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Some of you who know me pretty well are already aware of a major life change occurring in my family very soon. Back in January of this year, after I successfully completed my degree at UCF, God placed a plan in front of my husband Jeff and me. We were not looking for any drastic changes to our life. On the contrary, we were looking forward to life calming down a bit at that point.
God had been blessing our family financially during the previous 6 years when the economy was getting worse and worse. We knew there was something more we were supposed to be doing, but we did not know what it was. Then one day, one of the moms at the studio where our girls dance approached me about the idea of adopting. She sent me this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtXJEaarTVs&feature=my_favorites&list=FL9v140LHYAJDyQGdiPfyQAw
which broke my heart and changed our lives forever. When I spoke to Jeff and asked him about his feelings on adopting, his reply was, "That's something I have actually thought about for a long time." As it turned out, over the previous year or more, both Jeff and I were touched every time Pastor Ray talked about orphans and adoption, but we never spoke to one another about it. Ten years ago when we made a decision to stop having children after Emmy was born (when I was almost 40 years old), we said we could always adopt later if we wanted a boy. Jeff and I further discussed the idea of adoption and said due to our lifestyle and ages, we would consider adopting if the child was a boy with only minor special needs and in the age range of 4-6 years old. I shared our conversation with our friend Erin and within a week, on February 8th, an email arrived with the subject "Had to Send"...
These 2 photos and his story were in it...
As God would have it, He presented to us a precious little boy living on the other side of the world without a family. He was abandoned in a bus station in Hengyang, Hunan Province, China, when he was around 2 years old. His name was made up . . . his birthday is made up. . . As soon as we saw the photos, we KNEW this was our son. We prayed and prayed, and we had the deacons at church pray with us, and God sent us clearly visible signs that adopting this sweet little boy was HIS PLAN for our family. On February 23rd, we sent our LOI (Letter of Intent to adopt).
Throughout the entire process, God has expedited the wait. While some people wait more than a year or 18 months for an adoption, this adoption has flown by, and we will be meeting our son in less than 8 months from the start of it! Some people wait 4-6 months for a home study; ours was done in 3 WEEKS!! Some people wait 126 days for their LOA (Letter of Authority) from China; ours was received in just 53 DAYS!! Every wait for us has been faster than normal. We are blessed, and it is more than evident that God wants this sweet child here with us!
So . . . that's the story in a nutshell. Three (3) weeks from TODAY, the Jekabsons family will be flying out of Tampa to go get our new son and brother, Yang Liu Mu, to be adopted as Ian Liumu Jekabsons (nickname "MuMu"). He is registered for Kindergarten and will start school here with Mrs. Huey on October 29th.
I share all of this with you because we need your prayers more than anything else!! These next few weeks of preparation will be exciting, nerve-wracking, scary, and wonderful. Our girls, Sarah (13) and Emmy (10) have never flown, and Jeff hates to fly, but in addition to giving up his 'man cave' to create his son's bedroom, he is making this trip with joy in his heart. We have seen other families go to China and return with no problems. We have heard of families who get sick over there. We have seen families come back sick. We have seen families struggle with the trip. We don't know how Ian will react to us. He has a care package from us with a letter and a photo album of our family and home. He is supposedly being prepared for us. He was just recently told we are coming and that he finally has a family. He has lived there for 3 1/2 years.
We humbly request you pray for our family for the next month. We will fly out on Oct. 12th. We will meet Ian on Oct 15th. We will sign the adoption papers on the 16th. We will obtain his visa on the 24th, and we will be home around midnight on the 25th. We will be traveling with 2 suitcases of baby blankets for the orphanage and a suitcase being filled by Emmy's 5th grade class (Mr. Goh) with donations and letters for Ian's friends.
If you feel led, please visit our blog http://waitingforian.blogspot.com/ and follow our journey. As long as technology cooperates, I plan to update daily with stories and photos. Last night I posted new videos received from the mom that met him a couple of weeks ago and actually told him about us! He is so sweet! I guarantee he'll make you smile. Thank you in advance for being a part of our family's adventure.
Love & Blessings,
Georgia
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