Questions, Answers, & Encouragement

I have recently met a very special friend via Pinterest and I was delighted to answer a few questions she had for me. I wanted to share this Q & A session with you because I hope it helps my fellow sisters know more about the gift of adoption and more about our story.

Q: How did you and your husband decide that adoption was for you? How did you decide that would be the path to start your family and not another? 
A: We asked God to help us decide if we needed to go to more extensive measures of conceiving. The more I looked into the options the more uneasy I felt about putting my body through different treatments and spending more money visiting doctors and clinics. Honestly, I just felt emotionally spent. I didn’t feel like I had enough energy in me to go through fertility treatments. We knew that we wanted a baby. We knew that having a biological baby would be costly from doctor visits and fertility treatments. We prayed and we came up with 2 solutions: 1) We could pour our time, energy, and finances into fertility treatments that could be unsuccessful or 2) We could take those same resources and pour them into rescuing a child from a desperate situation (this option would without a doubt result in us being parents). All of this led us to researching adoption and foster care more extensively. I quickly decided that foster care would not be something that I would be able to do. I believe that it would absolutely rip my heart out every time we would have to give a child back to their parents or the foster care system. Foster care parents are truly gifted by God to fulfill this call on their lives. I just knew that it wouldn’t be something I could handle! We decided that adoption would be the way we would grow our family. We looked at agencies, countries, domestic or international, cost, etc.

We saw that adoption cost SO much money! Honestly, it sort of made me depressed because I began to wonder if I would ever be a mommy! We just began to pray about the cost b/c there were some points where we also decided that adoption was too much for us. The beautiful thing that we began to see was that it was costly for us to become part of the family of God. It cost God His son, Jesus. There was a price that needed to be paid to rescue us and unite us with our Father. Jesus paid that price and we are able to have full fellowship with our Father and we are His children. After much research we found that there are many many ways to fundraise, receive donations, and apply for adoption grants and interest free loans.

We found that God was glorified in every aspect of adoption. We have confidence that if we are following Christ with all of our hearts then He would lead and guide our paths (Prov. 3:5-6). In light of all of these things we found in scripture, we decided we would adopt a child no matter what the cost. This process has been so absolutely beautiful and faith building and my heart is full of joy and peace! Now that we are on the other side of the paperwork and we are waiting to see our child’s face I know that I wouldn’t trade in this experience for anything!  So far, God has provided all the money we need for this stage in our adoption journey and he continues to bless us every week! Just last week my husband found a $600 anonymous donation on his desk at work. Every time we get another donation I am reminded of God’s absolute provision and love for not only us but for the child he has chosen to be in our family! We have applied for 3 grants so we will see what happens in the coming months! :)

Q: Which agency did you guys go with? Do you have any suggestions in that aspect?
A: We chose to work with an agency called Children of All Nations based out of Austin, TX. Children of All Nations is a branch of Great Wall China adoption agency. Great Wall has been the leading adoption agency in the US for China adoption. Children of All nations does adoptions for several different countries and we have found them to be EXTREMELY helpful and very knowledgeable about every step of the process. They are also always available to help us when we hit a snag in paperwork!

Q: I have a few friends who have struggled with infertility....some that got pregnant, some who are still in treatments, but none that have chosen to adopt a child. Do you have any suggestions for us?
A: I know the heartache that comes with infertility and my heart aches for the women out there that have felt the loss of a child and the pain that goes with unmet desires. I pray that each of you would experience the love and peace that I have experienced by falling into my Heavenly Father’s arms broken and tired. He has mended me. He has comforted me. And most of all He has loved me through all the hurt and pain and I am coming out of this trial a stronger woman of God. My suggestions: pray, pray, and pray, read scripture and memorize verses that dispel lies from your mind, be an active part of a church family, have Godly women in your life that would be willing to cry with you and pray for you, have open communication with your husband about adoption or about what you feel God is calling you to do to grow your family. Here are some resources of books and a sermon that helped us in our decision: http://www.foreverbygrace.blogspot.com/2012/01/adoption-resources.html.

