Well as the song says - "it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!" We actually had some snow flurries here in Georgia today. Pretty cool for us southerners. We are headed to both KY and OH for Christmas this year. We are excited to be able to see family!
Thanks so much to those who have given so far towards our adoption! We have received 36% of the funds it will require to adopt our 2 new kids! You all have been so generous towards God's rescue plan. It has been especially neat to hear your letters about how God has prompted and prepared your hearts to give.
All our paperwork is in Ethiopia. Please continue to pray for us and especially our 2 waiting children.
I can't let today pass without mentioning our excitement and congratulations to our friends Chris and Tanya on their recent adoption. They just returned from China on Friday night with Ian, their 5th child from China. You can read some remarkable stories from their trip at http://www.withsongsofjoy.blogspot.com/.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Saturday, October 30, 2010
On the Wait List!
Saturday, July 31, 2010
The Latest News
Sorry it has been a while since we updated everyone! Sara has been working so hard for the last couple months bringing together all the paperwork necessary to send over to Ethiopia. Monday, August 2nd, we have our CIS fingerprint appointment in Atlanta. This is one of our last steps prior to sending over our "dossier". The dossier includes all our paperwork, home study, etc. Once the fingerprints are done we have to wait a few weeks for approval and then we can send everything over and our major paperwork phase is done. Then we will be on a waiting list for the Gladney workers in Ethiopia to match us with a child.
This is a picture of me and the kids at Queen of Sheba Ethiopian restaurant in Atlanta. The people there were so nice and the food was incredible. We visited there with our friends the Dales, who also adopting from Ethiopia!
In other news, we feel the Lord has confirmed in our hearts the fact that we are supposed to adopt 2 children! So that means Isaac will have a little brother or sister! Our kids are so excited and so are we!
One final note - God has been so faithful to provide financially so far, but we are almost out of funds. When our referral comes (that's when we get the picture of the children we have been matched with) we will need several thousand dollars at once. Also since the second child increases the cost (additional airfare, additional agency fees, etc...) we are asking for financial assistance with Isaac's little sister. The approximate cost to add a sibling to the adoption process is just $3500. Would any of you be willing to cover the cost of adopting her? Ask the Lord and if you think He wants you to help - you can send a check to us at our home or just click the map above to give online. Thank you SO MUCH for your willingness to be a part of God's rescue plan for these 2 children!
-Daniel
In other news, we feel the Lord has confirmed in our hearts the fact that we are supposed to adopt 2 children! So that means Isaac will have a little brother or sister! Our kids are so excited and so are we!
One final note - God has been so faithful to provide financially so far, but we are almost out of funds. When our referral comes (that's when we get the picture of the children we have been matched with) we will need several thousand dollars at once. Also since the second child increases the cost (additional airfare, additional agency fees, etc...) we are asking for financial assistance with Isaac's little sister. The approximate cost to add a sibling to the adoption process is just $3500. Would any of you be willing to cover the cost of adopting her? Ask the Lord and if you think He wants you to help - you can send a check to us at our home or just click the map above to give online. Thank you SO MUCH for your willingness to be a part of God's rescue plan for these 2 children!
-Daniel
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Prophecy and the Pizza Man!
OK this is one you're not gonna believe but it's true! Sadie had some friends over for her 8th birthday Friday night and we ordered pizza from Papa Johns. I was out by the pool watching the kids and noticed Sara talking (or listening) to the pizza guy for an unusual amount of time. I didn't think much of it at the time - I just figured she knew him from somewhere. Later that night after most of the guest had left we were sitting around the table with some friends and she proceeds to tell me that the pizza delivery man had given her a word from the Lord! Seriously!
She had recognized him from a local restaurant where he used to work and they had a bit of small talk. Then he reluctantly told her he had a vision from God on his way to our house that he felt like he was supposed to share. He said he saw a fish in a fish bowl and that God was telling the fish that He wanted him to get out of his comfort zone. WOW! He started to walk away and Sara actually asked him to come back and repeat it just to make sure :) We've not had too many experiences like that in our lives where we had a word given to us from God like that. Obviously we are the fish but what is the area where God wants to stretch us? We have a pretty good idea but we're not 100% sure. We feel like God may be challenging us to adopt not 1 but 2 children from Ethiopia. I told Sara we should just keep ordering pizza from Papa Johns until He tells us for sure :) Anyway - keep us in your prayers!
