Joy to the world!

Today for the first time ever Zoe and Nathan have been sleeping for over an hour at the same time. (YAHOO, play the Hallelujah chorus!!!) So, for the first time since Zoe was born, I had some quiet afternoon moments to read Scripture and reflect on the past year. In our MOMS group at Brookhaven, we've been reading the book Grace for the Good Girl: Letting Go of the Try-Hard Life by Emily Freeman. By the way, if you ever have a chance to read this book--READ IT! I'm only half way through, but the Lord has been challenging and convicting me through every page. Today as I was reading through a chapter the Lord took me on an incredible journey through His Word, highlighting His amazing gift of love and grace, and I just can't help sharing one very awesome passage of Scripture with you today. So in light of this Christmas season as we celebrate the amazing gift of Christ's birth, here are the words of peace, love, and joy that the Lord overwhelmed my heart with today.


Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. 

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.

Romans 5:1-10 (NLT)

Today I am SO SO SO thankful that "while I was utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for me." Let's rejoice in God's deep love this Christmas season :-).

David Enoch Piette

Dear friends, for those who have been praying for my sister, I received word yesterday that her little baby has gone to be with Jesus at 16 weeks. She delivered him at the hospital last night; a little boy named David Enoch, who was taken directly to be with God.

Please pray for continued peace for their family in the coming days. Thank you for praying with us. We are thankful for the Lord's mercy in quickly bringing our little nephew into His presence, and we rejoice looking forward to spending eternity with him some day!

A full heart

Today I am thankful for so many things, and since I haven't done the thanksgiving Facebook posts everyday, thought I'd share a few things I'm thankful for as we travel to visit Granny and PawPaw in Louisiana.

#1) The joy of little ones
This past weekend we were blessed to visit my sister Bethany, brother-in-law Tim, and the cutest nephew in the world, Elijah. Saturday was Elijah's first birthday, so we were so excited to be able to share that special day with them as we don't get to make the long drive south very often. Nathan and Elijah had a ton of fun playing together, and Zoe spent most of her time giggling or sleeping, so we had many moments of joy.

#2) Peace in storms
My heart is also full from some heavy moments we shared together this weekend. As I've written before, Bethany and Tim are expecting their second baby in May but have been given a diagnosis which will send their little one directly into Jesus' arms without a divine intervention of healing. Yesterday I was able to go with Bethany to see an ultrasound. It was surreal thinking this may be the only chance I get to see my niece/nephew in action, but my heart has also been filled with peace knowing that this precious little one will enjoy her/his mommy's love and protection until the Lord so tenderly calls her/him into His presence. What a great promise we have in Christ! This life is such a short time in light of eternity--and the hope we have waiting if we give our lives to the Lord is so great!

#3) The joy of the Lord!
Yesterday I was also able to worship with my sister and family at her church. My heart was filled to overflowing hearing my sister beside me and watching my brother-in-law in the choir singing their hearts out to the Lord. These two are displaying the joy and peace of the Lord in the midst of trial in such a beautiful way. Only in the Lord can we find such great strength, peace, and hope! He gives great joy in the midst of suffering.

#4) The Lord's provision
Three times in the past week our battery has died in our new-to-us van. Today I'm thankful it died while we were at Bethany's and not in the middle of Mississippi or Alabama somewhere. I'm also thankful for the great guys at AutoZone who replaced it for us quickly.

#5) In-vehicle DVD players
Yep, not spiritual at all, but oh so wonderful as we're driving, driving, driving, and DRIVING! The kids have loved watching and listening to the Wiggles, Toy Story, and Jay Jay the Jet Plane (and I have enjoyed a few mostly-quiet moments!)

Today I'm finding joy in the midst of circumstances. Praise Him today for His goodness!

Through the valley

Wow, what a year this has been. When we started this blog over a year ago, its primary purpose was to keep you informed of our family's adoption story. Which, at the time, we assumed would be pretty straightforward--complete home study, raise funds, apply to agencies, wait for a match, drive/fly to meet child, bring child home, finalize adoption. Our time frame, we expected, would be around a year.

About 1.25 years later now, we are sitting on an expired home study, simply waiting out our agency's mandatory "wait" period before we can resume paperwork in March due to our unexpected little Zoe entering the family in June. We love her to pieces and can't imagine life without her--and we also think our agency was quite wise to require us 9 months to adjust to this little bundle of spunk, energy, activity, loudness, hyperactivity...well...you get the picture. Her name means "full of life." So she is.

In the past year, the Lord has walked me through some deep lessons of faith and obedience and has taught me that God is who He says He IS, not just what He does. My view of God has been deepened so much to see that His character, at this present moment, is so incredibly AWE-some. HE is worthy of worship, not just His acts. I have come to love an awesome GOD, not just His awesome works (and how awesome they are!!!)

I have wanted so desperately to relish in this recent faith lesson, but the Lord does not allow us to become content after periods of growth. Instead, He continually draws us into a deeper walk with Him. Most recently, the Lord is taking our family into new territory of faith and trust--through the valley of grief.

Last week, my dear sister Bethany had a routine ultrasound, and suddenly things became not so routine. Her doctor believed there was something called a cystic hygroma growing on her baby's neck--something that could indicate a range of things but could likely cause an early miscarriage. This news was so sad, and she was scheduled to see a specialist last Thursday to get a more exact diagnosis.

On Thursday, they received some of the worst news a parent could hear: their baby will grow to full term and be delivered straight into the arms of Jesus. There was no cystic hygroma as originally thought. Instead, their child is not developing a skull and will not survive outside of the womb. In the best case, they will have a few brief moments to meet their son or daughter before having to say goodbye.

So here our family's faith journey enters a deep valley--a valley full of heartbreak, sadness, and loss. Yet a road covered completely in the peace of Christ and the hope of eternity! A road that we know ends in renewed faith, steadfast hope, and a deeper love for our God who will carry us through. Are we praying for a miraculous healing? You bet! Our God does the most amazing things EVER! Yet we pray that through the circumstances He's allowing, others will see His deep love, peace, hope, and comfort displayed.

Please pray with us in these days. Emotions are running high, yet the unexplainable peace of Christ has been guarding our hearts and minds each day. In all that happens in the coming months, may His great name be lifted high and be praised in the lives of all!

