July 7, 2012
When adopting, there are a few big steps within the numerous little ones.
Today we get to let you guys know of one of those big steps.
Would love for you all to watch this quick video!
June 26, 2012
Patience.
We’ve only just begun the adoption process and I feel as if this word keeps coming to my mind. People who walked before us in adoption told us the hardest part is the waiting. This is only the first of the two waiting periods. The second (after you receive an assignment) is the hardest.
Luckily, we’ve had a few things to do to help pass the time. For example, we just got our USCIS approved yesterday! For those who don’t know, (which is probably everyone) USCIS is basically getting approval from immigration so we can adopt. So that’s a good thing! It was one of those forms you had to fill out just right otherwise they wouldn’t accept it. No big deal, but it is another step closer.
It’s hard to believe, but since our last update (15 days ago) we’ve raised 85%!!! All this has happened so quickly, it’s hard to comprehend. When people give, my wife and I just look at each other in disbelief. Not that we didn’t have faith in the Lord, but that He allows us to play a part in all of this is just overwhelming.
Thank you for all you guys have done for us. Keep praying for finances, but also that the Lord is using this time to shape Kim and I into the parents we’re suppose to be.
God is good.
June 11, 2012
Sorry It’s been so long since I’ve updated!
Since the last update, we received our home study in the mail! That means we can now apply for grants! We’ll start those applications this week and see if we’re able to receive any of them. We’ve also be blessed and humbled by those who continue to feel led to give toward our adoption. I know we keep saying this, but there are really no words that we can express to say thanks.
Get ready to be blown away, but with the donations, side jobs, and bracelet sales, we’ve raised 62%!!
Are you kidding?! The Lord is so good to us!
I’ll keep all of you updated (more than I have been recently) about this process and every step of this journey.
May 20, 2012
Again, we can’t thank everyone enough for all the encouragement and support we’ve received! This past week has been so overwhelming!
“There’s no room for pride on this journey.” I tweeted this sentence yesterday because this is how my wife and I really feel. You never know how much pride you have built up in yourself until you start receiving support from people. It’s a strange combination of emotions. One is an overwhelming sense of understanding of God’s grace which produces pure humility. The other is guilt. Guilt because you know you did nothing to receive this goodness from people so it’s hard to truly accept it (which is our flesh trying to push through).
I think we felt that this week would be just a simple “Hey, we’re adopting!” and that would be it. It ended up being a spiritual journey with the Lord. One that would strip away all our pride and desires of control and would leave us with nothing but trusting the Lord. Which I guess all big decisions should probably be.
In a lot of ways, this week has been the Body of Christ being the Body of Christ. Giving a gift that we don’t deserve nor could ever repay. Thank You.
At the end of the week, we ended up with 38% raised! Are you serious?! Again, thank you so much!!
My wife has been working on selling some bracelets to go toward our adoption! She has them listed on her etsy site which you can go to here http://www.etsy.com/shop/freshentity.
I’ll be posting some details on the photography class I’ll be doing soon! We’re looking at June 23rd for the date.
We love all of you guys!
May 14, 2012
We are so humbled by today. There are really no words to express our thankfulness for all the emails, messages, and support from everyone. We continue to stand amazed and in awe of the Lord. Thank you for allowing Him to use all of you today.
By the end of the day, we had already raised 25% of what we need to bring home our child! Totally blown away! We can’t believe so many people would be so gracious to us. Thank you again!!
We’ll be spending the next couple of days responding to everyone’s messages and hope our story somehow encourages all of you.
We’ll keep everyone updated!
God is good.
May 13, 2012
If you would like to give toward our adoption fund
please click the “donate” button!
From my wife:
“My endurance has perished: so has my hope from the Lord…But this I call to mind, and therefore, I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I will hope in him. The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.”
Lam. 3:18, 21-25
There is such value in one’s story. I am amazed by how the Lord shows that to each of His children. Our story is none more important than another’s, and my prayer is that I am able to fully give testimony to all the ways He has been evident, faithful, and good to us in ours. His Story has sustained our own daily, really moment-by-moment.
Truly the gift of life guiding us in our journey to a new little life.
Our journey to adoption seems to have begun long before we were even aware. The ways the Lord works on our behalf without our knowing is something I am constantly amazed by. Sometime in the beginning of our journey of going to the Lord on behalf of our longing for a child, the Lord gave me Romans 4 to cling to. He showed me the testimony of Abraham’s faith and how “without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about 100 years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God.” Although the Lord had not given me the promise of having a child by way of natural birth, I still could cling to the promises of who He was and His word to be faithful to His people. I had begun to live out for myself the truth of Mark 9 as I cried out “I believe…help my unbelief.” Longing to trust He had a plan and He was leading, but still having days I struggled to believe. Yet, His faithfulness is true. He was pruning and developing our family tree in ways we could not have known. Asking us to have faith when we could not see. And continuing to sustain us with His Word, allowing us to truly experience the fact that,
“blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
He was pruning and being the true Vine, bearing fruit in us, and allowing us to realize the reality of John 15 that apart from Him we can do nothing. We were at His mercy to fulfill our longing to have children. It has been a temptation to look at our journey to having children as a drought; dormant; barren. However, we stand in awe of Him who has sustained and allowed us to see that He was forming a child for us all along. His ways are far higher than my own. I never imagined our story would be intertwined with another’s across the world.
For to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever. Eph. 3:20-21
The details of our story lie in the fact that we have completed all of the paperwork and home study process for international adoption and are overjoyed to announce that WE ARE WAITING ON A REFERRAL OF A BABY FROM SOUTH KOREA! We truly covet your prayers and are deeply thankful for your part in going to the Lord on our behalf.
We also are sincerely grateful to all who feel led to give toward our adoption. We are attempting to raise quite a bit of money through different available adoption grants, photography sessions, photography classes, and a few of my own little “crafty” contributions. The beginning stages of this program goes quite fast, which means the funds are needed sooner than other programs. We are looking at raising this money in what seems to be an unrealistic timeframe; 4-6 MONTHS! This can only happen with the Lord and your help. We don’t have the time and dates set for the fundraisers we mentioned above, but we will keep you guys updated! Grant has also made a paypal available for those who feel led to give a donation at any point.
Please know it is a most humbling experience to be loved in this way. We have already been completely overwhelmed with how the Lord uses His people to bless us.
We would love for you to continue to see our story unfold and also would love for you to be a part.
“Come and see what God has done: how awesome his works in man’s behalf.” Psalm 66:5