From the beginning

We are Karl and Sherrie, childhood friends, high school sweethearts. We are blessed to have parents and grandparents with covenant, lasting marriages.   We married at 19 in 1986 and we depended on God for our future.   We initially focused on growing together and college.  After graduation, we pursued parenthood, but God had a different plan for us. 

In 1991, we miscarried.  In early 1992, we prayerfully approached an adoption agency.  They introduced us to a young mother-to-be and three months later, we had Joshua in our arms.  Life was full as a young family. In 1996, a friend who worked at an adoption agency called and said she had a birth couple looking for people like us. Would we be interested in meeting them? By faith, we met them, and 3 weeks later, Daniel was born and Josh became a big brother.  Again, we were in awe of what God was doing through others on our behalf.   In 1999, God moved us to serve in foster care. We completed the necessary classes and opened our home.  In 2000, Katie moved in, a very quiet, toddler with breathing problems.  This little girl turned over our rough and tumble household of boys, and brought new challenges and joy.  By the end of 2001, we adopted Katie into our family. 

A family of five was good, and comfortable.  Sherrie had a question that persisted, “Are we done, is this our whole family?”  In 2005, we reopened our foster home, we brought Jon home from the hospital, and his toddler sister, Alyssa was moved to our family from another foster home. We went from a family of five to a family of seven practically overnight.  Just before Jon turned a year old, his brother James was born.  Within a few months, James was united with his brother and sister in our home.   A few years later, their adoptions were finalized.   A family of eight makes a full house.  

In 2011, we began to feel the Lord stretching us again, but we did not know in what ways, how or when.  By now, you have realized the call that God has placed on our family.  David writes in Psalms 68:5-6a, “God in his holy dwelling is a father of the fatherless and a champion of widows. God provides homes for those who are deserted.” These verses emphasize that God provides for the fatherless.  James 1:27 reads, “Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”  James links faith with works and among the works is the opportunity to serve those in need.  Although, foreign adoption was not something we were considering, after reading the Funky’s letter we asked God, is this where you want to stretch us?

In faith and obedience we are on the cusp of adopting two fearfully and wonderfully made 13-year-old boys in China.  timing has been a huge area of prayer in this journey since Chinese adoption must be completed prior to the child's 14^th birthday and both boys will be 14 by early July 2012.  


Here's the short version of recent history.

November: Since Small World Adoptions (our agency)is out of Nashville, TN, we had to find a NY Homestudy Agency. 

December:  Confidently, we began the paper drowning, and training hours!  Every night after the kids went to be we read, gathered, requested documents.  Even as we grabbed a few nights away for our 25th anniversary, I sat on the hotel bed doing "adoption homework".    We enjoyed our time away, and purchased our very first items for the boys.   Enter Paper-pregnant hormone moment #1 - I picked up the shirts, gave them a little snap and held them up about where the boys would stand.  All I could imagine was when we could finally reach our arms around them for a great big hug.   FLOODGATES OPENED right in the store, Karl turned around shocked at my reaction... I was just as surprised.   Tears of joy, of anticipation, and wonder at how God was going to pull this all off.   We just kept taking steps, believing HE would.

After Christmas I remember scouring the stores looking for stockings and ornaments that would be similar to what we already had.   In all that we "traditionally" do, we wanted to bring the boys along.   We wanted them to someday realize that we were planning for them, even last Christmas.  We look forward to unpacking those things this Christmas with the boys.  Oh, we will have a lot to explain!   My how the idea of a baby in a manger will be strange!

January 2012 -New Years came, and we did the typical reflection on 2011, and began to think of all the milestones that 2012 would hold.   Josh would turn 20, and complete his AA.  Daniel would turn 16 and get his learners permit.  Katie would turn 13, a teenager!  The little kids would all start loosing teeth!   And I remember thinking, if I were the boys in China, I would be dreading this year.  This year they would turn 14, and never be eligible to be adopted.  That was nothing to look forward to.   I began praying, and asking others to pray that the boys would not lose heart, that they would not be discouraged.  All the while I wanted to shout across the ocean  "We're coming boys, as fast as we can"   I wished that they could know, but we were counseled to wait until we had travel approval, and that was still a long way off.

Our homestudy was complete, in record time!
February- "I love you Day" traditions. I once again looked to purchase two more of everything, and faithfully packed them away until 2013.   We prayed that we would be a family that loved eachother well, served the ONE who loves us MOST, and that the boys would feel that love.

February and March brought the Dossier to the top of the list.   Everything being notarized, authenticated by county, then state officials.   2.5lbs of documents went into the loyal hands of UPS delivering them to our agency, and onto Washington DC for apostille.    Finally the Dossier was CHINA BOUND.  Generally this approval take 4-5 months.. God moved it in 30 days! D....a....y...s!  AMAZING!!! We are so thankful for God's intervention in "the process" .  We were still praying for all of our family's adjustments and that the boys would not lose heart.  We began to discuss names.

