the hardgrave family

“For you have not received the spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’.” ~ Romans 8;15

October 10, 2005

Dear Family and Friends,

Over the past ten years of our marriage, it’s seemed strange how often the topic of adoption has come up in our family. As you all know, we have been tremendously blessed with two wonderful little girls and know of no reason that we couldn‘t have more biological children. This aside, however, we’ve always been especially moved and arrested by the stories of families who open their homes to the underprivileged, unwanted and outcast children of our foster care system and the impoverished peoples of the world.

Perhaps this is because, as Christians, adoption has always seemed to us to be such a vivid picture of the perfect love and grace of God. At the core of our faith, we understand that through the life and death of Jesus Christ, we have undeservedly been given the wonderful gift of entrance into God’s family, a sort of “spiritual adoption” if you will. We are by no means perfect, but as we trace the paths of our lives, we are truly humbled at how God has poured his grace and blessing onto us as His children. It seems that every year has been a fresh testament to His loving provision and transforming work in our lives.

As the topic has come up in our home over the years, our conversations always seems to gravitate back to the vast number of unwanted baby girls in the People’s Republic of China. Given the love we have for our two girls, Sarah and Kathryn, and the joy that they bring to us, it’s really hard for us to fathom such a thing as an “unwanted” baby girl, but due to the population growth laws of China, their state orphanages are sadly overflowing with them. Space doesn’t’ really permit us to go into much detail about the plight of these “Lost Girls” of China (for more info see halfthesky.org), but situation is tragic. We can’t as one family directly help them all, but through adoption, we know we can help at least one.

That said, as many of you may know, having felt called and directed by God, we started working in earnest towards adopting one of these “lost girls” of China into our family last spring. Shortly after completing our paperwork a few weeks ago and preparing for the 6-8 month wait for China to match us with a child, our adoption agency contacted us about a “special needs” child, specifically, a little girl name Chang Hua Yin. We have been told that Hua Yin was abandoned at a police station in Changchun City on April 21, 2004 with a note revealing that she had been the born just the day before. Her “special need” is a deformed left hand. Though Hua Yin is sadly “doubly unwanted” in her culture for sake of her special need and her gender, we believe that she is not only deeply loved by God, but precious in His eyes.

It is because of this love that we feel compelled to bring Hua Yin into our family. We believe that God’s perfect hand of providence has brought Hua Yin to us and we simply cannot say “no” to this precious child. As a family, we have been excitedly praying for her for months, and we are already considering a name for her–Lily Faith Yin Hardgrave.

As mentioned above, we were not originally expecting things to move so quickly, but having accepted her referral, our time table has been accelerated by about 6 months and we are now hoping to be able to travel to her in January 2006. The challenge before us today is not so much opening our hearts and home to Hua Yin (we can‘t tell you how excited Sarah and Kathryn are!), but it is now finding the finances to make this happen before we travel. We estimate the total cost for our adoption fees, document preparation, home study, airfare, travel, etc., to be at least $17,500. That is certainly money we don’t have, but we know that God is faithful and has called us to this journey in trusting Him. By God’s grace, we have been able to pay about $3800 so far.

Though making our needs know to others is a very biblical thing, it is really rarely ever easy to ask for help. It grates against our pride and humbles us. That said, we would like to humbly say that to continue on the course that we believe God has set before us, we will need help. We appreciate your love and friendship very much and would like you to pray and consider doing so in two specific ways.

1. Prayer — Our first request is that you remember us in prayers as we move through this process, and prepare, Lord willing, for the arrival of a new member of our family. Please pray for Chang Hua Yin, that God would tenderly care for her in her foster home in China until we are able to bring her home, and that God would give us wisdom as we raise her to know Jesus Christ and his love in our family. Finally, please pray for Sarah and Kathryn as they will be welcoming a new little sister into our home–for their love and acceptance of her, and for their safety and understanding as they stay with grandparents while we are in China for two weeks.

2. Financial support — Our second request is that you prayerfully consider partnering with us through a tax-deductible donation to help us meet the remaining $14,000 of adoption expenses. Life International (www.lifeintl.org) has graciously given us a Matching Grant of $3000. If you would like to be a part of our adoption process, you can send your tax-deductible gift between now and December 9th, 2005 to the address below. Life International is a trusted organization administering the funds on our behalf, and will pay adoption expenses out of funds received. Please make check payable to: Life International. You may suggest how the donation will be used by writing David and Angela Hardgrave adoption in the memo section of your check. There are no administration cost taken out . 100% of contributions made before the “cut-off” of December 9th, 2005 will be applied to our adoption expenses. (* Note: following IRS guidelines, your donation is to the named non-profit organization. This organization retains full discretion over its use, but intends to honor the donor’s use as much as possible.)

Please mail checks to :
Life International
Attention: David and Angela Hardgrave Adoption
P.O. Box 40
Gridley, IL 61744

Thank you so much taking time to read our letter and consider partnering with us. We look forward to updating you on our progress. You can visit our family’s web journal www.hardgrave.org to read the latest news or to ask us any questions that you may have. We know that the road ahead of us is a long one, but with God as our strength and the support of such a tremendous group of family and friends, we are sure that the trials will be far outweighed by the joys.

May the Lord’s rich blessings rest upon you all,

David and Angela Hardgrave