Sometimes I feel like everything happens at once. We’re just strolling along this adoption journey… not too much happening… waiting on forms to come in from Ghana… no real pressure because we can’t do anything until those forms arrive… dream of our baby and have time to stop and smell the roses along the way. Then BAM – it all falls into place and it’s suddenly our turn. The forms all arrive, the home study agency finishes the last 2 visits in 24 hours, the deadline is looming, and it’s up to us again.
Two forms we were waiting on arrived last week. They were the only 2 forms we were waiting on to complete our end of the dossier packet. They will be filled out, signed, and notarized this week. YAY! Our home study will be on it’s way to AGCI for review by the end of next week. Once we have it in our hands we will send our entire packet of forms to Richmond for state certification. I fully expect this to go down by the end of March or very early April (as in… just a couple weeks.) When the state sends us back our certified dossier (paperwork packet) we then are ready to send it to AGCI and once they receive it we are officially ready to be matched with our baby! Woah.
But wait. I forgot to mention one little thing that has to be included with our dossier when we mail it to the agency. A check. A big fat check. And here’s where I start to feel a little stressed and overwhelmed. You see, we still need to raise a little over $3,000 to be able to mail that check. That seems like such a HUGE amount to me. $3,000 in 1 month? How can we possibly raise that much?
But then I remember that we needed to raise over $4,000 in December to contract. What happened? God did it. Yup. By January 1st we had the entire amount needed to send our contracting payment in. So while I may wring my hands and try to brainstorm a thousand different ways to bring in the funds I have to remember that God’s already got it covered. He knows the fees involved with our adoption and He knows when they’re needed. It’s a hard act of trust for me, but I must force myself to surrender it all to God. I must force myself not to worry and rest assured that God will provide. In His way and in His time.On a day when I desperately needed to be reminded of these things I read this post by Casey Chappell. So good to be reminded that this journey is about so much more than us and our children.
Will you pray for us? Will you pray that God will provide? And if you feel led or just really really want to you can donate to our adoption and enter a super fun giveaway by clicking here.
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Christy - Praying with you. I cannot wait to see what He does in this. It’s going to be amazing.
Kim - God will provide every single cent, Lauren! I *know* that He will. He has for us! We started our adoption journey at the end of last July with a whopping $0. At this point, we have now paid $25,900 in adoption-related fees. Before we can travel for court (hopefully the end of April!), we will need more than $8,000. Before we can travel for embassy (and to bring our kids home), we will need ANOTHER $10,000 (OR MORE!). By the time this is all said and done and our kids are here playing and laughing instead of waiting and waiting… we will have paid close to (or possibly over) $50,000 in adoption expenses, in what will most likely be ONE YEAR. That is ALL GOD! There is NO WAY that WE could have ever done this. Only Him. Every single time money was due, it was there. He made sure it was. If we didn’t accept the additional referral of our new three (who are now no longer on a waiting child list “waiting” for a family to choose to love THEM) in addition to our baby girl, we would probably be stress free right now about money! We would be almost totally paid except for travel. But He asked us to step out in faith and TRUST Him on this one. And we know that He’s got this. He is soooo much bigger than any dollar amount, even though the numbers are completely overwhelming to us.
He will provide, I just know it! Praying for you always.
Sherry - I have read two post this morning on funds, I must need this because we are going through the same thing. We serve such a big God and He will provide, but just like you I get so stressed, I try to figure out how many bracelets I need to make etc..when I have to remember God has this…love your heart…He WILL provide.
Jennifer - Lauren,
I am praying for you and your family. I can’t wait for Mareto to be a big brother! God will provide for your family! I am overjoyed to give some of what God gave me to fund his call for your life! Bring that precious baby home from Africa! I am going to share your basket fundraiser on my facebook page. Maybe God will lead some of my family and friends to give or even just pray over y’all! Do I need to add that I did that on the basket post for an extra entry?
Best Monday Morning Wake Up EVER! » Casper Blog - [...] you so much to all who encouraged me after reading my last post! I am so blessed to be surrounded by amazing people who love and support us. So many of you have [...]