COUNTDOWN TO TRAVEL

Feb. 5, 2011
Dear praying friends and family,
Finally we are at the point in Benjamin's adoption where we can finalize travel plans to fly into Tianjin, China and meet Benjamin. One year ago this month we read Wei Cong Tai's brief biography and saw a little picture of a shy looking 3 year old holding a book. His forlorn look stole our hearts twelve months ago. We sought God's leading in taking the steps to adopt another little one into our already growing family. At the time of decision, Wendy was working through the book of Esther. In reading Esther 4:14, "And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?" We read excerpts from Beth Moore's Esther study about God's providential plan and how "we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works everything in conformity with the purpose of His will" (Eph.1:11) Beth stated that these realizations should be stunning and marvelous to us, exploding our lives with significance. She also stated that, "We can refuse to walk in obedience to God or cower in fear from our calling and He will undoubtedly still accomplish His agenda.One of the obstacles in our most important moments "for such a time as this" is the difficulty of the destiny-serving task. Every giant-size weight drops into our laps right on schedule. None of our purposes will be fulfilled easily. All of them will require the most difficult decisions we think we can make. Decisions that we may feel will practically kill us. Then God does something miraculous and we become something we're not. That's when "WHO KNOWS?" becomes "I KNOW." It didn't take long for Him to reveal to us that Wei Cong Tai was soon to become known as Benjamin David Docter.

Before I close, let me share a bit about our travel plans. We will fly out of Grand Rapids, MI on Thursday morning, Feb. 24 and arrive in Beijing, China on Friday evening at 4:30 pm. ( this would be Friday 4:30 AM Michigan time ) We will spend a week in Tianjin City located about 1 hour from Beijing. Here we will be processing his adoption in the provincial capital where his orphanage is located. For the past four years, Benjamin has lived in a Foster Center located in Tianjin, China. This center was built by a Christian Chinese business man and is operated with the help of World Vision. Most of the 100 children living in Prince of Peace Foster Center have quite severe special needs. POP foster center offers the children opportunity to have the extra necessary provisions made available to them for their type of special needs. Several children are in wheel chairs and receive OT and PT on a daily basis. We will learn more as we visit there.
It is getting rather late so I will close for now and look forward to sharing more in the near future.
Thank you again dear ones for your support of our family as we journey with Benjamin through his adoption in the next few weeks.