-Mae

Isaiah James Cromer: Grant MATCH Opportunity!

So it's been like two months since we've updated our blog. Oh yeah...we had a baby. She was colicky. Hopefully that's enough reason for our lack of updates. She's now a happy camper sleeping nearly 11 hours at night, so nights are looking more like they were made for sleep again!

Anyway, we'll update you more on our family soon, but remember that sweet little tiny Isaiah James Cromer? Well, take a look at these recent pics of sweet not-so-tiny Isaiah! This little man is growing SOOO fast and has captured his parents' hearts so quickly. He's already been in more states than most of us have (took a road trip to the annual Cromer camping excursion in Idaho already!), and I'm pretty sure we'll be arranging his marriage to our little Zoe. They love each other dearly already ;-).

I've been wanting to share an opportunity with you for a month now, but again, due to our sweet Zoe demanding every moment of our attention for her first couple months, I'm just now getting to share this. Isaiah's adoption costs have been close to covered, with just $6,000 remaining to complete the balance. We are praising the Lord for providing the Cromers with a matching grant from Hand in Hand Christian Adoptions! The matching grant extends through THIS Friday, September 27 (postmarked by). Please read the letter from the Cromers below outlining details of participating. We pray you'll consider helping them leap over this remaining financial hurdle by sending your tax-deductible donation to Hand in Hand on their behalf today!

Dear Family and Friends,

Praise the Lord for His faithfulness! Praise the Lord for His great and precious promises! Praise the Lord for His gift of salvation for all! Praise Him because “the Lord is a God who knows” (1 Samuel 2:3)!

As many of you may have already heard we feel that God has called us on a new journey to

provide a “forever” family to a child through the process of domestic minority infant adoption. The Lord's timing moved so quickly in this calling that there was just 40 days and 40 nights between the time we heard that Isaiah existed and the time we held him in our arms. Isaiah James Cromer was born on July 15^th weighing 6 lb 5 oz and 19 ¾ inches long. We were able to be there for his birth and witness the miracle of life and meet the child God placed in our family!

The road to adoption is full of many joys and challenges, the greatest joy being the inclusion of a child into our family and the greatest challenge being finances. The costs of adoption include the expense of a home study, lawyers, travel expenses, etc., with the total cost for our adoption being around $20,000.

We were recently awarded a matching funds grant to help with the expenses of our adoption through Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc. a non-profit private operating foundation. Hand in Hand will match any funds that are donated through our friends and family for the expenses of our adoption. All funds received through our friends and family will be matched dollar for dollar by Hand in Hand up to our awarded grant amount. All donations are tax-deductible. You can find out more about Hand in Hand through their website at www.handinhandadopt.org. If you have further questions about the Hand in Hand matching grant program please feel free to give us a call at (402)779-6499 or email us at mrs.cromer@hotmail.com. You may also contact Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc. with any questions you may have. They can be reached at 913-248-5015 or by e-mail at handinhandadopt@gmail.com.

Please send all donations made payable to “Hand in Hand Christian Adoption” postmarked by September 27, 2013 to: (for tax purposes please include our name on the outside of the envelope only...do NOT put our name on the check itself)

Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc.

Nathan & Kimberly Cromer

18318 Mimosa Court

Gardner, KS 66030

Thank you for your all of your prayers and support during this exciting time! We greatly appreciate your role in our lives as we become Isaiah's forever family and raise him in the knowledge of the grace and truth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Walking Hand in Hand,

Nathan & Kimberly Cromer

(402)779-6499

mrs.cromer@hotmail.com

Introducing Isaiah James Cromer!

For those who have not officially "met" this little guy, we'd like to formally introduce you to Isaiah James Cromer, born July 15, 2013, weighing 6 lbs 5 oz and measuring 19 3/4 inches long! So many of you have prayed with the Cromers during this quick journey--your prayers have been answered so sweetly and beautifully by the Lord during these weeks!

In case you have forgotten, you have THREE DAYS LEFT to participate in blessing the Cromers via our blog! All adoption donations received via our PayPal link to the right through the end of July will be used to purchase needed items for baby Isaiah! So far we have been able to provide the Cromers with a travel pack-n-play and have some left for some fun surprises at their baby shower (announcement coming soon!).

If you are local or prefer to shop online yourself, they are registered at Kohl's, Target, and Walmart.

Thanks again so much for your prayers! Please keep praying for Nathan and Kimberly as they adjust to life with a little one and soak up hours of newborn cuddles in the wee hours of the night :-). Our God is SO GOOD!!!!!!!

A Year's Time

This past week, I've been reflecting a lot on what the Lord has done in this past year. This year has been marked with the unexpected and unplanned as the Lord continually destroys our limited vision of what we THINK His plans are and blows us away with what He really has planned.

Last July was a significant month for our family. One year ago on July 14, we went to the first Embrace orphan care picnic. While there, we learned about a need for families to adopt minority newborns in the U.S. due to an increase in women choosing life for their little ones yet having to watch their babies enter straight into the foster care system. I vividly remember Jade Metz telling our family, Nathan and Kimberly Cromer, and several others about this need and feeling an unexpected immediate call to act. Daniel felt immediately compelled as well, and our adoption journey unfolded. That day I also distinctly remember walking to the snack shop at the park with Kimberly, talking about what we'd just heard and discussing why the Lord sometimes calls us to act and sometimes clearly asks us to "wait." At the time, she was being asked to wait.

The most interesting thing I'm learning about the Lord in this adoption journey is that sometimes His call to follow a certain leading does not look a thing like we expected, and His purpose for calling us to a certain thing is not always the end result but the process of learning about Him in the process. Just three months after we started our adoption journey, we discovered we were pregnant with Zoe. Thinking we knew the Lord's plan for our family (to adopt a little one within a year), we had not "planned" for Zoe to enter the picture! But as you know from reading my blog this year, the Lord has taken me through some serious conversations with Him regarding trust, His plans, His timing, and simply resting in Him and continuing to pursue Him, while letting Him work out the details of the call He's put on our hearts. So, this June, instead of completing "our" plan of a one-year adoption, we welcomed little Zoe Grace into the world. We chose her name based on its meaning of "eternal life given in God's favor," marking a significant milestone in our understanding of Who the Lord is and how beautifully He engages in our lives.

