Introducing: My Travel Buddy

 

OUR STORY

God is in the details, all of them! When we realized that there was another little one waiting for us in China, we quickly determined that I would be traveling without Mark this time. We have a large number of kiddos with very diverse needs and Mark needs to stay home and support them. I decided that the perfect travel partner would be my mom. It would be a life-altering experience and she will have 7 grandchildren from China. She has never flown in a plane and was unwavering in her absolute determination to never fly. I was devastated. I couldn’t figure out what God was doing, it seemed like the perfect plan.
I then realized that an adoptive mama that we traveled with on our last trip would be a great travel partner. Her beautiful daughter was from the same province as Emilyn! Her wonderful family agreed to let her travel with me and live without her for two weeks. It started to make sense. However, her husband’s job could require him to travel away at a moment’s notice. This would mean that we couldn’t be certain if she would be able to go or not. Once again, I couldn’t figure out what God’s plan was.
After hearing the news that this other adoptive mom wasn’t a guarantee, Mark and I both felt that we needed to explore other possible travel companions. Then, Mark and I had the same immediate thought! We knew right away who the perfect travel partner would be! This amazing woman supports us in so many ways! She has visited, prayed for, encouraged, and loved on our family ever since we met in July of last year. Every family I talk to, who has met this woman, completely falls in love with her. Her love for the Lord shines through and draws you in. We knew she was the perfect solution, but would she be able and willing?
We presented our idea to her and she asked us all to pray about it. We did and… SHE SAID YES!! My travel partner is the amazing, Catherine Theriault!!! We are so excited. Mark and I both know that she will be a wonderful blessing on this trip and a way for her to experience the international adoption process like never before. She, through the organization she works with Chosen and Dearly Loved, has impacted so many families in bringing their children home through grants and so we thought, what better way for her to experience the joy of helping by seeing a child be united with a family for the first time! We are so excited to be on the journey literally together in China!
Please pray for us! Pray for me as I work hard to attach to Emilyn and form those early bonds in China. Pray for Catherine as she has to deal with an emotional mess (me). We would also ask that you pray for our impact on China. We want to feed love into the children we meet that are still waiting, the guides that we spend time with, the Chinese people we cross paths with, and the other adoptive families that travel at the same time.

HER STORY

My journey with the amazing Anderson family began shortly after I started working with Chosen & Dearly Loved over a year ago. I had the blessed opportunity to go and visit them to do a video of their story and immediately fell in love with Mark and April and there are eight amazing children. Two of which have a very special place in my heart because we helped to bring them home with an adoption grant. April's passion for orphan advocacy is unmatched and she is one of my heroes so when I had the opportunity to go and spend the day with them again I jumped at the chance. There is something so incredible about this family and I was so blessed when they shared with me that they were adopting again and that I was one of the first people they told . I was honored beyond belief! As the months went by I looked for their adoption grant application and was so pleased to be able to make the phone call to share that we were indeed ecstatic to be walking with them on their journey to bring Emilyn home. It is with absolute elation that I share this incredible news! Because One of them needs to stay home with the kids and of course April is obsessed with all things China they have asked me to be April's traveling companion to go to China. As I prayed about this incredible opportunity to walk in the footsteps of all of our adoptive families I was overwhelmed by the reality of how this will impact me and the cause of orphan care for the rest of my life. Please join me in prayer as I embark on what I know will be a life-changing experience. Here we come Emilyn!