Adoption Update!

Thanks so much for responding quickly to our request for prayer yesterday. We got THE CALL today from the agency in Las Vegas telling us that if we want the baby, he's ours! We have been praying and processing all day ... this is what we have dreamed of for so long. Can it actually be happening? I mean, we have so tried not to push this. We have moved really slowly on our home study, which is still a week away from completion. We have not yet submitted applications to adoption agencies. We have four young children and are pregnant. Through all of this we have questioned and prayed and asked again and again if we are on the right track and every time God has responded with an unequivocal YES! From Paul's raise at the beginning of our home study (which has covered all our adoption expenses so far) to the continued peace we have had (in the midst of our minds telling us we must be crazy) to the fact that we have done NOTHING to get this baby ... He is literally being offered to us without our having done any of the mounds of paperwork and applications and sending out of our profile to several agencies, being presented to different birth moms, waiting to be chosen ... none of that. We were simply called and asked if we were interested, and we say yes! What is this? It must be God, because it certainly isn't our doing, and it isn't what we were prepared to expect.

When I found out that I was pregnant, the first thing I did was to pray, "Lord, what is this about? Are we ahead of you on adoption?" (In my mind, being pregnant could very possibly end our chances of adopting.) "Did we really hear you when we felt you said now is the time? All we want to do is be obedient to you. We don't NEED to adopt. We have plenty of children by birth. But we have such a burden to provide a home to one or more of Your precious orphans. Are we disqualified? Is this not what You have for us?" And then I opened my Bible to continue my daily reading where I had left off the day before. The chapter before me was John 21, and the words came alive as living manna to my heart. The disciples had been fishing all night with no success, and then Jesus came and told them to throw their nets on the other side of the boat. They wondered, is it really Him? (I was asking the same question, is this really You, Lord, telling us to adopt right now?) They did what He said and then their nets were so full that they couldn't pull them into the boat, but their nets didn't break. I asked God how this applied to me, and He said, "I have an abundance for you, so much that you cannot pull it in without Me. But your nets will not break!" This was challenging to me, but encouraging, so I read on. Later in the chapter, Jesus' question to Peter again pierced my heart. "Do you love Me?" Yes, Jesus, you know that I love you. So very, very much. "Then feed my lambs." Is that all You really need to be able to use me, Lord? Just my love for You? Well, You have it. If You can use it to feed Your lambs, then bring on the lambs. I may not have much wisdom or energy or natural resources, but I do have love for You. You are welcome to use me to feed Your lambs, and I will trust You to provide for everything we need.

That morning conversation with the Lord has stuck with me the past couple of months as we have continued to say "yes" to adoption. We have known that there is not much we can do to convince anyone to "let" us adopt given our somewhat unusual situation (not being an infertile couple and pregnant). But we also knew that if this is what God had for us, then nothing would stand in the way of Him bringing the child He intended for us into our home. We simply did our part to be ready.

So at this point we need your continued prayers. We will be talking to the agency tomorrow to let them know that we are willing to adopt this precious little boy and to work out the details. Please pray that we have favor with them, especially regarding the finances. We are hoping they will be able to come down a bit on the adoption fees, which we have been told will come to about $23,000. We know that the money is no problem for God, but we want to do our part in being good stewards. Also, we will be doing some quick fund raising and applying for financial aid because part of the fees will be due immediately and the rest (I believe) when he is born. So we don't have much time. But ultimately, that's God's problem, not ours, since this was all His idea in the first place. We are praying and believing to be able to do this without going into debt.

Please pray with us that if this is our son, nothing will stop him from coming into our home!