$35,000!!!!!

As of today, we have hit our target goal of $35,000  for our adoption. The final $15 came in the form of a refund check that was totally unexpected and quite honestly showed a little of God's humor and complete control.  We have been counting down from $35k and listed each and every way that God provided something.  Heather initially said that we needed to come up with 350 ways to raise $100.  Well, that is just about what happened.  Our list of different ways is about 4 pages long.  Praise God!  

We do think that the total costs might prove to be a little higher than $35k but we have hit our initial target, just about 13 months after starting.  To cover the costs of increased airfare and such we are planning on having another veggie/bake sale this summer as well as one more garage sale. We just wanted to let everybody know where we stand.  Also, we think that we are number one or two on the list for an infant boy and 7 for an infant girl.  Maybe we will hear something this week, or next week, or the week after that.....

Thanks for praying. 

What is going on?

We have had a few people ask recently what is going on with our adoption.  We haven't posted anything recently about it because....(insert cricket sound here)....  we still wait.  We haven't really heard anything other than the process is taking longer than expected and things have significantly slowed down in Ethiopia.  Uhhhmmm yeah.  Initially when we started the process the wait time to receive a referral for a boy was 4-6 months and 7-9 months for a girl.  Well, we have been waiting on that referral since 9/3/10.  That makes it about 9 1/2 months.  When we had hit the 6 month mark the wait time changed to 5-7 months.  Then we hit the 7 month mark and the wait time changed to what it is now 7-11 months for both genders.  So we shall see.  It is comical really.  

We trust in God's perfect timing.  He has been giving us a tremendous amount of patience and we really have not been anxious about this.  We know that God already has a child picked out for us and he knows when we will be traveling over there.  We also new that going into international adoption that we must hold our expectations very loosely.  

Financially, God is good.  It has been amazing to see how he has provided for us throughout this last year.  When we started the process we thought that we were going to need to come up with $28K.  Well, due to changes in travel that quickly went up to $35K.  Through literally hundreds of different ways and different people, God has allowed us to come up with almost the entire amount in a years time.  What an amazing God!  We never would have thought it possible when we started.  If you are at all considering adopting I urge you to seek God on it, pray about it and ultimately if this is what God is calling you to do then you just need to jump in and trust that he is Jehovah Jirah.  We think that our costs might go a few thousand dollars  higher than we have been planning due to the increased costs of airfare.   Also, Capri turns two soon and we will have to pay for her now as well.  (We originally thought we might be over there and back before her birthday).  

We just wanted to update everybody on where we are at.  We will definitely let you know when we hear something.  

Do you believe in spiritual warfare??

Do you believe in spiritual warfare? It's not something that we talk about very often in the Christian community, but maybe it's something we should be.

We have a different sort of internet situation going on where we live. We can usually get on the internet, but first we have to turn on a mobile phone that sits plugged into our computer. Once this is turned on, we then have to select that phone as our internet connection. Then we wait a few minutes for the computer to recognize that we can get online. Then, we can usually proceed to surf the internet, although not always. Even though the computer always says we have full service, sometimes we can watch TV or watch a sermon, but other times, the internet is running too slowly to allow us to even log onto our e-mail much less watch anything streamed. {Sometimes I feel like we are in Africa}.

The other night, I came home feeling exhausted and defeated. I was discouraged and wondering if God was really speaking to me. Adam was working, so I went thru my usual routine of getting the girls to bed and then logging onto the computer. The first thing I did was log onto my e-mail account. I quickly looked through our email to make sure there was nothing that I needed to respond to. Then, I tried to log onto facebook. My computer kept searching for facebook for a couple minutes while I was busy putting things away. When I came back to the computer I got our standard message that said I was not connected to the internet (even though I was). Then I tried to click onto our yahoo account. Same thing. So, now I am seeing my evening getting fairly boring, as I am not going to be able to read blogs or watch TV. Then I think to myself, 'I couldn't even listen to a sermon if I wanted to.' And I proceed to think 'watch, that would probably be the one thing that I would be able to do.' So, I decide to give it a try. I clicked on Brook Hills website (a church in Burmingham Alabama that we enjoy listening to sermons through), and of course the website pops right up. So at this point I begin to get curious, I click to go back to yahoo and NOTHING. no internet connection. Facebook, NOTHING. no connection. Brook Hills, and the website pops right up. I found the Acts series and, wouldn't you know it, the sermon was exactly what I was feeling SO discouraged about.

