August 25 2008- We were still not sure which country to choose, but decided to go ahead and submit our formal application with all the requested paperwork to get started.  That morning I had it all ready to mail and Sarah from Bethany called me.  She had received notice that Moscow was looking for 3 families who had not logged into a region yet to take 3 boys who were more Asian looking.  She had put our name in and we were to wait and see if we were chosen. If  we would like to do that. We felt like it was the right thing to do because I had said several times, let’s just get our paperwork in and God will show us which country to choose.  I started to pray for our new child daily then.  I prayed for his safety, that he wasn’t hungry, and that someone would hug him at least once every day.

 

September 2008 – We were accepted as one of the 3 families and we began waiting on the referral.  She originally said we should have the referral that week and travel in October and November and have him home by Christmas. We had our interviews, our home study, started the immigration paperwork, and started the online training. We waited patiently the whole month not wanting to mess with God’s timing, but no referral came.

 

October 2008 – Sarah said the home office had the referral but it was a bad picture and they had requested more pictures and medicals from Russia.  They said though, he had turned 2 in July and had dark hair and dark eyes.

Well since my last post we moved 1,000 miles to a new state.  It has been very hectic unpacking and putting up 300 boxes (20,000 lbs) worth of stuff.  We are pretty well settled in with a few minor things to be done (like trying to get the printer to print and the refrigerator to make ice etc).  I'm trying to stay on path her and keep the posts up to at least once a month.  So here's more of the story:

May 2008 – I was online reading a website of a charity that the homeschool magazine had requested support of and through a series of links that I began following I found Bethany Christian Services.  An adoption agency with an office right here in Fayetteville.  A chill went down my spine and I felt God saying this is where you get your child from.  Later I found out the importance of this, because each adoption agency gets lists of different children from different orphanages. 

 

June 2008- Our friends were home with their little boy from Russia.  They brought him to Sunday School and gave their testimony.  They made the statement that the children in Russia will most likely never hear the name of Jesus.  The Lord used that to convince Jason that we were supposed to adopt a child.  We have been blessed immeasurable and have a lot to provide a child, essentially we will be saving a life.

 

July 2008 – We began researching all the different adoption agencies.  Even though there were other very good agencies out there that seemed even better on paper.  God kept leading us back to Bethany.  So after talking to references, checking the Better Business Bureau and all their accreditations, we chose them.  At the end of the month, we submitted our pre-application and met with them.

 

 

February 2008 – During my quiet time one morning I was on my knees praying. I was not even thinking about adoption at that moment.  All of a sudden I felt the Lord telling me we had one more blessing out there that He had for us and we had to go get the child.  I begin discussing it Jason.

 

March 2008 – A couple in our Sunday School class asks for prayer request for their adoption of a little boy in Russia.

 

April 2008 – I went to a homeschool conference.  Voddie Bauchman spoke on God’s command to fill the earth with His children.  I had already assumed that since there were so many people on earth that command was no longer in force.  However if Christians do not continue to have lots of Christian children, Christianity will die out.  It reinforced to me even more that we were meant to adopt.

This is the beginning of posts on our adoption from my journal.

 

I have off and on talked about adopting a child from Russia our entire marriage.

 

When I was in the hospital in pre-term labor with Jase, I told Jason I would never do that again.  I said if we wanted another child, we would go to Russia and adopt one.

 

November 2007 – God put the seed in my heart again and I started to thinking about it more seriously. God began to drip information little by little.  For example a radio program featuring a teenager whose parents adopted a child and how she had been the one to first ask her parents to do that because God commands us to take care of orphans and widows.

I can not believe it has been 11 months since I last blogged.  Adding a child is very time consuming.  We brought Micah home in April.  Things have went really smooth and God has answered every prayer.  Micah is an amazing, wonderful 3 year old.  He acts like he has always been with us. 

I am going to start posting again more regular.  My plan is to finish our 3rd reason for adopting now and then I am going to start posting our adoption journal.  It was an amazing journey and one that I really want to share with everyone.  God made miracles happen during that process and He deserves all the glory. 

So the last reason we had for adopting is found in James 1:27.  Paraphrased it says religion that is pure is to take care of widows and orphans.  Very simple, we are to take care of those who are less fortunate than us.  Why did we adopt? 

1. Because God told us to

2. He commands us to be fruitful

3. Because we can, so we must

God has blessed us immensely and we have room in our house and hearts for another child.  It isn't that much strain on us, but it means life for a child in an orphanage.  

There are 127,000 children in the US alone that are in the foster care system.  There are 143 million orphans worldwide.  As Christians we can change the world by giving children life one child at a time.

Staying the narrow path, have a blessed day!