I need to tell you a story. It’s the story of our Adoption Journey and the story is still being written. It began 5 ½ years ago when Casting Crowns went on tour with Steven Curtis Chapman. Every night Steven would sing “Love Takes You In” and would show a video of little Shaohannah’s adoption (She was the 1st little girl the Chapmans adopted from China.) Well, about 6 shows into the tour I passed Mark backstage and he said “Have you seen Shaohannah’s video?” I told him that I had not. I wondered what that meant. He asked me again the next night and the next, so I decided that I should probably stop and do that. I did and that was the moment our journey began. Since then God has been showing us his perspective on caring for orphans from James 1:27, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” He has opened our eyes to the plight of millions of orphans around the world.
I must admit that when God first began speaking to us about adoption that I was afraid. I had 2 big questions. First, I was concerned about adding another precious child to the craziness of the Hall Family. I wanted to know if it was fair to this sweet orphan. My second question was, there are millions of orphans in the world. How can us adopting one little orphan make a difference? God answered these questions in His timing 2 yrs later. Nevertheless, Mark and I agreed that we would follow and trust as the Lord directed. So we prayed for God’s guidance and timing.
In March 2007 we felt like God said that it was time for the Hall Family to add another little one to the craziness. Even though it seemed radical, God gave us a peace that it was what He intended for our family and it was time to take the next step. Next we began the long and involved paperwork process for International Adoption. We wanted to adopt a little girl from China. Our Dossier was “logged in” on July 30th, 2007. (Its an adoption term. My vocabulary has grown significantly.) And then we began the next phase. . .Waiting! Waiting, waiting, waiting, and more waiting. Later that year, I received the answer to my 2nd question. I attended the Shaohannah’s Hope Conference and we celebrated 1000 orphans that had been placed in Forever Families since the day that Steven and MaryBeth had been faithful and obedient with adopting One little orphan girl. That was the answer I needed to hear. We are praying that our act of obedience might inspire others to consider the plight of orphans around the world and be motivated to help in some way.
In May 2009, I was thinking about our little orphan and how she is in a place where it seems she has nothing, no one and her future seems hopeless. God impressed this verse on my heart, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you HOPE and a Future.” Jeremiah 29:11. He whispered to me that her name is to be HOPE and she has a future!
In August of last year, Mark and I felt that God was leading us to change our focus to find a child in the Waiting Child program. The children in this program have special needs. Sometimes they have major health concerns that require surgery, and sometimes they have quite minor issues. Now we knew we would name her Hope and we were just trusting God to match us with the little girl that He had planned for our family.
I am happy to say that on January 26 of this year we found Our HOPE and we are going to be a part of Her Future! She is 2 ½ yrs old and she is beautiful. She had to have some serious surgeries due to birth defects, but her surgeries were finished long ago and she is a precious healthy little girl waiting on a forever family. We have been waiting on our RA (Referral Acceptance-more adoption lingo) to make it official so that we could share this awesome news with you!
Earlier this week we received our official RA from CCAA(China Center for Adoption Affairs) with the bright red stamp. The form asked us if we would agree to make Hope a part of our family. Of course the answer was a resounding “YES!” Our family is so excited! Now we wait to find out when we can go and get her, only now the waiting is easier because we’ve seen her face and we know the time is close. Please pray with us that we are able to travel to China in May when the tour is over and Mark can go with us to get her. And please pray for our little China Girl named Hope.
{I apologize for the Epic blog entry. I hope you will understand.}
Until the Whole World Hears!
Melanie Hall
p.s. I’ll send a picture of her with my next blog.
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A Story of Hope and the Future
on March 14, 2010 - 4:50am
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I am so happy for Hope and your family, I'm sure you'll be a blessing to each other. You may not understand fully that your lives stand as an example for many people. The worshipping words in the music of Casting Crowns is authentic and heartfelt. The first song I listened to was in 2005 when my husband was in a drug rehab in New Orleans, he has never been religious but the words from Casting Crowns reached a dark place inside of him and slowly began to shed light. Drug rehab was a several year process but he has been clean for several years now and works overseas trying to provide a better life for our family. We are new on our journey to becoming a part of God's plan for us but we ever endeavor to find the path He would choose for us. Your adoption is another testament to the goodness of your soul, and your heartfelt care for others. Thank you for being who you are and always putting the praise on God. It's so important to so many people.
