252 FUNdraiser

Do you love a mystery?  

Do you love secrets?

Do you love solving a puzzle?

Then you are gonna love this one!!!  

the To China With Love Mission Trip - 252 FUNdraiser

Behind the numbers hides a picture.

What could it be?

Can you help uncover the secret?

"And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man."  Luke 2:52

We are asking for your financial assistance and prayerful support. These precious children are growing physically each day but in an institution without the nurture, support, and love of a family and without the knowledge of the God who loves them.

Our children long to love on these kids through laughter and play and share with the staff the hope and future they could have at home with an adoptive family. My husband Christopher and our sons Josiah and Elijah can have a significant impact on so many children's lives just because they are guys! Men on missions trips like this are so few.

So, here's the fun part - Pick a dollar amount from our hidden picture to donate. For each donation amount given, the number will be removed and part of our picture revealed.

How to give?
1. Donate through our Go Fund Me page - To China With Love 2015

2. For a tax deductible donation, you can give directly to our Storyteller Missions trip accounts by using the following link and adding one of our names and "China July 2015" - Storyteller Missions Donation

3. Track us down if you want to put cash in our hands

4. You could write a check.

5. Send a donation through PayPal (but I would think it would be just as easy to use option #1 or option #2 if you were doing this online)

Let the FUN begin!!!

This is now torturing my children!  Because I'm the only one who knows what the picture is.  Not even my hubby knows.  

Our July 2015 team "met" for our first cyber, conference call last night.  So exciting to come together and start planning for our time in China with the children!  But the reality of financial deadlines and dollar amounts is totally terrifying!  

Just a little over two weeks before plane tickets must be purchased!!!

We have so many fundraising projects going to try to help our family continue serving and loving on these precious children!

Our Etsy Store - To China With Love Etsy Shop

Chinese Ink Paintings like the ones we created with the children at the orphanage

Canvas Paintings

Rustic Wooden Wall Art

A Facebook Page with other exciting items like stands of pearls, pearl pendant necklaces, and pottery necklaces and bracelets - To China With Love Facebook

Specially Designed T-shirts in adult and child sizes - To China With Love T-shirts

 

Thank you for your prayerful support!

Sweet Olivia - Guest Blog Post

Excited to share this "Guest Blog Post" with y'all today!  

Jennifer led the AWAA Storyteller Missions team (formerly ACT Missions) who returned to the same orphanage we visited in July.  Not only did they get to spend time with many of the children we met, but they also met some children we didn't.  Olivia is one of the sweethearts that we missed getting to know, so Jennifer is helping me introduce you to...

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SWEET OLIVIA

It is hard to understand why sweet Olivia is still waiting for her family when so many get chosen so quickly.  Maybe it is hard to see past her skin condition to really notice her endearing smile.  She was always smiling!

Our team spent a week at her orphanage last November, and we were all in love with her.  It only takes a few seconds with her to not even notice her birthmark because she immediately wraps you around her finger and captures your heart.

I remember a team member asking me if I thought she would be adopted soon after her file was ready, and I responded, “Oh, I don’t see why not.  She is beautiful, alert and has such a warm, affectionate personality.”  And yet she still waits.

Each time I held Olivia, she would smile, coo and when I talked to her she would “baby babble” back.  She had great eye contact, enjoyed being held and loved, was curious about what was going on in the room, and would watch us as we played with other kids.  She would often cry when we finally had to put her down to hold another baby.  She seemed happiest when being held and rocked.

I was wearing a necklace, and Olivia would hold onto it, study it intently and then look at my face.  She was definitely taking it all in.  She seemed so bright!

Emily was one of our team members that was very drawn to Olivia and spent much of her week holding her.  Emily has this to say about Olivia:

“Olivia seems to be a very smart baby.  She picked up on things very quickly, and she did give eye contact consistently.  She enjoyed my singing when I held her, and she eventually started to 'sing' to give me a cue to sing to her!

When I held her she was constantly smiling.  She wants to hear people talk to her, and she'll respond back. We played a game where I would gently tip her upside down with me holding her, and she quickly learned to anticipate the playful swinging movements enough to keep me on my toes!  Each time I would dip her she would come up smiling and laughing, like it was the best thing ever.  Then she started throwing herself back on her own.  It nearly gave me a heart attack the first time she did it, but she just grinned at me.  This baby seems to have no trust issues at all. :)”

   

Could Olivia be your daughter?  I hope that you will take the time to look at her pictures and really see the gentle, sweet, smiley baby girl that is waiting.

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Sweet litle Olivia is currently just 19 months old.  Her referral  file is listed as Special Focus.  Her orphanage is an America World Adoption Association partnership orphanage.  More information about Olivia is available through AWAA (AWAA Waiting Children Program).

The AWAA Storyteller Missions team who visited Olivia in November long to see her home with her forever family!  They want to share her story with you and ask that you continue sharing this special sweethearts story until her family finds her.

AWAA currently has two Storyteller Missions teams scheduled to return to Olivia's orphanage in 2015, in both July and November.  The July team is full and already preparing their hearts to love on these children still waiting.  The November team still has a few openings for more volunteers (November 12-22, 2015 Storyteller Missions Trip Information).  These teams provide so much valuable information for prospective families about these precious children, as well as seeking to support and encourage the staff who cares for them every day.

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UPDATE - Sweet Olivia's file is currently "Under Review" with another family waiting if this family do not feel led to move forward with an adoption because she is not their daughter.

To China With Love - OPEN for Business

I've been a little quiet on the web for a few weeks, but incredibly BUSY!

I share a LOT about the kids we met at the orphanage.