Ladies, please know that you are loved by your Heavenly Father and that He desires to give you good gifts (Matt 7:11). Jeremiah 33:3 says that He will answer us if we call on Him and He will show us great and mighty things! Matthew 7: 7 says that if we seek then we shall find! And if we knock then it shall be opened for us! Romans 8:28 says that God causes ALL things to work together for good to those who love God to those who are called according to His purpose! May God's blessings flow through your heart today! Be encouraged! :)

What can we do to change the world? Will you adopt an orphan?

The Greatness of God’s Love

“By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” 1 John 3:16-18

It’s almost Valentine’s Day and I have been thinking about the people in my life that I love! I love my husband, my family, my friends, my church, my child in Africa, but most of all I love the Lord. Each day the Lord is showing me His love and grace and peace through this adoption process. I am so blessed that God has chosen my husband and I to experience the joy of building our family through adoption. 1 John 3:16-18 hit me like a ton of bricks. I experience real Love because Christ laid down His life for me. It also says “if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?” I hope and pray that I would be the Christ follower that uses the resources and love God has given me to help my brothers who are in need. Verse 18 tells me that I show Love by ACTION! Kevin and I truly believe that our adoption is one of the ways that God has called us to show love by Action. Not everyone is called to adopt a child but everyone IS called to love “in deed and in truth.” We pray that God’s blessings and love would flow through you as you walk through life. Show God’s love today. Jesus is worth our time, energy, and lives!



Think about the ways that you can demonstrate Christ's love to others today.



WHERE WE ARE IN THE ADOPTION PROCESS:

WE RECEIVED WORD ON FEBRUARY 7^TH THAT OUR PAPERWORK IS GOING THROUGH THE LAST CERTIFICATION STAGE IN WASHINGTON D.C. PROCESSING TIME IN D.C. IS 1-2 WEEKS. ONCE OUR AGENCY RECEIVES EVERYTHING BACK FROM D.C. THEN THEY WILL SEND OUR DOSSIER TO THE CONGO AND THE IN-COUNTRY STAFF WILL BEGIN WORKING ON MATCHING US WITH OUR CHILD! WE DESPERATELY DESIRE TO BRING OUR CHILD HOME SO PRAY FOR QUICK REFERRAL TIMES! PRAY THAT GOD WOULD PROVIDE THE FINANCES. PRAY THAT GOD PROTECTS OUR CHILD FROM DISEASE, HARM, AND HUNGER.

Dear Lord, I pray......

Dear Lord,

Lord, I thank you for your beautiful grace and your kind heart. Thank you for allowing me another day to serve you and minister for your glory. Lord, I pray for our child in Africa today. I pray that you would protect them from disease, hunger, and starvation. I pray that you would surround them with your love and help them to have the assurance and peace that we are coming to rescue them. I pray that somehow their birthmother would come to your saving grace if she has never met You. Help her to know that her child is loved so deeply by people she will never meet. Thank you for helping us finish all of our paperwork so quickly. I pray that all the certifications would be processed quickly so the paperwork will reach the Congo soon. Protect our child until we can bring them home. Hold our hearts as we must wait for them. Give us patience and grow our faith. Provide the finances we need to bring home our baby. Move the mountain in front of us. Help us to trust in You. We praise you for your kindness, love, and awesome peace! We rejoice in your salvation and we bless Your Holy Name!

Amen.

Pray for the children of the Congo today.

Ask the Lord to watch over them & protect them from harm.

WHERE WE ARE IN OUR PROCESS:

OUR AGENCY HAS SENT OUR DOSSIER DOCUMENTS TO BE COUNTY, STATE, AND U.S. CERTIFIED. ONCE THOSE DOCUMENTS HAVE RETURNED TO OUR AGENCY THEN THEY WILL COMPILE OUR DOSSIER ACCORDING TO THE CONGO REQUIREMENTS. ONCE THE CONGO RECEIVES THE DOSSIER THEN THEY WILL OFFICIALLY BE WORKING ON MATCHING US WITH A CHILD!

What’s new with our adoption?