She had recognized him from a local restaurant where he used to work and they had a bit of small talk. Then he reluctantly told her he had a vision from God on his way to our house that he felt like he was supposed to share. He said he saw a fish in a fish bowl and that God was telling the fish that He wanted him to get out of his comfort zone. WOW! He started to walk away and Sara actually asked him to come back and repeat it just to make sure :) We've not had too many experiences like that in our lives where we had a word given to us from God like that. Obviously we are the fish but what is the area where God wants to stretch us? We have a pretty good idea but we're not 100% sure. We feel like God may be challenging us to adopt not 1 but 2 children from Ethiopia. I told Sara we should just keep ordering pizza from Papa Johns until He tells us for sure :) Anyway - keep us in your prayers!
Monday, April 19, 2010
Paperwork and Progressive Revelation
Well we are now knee-deep in adoption paperwork! Who knew there was so many forms to fill out? (Oh, I guess we did!) It always amazes me to see the staggering amount of red tape it requires to adopt when you don't require any to create a bio kid! Anyway, we have chosen, by faith, to push forward as far as we can with the funds God has provided to this point. We are not sure exactly when or how God will provide next, but we know He will! In a way, it's very exciting. In a way, it's how we should be living every day. I read a great article today from our friend John Bently over at Harmony Outreach (www.HarmonyOutreach.org). Harmony has traditionally done ministry to orphans and needy families in China but God has recently been calling them to Ethiopia as well. Here's an excerpt from the front page article (written by John) from their April 2010 newsletter:
What a great statement about walking in faith! Sara and I find ourselves in similar circumstances. We are stepping out in faith and letting God provide! Our hearts are being pulled so strongly that we have to choice but to move forward. Please join us in praying for our son Isaac and for Harmony Outreach. And if you feel "compelled" as Paul did to help with our journey please click on the map above or email us to find out how you can give. Thanks and may God receive the glory!
Why am I going [to Ethiopia]? Because I feel "compelled" to go. What will happen when we get there? I don't know. I call this progressive revelation - meaning that often God does not give the whole plan, just the next step. Nine years ago when God called me to China, most of the counsel I received at that time was negative- I should not go, I was being irresponsible, it would all end in disaster. After all, I didn't speak the language, had never been to Bible school, had no background in Chinese, and had no support in place whatsoever. Yet when I went to the Lord in my quiet time, this is what I heard: "If any man would come after me he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it." (Matt. 16:24-25) In the nine years since, as best we can tell, nearly 1000 lives have been rescued, most of them vulnerable children. Once again I seem to be at a crossroads where a lot of the counsel I am receiving would tell me to wait - that Harmony lacks the resources to start a new work in another country. But I can't help but remember how I had only $5,000 when God called me to start Harmony House. It should have been wholly inadequate, but in just a few years our orphans have been adopted by families all over the world. The truth is that I have never had the resources to do anything God has called to me to do. Following God by faith has always required that I step into the desert trusting that He will supply manna from heaven to meet our needs as we go. I don't want to wait any longer. If we rescued 1000 children in nine years in China, what will happen in Ethiopia?"
What a great statement about walking in faith! Sara and I find ourselves in similar circumstances. We are stepping out in faith and letting God provide! Our hearts are being pulled so strongly that we have to choice but to move forward. Please join us in praying for our son Isaac and for Harmony Outreach. And if you feel "compelled" as Paul did to help with our journey please click on the map above or email us to find out how you can give. Thanks and may God receive the glory!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Dessert with Neighbors
We recently had dinner with some neighbors down the street who have adopted 2 beautiful girls from Ethiopia. They are 6 and 11 and they are so sweet and fun! They just came home 9 months ago and they speak such terrific English. It's really amazing. The kids played great together and we were blessed with stories and pictures from their adoption trip. God really used this night to encourage us. What a cool blessing it will be for Isaac to have some Ethiopian "sisters" just down the road! Just one more part of God's plan :)
Daniel
Daniel
Monday, March 8, 2010
Isaac is Born in Our Hearts
EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE God speaks in a way that is so undeniable that you have no choice but to listen. A few weeks ago was one of those times. All was well with our little family. With 3 kids and 7 pets (6 of which are Sea Monkeys) we were pretty settled in to life. In fact, I had recently made some visits to the doctor to make sure there would be no "surprises". We were done. Everyone was on the bus, or so I thought.
It was a cold night in February 2010 when my wife Sara brought up to me the idea of adopting again. You see we had adopted Lucie Mei from China (welovelucie.blogspot.com). It was a terrific experience and Lucie is a huge blessing to our family, but there was certainly an adjustment period bringing a 2 year old into our home. But that was 4 years ago and things were so much better now - normal really. So when Sara brought up the idea of mixing things up again I resisted. Stronger than that - I asked her not to bring it up again... ever! As a side note it's pretty much always a bad idea to tell your wife to never bring something up. I should have been open and ready to listen to her heart, but I was so selfish and closed to change in that regard I wanted to hear nothing more about it.
