We got home from the beach last Saturday and were so excited to find our letters from The Department of Homeland Security waiting on us. They scheduled our appointments for fingerprinting for Thursday morning so we traveled to Charleston, West Virginia to have our finger prints taken for immigration approval and that is the last thing we have to do right now! I absolutely loved checking this item off of my list! This appointment came a few weeks earlier that we had anticipated so I know that God is getting us there as quickly as possible...His child is waiting!
The next thing on my list is coming up with the money to bring our child home. God has provided in AMAZING ways over the last month and I want to give you just a couple of examples...
A couple of months ago, Adam needed to take a few things to the dump and so he drove our Jetta over to his parents house and picked up their truck to use for the evening. He left our Jetta parked in their driveway and unbeknownst to us, there was a hail storm while our car was there. Adam went back and dropped the truck off and picked up our car and we never even noticed that there was any damage. A couple of weeks later, a family member (who lives in the same neighborhood as Adam's parents) asked us if we had any damage to our car. I had no idea what they were talking about but soon found out that there had been a hail storm while our car was parked there so we went outside and looked at our car and sure enough...there were little hail dings on our car. Well...we thought about calling our insurance company but we looked into what our deductible was and since we are trying to come up with money right now instead of spending it, we decided we wouldn't worry about it...it's just a car anyways. Well a couple of months went by and someone had mentioned to me in a conversation that they had hail damage to their car so they turned it into their insurance and were given a check to have their car fixed. So the wheels started turning in my head. I thought, "well, even if it is only a few hundred dollars, we could put that money towards our adoption." So I googled whether it was illegal to collect money from your insurance company if you were not going to fix the vehicle and since I found many sites that confirmed there was nothing illegal about this (believe me, I did come across a lot of sites saying that this was a really stupid thing to do because the value of your car has dropped significantly), I called Adam and asked him, "do you think we should get an estimate on the hail damage on the car?" So Adam agreed we should look into it and he took the car for an estimate a couple of days later and I could not believe how much money they gave us! Are you ready... $3,600! It just so happens that small pieces of hail hit every panel of our car :-) A few years ago, if someone asked me if they should do this...take the money they should take to repair their car and use it for something else, I would have said, "absolutely NOT!" But I thought this over and prayed about it and I came to the conclusion that God cares more about our child than he does about what my car looks like! I am sure that Eva will be a little sad when she gets this car at the age of 16 to drive and it has little dents all over it but I hope once we tell her this story, she will love her God for his provision :-)
A few weeks ago, I was at Bible study one evening and I had a conversation with a friend (and family member) about fundraising. She is raising money to go on The World Race which is an eleven month long mission trip she is going on in January...you can read about it here http://alisonstultz.theworldrace.org/ . She was asking me what fundraising events we had planned so far so that she could make sure she didn't do anything on the same date (we both go to the same church and are in the same family so we really don't want to do one on the same day!) I told her that we had a Pampered Chef, Silpada, Scentsy, Thirty-One party coming up in October and we had an Applebee's pancake breakfast in November (believe me, you will be hearing more about these soon!) After our conversation, we sat down to watch the video and I really felt like the Holy Spirit was telling me to give her half of the money from both of our upcoming events. And for about 5 seconds, I am not proud to admit this, but I thought, "God, we still need $10,000, are you sure we should give half to her?" So for the rest of the video I was partly paying attention and partly praying about this and I knew what I needed to do. I told her right after the video was over that we wanted to give her half of the fundraising for these two events and she was really excited! I went home that night and as soon as I walked in the door I told Adam what I did and he was really excited too...I confessed to Adam that I struggled for a few minutes on whether to do this and he told me what we always tell each other...be obedient and He will handle the rest. Well...the next morning, I prayed about this and told God how sorry I was for doubting him and for being selfish and then I went on about my day. We had a lot planned that day and after I took the kids to the library for story time, we went over to someones house for lunch. After lunch, right before we were leaving, they handed me a very large check. I was overwhelmed with gratefulness and for the confirmation from God at the exact time that I needed it....He is going to provide for this and I don't need to worry about how He is going to do it. I hope that you do not read this story as me bragging about giving some of the money away but that you will see that I am selfish and God still loves me! That He calls us to be obedient, even when it doesn't make sense to us and He will reward you for your obedience...it might not be here on earth but you will be rewarded :-)
He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it." Luke 11:28
So now our total fundraising is at $20,355.52! We have raised $20,355.52 since June (and when I say "we", I in no way think I had anything to do with this!)! We give praise and glory to God for every dollar we have been given so far and trust that he will provide the almost $10,000 more that we need!
