Dear Family and Friends, As we sit to write this, we realize it has been a long time since our last written update on our adoption. We apologize that we have not kept up better written communication and we thank all of you who have asked us often in person how things are going. In short, the update is, “Still waiting.” But let us elaborate on the waiting a little bit. In April 2022, we were all set to submit our completed paperwork to China . However, the Chinese government had still given no indication that they were planning to allow adoptions to move forward anytime soon . If we submitted our paperwork to China there would be a large non - refundable fee that had to be paid to the Chinese government . The circumstances forced us to pause and prayerfully consider what was the best way forward. After talking with our social worker, the options seemed clear. We could submit paper work and the fee to China and wait for an indefinite amount of time to even begin the process in China, or we could switch to adopti ng from another country that had an active adoption process. It seemed to us that in the Lord’s providence, he had closed the door to China. We felt confused as to why we had spent a year completing paperwork for China only to have it all done and not be able to go forward. But we trusted that our good God knew exactly the plan he had for us and for our child we would bring home. In May of 2022 we began the process of switching to an adopti ng from Taiwan. We chose Taiwan because it was geographically close in proximity to China and had an active adoption program . Over the next 5 or 6 months we were back to doing more paperwork. We were updating the exact same documents almost exactly one year from when we had done them the first time for China Thankfully most of the fees did not have to be paid again, and m uch of the paper work just had to be updated, not completely re - done. By Fall of 2022 we were ready to view files and submit matching requests for potential children. In December of 2022 we were sent a file of a 6 - year - old boy. We reviewed his file and submitted a matching request. Then 3 months of . . . waiting! In March we learned that the boy had been matched with a family from another adoption agency. While we were disappointed, we trusted the Lord’s providence and simply made it our prayer that this boy would be loved by this family a nd that he would still be given the opportunity to hear the gospel and that the Lord would save him. Then at the end of April 2023 we received another file for a 7 - year - old boy. We reviewed his file and submitted a matching request. We experienced a short delay during the month of M ay while some previously unreported medical information was updated and we had a chance to review the file again. Then at the end of June we received a list of questions from the Taiwanese adoption agency about our family. This w as encouraging as we did not get to this point with the last matching request we submitted. W e have responded to these questions a nd are now waiting to hear back on the decision of the Taiwanese adoption agency So, hopefully that fills in some gaps, but as we said, the update is . . . still waiting. Waiting has been hard. It has caused many questions to swirl in our minds. Wh y did we have to use up an entire year only to hit a dead end with China ? Why is the Lord making us wait when we are so eager to be obedient? We don’t know the answers to these questions and may never fully understand the perfect plan of our God. But waiti ng for so long and going through all these challenges made me (Landon) consider Galatians 4:4 - 7 from a fresh perspective as I was studying it last week. “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir throug h God.” As we have gone through this adoption process, it has taken a very long time. There is a great deal of cost involved. We are going to have to go to the other side of the world in order to get this child and bring them home. But, that picture of ado ption that we as a family are walking through i s a stick figure portrait compared to the beautiful masterpiece of every believer’s a doption as a son of God in Jesus Christ. The time frame of our adoption in Christ , is more than a mere two years. I t was pla nned from before the foundation of the world. And God ordained all of history, not only the redemptive history that we read of in the Old Testament, but all the history of the world, to prepare for th e moment when he would send forth his Son to secure ou r adoption through his death and resurrection. The distance that had to be spanned for adoption wasn’t simply to the other side of the globe. The Son of God had to leave his throne in glory and descend to the earth , and take on human flesh (Phil 2. 5 - 8) The cost was in finitely more than any amount of financial sacrifice that we or those who have so graciously contributed to the Byrd family adoption have paid The cost of our adoption as sons of God was the blood of God the Son, the perfect lamb of God. The change in station that was secured for us as believers was far greater than just a loving family and an opportunity for a better life. We were enslaved to sin, dead in our trespasses . B ut our ado ption means that now the inheritance that is ours is one that is imperishable undefiled, unfading kept in heaven for us (1 Peter 1:4). Yes , the Byrd family has completed paper work and is eagerly waiting to bring our child home. For us as believers , though Chr ist has come and paid the price of our redemption, he has returned to his Father to prepare our home for us. We eagerly await his return again when our adoption shall be finalized and we behold him face to face and live with him forever (Romans 8:22 - 25) I pray that one da y the child we bring home will know an adoption story that far surpasses the story of joining the Byrd family. I pray that he ( or she) knows the joy of being filled with the Spirit of God as they are born again and is able to through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, cr y out “Abba, Father!” I pray for the day when my son or daughter from Taiwan, (as well as Crawford, Lorelei and William) become my brothers and sisters, fellow heirs of salvation and the inheritance of eternal life. In the meantime, in the waiting, may we who know Christ rejoice that we who were once enemies of God, are now his sons and daughters, redeemed by the blood of Christ and adopted by our heavenly Father. And if you do not know this joy, we pray that you come to know it through repenting and believing in Chris t Jesus as Savior and Lord. (We would love to share more about that with you). So we are still waiting for the Byrd adoption to be completed. But we pray that the Lord’s will would be done , and that we would continue to know the joy of making the gospel known through reflecting and proclaiming the good ne ws of being adopted in Christ Jesus. Thank you for your love and support. We will try not to delay so long in writing again. In Christ, The Byrd Family.