But thank God (and Sara) that they did not give up! A few days later I noticed Sara looking at pictures of some kids on an adoption website. As I looked over her shoulder she just turned and just smiled at me. I was still resistant, but I also knew God was beginning to move. Over the next few days I read a book we’ve had sitting around the house for years (Saving Levi). I am SO not a reader but the story of God's faithfulness was so compelling and amazing that I could not put the book down and read it in 2 nights. By that time Sara had requested info from an adoption agency called "All God's Children" - you know - just in case we ever needed it :) That packet came with another book written by the founder of the agency Jan Beazely called “The Strength of Mercy”. I read a couple chapters the night before a business trip and decided to take the book with me to finish it. Well let's just say I was glad I was the only person in my row on the plane that next day because I was in tears as I read the story of Jan and her daughter's story of adoption. But the book is way more than just an adoption story - it's an obedience story. I felt so convicted. I knew God was calling. It was undeniable at this point. God was stirring my heart not so that I would pray or give or visit but rather so that I would be the father to a fatherless child and make them a permanent part of our family. Would it be hard? Yes. Would it affect our other kids? Sure. Would it be expensive? Not for God. So we decided to do it. And what a freeing feeling that was! Those weeks of resisting the Holy Spirit were really difficult and draining. I had come full circle from not even considering adoption, to strong resistance, to submission all in less than 6 weeks. The transformation in my heart was probably most evident to Sara. She would just look at me and laugh when she thought of the time in the kitchen when I told her to never bring it up again!
So our journey to Ethiopia begins! God has given us the name Isaac and we are in the process of picking an agency. We are so very excited to see how God will unfold His plan!
What we know so far:
God has called us to adopt from Ethiopia
Ethiopia has a population of 75 million, about 5 million of whom are orphaned
The child will be a boy - probably 5-7 years old
His name will be Isaac (means "he laughs")
The process should take 12-14 months
God will supply all our needs!
It was a cold night in February 2010 when my wife Sara brought up to me the idea of adopting again. You see we had adopted Lucie Mei from China (welovelucie.blogspot.com). It was a terrific experience and Lucie is a huge blessing to our family, but there was certainly an adjustment period bringing a 2 year old into our home. But that was 4 years ago and things were so much better now - normal really. So when Sara brought up the idea of mixing things up again I resisted. Stronger than that - I asked her not to bring it up again... ever! As a side note it's pretty much always a bad idea to tell your wife to never bring something up. I should have been open and ready to listen to her heart, but I was so selfish and closed to change in that regard I wanted to hear nothing more about it.
But thank God (and Sara) that they did not give up! A few days later I noticed Sara looking at pictures of some kids on an adoption website. As I looked over her shoulder she just turned and just smiled at me. I was still resistant, but I also knew God was beginning to move. Over the next few days I read a book we’ve had sitting around the house for years (Saving Levi). I am SO not a reader but the story of God's faithfulness was so compelling and amazing that I could not put the book down and read it in 2 nights. By that time Sara had requested info from an adoption agency called "All God's Children" - you know - just in case we ever needed it :) That packet came with another book written by the founder of the agency Jan Beazely called “The Strength of Mercy”. I read a couple chapters the night before a business trip and decided to take the book with me to finish it. Well let's just say I was glad I was the only person in my row on the plane that next day because I was in tears as I read the story of Jan and her daughter's story of adoption. But the book is way more than just an adoption story - it's an obedience story. I felt so convicted. I knew God was calling. It was undeniable at this point. God was stirring my heart not so that I would pray or give or visit but rather so that I would be the father to a fatherless child and make them a permanent part of our family. Would it be hard? Yes. Would it affect our other kids? Sure. Would it be expensive? Not for God. So we decided to do it. And what a freeing feeling that was! Those weeks of resisting the Holy Spirit were really difficult and draining. I had come full circle from not even considering adoption, to strong resistance, to submission all in less than 6 weeks. The transformation in my heart was probably most evident to Sara. She would just look at me and laugh when she thought of the time in the kitchen when I told her to never bring it up again!
So our journey to Ethiopia begins! God has given us the name Isaac and we are in the process of picking an agency. We are so very excited to see how God will unfold His plan!
What we know so far:
God has called us to adopt from Ethiopia
Ethiopia has a population of 75 million, about 5 million of whom are orphaned
The child will be a boy - probably 5-7 years old
His name will be Isaac (means "he laughs")
The process should take 12-14 months
God will supply all our needs!
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Quote of the Day
It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish. - Mother Theresa
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