I have to share...

At the risk of posting too many blogs in the month of July (3 is a record so far)...I just can't resist sharing some awesome news.

I checked in with our social worker, Pam, today and after going through our status and talking through a few things, I asked about "Henry" and "Yeager".  The two little boys from Pong's group at the orphanage who have not found homes yet.  I had noticed our agency had recently posted another update on Yeager, reaching out again to ask someone to step forward and call him son.  Then, when I asked about Henry, she told me he just found a family! Pam then said "You're in MN, aren't you?" When I said "yes", she said "Henry is going to MINNESOTA!"

If you read my last blog, you'd remember I asked you to pray for this exact thing.  Our agency is based in California so to have a MN family is as likely as having a family from any other state.  For some reason I was reminded of these boys every time I washed my hands this week. And so every time I've washed my hands for the past week, I have scrubbed them together and prayed hard for Pong's paperwork to keep moving forward in China and also for Henry and Yeager to find a family in Minnesota.  Some of you told me you'd pray for the boys too, so I knew I needed to share this news as soon as possible. I am so grateful.  All I know to do is to praise Jesus that He hears me and delights in giving good gifts to His children.

I don't know the exact city they live in and they're busy pulling together paperwork on their end.  But, hopefully we will connect at some point and our boys will be able to know each other.  For now, I just am overflowing with joy and thankfulness at the possibility.

If you know anyone who might be interested in praying for or pursuing this sweet boy, here is a link to more info on him...

http://missmaryssecretgarden.wordpress.com/2014/06/21/yeager/

From a logistical standpoint today, I found out we'll be waiting longer than I originally thought to officially "lock in" our little guy.  To be honest, I had hoped we'd be official by now.  But it's looking like mid-August before the paperwork is complete. But this news about Henry helped deflect the disappointment.  I am choosing to trust God's hand is protecting, nurturing and blessing our little Pong every day. It's hard to not be with him. But God is with Him and I have to fix my mind on that.

Have a wonderful week -

All those little toads

Tuesday, the kids noticed another baby toad in our yard. We decided collectively that we should release him immediately to the wetland area across the street. We all remembered from a recent, bitter experience that baby frogs don’t have much resilience when it comes to captivity from a groups of children under eight.

Upon walking across the street, we noticed another baby frog at the curb. The fingernail sized creature seemed to be trying his best to get from the creek on one side of the street, now to the wetlands on the other, but was failing miserably. I was impressed by my kids gentle coaxing and then their careful steps when the realized there were baby frogs about every 6-12 inches along the curb, all trying to get up and over it. With Timothy leading the charge, thus began our mission. 

So four kids (including a neighbor) and I methodically worked our way down the street.

“Here’s one!” “I found another one!” “This one is weally hoppy!” (that was Annie).

Every once in a while we’d find a strong one that actually made it up the side on his own. We all cheered! But we also found many discolored, lifeless toads at the corner of the curb who never quite made it and the sun had taken its toll. After about 45 minutes of this, I realized we needed to get back to the house so we could make it to our next commitment for the day. We had worked our way down the street quite a good distance and I told them we had to turn around. On the return trip, we noticed toads we had missed before and helped them up. However, that was taking a bit of time too, and I told them all we needed to hustle a little bit more. A few kids ran up ahead. But Jude lingered behind and cried out from the back “Guys! You’re going past all these!” I could hear the anguish in his sweet voice. It was so hard for him to walk away from those he knew needed help. I empathized because already I was sensing the analogy God was speaking to me. I said to Jude “We can’t save every one, honey. We can only help some of them and ask God to take care of them.”

Pong. He’s the one for us. It’s so clear. I’m so thankful. I smile every time I glance at his picture already on our wall. He’s the one stuck at the curb, just needing someone to lift him up so he can have a chance to thrive. I feel seriously privileged that within a few months he could be our son. It feels so huge and yet so small at the same time.

