Grandma Croft ROCKS at Uno...which happens to be Phillip's favorite card game!
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Phillyball and Phuno!
Panther power! Phillip's mom and her volleyball team.
Thanks for all your prayers and support! We are SO EXCITED!
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Dear Phillip...
Dear Phillip,
Do you know how many people are PRAYING for you! And not just praying that you'll get to come home, soon, but praying for your HEALING-emotional, PHYSICAL, and spiritual. THAT blows me away. You, my friend, are being covered in prayer from half-way around the world every day! THAT is how much your forever family (and many of our friends) love you already!
Brit
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Moving forward...
Wehaa! We're working on the last stages of our adoption. The "dossier" is started. We hope to finish it by the end of July. Of all of the paperwork that we have completed, it seems to be the most complicated. It includes Phillip's passport and immigration papers as well as required information about plans for his education and ESL concerns. It must go to both the U.S. and Chinese governments for final approval.
Many of you have asked when we will be able to bring Phillip home. We can't really predict the time accurately, but it could be as early as Christmas. A friend of ours sent her dossier in April and will travel to China to get her children in the next month or so. We're trusting God's timing, but we'd love to be able to plan ahead. We'd all like to travel to China so that we can all share this experience as a family. Thanks for praying about this with us.
Some of you have been wondering about remodeling our office and powder bath to become Phillip's room and bathroom. Since Karl is currently working out of town, it has been difficult to dismantle the office and the workbench in the garage which needs to happen before we can add on. Hopefully, Kyle, Brit, and I can make progress on this project next week. When we have our yard sale on the 5th and 6th of August, there will be space in the garage to store items from the office temporarily.
I was listening to a Beth Moore CD today. She was talking about our responses to rejection and specifically mentioned adopted children. Adopted children are so vulnerable to feelings of rejection and abandonment. They struggle to proccess the emotions associated with the loss of their biological parents.
We won't be given any information on Phillip's biological family. His history is sketchy, but we believe that he was abandoned at a police station at around 7 months old when his family realized that he was paralyzed. At one point, he lived in an orphanage where he was not allowed to bring his wheelchair in the house. He crawled everywhere. We are so grateful that he was moved to Shepherd's Field by some folks from Love Without Borders in Shanghai that loved him and went to bat to find a better situation for him.
Please pray that Phillip will be resilient and that he will continue to have the hope that there is a family for him. (His orphanage has a policy to protect the orphans that postpones informing the child until the Chinese government has given travel approval.) Pray that he will be free from attachment and bonding issues.
Your prayer support is such an encouragement to us as we move forward!
Joni Croft
Many of you have asked when we will be able to bring Phillip home. We can't really predict the time accurately, but it could be as early as Christmas. A friend of ours sent her dossier in April and will travel to China to get her children in the next month or so. We're trusting God's timing, but we'd love to be able to plan ahead. We'd all like to travel to China so that we can all share this experience as a family. Thanks for praying about this with us.
Some of you have been wondering about remodeling our office and powder bath to become Phillip's room and bathroom. Since Karl is currently working out of town, it has been difficult to dismantle the office and the workbench in the garage which needs to happen before we can add on. Hopefully, Kyle, Brit, and I can make progress on this project next week. When we have our yard sale on the 5th and 6th of August, there will be space in the garage to store items from the office temporarily.
I was listening to a Beth Moore CD today. She was talking about our responses to rejection and specifically mentioned adopted children. Adopted children are so vulnerable to feelings of rejection and abandonment. They struggle to proccess the emotions associated with the loss of their biological parents.
We won't be given any information on Phillip's biological family. His history is sketchy, but we believe that he was abandoned at a police station at around 7 months old when his family realized that he was paralyzed. At one point, he lived in an orphanage where he was not allowed to bring his wheelchair in the house. He crawled everywhere. We are so grateful that he was moved to Shepherd's Field by some folks from Love Without Borders in Shanghai that loved him and went to bat to find a better situation for him.
