"How is it coming? What are you working on now?"

Currently, Shannon and I are working to complete our home study. We are about half way through the process. We have finished our home inspection and are now gathering the rest of the documentation we need and completing a laundry list of other tasks that must be finished in order to complete this process. The next step will be to each complete an individual interview. These interviews last about 90 minutes and require the completion of a very in-depth autobiography before the interview can take place. I have submitted my autobiography and am scheduled to have my interview Monday, June 4th at 9:30. Shannon is working to complete his autobiography. Several of you have asked about specific prayer requests that we may have. Please continue to pray that God will provide protection and comfort to our daughter. She has no idea that we are working as hard as we can to get to her. We ask that you pray He will grant her peace as she will not know us and will not understand what is happening when we take her away from all that she has ever known.
Also, we are waiting on several pieces of paperwork to come back. We have done all that we can do on our end and must wait to receive our passports, get confirmation that we have been cleared through the background checks, finalize medical paperwork declaring us to be medically fit, and wait for a variety of other documents to be completed. Please pray that this all happens quickly. We cannot move on to the next step without having each of these items back. Thank you!

How do I get one of those cute t-shirts?

Shannon and I are working with Adoptionbug to raise the money we will need to finance our adoption. Adoptionbug was started by a family who was trying to raise funds for their own international adoption. They now assist families like ours who are seeking to adopt. They establish web pages and provide postcards for advertising for free. They keep $1 from every shirt sold, and put the rest of the profits from the shirts purchased off of our website directly into an account that has been set up for us. At the end of this adoption journey, they will close our store, and send us a check for all profits earned. We are so excited to have been given the opportunity to work with this group.

So many of you have asked how you could help. This is one way to assist us as we work toward getting our child here.

Please check out our store at www.adoptionbug.com/ginnfamily

Our Adoption Story

 We have had so many sweet friends and family members ask for updates as we continue to work toward adopting. We have decided that this will be the best way to keep everyone updated as we pursue our dream of adoption. We know that so many of you are praying for us and this sweet child that we have come to love. Thank you, thank you, thank you for those prayers. It is so amazing to constantly hear that you are being lifted up in prayer. There are many uncertainties that we will face in the months ahead. We are so thankful to have such devoted family and friends who continue to support us in our journey.

Perhaps the best place to start is to repost Shannon's initial statement regarding this adoption. He did such a great job filling everyone in on  what we are doing. 

Christy and I have exciting news to share with you...Several months ago, we began to feel a very strong calling in our lives to adopt a child. We have spent time praying and seeking God's will for our family.  After we began to pray about this situation, our desire to adopt became deeper.   We also held a very firm belief that our family could not answer this calling with any constraints.  That is, we would be obedient to adopting any child to which the Lord led us without regard to gender, ethnicity, age, or location.  God took us at our word and quickly opened doors that led us to a beautifual little girl named Jiang Lanxin (also known as Sasha by the adoption agency).  Sasha is in an orphanage in Xuzhou, China and has cerebal palsy.  Our pediatrician has reviewed the available medical information for her and we are already praying for ways in which we can help her.  

We ask that you join us in specifically praying for the following things:

1.  A quick resolution to all of the required home studies, permits, travel approvals, etc.

2.  The expenses involved with home studies, permits, travel, etc. (We will travel to China for the final adoption        approval).

We already love this sweet little girl and can't wait to bring her into our family.  Some people may believe that we are crazy for embarking on this journey...and that's okay.  We know that we must do what our Lord calls us to do.  While we don't know what lies before us, we do know that we are more confident in God than we are ourselves.  We simply ask that you love us and pray for us as we journey down this path.    

"Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart;You will cause Your ear to hear,to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,that the man of the earth may oppress no more." Psalm 10:17-18 NKJV