He Gives

I want to thank our dear friends who have shown such support and love for us since we announced that we're adopting this week and kicked off our fundraising.  We've had someone donate babysitting, we've had donations for a future yard sale fundraiser, we've had a friend watch two of our boys while I took the other to the doctor (this benefited my sanity), we've had notes of heartfelt support, we had a friend take a stack of shirts to sell herself, and we've had friends go on their knees before our Father on behalf of our family.  We even sold or reserved enough shirts in a few short days to cover the application fees and get us on our way to the next fees.  We thank God for this support and encouragement.

While this week was the start of our fundraising, it also marked the beginning of our formal adoption process.  Our phone conversations with the agency have been very encouraging, and we are working to get the necessary documents together to complete our application.  We have decided to adopt from Ethiopia.  We received an estimate of 18 months or more before we bring home our baby.  (When the agency contact said these words, I teared up at the thought of arriving back in the US with our baby girl in my arms.)  We know that little is certain in this process, or in our life for that matter, and we cling to the loving promises of our Father that He goes before us and is working all things for our good.  There is nothing to come that He is not sovereign over or incapable of carrying us through.  

To say this has been a whirlwind week would be an understatement.  Our dear friends know the loss and heartbreak our family has experienced in the last 7 months.  This week felt like the very opposite.  Our Father gives, and He takes away.  This week, He gave.  Blessed be His name.

The Starting Blocks, and 7335 miles to go...

I've composed this first post in my head too many times to count, so I hope for your patience with my posts as I try to explain something bigger than we can wrap our minds around.  The purpose of this blog is for Curt and me to share the hope that we have within us and bring glory to our Father and Creator, who adopted us and gave us an inheritance beyond compare.  We want to share about our family's heart for adoption, why we chose to adopt, and how you can be a part of it.  If you are also adopting, we want to encourage you.  If you think we're crazy, we want to tell you why.  And if you want to join us in caring for orphans, we want to tell you how.

We are so grateful for the encouragement and prayers we have received so far.  We are in the very early stages of our adoption and are excited to share the ups and downs and God's certain faithfulness throughout.

Adoption can be expensive.  In this marathon, we have to raise funds.  We are starting out by selling the T-shirts in the sidebar.  Since we anticipate an international adoption from Africa, we designed this shirt with that in mind.  We want to be a picture of the gospel in this process, and the shirt is a part of that.  Please let me know if you have questions about ordering or anything else here.  And if you're local and can pay me directly, I'd be happy to deliver your shirt with a smile!  :)  The shirts are $20 each (feel free to give more!) with 100% of the proceeds going directly to our adoption fees and expenses (we've already seen the generosity of the body of Christ at work in amazing ways)!

To our friends we didn't get to tell personally, I apologize.  This ball rolled faster than I thought it would, and here we are.  One final note of gratitude to Stacey Simeone for her selfless work on our T-shirt and this blog.  Without her, we would not be at this point.  I'm truly grateful for her loving my family and that she is my sister in Christ.

Edited to add this pic of our shirt: