got iPad?

If you're planning to put an iPad under the tree as a gift to someone this year, I've got a way for you to add $2 to your cost.

Ummm, "Wait!" you say.  "That doesn't make sense!"

"Oh, but it does!" I say...  "Just give me a few minutes to introduce you to someone ~ then I think it will make perfect sense!"

Meet Jennifer, her husband Bobby, and their amazing children.

I very clearly remember the day I met Jennifer for the first time.  We were at a mutual friend's daughter's birthday party at a park near my mom's house.  Ian and I had been anxiously awaiting a referral from China for about 14 months at the time and Jennifer was one of the first people I met in person who was also waiting.  Our impending referral would mean a first child in our home, hers would mean a fourth.  We may have been in different places in our parenting experience, but both of us were first time adoptive parents and so we easily chatted the afternoon away discussing "the wait," how we felt God calling us to take this step, and what we anticipated traveling to China would be like.

It makes me smile now to think back on how neither one of us had any anticipation of how our upcoming first trips to China would change our lives...

While life moved my family away from hers geographically, we have stayed in touch and have offered prayer and support to one another via email as we've slogged through paperwork, waited for those those ever elusive "As," (LOA, TA) and prepared for travel.  Now here we are five years later.  We've been to China and back four times and Jennifer is eagerly awaiting her third trip, this time to bring home precious little Pearl.

Jennifer's Pearl and my Daniel are very close in age.  And beyond that, they share a common history as they were born with the same congenital heart defect.  The difference is that Daniel's was repaired when he was an infant and Pearl still needs to have life saving surgery.  For that reason, Pearl needs to come home.  And so Jennifer and Bobby are raising funds so that when China says come, they are ready to go without delay.

(Is the $2 starting to make sense yet?)

The thing that makes me smile the most about Jennifer is how she and her entire family are bucking the world in "what makes sense" as they obediently follow Him to bring home their youngest daughter.

The world would say five kids is enough.  But Jennifer and Bobby aren't listening to the world.  They are listening to Him.  (read this post to get a glimpse at their hearts)

So yeah.  Add $2 (or more) to your iPad cost this Christmas.  (Details here).

You just might win the gift you are planning to give.  (I did win the macbook I'm typing on just before we traveled to bring Daniel home while supporting another adoptive family).

Of course you may not win.  But either way, I think you'll find it two (or more) of the merriest dollars you spend.

Because every bit donated will go toward bringing Pearl home.

And that?

Well, that's what Christmas is all about