Keep praying for our child :-) I can't wait for you to meet them!
Friday, September 28, 2012
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
He changed everything.
Hi Everyone! We are in the process of filling out applications for different grants for the adoption and we could really use your prayers! Please pray for endurance for us as we fill out the many, many forms that go along with these! God is continuing to financially provide for this in amazing ways and we are so thankful...there will be more to come on that soon!
On another note...I had a few thoughts I felt like sharing so if you feel like reading :-)
I have been reading "The Story" over the summer while I was out of Bible study. It is a book that came out in the last couple of years that is described in the title as being "The Bible as one continuing story of God and His people." Basically, it is the Bible written as somewhat of a novel. I got to the part of the book where the story changes from the Old Testament to the New Testament and the author wrote a brief introduction to the New Testament where he said,
"But God's story wasn't finished. "When the set time had fully come," as the apostle Paul put it, God spoke again - this time in the person of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, whose birth, life, death and resurrection changed everything."
This statement has come to my mind so often in the last week that I find myself reflecting on the ways that Jesus Christ changed everything in my life. When I really sit back and think of all the ways he has changed me, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the grace and forgiveness he has freely extended to me.
I will start somewhere in the middle of my story... I did not know the Lord growing up. I had heard of God and I had even been to church when I was young but during the years where I really feel like a person "grows up" I did not attend church regularly. This was very evident in my life as a middle schooler, high schooler and even young college student. Somewhere during the first year after college, I began to question what life was really all about and thankfully I turned to the God I had learned about all those years ago. I would have said that I believed in God all throughout my life but I did not come to really know and love the Lord until my early twenties. I met Adam when I was twenty-four and God used him and his family to show me what being a follower of Christ really looked like. I have met many dear friends over the last seven years that have really showed me what putting flesh and bones to the gospel really looks like and I am so thankful to God for making my path meet theirs.
I believe that when you accept Jesus as your savior and have a relationship with the God of the universe, there is evidence of that in your life. The first confirmation of this in my life, that I remember, was at my ten year high school reunion. A friend of mine from high school, someone I hung out with after many Friday night football games, laughingly made the comment that if our class were to vote on "The Person Most Changed Since High school," that would definitely be Lynsey. I am not sure if he meant this to be funny, but I took it as a compliment. It was the first time I had seen a lot of my friends from high school in many years, even ones I was very close to and I am sure it was shocking to them to see me completely different. Jesus changed everything.
When I graduated from college, I got a job working at an accounting firm in downtown Roanoke. One morning I remember very clearly walking from my car in the parking garage to the large building where my office was located and I remember thinking to myself, "I finally did it!" Since middle school, my dream was to go to college, graduate, make enough money to fully support myself, work downtown, and wear a suit everyday. I know that sounds very funny to a lot of people but that really was what I wanted out of life. I really wanted to be materially wealthy and very good at what I did. Jesus changed everything.
When I was younger, I was very selfish....I was very, very interested in what made me happy. I had decided very early on that I did not want children. That will come as a huge surprise to some people and not so much of a surprise to those of you who knew me back then. I was very into whatever made me happy and I really could not see why someone would want to spend their life having children. I wanted to spend my life on me. Jesus changed everything.
Somewhere along the way, Jesus completely changed my life. I know how crazy that sounds to all of you who are reading this and are not Christians but, really, he did. Over the last eight years I have studied the Bible and developed a relationship with God and he has changed my desires. Over time, I started to understand who God was and what this life was really about and I know this will come as a shock to some of you but it was not about me! ha ha! I spent years of my life obtaining an education and working very hard to get the career that I wanted and then, just when I was getting exactly what I wanted, I quit work to stay at home with my kids. Children? I thought you didn't want any children? I know! He changed that too! Sometimes I look at my life and I think, what happened? Everything that you once held to be of such importance is gone. I know even friends and family members who knew the "old me" look at me now and really think I have lost it. I can see it in their eyes when I say something completely against our current culture and they think "she has lost it!" And I am so very happy to say, I have. Or atleast I am on my way to losing it. You see, Jesus said,
"For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it." Matthew 16:25
I read something the other day in "7, An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess," that just about wraps up my thoughts...
