The Archibald Project: an amazing non-profit and new friends who will be traveling with us!

Sometimes a lot of the time I try to tell God my plans instead of waiting on His.

When will I learn that God's plans are not only better but more wonderful and wild than my imagination could fathom?

Fifteen months ago, I heard about a family who was trying to adopt a young fellow with Down syndrome from Russia. I blogged about them. I prayed for them. I encouraged you to join me. And in the process, not only did I get to rejoice when Kirill came home, but I also become friends with Tesney, Kirill's momma.

As we prayed for Kirill and the Davis family, God began pulling our hearts toward the international adoption of a child with special needs. Before that, we thought we would adopt a sibling group domestically. (We still haven't ruled that out.) Before Kirill, we thought the list of special needs we would consider was short; as we prayed and as we serve in special needs ministry, that list grew.

As we posted on the blog and Facebook about these plans, a friend of mine read those posts. Georgeanna had been in Bible study with me a couple years ago, and because she had read about our desire to adopt internationally, she knew we might be open to being Zoe's family. She is the one who messaged me back in January about the three-month-old baby girl who is now our daughter and who we will meet next week.

After we started the process to be Zoe's family, Tesney - remember, she's Kirill's momma - posted on Facebook and her blog about this amazing, young non-profit called The Archibald Project. Their mission is "to save lives through adoption, primarily through the use of photographing & filming families as they meet and finalize their adoptions, domestically & internationally. The Archibald Project uses their media to promote & educate the general public on the needs of adoption and accurately portray the adoption process." 

I began emailing with Whitney to see if they could travel with us and document our adoption, but we didn't think it would work. They couldn't travel with any families until July, and we thought we would be in Taiwan by the end of June.

As you know, weather delays and other obstacles changed our schedule to July. Which means... well, how about you just read the words below that they posted this week on their Facebook page:

Yep, we're that family.

I'm in awe of this story God has weaved together in a way that I never would have imagined. 

Thankful that none of my original plans have worked out, because this is waaaaaaaay better.

our trip in Taiwan {for you detail-loving folks}

Now that you know about our travel days (see this post and this post), here are the details I can share about what happens in between.

I'll tell you a lot about the in-between in future posts - after and even during the trip - so I won't give you every tidbit here. Plus much of our schedule will be made up day by day, so I don't even know what it is yet!

We'll have three days in Taitung (pronounced tie-dong), which will include: meeting Zoe, keeping her with us at our hotel, going to the Department of Household Registry to formally change her address from the children's home to our home, possibly meeting her birth mother (most families have this opportunity, but it's iffy at this point for us; we're praying it will work out, though), attending the church pastored by the husband of the missionary family we know and love there (including a baby dedication prayer time for us and two families from Nashville who will also be there to bring home their babies), and checking out Zoe's birth city.

We'll then have three days in Taipei, which will include: picking up translated documents, being interviewed by US officials at Zoe's visa appointment, picking up Zoe's visa, and doing touristy stuff (planning to eat at neat places, visit a temple, maybe go to the zoo, go to Taipei 101 which was the tallest building in the world from 2004-2010, try not to get lost on the metro system, maybe go to a museum... we'll see!). 

And that's the trip!

our return trip to bring Zoe home {for you detail-loving folks}

Earlier today I posted about the trip we'll be taking to get to Zoe. This post gives the details for bringing her home. Then this evening I'll post the details of what I can share about what will happen between getting her in our arms and bring her home.

The THREE of us will go to Zoe's visa appointment at AIT (the US's embassy-like entity in Taiwan) at 1:00pm on July 10 (1:00am for you East Coast folks).

The THREE of us will - God willing - pick up Zoe's visa on the morning of July 11 (the evening of July 10 for the US East Coast). Pray that nothing delays the availability of those documents, because they are required for travel.

The THREE of us will enjoy the rest of the day of the 11th in Taipei.

The THREE of us will arrive at the airport in Taipei around 8:30 or 9pm. (Okay, Eastern folk. I think you have the hang of it by now. Just dial back 12 hours, and you have your time.)

The THREE of us will fly out of Taipei at 11:30pm on July 11.

The THREE of us will land about 12 hours later in San Francisco, at 8:30pm on July 11.

(Why, yes, we will feel like we traveled back in time by arriving three hours earlier than we left. It's called time zone magic.)

The THREE of us will do our best not to be the annoying family on the red-eye flight, leaving from San Francisco at 10:48pm (still earlier than we left Taipei) and arriving in Chicago at 5:00am on July 12.

The THREE of us will then take the last leg of our trip, leaving Chicago at 6:30am and arriving in Raleigh at 9:30am on July 12.