Tamara G. Vonheeder
CONGRATS to the HALL FAMILY...and CONGRATS to little, precious Hope. Soooo excited for your new, expanded 'ohana...and now that you have someone of Chinese decent in your immediate family...it's like we are cousins (since I'm part Chinese!) heehee. All that to say, thank you for your obedience...it speaks to more than you could imagine! LOVE YOU ALL and praying for this transition! MUCH LOVE and ALOHA...tiff 1 Cor 2:9
What a blessing to have all your little Hope just a plane trip away. Enjoy her greatly.
Amazing and beautiful! Thanks for sharing and I cannot wait to learn more about Hope!
Congratulations to you and Mark and your family. I know you will be blessed. My husband and I met you briefly at the meet & greet in San Antonio Thursday (I won on twitter). We adopted our daughter Hannah from China in May 2006. She has been a great blessing to our entire family, including our two grown sons. We are currently in the process of becoming licensed to be a foster to adopt family and hope to add another daughter or two to our family from foster care. Adoption is truly on of God's great miracles and a model of His love for us in Christ. God Bless. Carrie Bond
I love that HOPE is the same age that you started the process...that is so like GOD!!! He was preparing your hearts and lives while he was growing HOPE and sustaining her thru her surgeries...congratulations to all of the Hall family and HOPE HALL is blessed to be a part of it all. barbara
Melanie,
I am sooo excited for you and Mark and the kids, I am almost giddy!
I have been praying for your Hope since we met in Kansas City in February, and even before that when you told me on Twitter it was going to happen!
Whatever craziness, whatever difficulties, whatever trials and tribulations the WHOLE Hall family will have, you all will have each other, and God's bountiful blessings!
Our adoption journey (through foster care) is making progress! Our home study is done! Now, we pray that Sean will be able to find a job very soon!
God bless all of you, and Hope is one very lucky little girl. Will continue the prayers!
Karen Shay Dunn
Congratulations! Through obedience we receive the greatest blessings, in this life and in the life to come!!! Because you said "yes" when God asked you to expand your life and your love to include another child, you are receiving a blessing that will last your lifetime. Our prayer should be that she sees Christ though you, so that she one day recieves the same hope we have, the hope of eternal life through Christ, and the blessings that come with it.
Congratulations! I knew that you guys were in the process and have often wanted to see such a wonderful update as this!
We just returned home from China last week with our fourth little one from there! If you would like to see our travel site (though I'm sure you've followed many a journey!) I can send you our info...it is a password protected site. I know when we were in the waiting, I loved pouring over all kinds of travel sites so I could get a taste and feel of what was to come!
I will be praying for little Hope to be prepared by our Heavenly Father for her awesome forever family. I will also pray He will prepare your hearts for the journey! Each little one is such a miracle...
Bless you for your obedience to the call...
Laine Ferrill email: flipflopsrus@windstream.net
As the mom of an adopted son with special needs your story touches my heart. Each adoption is as unique as each child and family, but I know of no adoption family who would say it's been anything short of an amazing journey orchestrated by an even more amazing God.
So excited to read your wonderful news, and to hear of how God is working in your lives. Adoption is a wonderful blessing, full of excitement and uncertainty. We have one son through adoption, and are currently in the process of adoption #2. We will pray for you and for your little one in China.
As you've likely already heard from other adoptive families... adopting one child won't change the world. But it will change the world for that one child.
Prayers for your journey!
Jennifer
http://littleboydove.blogspot.com
That is so awesome!!! What a blessing for y'all and for her, as well! I can't wait to see her!
Praise be to the God of all creation, who knew each of us even before we were born and had a divine purpose for each of us. God is working in this adoption. Though this is a milestone, I can tell you from personal experience that this is still the beginning of the journey. Praise God for making clear to you at this moment how his hand is moving this, and I pray that you will draw on this confidence on the harder days when it may be less clear. As an adoptive parent, I've always said that what makes adoption special is not the day you decide to adopt or the day that new life physically comes into your presence. What's special is that you'll wake up each new day deciding to live all the other ordinary days, all the tough days as the earthly focus of love and suppport for this child. God bless you and your growing family!
