By His Grace

"Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work"  Mother Teresa

I'm finally beginning to see the bigger picture. The greater hand of God. I've been terribly discouraged. When we committed to Shannon, the adoption of our son, Ethan was supposed to be finalized. We were within days of it. Ethan was supposed to be home, enjoying life with his family. We knew that Shannon's adoption process would take at least a year. We would take that year and keep active with life and before we knew it, Shannon would be home. 

It didn't work out that way. Ethan didn't end up coming home from the hospital. He had one complication after another. Thus, the adoption could not be finalized. We spent months working to advocate for our son and find a solution that would be in his best interest. We spent months trying to keep life moving smoothly, maintaining normalcy for our children at home, and doing our best. 

When we committed to Shannon we were blessed to be able to pay for the upfront fees as they came in. We didn't need to fundraise. We didn't need to fall on our knees and rely on GOD. We could do it on our own. 

He doesn't want us to do it on our own. He has made that abundantly clear.  

As time went on and the struggles with our son continued, there were days I lost faith in most of humanity. How could people not care about this precious boy? Why couldn't they put their opinions aside and do what was best for this baby who has spent nearly 16 months of his life in a hospital. 

And as we were tending to our son, God was working. He was busy restoring my faith in humanity.

Amazing, beautiful friends(though many were even strangers) who care about our family and our beautiful Shannon. People were praying. People were donating. At our weakest...and we were carried.

And my heart has been renewed. 

Every single prayer and donation has been more appreciated than any one of you could ever imagine. We fall on our knees before God, choke back the tears and rejoice with every single one. I wish there were words that could do justice to our thanks. 

I hope you all know this…if you have prayed, if you have donated…YOU have directly contributed to rescuing this child. A little girl, already transferred, already living in a mental institution…you will help bring her home. Maybe we all aren’t in a position to adopt, but we all can do something. 

“The King will reply ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me’ ”

Sending Love Across The Ocean

We are so blessed that our sweet friend is bringing a gift to our girl! We were able to send a blanket especially for Shannon to use on her bed. From our heart to hers. We also sent along some photo books of our family for the director to see.

Our children very carefully chose the softest, prettiest blanket they could find. We must have spent hours searching for the "perfect one". They were so proud to send it off.

We are praying that our friend is able to see Shannon and take new pictures for us. We are eager to make sure that she is doing well and to see her beautiful face again.

Amazing how this blanket, chosen with so much love, will soon keep our little princess warm...

Giveaway Extended!

We are going to extend our Fundraiser Giveaway with the addition of some NEW prizes!

Our Giveaway will end December 12th and winners will be randomly selected and announced December 13th. Anyone who shares on Facebook or Twitter will also be entered to win!

$100 Amazon Gift Card 



$100 Target Gift Card

Mystery Gift

$5,500 is the magic number. That is the amount we will need to submit with our dossier. The quicker we raise the money, the quicker we can submit.

We simply can’t do it alone.

550 people commit to $10

220 people commit to $25

110 people commit to $50

100 people commit to $100

It’s certainly nothing God can’t provide.

I’m asking if you will prayerfully consider committing to Shannon.

I would love to see Him move this mountain…

We are going to offer a Fundraiser as incentive to raise these funds…

$10= 1 chance
$50= 25 chances
$100= 50 chances

Please make your donation to our Chip In on the upper left side of the blog. Winners will be announced(randomly selected) November 30!

We are offering the following prizes!

Apple iPad 2

A $150 gift certificate to Planet Jill(thank you to Planet Jill for contributing to our fundraiser!). Custom Charm necklaces and bracelets.

A beautiful Zulugrass multi-strand necklace from the Leaky Collection(Handcrafted by Maasai women of Kenya).

Kindle Fire (this will be released by the time our winners are selected)

Scentsy Gift Basket

We want to again thank each and every one of you who have donated and to those that have so graciously contributed the gifts for this fundraiser. In the midst of all the heartache that is surrounding us, we are able to have this little glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel. Working to bring our daughter home has brought us peace. We don’t have the solution for everything, but to one little girl in Eastern Europe, there is an answer. And we will do what it takes to bring her home…

Let God Write Your Story

Are you courageous enough? Do you have big enough faith? It takes a huge leap to hand God the keys to your life and let Him take control. It's an issue that I've been dealing with in many aspects of my life, including this adoption.

We talk about faith all the time...but, have you ever stepped back and just let that faith work?

Personally, I'm struggling with that right now. There is always this stubborn part of me that seems to forget we work in God's time...not mine.

I look at this adoption and see the work it's going to take. We are a long way from our goal of $5,500. Our Dossier is ready for submission. And we can't submit till the money is there. We have 2 weeks left until our fundraiser is over. And then what? I've stood in awe as I've watched God work in other families to bring them down to the very last penny. And then, I turn and look at our own huge mountain and wonder how it's going to move.

My faith is not as great as I sometimes believe.      

So, what would happen if I stood back and let God write this story? Truly, if I have enough faith, I would. And yet, I'm afraid that if I do, it won't happen.

"Immediately, Jesus held out His hand and caught him. "You of little faith" he said "Why did you doubt?"  Matthew 14:31

Having little faith holds us back from allowing ourselves to marvel at the full works of God. If we were not restrained by little faith, how many of us would move forward to adoption? I know that the biggest factor for most people is money...what if we all stepped out in faith?

Have you ever noticed...doubt and failure go hand and hand?

Tonight, I gave it to God..."Lord, write my story..."

One little girl in Bulgaria, one way to get her home, one God of miracles to do it...

I Choose To Move

"The only cure for grief is action."

What would the world be like if we did not act? For me, the better part of my day is spent acting, rather than simply thinking. I act when I care for my family, when I homeschool my children, when I work, when I cook, when I manage my household. I act when I pick up my Bible, when I pray...quite simply, I choose to move.

Years ago, we felt the call to adopt..to care for the orphans. We knew it wasn't the most ideal time. We wanted biological children, wanted to be established. I'm not spontaneous, I wanted to plan. I needed the idea to take shape before I could act. In other words, life took precedence to that call.  

And so we waited. 

Children grew, life happened. 

And there was that call again. 

This time there was no reason to wait. We had to act. 

The grief, the heartache that consumes these children is eye opening.  And the cure, the only solution is action. 

To choose to move. You could choose to sit and wait for the right time, the perfect circumstances, the ideal life. But you could be choosing to wait forever. 

What would happen if, instead, you chose to move? If you took the first step and found an agency? If you committed to a child? Committed to a family? Chose to fund a child so a family could step up? Chose to fund a family so a child could come home? There may be only one way to grieve, but there are many, many ways to act. And the only cure for grief...is action 

Never Forgotten Friday

Kade



RESILIENT

Tiana



STRONG


Andrue



COURAGEOUS


Dasha



PERFECT


Madden



HOPEFUL


Veronika



BEAUTIFUL


Kolya



INNOCENT


Unlimited potential. Capable of love. Deserving of a chance.

Smiling through it all. Abandoned...unloved...how many of us would still have hearts so pure?