Our first 24 hours with Samuel 'Bao Bao'

 Our first moment meeting Bao Bao on his gotcha day.  Emily came with the word 'Nervicited' which is a perfect combination of nervous and excited that we all felt in that moment.

 Whitney having her first interaction with him as she gives him a first toy to play with to begin to build a bond of trust.

 This was taken about 40 minutes into our life together.  He had a few early moments of some laughter and smiles which we were amazed about.  He definitely is a pretty happy child and likes to play.  We quickly learned that he has this kind of full face smile that is hard to describe unless you see it.  The evening of our first night together was a mixture of smiles and tears and much restlessness for little Bao Bao.  He was very clearly calling for the ladies from the orphanage over and over into late at night when he finally fell asleep in Mama's arms (Whitney) looking out over the city.  The only life he had really known in the orphanage for 2 1/2 years was suddenly gone and he was grieving that.

 hanging out at breakfast together.

 He loved the bacon.  In fact he carried this little piece of bacon around with him for quite awhile savoring each bite.

 We bundled him up and headed out to three different stops where we officialize the paperwork to make him our adopted son and we were able to write down his new name 'Samuel Phillip Bao Dunn' and applied for his passport which will be ready on Friday.

 hanging with Mama in the car

 Emily and Josh were excited to experience Walmart, Chinese style.

 Emily using her little brother in a new stroller we got for him

Emily and Joshua together at Papa John's. (yes in China)

Day 1 and 2 of our Chinese Advenuture

Here's a few pics from our journey so far.  Emily and Joshua did great on the 2 hour plane ride to Chicago and then the 15 hour flight to Beijing.  Last night we were picked up by our guide, Rocky, who works for our agency, Gladney, and serves as a guide for adopting families.  The hotel is nice but no AC apparently in Beijing.  Emily and I went for a night/rainy walk to look for some bottled water and Whitney and Joshua crashed inside the room.  We were entertained by the sound of fireworks going off most of the night in celebration of Chinese New Year which concludes Sunday night.

Today we spent some time sight-seeing in Beijing.  We went to the Forbidden City and then to the Great Wall.  Rocky was a great tour guide so we learned a lot about Chinese history as well as seeing some beautiful places.  The highlight for Emily was the fact that there was snow on the ground at the Great Wall.  Today is our last day as a family of four.  I've been trying to process on what lies ahead for us tomorrow when we meet our new son and become a family of five.  It's still hard to wrap my brain around that.  We will be heading out shortly for an acrobatics show and then calling it a night.

God bless,

Brian, Whitney, Emily and Joshua

A Quick Moment of Reflection

As we prepare to board a plane in three days, I wanted to stop and reflect for a moment today.  Our family is truly humbled and overwhelmed at the faithfulness of God through all of this and the generosity of His people.  So many have prayed, given, donated, encouraged, provided services, hosted events, and on and on.  Everyone one of them is a part of this story....the story of a boy abandoned at six months, cut off from his birth family forever, and growing up in an orphanage to being chosen, given a new forever family where he can experience a whole new eternal destiny.  Here are a few quick quotes or mile markers from our blog over the last four year:

 “....will continue to press on and know that God is for adoption!” - August 30, 2013

“We are now in December and realized that God has already brought in a little over $21,000.00 towards our goal of $34,000.00 to fully complete the adoption (Just $13,000 more to go to get it done, yay!)....” - December 11, 2012

“It was amazing to see so many friends and businesses come together to support the night....” - October 29, 2012 (After a fund-raising banquet)

“Last Friday we had another donation of $1000 come in so we are so thankful for that family who gave towards our goal.  That puts our total account up to $7600.00 at this point (praise God!).” - June 4, 2012

“One thing I am already learning is that we need not put our hope and trust in a certain set of expectations of how we think this will all go but simply put our hope and trust in God....” - May 7, 2012

“Currently we are beginning to walk through the process of adopting a child from Honduras.... For me, as I observe Scripture and the lives of those who have faithfully walked with God over the years, there seems to be a pattern.  God speaks and we obey.  When God called Abraham, He simply said ‘go to the land I will show you.’  He did not answer all of his questions.  God does not call the equipped but He equips the called. God does not wait for us to get all of our ducks perfectly in a row and then He uses us.  He often comes right into the mess of our lives and calls us to step out in faith and follow Him.  He tells us to ‘seek first His kingdom and righteousness and all of these things will be added to us.’  He loves to be our provider.  We are stepping out into something that is in the ‘center’ of God’s heart, ‘the fatherless’ – pure religion.  I am willing to take risks when I know I am in that realm.  
So this is the beginning.  Thanks for stopping by...Thanks for your prayers...Thanks for your support as we step out and trust God“ - April 14, 2012

I would challenge you to take a moment today and think back on where the Lord has brought you and give Him praise!
in Christ,
Brian

A Reflection and a Challenge

For many people this is a time of refection as we think back on 2015 and think ahead to the New Year.  While running this morning, I was thinking about the different legs of our adoption journey.  If you would have told me of all the different obstacles to overcome, money to be raised, and papers to fill out from the beginning, I might have bailed out completely.  Yet, step by step, prayer by prayer, encouragement by encouragement, this journey is coming together.  We stand in awe of God and His amazing people who's faith has been way more than ours at times.

