The Lord will provide...
We received an anonymous check in the offering at church yesterday. For our adoption. For $5000. Overwhelmed is not the word. We are praising the God who led in someone's heart in a mighty way to lead them to give in such an awesome way. If you read this, thank you, thank you. There really is no adequate way to express our gratitude.
Praise God!
All glory be to God, who goes before us and knows all things. Our homestudy has been approved. One of the blessings of the last few days of craziness is definitely that God called us to put our story out there. We have invited many people into the story of what He is doing in our lives- way more people than we thought we would invite into the process at this time. What potential there is for more people to be impacted/ministered to through this journey that God is taking us on! And God is hearing the prayers of His saints, and we are so grateful that so many are partnering with us. Another blessing of the "roadblock" was that it sent my tail into high gear to complete our LifeSong application. We are most excited about the possibility of partnering with this organization for support/grant/loans and I was waiting to work on the application until our homestudy was totally finalized. But in the midst of this hurdle I spoke to a rep at LifeSong who was an amazing encouragement to me and extended the invite to submit our application without the "finalized" homestudy. So our application was sent in the mail today- which means now we are one step closer to seeing how God is going to reveal Himself through our financial need. Keep those prayers coming and thank you so much for partnering with us. May He be glorified.
I just read this verse in my Bible study and thought it would be appropriate:
"Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours" (1 chron 29:11).
I just read this verse in my Bible study and thought it would be appropriate:
"Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours" (1 chron 29:11).
Urgent prayer request
I just spoke with our social worker. She submitted our home study to the agency committee, thinking we were going to be approved with no difficulty. Upon looking at our finances, the committee is concerned that we cannot afford the approximately $25,000 price tag and they may not approve our homestudy. They're right- we can't afford the price tag. We are planning on writing a support letter as well as applying for an adnoption grant and possible adoption loan. But we cannot apply for those things without a completed homestudy. Our social worker will present that information to the committee next week- and she is unsure what they will have to say. I am trying my best to not be discouraged and to trust... I know that God desires this for our family. I know that He has already provided the money for the adoption. We just don't know where it is yet. Please pray with us. Pray that we will be approved. And pray that we will find God's provisions for this adoption. Thank you for partnering with us!
Please pray with us
We found out this week that we have an extremely large amount of money due very soon. We don't know what it means if we don't come up with the money right away, but as I wrote in the previous post, I don't want anything to delay this process of at all possible. We don't have the money we need just laying around. We have been waiting to apply for grants/loans until our home study is completed as they require completed homestudies for application purposes. But as soon as our homestudy is completed (which could be as early as this week) this large amount of money is due. Please pray that God will show up in a mighty way. That He will show us where this money is going to come from. And that we will be one step closer to bringing our boy home.
Long Overdue Update
Is anyone still checking this blog? I'm so sorry I haven't posted in almost two months. Time flies in our household, let me tell you! Here's an update...
1. We are finished with our home study. We enjoyed our three visits with our social worker. She was super friendly and kind and knowledgeable about the whole process. She wrote us an amazingly favorable report that approved us for adoption of up to two children ages newborn to 18 months. Right now our home study has been sent to a committee at our agency, where they will review it, make any needed corrections and hopefully approve it! Once that is done our social worker will make some notarized copies and we should have our completed home study in hand next week!
2. We are also done with our online adoption courses. They were very informative- preparing us for some things we hadn't really thought about in terms of our child's adjustment to his new world and how his previous living experience will/could really impact him both long and short term. I am looking forward to going back to the courses as resources once we have him home and we are actually experiencing the challenges/difficulties.
3. Notice I keep saying "him"... we have decided on pursuing a boy from Ethiopia. We were led to decide on a boy for a number of reasons. Most importantly, we felt that is what God laid on our hearts. We feel like it will be valuable for Markus to have a younger brother, and knowing who Markus already is, we feel our adopted son will probably have a best friend and protector instantly- and throughout life- in Markus.
4. Up until a couple weeks ago, I had gone into autopilot mode a little bit when it came to moving forward with the adoption. It wasn't as if my excitement was gone, however, I was really enjoying Halle Joy and Markus and not feeling any sense of urgency to add another baby to the mix. Then I went to my Perspectives course (AMAZING course by the way... but that's another topic) and God rebroke my heart for the plight of the orphan. It was during that class that I realized our baby boy could already be born. He could already be in an orphanage. He could be cold. He could be hungry. He could be WAITING for me. And I broke. And I got to work. If he is out there already, I don't want him to have to wait ONE MORE DAY than he absolutely has to before he comes home to us, his forever family. So I have been frantically working again (I completed all of our adoption courses in less than a week) and I plan to do everything I can to keep the process moving along. There will be a lot that is out of our control in this process, and I am okay with that. But as much as I can do I am doing, so that our son can come home. And I am praying. Daily. Sometimes hourly. For him. For his biological mother. For his caretakers. For his heart, his mind and his body.
