Happy Birthday, Nathan!

Fall is in full swing and we are trying to soak up as much as we can.  We always kick off the fall season by celebrating Nathan's birthday.  Nathan turned 9!  Where has the time gone?!  He celebrated in a big way this year!  We are giving the kids the choice of celebrating with a friend party or an experience.  Nathan chose an experience and we could not wait to surprise him.  We were so thankful to get great deals on a this special trip to Disney.  Nathan was super excited to spend time with Mom worshiping with our favorite artists at Night of Joy.  It was a great weekend together!

We celebrated with the family, too.  We are so grateful for our family to travel and celebrate our oldest boy!  What a gift!

We have a surprise for you...

Clue 1: T-shirt from your favorite artist, Matthew West

Clue 2: Tickets to Night of Joy

Clue 3: Disney MagicBands

One more thing...

We are leaving right NOW!!!

Late night snack with Papa

We're here!

Night of Joy--Night 1

Matthew West 

Chris Tomlin 

Casting Crowns

Magic Kingdom

Night of Joy--Night 2

For King and Country

Newsboys 

Playing video games at the Fields of Joy.  A highlight for Nathan.

Free water park tickets...yes please!

Happy Birthday, Nathan!  We love you!

Here WE go!

Did you know that God answers prayers?  We prayed that someone would come forward and either travel to China with Deanna or help watch our 4 children.  God answered in a big way.  In fact, one saint from our church answered both!  After discussion with her husband, Kris offered to leave her work and her family to join Deanna on a trip to China.  She also gave us an alternate choice of just coming to live at our house for two weeks so that Matt could go instead.  We are SO HUMBLED by your generosity Kris McClelland!

In the end, we decided that Matt should really be there for the adoption and help with the bonding.  We also decided that we would not feel comfortable leaving Hannah for two weeks with someone she didn't really know.  So, we made our decision ... we're taking the whole family to China!

I know what you are thinking ... you're crazy!  The kids are going to miss school, Nathan's food allergies, kids throwing tantrums due to lack of sleep, the extra cost.  The list goes on and on.  Here's the good news ... our kids are going to experience a new culture, our family is going to have some serious bonding time, everyone is going to be there to welcome Maelee into our family, and Micah will get to celebrate his 8th birthday in his home town of Shanghai.  How amazing is that?!
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Once we made our decision to take the entire clan, we urgently needed to get U.S. passports for Micah and Hannah.  So, on Tuesday, October 11, Matt took a day off work and we all drove up to Chicago in our bus.  The U.S. passport office is downtown so we all got to experience a little bit of life in a big city.  The day was full of blessings: open air lot close to our destination that was willing to park Bertha, arriving with 30 minutes to spare, and SAME DAY passport printing.

In addition to the getting the passports, we also used the day as a mini boot camp for international travel.  We got to practice lots things during the few hours we we were there.

Going through security at a government building (yes .. each kid thought it was a good idea to bring a backpack and water bottle with them)

Waiting quietly for our number to be called

Walking single file down the street

NOT staring at beggars and others

Crossing the street without getting ran over (Micah) or having an anxiety attack (Nathan)

Walking to a destination when you know where you are going (e.g. Buckingham Fountain)

Walking to a destination when you have no clue where you are going (e.g. The Bean)

Holding your pee when you are in rush hour traffic downtown and there is nowhere to pull over ... thankfully we didn't have to practice the bottle technique which is common overseas.

Getting through a Seven Eleven without knocking everything off the shelves or throwing a huge fit

NOT letting a stranger borrow our cell phone

Celebrating the issuance of government documents!

Want to go to China?!

Dear Family and Friends,

We are excited to share that we have received travel approval and a confirmed consulate appointment!  We are three weeks away from meeting our girl!  We ask that you pray for travel details.  We have recently learned that our childcare will not be covered during our dates of travel.  We have two options right now: taking the whole family or Deanna travelling with a companion.  We have not found anyone willing to travel with Deanna at this point.  If you feel led to go to China and join the journey, please contact us ASAP.  All of your expenses will be paid.  Due to time constraints, we must make a decision by tonight (October 3rd.)  Please pray that God would make this decision very clear to us.