Zoe Grace was not the only beautifully created life in His plans for this year. Last week on July 15 (a year and one day after the picnic), Nathan and Kimberly met their newborn adopted son, Isaiah James. Today they are travelling back home with Isaiah as proud new parents, likely exhausted from newborn midnight partying but beaming from ear to ear each time they snuggle him close. My heart has been exploding with joy for these two ever since hearing the news of this adoption that only God could have arranged. Our friends have been praying for years that the Lord would open the door to having children become a part of their family, and they have so faithfully followed God's call to "wait" as well as His call to become foster parents, becoming parents to six children over the past year who have been blessed to enter their home. Their obedience to the Lord has been amazing, and we are praising the Lord again and again for blessing them with little Isaiah and answering their prayers!

This truly has been a year of the Lord weaving beautifully unplanned and unexpected adventures into our lives, and we praise God for all He has done and for Who He is! May His name continue to be lifted high.

Cromer Update

For those of you who've been praying for Kimberly and Nathan this weekend, here's a short update:

The birth mom had a long weekend of in-labor, not in labor, finished with the doctor sending her home instead of inducing (he didn't realize her due date was 7-28). So Cromers are staying down there waiting instead of driving home, since it's about a 20 hour drive. They have had extra time to spend with the birth mom they would not have had otherwise, so that has been an unexpected blessing for everyone. You can be praying specifically with them for the following requests:

1) That they can be an encouragement to the birth mom as she is getting discouraged in the waiting.
2) For a safe and speedy delivery, as birth mom is very ready to have the baby
3) For Christ's love, hope, peace, and patience to continue surrounding the entire situation
Thanks for all your prayers! They are much appreciated!

Important Update!!!

Well, let's just say MUCH has happened since I last blogged. First, I'll quickly mention for any who missed our news that our sweet little daughter was born this past Saturday, June 29, at 11:45 a.m.!!! We are so excited to welcome Zoe Grace into our family, and big brother Nathan could not be more pleased with "BABY SISTER!!!!!"

As if welcoming Zoe this week was not exciting enough, we just hours ago received news that the expectant mom for Nathan and Kimberly Cromer's adoption is IN LABOR NOW!!!!!! Please pray with them over the next few days as they travel 17 hours to the state their son will be born in, wait for paperwork to be processed, and continue building a relationship with the birth mom. Please pray for the Lord's peace to wrap around everyone during these days. Also, remember that all donations coming through our adoption donation Paypal link to the right on our blog will be used to bless the Cromers in the coming weeks!

Is that more excitement than you can handle??? Well, let's add a third bit. Yet another family from church, Trey and Bridgette Boswell, also received word this week that they will be travelling to adopt their daughter, Edna, in early August! You can read about their journey here on their blog. We know they would love to have you partner with them financially in raising the remaining $5,000 quickly before they travel in just a few short weeks.

PRAISE THE LORD for all the blessings He is pouring into the lives of His people and for these little lives He has beautifully created in His image! May His name be glorified!

Help bless the Cromers!

Hello everyone! As we wait for our little girl's arrival (any...day...now...), we want to share a way for you to bless our friends Nathan and Kimberly as they also prepare for their little guy's arrival in a few weeks. (If you missed their big announcement, simply read my last post--exciting times!!) The Cromers have started a baby registry at Walmart and plan to get one going at Kohl's soon as well. If you like to shop, you can visit their registry online here at Walmart , print it out to take with you to the store, or shop online through the registry as well.

Or, for those of you who aren't shoppers or live out of town but would love to join in the fun, we are offering a way for you to collaborate in blessing them together. From today through July 31, EVERY donation amount that comes in through our PayPal donation link on our blog will go directly to purchasing items they still need. Gifts from your donations will be given at a baby shower in the works for them shortly after they bring their little guy home!

ANY amount will be greatly appreciated and will be a huge blessing to them as they quickly prepare for a little one! If you wish to donate, simply click our PayPal link on the right (Donate to our Adoption) or go here. Or, if you do not have PayPal but wish to contribute, you can simply send funds our way and mark "Cromer adoption" in the memo line (Daniel and Mae Verheyden, 3612 S Selby Street, Marion, IN 46953).

We are SO, SO excited for what the Lord is doing in the lives of our friends and can't wait to meet their little one next month :-). Please continue to pray with them for details in paper work, travel, and completion of the adoption, as well as for the expectant mother who is bravely making this decision to provide an awesome future for her little boy. Pray that her heart will be overwhelmed with the love and peace of Christ as she spends the remaining few weeks preparing for this decision. May the Lord be praised and glorified!

Our Biggest MUST-READ Post of the Year!!!!!

Dear friends and family,

Today I am BEYOND EXCITED to share something amazing with you. As we have struggled with the timing (...waiting...) in our adoption journey, the Lord has unveiled an AWESOME story line in the last 9 days that He's been weaving right along.

Many of you know some of our best friends in the world, Nathan and Kimberly Cromer. These two have been trusting the Lord to reveal His plans for their family and have been faithfully following Him in caring for foster children this past year. Daniel and I have watched their trust in the Lord grow even deeper and have been in awe of their immense love for the children they've cared for. Through both exciting moments and challenging ones filled with spiritual warfare, Nathan and Kimberly have loved the children coming through their home with the unconditional love of Christ, providing a safe and caring environment and praying relentlessly for the six foster children they've had in their home this past year.

As their most recent group of children was placed back with their mother and father not long ago, the Cromers were again waiting on the Lord to bring just the right children into their home at the right time. They were trusting Him to reveal the next step, when the following events unfolded.

Last Wednesday night, we were approached by a friend in our monthly adoption and foster care support group, informing us of an urgent need for a home-study-ready adoptive family for a baby boy due at the end of July. I have to admit, the first thought in my head was, “Lord, really? Don't You know this is bad timing?” as we could not even entertain the thought since our home study will become invalid as soon as Zoe is born (any day now). For a few moments my heart broke for this expectant mother and her pre-born child, wondering if our friend would be able to locate a family soon enough. But then she asked, “What about the Cromers? Would they be interested?” Daniel and I both definitely agreed that they'd be interested. We prayed desperately that night at home that the Lord would protect this expectant mom and her child and bring just the right family along for him.