David Lee
Cary, NC
Words can never describe how we feel when we get our blessings from above, but knowing we are blessed by the Father is an indescribable feeling. I praise God for your blessing, and will be praying for all of you. Keep shining!
I am so touched by this post!! So glad that you guys are adopting.Bet you guys are so happy thrilled :) I rejoice along with you my dear friends and am praying fervently for you.It is such an awesome thing guys and I love you all!! God bless you!
May the ministries Lord have you in continue to fly,soaring to the hem of heaven!!
stephanie
NC
So happy for you guys!!! God Bless You for following His Lead in this!!!!
So happy for you ALL.. I am so excited to hear this news.. Will pray that all goes well and you can travel over to get her when the tour is over. Post pictures soon..
Told Tim about this and he said wow that is AWESOME!! Elizabeth will be thrilled for you too,, she has begged me to adopt a little girl from China she always wanted a little sister.. LOL
Deborah Boulware
Wow - if ever you feel like you do not make a difference in the world -just remember the differencce a tiny mosquito can make to your sleep at night! You are never too small to make a difference, and the tiny bit you can do is never too small either. The smallest pebble can make enormous ripples in a pond! Congratulations!
Melanie, I'm SO blessed by this awesome news!! I am most moved by how our God prepared your hearts, and sent this gorgeous child at EXACTLY the right time. No more doubts, no more wondering; just open hearts, open arms and excitement to start your lives together with Hope!! How utterly amazing; and so like the Father!! Praise Him ... Yes; will be praying for you all!! Can't wait to hear how her arrival goes and this new chapter in your family's lives!! It is a miracle of God's own making; what a joyous journey it's going to be. I covet your prayers as well; my hip surgery is Thursday - hallelujah!! Thankful for a chance to be in far less pain and serve the Lord so much better! I will pray for this transition to be nothing but a blessing for each of you ...
In His Great Love
Annette / @keysoffaith
SCC used God to touch our hearts as well, in November 2004. Now we have 2 blessings from Ethiopia. Our second is special needs ... both boys are amazing!
I am now co-leading a team to Ethiopia in April to visit orphanages and open other's eyes to the plight of these children.
I pray for another child daily, but am waiting on hubby to come back on board with me. :o)
Can't wait to see your new daughters precious face.
Blessings to you!
Andrea
http://4blessed.blogspot.com/
That is amazing! Congratulations! Really, that is awesome, and so encouraging! Prayers to you all, and for Hope! May the Lord bless you and keep you and hold you in His peace! Praising God with you for His plans for the future!
Dancing in the Shadow of His cross,
Brittany
What a great story! Epics are fine when they are filled with HOPE!
Lisa
Could not be happier for you Melanie & Mark - and to see God blessing you with a very special addition to your family is beyond description! God is indeed good and faithful...
Much love and prayers to you all...
Heidi Roberts
Melanie and Mark,
May God be praised!!! My husband and I will celebrate our 4th year with our Korean son this year! What a blessing from the Lord! We hope to adopt from China as soon as God makes the funds avaliable. Thank you for sharing your story and I will be in prayer for you and you family.
Christmas Blair Kitko
What wonderful news. God Bless your family for becoming this little girl's forever family.
Congratulations and God speed. We have 2 children (adopted) with special needs. It is a journey - just as life is. It isn't always an easy journey, but God walks with us. Blessings from MN
Your story just sent chills up my spine!! We too are adopting from China. We began at the same time as your family and went through the same changes that you did. God is so amazing!! We received a referral for our son on 12/22/09 and are waiting for our travel dates to go get him. Congrats on your daughter and maybe we'll see you in China.
Stacey Boggess
Congratulations on your "new" little girl. May God bless you all as you continue this process until Hope joins your family forever here in the states!
We too adopted a special needs child...April 15th it will 12 years that he has been with us! Our lives are so much better with him in our lives...we have been so blessed!
Thanks for your wonderful music ministry and obedient hearts!
