Posted on 07/29/2016
BIG prayer recently answered: the home study is completed and in review!! This is such an exciting step in our process because we had a goal set to have it completed by the end of April but for one reason or another the whole process kept getting delayed.
Now we have a new set of BIG prayer requests:
- Our agency just called and told us that our contact in Africa is really pressing for us to get all our documents in. (This adds a little stress but it is mostly an answer to the specific prayer I’ve been praying that the person handling all our documents in Africa would be motivated, driven, efficient, and well organized to help move the process along as quickly as possible.) In order to submit the documents we also have to submit the next lump of funds ($12,000.00). Though we have already been incredibly blessed with so many donations, this is still a huge prayer request because we are still financially recovering from the last $12,000.00 we paid with the Referral Acceptance Documents.
- Knowing that our agency wants this next set of funds by Monday is pushing us to look into loan options. We have been praying that we could fund this whole adoption process through our own savings, income, donations, and grants in order to stay out of debt. But those things all take more time than a single weekend.
- Pray for safety for our girls! Many of you know my sister, Grace, is on a missions trip in Africa. She has been telling us all sorts of things about the area and country, good and bad, especially about the orphanage that she is staying in. Things like how the orphanage mother loves the children but can’t love them all the way a mother would. How there are new puppies that the kids love to play with but they are dirty and have mange and the kids don’t wash up after playing with them. How kids she has met were starved and abandoned because their family’s superstition. How the orphanage has no running water, utensils and dishes to eat with, ways to clean hands, just enough food, a refrigerator that barely works, etc. And this is a GOOD orphanage in the area. We knew Africa was like this, but having my sister there, seeing everything first hand is just bringing it all to our attention more than usual. We can only imagine the conditions our girls are living in, what it must be like for them to have been abandoned, and how long they can stay healthy in these conditions. Every day that goes by that we cannot send in our papers and the funds with them delays the adoption process. Which delays us being able to bring our girls home into a safe, healing, loving, and nurturing environment.
****For those of you who are hearing about our adoption for the first time, here is a condensed back story:
At that time we didn’t know why or how. Matthew was only two months old, we were renting, and Matt was still in school. But God’s calling was clear. Since then, we have been praying and waiting for God to prepare us and show us the right time. It wasn’t until February of 2016 that we felt God urging again, doors began to open, and He laid on our hearts Waiting Children. Children who are waiting and ready to be adopted, are not because there isn’t an adoptive family waiting for them. Typically, this is because of their age or special needs or the families who would adopt them don’t have the large amount of money it would take.
Having siblings that need to be placed together is considered a special need. Siblings are often separated to make it easier for them to be placed. Though it is almost twice as much to adopt a sibling group, it is clear where our hearts are being led. Then it happened; we found our twin girls from Africa! Our home study wasn’t even completed but we knew these were the girls God had been placing on our hearts since Matthew was two months old. The day that God put adoption on our hearts five years ago, was literally 10 days after our girls were born. We never expected to find these children so quickly!
What does this mean? Adah and Ayana are Waiting Children, so all of the fees (about $39,500 plus travel expenses) are due very quickly. Yikes! Therefore, we come to you, and humbly ask for your help.
Put yourself on Adah and Ayana’s Map: The name of each person who donates any service, talent, item, or amount will be written on a map we painted for our girls. The map will be a tangible, visual keepsake for our whole family to have that shows all the people who have loved us, helped us, and prayed for us during our wait to bring them home. It will speak of God’s awesome provision and how He will pay for the mission He has ordered. We are most of all excited to see God’s hand in this whole process. Thank you for your prayers and support!
