We just returned from a week at Pine Cove Family Camp, it is by far one of our favorite weeks in our year. “Pine Cove exists to be used by God to transform the lives of people for His purposes and His glory”, and it does just that! We spent the week growing closer to Him and to each other. One thing that He continually impressed on our hearts this week is our need for relationship with Him and that its in the hard times that He grows us and our faith.  Adoption is hard, all of the unknowns can be overwhelming, and the waiting…don’t get me started on the waiting.  But its also the most beautiful thing I think we will get to experience on this side of Heaven.

We had a slew of questions this week regarding Hannah, and we just wanted to share a bit more about where we are at in the process, and other FAQs.

Why China?

As most of you know, I spent a summer in China my senior year at A&M teaching English to High School kids. It was during my time there that God whispered to my heart that I would be back because my babies were there. I never imagined we would be going back a 3^rd time, but Gods plans are usually grander than ours!

Why are y’all adopting again?

We shared a bit about this when we launched our T-shirt fundraiser a couple weeks ago. Adoption has always been the plan for us; God definitely laid it on our hearts even before we were married. Then out of nowhere came McKayla, our little miracle. But adoption was still the plan, we brought Amelia home in November 2012 and Emma home in November 2014. For 2 years we have felt God nudging us to adopt once more…but most days we look at the chaos in front of us and feel completely inadequate in raising the three we’ve got. That’s when God reminds us that we don’t have to have it altogether, we don’t have to be perfect parents, we don’t have to be enough, because He is…how easily we forget that simple truth. All we have to be is obedient and He will sort the rest. So here we are being obedient while feeling completely inadequate in all the ways, trusting Him with every step.

How much does adoption cost?

We can only speak to adoptions from China, the average cost is $30,000-35,000, but because we take all of the kids its more like $35,000-40,000. With Amelia and Emma, we had a significant amount of savings that we had built up over our 5 years in Dubai to cover the cost of their adoptions. This time we are completely stepping out in faith. So that leaves us needing to raise $23,000. As much as we have tried talking God and ourselves out of wanting us to adopt, He continues to give us confirmation that we are following where He is leading us. On two separate occasions we have had checks arrive in the mail from friends for our adoption. The first came last year, when we were still feeling like God was calling the wrong people…a check for $5,000 appeared in the mail with Motley #4 in the notes of the check, we wept as a family, feeling completely unworthy, this covered our first agency fee. Then a few weeks ago a check for $1,000 appeared in mail from other friends with Motley #4 in the notes of the check, again we wept, because days later we would need to send nearly a thousand dollars to US immigration. Why we ever question God is beyond me. I just know that we are thankful for the army of family and friends that are obedient to Him and have given sacrificially.

Who is Hannah and how old is she?

We don’t know who Hannah is yet. But we do know that she will be 3 or younger with some sort of special need. Part of naming her this early is to give the girls someone to pray specifically for…to make it seem more real in their minds and hearts. They don’t get to see my belly grow and change and be reminded that they will soon have another sister, so we do this instead.

What’s next?

We are currently waiting on approval from USCIS (Immigration) to approve us to adopt. Once we receive their approval we can send our Dossier (our life on paper) to China. And the wait to learn who Hannah is continues.

How long until we get to bring her home?

This is a tough one, it could be in 9 months or 2 years. We just don’t know. So we sit here trying to wait patiently.

How can you help?

1. Pray, pray, pray!
   • Pray for Hannah – Our baby girl is somewhere in China, waiting for our crazy crew to come get her. Pray that she is safe, healthy and happy. What I wish she knew was that we are trying to get to her as quickly as possible!
   • Pray for our family…the girls can’t understand why it takes so long, so pray for patience.
   • Pray for funding, this has been a complete step out in faith, trusting Him to provide.
2. Support our many fundraisers!  What’s to come?
   • We are wrapping up our T-shirt fundraiser tomorrow…its not too late to get one!  customink.com/fundraising/thismotleycrew
   • We have been in touch with Kendra Scott and they have offered to host a fundraiser, details to come, but we are hoping for early to mid November. Kendra Cares will donate 20% of all sales in store and online for the event! Stay tuned!
   • We hope to have some sort of plated dinner in the spring, more details to come.