We are just a little over one week away from being two months into our waiting time! We have so much to be thankful for! Since our last post, we have seen God do more miracles in our lives through this adoption. He has affirmed and re-affirmed that this is His plan for us! We are struggling of course with the wait time. There is an empty place in our hearts and home. Some days we wonder if it's for real! For a pregnant woman, they see the physical growth and progression and know when the end is when they will get to see their beautiful baby! For adoptive parents, we only have a general idea of when, and pray that there are no setbacks, country closings, etc. to stand in the way of meeting our beautiful baby. Please continue to pray for us emotionally as we await what is going to be one of the greatest days of our lives!
We are blown away by how God has provided money for the adoption. When we first started the process, we had little to no savings. We had already spent several thousand on infertility treatments before we felt Him lead in this direction.It has been a constant daily choice on my part to give it up to God. My morning prayers over the last nine months usually have consisted of "God, I know you asked us to do this and this is your plan to build our family, so I'm asking for a miracle. I am trusting you completely to bring in every penny, and I can't wait to see how you do it!".It has truly been amazing to see His hand at work. Through jewelry parties, yard sales, our tax return, scrimping and saving,and donations from friends and family (and even through people we don't know!), as of a few weeks ago we were pretty close to meeting our goal of $16,000. We have already paid around $13,000 and the adoption can total between $25-30,000. Two Sundays ago, Shane was giving a report to our church in second service about how God has supplied almost everything we need, and that we were just about $1-2,000 away. We invited everyone to come out to Chic-Fil-A on February 19th to participate in a Family Night fundraiser to help with the remaining costs...
After the service (a man whom neither Shane nor I had met) handed Shane an envelope with $1,000 cash in it and said that it was for our adoption, and not to mention his name to anyone. WOW. I met him this past Sunday, but I still believe that he is an angel! God must've told him to take that money, not knowing what it was for, and once Shane spoke God touched his heart. I am so blessed by his generosity, his obedience to God, his heart for adoption, and his humility.
This is just one of the miracles God has performed in our lives this past year! Pray for us as we continue to fundraise in obedience, knowing that God will bless. We have the fundraiser this Saturday night, and then a yard sale in March. We will continue to raise, as the price of flights can dramatically increase and other unexpected expenses can arise.
God has also really been working us over about Africa. We both feel passionately about reaching the lost and hurting of Africa! Sunday in church after praise and worship time, Shane wrote a note to me on his bulletin- "I feel restless. All I could see while we were singing was a crowd of African people singing in worship". My heart is burdened for the children over there who contract HIV during birth. If not adopted, they WILL die. We don't know what to do with all of this passion or how God is going to use us there in the future, but we are willing. We will hopefully get to stay over in Kenya for a few weeks with some missionaries (who are there with Campus Crusade)after our first trip over to Ethiopia.
What is God burdening your heart for? Do you have room in your heart and home for an orphaned child? Can you give some of the money you have been blessed with to a christian organization that builds wells in a country that has no clean drinking water so that they can also hear about the Living Water and "thirst no more"? Is He asking you to go on a short-term mission trip, or give to someone who is? When giving to the Lord's work, it's not a matter of should I give, but yet a matter of how much. If God has burdened your heart for adoption, don't let money stand in the way. He CAN and WILL provide - we are a living testament! If you ever have any questions about adoption or the process, please contact us!