We don’t talk much about money during our adoptions because God always provides.  If we are doing what He calls us to do, it seems like the money needed to bring these children to the United States and into our home just shows up!  And many times from very unexpected people and places.

That said, we have been approved for a grant from Brittany’s Hope that requires us to raise $1,500 and they will match it with $1,500.  As she has in the past, Leah agreed to design a new set of note cards that people could receive for a suggested tax-deductible donation of $10 plus $2.50 in shipping for eight note cards, two of each one.  Here are the new designs, but I will be honest … they look even better than this picture!

The cards are approximately 5″ tall x 4″ wide and come with matching white envelopes.

In order to manage this process, we have a short order-from that you can download here and can either mail, email, or fax in for processing:

Leah’s Note Cards Order Form

If you want to just order cards on line from our store, either this series or the original series that Leah did last year (there are just a few left!), the link below will take you there.

BernadskyFam Store

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me directly at cbernad@me.com.

We are always so appreciative of the way people support us and give of their time, their prayers, and their finances.  These children would not be a part of our family if it was not for the extreme generosity of our friends and family.  Thank you …

Cameron

First, I have to apologize.  My first post MIGHT have been a little confusing.  Maybe the literary license that I took did not translate well and only served to muddy the waters.  And, maybe I was in a bad mood and Kelly told me I should wait until I was in a better mood to post the blog.  Whatever the reason, people have had questions, so hopefully this blog helps to clear that up.

We always send a cake and a photo album to the children we are adopting as soon as we are allowed.  We have tried sending some additional gifts in the past, but it seems like they never fully make it into the child’s hands.  We do, however, get to see them eating the cake we send and they come home with the picture album they receive, so cake and pictures have been the way to go.

We were sent pictures from Peyton first.  She is six years-old and comes from the same orphanage as Ali, Jessie, and Riley.  Poor thing looks like she isn’t so sure about the changes that are coming her way!

But she did receive a panda bear from us, so hopefully that gives her a little bit of comfort until we can get her in a few months!

Madison is thirteen years-old and is from the same province as Peyton, but not the same orphanage.  She will turn fourteen in December, and under Chinese law will no longer able to be adopted at that point, so we have to be in their province and get Madison before that date!  As in the past, the clock is ticking, but God always has a plan.

Madison seems to be enjoying the situation a little more than Peyton and even has a little frosting on her face!  Hopefully she didn’t get any on her pretty dress.

Several of the girls sent her letters written in Mandarin telling her not to be afraid and that they were looking forward to her joining our family.

I have blogged previously about the spiritual aspect of adopting and this adoption is no different.  Every time we have adopted a child from China, Satan has attacked one of our children.  Two weeks ago we received the final approvals for Madison and Peyton and Satan decided to attack seven of our kids instead of just one.  From the day of that approval there has been one medical issue after another and we brought all seven up front in church last week to have them prayed over.

I have used “Here We Go Again!” and “The Journey Begins Anew!”  It is getting more difficult to make a new, introductory title to announce we are adopting, so I decided to keep it simple.  We are adopting and going down this all too familiar road again!

For several years we have kept a little girl in the back of our minds.  She made an impression on Brittany back in 2013 when a candy  sucker made them fast friends.

And, after returning home, we found out that Riley had been one of her primary caregivers.  Riley requested early on that if we were to go back to China, could we please bring her home?

Before that would happen, we have to step back a few months.  Our adoption agency, Madison Adoption Associates, had several people in China for a program to advocate for children needing to be adopted.  One of the attendees past a window and and saw a beautiful face smiling at her and waving.  When the day was drawing to an end, the lady asked why she had not seen that little girl and was told that she was unadoptable.  Well, that just was not an acceptable response, and our adoption agency quickly put her picture up on their website.  Which Kelly happened to stumble across and fell in love …

This lovely child had been on the shared list for five years with no interest, but God knew the right time and that time is now!  So, we started the process.  As you might guess, she is 13 years old and will age-out on December 5, so the clock is ticking.

Our agency listed her name as “Victoria” on their website, which was interesting because back when we were starting a family, Kelly had wanted to name a girl Madison Victoria.  Boy after boy after boy and that name went by the wayside.  But when Kelly’s sister reminded us of that name, we decided to call this beautiful young lady “Madison.”

Since we had a timeline and a trip in place, we started advocating for the little girl from 2013.  Riley’s little charge!  It seemed doubtful as she was young (she just turned six) the the orphanage did not seem very motivated to file her paperwork.  In fact, we checked on her status when we traveled in 2015 and nothing had advanced.  But we did not give up and with the help of our agency, her paperwork has been filed and we have been matched with her, a beautiful girl we have decided to call Peyton.

So the adventure begins!  We will keep everyone posted here on a fairly regular basis.  Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers.  Madison has some medical issues that are more complex than what we have had to manage through to date, but God has a plan.  All we have to do is say “yes” and get out of the way!

Currently we have had some issues with the Chinese Consulate in NYC authenticating our paperwork.  But this is not anything new.  There will be plenty of delays and issues as this is how international adoptions progress.  But in the end, we look so forward to adding these two girls to our loving family.

Cameron