Adopted for Life

We are getting ready to head off to the beach for our annual family vacation. This is what we will be reading.

On another note, God has been so gracious to provide what we need to proceed with our homestudy. Thank you Lord, and thank all of you who have so generously contributed! Excluding the loan and it's possible fees (which should be mostly reimbursed by the adoption tax credit), we now need only about $3,000 more! By partnering with us in support and prayer, you are living out James 1:27 which says, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

Exciting Times

Hello, friends! We have had many of you express an interest in what God is doing in our lives right now, particularly in the area of adoption. So, in order to keep everyone updated with the most current information, we are creating a blog. As you are probably aware, God has put it on our hearts to pursue infant adoption. We are partnering with an organization called Bethany Christian Services (www.bethany.org), and our next big step is to complete the homestudy.

We have been prepared for this process to take some time. So you can imagine our surprise when, over the past several days, we received two calls from our social worker asking for our profile information to show potential birthparents. For those of you not familiar with the process, the family profile is a compilation of pictures and family information that is usually presented to the birthparent/s after the homestudy is completed and much of the fees are paid.

God has been faithful to provide the funds we need to move forward at each step, thanks to your generosity. However, as we have recently learned that our information is being shown or will soon be shown to birthparents, we are trusting God will continue to provide. The process seems to be moving faster than we planned or imagined, and we realistically need to raise about $4,500 more in addition to a loan we will apply for after our homestudy is completed, and a subsequent attorney fee. This could all move ahead very quickly if a birthmother were to choose us to adopt her baby.

We continue to trust that God, in his perfect timing, will provide what we need. We are confident that he is leading us, and have experienced great peace and joy throughout this process. Isaiah 26:3 says, "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you." Would you please join with us in praying for the following areas?

1. God would be glorified in how we walk through this.
2. God would provide the additional finances we need.
3. God would bring the child he has chosen to us.
4. The birthmother (and possibly birthfather) would have peace as they contemplate a very
difficult decision, and they would come to know Christ if they don't already.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, for your prayers!

In closing this first post, there is a program recommended to us that gives a wonderful view of the adoption process through the eyes of a birthmom. Although we don't usually recommend MTV, their show "16 and Pregnant"--episode 6 (Catelynn) is really worth watching. Just go to www.mtv.com and click on "shows", then "16 and Pregnant", and find episode 6. It's also really relevant as the adoption takes place through Bethany Christian Services. Warning--have a box of tissues handy!

Love,

Stephen and Jill