1. We are finished with our home study. We enjoyed our three visits with our social worker. She was super friendly and kind and knowledgeable about the whole process. She wrote us an amazingly favorable report that approved us for adoption of up to two children ages newborn to 18 months. Right now our home study has been sent to a committee at our agency, where they will review it, make any needed corrections and hopefully approve it! Once that is done our social worker will make some notarized copies and we should have our completed home study in hand next week!
2. We are also done with our online adoption courses. They were very informative- preparing us for some things we hadn't really thought about in terms of our child's adjustment to his new world and how his previous living experience will/could really impact him both long and short term. I am looking forward to going back to the courses as resources once we have him home and we are actually experiencing the challenges/difficulties.
3. Notice I keep saying "him"... we have decided on pursuing a boy from Ethiopia. We were led to decide on a boy for a number of reasons. Most importantly, we felt that is what God laid on our hearts. We feel like it will be valuable for Markus to have a younger brother, and knowing who Markus already is, we feel our adopted son will probably have a best friend and protector instantly- and throughout life- in Markus.
4. Up until a couple weeks ago, I had gone into autopilot mode a little bit when it came to moving forward with the adoption. It wasn't as if my excitement was gone, however, I was really enjoying Halle Joy and Markus and not feeling any sense of urgency to add another baby to the mix. Then I went to my Perspectives course (AMAZING course by the way... but that's another topic) and God rebroke my heart for the plight of the orphan. It was during that class that I realized our baby boy could already be born. He could already be in an orphanage. He could be cold. He could be hungry. He could be WAITING for me. And I broke. And I got to work. If he is out there already, I don't want him to have to wait ONE MORE DAY than he absolutely has to before he comes home to us, his forever family. So I have been frantically working again (I completed all of our adoption courses in less than a week) and I plan to do everything I can to keep the process moving along. There will be a lot that is out of our control in this process, and I am okay with that. But as much as I can do I am doing, so that our son can come home. And I am praying. Daily. Sometimes hourly. For him. For his biological mother. For his caretakers. For his heart, his mind and his body.
Some Ethiopia stats and an update
There are approx. 4.6 million orphans due to AIDS and poverty
One in six children die before they turn 5
One in ten children die before they turn 1
Millions still die of starvation each year
Half the children in Ethiopia will never have an opportunity to attend school
Some parts still practice female circumcision
82% of the population survives on less than 1 dollar a day
Only 1/4 of the entire population has access to safe drinking water
Ethiopia’s doctor to children ratio is 1 to 24,000
Children and family are honored above all else there
1 in 3 people are HIV+ , the average life expectency is between 37-42.
We love knowing that we will be adopting from a country where children and family are honored and placed at high value. After we bring our child home, there will be post-placement studies at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months as well as once/year until the child turns 18. I actually love this requirement (from the Ethiopian government) because it communicates how important their children are to them.
We completed our first home visit on Saturday. We really enjoyed our social worker and are looking forward to working with her. She has adopted internationally as well so I am sure she will be of immeasurable value as we journey together. She gave us a lot of information and took a tour of our home. Now we just continue to do paperwork and wait on paperwork... and pray. We did find out that we need to decide if we want a boy of girl baby. We think we know, but we are going to take some time to pray before we make a firm decision. I feel like we are playing God a little bit, but I just have to trust that He will make His will known to us.
One in six children die before they turn 5
One in ten children die before they turn 1
Millions still die of starvation each year
Half the children in Ethiopia will never have an opportunity to attend school
Some parts still practice female circumcision
82% of the population survives on less than 1 dollar a day
Only 1/4 of the entire population has access to safe drinking water
Ethiopia’s doctor to children ratio is 1 to 24,000
Children and family are honored above all else there
1 in 3 people are HIV+ , the average life expectency is between 37-42.
We love knowing that we will be adopting from a country where children and family are honored and placed at high value. After we bring our child home, there will be post-placement studies at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months as well as once/year until the child turns 18. I actually love this requirement (from the Ethiopian government) because it communicates how important their children are to them.
