Stepping out on faith

Well...so much for blogging every week!! Maybe I should set my goal for once a month..ha! We just enjoyed a week of camping at the lake with the whole family...parents, in-laws, and my brother's family. We had a great time. After returning home, I just realized that I only have a little over one week of summer break before I go back to work with inservice and getting my room ready for my new class! Where did my summer go? At least time is passing quickly now. I'm sure it will seem to slow way down when we get closer to a referral.

Since this blog is mainly set up to document our adoption journey, I wanted to share some thoughts about stepping out on faith. That's what we did with this adoption. We knew we wanted and needed to adopt again, but didn't know how it would be possible. We just took that first step and had faith that it would happen. Since then, God has proven to us that he is in charge and we give him the thanks. Lately we have talked to several people that wanted to adopt, but didn't know if they could afford it. So for those that have thought about adoption, but have been discouraged by the cost, I want to share a little of our story. After Zion came home, I knew that I wanted to adopt again someday. It didn't take too much to convince Robert. His only concern was the financial side of it. Although we have the money to care for a third child, the $25,000 - $30,000 that it will take to bring that child home was really scary to us. We just did a lot of praying and discussing the possibility. After about two years, we decided to go for it. We had no idea where the money would come from, but had faith that if it was meant to be God would provide. We knew it would take a lot of hard work on our part. We immediately begin doing various fundraisers. I kept a record of every dime that we raised, saved, or was donated to us. I also kept track of all the money that we spent. Five months into our process, I sat down and added both lists. The money we spent was within $20 of what we had raised!!! Somehow, we managed to raise over 7 thousand dollars. That same week, we needed to mail our agency $250 and we received a donation a couple of days before mailing it for exactly $250. We are still a long way from having enough money; but somehow, every time we needed the money it was there. We are now 8 months into our adoption and have managed to raise enough to pay for the next step in the process. We are still a little concerned about where the rest of the funds will come from, but we are working hard and have several more fundraisers planned. We have had so many people help us by volunteering at our fundraisers, donating items for our yard sale, donating money, etc. We are grateful to many people, but most of all to God. With him all things are possible! So, if you are considering adoption, please don't let the money stand in your way. Where there is a will...There is a way!!