Thankful for the Harvest

Below is the post I wrote after last year's Harvest Festival, where we had our first fundraiser for the adoption.  We had just started the process, and we were ecstatic that we could add $600 from the cake sale to our "baby fund." A year later, it's Harvest Festival time again, and we look back with awe at how God has worked from one October to the next!  

The baby that I have carried in my heart for years has been made known to us * A check for $25000 has been mailed * God has taken our amoeba-sized faith and stretched it to points previously unimaginable to us * God has used this journey to draw us, our family and church families to our knees and closer to Him. 

We serve a God that is faithful and good, even when we are not. Our God is the Giver of grace and miracles, and for that I'm ever thankful!

Status of cake sale: Total Success

We held our Silent Cake Auction/bake sale last night at our church Harvest Fest, and it raised nearly $600 for the adoption!!  Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone that helped us make our first fundraiser a success; we really do have the best church family around :0).

"The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace."  Numbers 6:24

Matt's take on life

Sam, today is a special day because it's your Uncle Matt's birthday.  He is a very special member of our family who has an amazing insight when it comes to scripture. He has a very unique way of teaching us all about what matters in life.

** Your daddy and I had not been married long and were living in an apartment.  Matt had come to stay with us at our apartment, and we were talking about how I wanted to buy a house and that it would be even better if we could build one.  His matter of fact response was that we "needed to build our house on the rock because that's what the Bible tells us to do."  Your Uncle Matt's view of scripture is very literal.  He doesn't take the parts that he likes and discards the rest.  He doesn't put his own spin on it; he simply believes it and lives it out each day.  If the Bible says it, Matt believes it for the truth that it is.

**Two weeks after we got the call about you, we were at the beach for the weekend.  Matt and I were in the ocean, and Matt mentioned coming back to the beach next summer.  I told him that I hoped to be in South Korea picking you up although I had no idea how we were going to get the 25k that we needed.  His simple reply, "Trust God.  He will give you the $25,000."  His love for God and God's word allows him to have faith even the most impossible situations.  It flows out of him, encouraging those around him at just the right times.

--Extra, extra:  a funny Matt story that makes me laugh each time I think of it----during that same beach trip, Matt came up out of the water and said that the water was burning his eyes.  I explained it was the salt that was in it, and he needed to keep his eyes closed under water.  The next day, we were in the ocean again.  He comes up from the water and says, "they put too much salt in this water."  I asked who had put it in there, and he said, "the hotel people had."  In between my fits of laughter, I told him that he needed to talk to the good Lord about the salt content of the water since He was the one who put it in there. Love it! :0)

Today's your day---enjoy it immensely!

Our family's best member is turning another year older today!  Happy Birthday, Matt, I pray it's the best one yet!  You are such a blessing to our family, and I'm so excited for Sam to know you!

These pictures perfectly show Matt's personality :).

~you are missing from us~

Sweet, sweet Sam--you are missing from us, and we are ready for you to come home!  We feel you missing every day in so many ways.
We feel you missing when we're at Saturday morning breakfast.
We feel you missing while we're at church worshiping together as a family.
We feel you missing in the evenings when it's just us here at home.
We feel you missing when we see forever families formed through the miracle of adoption.
There's not a moment that we don't feel you missing from us, and we're praying for the day when you'll be home.  ~love you~

do it anyway

My sweet Samuel,

There will be times when the right thing to do is as obvious as the nose on your face.

But then there are times when it won't be as obvious, leaving you searching God's word for answers.

There will be times that you'll do the right thing, yet some will misunderstand or even criticize you.

There will be those times when you know the right thing but for whatever reason not want to do it.

Some days you'll do the right thing and feel like no one notices or cares.

More times than not doing the right thing is the hardest road to take.

Regardless of all this, do the right thing anyway.

The time is always right to do what is right.  Martin Luther King, Jr.

Who knew you could fit so much in a gallon size bag?

Sam, your furry friend was packaged and shipped yesterday, so he's headed your way along with a Thomas the Train toothbrush/toothpaste and a toy car that rattles and rolls :0)!  We love you so much and wish we could be there to see you play with them!  Looking forward to that day...

감사합니다 (Thank You)

Included in our package to Sam was a gift for his foster mother--a gift to thank her.  To thank her for taking our baby home from the hospital at two days old to care for him * to thank her for staying up for late night feedings and diaper changes * to thank her for providing him with proper nutrition that allows him to grow and develop * to thank her for loving him * to thank her for teaching him and playing with him *  to thank her for standing in the gap by caring for God's babies.

So the gift, a locally made & hand-crafted bracelet, is just a small symbol of the HUGE amount of gratitude that we have for her.  

"I thank my God every time I remember you."  Philippians 1:3

 

a bear-y sweet present for Sam

To be loved on by the cutest little boy on the planet, this bear will journey all the way to Seoul!

 I really wanted to include a recordable story book in the package that we are preparing for Sam; however, recordable books aren't small enough to fit in a gallon size ziploc bag.  So...last night, we found ourselves in the Build a Bear Workshop where we made this little bear with a recordable message.  Now, all Sam will have to do is squeeze his bear's paw, and he'll hear his mommy and daddy :0).

the best plan

We started this blog a year ago with an announcement that we were beginning the adoption process. And, we had a plan for how everything was going to go.  Thankfully, though, God doesn't rely upon our plans.  Because let me tell you--His plan was so much better than ours and more amazing than we could have imagined!  I am SO thankful that we serve a God who has a plan for each of His children.

Our plan was to adopt a sweet little girl.
God's plan involved the cutest little boy on the planet.

Our plan was to adopt from South Korea before changing to Russia because the wait for South Korea was going to be too long.
God's plan was for our baby to come from Seoul, South Korea; the long wait was not a factor for Him.

In our plan, we estimated being matched with a baby around Christmas of this year.
God intended for us to be matched with our baby much earlier than that--June of this year!

We planned to pay for the adoption a little at a time as the fees came due.
In God's plan, the fees were all due at once, and He used a lot of special people to provide the money that was needed to pay them!

All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.
                                                                          - Ralph Waldo Emerson