A Year in Review

Give God a year and look at what only HE can do! Wow. I have been reflecting a lot about what has transpired in our lives over the last twelve months. I am truly AMAZED. It has been almost a year since God began stirring our hearts toward adoption for the third year in a row. The first 2 years we said no, last August we finally said yes and look at what a journey HE has taken us on. So many of you have been a huge part in this journey and we are so very grateful for each and every one of you. We have been truly humbled by your generosity to show your support through giving toward our fundraisers, yard sale items, and your prayers. God is not finished writing HIS story yet and we can not wait to see how the journey continues.

Jadon was born three years ago and it was three years ago that God began calling us to adopt. Although it was three years ago that we began having serious discussions of adoption we have been praying for this child for ten years now. We have had this love for him long before we knew who he was and long before he existed. There have been many seasons of depression, grieving, questioning and longing for another child. We've told Lily so many times over the years that "God will bless us with a child all we have to do is keep praying". Never did I imagine God would answer our prayers through adoption BUT I am so glad that HE has. HIS timing is so perfect too. Jadon did not become eligible for adoption until the week we became officially eligible to adopt!

Have you ever bought your child the perfect gift for Christmas but there was a problem with it? It wasn't anything he had asked for specifically, so you began to "help" him desire that perfect gift by dropping little hints over time. It's Christmas morning and little Johnny opens his new bike that he didn't know he wanted and says "I love it. It's just what I wanted!". That's what God had to do with us! HE had to take us through some dark valleys, HE had to show and teach us some things, HE had to reveal HIS plan slowly to us so that our hearts would desire what HE desired for our family when the final call came in to adopt.

Our faith has grown so much over the past year and God has used this journey to grow the faith of others around us. It has been so cool to see God at work. He is always at work in our lives and the lives around us. We just sometimes don't stop to join HIM. We have prayed throughout this journey for God to use us for raising awareness for adoption and we now have been given the opportunity to speak at two different churches! We are so excited to join God and give HIM ALL the praise and glory!

41 days til Courts open! We are praying to have the first trip's expenses in place by the end of September because we will most likely not have a huge notice for when we will leave for court. The first trip if we are lucky will be about $5k. We have about $1900 already of that money. Our second trip will be more expensive because we have to stay longer in country, we would love for big sister to be able to go with us and we will be paying for Jadon's visa and plane ticket as well. We are looking at $7-8K for the second trip . We have applied for grants but haven't heard anything yet and one particular grant takes four months to process for a decision. We applied at the end of July so it will be most likely early December before we know if are receiving any grant money which could be too late for either trip!

Please continue to pray for Jadon and the remaining of our journey to bring him home! We can't express enough how much we love this little guy and are so anxious to have him here with us!

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart.