Friday, February 3, 2012

With Great Sadness

When Trevor and I started this blog we did it as a means to keep our family updated with our adoption journey since neither of us Facebook. We also wanted to be an encouragement to those who were considering adopting. It is such a scary process to begin alone. We wanted others to realize the amazing call God has asked from each of us. We wanted to have a support group of people who understood the roller coaster ride of adoption. We wanted Him to be glorified through it all.

In the 6 short months that we have been blogging, this has happened. We have had two families contact us with questions about adoption because they were considering begining the journey. I walked into candlelight the other night and a friend I met over 8 years ago found our blog and has been following the process. A few moms were encouraged to teach their children about having a giving heart because of the Alco story with Big K. People have seen how faithful our Lord and Savior has been to us by providing the funds we needed for every part of this adoption. We have developed a relationship with many other adoptive families by reading each other's blogs. We have brought an awareness to the country of Congo and the millions of orphans there. Over 4,100 people have viewed our blog. People from Russia, Jordan, Brazil, Netherlands, Germany, Ukraine, Turkey, United Kingdom and India have heard our story. Hundreds of people have been praying for us and our little +1. God has been so good.

Unfortunately though we live in a scary world and crazy things happen! For the safety of our family and our little +1, we are going to suspend our blogging until we get our little boy safely home in our loving arms. Nothing that is said on this blog, that could be taken wrong, is worth the chance of losing him.

Thank you for caring. Thank you for following our story. Thank you for praying for us. Thank you for giving. You have no idea how much everything each of you have done has meant to us. I know our +1 will one day have the opportunity to read about the journey and realize the love that was shown for him before we even knew him. He will understand what he meant to so many people. From the deepest part of our heart, thank you. We love you so...

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Why Wednesday...Or Thursday

Why Fundraise to Adopt?

**I started this post about 3 weeks ago and never got it finished on a Wednesday to post so I kept telling myself I would do it next Wednesday. Well yesterday came and went (little K has viral pneumonia and bronchiolitis so yesterday was spent holding her and giving breathing treatments, and on my knees praying) so needless to say it's Thursday and I'm posting a Why Wednesday..Oh Well!!! No perfect people allowed at this blog...right?!?!**

Please know that this post is not a ploy to get you to donate to our adoption. As of a few weeks ago, besides our travel, our adoption is fully funded (Hallelujah, thank you Jesus!!!). This is a post however, to encourage those who want to adopt but look at the large financial cost of it all and become overwhelmed!!

In the last couple of weeks I've had to answer this question since we have a large fundraiser coming up. We began this adoption journey not intending on fundraising to acquire the money but by trusting God to provide. We sold a lot of stuff and began saving each month. We did discuss getting a loan but that thought brought a funny feeling to the pit of our stomach. In November a fundraiser raffle fell into our laps and we were ever so thankful. About a month ago a few amazing ladies at church felt like God was calling them to put on a fundraiser dinner for us and another family in the church who are adopting from China. Yes it was hard to accept the amazing gift they were offering, but we were reminded that we were trusting God to provide for us. If this is one way He was going to provide some of the funds, then it was our job to continue to trust Him.

Believe it or not, people have strong opinions when money is involved in anything. We can all freely waste money on things we don't need or could live with out. Sadly though, when someone asks us to contribute money to help out on something worth cause, we have to think twice about it or let our "flesh" do the talking! In all honestly, Trevor and I have been guilty of feeling this many times. It seems like around every corner someone is always asking for money. This time though, we encountered the other perspective...being the receivers. It is truly one of the most humbling experiences when all of the attention is on you. We have had to spend many of moments in prayer and talking with each other to realize that just as it's ok to be a giver, it's ok to be open to receive the blessings that God provides through other people.

As odd as it may seem, buying new clothes to make our image look better, spending money on extravagant vacations to relax, or all of the other materialistic things that will ultimately fade away in this life happens without thinking twice, but yet when one has the opportunity to be a part of something that will change a life for eternity, we get a little self-righteous and take offense that someone would even ask us.

We know that not everyone feels open to take an orphan into their homes. We do however believe it is every one's responsibility to care for them. If that's by sending money to support your church's orphanage or missionary or by mentoring with CASA or Big Brother Big Sisters, or by attending a fundraiser dinner to help bring a child home,  we all need to do our part to make sure these kids feel loved and taken care of.

To everyone who has supported us, not just financially, but supported us with prayer, words of encouragement, questions about adoption, and for just caring, thank you! Hopefully, some day, our +1 will get to personally thank you himself!