Our God Hears

We have been MIA for the past 2 + months not out of neglect but as we have been overwhelmed by the goodness and graciousness of our God. Let me start out by telling you about His first, sweet provision. Our adoption is now completely and totally funded. Every single penny has been supplied on our daughter's behalf and that is an absolute miracle. Our mighty God provided everything we needed in a little over a year. Talk about awe inspiring!!

Now for the even bigger news...Jon and I have wanted to shout this story from the mountain tops for months now and it has been killing us to have to keep this news secret! Get ready for a God story.

Remember how we felt lead to pray big prayers? 

Remember how God lead us to ask for a quick referral and for the first referral to be our sweet daughter?

Well...

only TWO days after my last post,only TWO days after we felt led to pray in big ways, my husband and I received a very unexpected phone call from our agency. We were told of a sweet little girl, only 18 months old who needed a family. Our coordinator asked us if we would like more information. Our answer...

YES!!

Within minutes my inbox contained an email with the name, face and medical information of our daughter. As we stared at not one but FIVE pictures of our child we were just overwhelmed with so many emotions. After all of those years knowing that we had a daughter in India, the tears, the waiting, the wondering...it was all worth it just to finally see her face. Currently we are not at liberty to share her picture online but oh how I wish we could show you how completely beautiful she is. She is just gorgeous and has utterly stolen our hearts. Just staring at her picture makes this momma's heart so full! She is a beautiful petite little thing with gorgeous dark eyes and a crazy head full of black hair. From what we we have been told, she is in a place where she is being well taken care of and that small bit of information makes this wait a tad more bearable. Oh, how we long to have her in our arms!

You are probably wondering why it has taken us so long to finally post this news. The weeks and months of waiting have been due to talking with some doctors, waiting on specific paperwork and spending countless hours in prayer. There are numerous God stories to share that took place over the past couple of months, but I'll save those for later. God deserves all of the glory and praise and there simply isn't time and space to adequately share all that He has done but our hearts are overflowing with praise!

Anyways, we have received her official paperwork from the orphanage. It has been signed by us and is now on the way back to India. In a later post I will detail what comes next. We still have a long wait ahead of us, but I wanted to pause and take this moment to rejoice at all the Father has done. He graciously granted our request. God is all powerful. He answers the prayers of his children. Yes, His Father heart beats for the fatherless and he longs to see them in families. Even in the midst of this less than perfect situation He is making all things new and bringing about redemption and wholeness. Praise God that there is one less orphan and that this family has finally gained our daughter! Now we just have to get her home!!

I will close this out with some verses the Lord gave me when I was fearful and doubting. These verses happened to be the next passage in my reading plan and after a difficult day of wrestling with the wait God granted me this beautiful passage to cling to. Dear friends, our God fulfills His promises. 

"Do not be afraid, for I am with you;

I will bring your children from the east

and gather you from the west...

Bring my sons from afar 

and my daughters from the end of the earth!"

- Isaiah 43:5-6

Praise be to our glorious God!!

God of Miracles

Our dossier is finally in the hands of our adoption agency!

This huge stack of papers has been prayed over and cried over. It brought me to the end of myself time and time again. I can truly say that I am a broken woman but in the best possible way. This huge stack of papers tells a story of God's great faithfulness and is just a small glimpse into this enormous journey that has completely changed me from the inside out. I hope to share more of this story as time goes by but right now I'm savoring the changes being made in my heart and I can tell you that there is even more breaking and stripping that need to happen before our sweet daughter comes home. Lord, give me strength!! Here are two truths God has been impressing on my heart recently brought on through a book written by Beth Moore:

God is who He says He is.

God can do what He says He can do.

This adoption journey has been a journey into the heart of God for me. It has revealed areas of my heart that I didn't even realize were there, areas where I have refused to believe certain truths about God. It has shaken me to the core revealing to me that yes, our God is exactly who He says that He is and He will accomplish all things He sets out to accomplish. My eyes have been opened to how completely insignificant I am but I am amazed that the Lord has chosen to take me along for the ride. His glory and might are on display even now in the life of our sweet daughter and His desire is for all of those watching her story to see who He truly is and that He is worthy of all of us...all of our praise and all of our worship.

God is moving mightily and He desires to do this in the lives of all his creation. When I began this journey I was scared to pray for miracles. What if my prayers weren't answered the way I had hoped?!? What if I just didn't have enough faith?!? Even if no outward miracles had taken place I can say now that God has been working miracles in my heart. More on that at another time because He isn't even close to finished there! Our God still works miracles and if anyone needs a picture of that truth just take a look at how God has worked in our adoption. Look to the right of my blog page...do you see that percentage on our GoFundMe page? In less than a year God has provided more than $30,000 for our adoption! We don't even have a picture of our daughter yet but people have felt led to give.

Complete strangers have donated money.

Acquaintances we haven't seen in years have given.

Friends and family who are struggling financially gave out of their own need.

Let me say that God has blessed your generosity and we are in awe! Thank you. Your prayers and support have been constant reminders of God's goodness.The creator of the Universe is orchestrating every little detail to bring our daughter into our family and it is just amazing. For those who are continuing to pray for this process here are some requests that we are currently lifting up.

Prayer Requests:
- We are praying big prayers asking God to bring us the referral of our daughter quickly.
- The referral process can be gut-wrenching and painful as families often have to turn down a referral due to the need of the child being beyond their ability and resources. We are praying explicitly for this process to be filled with peace and confidence in the Lord's work. Although we are not certain of God's plan I do not want to have to turn down multiple referrals so I am praying specifically toward that end.
- Pray against spiritual attacks. Last week was incredibly heavy and hard for me. I can say now that the only reason I am doing better is that I had sweet friends lifting me up in prayer. Pray that my husband and I may remain focused on God and that He would surround our family in this journey.