Just twelve hours later, I received a simple text from Kimberly, “filling out the paper work now.” I'm not sure my heart has ever felt such joy as hearing those few words, knowing that (of course) the Lord's timing was not BAD, but instead ABSOLUTELY, INCREDIBLY AMAZING to be writing this beautiful story into the Cromers' lives. Just 24 hours after our friend first informed them of the situation, Nathan and Kimberly were matched to be the adoptive family for this little boy!!!!! They will travel through several states to bring him home at the end of July—and, not a coincidence, right during the weeks Nathan had already had planned with his boss to be out on vacation.

In the letter they sent out this week, the Cromers shared this verse: “My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts are higher than your thoughts,” (Isaiah 55:9). How incredible these words are! So many times (over, and over, and OVER again), I have doubted what the Lord is up to in our family's adoption journey—especially why He asked us to start the journey so soon, already knowing He planned to bless us with pregnancy shortly after, which would cause significant delays in our adoption process and cause us to essentially start at square one again after Zoe's birth. But His ways ARE higher than ours. He reminded me this week that had we not begun our adoption journey, I wouldn't have been able to help Kimberly throw a family profile together using ours as a template in 2 hours (designing ours took weeks...and weeks...). From the profile, the expectant mother was able to “meet” the Cromers in more depth than just from photos alone. We also would not have been there to have to say no but affirm that the Cromers would definitely want to hear about the situation. This may seem small, but the Lord used this to remind me again that He does INDEED have timing under control. His ways are higher and BETTER than mine.

As you rejoice with us in this amazing news, be watching our blog for how you can be involved in the Cromers' journey in the coming weeks. They will be starting from scratch for baby items (they do have a car seat and pack-n-play), so that will be one need we'll address on our blog soon. They have shared the following prayer requests in the letter they sent out this week, and we'd love you to pray along with them:

We know and believe that “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” James 5:16. We need prayer for wisdom as we become forever parents. We need prayer for strength through this time of quickly preparing for a newborn. We need prayer for the processes and paperwork that need to be completed to finalize this adoption. We need prayer for travel as we drive across several states to bring him home. We need prayer for our time with the birth mom, allowing Christ to shower his love and hope to the birth mom through us.

Today I will simply close this post with the beginning words from their letter:

We want to praise the Lord for His unconditional love, His eternal Gospel, and His great and precious promises! Amen!

(AND AMEN!!!!)

Urgent Prayer Need

Dear praying friends, I know you have watched the Lord do amazing things to heal, restore, forgive, and uplift His people. Today a little boy, Mattie, is in serious need of the Lord's physical touch on his body. He is the son of our adoption consultant, Tracie Loux, and is very close in age to Nathan.

A little of Mattie's background follows from Tracie's blog: "Matthias is now 2 1/2. We are blessed beyond belief with this treasure of a little boy. Mattie has Down syndrome and was hospitalized the first year of life. He is now home living with our family and loving life. Mattie has a tracheostomy, is on a ventillator part time, has a Gtube for feeding, and has had two heart surgeries.

Today his family shares the following update, following several recent hospitalizations for respiratory infections:

I have withheld the severity of Mattie’s most recent illness until we were able to talk with our older children face to face this morning. Last night was the worst night we have ever faced with Mattie. He became ill suddenly on Thursday night and went down hill with puzzling symptoms throughout the day Friday.

By Friday evening we were needing to increase vent settings at home and had him on the highest level of oxygen possible, his lungs started bleeding. We rushed him to the ER around 7PM. He was quickly transferred up to the PICU where even on the hospital ventilator, they weren’t able to get his oxygen saturation to go up.

As they continued to adjust settings, he crashed. And like a bad movie was taking place before our eyes, they resuscitated him and did chest compressions. This happened 4 times last night while they worked to put in central lines, arterial lines, giving life saving medications, and transfer him to an oscillating ventilator. He has bacterial pneumonia and is septic. He is as stable as is possible at the moment, yet critically ill.

Mattie needs a miracle. We need you to surround us. Pleas pray for us, our son, our other children, and for the medical team supporting our son.

We are clinging to the One who saves and delivers.

PLEASE PRAY for Mattie today! His life has already touched so many, and we pray that the Lord will again uplift his little body. You can read more about him at the family blog at http://tracieloux.wordpress.com/.

Adoption Update: 6.4.13

From some conversations we've had in-person and online recently, we realized it's high time to post an official “adoption update.” As you know if you follow our blog, we began our adoption journey last July after praying for clarity on when/where/how our family should be involved in adoption or foster care. We strongly sensed the Lord asking us to step out in faith to pursue adoption of an African American or biracial infant from the U.S. (a need we previously didn't know existed).

As you also know if you've followed our blog, we started our home study immediately and were nearly finished in October, when we unexpectedly found out we were pregnant! We CAN'T WAIT to welcome Zoe Grace into our family in the next few weeks (due date is June 23)!

On the adoption front, pregnancy slowed things down a lot for us as energy levels were not what we had planned for participating in fundraising, filling out paper work, etc., but in early February we were finally finished with our home study. Mae was able to finish designing our 20-page family profile in March, just in time for the third trimester of pregnancy to kick in and slow us down again.

We were about to send out applications to specific agencies that have great needs for families for minority babies, when we realized we'll need to update both our home study and family profile again as soon as our daughter is born. So instead of sending and resending paperwork to agencies, we agreed with our adoption consultant that it would be best to wait until after Zoe's birth to apply to agencies so that we can send updated paperwork.

We anticipated that our home study agency would simply update for us as soon as we were ready to proceed, but we recently discovered they require a nine-month waiting period before a family may update a home study after a new family member is added. We were a bit discouraged with this news as we have already been moving very slowly, so we looked into other possible options to get things moving again sooner. We do have one small window of opportunity with an agency that may be able to get us going in September instead of waiting until spring, but please pray with us for wisdom in how aggressively we should work to get things moving again after Zoe is born. We have been anticipating hitting the adoption trail hard after her birth but want to be alert to the Lord's leading. He has been working in our hearts in so many ways as He reminds us to wait on His timing and rest in His presence, and we are trusting Him to direct us to a little one in need of a family at the precise time He chooses.