(Several friends and family members are meeting us at the airport at Terminal 2 baggage claim. I have too much to do between now and then to personally invite each family I would, so if you're reading this, consider yourself invited. :))

The FIVE of us will be together as a family for the first time.

It will be worth it, but we will have been traveling for 22 hours. (Maybe it'll seem like nothing after the 36 hours of travel to get to Zoe?) 

We will be tired.

But we will be a family. 

And we will return to our home here in Raleigh as a family.

Praise be to God.

our trip to Zoe {for you detail-loving folks}

We'll sleep until morning on July 3. Knowing our kids, that'll be around 6am.

We'll take the kids to our friends' house mid-morning.

We'll come back and try to sleep as much as we can during the day. 

(Please, please, please pray we will get sleep then. Please. Especially for Lee, who doesn't sleep as easily during daytime as I do. As you read on, you'll see why we need it.)

We'll set an alarm, but even if we sleep through it, a friend is taking us to airport, and she'll wake us up.

 

We'll head to the airport, arriving around 3:00 to be safe.

We'll fly out at 5:10 to JFK.

We'll have six hours-ish in JFK for... um... whatever JFK has to offer. 

We might meet up with some travel buddies at JFK, but that's a story that will have to wait until it happens.

We'll get on a plane at 1:45am Eastern time on July 4. 

We'll fly for 15 hours and 50 minutes.

We hope to sleep for enough of that to be rested. (Please pray that God will allow that.)

We'll arrive in Taipei at 5:30am, Taiwan time (which is 12 hours ahead of NC, so it's 5:30pm on July 4 Eastern time).

We'll head from the international airport in Taipei to the domestic airport and catch a plane from Taipei to Taitung, leaving at 11:30am and lasting about 50 minutes.

Our friends in Taitung will pick us up from the airport.

They will take us to the church in Taitung.

Zoe will be waiting for us at the church.

It will be completely worth it, but this means that we will arrive at RDU at 3:00pm Eastern on July 3 (which is 3:00am on July 4 in Taipei) and we will arrive in Taitung and immediately meet Zoe on the early morning hours Eastern time (or the afternoon Taiwan time) on July 5. That's about 36 hours of travel, if you're keeping track.

We will be tired.

But we will have our daughter.

Praise be to God. 

~+~

In the next few days, I'll be posting details about the trip home and some details about what we'll do while in Taiwan. Thanks for praying through the details with us!

Call for guest posts! {i.e., how I hope to keep the bloggity blog going while we're in Taiwan to bring our daughter home!}

We have a baby girl.

Her name is Zoe Amanda.

She was only 2 pounds and 15 ounces when she was born, and we're pretty sure 15 ounces of that was in her chubby cheeks.

She is beautiful.

She has a diagnosis of PVL, a type of brain damage that usually results in an eventual diagnosis of cerebral palsy (but we all know around here that labels are only a small part of the story and that every person has gifts bestowed by God).

She lives in Taitung City, Taiwan.

We're leaving on a plane in 10 days to bring her home.

(Yes, you may have just heard my squeal from here.)

I love this blog, but it's been quieter since our adoption took off. Most adoptions are long and drawn out; ours will be exactly FIVE months from start to finish. (Seriously. We didn't even have a home study completed or any other preliminary paperwork prepared five months ago.) We also put our house on the market, sold it, bought another, and moved during that five month period. And I spoke at the Accessibility Summit to equip other churches, and we had our church's largest Joy Prom (~575 guests) and largest Respite Night (38 children, ages seven months through nine years), all during that same five month period.

We are grateful for a God who provides for His people as He leads them on crazy adventures like the one we're on right now.

(But I would be lying if I didn't admit that, most days, I'm plumb worn out.)

As He has led us on this journey, He has made me okay with the quiet here on the ol' bloggity blog. For that, I am thankful.

But now, I'd love to liven it up a bit.

With your voice. 

Send me a post! No, really. I mean it.

It can be original or a reprint from another blog. (It just has to be YOUR words - no plagiarizing allowed! :)) All I ask is that the subject matter be focused on the intersection of disability and the Christian church. Personal stories, ministry how-tos, anecdotes, lists of helpful links, a profile of a disability ministry non-profit you love, theological musings, and so on - all are welcome. (Disclaimer: I do reserve the right to add a personal note from me to the beginning of posts that I don't fully agree with or, if necessary, choose not to run a post if it won't glorify God in some way.) If you have questions, email me at shannon@theworksofgoddisplayed.com.

Thank you in advance for the blog fodder that will keep this place going with at least one or two guests posts each week (mixed in with some adoption posts and reprints of previous posts from this blog) until we're home and the jet lag has passed.

One more thing... please pray for us.

Thanks.