Thank you for your continued prayers.

How can you be a part of Maelee's journey home?

Read below to hear about God's goodness and being a part of Maelee's journey home.  If you would like to support Maelee's adoption financially and have not received a letter, please contact us for the information.  Thank you for your prayers and support!

Dear Family and Friends,

We write to you to share some exciting news!  In God’s perfect plan, He has led us to our newest daughter, Maelee.  Maelee lives in Chengdu, China.  Lord willing, we will travel to bring her home in October.  She is chosen, loved, and prayed for.  We thank God that our daughter will be home soon.

We are sure you have a lot of questions.  Questions like, “Are you seriously going to grow your family again?”  “Why China?”  “Why her?”  “Don’t you have a lot of stress already?” “How do you know this is God’s plan for her?” We don’t have all of the answers, but God has been very clear on His direction and we are faithfully following.

Our journey to Maelee started quite unexpectedly.  Although we were open to adding to our family again someday, we had no immediate plans.  Our family life was busy, crazy, and difficult.  Then in February, Maelee’s picture showed up on Deanna’s Facebook while at a conference.  Deanna had an immediate connection and called Matt right away.  Matt had some hesitations.  One of the big concerns was her special need.  Maelee has lower limb paralysis.  Other concerns revolved around her adoption agency (new to us) and the daunting fee schedule.  But God calmed our fears by connecting us with several families of wheel chair bound children and with families who gave a good review of our agency.  He also eased our financial concerns when the orphanage agreed to waive their standard fee of $5600.  We give glory to God!  What blessings!  Soon we came to know that God already had a plan in place and He would lead us on this journey.  Within a month, we were ready to move forward and submitted the adoption application.

We humbly ask that you join us on our journey back to China and our ministry in our home.  First, we ask for prayers.  Please pray for Maelee as she mourns the loss of her culture, language, and caregivers in China.  Please pray for Nathan, Micah, Claire and Hannah as they welcome a new sibling.  Please pray for Matt and Deanna.  Pray for endurance, adoption details, travel safety, and many opportunities to share the gospel.  We know that God answers prayers and we thank you for lifting up our family!

Secondly, we humbly ask for your financial support.  Up to this point, God has provided the funds through our savings account.  Maelee’s adoption will cost over $25,000.  To help with these expenses, we are partnering with our local church, Bethany Baptist.  Bethany has graciously offered us a $4000 matching grant.  Would you be willing to help support us as we do God’s kingdom work in China and then back here at home?  All money raised will go towards the costs involved with the adoption process and help ensure we have enough money left over to provide the medical care Maelee will undoubtedly need when she arrives back in the States.  No contribution is too small.  It all counts!

We thank you for your time and support.  We are happy to answer any questions or concerns.

With Christ’s love,

Matt, Deanna, Nathan, Micah, Claire and Hannah Marquette         

309-360-2796     309-369-0423    

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. – 2 Corinthians 4:6

Note:  In accordance with IRS guidelines, your donation is to Bethany Baptist Church (7422 North Heinz Lane. Edwards, IL 61528) who retains full discretion and control over its use. Please put “Preference Marquette Family” in the memo line of the check.

Dear Family and Friends of Matt and Deanna,


The Bethany Fellowship of Churches is actively obeying the call of God in Scripture to care for the fatherless and the orphan. To facilitate this, Bethany has formed the “Open Hearts, Open Homes” orphan care ministry to assist families who are pursuing adoption or foster parenting in response to God’s call to care for these children. To assist the ministry, Bethany is partnering with Lifesong for Orphans (www.lifesongfororphans.org) a non-profit Christian ministry dedicated to obeying God’s call to “visit the fatherless… in their affliction” (James 1:27).


God’s word tells us that He hears the cry of the orphan and abandoned children (Psalm 10:17-18) and He has made a way for them to be cared for through adoption. As believers, He has adopted us into his family through Jesus Christ, and did not leave us as spiritual orphans.


We believe adoption at its core is evangelism and a vital part of the Great Commission is bringing the mission field home. God desires orphans from all nations to be adopted into Christ-honoring families so they may ultimately be adopted into His eternal family through Jesus Christ. God calls all of us to care for orphans but He has not called all of us to adopt. Some are called to pray, some to give financially, some to visit orphanages on mission trips, and some to adopt.


