Hello to FOL! (Friends of Linny)

Greetings to all of you Friends of Linny! Welcome to our blog.


Actually, this is my wife’s blog - I’m Steve, the husband of Annette, and the father of a boatload of boys. I’m writing this post because my wife is exhausted. Life as a homeschooling mother of 4, who is also a paperwork Ninja gets tiring! She manages our household, balances the books, and has basically done 99.9% of the heavy lifting regarding the process of our adoption while I go off and teach college kids how to click a computer mouse. Grateful does not begin to express my feelings toward her.


So, here’s the Readers’ Digest version of our story:
We are the parents of 4 bio-kids (All boys! I seem to have no idea what an x-chromosome is . . . oh well.) Annette is an adopted child herself, and has had a growing heart for adoption for a number of years. This is probably the major reason she found Linny’s blog a few years back. Anyways, as time has gone on, the desire to adopt a child has grown stronger and stronger. Last year, friends of ours, Stacy and Paul, adopted a little boy from China. At the orphanage in China, their new son had a best friend, and I think it took Annette about one half of one second to fall deeply and madly in love with him when she saw his picture on Stacy’s blog. 


It wasn’t too long before all our boys were also on board full-bore to adopt this little boy. I was the last one to come around, but once I stopped and really sought after God’s heart in this, it was an easy decision. 


So, in late October of 2010, we committed to adopting our little Kaden from China!


I know, I know. Another boy?! What can I say? The Spirit moves where it wills. God knows what He’s doing, we are just attempting to be obedient followers. Besides, this way I can continue to avoid stores that sell pink, frilly things! 


Kaden is considered a special needs child, as he has some issues with one of his legs. He is a darling boy, and every report we get from people here in the west who have been to his orphanage in China have related how wonderful he is. He has lived his entire life in institutions, as he was abandoned at birth. He turns 5 this month, so he is a year younger than his youngest brother. 


God has done so many truly amazing things for and through us in this journey, and we stand amazed at how quickly the process has moved along for us. If everything continues as it seems, we will be traveling to China this June or July to pick up our son and bring him home. Yahoo! 


What do we need and/or desire at this point? Most importantly, your prayers!! God’s continued mighty hand of power and guidance is the only thing that truly matters in all this. But also, the nuts and bolts of getting this done mean that we are still trying to raise the funding we need to bring Kaden home. We are trusting God to bring in the funding where, when and how He desires, and it is humbling and quite fun to see these things unfold at just the right time in just the right amount (Coincidence? I think not!). 


So, there you have it. If our Lord puts us and our situation on your heart, we would be grateful for any assistance in any form, with your prayers the top priority. We just got word today that our I-800A got approved (YAHOO!) and so we are putting the finishing touches on our paperwork package that will be headed to China. God’s providential hand to give us favor before the Chinese authorities is a top request. The continued falling-into-place of the myriad of details is another. And, of course the funding. 


Thank you for your prayers and help!! We appreciate it more than we can adequately express.


May God bless you all in mighty ways.




If you’d like to contribute financially, we have two options listed to the right, on the sidebar of our blog. First, you can contribute to our adoption agency, Wasatch International Adoptions, with the contribution designated for our adoption, and your contribution will be tax-deductible. Or, you can contribute directly to us, which will not be tax-deductible. Go down further on the sidebar and you will find the info on how to send contributions directly to us.