Sometimes it's easy to dismiss these kinds of "coincidences" as just that: a coincidence. But, I believe that this was an act of God! He knew exactly what I needed that night. It's easy to let the world distract us into thinking that we need to live a certain lifestyle. But Christ has commanded us as believers to surrender everything, our whole lives to Him!

Yes! I most certainly believe in spiritual warfare. I believe that Satan sent me home discouraged, but that God won when I wasn't able to log onto anything on the internet except the very sermon that I needed to hear to encourage me!

Something that the pastor said in the sermon really hit home for me. He said, as followers of Christ, our whole purpose on earth is to spread the gospel to every tongue, tribe and nation! That's why we are here! That's why we haven't been taken up to Heaven immediately after proclaiming His name.

So I ask you, what are we going to do to carry this out??

Temples

We visited two different temples today.  One was a Hindu temple dedicated to their gods, Shiva and Vishnu.  The other was an American temple called Westfield shopping mall dedicated to materialism and consumerism.  

What struck me today was how very similar these to trips were.  Let me start by saying they both really disturbed me.  

Walking into the Hindu temple, there was a feeling of emptiness.  Though it was filled with hundreds of people, with the sounds of bells, chants and the smell of incense.  Everybody was standing in line so that they could pay their respects and bow down to the different gods of wealth, love and a variety of other things.  It broke our hearts as we watched people worship idols.  Idols that were made by men.  It just didn't make sense.  The chanting and the prayers to the idols did not go above the ceiling.  It was empty.  Though it was fascinating watching, my heart was calling out in prayer to my God.  Yahweh.  The Holy of Holies.  The God of all gods.  God help them to see your face.  Help them to turn from their empty worship to worship the one true God who gave his Son Jesus to redeem us.  

Walking into the American temple later was so similar.  I needed to get my phone fixed and didn't know where else to go.  It has been at least six months since I have been in a mall.  I (Adam) hate going.  Today though, I realized why.  Though it was packed full of thousands of people, it was empty.  The chanting and praying were there too.  They were just in different forms.  Like the Hindu temple, the idols were everywhere.  Come to this store, buy this, and you will be happy.  This item is sure to make you look wealthy.  The gods in this temple were materialism and consumerism.  What are we all doing I kept thinking?  Is this really how we Americans should be spending our resources?  Yet again, I found myself praying for those around me to see past themselves and find Jesus.   

Pray with us.

Last week, the Joint Council announced that MOWA (ministry of women and children affairs) in Ethiopia was drastically reducing the number of approval letters that they are going to write. They stated that they are going to reduce their work by 90% effective immediately. Their letter is the letter that every family needs to be presented to the judge in court. Without their approval letters, the courts can not approve a child to become part of a family. This will mean that the adoption process will really take a very long time.
We trust that God is fully in control. We serve a God who made time, and is above time. We continue to put our faith and hope in our Lord as we ride this roller coaster. We know that we will be united with our child in God's perfect timing.
We ask for your prayers, as there are many families in Ethiopia this week trying to pass court and are waiting on their letter from MOWA. We pray that these families will be approved and be united with their children forever. We are praying that God will be glorified in this process. MOWA, the courts and the embassy are meeting and trying to work things out so that things can continue. As we pray for the families currently over there, we have moved up on the waiting list for our referral. We are #7 for a boy and #10 for a girl.

Our God is BIG

A week and a half ago, we were having our family faith talks and I asked the kids to pick out a new country on the map to pray for. It was Geneva's turn and she had already picked a country and kept pointing to it all week anticipating her turn. The country she chose was New Zealand. Yes, that is right, the very same country that has just had a massive earthquake. When the earthquake hit, we as a family had already been praying for this country for a few days. God had impressed it on her heart for weeks that this was a country that was in need of prayer. How awesome is that?

