HOME STRETCH And Both Hands

We are in the Home Stretch and have a goal of "15 by 4/15"
We are hoping to fully fund both Adoptions by raising $15,000.00 by April 15th.
Would you consider being part of our "15 by 4/15 team"?

Our Both Hands Project is complete and we are accepting donations at (click and paste in another widow to open)   http://www.bothhandsfoundation.org/drew-and-aimee-ryan   until we come home from China.

We are so excited to share a video of our Both Hands Project.  It was completed 2-22-14.  This project compliments serving a widow with raising funds to bring orphans home.  We served a widow this date by completely cleaning out and cleaning up a home that needs to be put on the market.  There were MANY, MANY years of things accumulated that were either able to be thrown away or donated.  There were 5 van/truck loads of things taken for donation.  And there was a complete dumpster filled.  By the end of the day, the house was completely empty and sparkling clean!  Ready to be put up for sale.  We had some AMAZING volunteers.  Please watch this video......

 There is a DONATE button at the top left hand part of the page listed above.  Would you consider helping us raise the remaining $15,000.00 to completely fund our adoptions of Elizabeth and Levi?  We are working towards a complete date of April 15th.  We anticipate leaving for China April/May. We continue to hold to Philippeans 4:19 "And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus."  God has provided as He has called us.  Each step in faith, we walk closer to Him.  His glory is that Jesus is revealed in this story.  A redemption story.  We are grateful for the support of those coming along side us.  You have prayed for us, you have encouraged us and you have given financially to help give Elizabeth and Levi a forever family.  

Blessins,
Drew and Aimee

The Gift of QUILTS

We're blessed by the gift of Quilts!

Our friends Mike and Cindy Kleier have supported us in this crazy journey as we have shared our vision and desire.  They have so graciously come along side us in many ways.  But today, I HAVE to share the most special quilts Cindy peronally made and gifted us with.........

Thank you Cindy for the love and amazing work you put into these special quilts.  We will treasure them and can't wait to wrap Elizabeth and Levi up in them!!!!!!  We are so blessed!!!!!!

UPDATE ON ELIZABETH

We received Elizabeth's Update this afternoon!  So exciting.  We have some new pictures and info.

2/19/2014 Update

Medical/Development:

Her current health is good.

She likes music, playing with other children.

She can say 3-4 word phrases.

She is potty trained, but still uses diaper at night.

She knows some colors.

She can drink from a cup.

Personality:

They call her Xiao Feng or Xin Feng.

She is active and smiles easily.

She is attached a specific nanny.

She likes musical toys and toy blocks.

There is no special way to calm her down when she’s upset or ready to go to sleep. She can go to sleep easily.

General:

She is in the orphanage.  There are 12 children and 4 nannies in her room. (I think that's amazing!) Since entering the institute, Sun Xin Feng has continuously lived her and has become accustomed to the life.  Her daily life is one of routine and she has set meals.  She eats 3 main meals and 2 supplementary meals and she eats very well.  Her sleeping is also great and she doesn’t fuss at night.  Her daily life is one of routine and she has not had any abnormal things happen.  At present, she likes to communicate with others, she’s not afraid of strangers, she loves to say words, loves to smile and can even say 4-6 characters.  She can also make sounds such as, “ma ma” and “nai nai (grandma)” etc.  She also will call out other simple phrases like, “don’t go, don’t want” etc.  She can understand the instructions such as, “grab that, throw it in the trash” etc.  She has a strong ability to imitate and she can express her needs.  She recognizes 2-3 types of fruit and can stack up 10 blocks.  With help, she can go up and down flights of stairs.

            Currently, she is 88 cm tall, weighs 11.5 kg, has a head circumference of 46 cm, a chest circumference of 48 cm, a foot length of 14 cm and 20 teeth.

Feeling blessed for this updated information.  Trying to prepare the house and ourselves still.  Please continue to pray with us for Elizabeth's health, her transition to our fmaily, continued finances toward her adoption and travel.  We are beyond excited!!!!!

