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.

Good News Amidst the Wait

Happy New Year! It's just crazy that 2013 has come to a close. That was a life changing year for us as we officially began our adoption journey. Now that 2014 has been ushered in I find this year full of hope. We are finally out of the muck and mire of the majority of the paper chase and are awaiting word on the identity of our little girl. Tomorrow will mark the 4th month in our wait for a referral and there is no telling when we will get that long awaited phone call. I'm slowly learning to take it one day at a time surrendering my emotions, desires and plans to the Lord. He has already brought about a lot of growth in my own life and I can only imagine what this coming year will hold.

Well onto the good news. Last month we received word from USCIS that they needed additional documents before granting approval for our family to adopt from a Hague country. After sending in paperwork to additional states, experiencing lost paperwork and requesting an extension we finally received word today that we have been granted USCIS approval! This is the final piece of our dossier! There is still more to do with the dossier but this approval is HUGE! Our 2014 has started off on a high note so let's pray this keeps up. May 2014 be the year we get to see a picture of our daughter!

 

“Waiting on God requires the willingness to bear uncertainty, to carry within oneself the unanswered question, lifting the heart to God about it whenever it intrudes upon one's thoughts.”
― Elisabeth Elliot

Overwhelmed

Wow.

When we started on this adoption journey we had no idea where the money would come from. Well I take that back...it was clear that God called us and so it was clear that He would make a way but I had no idea how that would actually shake out.

As of today we are 62% funded, which means we have raised almost $22,000. Seriously?!? We are over halfway there! Last week I received an unexpected email congratulating us on being awarded a large grant toward our adoption. We have applied for 5 or so grants and we were not supposed to hear anything until December, at the earliest. We were shocked and SO grateful. God continues to remind me of how much is heart beats for orphans and it was a nice encouragement in these months of waiting. It is just amazing to see God's mighty hand at work and a sweet reminder that he is moving and working even when we don't see or expect it. He is weaving together a beautiful redemptive story and although the wait is currently so difficult His plans continue.

Current Prayer Requests:
- Continued prayer for our daughter. Despite the fact that we have yet to see her face God knows who she is.

- We are waiting on USCIS approval (the last piece of our dossier puzzle). Apparently they are running long and it has taken longer than expected to hear back. Pray that we would hear good news soon.

- Please pray that our hearts would be open to God's calling. I have no idea when we will hear of a referral and I have no idea if it will be what we expect. I desire for our hearts to be open to God's leading even if it is different than we picture.

- Please pray for peace, especially for me. This wait has been SO hard the past couple of days, complete with lots of tears and discontentment. Not the prettiest picture of faith...I need more of God in my life to transform my desires and attitudes.

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.

Three Weeks and Counting

This week will mark three weeks of being in the system in India. I know for almost all families adopting from India that will seem like a drop in the bucket. Adopting from India is an unpredictable process with families getting caught up in red tape for months. I have heard of families waiting years to even receive word of a referral and that isn't including the year or more following the referral just wading through the paperwork in India prior to getting word to travel. Waiting a year or more to get a referral...

That

is

my

fear.

For those adopting families...you were there. Remember? Remember being at the very beginning of your journey and feeling overwhelmed by the steps you still had ahead of you? For me at this moment the wait seems so painfully long. It's hard not knowing when we will finally see the face of our daughter. She is not some orphan...a number...or a random child we are adopting...our "adopted child." No! She is our daughter, plain and simple. She is our daughter who is not home yet. We have a daughter who will wake up not knowing that she has a mother and father anxious to bring her home and a little brother who keeps asking about his sister. My heart aches. This is hard. But in these moments I remember that God has spoken. There were moments His voice was crystal clear. So I remember...

God always keeps his promises...

He is always at work...

God will choose to work and move how he sees fit and not according to my plans or my time frame.

And most importantly:

God

is

GOOD.

Praise Him for his goodness. I am praying that at this moment I will learn to rest in His goodness alone. With no promise of an end date to this wait...I will rest in God.

Welcome!

Welcome to the story of our daughter!

We know that many of you may be visiting this blog for the first time, maybe you saw us on Give1Save1. We figured we would take some time to introduce ourselves.

This is Jonathan.

Jonathan is kinda crazy...ya know with that red hair and all.
He grew up in South Florida.

He likes cars.
He loves God.
He's a pastor with a heart to shepherd God's people.

He is not the only crazy one...

There is actually a whole crazy family. Four boys to be exact with a few ladies crazy enough to marry into this clan. My side of the family isn't much more sane.

I'm Kristen (the not so crazy wife).

I grew up all over the place, but like to call Kentucky my home.
I work part time helping children in crisis.
The rest of the time I stay at home with our 3 year old son.

He's kinda awesome.
.
We're an ordinary family who has felt called by God to pursue something way bigger than us. We are working hard to bring our daughter home from India. Although we have yet to see her face we know that God already has her picked out. He knows her name and her story. He knows when we will finally bring her home, so in the meantime we pray and wait for his perfect timing.

Stay tuned for more of our little girl's story. We will be sharing more about why we chose international adoption from India and what this process has looked like thus far. Thank you for joining us in this journey to bring home our daughter!

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.