a wonderful anniversary present...

He never ceases to amaze me! I know I have said this time and time again, but y'all...when God calls you to do something and you step out in faith to do it, He will meet your needs! There has been one need in this journey that I have been anxious about. It had to do with our little girl's referral and all the medical information that would need to be deciphered by professionals who are experienced with International Adoption. We only have 72 hours to make a decision, so it's crucial we have the BEST doctor's looking at her file. Rewind to Chinese New Year back in February when we met Mark and Kelly Raudenbush at EPCOT. She and I had 'met' over the internet, became fast friends...she loves Disney as much as I do, and when we found out we were going to be at WDW at same time, we decided to meet for lunch at Nine Dragons, the restaurant in China at EPOCT. It was a great time, we got to meet the whole family, including Lydia, their sweet little Chinese princess they adopted a little over a year ago. During the course of our meal, we were asking a ton of questions and then my concern came out. She very excitedly told me about CHOP...Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and their International Adoption program. I was so impressed and knew I wanted to have them be a part of our journey. The program includes them reviewing her medical file, talking it over with us, pre-travel advice, meds, if needed, in-country support through Skype (which is worth a million bucks to me!), and when we get home, post-adoption care including contact with our wonderful pediatrician, Dr Lori Langdon. The fee is $500.00. At first I thought, that's a little high, but then I knew it was well worth the money. She then mentioned the possibility of a grant to help pay for it, and then I felt better. We are no strangers to applying for grants! Darren and I discussed it for several days after and when we got home, I e-mailed Kelly for CHOP's information. Amy at CHOP emailed me immediatley and we started the aplication. We don't pay the fee until we get a referral, so we felt really good about that. I was so impressed with what I read about them and knew that the fee would be money well spent. Fast-forward a month. I e-mailed Kelly and asked her about the grant. She sent me an email address and told me to get in touch with this person for an application for the Sparrow Fund. So, I do what she told me and I get an email from her husband! They are the ones heading up the fund!!! I had no idea! And I didn't want to assume anything...I just thought to myself...God may be up to something really incredible here! Mark told us the fund was slated to be up and running next month, and we were the first one's to send in an application. How exciting! So, we worked really hard on the application, got it sent in and then yesterday...on our anniversary...we got his email telling us we were the first reciepients of the Sparrow Fund Grant! I'm so incredibly thankful and relieved. To know we will have that kind of support through CHOP lifts a heavy, heavy burden off of this mom to be! Praise Him for His way of putting people together for His glory! I truly am amazed by all of this!!!!