Deliverance

Deliverance......"You are a hiding place for me, You Lord preserve me from trouble.  You surround me with songs and shouts of deliverance."  Psalm 32:7

So much to say...so little time to say it.  First of all, we have a daughter in China waiting for us!!!!  We have received our pre-approval.  We have sent off paperwork to immigration to be fingerprinted and to the state to be certified! Things are moving right along.  I wish that I could share about our beautiful daughter who is waiting for us in China, but it is against our agency's policies to publically share until we have our Referral Acceptance from China, and since our paperwork is not done yet, we won't receive that for a few months.  As soon as we can share her picture, we will!!!!

I want to give you an update (a few actually) since I have not shared in a few weeks!  Let me start by saying God is GREAT and I am sooo thankful that He is in control.  My husband works for the government. Just a few weeks after we started the adoption process this summer, our family was affected by sequestration.  Financially, it was hard, but it was a blessing to get to spend more time with him.  The sequestration ended early and life got back to normal.  Then we locked a file on a child in China and sent the paperwork that told China our intent to adopt her.  Normally you get an answer back (the pre approval or PA for short) within a week.  We saw family after family get matched and get PA, but ours never came.  Last Tuesday, October first, I prayed for God to please let us get our PA, that I was getting very worried that something was wrong.  I started homeschool with the girls and then the phone rings.  It was Brandon calling from work to tell me that we got our PA!!!  I was so excited!!!!  About 10 minutes later, the phone rings again.....it was Brandon.  He simply said, "They are sending us home."  Wow.  My world, like so many other's was being invaded by the the government shut down.  That night I went to meet with an amazing group of women at Huntsville Night Light, a community Bible study that meets at my church each Tuesday night.  I am the worship leader and my dear friend and mentor is the teacher. The lesson was on deliverance!!!! My God is so much bigger than my circumstances.  He is tender and loving.  He is holy and just.  He is mighty.  He loves us.  He hurts for us.  Let me tell you what I know to be truth.  Every day that I whined and complained to Him about not having our PA, He was holding me.  He was gently and quietly saying "not now, I know when you need it."  You see, my heavenly Daddy knew when He asked us to take this journey that we would shortly walk through sequestration and the shut down.  He knew when we accepted our daughter's file that her PA would be delayed and I venture to say that He did that for us.  He knew that on Tuesday, October 1st my husband would call and tell me he was coming home.  He knew that on that day just minutes before we got that hard news, we would need good news.... the news that China said yes and that we had a daughter!!!!  What grace and love He granted us.  We don't deserve it, but really, who does.  That is why it is called Grace!  I wish I could love God like He loves me.  Oh....He also orchestrated our yard sale timing.  We had it last Saturday and it just so happened that Brandon was off that week due to the shut down and was able to help me sooooo much!!!  The love we were shown on that day was unbelievable.  We had friends show up as early as  5:20 to help!!  Some came with doughnuts!!  We had friends stay for hours.  My bestie stayed all day!!!!! (5:20am-5:30ish pm)!!!!  Grammy ran the angel table and PawPaw watched the little one!  Friends made cookies as thank yous to our guests.  To all of you that helped, you are gifts to my family.  You practiced pure love and religion...you helped the orphaned!!!  For those of you who shopped, you practiced pure religion.....you helped the orphaned!!!  Thank you for your ministry to us.  We are forever greatful!

On another note...fundraising!!!  The yard sale was a success.  It was not what I had hoped for and prayed for, but I am learning some things.  Before we started this adoption, I wanted to throw out a Gideon's Fleece... Oh how God laughed at that. (So did Brandon when he saw how God laughed).  God showed me then that this journey was going to be different.  He showed me that we were going to get closer and it was going to be a bumpy journey.  He told me that I was going to be worked on and molded into something He could better use.  I should have known we would not raise the "x" amount of money I wanted us to on the yard sale, but I also should have known it would be right at what we needed.  I think that is how God is going to operate this time.  This is the second time in this adoption process that God gave us just enough money just when the bill for a specific part of the adoption was due.  I am thankful that He is taking the time to walk with us daily....no not daily, every second of every day He is walking right with us.  That is unbelievable to me.  The God of the universe is intimately part of our life!!!  I am so thankful for that.  I pray that He is with our daughter in China.  I pray a hedge of protection around her.  I pray that her care takers will be kind to her.  I pray that she has a sense of hope.  I wish I could hold her right now!  I wish I could cook her a meal and she could eat til her heart was content.  I can wish away, but the fact is, it will be months before we meet her.   She is in God's hands.  I know He is holding her.  He loves the orphaned.  Please join us in praying Psalm 32:7, a psalm of deliverance over our sweet child who is waiting for her forever family.