"The average human gets around twenty-five thousand days on this earth, and most of us in the United States of America will get a few more. That's it. This life is a breath. Heaven is coming fast, and we live in that thin space where faith and obedience have relevance. We have this one life to offer; there is no second chance, no plan B for the good news. We get one shot at living to expand the kingdom, fighting for justice. We'll stand before Jesus once, and none of our luxuries will accompany us. We'll have one moment to say, "This is how I lived." More than thirteen thousand of those days are over for me. I'm determined to make the rest count."
I feel like I wasted so many years doing what I wanted and I am going to attempt to "make the rest count." I know a lot of people would say that you only have this one life to live so why not live it having fun and doing exactly what you want to do? The funny thing is, I don't feel like I am doing things I don't want to do...God just changed my desires to match his. He has changed my heart so that what makes me happy is doing what makes him happy! And I am having way more fun now than I ever have in my life. I spend my days playing with the two most amazing kids (I know I am biased!) and I have the priveledge of getting on a plane to go get another one to love on! Who would have ever thought I would be a stay at home mom with three kids and married to one of the most amazing people I have ever met? Certainly not me...but Jesus changed everything.
Lynsey
On another note...I had a few thoughts I felt like sharing so if you feel like reading :-)
I have been reading "The Story" over the summer while I was out of Bible study. It is a book that came out in the last couple of years that is described in the title as being "The Bible as one continuing story of God and His people." Basically, it is the Bible written as somewhat of a novel. I got to the part of the book where the story changes from the Old Testament to the New Testament and the author wrote a brief introduction to the New Testament where he said,
"But God's story wasn't finished. "When the set time had fully come," as the apostle Paul put it, God spoke again - this time in the person of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, whose birth, life, death and resurrection changed everything."
This statement has come to my mind so often in the last week that I find myself reflecting on the ways that Jesus Christ changed everything in my life. When I really sit back and think of all the ways he has changed me, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the grace and forgiveness he has freely extended to me.
I will start somewhere in the middle of my story... I did not know the Lord growing up. I had heard of God and I had even been to church when I was young but during the years where I really feel like a person "grows up" I did not attend church regularly. This was very evident in my life as a middle schooler, high schooler and even young college student. Somewhere during the first year after college, I began to question what life was really all about and thankfully I turned to the God I had learned about all those years ago. I would have said that I believed in God all throughout my life but I did not come to really know and love the Lord until my early twenties. I met Adam when I was twenty-four and God used him and his family to show me what being a follower of Christ really looked like. I have met many dear friends over the last seven years that have really showed me what putting flesh and bones to the gospel really looks like and I am so thankful to God for making my path meet theirs.
I believe that when you accept Jesus as your savior and have a relationship with the God of the universe, there is evidence of that in your life. The first confirmation of this in my life, that I remember, was at my ten year high school reunion. A friend of mine from high school, someone I hung out with after many Friday night football games, laughingly made the comment that if our class were to vote on "The Person Most Changed Since High school," that would definitely be Lynsey. I am not sure if he meant this to be funny, but I took it as a compliment. It was the first time I had seen a lot of my friends from high school in many years, even ones I was very close to and I am sure it was shocking to them to see me completely different. Jesus changed everything.
When I graduated from college, I got a job working at an accounting firm in downtown Roanoke. One morning I remember very clearly walking from my car in the parking garage to the large building where my office was located and I remember thinking to myself, "I finally did it!" Since middle school, my dream was to go to college, graduate, make enough money to fully support myself, work downtown, and wear a suit everyday. I know that sounds very funny to a lot of people but that really was what I wanted out of life. I really wanted to be materially wealthy and very good at what I did. Jesus changed everything.
When I was younger, I was very selfish....I was very, very interested in what made me happy. I had decided very early on that I did not want children. That will come as a huge surprise to some people and not so much of a surprise to those of you who knew me back then. I was very into whatever made me happy and I really could not see why someone would want to spend their life having children. I wanted to spend my life on me. Jesus changed everything.
Somewhere along the way, Jesus completely changed my life. I know how crazy that sounds to all of you who are reading this and are not Christians but, really, he did. Over the last eight years I have studied the Bible and developed a relationship with God and he has changed my desires. Over time, I started to understand who God was and what this life was really about and I know this will come as a shock to some of you but it was not about me! ha ha! I spent years of my life obtaining an education and working very hard to get the career that I wanted and then, just when I was getting exactly what I wanted, I quit work to stay at home with my kids. Children? I thought you didn't want any children? I know! He changed that too! Sometimes I look at my life and I think, what happened? Everything that you once held to be of such importance is gone. I know even friends and family members who knew the "old me" look at me now and really think I have lost it. I can see it in their eyes when I say something completely against our current culture and they think "she has lost it!" And I am so very happy to say, I have. Or atleast I am on my way to losing it. You see, Jesus said,
"For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it." Matthew 16:25
I read something the other day in "7, An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess," that just about wraps up my thoughts...