As we were walking back home Annie shouted “I wish I could keep ALL the fwogs in the whole woold…and then my hands would be weally big!” I heard God’s voice again in both her desire and her declaration that it would take really big hands to hold all those frogs J I know deeply that the only One who has hands big enough to hold all the children is the One I need to release them to. We are not the Savior of the orphans. He is.

So, Jesus Christ is the Savior. Acknowledge and move on? Not quite. To me, that’s the baseline. To remember God’s role. To trust Him in His role and let Him take it, because goodness knows it’s too heavy for me or any of us to carry. His Spirit is the one to open hearts to consider, move forward and ultimately offer their unconditional patience and love to a child who needs it. And He’s also the One responsible to be faithful to those who never do find a family. Starting from that place….I continue to be compelled to advocate for these kids.

Currently, I am going to ask you to pray for both Pong and also two of his little buddies. There was a group of toddlers that have pretty much grown up together as ‘brothers’ in the orphanage. A few have found homes already, but there are two that have burdened my heart as they haven’t. My bold request is to ask Jesus with me, that these two darling 3 year olds would find a family soon…and in the Twin Cities! Sometimes it’s hard for me to ask for specific prayers, because I don’t want God to “lose face” if He decides to respond with a different outcome. But, that’s up to Him. Again, knowing He can fully protect His own reputation, I want to live into His request to petition His heart with what is on mine.  

The boys have been named “Yeager” and “Henry” by our agency (for simplicity) and I think it would be such an amazing blessing if Pong, Yeager and Henry could grow up in the same area, with the potential for a friendship that could bless them for years to come. They will have lost so many links to their past. If they had each other, maybe they can stay linked to each other. I found this prayer many years ago by Rodney Bennet and it fits as an intercession for Pong, Yeager, Henry and all those in need of His Father love. Seems like a good place to start….

Gentle Jesus, King of Kings, yet the Lord of little things.

Though but young and small I be, from Thy glory smile on me.

“I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you” – Jesus

(John 14:18)

No significant updates.  As of now, we are full on in “wait” mode. A good time to pray.
Blessings on your week!

An Announcement....from the Hubers'

Kevin here.  One tradition we have established in our family is that when a child has been added to our family, I have had the privilege of announcing the addition.  I’d like to think this tradition has been given to me because of my announcing skills…nevermind that Courtney has been somewhat incapacitated in past experiences, I’d just like to think that it's my skills.  So here I am to share some news about our newest parenting adventure. 

Lord willing, in the year 2014, our family will celebrate the addition of a little boy to our crew.  He is currently 2 ½ years old and goes by "Pong".  He is 20 months younger than Annie who is 20 months younger than Jude who is 22 months younger than Timmy.  I guess we have a bit of a pattern going on here.  The folks from our agency had a chance to meet him when they were visiting China in May and establishing a partnership with his orphanage.  Courtney was on the phone with the director for an hour talking about him and hearing how much they enjoyed spending time with him.  After hearing about their interactions with "Pong", I immediately imagined him sitting at the ‘craft table’ in our backroom working on one of many art projects.  Suddenly, the daunting concept of the matching process was daunting no more. 

Our journey begins by waiting.  Waiting that will likely be measured in months and we would like to believe those months will go by quickly.  We are very close to being paper ready.  "Pong" is also close to being paper ready.  When everyone is paper ready, then we will be officially matched.  We hope this will happen in July.  Once we are officially matched, then our paperwork needs to be circulated through a number of important avenues before we will be able to travel to China.  We have been told that hopefully late this fall we can make the trip to officially make him part of our family. 

There are more details to share, but until the paperwork is officially logged in, we have been advised to be conservative with what we publicly post or #hashtag. 

And so, we walk in a space where there is tension between our desire to welcome this little guy into our family and our reality that paperwork needs to be processed before we can experience the life and energy of this little guy as part of our family.  So we wait patiently and we wait with a great deal of anticipation.  

Psalm 68:6.....God sets the lonely in families....