I am humbled at the gift of life. The way God looks at each of us with eyes of deep unconditional love, compassion, and as His treasured gifts. Each life to God is precious, beautiful, worth dying for. Each orphan is just as much treasured by the Lord as we are. He has called us to be His hands and feet and to see each life through His eyes.
Life is a miracle. Each life is so precious. Each child deserves to know the love and support of a family, to have a place to call their own, to be encouraged and uplifted in Gods plan for them, and to know that God has gifted each of us in different and unique ways and desires to use those gifts for His kingdom.

Our visit to Morris' Orphanage was a gift, we feel very privileged for the opportunity to see where he has spent the first five and a half years of his life. I have been looking forward to this part of our trip for a longtime.
Morris' orphanage is a four and a half hour drive from where we are staying in Guangzhou so we anticipated a very long, emotional day.
Not knowing what to expect we decided through prayer this would be a good thing for Morris to say goodbye to his nannies, teacher, and friends.
The visit turned out to be a bigger blessing than we realized.

As we arrived at Morris' Orphanage his friends from preschool were waving down at him from an upstairs open classroom. His built up emotion poured out on arrival, tears streaming down his face. He has about the most heart melting cry I've heard. We let the orphanage director carry him up to his classroom. As he entered his classroom his cry turned into laughing. He loves his friends! We felt very welcome and they began showing us all that they have been teaching him. Morris was so sweet as he passed out a small treat to each of his friends. His smile lit up the room and you could see the love each one had for him. Morris' teacher sat with him at the piano and they sang a song.

Each room they took us to was where Morris spent his days. We learned so much about him in that short time we were there. Each care giver loved our Morris and was so thankful he now has a family and an opportunity to spread his sunshine. They called him "sunshine boy!"
We were blessed with a few treasures they had saved for him. A small teddy bear, his little tin cup he drank from, and an amazing memory book with sweet baby pictures. Morris was so proud to show us his crib that he slept in and his chair with his name on it that he sat in during his preschool time.

Our guide Rebecca was amazing! She was able to translate questions we had for Morris and we found out he loves lanterns and when he grows up he wants to make a lantern. These little pieces into his thoughts are each treasured. He is very smart, he greets everyone with good morning auntie or uncle, and he knows each of the kids names at his orphanage.
He said goodbye without tears although on the way home he shed a few as he was thinking about his friends.

I pray that each of us as Christians will take time to pray about how we can help the orphans and widows however that may look.

God has shown me the lack of love and wickedness of my own heart during our time in China. The disabled here in China are very much outcasts. Many people have no compassion to people with special needs, as we walk down the streets we do not see people with special needs.
We have been shown disrespect with starring, pointing, laughing because of our sons disability. I have been very heartbroken at these responses and have let my heartbreak turn into anger and bitterness. The Lord gently reminded me that He loves the very people that have shown this disrespect and that these people need Jesus. China is a country based on false God's or no God at all. I am called to show Christ's love to each person I come in contact with, I can choose to shine for Him. Please pray with me for this country. God desires that each person come to know Him. The harvest is plenty but the workers are few. My prayer is that through each family that adopts, that shows Christ's love for the least of these, for the children and people with special needs that ultimately people's hearts here in China will be opened and changed. That they will desire to be different, that they will have a longing for a true religion in their own lives. My prayer is that I can love like Christ loves because only then will people see a difference.

Lord, my prayer for sweet Morris is that he will have a deep compassion for people and for his country. I pray that he will be bold and that he will find his confidence in You. I pray that he will shine bright for You, that his life will be a reflection of Your beauty, and that many will come to know You through his story.

May God break my heart so completely that the whole world falls in. ~Mother Teresa