April,  Immigration paperwork is nipping at our heals now.  We file, document, attach, scan, and overnight documents..........and wait........ We call regularly to "encourage" the Immigration Agents to move quickly before the boys birthdays arrive!   As Easter rolls around and we sing praises to the Lord, tears run down my cheeks as I pray for the boys hearts, that they would come to know Jesus. 


We decided on names.  Min De, which means People's virtue, became Ethan Thomas: Hebrew Steadfast/Enduring Twin   and Min Bing, which means People's soldier, became Anderson Luke: Hebrew Strong Man/Warrior (of) Light.  

We passed out prayer reminders, and emailed them to friends and family far away.   (below)

Happy to announce final decisions on names for our boys!

Min De will become …                                                                        Min Bing will become  … 

Ethan Thomas Wixtrom 6/30/98                  Anderson Luke Wixtrom 7/11/98

            Would you put this prayer reminder where you will remember to pray??

Please continue to pray, the time is growing short….and there is still a lot of red tape !

Thank you for your prayers, loving words, kind support, and genuine interest in our boys!

                                                                     In His Hands,

          Karl & Sherrie, Josh, Dan, Ethan, Anderson, Katie, Alyssa, Jon and James

MAY:  We have continued to be humbled by the sheer number of truly interested, invested and praying friends and family.      As each one of the kids would visit a friend's house, they would return home to tell me about "our boys on their frig".   Additionally, as I posted prayer requests and praises on Facebook, I was amazed at the lifetime's worth of friends clicking "like", adding encouraging words, or asking thoughtful questions.    We are so blessed to have the little girl I played tea parties with when I visited my grandparents, my 4th grade neighborhood & Girl Scout friends, high school, college, church friends from Clearwater, Orlando, Kennesaw, and now New York!   so great a cloud of witnesses.    I feel like I'm getting a second chance to share God's grace with those who I met earlier in life, and I was too scared to tell them about Jesus.. Oh the regret I feel for missed opportunities....are you still reading??.. Jesus loves you!  He died for you, to forgive your sins, long before you were even born, HE longs for a real relationship with you, and offers you the free gift of salvation and an eternity with HIM!   He goes to extraordinary measures to pursue you/me/us.  I'm sorry I never told you!    It's this extraordinary love that drives us to serve Him, and to reach orphans in China!

At this point all the documents are in the hands of Immigration and/or the Chinese government.  The hurry up and wait cycle is brutal at times.  As we had respite from documents, we prepared our home.  Josh and Daniel graciously gave up their own rooms, and became roommates once again.  Josh painted both rooms with a friend, and Daniel helped keep our little "helpers" busy and away from paint! :) What a blessing! They moved all the furniture from room to room and to the basement.  They also helped pickup dressers and a pingpong table from friends, and hauled items from the truck to the second floor!   (proud Dad & Mom)  

People continued to pray, post on Facebook on our behalf, and call to action all of their prayer chains and refer us to connections in immigration.. Again, we are humbled, and sustained.

May 23- Facebook post - Homestudies, fingerprinting 2x, paper drowning, Passports, Visa's.... all red tape in Man's Economy... GOD IS MOVING.... Keep praying.. Immigration needs to CABLE China, China will extend TA Travel Approval & Consulate Appointment, Article 5. THEN OUR FRIENDS tell the boys that they will have a forever family! Then their world turns upsidedown and we get plane tickets! 38 more adoptable days!

May 30 - Facebook post -its a new day in China, I wonder what today will hold? 31 more adoptable days....and 8 of those are weekend.. I'm believing GOD! THIS IS the day that the Lord has made I will rejoice and BE glad!

June 1 -in a few hours, Ethan and Anderson will wake to their last weekend thinking they are ORPHANED forever!! Praising HIM for a silly Kings Academy carpool list that (God planned) to bring two families together...who would eventually get these boys a home!

June 2 -Article 5 (very important paper) is in the bag!! JUST TWO MORE DETAILS!! PRAISING HIM... No Sweeter Name than the Name of Jesus!!
June 3 - This is my prayer in the desert.... so refine me Lord through the flame.. I will bring praise, I will rejoice.. I have been filled to be emptied agan..

  Desert Song Hillsong lyrics

Desert Song by Hillsong United. Lyrics. I do not own the music!

     

June 6 -Consoluate Appointment is set!!! June 28th ONE ITEM LEFT>>>> Come on TRAVEL APPROVAL!!!!

June 7 -TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA BABY!!!
PRAISE GOD!!! We have our Travel Approval.. Travel info and potential Blog info to follow... The boys will find out Saturday (ChinaTIME) that they have a family, if they want to be adopted. (They do have a choice, we are NOT worried)Please continue to pray as the next round of details get hammered out. Please pray for protection from the evil one.

We were/are so thankful for Gods timing in all these events, but the Consulate Appointment of 6/28 meant there was no way to be back in NY for James 6th birthday.  We had warned he and Jon 7/3, that we may not be home.  They were sad, and after a few more conversations they accepted the possibility.   A few days later we received an email from our agency, they needed to move our CA up to 6/26 because of a Dragon Boat Festival that would close down offices.    God had granted the cries of little boys' hearts, so  our plane tickets are set to be home the night before James birthday.   God is so good!