The first Casting Crowns concert that we attended was when they were on that tour with Steven Curtis Chapman. We had just brought our daughter home from Guatemala. We could have gotten up on that stage and told everyone the wonders and blessings of adoption. I remember seeing the video and wanting to stand up and say..Yes, anyone thinking about this DO IT.. adoption is awesome and when it is God's plan...words cannot describe. Our little girl will be 7 years old on the 26 of March. She has been a joy and a blessing. Congratualations on your adoption of Hope.. Your journey does not end when she comes home.. it will just be beginning. =)
We are so happy for you! Praying for you and your growing family!
Maria, Luke and Anita in Pittsburgh
I am so excited for your family, and your new daughter. We have a special little one from China as well, also from the Waiting Child list. Charlotte came home in November of 2007 and are lives have been forever transformed!! We are logged in again and waiting on our next blessing-had an unexpected blessing little 6 month old Ainsley-that caused us to put it on hold for a while. But we hope to be back in China within the next 15 months or so! Hope we will be able to follow your journey.
In Him,
Carla
www.lewterfamily4.blogspot.com
My nephew is adopted and our wonderful Lord and Father worked out every detail. He is my sweet buddy and made me the happiest Aunt ever. I'm so happy to hear your news and that the time is so close for you to be together. I will keep you all in my prayers as the final details are worked out. I can't wait to see the picture. :)
I am soo excited for you & Mark, I must share with you our desire to adopt , you see when God put my husband & I together, I accepted the fact that we couldn't naturally have a family because of my husband, has MD, and the type he has is carried on to offspring, so I knew before I married him , this & still chose to marry, because of God & Prayer. I from the start wanted to adopt if I couldn't have them naturally. So I just pray that when weare in a better financial position, we will adopt. I pray that God blesses your family mightily, and be more enriched.I thank you for the ministry of Casting Crowns & the great music Look forwar to seeing CC on April 30, in College Station...Ellen M Hunt
Oh My from one mothers heart to another I send you a great big hug. I want you to know that you are a huge confirmation for me on the journey to a forever family. I met you last year at the Casting Crowns Concert at the women of joy conference in Charleston, SC. You shared with me photos of your girls inyour phone and gave my student a book signed by you and Mark. You made an impression on me that day. I told you that you had to be the heart of CC. The one who kept them going.
Then today as I was silently thinking of my daughter. Our promise from God I read your beautiful story through many tears. Then went and told my boys that CC's mommy shared that they were adopting a little girl too!!
See we recieved our Call to adopt last winter. We felt His still small voice tell us it was a baby girl. We have two incredible boys. On our knees we pray daily for her. Then He whispered her name GRACE. By that May, May 2009 at the WOJ weekend my best friend confirmed that God had spoke her that Grace was comming! When I read your May 2009 comment I wepted. The thought of you find you Hope and being a step closer made me feel your heart leap. Made me feel pure joy for you because I have been there too. You all had been apart of my Hope. I got picked to share my story as the first Women of Joy on this Blog www.womenofjoy.me I mentioned how the conference and Casting Crowns changed my life through the power of Jesus Christ. Know that my family will be praying for the Hall family and little Hope every night until she is forever in your arms. I can't wait to see you all in Charleston,WV in April my whole family will be there. You amaze me. God amazes me that just when I needed it you gave me Hope. I love you. Heather Anne
Hey Melanie! I loved your blog about adoption. I am not sure if you remember us....but we adopted a teenager, Katie, about 4 1/2 years ago when she was 15. Her mother had committed suicide when she was 7 and had not seen her dad since she was 5. She had been in and out of foster care and a grandmother's home. She had NEVER had a birthday party in her life and for her 16th birthday we took her to hear David Nasser and see you guys in Chattanooga right after Christmas and around New Year's Eve in Dec. 2005. Katie was able to meet the band personally and spend a little time chatting with them. She was completely unaware of those plans until we walked down that hallway and met you at the door! She will never, ever forget that and it was her best birthday ever and since then! She will be 20 this December and has turned out to be a sweet young lady who loves the Lord - and still loves Casting Crowns! Y'all have been a strong influence in her life with your music and life examples. Thank you! Vicki
My heartiest congratualtions to the entire Hall family on the addition of your precious little girl Hope.... Isn't God awesome, to have made Mark stop you night after night to have you watch the video? Not only that but to put you guys on tour with Steven Curtis Chapman in the first place.... I just wanted to tell you that God has really used your band to minister to me through out the years and I pray that He continues to use CC in that capacity for many years to come, you will be totally blessed when you get to bring Hope on the road with the rest of the family for the first time... yes your lives may be chaotic and very busy, but you are both awesome people of God and He has given you the opportunity to give this precious little girl a forever family.... I can not wait to see pictures of little Hope Hall....