Please pray that Phillip will be resilient and that he will continue to have the hope that there is a family for him. (His orphanage has a policy to protect the orphans that postpones informing the child until the Chinese government has given travel approval.) Pray that he will be free from attachment and bonding issues.
Your prayer support is such an encouragement to us as we move forward!
Joni Croft
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Blue Herons.....
I'm fascinated by blue herons. When we visit the Blew's lake cabin, I love to kayak out to the lily pads and strain to find the familiar gray shape of the pencil thin bird standing on the muddy shore. Blue herons are at once alarmingly prehistoric and graceful. Their days are spent standing still, seemingly trying to disappear into the scenery.
I've often thought about the plight of the blue heron as it tries to fade into the woodwork. It spends its life either hiding or using its magnificent 6 foot wingspan to hastily retreat from danger. In the book of Genesis, Hagar ran from the abuse of her mistress, Sarai, and found herself by a desert spring. An angel of the Lord appeared to her and encouraged her with the news of her pregnancy. As she pondered God's mercy, she proclaimed that, "You are the God who sees me...."
Later, after the birth of Isaac, Abraham sent Hagar and Ishmael away. Hagar found herself wandering in the desert again. As she watched her baby languishing in the desert sun, she couldn't have felt more alone, "BUT GOD heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, 'What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.' "
Phillip, I can't wait to kayak with you and to be with you the first time that you get to pick out the hazy gray shape of a blue heron in the distance. I can't wait to affirm that God has SEEN you all of these years and that He has HEARD your cries for a family. I believe that God has GREAT plans for your life and I'm so thankful that Dad, Brit, Kyle, and I have the privilege of seeing firsthand how HE will lift you up and take you by the hand! :) Mom
I've often thought about the plight of the blue heron as it tries to fade into the woodwork. It spends its life either hiding or using its magnificent 6 foot wingspan to hastily retreat from danger. In the book of Genesis, Hagar ran from the abuse of her mistress, Sarai, and found herself by a desert spring. An angel of the Lord appeared to her and encouraged her with the news of her pregnancy. As she pondered God's mercy, she proclaimed that, "You are the God who sees me...."
Later, after the birth of Isaac, Abraham sent Hagar and Ishmael away. Hagar found herself wandering in the desert again. As she watched her baby languishing in the desert sun, she couldn't have felt more alone, "BUT GOD heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, 'What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.' "
Phillip, I can't wait to kayak with you and to be with you the first time that you get to pick out the hazy gray shape of a blue heron in the distance. I can't wait to affirm that God has SEEN you all of these years and that He has HEARD your cries for a family. I believe that God has GREAT plans for your life and I'm so thankful that Dad, Brit, Kyle, and I have the privilege of seeing firsthand how HE will lift you up and take you by the hand! :) Mom
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Phillip Pics :)
Bringing Phillip HOME...
The other day, I was hit with the realization of how appropriately named our blog is. Yes, our goal right now is to bring Phillip into our home-to make our home his home, to make our home as if it was not home without him! But, ultimately, our goal and prayer is that through this we might be able to bring Phillip HOME. THIS world, is not our home. Phillip doesn't need a physical house to sustain him. He needs the HOPE of living forever with CHRIST. This is the place we are excited to bring Phillip to... as the five of us walk together towards HOME.
"I'm At Home" by Chris and Conrad
Brit
"I'm At Home" by Chris and Conrad
Brit
Friday, July 1, 2011
PRAISE!!!
Praise the Lord! If you've been following our blog at all, you know that we've been anxious to get the results back on our fingerprint checks so we could wrap up our home study and take care of our dossier. Well guess what God tucked inside our mailbox yesterday: two official letters from the Department of Justice! Our results are here and we can move on to our dossier! God is showing Himself faithful again and again, so we will be faithful to praise Him! Thank you SO MUCH to all who have been lifting up Phillip in prayer. Sometimes we feel like we just can't pray enough so it's a huge blessing to know you all are joining with us!
Jehovah Jireh - God PROVIDED!
~ The Crofts
Jehovah Jireh - God PROVIDED!
~ The Crofts
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