"The average human gets around twenty-five thousand days on this earth, and most of us in the United States of America will get a few more. That's it. This life is a breath. Heaven is coming fast, and we live in that thin space where faith and obedience have relevance. We have this one life to offer; there is no second chance, no plan B for the good news. We get one shot at living to expand the kingdom, fighting for justice. We'll stand before Jesus once, and none of our luxuries will accompany us. We'll have one moment to say, "This is how I lived." More than thirteen thousand of those days are over for me. I'm determined to make the rest count."
I feel like I wasted so many years doing what I wanted and I am going to attempt to "make the rest count." I know a lot of people would say that you only have this one life to live so why not live it having fun and doing exactly what you want to do? The funny thing is, I don't feel like I am doing things I don't want to do...God just changed my desires to match his. He has changed my heart so that what makes me happy is doing what makes him happy! And I am having way more fun now than I ever have in my life. I spend my days playing with the two most amazing kids (I know I am biased!) and I have the priveledge of getting on a plane to go get another one to love on! Who would have ever thought I would be a stay at home mom with three kids and married to one of the most amazing people I have ever met? Certainly not me...but Jesus changed everything.
Lynsey
Friday, September 7, 2012
Drum Roll Please!
I cannot even put into words how excited I am to tell you...drum roll please....we have submitted everything required of us to European Adoption Consultants!!! Robin, our adoption consultant, should receive our package via FedEx today and she will review it for any errors...please pray there are NO errors, and then she will send it on to EAC's headquarters where it will be reviewed again and then it will be sent to Ghana. I have never before in my life prayed for a material item as much as I have for this packet of information on it's way to Texas. Please join me in praying that this package would make it everywhere it needs to go in one piece! After the package is received in Ghana, we will be put on the waiting list until our immigration approval is received and then, we should receive a referral for a child (the wait time right now is running four to six months). For those of you who do not know what a referral is (because until four months ago, I had no idea what a referral was), the government of Ghana will send us a picture of a child with any known background information as well as medical history and we have been instructed that we should talk to an international doctor regarding their medical issues and then either "accept or decline the child". I can tell you with absolute certainty that the first thing we will do is pray. I cannot image a situation where we would "decline" a child but we will pray unceasingly until we feel like we have heard from God on this. I cannot wait to see this little person! To know whether Eva and Eli will have a new sister or brother. To know what their name is and where they are living. To know whether or not I need extensive training in cornrows or just a little info on products :-) he he! I am so excited!!!!
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
"Maybe you prayed too hard!!!"
I received a phone call from a church member on Wednesday night that went like this,
"Lynsey, are you still having a yard sale THIS Saturday?"
"Yes, we are still planning on having it."
"Well, I am at the church and I was going to put my donations in the fellowship hall and there is nothing here."
"Don't worry, we have some stuff in our garage that people have donated and we moved a few things from the fellowship hall to our Sunday school classroom earlier in the week. I am sure we will have more things come in. Just keep praying!"
"Okay...I'll do that!"
I will have to admit that I was a little nervous when I got off the phone. I asked Adam, "What are we going to do if we don't have enough stuff to sell?" So I just kept praying that God would move people to donate things...and I prayed, and prayed, and prayed. Then, I went to church to meet a few hardworking volunteers on Thursday night at 6pm and I cannot even explain to you how much stuff we had! We had stuff in the fellowship hall, stuff in our Sunday school classroom, stuff spilling out into the hallways, stuff on trucks...we had so much stuff I was overwhelmed with what to do with it all! Everyone kept asking me if I was okay. I think I had that deer-in-headlights look on my face. My nervousness about not having enough to sell quickly turned into nervousness that we wouldn't be able to get it all out to sell it! We (I say we, like I was one of the men doing it!) moved 40 tables (that is EVERY table in our church building) into the fellowship hall to lay stuff out on and it still wasn't enough room! This is what the room looked like on Thursday night when we left...
And we didn't even have everything out yet! Grandpa Owen came over on Friday night and he asked me...
"Lynsey, what do you think of all this?"
"Well...I am a little overwhelmed! Owen, I prayed and prayed and asked God to please move people to donate things to this yardsale."
"Well, Lynsey, I think you might have prayed to hard!" ha ha!
