January 11--The Goal

So, January 11 has come and gone.

And Eric and I still remain speechless at what God has done through his people.

I don't really know how to say thank you in an adequate way. The words that I wrote (and am still writing) thank you notes don't seem to say enough.

God has used you to encourage Eric and I through some very difficult and discouraging days this past month. Thank you!

January 11th was the date that Lifesong set as a goal date for our fundraising. Our goal was to raise $2500 from family and friends to match a $2,500 grant from Lifesong. On January 11th, we had been given gifts from friends and family totaling well above the goal.

I get very choked up when I think about that. Isn't God good? Every gift, every giver, every amount is precious to us.

To understand what this means to us, I think there needs to be a bit of explaining. In the past few weeks our case worker shared with us her belief that we will not be able to adopt siblings from Lesotho because she has never seen what we are asking for. The week after that news, she suggested that we consider switching countries and now adopt from Uganda where we could adopt two non-related children at once, thus fulfilling our heart's desire. After much prayer and discussion, we have decided to remain true to our original call and intent, understanding that it may take longer than we had originally desired and we still may not have siblings come into our home.

When we add up the gifts we were given, the grant, and our current savings, we have enough to pay our next payment to adopt 2 children for Lesotho. This little bit of math is confirmation for me. (Although, the cynic in me says: yes, but the gifts you were given will also pay the fees for one child as well.)

We are so blessed. We hold tight to God's promises and our heart's desire.

Thank you!

P.S. Our next big financial item will be plane tickets and travel costs, which are about $2500 per person right now. Any gift made to Lifesong on our behalf is ours to use until we have reached the full amount of all adoption and travel expenses. Any amount raised above this will go to assist other families in the adoption process.

The Continuing Journey, and God's Provision

This past week has certainly been an interesting week. If you know me, you know that I do not handle stress that well and last week was full of it. There were two ear infections, adoption education, homeschool cirriculum fairs, meetings, a quick trip to chicago, bathroom work, and the rest of life as we know it.

And the most stressful thing: Eric & I took a long, hard look at our finances as we continue to refinish our bathroom and pursue this adoption. We are working hard to pay for everything with cash. We don't want to take loans to finance any of this. Knowing this, we realized a hard truth. We will not have enough money to do both of these things.

And this, to me, is a paralyzing realization.

There are things I know about God's provision, things I trust about this call to adopt and following the heart of God. But then, right now, there are many things I don't know about how it is all going to happen. In this past week I was very discouraged. The question I kept (and still keep) asking is: HOW? How will we pay for it all? How will we have the money for our first adoption payment? How will the timing work out? How can we cut our budget to make enough room?

We still don't have answers, but we have seen bits of provision: bathroom cabinetry at a fabulous discount, the gift of swimming lessons for the kids, coming in under budget at the grocery store and farmer's market.

And we will start fundraising. Our first big payment to the adoption agency is $6,000 and we believe it will come due in about 2-3 months. So, to get there we are planning a garage sale (july 8&9--we're accepting donations of your stuff!) and we will have a backyard barbeque/pig roast. I am also working on creating something to sell--produce bags. More on that to come.

To help all of us visualize where we are in the fundraising process, I am going to add a fundraising thermometer to this site, so we can all track God's provision & faithfulness and the deep love of others.

We value your offers to help in any way, and we covet your prayers.