The Marquettes have sensed God’s call to adopt… and have joyfully stepped out in faith and obedience. As you may know, adoption can cost $30,000 or more and prevents many godly families from adopting. Bethany and Lifesong for Orphans believe God has raised up the Marquette family “for such a time as this” and we have committed to helping them in a variety of ways, including financially.


One of the ways Bethany is helping them is by setting up a fund to which their family and friends can contribute. Additionally, Bethany has partnered with the Marquette family by providing a $4,000 grant for their adoption. If you would like to partner with Bethany to help this family raise the funds necessary to complete their adoption, please follow the instructions on the accompanying letter. All donations for the Marquette adoption are tax deductible and the contribution amount is kept confidential. 100% of all funds raised will go directly to cover adoption costs; nothing will be taken out for Bethany Fellowship of Churches administrative costs. If you would like to contribute by check, please mark “Preference Marquette Family” on the memo line of your check.


Will you invest financially in the life of this child? It will be an investment with an eternal return.


God bless you for laying up your treasures in heaven.


Respectfully,

Lisa Schwarz for the Open Hearts, Open Homes Committee

God's Great Provision

Ever since we brought sweet Hannah home from China, I (Matt) have been promising myself to post about God’s great provision in Hannah’s adoption process.  God showed up in big ways, and I want to give Him the praise and glory He deserves.  Now that we are just days away from starting to raise the funds necessary to bring Maelee home, I finally have a deadline.  In the interest of transparency, and with great gratitude for all of you who contributed money and prayers for our ministry, I am writing this post tonight.  If you contributed to one of our adoptions in the past, know that we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! - Psalm 105:1.

Back in October of 2014, Deanna and I submitted an application to start the process of adopting Micah.  That time was filled with so many emotions.  The excitement of travelling to China mixed with fear what we would find there.  The great joy of knowing we would rescue a child from institutionalization mixed with the stress of preparing our family for our new addition.  And then there was the dread of the financial obligation … $25,000.

We were told by one saint in our church “God funds what he favors” and by another “God will provide what you need and just a little more.”  Those words did little to calm my anxiety at the time.  After all, how do you ever really know?  The answer I found is simple: You walk the walk in faith, obediently putting one foot in front of the other.  While you do this, you pray and cry out to God.  And then, when the journey is over, you look back at all God has accomplished in your life.  With this newfound perspective you marvel and you give Him the glory He deserves.

When it was all said and done, we were able to raise all of the money we needed ($12,500) and just a little bit more ($45).  We never had to take out a long-term loan or credit obligation.  God was good to us.  He did a great and mighty work in that adoption and reaffirmed to us something we already knew but chose to ignore many times.  God is in charge of our finances.

When we decided to adopt a second time, the amount we needed to raise was even more since we had depleted our savings account for Micah’s adoption.  For Hannah, we figured we needed about $16,500.  No certainties existed and we wondered if people who supported us last time would step up again.  Yet, the anxiety that filled our hearts during the last adoption was replaced with eager anticipation.  This time we were excited to see how God would provide us.  We were excited to give God glory for the mighty work he was about to do.

Here are a few examples of how God provided for Hannah’s adoption above and beyond the money that people donated.

·       Additional Tax Refund

o   Totally unexpected … turns out the Child Tax Credit is sometimes refundable!

·       Reduced Airfare Cost

o   This time we booked through a travel agent called Adoption Airfare.  They helped us find a good fare on Delta airlines.  It also helped that we were travelling in May, before summer break, not around the time of any national festivals, and narrowly dodging a large convention in Guangzhou.  We paid almost half as much as we did with Micah’s adoption.

·       Reduced Fees

o   Since we started Hannah’s adoption less than a year after Micah’s adoption, we got to take advantage of a number of savings.  Our home study only cost 1/10 of what it should have, we paid ½ as much on our dossier and authentication/certification fees, and we even got to lock in the prior year’s China Program Fee.  In all, we saved nearly $5000 compared with Micah’s adoption.