We still had not touched about 1/3 of it! We hadn't moved any of the clothes (and there had to be atleast 1,000 peices of clothes)! We left at 11pm on Thursday night and I could not sleep, I was so nervous we weren't going to be able to get it all out on Friday night! Friday, we started again at 6pm and we worked and worked and worked and when we left at 11:30, it was atleast organized chaos! We resigned ourselves to the fact that all of the clothes could not be hung up (although they hung up a ton of it) and there was no way we were going to be able to price everything...there was just too much!
We arrived very chippper (well, atleast some of us!) at 6 am and began to move a lot of the stuff outside so that the room wasn't so crowded. We worked on the bake sale stuff and then at 6:50am we welcomed our first customer! And they kept coming, and coming and coming, until after 2pm! We never had a time when there were less than 10 people shopping! There was such a long line at one point that there were 4 of us just taking money!
It was an AMAZING day and I give all praise and glory to Jesus! We asked him to move people to donate things and he gave us so much stuff we couldn't even price it all! We asked him to bring people to buy the stuff and he brought hundreds of people, so many that after we had totally packed up at 3:15, there were still women looking through boxes of clothes! We prayed that we would make $1,600 because that is what we needed to submit our dossier to Ghana and he gave us over double what we asked for! All total, we made $3,326...at a yardsale!?!? Who makes $3,000 at a yardsale??? All I know is that we covered this event in prayer and this was just another confirmation that this is exactly what he wants us to do!
I want to thank EVERY person who helped make this day such a huge success! Thank you to everyone who donated stuff and baked goodies...and then came back to buy someone elses stuff! I would name everyone but I am sure that I would miss someone! Thank you to Scott, Joshua, and Bruce who moved every one of those 40 tables and a ton of stuff from different locations to the church. Thank you to Aunt Janice who came to drop a few things off and stayed for hours to help (mainly because I think she felt like I was in over my head...and she was right!). Thank you to Erica and Roxanne for helping to empty boxes and boxes of stuff! Thank you to Hazel who had a plan! Thank you to Kathy who was there before I was on Thursday and Friday and then left Friday night at 11pm and went home and made cookies for the bake sale before she came back at 6am on Saturday!!! Thank you to Peggy, Sarah, Lauren, Jason and Mom who hung up clothes until they couldn't hang up anymore (if you go to their houses and their clothes are on the floor, you can blame me! They probably never want to hang anything else up as long as they live!)! Thank you to Nicole for all the hangers!!! Thank you to Stephanie, Frank and Cindy for pricing hundreds of individual items! Thank you to Ashley and Caleb for making cards...they sold really well! Thank you to our parents who played with our kids while we did all of this (I know it was a joy but still, we thank you!). Thank you to Leigh for making all the bake sale stuff look pretty and for the coffee! Thank you to Wayne, Sam and Roger who came right in time to help clean everything up! Thank you to every person who prayed for this day! And thank you to Jesus who gave us the idea :-) Love you guys!
"Lynsey, are you still having a yard sale THIS Saturday?"
"Yes, we are still planning on having it."
"Well, I am at the church and I was going to put my donations in the fellowship hall and there is nothing here."
"Don't worry, we have some stuff in our garage that people have donated and we moved a few things from the fellowship hall to our Sunday school classroom earlier in the week. I am sure we will have more things come in. Just keep praying!"
"Okay...I'll do that!"
I will have to admit that I was a little nervous when I got off the phone. I asked Adam, "What are we going to do if we don't have enough stuff to sell?" So I just kept praying that God would move people to donate things...and I prayed, and prayed, and prayed. Then, I went to church to meet a few hardworking volunteers on Thursday night at 6pm and I cannot even explain to you how much stuff we had! We had stuff in the fellowship hall, stuff in our Sunday school classroom, stuff spilling out into the hallways, stuff on trucks...we had so much stuff I was overwhelmed with what to do with it all! Everyone kept asking me if I was okay. I think I had that deer-in-headlights look on my face. My nervousness about not having enough to sell quickly turned into nervousness that we wouldn't be able to get it all out to sell it! We (I say we, like I was one of the men doing it!) moved 40 tables (that is EVERY table in our church building) into the fellowship hall to lay stuff out on and it still wasn't enough room! This is what the room looked like on Thursday night when we left...
"Lynsey, what do you think of all this?"
"Well...I am a little overwhelmed! Owen, I prayed and prayed and asked God to please move people to donate things to this yardsale."
"Well, Lynsey, I think you might have prayed to hard!" ha ha!