Kevin and I have been busy the last couple weeks trying to get our last steps completed before we could submit our dossier to our agency! Finally on January 20^th we mailed our dossier to our agency with a check of $4838! Whew! Our agency will compile all the documents according to the standards of the Congo government and they will send it off! Yay! Baby Weldon, we are going to get you soon! We have not gotten our I600A Immigration approval but the Congo doesn’t require that approval to be sent with the dossier so we can send our immigration approval to our agency when we receive word that we have been approved! We had 7 months to complete our dossier and we have gotten it done in 1 month! That means we will be put on the waiting list sooner than we had thought! Praise the Lord!

Goodbye Dossier! Hello Congo!

We are now in the process of applying for grants to help reduce the cost of our adoption! We should have 2 grant applications submitted to Lifesong for Orphans and to the Southern Baptist Minister Grant Fund this week. Also, we have been accepted to be the featured family the week of February 26^th with an organization called Give1 Save1. Basically, people donate $1 towards our adoption fund and if 1000 people give $1 then that’s $1000 that goes to bringing home our baby! It is such an awesome idea and we are privileged to be part of this ministry!! 



Give $1 to the featured family this week! Click here!

NEXT STEP: FUNDRAISE, FUNDRAISE, FUNDRAISE!

OUR NEXT PAYMENT $3500.    

God's Perfect Timing

Over the past several weeks our blog has had a sudden burst of views largely due to people connecting to it from Pinterest from some of our Adoption Photos being pinned. (If you don’t know what Pinterest is then you NEED to check it out! It’s AWESOME!) I have been absolutely amazed at the adoption community out there. People from all over the world have visited our blog and my heart leaps for joy at the thought of God’s people praying for our child in Africa! This week we have had visits from Canada, Germany, Australia, South Korea, New Zealand, Italy, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico, Uganda, and South Africa!

Who's reading our blog!?

I have also had several emails from some pretty amazing sisters in Christ who are also experiencing the joy of adoption! We don’t know each other but we know what it feels like to be on this adoption journey. Sometimes we begin the journey because of infertility or because we feel the call from God to expand our families through adoption. Nonetheless, we are all Mommas to children somewhere in the world. God’s grace is sufficient and God’s heart is kind. I feel His love everyday when I pray for our child. I see His provision when we get another donation. I know God is working! Sometimes when I get discouraged I just feel like giving up! Throwing in the towel and saying “I can’t do it!” You know what? I can’t do it! But God CAN! So I rest in the fact that God has perfect timing! God’s word tells me that He makes all things beautiful in His time (Ecc 3:11). He tells me that I can plan my life but HE establishes my steps (Prov.16:9). The most beautiful evidence of God’s perfect timing is His Son, Jesus, coming to earth! In ALL of time, God chose the time for Jesus to be born to Mary when her and Joseph were very FAR away from home registering for the census (Luke 2). When they were in Bethlehem the Bible says that “the time for her to give birth” came. At THAT time, in THAT place, in THAT city Jesus was born. Oh how beautiful God’s timing is! When I have heart ache that I must wait for our baby in Africa to come home then I remind myself of the story of Jesus coming to earth! It really puts things in perspective! To my fellow adoptive Mommas: Be patient, love the Lord, and be full of faith! The time will come when we can hold our children!

Here are a few things that have helped me when I struggle:

* Fill my heart and mind with God’s Word! Memorize scripture!

* Limit my time researching on the internet!

* I don’t get on Facebook and read the newsfeed! I usually just check my messages and then log out! Sometimes seeing pregnancy announcements, baby shower pics, and maternity pics can get my focus off of God’s kindness towards me.

* Find 4 or 5 Godly women to be your prayer partners! Text them when you struggle! Text them when you rejoice! Let them keep you accountable!

*Daily Quiet Time and Prayer.

Adoption Resources

During our process of deciding if adoption was in our future we used several different resources to help us in the decision. Kevin and I of course first and foremost turned to God's Word to see what He says about adoption.  We know that Christ came to earth to rescue us and adopt us into His family. We desperately wanted to rescue a child and adopt them into our home and life as our son or daughter. We truly believe that adoption demonstrates the beauty of the Gospel. Here are some scriptures that we hold close to our hearts regarding adoption!

