I know it's been a
few weeks since we shared our first very brief announcement that
we'll be adopting a baby boy in December, so tonight we wanted to
share a few things with you so you can thank God with us and pray
with us more specifically.
First, we want to
thank all of you who have been praying with us throughout this
journey! We've sensed your prayers, especially recently as we've
been overwhelmed with peace about moving ahead with adopting this
little guy despite some information requiring consideration. Your
prayers are coveted in the days ahead as well, as we have many
arrangements to figure out.
We have been
praising God for all He's done in orchestrating His plan for us to
adopt this little guy. As you know, Daniel lost his job in January,
but with the blessing of his new job, we have been able to save more
than we expected toward our adoption costs, and his job is a
work-from-anywhere job. Both of these are becoming huge blessings as
we're looking at higher costs than originally “planned”
(though, of course, not a surprise to the Lord!) as well as the
ability for Daniel to do some work while we're away for the adoption.
When we started this journey in July 2012, we had no idea how amazing
and perfectly timed God's financial provision would be—our funding
was 100% complete just two weeks before we were matched!
Our prayer needs
moving forward are these: first, we're requesting prayer specifically
for our baby boy to be born 100% healthy! We are likely looking at a
2-6 week NICU stay with him after birth, but we would be overjoyed to
find him in need of no extra care after birth, allowing an earlier
travel date home.
Also, as we're
anticipating spending about a month in Florida, we ask that you'd
pray for us to find a travel companion(s) to help us with Nathan and
Zoe's care. Originally we'd planned to leave them here in the care of
friends or family, but we feel that a month away from Mom and Dad
might be a bit much for a 1- and 3-year-old. We are hoping to find
someone with flexibility to travel in either November or December as
babies have their own sense of timing (our baby's due December 13).
If you or someone you know would be interested in spending a month at
the beach this winter (with two little ones in-tow), please let us
know (compensation will be arranged :-)).
Finally, please pray
with us for financial wisdom and patience moving forward. We will be
gone for an unknown length of time at an unknown time, which is a bit
difficult to arrange until last-minute—I love planning ahead. Thus
the need for patience ;-). We have a financial plan in place to cover
the expected extra travel costs, but as the area we'll be traveling
to does not offer a Ronald McDonald House or similar extended-care
family housing, please pray we'll be able to find reasonably priced
housing accommodations while there.
We are so thankful
for the Lord's provision that has allowed us to say “yes” to
adopting this little guy! We are so excited to meet him in a few
months, and we thank you again for your prayers :-)!