We still had not touched about 1/3 of it! We hadn't moved any of the clothes (and there had to be atleast 1,000 peices of clothes)! We left at 11pm on Thursday night and I could not sleep, I was so nervous we weren't going to be able to get it all out on Friday night! Friday, we started again at 6pm and we worked and worked and worked and when we left at 11:30, it was atleast organized chaos! We resigned ourselves to the fact that all of the clothes could not be hung up (although they hung up a ton of it) and there was no way we were going to be able to price everything...there was just too much!
We arrived very chippper (well, atleast some of us!) at 6 am and began to move a lot of the stuff outside so that the room wasn't so crowded. We worked on the bake sale stuff and then at 6:50am we welcomed our first customer! And they kept coming, and coming and coming, until after 2pm! We never had a time when there were less than 10 people shopping! There was such a long line at one point that there were 4 of us just taking money!
It was an AMAZING day and I give all praise and glory to Jesus! We asked him to move people to donate things and he gave us so much stuff we couldn't even price it all! We asked him to bring people to buy the stuff and he brought hundreds of people, so many that after we had totally packed up at 3:15, there were still women looking through boxes of clothes! We prayed that we would make $1,600 because that is what we needed to submit our dossier to Ghana and he gave us over double what we asked for! All total, we made $3,326...at a yardsale!?!? Who makes $3,000 at a yardsale??? All I know is that we covered this event in prayer and this was just another confirmation that this is exactly what he wants us to do!
I want to thank EVERY person who helped make this day such a huge success! Thank you to everyone who donated stuff and baked goodies...and then came back to buy someone elses stuff! I would name everyone but I am sure that I would miss someone! Thank you to Scott, Joshua, and Bruce who moved every one of those 40 tables and a ton of stuff from different locations to the church. Thank you to Aunt Janice who came to drop a few things off and stayed for hours to help (mainly because I think she felt like I was in over my head...and she was right!). Thank you to Erica and Roxanne for helping to empty boxes and boxes of stuff! Thank you to Hazel who had a plan! Thank you to Kathy who was there before I was on Thursday and Friday and then left Friday night at 11pm and went home and made cookies for the bake sale before she came back at 6am on Saturday!!! Thank you to Peggy, Sarah, Lauren, Jason and Mom who hung up clothes until they couldn't hang up anymore (if you go to their houses and their clothes are on the floor, you can blame me! They probably never want to hang anything else up as long as they live!)! Thank you to Nicole for all the hangers!!! Thank you to Stephanie, Frank and Cindy for pricing hundreds of individual items! Thank you to Ashley and Caleb for making cards...they sold really well! Thank you to our parents who played with our kids while we did all of this (I know it was a joy but still, we thank you!). Thank you to Leigh for making all the bake sale stuff look pretty and for the coffee! Thank you to Wayne, Sam and Roger who came right in time to help clean everything up! Thank you to every person who prayed for this day! And thank you to Jesus who gave us the idea :-) Love you guys!
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
"I hope you know what you are doing..."
“I hope you
know what you’re doing…”
This is the
response I got this weekend from someone when they learned we are in the process
of adoption. So what did I respond with…
“I think we do.” This response is kind
of funny now that I think about it. Do
we ever really know what we are doing? I
usually don’t. Sometimes I think I have
a really great idea and it blows up in my face.
For instance, just this afternoon, I cleaned up from lunch, began to
prepare to make chocolate dipped pretzels with Eva, and put some bacon in a
frying pan so that I would have that ready for dinner tonight. Seemed like a good idea at the time but a
friend called to see if they could come by for a moment and I of course said “yes”
and then before I knew it, Eva was burning her hand on melted chocolate, Eli
was screaming, and the bacon was burning…all in front of our guest. I just laughed when she gave me a hug before
she left and said “I hope that your day gets better!” I told her, “Oh this isn’t a bad day, this is
pretty normal!” This story is for anyone
out there who ever thinks that I have everything “together.”
The truth is,
I have absolutely no idea if we really know what we are doing. All I know is that we are following God’s
plan for us right now and I am overjoyed in walking in obedience to him. We could have said “no” but we would have
been hypocrites. We have both accepted
Jesus Christ as our savior and in doing so have chose to die to ourselves and
live for him. We have decided to say “no”
to what the world thinks is normal and to embrace God’s plan for us. We are choosing to adopt a child because God
has adopted us. We live in this world and
love those around us because he first came and died. We are in no way perfect people, we are just
trying to live out what he has asked of us.