Happy Gotcha Day Eden

Four years ago today, Brandon and I boarded a plan from Beijing to Chengdu, China.  We went to a small hotel room and unloaded our belongings, then headed to a local bank.  We sat there forever and almost missed a very important appointment!  Our guide spoke with someone and miraculously we were moved to the front of the line.  Next we traveled about 20 minutes in a van to the outskirts of Chengdu.  It was at this destination our lives would forever be changed.  We drove through a big, black metal gate and the van came to a stop at a building that resembled a hospital.  We walked inside and up a flight of stairs.  As we began to walk down the hall, we heard the sounds of little ones crying. We were led to a small conference room with a big table in the center of the room.  My eyes scanned the room looking for a tiny, familiar face.  There were two families in the room with their new little boys in their arms and they were the source of the cries we had first heard.  We sat down and were handed a gift I never dream we would get....Eden's baby photo album!!!  I thought I would never get a glimpse at the beginnings of her precious life, but God chose to give us that extra little gift!! As we turned the pages, we saw pictures of her with her lip repaired. (palate was repaired too!) Before we finished looking at the book, we looked up to see the most beautiful baby in the world!! As her China momma held her for the last time, she had tears in her eyes and told us " She just needs love."  She placed her in my arms and I knew life would never be the same.  She was perfect.  She was 17 months old and weighed a whopping 14lbs and was 21inches.  She was still on a bottle and took it every 4 hours...yes..even at night!!!! One week later, she was eating pizza and chicken alfredo!

Four years ago today, Brandon and I walking in the orphanage together as a family of 2.   We walked out of there as first time parents to Eden Ann Yarbrough.  We were a family of three.  Our lives were forever changed.  God placed a deep love in our hearts for the children of China.  I praise Him that He has allowed us to grow our family through adoption.  

This was the first time we saw Eden's face as we reviewed her file on June 6th of 2009! She is 9 months old in these first 2 pictures and weighed 9.5lbs.  

             
 This picture is her finding/intake picture at about 1month old.  She weighed about 5lbs.

This woman is very special to our family although we do not know her name.  She is Eden's China Momma.  She took care of Eden for 16 months .  She wrote progress reports every 3-4 months that we now have.  She also visited my little girl in the hospital while she was there for 17 days after her surgery.  May God bless this woman!!!! 

A New Name

 Romans 16:1-2  I commend to you our sister Phoebe....... , that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints, and help her in whatever she may need from you.......


On May 17th, 1998, a beautiful baby girl was born.  No one came to her birth.  There were no flowers sent, no pink packages.  The phone did not ring with voices of congratulations on the other end. No pink wreath was hung on the door.  She did not have a nursery with a closet full of pink little clothes.  There were no tears of joy shed for her that day.....only tears of sorrow.  When she was 2 days old, instead of being carried down the hall and placed in a white bassinet with pink ribbons, this little girl was carried to the gates of a health facility and laid on the ground.  There, under the cover of night, she was abandoned.  At 2 days old, she began the life of an orphan.  She became unloved, unwanted, and undesired.  For the next 13 years and eleven months she lived with other orphans in a run-down (to put it lightly), orphanage.  She was cold at times and hungry at times. She was never held for hours on end, gazing in another's eyes.  She had no one to tell her she was special or wonderful.  No one told her "good job!" No one told her she could do anything she set her mind to.  No one to give her hugs or tell her that they loved her.  No one tucked her in at night.  No one came running to her side when she woke up crying in the middle of the night from a nightmare.  No one told her she was smart or beautiful.  No one picked her up when she fell and scraped her knee.

On May 17 of 2012, this little girl would turn 14 and age out of a very broken system and remain an orphan for the rest of her life.  You see, once a child turns 14 in China, they can no longer be adopted. I can only imagine the destiny that awaited her.

