We are selling these ancient coin Valentine ornaments again as our first fundraiser toward bringing our next child home from China. I make them from authentic ancient Chinese coins. The coins are from the Song Dynasty or the Tang Dynasty and many of them are over 1000 years old! No two coins are alike so they are truly a unique gift. They are each entwined with a symbolic red cord and come with a card quoting the Chinese Proverb: “An invisible red thread connects those destined to meet. Regardless of time, place or circumstance, the thread may stretch or tangle, but never break.”

They are $20 each and I have about 50 of them. We are happy to deliver if you are local. Or you can pay through PayPal at anneelizabethwilliams (at) gmail (dot) com and leave your address in the comments (or send it to me by email).

5 February MMXVII

The most accurate way to describe our journey to Song-Felicity is as a pilgrimage. Pilgrimages involve search and sacrifice and stepping outside of our comfort zones and blindly into faith. They lead to encounters with God often in unknown and unfamiliar places. The pilgrims regularly know little about the destination of the pilgrimage. They choose to embark upon it in faith that God will intimately reveal both Himself and His Will if they follow His Call in a faithful willingness to follow wherever it leads.

When we recognized that we were being called to Song-Felicity, we knew nothing of navigating adoption, nothing of China and nothing of immigration issues. We knew only that she was our daughter and that God was clearly calling us to her. We did not know how we would get there…only that we were beckoned to go.We trusted God to open the doors to her and that our time in China would both unite us with our daughter and reveal, in some way, the One Who had called us to her.

And we did indeed encounter God on our journey to Song-Felicity. Through His way too numerous orphaned children, we entered into both His love and His heartbreak. We were changed. Our hearts were broken into pieces that could grieve and break for His orphaned children, too. The people we were when we left for China were not the people who returned to our home only two weeks later. Our hearts had fallen deeply in love with our daughter and had simultaneously broken into painful pieces for the children who could not yet call anyone, this side of eternity, Mother or Father. Though parts of our hearts will now ache perpetually, we would not have it any other way. Our hearts have now been broken enough to make room to carry His other orphaned children within them, too.

Jimmy and I want to share that we are beginning another adoption journey to China. After months of prayer and discernment, we recognize clearly that God has another one of our children waiting for us there. This journey will be somewhat different. We are taking the more traditional route of getting approved by China and U.S. immigration before matching with our child this time. With Song-Felicity, we specifically requested her from the beginning. This process will take longer, 12 to 24 months. But the increased time will give us a longer window to fund raise the huge costs involved and will lower the time crunch for paperwork during this already hectic season of our lives.

We do know that the child who will be joining our family will most likely be about 18 months old and will have some medical needs. We have been deeply discerning what needs we feel we can parent and are already in awe of the way that discerning them alone is stretching our hearts.

We recognize that what we perceive as our calling may look more like insanity to others 🙂 We are okay with that. Just know that we have prayed and researched and sought spiritual direction regarding this leap of faith and that there is no way we could possibly be any more certain about it.

In all likelihood, we have a child who, at this very moment, is in a Chinese orphanage or in the womb of a frightened and desperate China mama. Whatever the case, please join us as we cover both of them in our prayers.

Our next pilgrimage has begun.