So, basically, we are waiting for a couple (or many) months so we can update paperwork again. As we wait, will you please pray specifically with us for the following needs?

1. Zoe Grace is due June 23. Pray with us for a continued healthy pregnancy and a blessed time of welcoming a new little one into our family.
2. Pray for wisdom and discernment as we move ahead, that we will not rush things but will move at exactly the speed the Lord has in mind for bringing our next little one home.
3. The Lord has already provided over $10,000 of the $30,000 we will need for the adoption!! We praise Him for faithfully providing in the midst of our physical weaknesses. You have all blessed us greatly with donations of funds, freelance jobs, and things for us to sell. If you would like to contribute to our fund, you can use the PayPal donation link to the right on our blog at danielandmae.blogspot.com, make a tax-deductible donation through our AdoptTogether account at www.adopttogether.org/danielandmae, or send a donation directly to our home at 3612 S Selby Street, Marion, IN 46953. We have been accumulating a large stockpile of items to sell beginning in August or September, so if you have items laying around that you'd be interested in donating as well, we'd love to add them to the growing collection.
4. With the addition of a little girl via pregnancy as well as the anticipation of a little one through adoption, we will have three children in our family before we know it. Our beloved little fuel-efficient Chevy Prizm sadly only holds two car seats, so to transport all our little ones, we will need to join the minivan club in the coming months. Please pray we will find a vehicle that is still road-trip-reliable for visiting family for a price we can afford.
5. Please pray that we will continue to trust the Lord's timing and rest in His presence. He has shown us amazing things about Himself as we've embarked on this adoption journey, and we can't wait to grow even deeper in our love for Him and passion to serve Him as we continue to follow His call to adopt.

Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement in this journey. The Lord has used so many of you to speak life-giving words into our hearts at just the right moments when Satan has tried to discourage us. We thank God for each of you and trust He is revealing Himself to you in new ways each day as you seek Him!

Daniel, Mae, Nathan, and future little V's

Like a child

Wow, it appears I haven't written a blog post in over a month. It's not that nothing has been happening in life, but apparently I haven't sat down to write lately. Today I just want to share something the Lord has been teaching me recently as we have been going through a waiting period in our adoption process (I'll give you a more detailed update of where we are in the process in the next few days).

This afternoon I read these verses, "One day some parents brought their little children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them. But when the disciples saw this, they scolded the parents for bothering him. Then Jesus called for the children and said to the disciples, 'Let the children come to me. Don't stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn't receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.'" (Luke 18:15-17 NLT)

Thanks to some pretty awesome 2-year-old Sunday School teachers (affectionately known as Miss Susie and Mr. Jim), Nathan came home about a month ago quoting John 3:16 in its entirety (minus a few wording mistakes...we'll give him a break...he's only 2). This clued us in that perhaps we should start working on Bible verses at home as well, since apparently he is capable of learning quicker than we thought. So for the past couple weeks, we've been working on Proverbs 3:5, one of the first verses I remember learning as a child. The whole verse is "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding." So far, Nathan says "Proverbs 3:5: Trust in the Lord!"

Today I was struck by the truth of this passage in Luke combined with my son's simple understanding of Scripture. God says to us "Trust in Me (and I will lead you)!" My son--a little child--is getting it. But how often do I forget to receive truth like a little child and instead allow Satan to twist it slightly? Mommy's version of Proverbs 3:5 too frequently reads like this: "Trust in the Lord, if the circumstances seem to make sense according to the plan you thought you had. And on days that really don't make sense, it might be ok to worry a little bit and start to doubt God's promises. And really its ok to start making a new plan (or several possible backup plans) in case what you thought was Plan A doesn't pan out. Then pray that the Lord will bless your new plans."

What an awesome reminder in my little boy's simple understanding: "Trust in the Lord." The biggest thing the Lord has been teaching me through this adoption journey is to trust in Him for WHO He is and not just for what He does. Circumstances do not dictate whether the Lord is who He says He is--He always was, always is, and always will be Who He says He is! May we all come to Jesus as little children, ready for Him to touch us and bless us in His great love!

Little Blessings

Today I just wanted to express gratitude for a few little blessings we've experienced lately:

1) Remember our stolen tires? Well, they are still MIA, but our homeowner's insurance has decided to cover them at full replacement value! This means that with Daniel's awesome bargain-hunting skills, we actually could come out with a few hundred extra dollars from the insurance than it is going to cost to replace the tires. I suppose we should never underestimate the Lord's provision in the midst of bad circumstances :-).

2) Some awesome friends are loaning us ALL of their little girl's baby clothes for each size we need, as their little one will finish up sizes in perfect time for our little girl. What a blessing to have brothers and sisters in Christ like this, allowing us to set aside a bit more into our adoption fund.

3) Some other awesome friends have donated items for us to sell at a local kids' consignment sale this weekend (If you live in the Grant County area and have never been to Kidsignments, check it out here. You won't want to miss this sale!). According to the electronic tagging system, you've donated over $400 in item value! We'll keep you posted on the earnings.

4) The new Embrace adoption and foster care support group meeting on the first Wednesday of each month at Brookhaven: what an encouragement it was to meet with others who have adopted or fostered or are just beginning their journeys as well. We felt so refreshed and renewed in purpose after this first meeting and can't wait for next month!

Thanks so much for all your prayers and encouragement! We are nearing 30 weeks of pregnancy and can't believe our little girl will be here before we know it! We are thanking the Lord for this little gift of life He has decided to bless us with and can't wait to meet her :-).

Praying you experience the Lord's greatness today!

Help bring a little one home!

Today I wanted to take a quick second to give you an opportunity to help bring a sweet little girl home to her family. This is Andrea, a young lady waiting to be adopted by Dale and Carrie Bradford.

We know the Lord is about the business of setting the lonely in families, and He gives us the awesome blessing of participating in what He's already doing! Would you consider joining with the Bradfords to meet their first $2,000 goal? Starting today, if you make a small donation of just $5, $10, or $25, you will be entered to win a Kindle Fire, Build-a-Bear gift card, or a gorgeous jewelry set from The Paper Rose. Your small donation will make a big difference to Andrea as you help give her a mommy and daddy (and two sweet siblings!) who will also help her learn about her heavenly Father who loves her so deeply!