Yard Sale

We have now raised a little over 40% of the funds needed to bring our daughter home! Wow. I remember when we were praying and just trying to raise money for the first program installment.God has provided abundantly for this little girl to have a home. Although we still have a ways to go God continues to remind us that he has this...nothing is out of his control.

On that note...Jonathan and I continue to wait for a referral. Currently we are nearing the 2 month mark. I don't really have any expectations of a phone call any time soon which has eased my mind quite a bit however the wait is still hard. Thankfully though, the wait has been eclipsed by the fact that our schedule has been jam packed for a couple of weeks now. The first Saturday in October we held a ginormous yard sale. If I were to be completely honest I don't think I will ever organize a yard sale ever again...no seriously...I'm not kidding. The amount of work, time, energy and not to mention living room space that must be utilized for such an undertaking is just utterly exhausting.

This picture is just the tip of the iceberg. I am in no way the cleanest person alive but this amount of clutter almost pushed me over the edge. Shew. We woke up at 5am the day of the sale to organize all of the chaos. I wish I would have remembered that even the sun isn't crazy enough to be up at 5am. So we had to set up tables by the blinding light of Jon's headlights. We had so much stuff to organize that I don't think we even finished setting things up until an hour or more into the actual yard sale. The entire day was a steady flow of people and by the end of the sale it looked like we had hardly made a dent but...

all that work...

all the stress...

 

paid off.

We raised $942. In ONE day...at a yard sale! Woohoo. It's always so humbling to witness more of God's great provision. We have a few more fundraising ideas on the back burner but with the holidays coming we will probably save those for the New Year. As far as posts go I will continue to write as I feel led but until we get the long awaited phone call for a referral we probably won't have a lot of exciting stuff to share. Please continue to keep us in your prayers that we would wait well.

Happy Dance

 I couldn't help myself with this picture!

I was too giddy for words last night. A little after 5pm our family coordinator from America World called to inform us that she registered us with the online database in India and we are now officially waiting for a referral. We could get a phone call today (highly unlikely but still...) That is just crazy!

The wait for a referral will most likely be a long one. There is just no telling what the time-frame looks like from here on out. It is a bit odd because we went from knowing the steps and how long each step would take to being in limbo. After talking with other moms adopting from India this is how things seem to pan out until the day we get word to travel. So I am rejoicing in the moment and praising the Lord that he has brought us this far. He has used you, your prayers, your giving, and your encouragement to sustain us and prepare us to bring home our little girl.

Dear friends and family, rejoice with me today because this is a major step forward. The reality of seeing a picture of our daughter drives me to work even harder to get her home. The next phase in our fundraising is actually raising money toward our travel costs. This is where it gets exciting folks. Just the thought of applying for visas and buying plane tickets brings tears to my eyes. It's getting real.

One Step At A Time

 "Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light for my path."

- Psalm 119:105

Have you ever tried to walk around in the dark with the aid of a lamp? Lamps don't produce much light, normally just enough to keep you from tripping and allowing you to see only the next step or two ahead. Even though this adoption process is still in the very beginning stages I am starting to see that same provision from the Lord.

When we stepped out in obedience we knew God's call but we in no way had the resources to accomplish His plan. It has only been a couple of weeks and we have seen God's provision all over the place. Just the other day Jon and I were talking about finances and what we would need to pay the homestudy fee and lo and behold God stepped in. Through the extra income of my part time job and the faithful obedience of His children (our sweet friends and family) He took care of that need. It started out as a trickle and then a big wave and as it stands now, we have what is needed to complete the next step in the process, no more, no less. Isn't God amazing?!?!

God uses a Village...

Our God is a God that does really big things. And adoption is definitely one of those really big things.  For a young couple doing ministry in rural Kentucky to fly halfway around the world to pick up a little girl and bring her home into her new family is a nearly unthinkable reality.  When God moves like that, it's amazing to watch His power on glorious display.  It's also humbling to realize how little your effort can accomplish without Him.

If you're reading this blog, you're already invested in some way in our adoption.  Most likely you're already praying for us and following the tiny first steps of our journey with the same joy and anticipation that we are feeling.  And, you probably realize that this is something that can't be done alone.  The wonderful thing about God is that He uses us in His incredible, huge, amazing plan.  That's why I'm writing this post...how can God use you?

God has called us to this and we're ready to obey Him.  But despite His incredible blessings in our lives, we don't have the $35,000 or so that is required to complete this process.  Rather than an obstacle to God's plans and purposes, that's actually an opportunity.  If we had the money, we could fool ourselves into thinking that we could handle this ourselves.  But, since we don't, we're reminded once again that we have to rely on Him; it's an opportunity to trust Him and ultimately, give Him the glory.

This is an opportunity for you, too.  We need your help, to give out of all that God has given to you to help make God's plan and purpose through this adoption a reality.  We prayerfully ask you to consider supporting this adoption financially.  There's no obligation of course...that's not the point.  Instead, we're asking that you allow yourself to be used by God to demonstrate His faithfulness in our lives.  This is a beautiful picture of why God calls His people into community together...so that He can use us to demonstrate His love to one another.

We have set up an online fundraising site that is a convenient way both to give and to track the progress of the Lord's faithfulness. That link can be found below, and there is also a link to the site on the right side of this page as well.

Help Bring Our Little Girl Home

We are also in the midst of setting up an account with our agency which will allow people to send tax deductible donations directly to our agency. As soon as we have that in place I will post that information.

Please also consider spreading the word by posting the links to the fundraising page on your facebook or blog. We cannot do this alone, but nothing is to big for our great God. Every prayer prayed, every amount given, great or small, helps us take one step closer to fulfilling the plan God has set out for us.

"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

- Ephesians 3:16-21