Our little family of four is about to change forever.  Life as we know it will never be the same in about 6 weeks or so.  With every new beginning, the previous chapter must come to a close.  We let go of what used to be and open our hands and hearts up to this new adventure and challenge.  If you are reading this right now, I would love to challenge you to consider what God might have you do to reach out and love the orphan in 2016.  When we travel to China, we will bring a little guy home who was abandoned at 6 months old at a train station and left without a family and a future.  We will meet him as an orphan and he will become our child with a whole new future and hopefully, in God's timing, he will become a child of God as well. 

Maybe God is tugging on your heart to step out and adopt a child.  Maybe you've put it off or you have talked yourself out of it because of the finances or the paperwork or the hassle or the unknowns.  If you feel God pulling your heart strings, Whitney and I would love to know about that and meet with you to help you clarify if God is calling you to bring another one of the millions of orphans home to a forever family.  Pray about that this year and then dare to take a step.

God bless you and Happy New Year!

Brian and Whitney

'The Nations Prove'

My mind always starts racing and going through thoughts in the morning.  I'm a morning person. This morning for some reason it went to the last verse of 'Joy to the World':

'He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love'

I've sung this verse hundreds of times but never really gave much thought to what I'm singing.  I started meditating on the part where it says that He 'makes the nations prove...'  In other words, it's my job and your job to prove or show to the world the 'glories of His righteousness' and the 'wonders of His love.'

When you step out to adopt, you get asked the 'why' question a lot.  'Why are you adopting?'  As Christians, the onlooking world should be asking all of us that constantly.  Why did you show kindness to that person?  Why did you help me?  Why did you forgive me?  Why did you give me another chance when I've blown it so many times?

Jesus said in John 13:34 "So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other."  This is why Christians step out to adopt.  This is why Christians show forgiveness.  This is why Christians give grace to others.  This is why Christians turn the other cheek.  This is why Christians love the hard to love.  When we begin to think of the radical forgiveness, grace and love that has been poured out for us, how can we live any other way?

So may we prove and show the world the 'glories of His righteousness' and the 'wonders of His love' today!

We are getting closer and closer to bringing our little guy home.  We are currently waiting on our Article 5 paperwork.  The Article 5 is the collection of immigration papers, documents, and letters that we will need to complete Samuel's adoption once we are in China.  Right now the Article 5 is in Guangzhou at the Consulate being reviewed to make sure it's all in order.  It will be ready for pickup on December 29th when it will then be mailed off to the CCCWA (Chinese Child Welfare) in Beijing.  The next step after our Article 5 is in Beijing is receiving our official Travel Approval letter (TA) inviting us to come to China to adopt Samuel.  The average time between the Article 5 pickup and receiving the Travel Approval letter has been about 1-2 weeks which would put us possibly receiving our Travel Approval in mid-January.

'When we love the least of these'

I love this song by Audio Adrenaline - 'Kings and Queens'

"Little hands, shoeless feet
Lonely eyes looking back at me
Will we leave behind the innocent too brief
On their own, on the run
When their lives have only begun
These could be our daughters and our sons
And just like a drum I can hear their hearts beating
I know my God won't let them be defeated
Every child has a dream to belong and be loved

(Chorus)
Boys become kings, girls will be queens
Wrapped in Your majesty
When we love, when we love the least of these
Then they will be brave and free
Shout Your name in victory
When we love, when we love the least of these
When we love the least of these

Break our hearts once again
Help us to remember when
We were only children hoping for a friend
Won't you look around
These are the lives that the world has forgotten
Waiting for doors of our hearts and our homes to open

Chorus

If not us, who will be like Jesus
To the least of these
If not us tell me who will be like Jesus
Like Jesus to the least of these"

 

Now is our opportunity, church, to break generational curses of poverty, abuse and hopelessness.  Now is our chance to do something.  Now is our chance to love a child.  Maybe it's a monthly child sponsorship, maybe it's being a mentor to a foster family or being a respite provider (giving a foster family a break), maybe it's adoption, maybe it's supporting a Christian orphanage.  We can all do something....We can all impact one life.  Afterall, every life does matter to God.

 

in Christ,

 

Brian