Provision & Progress

We have had some more GREAT things happen this week!!! We are so excited to share it with you!!

GRANT UPDATES:
We are so blessed to be able to share that Bridge of Hope Adoption Ministry has blessed us with a $2000 grant to help us with our adoption expenses. God is SO GOOD!!! Thank you Lord!!  This is an organization we were not aware of until February...but they are based out of Athens, AL...and they have a desire to help give local families grants for their adoption expenses.  We are SO thankful for them considering our family for one of their grants.  Thank you Bridge of Hope!  Please support this ministry if you can!!

They will be having a Chic-Fil-A 5K Fundraiser in April.  Our family will be there to help with the 5k.  We're grateful to support organizations who have the heart to help families raise money toward adoption expenses. If you're not doing anything on April 6th...you should come on out and participate!!!

We are also waiting to hear from The JSC Foundation to see if we receive a grant from them.  We know that so many people apply for these grants.  Would you please pray that God would give us favor and help provide us with another grant through JSC to help us meet the $16,000 we need to wire to China in about 4 weeks? We have about $8500 so far to go toward that $16,000. Praise God!! That means we still need about $7500 in the next 4 weeks.  Thank you for your prayers concerning this. We know God is faithful and He will provide!! :)

PROCESS UPDATE:
In the last week...our paperwork has been cabled from the NVC (National Visa Center) and has gotten our Article 5 to the CCAA in China.  Our social worker told us today that we will have our Article 5 pick up on April 9. So...estimated...we will receive our Travel Approval 2-3 weeks after April 9th.  Then we will travel around 10-14 days after that. So it is still looking like early May for us to go!! We will keep you posted.  Please keep in your prayers God's perfect plan regarding the time we travel.

We've been looking at plane tickets.  If we leave the first week of May the tickets are around $1200 PER ticket. If we go a week later...they jump to $1500 PER ticket.  Then they jump even more the closer we get to summer.  With us purchasing tickets for 5 of us...this adds up quickly. So pray that the Lord works it out that we can get the lower price tickets...and that He provides for us every dime we need toward these plane tickets!! Your prayers and encouragement mean so much to us!!

NO NEW SHEPARD NEWS:
We are still hanging on for an update on Shepard. We have had no new news. It's hard waiting.  We wish we had new information every day. But we know that is not possible.  We do want to find out soon what size he is so we can get prepared for him to come home!! :) As soon as we get new info...we promise to share it with you all!!

That's it for now!!! OOPS....ALMOST FORGOT!! We got our Chinese Visa's back this week!!! Isn't that awesome!?!? YAY!! It has been a WONDERFUL week of news!! Things seem to be happening quickly!! It is such a blessing to share this journey with you all. We love and appreciate you much!
Blessings,
Mark & Buffi