Thank You

      After our first giveaway and beginning steps of fundraising it seems appropriate to simply say, "Thank You". There are so many touching stories from the past 6 weeks since we started this website but here are just a few of the "Thank You's" that can't go unnoticed! Of course every prayer and donation brings us one step closer to our angel and we are eternally grateful to each and everyone of you that took time out of your day to donate, pass along our blog or pray.


-Thank you to the little boy that asked his mom for $20 from his piggy bank to help bring Talia home
-Thank you to the silent angel that listed our website as a fundraising family to support us during the holidays
-Thank you to my "artificial sister" and husband for being our sender (more to come on what a sender means!)
-Thank you to the woman who said a Novena for us. I don't know who it was but someone did and it surely calmed us and brought the Blessed Mother Mary into Talia's life to watch over her.
-Thank you to the strangers that supported our 1st giveaway and gave us the inspiration to strive to reach our goal
-Thank you to a wonderful friend that taught me to trust in God's plan
-Thank you to the doctors and dentist offices that have raised money on our behalf. It is amazing for you not only to be healers but also to support God's work and to not look for anything in return.
-Thank you to the childhood friend that I haven't seen in years for your extremely generous donation and prayers. It means more then you ever will know!
-Thank you for the support of my online adoption family. You truly understand what it means to grow a family out of love and not genes!
-Thank you to the dance teacher that initiated a beautiful prayer for Talia's health and safety in the middle of a parking lot
-Thank you to a dear aunt, uncle and cousin for their donation that brought our journey to Talia for circle
-Thank you to my parents for being our Santa this year and supporting every one of our fundraisers even though you didn't need a single thing!
-Thank you to the kindness of an acquaintance for her selfless donation.
-Thank you for the prayers and positive thoughts on our journey so far as they have always come at a time when we need our spirits lifted from negativity surrounding us.
-Thank you to everyone that has tirelessly tried to network for us and e-mailed our blog address to their family members, co-workers and friends.
-Thank you to the donor that donated in their child's name that passed away way to young
-Thank you to God almighty for putting my husband and I in the financial circumstances we are in this year. Otherwise we would not see your hand at work and how our fundraising and website is touching so many lives. We are honored that you chose us to be Talia's mommy and daddy. Additionally, we are more humbled to be doing what you intended all of us to do to and care for the fatherless.

Father to the fatherless, defender of widows — this is God, whose dwelling is holy. God places the lonely in families. Psalms 68:5-6

Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. Isaiah 1:17

 When you are harvesting your crops and forget to bring in a bundle of grain from your field, don't go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigners, orphans, and widows. Then the LORD your God will bless you in all you do. Deuteronomy 24:19
      
      Finally this week I must share a tale with you and that is the story about our Tiffany "Joy" bracelet winner. I know so many people that wanted to win this rare and beautiful bracelet. We had a lot of entries (some people had over 100!) However, the story that is about to unfold was all in God's plan. For the winner entered the contest just a night before the contest ended. She found my blog via our adoption agency, Madison. I was just as anxious as everyone else to see who the winner was going to be! I wish I had a ton of them to give out and I felt bad (just like me) for those that weren't going to win. This bracelet just seemed so meaningful to so many people.

      I had Harper put her little hand in our container of entries and out she picked one name, Bradley Arnold. I had no clue who the winner was and when I searched for them on facebook and my message boards they didn't appear.  Todd knew I felt bad for the people that didn't win. Right after I said the name he said, "Mary Jane the right person won".  I e-mailed the winner with the good news.  In a million years I never would have guessed the e-mail I would receive back as I didn't think the winner was part of the adoption community.  It read something like this, "I happened upon your blog through Madison. When I saw the bracelet I was excited for two reasons. First, I thought it was a great idea for a fundraiser.  Second, the word JOY engraved on the bracelet meant so much to me. Our journey to adoption was birthed our of JOY in so many ways.  One of those ways was a little foster daughter who lived with us for 18 glorious months!  We loved her deeply and now deeply grieve her.  If it had not been for the gift of her in our lives we would have never added our 2 daughters to our family, and be in the process for a third.  She awakened much JOY in our home and lives and birthed it into full measure through what she began.  Her name was Ari JOY!  Please know this bracelet holds so much meaning to me and I will wear it with great JOY in my heart!  Thank you, and we pray success and blessing to you as you continue your journey to your beautiful baby girl!"

