Well, we're back from a wonderful time at the beach. Not only was it a week of rest and relaxation, but it also afforded us lots of time to work on all the paperwork we needed to have completed upon our return. The day after our return we had our joint interview with Bethany Christian Services, and our individual interviews and homestudy are planned for next week. Things have definitely moved quicker than we expected, but we continue to have much peace and joy.
We have been overwhelmed with gratefulness for the support we have received over the past several weeks in the form of several sizable donations. You (and you know who you are :) have blown our minds with your generosity. We cannot express how thankful and humbled we are by your kindness, and we know you will receive great reward in heaven.
We continue to trust that "...God will supply every need of (ours) according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus." Some points of prayer: after our homestudy, we will be applying for an interest-free loan that is available to Christian families adopting. We hope to qualify for this loan and to pay it off with the adoption tax credit. However, we were recently reminded that the renewal of the tax credit will depend on whether or not it passes Congress, as it will be voted on again for the next tax year. So we would really appreciate prayer that one, the tax credit is renewed for adopting families, and two, that we would qualify for the interest-free loan. Also, we will be applying for one or more grants that would be of help.
On another note, we are creating profiles for Bethany to show potential birthmothers. The birthmothers will then chose an adoptive family from the profiles they view. We have submitted an early profile because our social worker has a birthmother scheduled to come into the office next week, and she would like to show her our profile. This is exciting for us, and we are praying that God would direct the right birthmother to our profile. We will keep you updated.
~Stephen and Jill
Wow! Things certainly have been moving quickly!
ReplyDeletePraise God, for his faithfulness. I love that he's leading you guys into this, and that he's providing for you (and will provide for the new addition). :-)