I am going to try to memorize that for my next response J
I have been
reading a few books lately about attachment disorders and various other things
that can “go wrong” when we bring our child home. These books have started to make me anxious
about bringing our child home and since God’s timing is perfect, he had a
perfect word for me. Two Sunday’s ago,
our associate pastor at Summerdean was preaching on fear and his question to us
was, “If you knew without a doubt that something would work out well, what
would you do?” My immediate thought went
to adoption. My fear is that this will
not work out well. The more I read about
attachment disorders, the more nervous I get.
The more people who tell us that our child will be black and how
difficult it will be to raise them as white parents, the more ill-equipped I
feel. The more people who pose the
question,” Do you really think you can do this?” the more I question whether we
really can. But the reason I feel this
way is because I am focusing on the problem instead of Jesus. A dear friend reminded me of this passage
earlier this week…
Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” Matthew 14:25-33
Jesus made Peter capable of walking on water, but what happened? Peter took his eyes off of Jesus and began to focus on his circumstances and then he began to sink. This reminded me to keep my focus on Jesus and never to doubt his plan.
So, No, I don’t know exactly what I am doing and I am not sure it is going to turn out perfect, but I do know that my God has promised this…
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28
Since I know that he has called us to do this, I am not worried about whether it is going to work out well. It is God’s plan and it will work out the way he wants it to.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
One or Two?
Thank you for all of your prayers! Our second interview and the home inspection with our social worker went great...at least I thought it did! I was very anxious about this interview and I am sooooo glad that is over! We should have a rough draft of our home study by the end of the week!!!
We have gone back and forth between adopting one child or two children since this began. At first, we decided we would like two for a few different reasons. One, because we wanted them to have a biological sibling, someone they looked like and connected with. Two, because if we are going to go all the way to Africa and adopt a child, why not bring home two? And three, because we have talked about having four children to complete our family so why not do the next two all at once. Then we decided that we probably shouldn't do two for a few reasons as well. One, because it was explained to us that sometime when you bring two children home that know each other, this can cause them to cling to each other instead of really connecting to your family. Two, because it costs more money to adopt two children. Three, can we do this? Bringing home a child from a different country and integrating them into our family is going to be very difficult, can we handle doubling the size of our family on top of that? And four, because, lets face it, two is exponentially harder than one. When I was pregnant with Eli, I really assumed that having two children would be twice as much work as having one. I think I was very wrong! Having two children is much, much more difficult than having one...at least for me. Along with that, two is twice the laughs, twice the hugs and exponentially more joy! Having said all of that, now it has come to the time where we have to put down on paper our requests...do we want one child or two? We know without a doubt that God will equip us to do what he is asking us to do so we are praying very hard for God's guidance in this and we would really appreciate it if you would join us. Please pray that he will reveal his will to us and that he would make it very clear to us.
Trusting in Him,
Lynsey
We have gone back and forth between adopting one child or two children since this began. At first, we decided we would like two for a few different reasons. One, because we wanted them to have a biological sibling, someone they looked like and connected with. Two, because if we are going to go all the way to Africa and adopt a child, why not bring home two? And three, because we have talked about having four children to complete our family so why not do the next two all at once. Then we decided that we probably shouldn't do two for a few reasons as well. One, because it was explained to us that sometime when you bring two children home that know each other, this can cause them to cling to each other instead of really connecting to your family. Two, because it costs more money to adopt two children. Three, can we do this? Bringing home a child from a different country and integrating them into our family is going to be very difficult, can we handle doubling the size of our family on top of that? And four, because, lets face it, two is exponentially harder than one. When I was pregnant with Eli, I really assumed that having two children would be twice as much work as having one. I think I was very wrong! Having two children is much, much more difficult than having one...at least for me. Along with that, two is twice the laughs, twice the hugs and exponentially more joy! Having said all of that, now it has come to the time where we have to put down on paper our requests...do we want one child or two? We know without a doubt that God will equip us to do what he is asking us to do so we are praying very hard for God's guidance in this and we would really appreciate it if you would join us. Please pray that he will reveal his will to us and that he would make it very clear to us.
Trusting in Him,
Lynsey
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Our Crazy Life...
I really thought our life couldn't get much crazier and then we entered the adoption process!!! I feel like I am constantly spinning ten plates at a time and at least once a day I hear something crash! ha ha! Seriously though, life is busy and I wouldn't have it any other way! I have to remind myself (usually during nap time) to sit down, take a deep breath and thank God for the AMAZING blessings he is giving us!
