Stepping Out in Faith

Thank you all for the prayers and support. Your response to my last post was overwhelming and the prayers have indeed been felt. We are so grateful to be sharing this journey with all of you.

After months of waiting, our adoption journey is moving again with a speed and direction that is very surprising and overwhelming in the best possible way. We received a call from the agency yesterday, and through a God-ordained “mistake”(!) we have been chosen by not one, but two birth-moms at the exact same time!

After hearing about the birth-mothers and their stories, I was on the verge of tears. So many emotions! While thrilled to hear that we had been chosen, I was absolutely torn apart trying to decide which mom and baby we were going to choose. The situations with both are so very similar. Both teenagers. Both having girls. Neither birth-fathers are causing problems (one wants nothing to do with the pregnancy and one is totally supportive of the adoption). Similar medical situations and history with both. They are even the same race! (Andrew and I have been open to any race so this was somewhat surprising.) There was nothing that was pulling us to one birth-mom or the other.

Andrew was on a plane when The Call came, so I spent an hour praying, looking at my notes and crying out to God while waiting to share the fabulous news – and the difficult decision we needed to make – with my husband. How do you make a choice like that?

Since we are approved for multiple children with our present home study, we quickly realized that we could legally adopt them both. The problem with this idea (as you might imagine) is money. Not being a “twins” situation, to adopt both girls would cost as much as two completely separate adoptions, something we never thought would be possible to do at the same time.

Andrew and I felt very strongly when we first talked about adoption that we needed to save the necessary funds and be financially able to handle the adoption fees before submitting our application. (Please note that we are not saying that this is the right thing for each couple but it was what we felt God leading us to do when we decided to adopt.) We are completely prepared to pay the adoption fees as they were laid out when we first started this journey – but in our own power, we are not equipped to double that anticipated amount in a span of just a few weeks.

All that being said, we have learned a lot about trusting God’s timing during this journey, and we are well aware of how long it usually takes to walk out the adoption process. To be granted the highly unusual opportunity to adopt two children simultaneously, and through what can only be considered miraculous circumstances, is something we do not take lightly. So we prayed, sought wise counsel, and prayed some more and are now sure that God is calling us to adopt both of these little girls and that He will provide the funds.

You read that right – we are stepping out in faith and adopting two little girls! One is due in January and one in February! This means we have a very short 7 weeks to raise the funds needed for the second adoption.

Asking for your help is a big step for us. As I have mentioned before, Andrew and I are both planners and don’t typically walk into situations we don’t feel prepared to handle, so this is way out of our comfort zone (exactly where we think God wants us to be!). We know, though, that many of you have offered to help as you have heard about our journey – and now there is a very large financial need!

Would you consider helping us adopt our little girls? Perhaps you have not personally been called to adopt but have felt the call to invest in others’ adoption efforts. Perhaps you have been touched by adoption in some other way. Perhaps you just feel led to help us.

Below are some ways you can help if you feel led to do so. Please feel free to send this to your church, family, friends, or anyone you know who has a heart for adoption and may also want to help. We know that God has placed this special opportunity in our laps and we are so excited to see how He provides for these precious children.

We’ve chosen several ways to make it possible for others to invest in our journey.

Online Donations   Donate to our adoption through our YouCaring page. This is a unique site that allows you to donate funds online and none of the funds are deferred to the hosting website. All donations go directly to our adoption fund minus a small paypal fee. (If you would rather send a check directly to us, please contact me for the right mailing address.) Click here to visit our donation page.

Coffee! If you know anyone who needs to buy Christmas gifts, especially for a business or organization, please encourage them to support us while buying fabulous coffee! This is a great way for those that need to purchase corporate Christmas gifts to do their shopping and support our cause at the same time. Click here to check out our “Coffee Shop.”

Children’s Puzzle   Perhaps you would like to get your children involved in giving for Christmas. We have just the perfect opportunity for you. For just $10, your children (or you!) can purchase a puzzle piece. We’ll put your name on the back of each puzzle piece you sponsor and when the puzzle is complete, we are going to frame it in a double glass frame to hang in our home so that the girls can always see how many people blessed us with their support. We are excitedly looking forward to the day when we can teach our girls about the importance of helping others, specifically in the realm of adoption, and are excited to see this puzzle completed with donations from other children. Click here to purchase your puzzle piece(s) and then email me at greengirlsadoption{at}gmail.com so I can add your name!

Our Adoption book   Everyone knows someone who has been impacted by adoption (if you think you don’t – just remember whose blog you are reading! :-)) and we would love for you to honor them by “purchasing” a section in our adoption book. These pages can include pictures of your choice or a note to the girls. This would make a great (and very impactful!) Christmas gift to someone that you would like to honor! We will send them a beautiful card letting them know about the donation made in their honor and the book will serve as a lasting reminder to our family of how God used His people to bring our family together. Anyone who donates to our adoption fund will be included in the book and you can choose your page amount when donating through our YouCaring page. Just leave a note when donating or email me at greengirlsadoption{at}gmail.com and let us know that you would like a page in the book. We will then reach out to you to get the picture and/or note. If you want to just donate as a family and let our girls get to know you, you can do that as well! We can’t wait to see how large this book is!

The amounts/sections are:

Under $25 – included in our list of supporters

$25 – $75 – 1/4 page space

$100 – $500 – 1/2 page

$500 and over – a full page

Click here to make your donation.

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support! In the world’s eyes this is a very scary thing to do but we are so excited to see The Lord continue to work and can’t wait to meet our daughters!