We completed our first home visit on Saturday. We really enjoyed our social worker and are looking forward to working with her. She has adopted internationally as well so I am sure she will be of immeasurable value as we journey together. She gave us a lot of information and took a tour of our home. Now we just continue to do paperwork and wait on paperwork... and pray. We did find out that we need to decide if we want a boy of girl baby. We think we know, but we are going to take some time to pray before we make a firm decision. I feel like we are playing God a little bit, but I just have to trust that He will make His will known to us.
Sobering
I was surfing the internet tonight and I stumbled across an interesting project called the "Mocha Club". They are working to support Africans with HIV/AIDS by way of nourishing food, education, medical care and most importantly, sharing the love of Jesus Christ. I didn't spend enough time navigating their site to say whether or not I would endorse it- that would take more time than I have tonight. But there was a video on the site that moved me and shook me... there was a 14 year old woman with her baby who showed up to receive medical care for her baby, who was covered in sores from head to toe. When the representative asked her what the baby's name was, she told her. I don't remember the name, but I will remember the meaning for the rest of my life... the baby's name meant "NO HOPE". The woman asked the young mother why she gave her that name. The young mother responded, "I watched my mother die of AIDS. I will die of AIDS. She has no hope". Wow. Through subsequent visits to the clinic, the young mother was introduced to and accepted the truth of Jesus Christ. She renamed her baby Lelethu, which means "Jesus is our hope". I can't stop crying. According to this website, $7 can give 9 orphans 3 meals in one day, pay for 21 orphans housing for 1 day or gibe 7 Africans clean water for a year. I shudder to think I spent $6 today on lunch and a snack for Markus and I today while we were out running errands. I can't help but wonder if our baby is out there already, with a mother who is heartbroken thinking there is no hope for her baby. I can't help but wonder if our baby is hungry right now. Or in pain. Or cold. Or lonely. And I can't help but think that although I know we can transform and give the life giving hope of Jesus Christ to the baby that God has for us, there will be millions that will be left behind. And the enemy whispers in my ear that we can't make a difference, that our one baby out of the millions left behind isn't enough... and yet I know. I know that God is bigger than all these statistics. I know that God loves these babies. And I trust that He has a plan. But I still cry.
Saturday, July 19
Received a check for $300 in the mail today to "use as needed". We are 2/3 of the way to the $1500 we need ASAP. Awesome.
Thursday, July 17
I am sharing with another individual today about the amazing $500 gift we received and what a blessing it is as we have to come up with the $1500 ASAP. This person takes out their wallet and hands me $200 "for our new baby". GOD IS SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, July 16
After a great day with the kiddos at the Judy's, I return home to a note taped to our door. Someone who has asked to remain anonymous has written, saying that their hearts were tugged when the Chapmans' daughter was killed, and they have been praying that God would use the tragedy for good. They were led to contribute toward our adoption... $500. I am in tears with God's goodness and faithfulness.
Thursday, July 10
I communicate with our rep with CHI- we are good to go! We have begun. He tells me he will pass our information on to our social worker in Tacoma to begin the home study process. He anticipates we will hear from her in a week or so. Two hours later, my phone rings and it is our social worker! She promises to email me all the paperwork we need to complete/compile. When I check my email that night, it is there. It's a daunting list of things to do, but so exciting! No we just need to come up with $1500 to move on to the next step. We continue to pray.
Monday, July 7
We receive a receipt via email from CHI for our check. We are assuming this means we have officially begun with CHI.
Wednesday, July 2
The paperwork is complete and mailed to CHI along with our first check. We pray and wait.
More confirmation
God continues to confirm in our hearts that He has a child for us in Ethiopia. We met recently with the Penners (dear friends from Lynden) who tell us that there are two families from our previous church adopting from Ethiopia right now. I share with my hairdresser that we are considering adoption (I didn't even tell her the country at first). She says that the night before she was with a friend who was going to be taking some YL kids that were adopted from Ethiopia to Malibu this summer. We go to a blog operated by a gentleman that Mark heard speak at his recent conference (oddly enough, there was a lot of conversation at this arts conference about the church as a whole being more involved in social justice worldwide. Coincidence? We know better.). On his blog there is a recent video of him in an orphanage in Africa. The children are BEAUTIFUL. Our hearts are so full.
The story continues...
*** Thursday, May 30 I speak with Mike from Childrens' House International. He doesn't seem to think there will be any problem with us beginning the Ethiopia program through their agency. He emails me the beginning paperwork. I wait to hear from YFC.