·       $700 – Marriott Credit Card Savings

o   Matt opened a Marriott credit card and received 70,000 promotional points.  It turns out you can stay at the China Hotel in Guangzhou for roughly 6 nights with that many points.  Incredibly, 6 nights was exactly the number of nights we needed to stay in Guangzhou.  We also took advantage of an option to upgrade to an executive suite for $50/day.  The upgrade included breakfast ($40/day typically), a larger room, and around the clock access to soda and snacks.  That was another big blessing on our trip.

Expected Cost	Actual Cost	Savings	Description
$0	-$3,000	$3,000	Additional Tax Refund
$5,965	$3,354	$2,611	Airfare
$2,000	$250	$1,750	Home Study
$15,000	$13,500	$1,500	China Program Fee
$3,000	$1,500	$1,500	Dossier Fee
$340	$140	$200	Authentication / Certification
$1,000	$300	$700	China Hotel (Marriott Card)
	Total Savings (God’s Provision)	$11,261

But God was not done there.  There was still a large sum of money that needed to paid and our savings account was nearly dry.  So, Deanna and I sat down and wrote out our support letter.  With humble hearts we sent it out in February and then waited.  The first $1500 trickled in and then there was a long lull.  Would God be faithful to provide?  Certainly He was. 

All in all, 44 people from all walks of life gave $16,702 of their hard-earned money to us so we could bring Hannah home.  Part of that money was a matching grant provided by the Open Hearts, Open Homes ministry at our church Bethany Baptist.  An additional $5000 was donated by Matt’s employer through an adoption credit.  The money that came in kept our bank account afloat and gave us enough reserve to pay for Hannah’s surgery in late 2015.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who contributed.  You certainly acted as God’s hands and feet and we thank God for you!

Description	Fee Amount	Reimbursed Amount	Total Out of Pocket
Home Study Update	$250	$250	$0
Fingerprinting	$132	$132	$0
Holt International Application Fee	$300	$0	$300
Dossier Fee	$1,500	$1,500	$0
China Program Fee	$13,500	$13,500	$0
USCIS	$720	$720	$0
Document Authentication / Certification	$141	$0	$141
Postage and Copies	$173	$0	$173
International Airfare	$3,354	$3,269	$85
Travel Insurance	$235	$0	$235
In-Country Airfare, Hotel in Nanchang, and Transfers	$1,731	$1,731	$0
Visa Application	$350	$350	$0
Hotel in Guangzhou	$300	$0	$300
Food / Souveniers / Other	$2,272	$0	$2,272
Total Expense	$24,958	$21,452	$3,506

The Bus

With our growing family and growing needs, we knew that a new vehicle would be needed with Maelee's arrival.  We were looking for a vehicle that had extra seating and extra cargo space.  Our Chrysler Town & Country mini-van would not cut it.  We are grateful that Deanna's dad is a car dealer.  He helped us to find a great deal at the car auction.  Although we wanted to go big, he spent a lot of time trying to convince us otherwise.  After we finally nailed down our desired vehicle, he began the search.  He found a 15 passenger van that needed some TLC.  I guess go big or go home!  Enter: The Bus.  It was a fun name at first and then we saw this on the door:

There you have it folks!  It's official!  We have a bus!

Goodbye, mini-van.  We will miss you.

Hello to The Bus!

It is even approved by our niece, Lainey!

I800 Approved!

Today we received our immigration approval!!!  It was approved on 8/26/16.  That day has significance for two reasons.  First, I saw a lady bug that day.  In the China adoptive community, lady bugs are always a good sign.  I even said to a fellow adoptive mom at that moment, "I hope that is God's way of telling me that our I800 is approved!"  Only God!  He's got this!  Secondly, Matt and I celebrated ten years of marriage on August 26th.  We would have never pictured our lives like this ten years later, but God's plans are perfect.  We are thankful for his saving grace each day.  The past ten years have been filled with blessings, trials, and everything in between.  We wouldn't change a thing.  We look forward to the years ahead.  We are so grateful for family that watched the kids this summer during our anniversary getaway to Costa Rica.  We also found a new babysitter that watched the kids for a night out on the big day.  God is so good!