But, on April 9th, 2012, just one month and 8 days before her 14th birthday,  her destiny changed.  On that day, she became my daughter! She was given a new name and a new life!  In an instant, she went from unloved, undesired and unwanted to loved and cherished and wanted.  From poverty to abundance in the blink of an eye.  She will no longer be called orphan.  Instead, she is called, " daughter, sister, grandaughter, neice, cousin, best friend!"  She is Phoebe FuBing Yarbrough.  She is smart and loveable.  She is funny and kind.  She is loud and goofy.  She is wonderful.  She is mine on loan from a gracious God that gives amazing gifts!!  Her life and her story are a beautiful reflection of the God that gave her life.  May she forever live her life in a manner that honors Him and brings Him glory!

That is my beautiful Phoebe Fu!!!  She is strong and determined.  She tries so hard at everything she attempts.  She is gaining confidence every day.

If you want to read about how we came to love her through watermelon, scroll down and read the very first post from 2012.  No one will ever be able to convince me this child was not ordained to be part of our family.  God's hand was all over her adoption!

God Bless,
Amanda

Eden

First of all, I want you to know that I am not a blogger!!  I am going to try to write at least 2-3 times a week.  I looked back and read stories from China and about cried because I had forgotten them.  I wonder how many more blessing and stories I have forgotten about my girls?  Hopefully this will help me remember all I am blessed with and document little things along the way.

I thought I should tell you a bit about my family.  I want to spotlight my littlest one today.  Eden is 5 and WONDERFUL!!  She is such a delight to be around.  She is smart and ridiculously funny!!  She probably keeps Jesus, God, and Holy Spirit in a belly roll for the most of the day.  She loves to sing and clap her hands to any song.  She will pick out the rhythm and rock out!

Here is our first posed family picture.  It is at her orphanage.  She is pointing at the door as if to say" Hey, get me out of here!"

Eden was a "waiting child" meaning she had a special need.  She had cleft lip and palate and a growth and developmental delay.  She became a Yarbrough at 17 months.  She weighed a whopping 14lbs and was 21 inches.  She was on a bottle and wanted to be fed every 4 hours (that included night time too!!!)  

The last 4 years have seen so much change.  She has had so many obstacles to overcome.  

When Eden came to us she was diagnosed with a severe sensory integration disorder.  She would not play with toys and constantly tapped.  After her 3rd birthday, her tapping turned into head slamming and hitting (punching) her head and her personallity just left.  We sought help, but no one could help her stop.  It was heart breaking to watch.  We bought her 2 safety helmets and I made some padded gloves.  Those made her very happy and kept her safe.  The helmet and gloves caused her many problems as you can imagine since she could not use her hands and her face mask impairs some of her vision, but we had to protect her.  In November of 2012, a friend of ours got us an appointment at Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt to see a psychiatrist that specialized in adopted children.  What a blessing this doctor was to our family.  She helped Eden in ways no one had been able to.  Two days after we started "Play" therapy (which I thought was a joke and almost laughed in the doctors face when she told me what we were going to do),  Eden's langage improved three fold.  She was talking, she was playing, and for the first time in my life, I experienced the sound of a child's pitter-pattering feet running down the hall to find me!!!! (She had always just sat and waited for me, she never came to find me).  Play therapy was what we needed.  This wonderful doctor taught me how to talk to and handle Eden differently and Eden responded beautifully! This summer, we found some ear peices for her safety helmet and attached them.  We were able to take her gloves off and she could not beat her ears anymore with this new addition!!!!  She started using her hands.  Now she touches everything.  She colors, does bars at gymnastics, she climbs kid climbing walls, and she feeds herself sometimes!!!  We have started pre-K homeschool and she is doing great! This little girl is nothing short of a miracle and amazing!  I have claimed and will continue to claim that God did not create Eden to beat herself in the head.  God had big plans in store for her!  If you think of Eden during your day, please say a prayer for her.  Please pray that God will continue to be glorified in her life.  Pray that He will continue to use her story to bring other childen to forever homes.  Pray that God will grant me the wisdom I need to help her.

I thank my Jesus in advance for the miracle and healing He will continue to provide for her!

Here are a few pics of her, some in her helmet and gloves.  You can only imagine the comments and stares we get when we go out!  Sometimes it is down right funny!!!  

