Riding A Tidal Wave...and Where We Stand Now

Wow.... I almost don't know where to start tonight as I sit down to write.

I feel like we've been riding a tidal wave of God's goodness and faithfulness.  He is just incredibly awesome.

Okay... I'll try to explain:

I spent some time near the end of last week catching up with some dear friends who we haven't seen in a while.  It was so great to connect with them, hear their hearts and bits and pieces of their journey with the Lord in recent months.  I also (Stan was gone on his men's retreat with his long-time bro Kirby) filled them in and brought them up to speed on our adoption journey.  The next day they came back to me and said something like this: "We talked about your adoption process and we wanted you to know that we have this kind of large amount of money that we've been setting aside, and we've been asking the Lord who to give it to.  We've prayed about it and we feel that He wants us to give it to you guys for your adoption."

?!?!?!  (Mental image: Dana's jaw drops to the floor.)

At that point I wasn't sure exactly what "a large amount of money" meant... but knowing them, I knew it was more than a couple hundred bucks. We haven't yet learned the exact total because the money is coming via a few different wire transfers into our adoption account, of which we've received the first 2.  We know that there is one left to come....but currently....the amount of the gift received so far stands at....

$6,000.  Six THOUSAND?!?!

Never would have DREAMED that God would have blown our first AND second AND part of our third financial goals TOTALLY outta the water like this.... but He HAS.  We are humbled and excited and in awe and just blown away by His provision.  Wow, God.... Just... wow.  You are so good.

Okay, now imagine this:  I had to wait almost 3 full days for Stan to get home from his men's retreat before I could even TELL him about this!!  Talk about an exercise in patience!  It was so fun telling him and the 3 other guys who had been on the retreat with him and seeing their reactions.

ALSO, that same night, we received several hundred dollars in gifts from family members in the mail, and received word that another friend in Colorado wanted to donate as well.  Needless to say...I spent the rest of the weekend with my jaw on the floor and my heart in a continual state of praise and AWE.  We are so, so blessed that our friends and family are stepping forward to partner with us financially on this journey.  And the ones of you who give $10 are just as much a part of the journey as those who give much more.  In God's economy, it's about the HEART with which the gift is given, and not so much about the total amount.  So....THANK YOU.... ALL of you.... for your partnership...financially AND/OR in prayer.  It means so much to us....more than we can say.

So, on a practical note, where does this leave us?  Well, our current adoption fund status is: $7,380.

• Our initial goal (which was to cover our home study, background/child abuse & neglect registry checks, physicals, our required online adoption education courses, and our profile activation fee, was $2,300.  As you can see from the thermometer to the right, God blew the roof right off of this goal. :)
• Our second goal would have been right around $2,000.  This would have included: $1,000 match fee, due upon being matched with a birth mother; $500 Interstate Compact Placement fee (Covers red tape of bringing an adopted child across state lines, in case we end up adopting a child from Kansas, since we live in Missouri); and several hundred dollars (don't know exact total yet) for the printing of 6-7 copies of our family profile to be given by our agency to birth moms who may be interested in our family.  This goal is now ALSO BEYOND met. :)
• Our 3rd goal will be our BIG one: our $10,000 placement fee, due when our baby is placed in our home soon after birth.
• After placement, the state requires several in-home follow-up visits by our agency, which will cost $300 per visit.  In addition, there may be medical costs for birth mom and/or baby, and there will definitely be attorney fees and court fees, all of which are yet to be determined.  At this point I'm guessing $2,000 to $4,000 in legal fees and court costs.... Medical costs, there is just no way to know yet.
• Soooooo, as you can see on the right hand side bar, we have $3,080 of our $10,000 placement fee, give or take a bit due to the uncertainty of interim costs such as our physicals, online adoption education, etc....
• ....which means we will still need to raise another $12,000 to $13,000 to come close to the approximately $20K that we foresee needing in order to cover expenses.  Again, this $20K figure is a rough, educated guess, and we will know more details whenever we are actually matched with a birth mom.

Annnnnd THAT...is that. :)  God is so incredibly FAITHFUL and NOTHING is too hard for Him.  He seems to be swinging this door WIDE open in this season for us to walk through, so we are moving forward in faith and in awe of His provision.

I want to leave you with a quote from my good friend (the wife of the couple who has made this large contribution toward our adoption fund).  This was a section of an email that she sent me within the last couple of days that just really blessed me: 

I wanted to say that after you shared how you guys feel like adoption is a way of communicating the gospel to others, I had this thought.. You were talking about how you guys felt like God wanted you to let other people share in this experience and even though adoption might not be for everyone they can still participate in other families being able to adopt. And I was thinking about it and it's really amazing because it cost God his most Beloved Son to adopt us. So it's like you're letting all these people outside your family unit say, "We'll make the sacrifice, like the Father, to adopt someone who would otherwise be lost." It's bringing people together who normally wouldn't be brought together... kind of like grafting in. It's like you guys are grafting in this child into your family, but then by letting other people help you financially you're also grafting them into your family. And maybe the people helping you don't know Jesus yet, but they're coming to know Him through this partnership. So I'm sure you guys already know this, but I think God is really using this whole process to manifest His glory and love. And we're so grateful God lets us participate with Him - in any capacity at all - in revealing His faithfulness to others. The Holy and Perfect God has given imperfect and unholy men the ability and responsibility to share His love with the world.  So really, thanks for letting us bless you guys. 

Wow.... God is beautiful and amazing in all He does.  Holy is the Lord....and we are undone.

Romans 11:33-36

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! 
   How unsearchable his judgments, 
   and his paths beyond tracing out! 
“Who has known the mind of the Lord? 
   Or who has been his counselor?”
“Who has ever given to God, 
   that God should repay him?” 
For from him and through him and to him are all things. 
   To him be the glory forever! Amen.

AMEN!