Gotcha Day!!!
It has taken a little time for this post because we have been truly cherishing each moment with our precious boy......
Monday May 20th 2013
The day couldn't have been more beautiful, each moment is treasured.
I want to start off by saying I am so thankful God is steadfast and never changing because in this life emotions change daily and sometimes by the minute.
As we prepared to meet our sweet boy I found myself in constant prayer and was able to reflect on all God has brought us through up to this point.
I was able to reflect on God's heart for me and for the orphan and the beautiful process adoption is. God is in the details even when we think some of them are silly.
The Lord keeps speaking to me saying, one step at a time, just put one foot in front of the other and I will take care of the outcome, in faith do My will for you and you will see more of my character. So here I am doing that very thing, entrusting the outcome into His hands. Through this I am able to trust Him more. I can not put into words every detail, but I can say God has truly reminded me that He is in control and He sees what is in store.
Every single prayer has been answered up to this point, I am so very thankful for all of the prayers that have gone out on our behalf and the power prayer has.
Before leaving to meet our Morris we spent time in prayer, as we headed out time seemed to stand still as we were driving. I felt God calming me, He gently said it will be ok.
We entered the civil affairs office and went upstairs to a small room crowded with other families and noises. We were searching for our boy, we had to patiently wait for them to bring him out. Through a crack in the back door of the room we saw a glimpse of our sweet little boy sitting in his wheelchair with a smile on his face, he looked over and saw us gazing and smiled so big, he had recognized us from the pictures we sent :) We continued to wait.....
As the nannies wheeled Morris out I literally felt like I was in a dream and everything, all the distractions in the background faded. He was all smiles, looking so proud.
Before I picked him up the nannies wanted him to show me a Mother's Day gift he had made for me. He was so proud showing me the picture frame with the family picture of us in it. He pointed to each person in the picture yelling mama, baba- it was so cute. I looked down and his arms were stretched to the sky with a smile from ear to ear! I picked him up, he came right to me, I held him close while giving him hugs and kisses. Like I said before it is very hard to put these moments into words, they are very very special. The moment we had been waiting for so long had come. All the pictures and videos we had seen finally were becoming real. We could see and touch our little boy. He is truly amazing, we are so proud of Morris for being so brave. I kept saying I cant't believe he is ours. Adoption is a miracle.
Morris was very excited about his bumble bee backpack filled with special toys and treats. He especially loved the little fan airplane, juice box, and bubbles. The simple things we take for granted he sure loves. As we blew bubbles and had Mickey Mouse pop them he was laughing at the top of his lungs. He felt very comfortable with us, not afraid. We had time to ask the nannies questions and collect his things that we had sent to him. All of a sudden Morris realized the nannies were gone and he began to weep, my heart broke as I watched his eyes searching all over the room for the only familiar people in his life. It was heart wrenching.

I just want to say how very thankful and blessed we are for the nannies that truly loved our boy over the past five and a half years he's been alive. We can tell they really love him, they took very good care of our sweet boy and wanted to make sure they each got individual pictures with him before they left. We are so impressed with the love and care his orphanage provided.
Thank you Jesus for our precious, precious treasure. Thank you for choosing him for our family.
Morris began to calm down on the car ride back to the hotel. He amazes us with each passing day. He is receiving our love, and his trust for us is building with each moment we spend nurturing him. Our little boy is tiny, yet strong, meek and mild yet passionate and full of life. His disability does not define him, it makes him who he is. He loves conquering new challenges and making us laugh. We are blessed beyond measure!!

The day we left for China Morris was exactly 51/2 years old.
We are so grateful that God has hand picked us out of all the people in this world to go on this journey of adoption to our little man. We feel very privileged to be little Morris' parents.
The first few days as we waited to meet our little Angel we had a wonderful time together. We have enjoyed the rest and seeing some of the beautiful Chinese culture (not to mention loving this nice hotel).
There have been so many different emotions through this adoption process, but God is always here to give us just what we need. He is definitely a friend that sticks closer than a brother. He never ceases to amaze me. So thankful I have Him to lean on. I am so thankful He desires to build our faith and trust it gives this life purpose.
The most amazing part of the days leading up to meeting sweet Morris is the peace God has enveloped us with. Peace that passes all understanding. He has been here to calm each fear and doubt that try's to creep in.
My husband has truly been a blessing. He has so much love to give, and such a big heart. I love how the team work draws us closer and closer together. My heart is so full.  I am one blessed girl.

M

My heart is overwhelmed as I think about Gods love this morning. I woke up early to catch the 6:20 Ferry to Vancouver, BC - The last two days we have had the privledge to lead worship at some amazing churches here on the islands of British Columbia. My wife and I are meeting up at the Vancouver Airport to complete what was birthed through prayer many years ago. We are going to go get our little boy!
Thank you Jesus for Your love in my life. Thank You Lord for Your compassion. I could never say thank You enough. We want more of You in our lives. Our prayer is that our actions would declare who You are. Your beauty overwhelms me-
Please be with us today