Visit the Bradfords' blog post here to donate today or to read more about how you can be involved in their adoption journey. 

Why now? And how?

For the past few weeks (ok, really since we found out we were expecting again back in October), I have been pondering these two questions: Why has God placed such a tremendous burden on our hearts to adopt right now? Why did He not instead give us peace about waiting a few years? And how in the world are we, as a young family with now two little ones already under our responsibility, supposed to dedicate time and energy to raising funds, completing paper work, and travelling to bring our third little one into the family while changing diapers, shaping little wills, and dealing with pregnancy, nursing, and newborn sleep deprivation?

When I started this blog, I really thought this would be an exciting way to keep you all updated on how God was providing in amazing ways to bring our little one home quickly. What I didn't expect was to instead be sharing with you each week how the Lord is shaping our hearts and causing us to surrender our wills, plans, and timing again and AGAIN to His perfect plans, perfect will, and perfect timing. I knew this adoption journey would require trust and surrender and obedience, but I didn't realize how much of the journey would be about growing deeper in these areas and not about adoption at all.

One of the first verses I learned as a child was Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take." Entering into our adoption journey, I have been so thankful for scriptures I learned as a young child as well as scriptures given to me by others to encourage us along the way. Proverbs 3:5-6 are packed with truth: words I grasped even as a little one but which speak to the very depth of my heart now. This journey really has been all about the Lord teaching me to trust Him with all my heart--not just once at the beginning of a journey, but along the entire path. That my understanding is not His, and that He WILL show me which path to take as I continue to seek Him.

Along with learning how to trust the Lord, I have also been challenged with this verse from Psalm 37:7, " Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for Him to act." Being still has never been easy for me--as a young child I was always on the go, doing or creating something, and as a student I always threw myself completely into the task at hand. I'm an achiever--I love to have a goal, a plan, and put all my energy into making it succeed. The problem is I forget about being still in the Lord's presence. When I do focus on being still in His presence, I begin to see His will and His plans unfold, but I forgot to CONTINUE being still. Instead I latch onto the initial limited vision He gives of His will and run with it, depending on my own understanding. The Lord is teaching me through this adoption journey that trusting Him requires continually being still before Him. It is not a journey of doing and achieving; it is a journey of trusting, seeking, and waiting.

And so to answer the questions why now and how? Why adopt now--because the Lord loves His little ones in crisis now and desires to set them in families now, and because I need to learn to trust the Lord now and be still in His presence now. The months or years it takes for us to complete our first adoption are irrelevant--I must learn to seek the Lord and be still in His presence. And for the how--I don't know HOW the Lord will act, but I do know as we remain still in His presence, He WILL act. The Lord has recently given me these words from Exodus 14: 13-14, "But Moses said to the people, 'Don't be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again. The Lord Himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.'" What an awesome God we serve who requires nothing more of us than to stand still in His presence and watch Him fight! He will fight to bring one of His dear little ones into our home in His perfect timing, according to His plans.

Take some time today to be still in His presence and wait patiently for Him to act!

El Elyon: Ruler of the Universe, God Most High!

So this week has been anything but "normal" in our lives. We began the week as you know finishing up our first blog giveaway, which the Lord blessed greatly by providing the remainder of the first $10,000 needed for our adoption! Yahoo! But, as we all are well-aware, the enemy did NOT approve of God's working and felt the need to add in his own attempts to discourage us, cause doubt, and dishearten us.

Here is the breakdown of his attempts, all happening within 48 hours of celebrating the Lord's blessing:
1) on Monday night, we came home from a short trip into town to discover that all of our all-season tires for both vehicles (rims included) had been stolen out of our back yard. The approximate value of the tires and rims was around $1000. (And on a side note, the police car in our driveway terrified Nathan so much he wouldn't sleep for hours but shook with terror screaming "Police! Police car!!" despite our attempts to convince him that the police are the good guys and our friends. Thankfully he has mostly gotten past this apparently terrifying experience :-).

2) On Tuesday, we found out that during our home study, a local medical office entered the billing wrong for one of our physicals and charged us for not a preventative health checkup but more of a specialized visit, resulting in an extra $100 fee that we have to pay out of pocket.

3) On Wednseday our garbage disposal bit the dust, resulting in nasty water leaking all under our sink and causing us to decide if we will replace it (for another $100) or simply run pipes in place of it.

So, humanly speaking, by Tuesday night we were starting to get quite disheartened, thinking about how we'd been blessed with several hundred dollars toward our adoption, only to be hammered with over $1000 in loss so quickly. The devil began planting thoughts in our minds like, "Did God REALLY ask you to adopt? I mean really, this is not going well. You can't even get "ahead". What are you doing?" and "You're having a baby in June. Just give up on this whole adoption thing for a few years until life is more settled and stable. Did God REALLY say you were to take this journey now?"

But the Lord is so SO faithful to "outspeak" the devil in moments like this. Through His Word, reflecting on the "stones of rememberance" He's placed in our lives to this point, and through encouraging small group discussion last night, He reminded us that He is indeed El Elyon: the Ruler of the universe, God most high! Our midweek small group has been studying the names of God, and this was one featured several weeks ago but is resounding in our hearts today.

We'd like to leave you with this passage of Scripture today as we're praising the Lord for WHO HE IS! He speaks truth into our hearts as we trust Him, and He is so faithful to guide us in His paths as He rules over all! May you be encouraged by His Word today:

Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness.
    Let the whole world know what he has done.
Sing to him; yes, sing his praises.
    Tell everyone about his wonderful deeds.
Exult in his holy name;
    rejoice, you who worship the Lord.
Search for the Lord and for his strength;
    continually seek him.
Remember the wonders he has performed,
    his miracles, and the rulings he has given

Psalm 105:1-5

Giveaway winner: CONGRATULATIONS!

