A new challenge

Last summer, I felt like I was being challenged.  I had recently read a couple books.  One about a missionary who went to live in the Amazon (End of the Spear) and the other by my favorite christian artist about his life, music career, and his own families adoption stories (Between Heaven and the Real World).  Interestingly the two authors stories intersected as well.  We were familiar with the stories, but even as I look back through the pages it wasn't any one particular thing that caught me, except the faithfulness of God that reigns true and the reward that comes by knowing and trusting Him.  I had been thinking about how small this life is in comparison to eternity with my Savior and how the Lord has blessed us.  Blessed us enough to help someone else.  The words that came to my heart were "What if you did something crazy and trusted me?".

At the South China Botanical Graden in Guangzhou

 At the great Wall in Beijing

Thanks for everyone's help so far.  Every bit makes a huge difference!

Facebook Donate Button
(not tax deductible, but has the lowest fees per donation)

GoFundMe.com/team-mayfield-adoption 

(not tax deductible, but lower fees per donation)

PureCharity.com/team-mayfield-adoption
(tax deductible and grants can go straight to our Adoption Agency)

Blessings

Thanks for everyone's help so far.  Every bit makes a huge difference!

Facebook Donate Button
(not tax deductible, but has the lowest fees per donation)

GoFundMe.com/team-mayfield-adoption 

(not tax deductible, but lower fees per donation)

PureCharity.com/team-mayfield-adoption
(tax deductible and grants can go straight to our Adoption Agency)

Please remember to pray for us! We believe God has laid this on our hearts and we trust him. The words that God impressed on my heart a year ago were "What if you did something crazy...and trusted me?"

 Blessings...

 So, we've had our ups and downs in the last 4 and a half years...with adoption, jobs, friends, healing, family, church, life... but God has been faithful even when we felt wrecked...the Lord pulled us through.  Our children are such a blessing and we've all grown emotionally, physically, and spiritually.

I remember when we had Lily with us in China. She had these two toys that she had in her hands since we met her and would never put them down. It was all she brought with her from the care center including the clothes she was wearing, that we sent her, and also the small photo album we sent of our family and dog. They also gave us the disposable camera we sent for them to take pictures of her in their care. All through China, Lily never put the toys down...it was her only bond that she had left.

The only time in China she dropped those toys was in the grocery store picking out some snacks. One of our favorite memories was when we finally made it to the house. The kids, family, and friends had welcomed us home at the airport from Hong Kong through Chicago and we drove home with all four kids. When we stepped into the house, and the kids wanted to play with Lily, we saw her drop those toys and she never really picked them up again. It was something that warmed our hearts.

 So much more of the story with Lily, but even two-three years later, we thought our family was complete...until now...

Fundraiser Update! (We got our feet wet and our hands dirty)

We have raised $3880 in one week so far from Friends and Family on and off crowdfunding. Thanks for everyone's help so far! Almost 10% raised. Very Thankful and blessed. Praise God!

We went up for prayer at church to pray about our fundraiser.  The word the person had for us was "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear...1 John 4:18

You guys are the best!

God was drawing our hearts

Our story

Our adoption story actually starts before we got married.  I used to hear my parents talk about adoption and somehow it grabbed my heart.  Helping widows and orphans, how do I do my part?  Before my wife and I got married, we both talked about adoption being part of our future.....fast forward 14 years and we had three biological kids. 

As we were sharing our faith with our kids (8,5, and 2 years old at the time) one day and talking about others in need, our kids said to us that we could help someone that needed a home.  This was our cue...we had been discussing the idea recently 'here and there', but now we knew it was time.  We went through the process...took out a 401k loan and had a magical adoption experience. 

OK, it wasn't magical, but it was a decision that we made with God at the center and we brought Lily, our youngest supernatural (adopted) daughter home from China the following year.  She was 3 and a half years old at the time, she didn't speak English, and we didn't speak Mandarin or Cantonese.  It was hard and it was worth it. 

Sister stories

My other daughter, Katie, is watching me write this and says "I helped during that part...to be the translator".  She really did.  She's two months older than Lily and they share a room together and went to preschool through kindergarten in the same class.  When we or the teachers couldn't understand Lily, we would turn to Katie...or she would just jump in and help.  She usually knew what Lily meant or needed and would often rise to her defense on occasion.  They were almost like twins except Katie was also very mothering in the process to Lily.  My wife remembers when Katie once introduced Lily to a preschool mom... "this is my sister Lily, she's from China and we look exactly the same".

    Here's Lily talking about her day in preschool.

  

She actually answers me asking her name in Mandarin here.  She answers "Nini" which means pretty little girl.  That's part of her middle name now.  She was very good at repeating at this time.

Click on on one of these links to help with adoption expenses. 

GoFundMe.com/team-mayfield-adoption 

(not tax deductible, but less fees ) 

PureCharity.com/team-mayfield-adoption
(tax deductible and grants can go straight to our Adoption Agency)

 

Please remember to pray for us! We believe God has laid this on our hearts and we trust him. The words that God impressed on my heart a year ago were "What if you did something crazy...and trusted me?"

We have BIG News! It's a boy! and he needs to come home.

We've decided to ADOPT a child AGAIN!

We're following our hearts and starting this new adventure. We adopted our daughter Lily at three and a half years old from China about five years ago.  We found her on a waiting child list and now we're hoping to provide a home and a family to another child. 

We are currently in the home study and paperwork portion of the process.  Our decision to adopt is based on helping someone in need (one day our kid's said, "hey, we could provide a home for someone!".

As part of our adoption process, we just recently started the process for spending most of our money... so we've started a crowdfunding campaign.  AKA we now owe several thousand dollars to our agency and we're definitely worth this crowdfunding thing!

Have you seen some of the things that get crowdfunded?...again...a child that needs a home is definitely worth crowdfunding for!...so that's what we're doing....like a boss!

This may surprise you, but our adoption expenses are expected to total just over $40,000 (I'm sure that must be the fairy tale part of the adoption). We've started two crowdfunding campaigns to help ease the financial burden and also to totally rock this adoption!  

Click on on one of these links to Donate:

    GoFundMe.com/team-mayfield-adoption 
        (not tax deductible, but less fees )

     PureCharity.com/team-mayfield-adoption 

        (tax deductible and grants can go straight to our Adoption Agency)

Please remember to pray for us! We believe God has laid this on our hearts and we trust him. The words that God impressed on my heart a year ago were "What if you did something crazy...and trusted me? Haven't I always provided?"

Please take a break and watch these important messages:

Please consider giving at gofundme.com or purecharity.com...before you leave the page ☻

Also, please share this page on social media! The more people that see our page and give a portion to our cause is how crowdfunding works.

Let's Sweep the Leg on Adoption expenses!!!...please.