Hope you enjoyed a snip-it of my little bit!  Next time you get to meet her big sister, which, she is ablsolutey CRAZY about!

God bless!

Amanda

  

Ok.  It has been over a year since my last post.  Let me say that a lot has happened.  It has been a hard, wonderful, confusing, beautiful, heartbreaking, heart warming, blessed year.  I cannot say enough about my wonderful family.  I have the most amazing husband.  We will celebrate 15 years of marriage the end of this month.  I thank my God for blessing me with him.  Phoebe turned 15 in May, just one month after we celebrated our one year "Gotcha Day"!  What a difference a year and love make in a kid (and a momma).  Eden turned 5 in April and we will celebrate our 4 year "Gotcha Day" in September with her!!!

Last November, Brandon showed me a picture of a little girl from Phoebe's orphanage. (If you remember, that is how Phoebe's adoption began!) Anyway..... I believe I said, " You are crazy!, Quit looking at those pictures!" Things with the Yarbrough children were not going as planned. Momma could not handle one more thing.  God has a beautiful way of waiting for us to stop depending on ourselves and steps in and lets us fall in His strong arms.  That is just what He did.

About two months later, we found ourselves heading to Children's Hospital in Nashville every week for 4 months for Eden to see a Psychiatrist, and Phoebe started 6th grade in public school.  Over those 4 months I began to see amazing changes in both girls.  This summer has resulted in an unbreakable bond between my girls.  A year ago they would not have anything to do with each other, now you cannot keep them apart!!!! They are truly sisters!

You may be wondering why I am posting after being "gone" for so long.  Remember the picture of the little girl that Brandon showed me last Novemeber???  Well, I finally looked at her in June.  What I saw melted my heart.  She looks so much like my Phoebe Fu (Praise God!! She already has a wonderful family chasing after her!!!).  God used that little girl to soften my heart and help me remember that I am not called to be comfortable, and sit on my comfy couch, with my comfy slippers and warm cup of coffee.  I am called to be courageous!!  I am called to love the unloved.  I am called to travel around the world to love with no guarantee of being loved back.  I am called to children that God knew in their mother's womb but wove in every fiber of my being.  I am called to be an Adoptive Mom!!!!

I want to share the following with you with reserve.  I have been struggling with something this go-a-round.  God is showing me that my fear in sharing is pride and He must peal me like an onion.  I am struggling with the fear of funding this adoption.  Had we stayed in the healthy program 5 years ago, we would just now be getting Eden.  God's plan is perfect and instead of getting our first child, we are going after our 3rd and possibly our 4th , in just 5 years!!!  With that said.....Adoption is expensive and hard.  This time we as a family must ask for help.  I know God said "Go".  I know since He said "Go", He will provide.  He knows the exact amount we need.  Eden's adoption was about $28,000 and Phoebe's was about $38,000.  We are estimating the expenses of  this one to be in the 40s.  We need help.
WHEW!!!  There, I said it.  Yes it was as hard as I thought it would be.  I worry about what people will say. But then, I have to be more concerned with what my Lord will say if I don't listen to Him.  I am beginning to believe that He is calling people to help us.  If we don't ask, they have no idea what God is talking about.  Or maybe, if we don't ask for help, we are robbing someone of the joy of being part of a God story of an orphan getting a forever home.

We started the paper chase about a month ago and we are almost finished!!!!  We cannot wait to see who God has in store to be part of our family.

We need the funding, but we also need your prayers.  Adoption is "Beauty for Ashes" and it is hard.  It is a "road less traveled" and a place where you are not understood, and often alone.  BUT!!!!!! I believe with all my heart that ADOPTION is a reflection of God and His unconditional, indescribable, crazy, amazing love and grace!!!!!!  If you are His child, you too are ADOPTED!!!

If you would like to help us, you can donate through our adoption agency's web site at the following link.  In the NOTES section, be sure to type "Eternal Family Program"  and "Brandon and Amanda Yarbrough".  Thank you for your support.  My God bless you and your family!

                                                 CLICK ON LINK TO DONATE
                                           https://www.awaa.org/forms/payment.aspx
                 
                                                           

We thank God in advance for what He will do.  May He forever be glorified through our family.