storenvy.com

Hey there! We're the Carrolls and we're adopting a little boy from Taiwan. He'll be just over 2 years old when he comes home and while we're excited to finally have him with us we're also nervous to go from being childless to suddenly having a toddler!

This journey hasn't been an easy one. It seemed easy at first, but then we dived headfirst into it. Our home study went by quickly, a record of two weeks, until the very end when three pieces of paper decided to get lost in the shuffle of busy offices. A much-needed update on our son wasn't coming which left us with more questions than answers. Financial hurdles have piled up against us and we're praying for God to tear down walls at this point.

I'm not gonna lie: we're scared. There are so many unknowns in adoption, especially international, that you'd be crazy not to have a little fear pop up somewhere along the road. I'm in full-blown mother/nesting mode for a little boy I've never met, whose only information and photos I have is outdated by almost a year. Will he like the color I'm painting his room? What words can he say? Does he have a sweet tooth? Such little things in the grand scheme of it all but they're absorbing all of my brain power.

But in the fear and wonder are moments of absolute joy of such magnitude I've never felt before. The moment when I saw his face for the first time. The moment when my best friend told me he looks like he belongs to us, that he looks LIKE us. The moment when we truly felt that he is ours, no matter what. Maybe I'm grasping at the straws of faith here but I can't help but believe that this deeply-rooted joy is coming from the Father of adoption, the Father who knows how hard this is but how worth it the journey is. 

Adoption is full of pain and uncertainty, incredibly hard on both ends for different reasons yet ends in what can only be considered the truest form of family. It makes you understand better what Jesus went through: fighting to bring sons and daughters into a family forever. And that is ultimately the most beautiful relationship I can imagine.