*** June 8 We decide to tell all of Mark' family at diner tonight our decision to adopt from Ethiopia. Linda is in tears by the time we are finished telling our story. She been praying for almost a year for how they can be involved financially in the plight of the orphan in ETHIOPIA. Isn't that unreal? God is SO GOOD.
***June 9 I receive a phone call from YFC. They are most concerned with the placement of children ages 2-9. Because our focus is on adopting a child younger than the age of two, we decide the YFC program is not an option for us. We are reassured about CHI as the YFC program director speaks very highly of the CHI program. She even tells me that the director of the CHI orphanage in Ethiopia is a believer and only employs believers to work in the orphanage. Praise God! We are on vacation, so we table working on the first stage paperwork until we get home.
*** June 8 We decide to tell all of Mark' family at diner tonight our decision to adopt from Ethiopia. Linda is in tears by the time we are finished telling our story. She been praying for almost a year for how they can be involved financially in the plight of the orphan in ETHIOPIA. Isn't that unreal? God is SO GOOD.
***June 9 I receive a phone call from YFC. They are most concerned with the placement of children ages 2-9. Because our focus is on adopting a child younger than the age of two, we decide the YFC program is not an option for us. We are reassured about CHI as the YFC program director speaks very highly of the CHI program. She even tells me that the director of the CHI orphanage in Ethiopia is a believer and only employs believers to work in the orphanage. Praise God! We are on vacation, so we table working on the first stage paperwork until we get home.
Wednesday, May 28
Received a voicemail today from Bethany, stating that they were unsure if we could proceed with Ethiopia at this time. They weren't certain, but they felt like Halle may be too young to begin the process. Mark and I decide to pursue a couple other agencies and see their procedures. I left messages for both adoptionministry.net, an program run by YWAM in conjunction with YFC here in Tacoma (this is the program Pastor Jim is in contact with) and Childrens' Houae International in Ferndale.
May 27- Ethiopia???
Mark shared our journey with Pastor Jim today during their weekly Tuesday meeting. Pastor Jim in turn shares with Mark that he has been led by God to discuss with our staff that that afternoon's vision meeting to pursue how God could use our church in the ministry of adoption. He is particularly burdened with Ethiopia, and his daughter is currently in the process of adopting from there. Mark called me and told me all this... I almost dropped the phone. He said "Maybe it's not China". Maybe it's not!
Twenty minutes after I got off the phone with Mark, Marge from Bethany called. She informed me that they received our application. There were two problems. One was that in order to begin the process with China, both parents have to be 30 years of age. I will not be 30 until November. Also, the youngest child in the home must be at least 1 when the process is begun. Halle Joy will not be 1 until February. Marge told me to simply resubmt a preliminary application a few weeks before Halle's first birthday. I told her okay, but them shared with her that Mark and I were also burdened with Ethiopia- could she check the requirements for me? She quickly checked and informed me that we meet at least the age, children in the home and length of marriage requirements for Ethiopia. She will resubmit our application with Ethiopia as our country of interest and we will hear more by the end of the week.
The beginning
I have a need to chronicle this journey that we have currently embarked on... to see if God has adoption in His plans for our family. Here is a recent account of what He has been doing in our hearts.
*** A LONG TIME AGO God laid adoption on my heart. The thought of the millions of children worldwide who are unloved and uncared for is a burden my heart cannot bear.
*** APRIL 2002 The week I moved to Lynden, Washington Mark and I attended a Steven Curtis Chapman concert. Steven talked of his adoption of Shaohannah and Bethany Christian Services was present to talk about adoption. My heart was tugged again.
*** SOMETIME 2003 A year or so after Mark and I were married, I asked him if he thought if adoption would ever be for us. He said that He would be open to the idea down the road, but wanted to try for our own kids first. God worked in my heart to reveal to me that I was not to push the issue with Mark and that I was to be quiet and pray. God gave me the reassurance that if adoption was for our family, He would make it known to Mark. It was really hard for me to let it go, but I knew I had to. I simply began praying that if this was what God had for us that He would make it perfectly clear to Mark.
*** April 7, 2006 Markus Jaden is born. We have our first biological child, and he is the delight of our hearts. But I keep praying about adoption.
*** July 2006 I am referred to a surgeon to have a mole removed from my face. That morning I felt a strong urging that I am to talk about adoption with Mark again. On our drive up to Seattle (Markus spent the day with the Madsons) I again ask Mark what he thinks of adoption for our family. He says he is really unsure. I ask him if he would simply pray about it. He agrees. We meet with the surgeon, and while we are waiting for the anesthesia to kick in, he shares with us that he has an adopted son from Cambodia. When their son became a part of their family, he was the same age that our Markus was currently. He shared what a blessing this little boy had been to their family. As we left the building, Mark turned to me and just said "I know". God had begun to strongly move in his heart, too.