*But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Galatians 4:4-6

*Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. James 1:27

*Father to the fatherless, defender of widows — this is God, whose dwelling is holy. God places the lonely in families. Psalms 68:5-6

*And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me. Matthew 18:5

* “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." John 14:18

Resources We Recommend

Adopted for Life, Author: Russell Moore

This book was a huge in helping us find the answers to what God says about adoption. Dr. Moore adopted 2 boys from Russia after he and his wife struggled with infertility for several years. He gives practical wisdom on adoption and also helps answer the questions that every potential adoptive parent asks on several major topics like, Special Needs or Healthy….Can I really love an adopted child…..Bi-racial adoptions….domestic or international…..foster care or adoption, and so much more! Very helpful resource! Check it out!

Orphanology, Author: Tony Merida and Rick Morton

-a practical response to God’s command to care for the fatherless told through the stories of families and ministries who are responding. Basically, Orphanology helps explain how God cares for orphans and why God’s people should put emphasis on caring for orphans.  This book is great because it uses the adoption stories of the authors to give insight into how to respond to God’s call and what the adoption process is like physically, emotionally, and spiritually. 

Kisses from Katie, Author: Katie Davis

This book is written by a young girl who answered God’s call to minister in Uganda. She mothers 13 Ugandan girls ages 2 to 15. I have absolutely loved reading about how this young “normal” teenager considered the cost of following Christ and chose to follow Him. Katie gives stories about day to day life in Uganda and beautifully communicates how her love for these children surpasses all understanding.

It gives me great encouragement to know that even though I may not share the same DNA or skin color as my child, the relationship of mother and child will No Doubt be real and genuine!

Recommended Sermon:

Adoption: The Heart of the Gospel by John Piper

This sermon outlines 8 similarities between God’s adoption of us and our adoption of children.  Piper uses scripture to show that adoption is a beautiful and vivid display of the Gospel!

http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/conference-messages/adoption-the-heart-of-the-gospel

Where we are in our process right now:

We received word from our agency on January 9th that our home study has been approved and is ready to be notarized! Once we receive our notarized copies of our home study from our social worker then we can send in our I600A (immigration paperwork). Our agency said that the current processing time for the I600A is 40+ days. We are praying that God’s favor will fall on our paperwork and that it will get processed and approved in less time! Please keep praying for us and our child in Africa!  

The New Year and Our Adoption

Kevin and I had a busy New Year's weekend! Kevin was invited by Trinity Baptist Church from Southaven, Mississippi to lead a retreat for their youth students at Fall Creek Falls State Park in Spencer, TN. We were absolutely delighted to be able to spend time with the youth minister and his wife, Brad and Elicia Walker and their student group. Brad and Elicia have two biological children and have also been able to experience the joy of adoption by adopting their third son domestically. I absolutely loved talking to another adoptive mother! She had so much wisdom and advice to share! We were blessed by what God taught us through this weekend!

Brad, Elicia, Will, Jackson and Benjamin Walker

The youth group of Trinity Baptist Church

Now it’s 2012 and I wonder what it will bring for my life. I wonder if Kevin and I will be able to travel to Africa to pick up our child. I wonder what this next year of youth ministry will bring. Etc, etc, etc. I think, worry, and wonder about many different things. I was reminded that God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness (Exodus 34:6). No matter what 2012 will bring I can be certain of God’s beautiful attributes. What happens next year will NEVER change who God is. God is the meaning and purpose of our lives. I have tried to tune out the clatter of what our culture says our lives and goals should be! I pray that I would reflect God in my daily life and that I would love and serve other people for the sake of the Gospel. Take the time today to pray that you would live 2012 to glorify God by serving and worshiping only Him!

Where we are in our adoption process…….

We had our final meeting with our social worker on December 26^th. She has made a couple changes to our home study paperwork and we are currently waiting for our agency to approve it. Once we get it approved and finalized we will be able to 1) Send in our I-600A (Immigration paperwork) 2) Start applying for grants and 3) Finish our dossier. Our dossier paperwork is coming together nicely and we are currently just waiting to receive documents back from several people that need to sign or produce a document for us. Hopefully we will have our dossier completed by the end of January! Woo Hoo! Keep praying for us!