We have finally finished gathering all of the paperwork for our home study. We have both written our autobiographies, we all had our physicals, and all of our personal references have sent in their letters of recommendation to our social worker...this in itself is a HUGE thing! We have our second interview with our social worker on Thursday morning and prayers would be much appreciated! We have been warned that this will be a much more in depth interview and she will be asking a lot of questions about what we wrote in our autobiographies. I feel like we are being looked at under a giant microscope and this makes me very anxious! We will also be scheduling our "home inspection" during our meeting on Thursday for sometime next week and after that, we will know if we passed! I am so excited to be on the downhill slope of the home study!
Once we have passed (hopefully) the home study, we will gather the last few pieces of paperwork we have left to send in for our dossier and wait for our FBI clearances. I am praying this goes quickly and smoothly! And then the waiting begins...
So what's going on in the meantime???
I am praying, praying, praying! Praying for God's provision, for his protection for our child, for food for this little person and that he would provide someone to love and care for our child until we can bring them home.
I am reading, reading, reading!!! Everything I can about raising adopted children, trans-racial adoption and trying to learn as much as I can about Ghana. We just finished our adoption classes and these were very helpful! We went over all the things that could possibly go wrong and then what to look for and who to call if any of these things happen. I felt very inadequate every time we left these classes but I was quickly reminded that God will equip us to do what he has asked... he has promised us this!
We are fundraising like crazy! I feel like I am constantly planning something and God is constantly making me aware of his provision for this adoption! We have raised $12,429.77!!!!! I am not sure how to put into works how astonished I am at this number! We are 42% of the way there and every time I am overwhelmed by the amount we still have to raise, I feel God speak to me and tell me to relax...he has this covered! I am currently planning an "It Works" wrap party at my house on Thursday, August 9th. A friend of mine from high school is an "It Works" consultant and she contacted me out of the blue to see if I would like for her to do a party for me and give me all of the profits! I am in awe of the amazing generosity of God's children! If you are interested in coming, just let me know! We are also planning a yard sale for Saturday, August 18th and people have been calling and dropping stuff off at our house for us to sell since the moment I posted it on Facebook! People that I haven't talked to in years have called! People I don't know and people I would consider just acquaintances have dropped stuff off! It is so cool to see how God is working through his children to provide for this! I can't wait to see whats next!!!
Lynsey
We have finally finished gathering all of the paperwork for our home study. We have both written our autobiographies, we all had our physicals, and all of our personal references have sent in their letters of recommendation to our social worker...this in itself is a HUGE thing! We have our second interview with our social worker on Thursday morning and prayers would be much appreciated! We have been warned that this will be a much more in depth interview and she will be asking a lot of questions about what we wrote in our autobiographies. I feel like we are being looked at under a giant microscope and this makes me very anxious! We will also be scheduling our "home inspection" during our meeting on Thursday for sometime next week and after that, we will know if we passed! I am so excited to be on the downhill slope of the home study!
Once we have passed (hopefully) the home study, we will gather the last few pieces of paperwork we have left to send in for our dossier and wait for our FBI clearances. I am praying this goes quickly and smoothly! And then the waiting begins...
So what's going on in the meantime???
I am praying, praying, praying! Praying for God's provision, for his protection for our child, for food for this little person and that he would provide someone to love and care for our child until we can bring them home.
I am reading, reading, reading!!! Everything I can about raising adopted children, trans-racial adoption and trying to learn as much as I can about Ghana. We just finished our adoption classes and these were very helpful! We went over all the things that could possibly go wrong and then what to look for and who to call if any of these things happen. I felt very inadequate every time we left these classes but I was quickly reminded that God will equip us to do what he has asked... he has promised us this!
We are fundraising like crazy! I feel like I am constantly planning something and God is constantly making me aware of his provision for this adoption! We have raised $12,429.77!!!!! I am not sure how to put into works how astonished I am at this number! We are 42% of the way there and every time I am overwhelmed by the amount we still have to raise, I feel God speak to me and tell me to relax...he has this covered! I am currently planning an "It Works" wrap party at my house on Thursday, August 9th. A friend of mine from high school is an "It Works" consultant and she contacted me out of the blue to see if I would like for her to do a party for me and give me all of the profits! I am in awe of the amazing generosity of God's children! If you are interested in coming, just let me know! We are also planning a yard sale for Saturday, August 18th and people have been calling and dropping stuff off at our house for us to sell since the moment I posted it on Facebook! People that I haven't talked to in years have called! People I don't know and people I would consider just acquaintances have dropped stuff off! It is so cool to see how God is working through his children to provide for this! I can't wait to see whats next!!!
Lynsey
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