#### #### We have BIG news!
We are adopting a six-year-old girl from China! Her name is Lia Grace XiJin (pronounced shu-gin). She has lived most of her life in an orphanage and is described as happy and helpful. She has some joint abnormalities in her feet and legs that we hope to help correct with good medical care in the United States - we're counting down the days to travel to China to get her in March of 2020!
We believe that God loves all people including those who are helpless and less fortunate, such as orphans. Because of the way he has loved us, we feel compelled to share his love. Of course, there are many great ways that we can help through giving and serving; however, we recognize that our family still has more capacity. We are very comfortable, when many in the world are quite uncomfortable. We have been inspired by many families who have gone before us to foster and/or adopt and felt that God also wanted us to take a bigger step to bring someone without a family into our own. After researching the different adoption/foster options, we felt like international adoption through China would be the best fit for our family.
A part of our processing was learning about worst case scenarios, challenges, and the ways it would affect our biological children. There are so many unknowns about adoption but we believe that God will give all of us what we need day-by-day, that in the end, the joy will out-weigh the difficulties, and that she is worth the love and sacrifice.
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As the saying goes, “It takes a village to raise a child.” We welcome all types of support as we begin this long journey, such as encouragement and prayer. It may surprise you to hear that adoption costs can easily total up to $35,000 or more. This includes not only a very long and involved process required to ensure ethical adoptions under the Hague Convention, but also international travel and a $5,000 required donation to Lia's orphanage. This does not include the extensive medical attention she'll require once back in the states. Therefore, as part of our adoption process, we have been encouraged to welcome community support with this crowdfunding campaign. This tax-deductible channel will only be available through the end of January.
Please feel ZERO pressure to donate, but we want to make this be an option for those who want to participate. In either case, by inviting you into this process, we hope you will see yourself as part of Lia’s supportive community as she grows up. If you would like to learn more about what our journey has looked like up until now and get updates, join our facebook group at http://bit.ly/liagracefb. For our family's privacy this group is marked private and you will need to request to join but will be approved automatically!
We are having custom t-shirts made to celebrate Lia and share the message of adoption. As a thank you for your support, we would love to give you one or more t-shirts for family. If you are interested in sporting these threads, email [email protected] with the adult and youth sizes by January 15.
_ With Love, _
_ The Lehmanns _