Words fail me to share about all I've watched God doing in the lives of these children and the families He has called to grow through adoption.  Miracles happening every day!

I often share, especially on Facebook, about the Storyteller Missions team that I will be leading in November to return to the same orphanage.  There are still a few openings for more volunteers...???

AWAA Storyteller Mission Trip November 12-22, 2015

What I don't share much about has been that my family has been hoping, dreaming, and planning to all return with another AWAA Storyteller Missions team in July...

From the moment our plane landed and Miranda and I began sharing our stories about our time with the children and staff at the orphanage, my kids' hearts began to catch the fire of our passionate love for "our China family."  My teenage sons' envisioned shooting hoops on the orphanage playground with the older boys and inspired other team members to collect donated, new soccer balls the team could pack in suitcases to replace the paper and tape balls they saw children playing with in our photos.  Our little girls may not have quite the vision of what they will be able to do for the children and staff at the orphanage, but their lives share the story and testimony of hope for so many of these waiting children.

Dreaming...Advocating...Recruiting...LIVING LIFE have all taken center stage...so I let one thing slide off my mom radar...

How to fund a Wade World Family Mission Trip to China?!?!?

Random comments about "Maybe we should start fundraising soon?" between my husband and I never quite materialized into ACTION.

Now the days, weeks, and months until we are schedule to depart on July 16 are rapidly approaching!

ONLY 88 DAYS!!!!

Uhm...plane tickets, passports, visas...with no fundraising support?

So I proposed a idea to my Facebook friends a few weeks ago...

...a this little idea exploded in a new direction...

...announcing the Grand Opening of...

the TO CHINA WITH LOVE Etsy Store!

To China With Love

Our original inspiration was the artwork project we did with the kids at the orphanage.  

Our family has produced some of our own paintings.

 Then we got really crafty and created some rustic wooden wall art too.

Still feeling lots of creative energy here in Wade World!  Thinking about exploring painting on canvas instead of wood?  Editing some photographs taken over years on our journeys to China to offer as prints.  

Stop by our shop!  Share with your friends!  

I never dreamed or desired a "business."  So this adventure is for the sole purpose of continuing to support our family's mission work with this orphanage in China, for the children we love.

Longing

As Winter turns to Spring, Track & Field season practices are off and running!  

My 8th grade middle school son climbs into my car each afternoon with sore, aching muscles, tired and hungry.  Throwing a shot or discus for the first time.  Discovering whether he is a fast-twitch sprinter or truly a slow-twitch cross country, long-distance runner.  Braving the hurdles with determination to master the pace, stride, and form to fly with courage.

Tuesday afternoon, however, I attended one of my most track practices of each year…

Special Olympics Track & Field Practice

Each year, Peiwu joins  her friends to prepare for the annual Special Olympics Track & Field Meet.  Last year, the actual meet had to be canceled due to severe weather, so the two practices became the defining moments of her experience.

My Princess participates in all the events she can:  

100 meter dash,

softball toss,

and standing long jump.  

Her favorite part?  

Medals, 

friends,

and potato chips with her lunch.

As the three coaches divided the children at practice into three groups, I followed Peiwu's group outside to practice running or walking to race on the track.  The coach walked to the finish line to time each child and asked me to help call out the start for each racer so she could record the most accurate practice time.  Even after Peiwu's group finished, I continued to help the coach with each child.

SO MUCH FUN!!!

Whether walking or running, rabbit fast or chasing a turtle, my other daughter Keziah and I cheered each athlete down the sidewalk.

I love working with kids!  Discovering each child's name, helping them place their toes on the starting line and face the right direction, rehearsing "On your mark.  Get set, GO!" so they knew when to start, and then landing them into their own race, filled my heart with so much joy and delight.

In the midst of all our fun, I suddenly felt the familiar ache and pain of my heart.  Face-to-face with a new little friend and then cheering his walking race down the sidewalk, while silently praying that his muscles, rigid and stiff from cerebral palsy do not cause him to trip, stumble, and fall, my heart longed to return to see "my China kids."

250 days ago I met these precious children.  We didn't speak the same language but communicated volumes during our days together.  So many of the older boys we met had Down's Syndrome and cerebral palsy, yet we laughed and played together.

The ache in my heart from missing these children has not diminished as the days have passed.  Instead, the longing to return to see them again grows stronger each day.

The staff at the orphanage told us that only an average of 15 children were adopted each year.  Knowing that 25 children have already gone home or been matched with their family and now wait to meet their mamas and babas to go home leaves me humbly amazed each day.  Watching the daily miracles God performs to bring families and children together just overwhelms me.

I have posted on Facebook and even written in this blog about the America World Storyteller Missions team (formerly called ACT Mission Trips) I will be leading in November to return to this same orphanage.  But I haven't posted much about another team that will be returning in July.  The July team is full to overflowing with volunteers, primarily because not only are Miranda and I planning to return with this team but my hubby and four of my other children are also longing to travel to China and serve the children in this orphanage.

Today, I'm sharing this with you because we will need the support of an army of prayer warriors on the front lines and on their knees.

Plus as hard as this is for me to ask, we will also need some financial assistance to make it happen.  I always long to be independent and self-sufficient, but God desires for me to obediently ask others for help and to join the mission and the blessing of this journey through your donations.  Though crowd fundraising sites are popular and often effective, part of the donation us used to pay for the service and fees.  If you feel called to help our family return to an orphanage in China to love on the children and staff, please use the Storyteller Missions donation site.  Just make sure to add the note that your donation is for my family and the July 2015 trip to Guangdong. - Storyteller Mission Donate

Thank you!  Thank you for your prayers and for your financial support.