Our God is BIG

Yesterday was a monumental kind of day with our adoption agency. There was a ton of movement. I think that a couple of referrals were given out and 8 families received court dates for when they can go and travel and meet their children and pass court. Normally, it seems that there are usually 2-3 court dates per week. We, however, are still in the waiting stage for our referral. We came to the realization a week ago or so that we are very close to getting our referral and seeing the pictures of our new baby. It can come in a week or so, or it can still be a few months away.

Our God is BIG

This week I have had one of those moments that me stop and thank God for the blessings he has given to us. For the last 3 weeks or so, all of our 3 kids have been sick. Coughs, 104 degree temps, ear infections, the runs (really bad), vomiting, etc. The kids just kind of keep passing things around the house and we can't quite seem to get over it. Heather hasn't been able to go to bible study in weeks. I realized that if we lived in another country like Ethiopia, the likelihood that one of our children would be dead by now from these illnesses is almost certain. I don't mean to sound gruesome but it is a reality. I have spent lots of time thinking about how do you gets a child's fever down from 104 when you don't have Tylenol, or ice packs, or even the ability to take a cool bath? You can't. How do you keep a child from becoming dehydrated due to diarrhea and vomiting, with no Gatorade, no pedialite, no soda crackers, no IV fluids, no clean water to be able to drink? You can't. The majority of childhood deaths age 5 and under occur due to preventable things such as diarrhea, fevers and malaria. We have been blessed to have access to clean running water whenever we want it, or to have hospitals to take our sick children to, or to always have food on our tables. Why are we the ones that have been blessed? It is so that we may in turn be a blessing to all the nations. This is how we bring glory to our God.

Our God is BIG

Dreaming

It has been a while since I have posted anything. We have been BUSY. We have started the Perspectives class and that has added about 8 hours of class or studying to our week. It is totally worth it though. I think that all Christians should go through it. I have been wanting to post something for a while, but just haven't gotten around to it. I could have posted that the last 2 months things have really slowed down in the adoption world. I could have posted about how our wait time has gotten longer. I could have posted about another awesome gift that some friends have given us this week! I could post about how we are mentally planning on traveling in the fall as opposed to late spring. However, I feel led to tell you about a dream, my dream.

I (Adam) am not normally a dreamer. In fact, I rarely remember dreams, but when I do they are normally profound. I am not a dream expert, nor do I think that all dreams have significance, but sometimes they do. So here it is.

My kids were all fast asleep in their beds at home. (ages 4,3,1) Heather and I were not in the house with them though. Nobody was. We wanted to be home with them, but for some reason, something was holding us back. I don't know what. It was almost like the Christmas story with Tiny Tim. We were looking in on them from the outside. We watched them wake up, scared, crying, searching. After a while, they started to care for each other, rummaging the cabinets. I saw the fear in their eyes. It was BREAKING my heart. I don't know how long it lasted, but after pushing the snooze button a few times, it kept reoccuring. We never got the chance to comfort them, we never got the chance to calm their fears.

I was still in that dreamy state when I questioned why God was allowing me to see this? Why must I witness this dream over and over? Why am I watching my kids hurting? Why can't I do anything about it? Then the dream turned towards the orphans. The number ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY SEVEN MILLION (147 million) kept flashing as I saw the faces of children around the world hurting.

I woke up in a cold sweat. My heart HURT. As their father, I could not imagine seeing my children with so much hurting. God, as our Heavenly Father is looking at 147 million that are hopeless, defending for themselves without someone to care for them, without someone to teach them about His love. His questions are aimed back at us. What are you (His church) doing about my children? How can you make me watch this? Why are you just watching my children hurting?

As a body of believers we need to ask ourselves how did we get to this point? More importantly, how are we going to change it? I implore you to seek Christ and His heart for the orphan.
James 1:27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

I didn't really plan on sharing this, but it has been nagging at me all day. I have stayed up an hour later than normal, but I don't really want to go to sleep. I don't want to go back to the dream world. It is not easy getting your heart broken. Maybe I should stop praying that God would show me His heart. Just kidding. I will continue to boldly pray that God will teach me.