*** February2, 2008 Halle Joy is born. We love her to bits. As I wonder if I will ever be pregnant again, I am burdened with an idea of selfishness. I feel as though it would be selfish to bring another new child into this world, into our home, when there are millions already born who need what we can provide for them.
*** May 22, 2008 We receive word of Maria Sue Chapman's homegoing. I am incredibly affected. I call Mark and share the news. We discuss their family's obedience to James 1:27 and what a miracle that Maria was placed in their home. We are impressed by the Lord with the truth that Maria Chapman was in Heaven with her Savior because the Chapmans had rescued her from an orphanage and brought her into a home where she was loved and taught about Jesus' amazing love for her. A few hours later, Mark calls and shares with me that during the morning he felt that the Lord told him two biological children was all He had for us... but that our family wasn't yet complete. We prayed together, that God would use this tragedy in the Chapman family to be a testimony to the plight of the orphan and that the church would respond in droves to the ministry of adoption.
*** May 24, 2008 Mark believes that God is calling us to begin walking through the doors on the international adoption process. I spend hours that night perusing the information I already had in hand from Bethany (which I thought I had thrown away) and on the internet.
***May 25, 2008 We submit our electronic preliminary application to Bethany. We are burdened for both China and Ethiopia. We put China on our application, but commit to the Lord that we are willing to have a child from anywhere He wills for us.
*** A LONG TIME AGO God laid adoption on my heart. The thought of the millions of children worldwide who are unloved and uncared for is a burden my heart cannot bear.
*** APRIL 2002 The week I moved to Lynden, Washington Mark and I attended a Steven Curtis Chapman concert. Steven talked of his adoption of Shaohannah and Bethany Christian Services was present to talk about adoption. My heart was tugged again.
*** SOMETIME 2003 A year or so after Mark and I were married, I asked him if he thought if adoption would ever be for us. He said that He would be open to the idea down the road, but wanted to try for our own kids first. God worked in my heart to reveal to me that I was not to push the issue with Mark and that I was to be quiet and pray. God gave me the reassurance that if adoption was for our family, He would make it known to Mark. It was really hard for me to let it go, but I knew I had to. I simply began praying that if this was what God had for us that He would make it perfectly clear to Mark.
*** April 7, 2006 Markus Jaden is born. We have our first biological child, and he is the delight of our hearts. But I keep praying about adoption.
*** July 2006 I am referred to a surgeon to have a mole removed from my face. That morning I felt a strong urging that I am to talk about adoption with Mark again. On our drive up to Seattle (Markus spent the day with the Madsons) I again ask Mark what he thinks of adoption for our family. He says he is really unsure. I ask him if he would simply pray about it. He agrees. We meet with the surgeon, and while we are waiting for the anesthesia to kick in, he shares with us that he has an adopted son from Cambodia. When their son became a part of their family, he was the same age that our Markus was currently. He shared what a blessing this little boy had been to their family. As we left the building, Mark turned to me and just said "I know". God had begun to strongly move in his heart, too.
*** February2, 2008 Halle Joy is born. We love her to bits. As I wonder if I will ever be pregnant again, I am burdened with an idea of selfishness. I feel as though it would be selfish to bring another new child into this world, into our home, when there are millions already born who need what we can provide for them.
*** May 22, 2008 We receive word of Maria Sue Chapman's homegoing. I am incredibly affected. I call Mark and share the news. We discuss their family's obedience to James 1:27 and what a miracle that Maria was placed in their home. We are impressed by the Lord with the truth that Maria Chapman was in Heaven with her Savior because the Chapmans had rescued her from an orphanage and brought her into a home where she was loved and taught about Jesus' amazing love for her. A few hours later, Mark calls and shares with me that during the morning he felt that the Lord told him two biological children was all He had for us... but that our family wasn't yet complete. We prayed together, that God would use this tragedy in the Chapman family to be a testimony to the plight of the orphan and that the church would respond in droves to the ministry of adoption.
*** May 24, 2008 Mark believes that God is calling us to begin walking through the doors on the international adoption process. I spend hours that night perusing the information I already had in hand from Bethany (which I thought I had thrown away) and on the internet.
***May 25, 2008 We submit our electronic preliminary application to Bethany. We are burdened for both China and Ethiopia. We put China on our application, but commit to the Lord that we are willing to have a child from anywhere He wills for us.
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