First of all, I'd like to say a HUGE thank you to each of you who participated in our blog giveaway! Many of you donated, shared, and blogged about our adoption during the past week, and we are so grateful! We were able to surpass our goal of $10,000 and now have $10,125 in our adoption fund! Thanks again for your involvement. And now...time to announce the winner:

Congrats to Andrea Vinluan!!! She will receive all the amazing items that were part of our giveaway! A special thanks again to all our friends who donated items:

Brenda Romine of The Paper Rose for the beautiful metal work bracelets
Lindsey Hawk of Lindsey Hawk Designs for the family photo session/design work
Kimberly Cromer for the beautiful basket
Melissa Jo Smith for the awesome handmade washcloths
Leanna Pagdin (visit her Etsy store here) for the lovely handmade necklace and earrings
Jewel Romdenh for the Cambodian jewelry, scarf, and wallet and the handmade journal

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU ALL for partnering with us! Please continue to pray with us as we move forward in this adoption journey as we continue fundraising, applying for grants, sending applications to agencies, and waiting for a little one to be placed in our family!

Goal 1 MET!!!! 24 hours left in giveaway!

Well, the first VERY exciting bit of news is that our goal of hitting the $10,000 mark has been MET! We are currently standing at $10,100! Praise the Lord with us for His continued rich blessings, reminding us of His call to us to pursue this adoption journey. This means we are at 33.7 percent of the anticipated funds needed to complete our adoption!

The second exciting bit of news is that it's not too late to be entered in our giveaway! It is open until tomorrow, Monday, March 11, at midnight. Remember you can be entered in these ways:

1) Donating just $3 to our adoption fund will earn 1 entry. Click the PayPal link to the right to participate.
2) Donating an amount of $10 will earn you 4 entries, $15 will earn 6 entries, and $25 will earn you 10 entries!
3) Sharing this post on your Facebook page or Twitter will earn you an additional entry, and you may share the post up to 4 times during the week for 4 additional entries. Simply leave a comment on the blog here and let us know you've shared the giveaway info!
4) Blogging about our giveaway will earn you an additional 3 entries. Leave us a blog comment letting us know you shared :-).
5) If you don't have Facebook, Twitter, or a blog, simply share this via email with a few friends and let us know via a blog comment, and we'll also give you an additional entry.

If you haven't had a chance to view the fabulous items available in the giveaway, click here for a list of what you could win!

Thank you all SO MUCH for your participation! We have been so blessed to have you partnering with us on this journey.

Almost There!!!

So, we're just three days into our week-long giveaway, and we can't wait to tell you that we are just $29 away from $10,000!!!!!! How awesome is that? We started the week needing $204 more to reach the goal, and we are so very close! Thanks so much to those of you who have donated. Don't forget, a $3 donation earns you one entry into our giveaway drawing! Visit our blog post here to read all the details of other ways you can be entered in our drawing. One of you will win some pretty great stuff!

$29, four days left. I think we can do it! Thanks again for your continued financial and prayer support! Your encouragement has been invaluable to us in this journey.

Quick give-away update

Hey everyone,
I just wanted to post a couple quick notes regarding the giveaway (click here to read all about the awesome stuff you could win!).

1) YES, you may enter the giveaway if you live outside of our local area :-). We will gladly ship the items to the winner!

2) Please let us know if you share our blog giveaway link via Facebook, Twitter, your blog, etc., even if you are unable to personally donate: we will be sure to get you entered just for sharing our update! The more the merrier :-).

Thanks so much for all of your continued encouragement! We are so excited to see the Lord continuing to work in our hearts along this first adoption journey He's taking us on. His plans are so perfect and wonderful--we can't wait to see how they unfold :-).

Exciting Update and GIVEAWAY!

Today's the day! We are excited to announce our very first adoption blog GIVEAWAY! First, we'd like to announce another exciting update in our fundraising: to date, we are now standing at $9,796, a whopping 32.7 percent of the approximate total we need to raise! Praise God for His amazing blessings as we continue trusting His timing and provision.

Now, here's the next exciting part: we need just $204 more to reach 1/3 of our goal, or $10,000! Will you help us? We will be running this giveaway for one week, ending next Monday, March 11, at midnight. One of you will win these beautiful items by earning entries through the following actions:

1) Donating just $3 to our adoption fund will earn 1 entry. Click the PayPal link to the right to participate.
2) Donating an amount of $10 will earn you 4 entries, $15 will earn 6 entries, and $25 will earn you 10 entries!
3) Sharing this post on your Facebook page or Twitter will earn you an additional entry, and you may share the post up to 4 times during the week for 4 additional entries. Simply leave a comment on the blog here and let us know you've shared the giveaway info!
4) Blogging about our giveaway will earn you an additional 3 entries. Leave us a blog comment letting us know you shared :-).
5) If you don't have Facebook, Twitter, or a blog, simply share this via email with a few friends and let us know via a blog comment, and we'll also give you an additional entry.

That's all there is to it! And now for what you will WIN if your name is selected. We can't wait to announce the winner next Monday! We hope it's YOU!

Handmade Bracelet Set by Brenda of The Paper Rose

Family Portrait Session or $100 in design work by Lindsey Hawk Designs

19" pearl and crystal necklace and earrings by Leanna Dawn Adornment

Handmade woven basket by friend Kimberly

Handmade journal by friend Jewel

Handmade cotton washcloths by friend Melissa Jo

11x14 poster by Mae V Design

Cambodian scarf in pink and orange

Wallet from Cambodia

Cambodian bracelet and ring

Giveaway: Starting SOON!!!

Well, tonight was the planned launch of our very first BLOG GIVEAWAY, complete with some very awesome  hand-made items donated by some pretty great people! However, part of our adoption story includes the story of our existing family members, and we have spent the entire evening getting our son Nathan to stay in his big boy bed. In fact, we have been spending between 1 and 2 hours EVERY evening (and every nap time) attempting to achieve this same feat with limited success. Therefore, the giveaway launch is going to be postponed for this evening since we're all quite weary :-).

