8 Months Down...


Today I was sitting in my office looking for some ideas for a mission trip theme, when I stumbled across a Google image of a white woman who looked to be about my age with two African children. I immediately began to cry (partly because it's been a ridiculous couple of weeks and I am tired, and partly because the thought of bringing home our children from Ethiopia overwhelms my heart).

We are just about to finish our 8th month on the wait list, which is crazy. That means that we could get a call any day (even though they say it's going to be at least a year, I like to think that maybe God will surprise us in some way). It's unbelievable to think we have already waited 8 months. I keep thinking how crazy it is going to be when we get that call. That thought is overwhelming...

Last weekend we had the opportunity to set up a booth for our adoption at my parents' Fall Fest they had at church. We sold about 175 cake pops, a bunch of Ethiopian bracelets, book marks, and key chains my mom and I had made, snow cones and pizza (I know that's a random mix!). Between sales and donations, we made about $1100. A lot of people asked how we were doing with the financial end of the adoption. I told them, "Well, it is really good our wait was so long, because it gives us time to raise money!" So here is the update on that for all of you who are wondering too...

Our adoption is going to cost anywhere from $40,000-$50,000. We have paid about $16,000 so far, and the next payment will be a pretty good chunk of money. Between fundraisers and donations people have given, we have probably collected about $15,000. God has been incredibly good to us and people in our life have been extremely generous.

Every day I wake up, I find myself grateful for this journey. God has stretched us in so many ways, challenged us, and made us stronger as a couple. I am so grateful for that and wouldn't take any day of this waiting process away. These days we find ourselves praying for a few things and we hope you will pray with me too...

1. Pray that God will protect, love, and nurture our children wherever they may be tonight.

2. Pray that we would get our referral before Christmas. We know that is a stretch, but we also know we serve a God who is greater than the process! We want this to be his timing first and foremost, but pray it will come as soon as possible.

3. Pray that God will supply the remainder of our adoption costs as we continue to raise support through fundraisers.

4. Pray that God would continue to break our hearts with the things that break his. Pray we would choose to be a voice for the voiceless...wherever he may lead us to do so.

Thanks for journeying with us...we are forever grateful.

Comments

  1. April DSeptember 29, 2011 at 8:36 PM

    Remember that night is darkest just before dawn. When you feel like you literally cannot do this anymore, God will intervene and save the day. That's just how he is. Your day will come and it will be SO worth the wait. I promise. Lean in to everything right now...

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Mother's Heart...

Image
It was the night before we were ready to leave for Ethiopia that it dawned on me. We hadn’t given the necklace to Biruk yet. When we had exchanged necklaces with his birth mom ten years prior at the orphanage, we had no idea when we would give it to him. We just knew that we wanted him to be old enough to appreciate it, as it would be the only thing he would have from her. We had no idea if we would ever see her again.  There have been several moments in our journey where I’ve had to pinch myself, because it has felt like I was dreaming. That night as we put our final things in our suitcases, took a deep breath, and came to the realization that we were not only taking our kids to Ethiopia, but that Biruk would in fact meet his birth mom…well, you had to pinch me, because it felt like I was dreaming. It also felt like the perfect moment to share this gift that we had been holding onto for 10 years. So we pulled out the necklace and gave it to Biruk. While words can be few and far
Read more

Stories Matter

Image
Yesterday, my family and I found ourselves at a local elementary school’s culture club, presenting about our trip to Ethiopia. Even as I write those words, it kind of blows my mind how God has continued to use our story in unexpected places. When the kids were old enough to understand, we began to talk about taking them back to their birth country when they turned 10. We figured at 10, they would be old enough to be pretty good travelers, but still approach the adventure with a childlike wonder. What we didn’t plan on, was that the year Biruk turned 10 would come on the heels of me taking a brand new job, our family moving to a new state, and buying our very first house, in an economy that felt as though it was tanking!  I remember talking to my counselor one day and sharing with him that while we had always promised this trip to our kids, it just didn’t seem to make financial sense. After all, last time I checked, Southwest Airlines does not travel to Africa. He said something
Read more

Thin Spaces...The Sights and Sounds of Ethiopia

Image
When I was in Seminary, I went on my first Mission Trip to a third world country. I was just two years into my marriage, a young 23 years of age, and I had no idea how the experience would change me. My Dad happened to be taking a team from his church to the Dominican Republic and I needed a cross cultural experience for a class I was taking, so it seemed like a perfect match. That trip not only changed my life, but created this passion to serve in third world countries and was the launching pad for all the mission trips I would get to lead at the churches I was a youth pastor at. By the time I was I reached 40, I had taken 2 more trips to the Dominican Republic, a trip to Costa Rica, a trip to Guatemala, a trip to Africa, and of course 25+ trips to Honduras.  There is something about being in a third world country that feels like home to me. I know that sounds strange, but I have often found myself saying, “I’m my best self here.” They are places that breathe fresh life into me,
Read more