UPDATE ON LEVI

We received a brief update on Levi this week with a new picture.

2/12/2014 Update

Medical/Development:

His current health is good.

He can run,

He can say mama, baba and can understand what is said to him.

He is not potty trained.

  

Personality:

They call him Xi Yi.

He is introverted and has stranger anxiety.

  

General:

Sleeping time: 10:30pm-6:00am

Eating time: 7:00am, 11:00am, 12:00pm, 6:00pm

He drinks formula.

He is in the orphanage.

We anticipating one more update before we travel, we get to submit 5 questions for our agency to ask the orphanage about the kids.  It will also include medical and developmental updates.   Or, so we hope :)  As well as pictures :)

Soft LOA

Soft LOA

We received an email this afternoon that our Letters of Acceptance (LOA) are on their way!! This is the official letter from China giving us permission to adopt Levi and Elizabeth.  We should have the hard copy in a week or so and then anticipate travel to China 10-12 weeks from then.  So, we are cautiously anticipating a May travel date.  Things can still get caught up at this point, but it feels like we are entering the home stretch!  Sadly, we have not received an updates on the kids yet.  But this is another milestone we are passing.   The kids rooms are near-ready.  We have a toddler bed for Miss Elizabeth and are getting a crib from a friend that goes into a toddler bed for Levi and we have a portable crib in our room for the initial homecoming should we need/want it.  We've been blessed with hand me downs that cover a mojority of big things.  We have a high chair, a booster seat, car seats, beds.....  we see their missing presence everywhere in the house. 

People are always asking how they can help.  First we continue to seek prayers for Levi and Elizabeth to remain healthy and developing and for the transition to our family.  We are still fundraising and have a scheduled workday for a widow on 2-22-14 which you can make a donation to sponsor our work for this widow and 100% of the funding goes to our adoption. 

 http://www.bothhandsfoundation.org/drew-and-aimee-ryan

We have felt such support from our friends and family as we have been on this journey.  We thank you so much!!   Until we know more,

Aimee

BothHands Project

                                KICKOFF: BothHands Project                

FRIENDS and FAMILY,

We have no new updates on the kids, though we are TRYING to wait patiently for updated pictures and new information.  Our Dossier was Logged In 12-19-13 and so we now wait for Letters of Approval (LOA) from China after they translate our Dossier.  That should come in the next month or so.  Until then, we are continuing to raise funds for the adoptions.  We have found a program that we think is Amazing.  The BothHands Foundation (http://www.bothhandsfoundation.org/mission-statement).  We have found a widow that we are able to provide with a workday and serve her in her needs.  While our Core Team will be working, along side us in sending letters and notifying friends of the opportunity to "sponsor" our workday, much like sponsoring a 5K run.  100% of those funds raised will go to our adoption agency to only cover the cost or our adoptions of Levi and Elizabeth.   If you have interest in sponsoring our Service Project/Fundraiser, please see the brochure below.  Thank you for your partnership with us on this amazing journey!

Please come check it out.....

http://www.bothhandsfoundation.org/drew-and-aimee-ryan

Dossier arrived in China and "A new Name"

We were informed our Dossier was mailed to China on 12-13-13.  And were were notified it arrived in China on 12-17-13!! So, we wait for our Log-In Date next.

AND, we have come to a decision on Sweet Pea Girl's name.  The kids have helped name her, but don't be scared, they did a good job :)  We recognize that before she was formed in the womb, she was known by God.  And we are blessed to graft her into our family.  And we know that her story starts out like ours, in a broken world.  But we know God has a plan that we get to be part of for this little girl, who was born so far from us.  We know God is satisfied with her.  For her broken past and for her unsettled  present and with hopes and dreams of a fulfilled future.  We will call her:

Elizabeth Grace XinFeng Ryan

Elizabeth= God is Satisfied

Grace= God's Favor