BUT I did want to give you a quick teaser for the items that will be included:
-Handmade bracelet set "Walk By Faith" (The Paper Rose)
-Handmade jewelry set (Leanna Dawn Adornment)
-Family portrait session or design value equivalent (Lindsey Hawk Designs)
-Handmade journal and Cambodian bracelet, ring, and scarf
-Handmade basket
-Handmade wash cloths
-11x14 Psalm 1:2-3 poster print

You won't want to miss your chance to participate!!! Watch our blog tomorrow (HOPEFULLY) for an awesome fundraising update as well as a full description of how to enter the giveaway, complete with photos of the items one of you will be blessed with! Stay tuned :-)

One Year Ago

This weekend has been full of disappointments caused by yet another yucky virus entering our home, but the Lord has been challenging me to find blessings in the midst of negative circumstances. Tonight I was having an especially hard time finding anything positive about missing church twice in one day, meaning I missed out on fellowship with other believers, corporate worship, seeing friends, and especially tonight's missions month service--a presentation by Embrace, the orphan care ministry started exactly one year ago at Brookhaven.

But not soon after I starting thinking tonight was just a huge disappointment, the Lord filled my heart with reminders of where He has brought my family in this past year. One year ago tonight, I sat in the MFC after having spent several months seeking the Lord's direction for my family, specifically in how He wanted to use me as a new mom. I had spent several months pulling back from quite a few of my "good" activities in order to seek the Lord's "best" for this new stage of life.

Last year on this Sunday night the Lord began unveiling the first glimpses of His new best for my family. We sat and listened to the presentation on a brand-new ministry being started at Brookaven called Embrace: Arms Open Wide to Receive a Child. I remember vividly sitting there thinking, "Lord, you are asking us to jump on board with this, aren't you?" knowing He was clearly saying "yes" as part of the answer to my months of prayer. I contacted Mike and Lori McDivitt right away and expressed interest in our family's involvement with this new ministry. Little did I know that step was just the small beginning of what the Lord wanted to do in our family.

After meeting with Lori and others in the early stage of Embrace brainstorming, the Lord began stirring up a more intense desire to consider adoption. We had had adoption or foster care in the back of our minds for a few years, but we had nearly written it off as a "later" item on our list, not something to consider yet as parents of an infant.

But God had other thoughts. You see, He has always been the defender of the fatherless and is always working to set the lonely in families. The child in crisis is always on His mind, never saved for a later date but always of first and foremost importance. As we sought His direction for our family, His surprising answer to our seeking was "Defend one of my little ones. Be his/her advocate. Adopt him/her into your family as I adopted you into Mine." The Lord confirmed over a period of months that we needed to step out in faith, trust Him, and pursue adoption.

To date, the journey has been everything others promised it would be: thrilling, exciting, full of adventure, and full of spiritual battles sometimes resulting in discouragement, disillusionment, and doubt. We are learning over and over (and OVER) of the need to rest in the Lord, trust in His promises, and continue stepping out in faith to pursue the little one He wants to place in our family. We thank you again and again for joining with us in prayer through this journey: we can't emphasize enough the spiritual battle that takes place for a child's life, so your prayers are absolutely crucial.

May He continue to burden our hearts for His little ones in crisis around the world!

Sweet Reflections

February is one of our favorite months, not because of Valentines' Day (though an extra time to say "I Love You" is never bad), but because 7 years ago on February 18 we exchanged vows at Brookhaven Wesleyan Church, promising to love each other in sickness and health, wealth and poverty, and all the other things that we said but can't remember because we were so love-struck looking into each other's eyes. What we didn't know 7 years ago was how much deeper the Lord would grow our love for each other and for Him as we entered the realm of parenting, and even deeper still as we embarked on the journey of adoption together.

These past seven years of marriage have been full of rich blessings as we've sailed through both smooth and rough waters. Through periods of doubt, financial blessing, loss, new friendships, closed doors, and new pathways laid before us, the Lord has been so faithful to hold us up and guide us forward when we cling to Him. He has faithfully corrected our short sight when we lost view of His larger picture while staring at immediate problems instead. We can't wait to keep travelling the road of marriage as we hold tight to the Lord!

Along with our anniversary, February is "missions month" at Brookhaven each year, a time we have really grown to love! While our family has never felt a call to foreign missions, we are consistently challenged each year to pursue reaching into the lives of others as the Lord calls and orchestrates. Through the years we have been challenged during missions month in prayer, faith promise giving, and most recently, to pursue the call of adoption and orphan care ministry. This year is proving to be a powerful affirmation of the Lord's call on our lives to continue pursuing adoption and has reminded us that when we are powerless and weak, HE is mighty and strong! We can't wait for the rest of missions month.

As we continue on this adoption journey, we are anticipating great things! We were reminded of God's greatness today through the account of the feeding of the 5,000. Five loaves and 2 fishes were placed in the Lord's hands, and He divided it over and over and over until there were baskets left over after all the people were fed! What a great God we serve! 

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Ephesians 3:20

Home Study IN HAND!!!!

Many of you likely saw on Facebook a couple weeks back that our home study was very close to completion, minus one last document. Well, we are so so SOOO excited to announce that we now have a completed home study in hand!!! For those of you who are new to the adoption world (like us), this means we have completed hurdle #1 of our adoption journey!

We are so thrilled to have this piece complete and also thrilled to have entered the second trimester of our pregnancy, meaning we are all finally feeling a bit more energetic and ready to creatively raise funds! Stay tuned to our blog for some special ways you can help us raise the needed funding to complete our adoption. As always, you may donate now via our PayPal link on the right-hand side of our blog, or you may now make a tax-deductible donation to our adoption by visiting https://adopttogether.org/danielandmae/. We are thanking God for already providing nearly 25 percent!

Please continue praying with us for:
1) Energy and creativity in fundraising--it's no secret, there are large sums of money to be raised before we will be able to bring a child into our family. However, the Lord does not call us to anything without providing for that call, so we are confident He's got a plan to provide!

2) The expectant mother who will carry our child to term--we have no idea what God's timetable is for when our adoption will take place, but we are praying for the sweet woman who either has already or will soon make the brave decision to give life to her little one through the blessing of adoption.

3) Meaningful conversations with others regarding adoption and orphan care. We often have chances to share our call to adoption with friends, family, and acquaintances, so pray we will always be in tune with what the Lord would have us to share regarding His little ones needing families.

Thanks again for all your love, prayers, and support as we continue this journey! May the Lord bless you as you seek Him!