God bless you all
Congrats to you and your family! this is awesome news, God bless you and your family as you finish touring and head to get your newest family member!
The Redding family is praying for you and yours
Joy, Natalie and Sydney
Congrats, God has truely blessed both Hope and you guys, Frank
Congrats to your family!! I'm Jim Cochran's (from Provident) daughter and have met you guys a few times, and believe that little Hope will have a very AWESOME future with Great Godly parents that is awaiting her. Congrats again!!!
Cheri Cochran
Congratulations. This is so exciting. This reminds me of how the Lord spoke to me 9 months before I gave birth to my Hope 13 years ago.
The name means so much. Congratulations. Hope changes lives.
Congratulaionts!!!! We can not wait to see her photos!!! We will continue to pray for you all!!!
May God Bless you for sharing your life in this speial way. I love all of the music that Casting Crowns puts out because each song has such good words and a message. That lacks in so much of the music today. This last CD is my is the most diverse and has so many beautiful songs that I am still trying to learn. Don't worry, I am still not borad with the old ones...I still love them. Thank you for all you do.
That is so cool! I knew that y'all were praying about adopting, but I didn't know any recent details. We will definitely be praying for Hope and the entire Hall family!
Love,
Micah, Jennifer, and Amelia Green
Congratulations on your new addition. Children truly are a gift from God. My daughter Mikayla and I are big fans and hope you guys can make it back to Salisbury, MD soon.
Congrats Mark and Melanie on your wonderful journey of a lifetime to meet your precious baby girl! After attending a concert with Casting Crowns, Steven Curtis and Chris Tomlin in Cleveland Ohio back in April 2005, I watched the video footage on China adoption and cried the entire concert. My dream had always been to adopt from China even when I was a teen I knew once I was married I would some day live my dream. That concert was God's way of saying it was time. Two months later My husband and I set out on our adoption journey for our little Savannah, after three long years of waiting on September 16 2008, we met the most beautiful little girl that God had chosen to be our daughter. After we got to China we found out she was a special needs baby due to a hemangioma on her arm. She has been such a blessing to our family, she has two older brothers and a big sister who adore her. We were just at Winter X-treme this past Dec. in Gatlinburg and was asked to take Savannah up on stage and introduce her and talk a little about her orphange. We took her up right before Casting Crowns went on stage, so some of the band might remember seeing her. I know Melodie and Brian saw her. I am so happy for your family!! God Bless you on your journey to Hope. We will be praying for you. :)
What a blessing you will be to each other! I pray that you all get to go together to get her! :D
So happy to hear you are adopting from China!!! We are waiting for TA for our 3.5 year old daughter! I will pray things move quickly for your family!!! Congratulations!!! Love the band!!!
Deb- Ohio
Hey, I think that taking care of the orphans is a great thing to do. And the fulfillment of scripture in the process always brings blessings from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. My fiance and i are thinking alot about adoption once we get married and get things settled. I love Casting Crowns, as does she, the music, the lyrics its all very heart touching and inspirational. Im currently stationed in iraq and there have been several secular concerts over near my area and all i thought of all along was how awesome its going to be when i get back to the states to get to go see you guys for the first time. Your music inspires me and touches both my fiance and my heart. I hope to hear back from you guys. My email is lickety_2001@hotmail.com.
yours in Christ,
Gabriel
Mark and Melanie The Lord has blessed you with yet another little one and that is awesome. I know you always will , but make sure you always express to Hope how imprtant Jesus is.
We, too, heard the call to adopt as a result of attending a SCC concert back in December 2004. We now have two precious daughters from China. Our newest daughter came to us just this past November and was also a waiting child. What an blessing they have been to us! Adoption truly is a miracle! We love these girls with all our hearts. Although it is doubtful we will be able to adopt again.....we fully intend to continue to help orphans in some way. We will keep you and your family in our prayers!
Love Them Like Jesus,
The Callahans
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