      I wrote back to Amy, our winner, and explained to her the rareness of the bracelet and how amazing it was that she won, just based alone on the sheer volume of entries we had. My e-mail back went something like this,"Amy I believe God did design this especially for you. The interesting thing is Tiffany's doesn't make this anymore and there were only a few that they did make. A very rare piece of "joy" just like your "joy" that will always be in your heart and mind! If you think about it three three cherubs represent the three daughters (two already home and one to come) in your life, the joy on the back is your Ari Joy and the links of the bracelet represent your sons and husband all forming the family unit!" Of course this is the short form of our correspondence.

    Let me explain a little bit more as my e-mails continued with Amy on New Year's day. I felt more joy in her story then I can put into words. She clearly loved this little girl, "Ari Joy", that she fostered which then led her to bring home two daughters from China. It's amazing how one little being can inspire and change your whole world!  There is no doubt that this family heavily grieves for this child as "Ari Joy" was taken back to Mexico with her biological mother.  They have not heard from her in 3 years.  Can you imagine not knowing anything about a child that you loved and cared for like a daughter? You do not know if she is hurt or hungry or alive.  Moreover, since she is another country there is nothing they can do but live on faith and hope that she is being cared for by her mother and God.  I imagine, like most of us that have adopted, we think of the birth mothers of our children and at what point do they stop grieving or if they ever do stop? I imagine they never do.  We grieve with them and for our adopted children to have such a huge loss.  So you may be thinking how is this story joyous? How Did Mary Jane feel joy when reading this sad story. Well that's the faith part.  At a time when we need God most there He is. This family, still very much feeling the loss, supported our giveaway to help bring home an orphan. The night that Amy found our blog she very well could of just checked out our blog, read a few posts, maybe just looked at my YouTube videos or my cute pictures of my girls. Instead she was led to enter our giveaway and for that God rewarded her with what she needed most...closure and a reminder that He is in charge always watching over us and never forsaking us. Could God have showed us His amazing power anymore then this story?  Unbelievable and all through Him! Even as my husband said after hearing this story there is no way this is a coincidence. Someone e-mailed me this week after donating and wrote the following line, "One thing I've learned as we have struggled to raise funds to finance our adoption,  is that God loves it when we give to others. He loves it even more when we give in faith not out of our own abundance, so I am happy to make these small contributions to help you bring your beautiful girl home. I truly feel led to help you in this journey".

       Isn't is amazing to feel led to do something? Two different stories, two different people all part of our adoption story. All teaching us what it means to give from the heart, not the mind and what it means to let God take control of our lives. Think about it for a few minutes when were you last led to do something not out of fear, not out of hardship, not for pride sake, not because your boss asked you, but led. Something beyond your self leading you to do something.  I fear many of us have never been led because we want to take control over everything.  Maybe this year and these stories found on my blog will help lead you to where you are truly suppose to be and that can be a multitude of things.  Only you know where and what you have been saying "no" to for so many years.

      We didn't have a single shred of doubt after accepting Talia's file.  Nothing mattered but that she was our daughter and we needed to find a way to bring her home. We knew He would led us on the right path but what we never would have guessed is that Talia would touch so many lives so far away and that we would meet new lifelong friends! Even more then that we get to glorify Him through all of these efforts to bring Talia home! It blows our mind how He is working through us all and doing more then I could ever imagine!

     May this new year bring you as much joy as the way 2011 ended for us...filled with hope for the future, love for one another, faith that keeps us sustained, and joy in living each day to the fullest.

     If you would like to see pictures of 'Ari Joy" and marvel at this wonderful family you can view their old blog. This post documents their final visits with her. They didn't realize at the time of the following post that she would be leaving our country. http://www.libifaith.blogspot.com/2008/04/ari-visits-last-weekend.html

    Before ending this post, let me provide you with one more link that I just read (and gave me goose bumps) which are Amy's words that are found on her latest blog post about the bracelet. Please keep this family in your thoughts and prayers as they prepare again to bring home a 3rd daughter from China. You can also see pictures and their life with Ari. She truly was a blessing to this family and may God continue to lift them up and hold their hand when they need it most. I am so glad God led us to them and I look forward to the day we can meet in person! Please take time out to read her blog post.  http://www.arnoldfamily7.blogspot.com/