Our Provider

Can I tell you that God provides?  Because He does.  Abundantly, graciously, miraculously . . . He provides.

When He calls you to walk a costly road, He provides.  When you have a need, He provides.  When the unexpected comes, He provides.  Can I get an AMEN?!

We have experienced Jehovah-Jireh (The LORD will provide) so powerfully during this adoption journey.  When we first started the process last summer, I was overwhelmed at the thought of needing $30,000.  But we chose right from the beginning to walk in faith instead of worrying.  We knew we didn't have that much money and that God was going to have to provide.

He could have just rained down the money and we would have been praising His name!  But He chose to provide most of what we have so far through the generosity and sacrifice of family, friends, and even strangers!

It has been a truly beautiful experience to see people partner with us and how Easton's story is already impacting lives.  Each gift from friends has been more than just money given.  It has been someone linking arms with us . . . not just to bring Easton home, but to be the Church and fulfill God's call to care for orphans.  Thank you to each of you who have denied yourself and given, even out of your own need, to help us bring our little boy home!

God's perfect timing has been put on full display as well!  We have had every dollar we needed, just when we needed it . . . and sometimes not a moment sooner!  As we got ready to finally mail in our dossier, we were $100 short for the dossier fee.  No joke . . . a friend sent a $100 check in the mail and I received it that day!  There are many other moments like this, but just know that your obedience to the Spirit's prompting has encouraged our hearts, strengthened our faith, and given us every penny we've needed so far!

We've had fun and worked hard as we have raised funds this last year.  I love love love seeing our adoption t-shirts all over the place!  Still praying that those shirts open countless doors for people to proclaim the Gospel through the beauty of adoption!  The raffles have been such a fun way for people to partner with us too.  I mean, who doesn't love a great prize up for grabs?!  And I might never talk Chad into doing another yard sale again, but the hard work definitely paid off!

We needed around $15,000 to get through all the paperwork and fees and officially get on the waitlist.  I'm so thankful to say that God, through many of y'all, provided every dollar to get us this far (we got on the waitlist on July 3)!

In the last few weeks, God has been rocking our world!  Some incredible things have happened that I'm so blessed to share with you!

The next payment will be the referral costs once we get the call that we have been matched with a little boy.  I'll explain more in a future post, but that call could come for us sooner than later.  We're looking at needing $6000 within a week of that life-changing phone call.  So as soon as we wrote the last big check, I immediately set it in my mind to get the $6000 ready for whenever the call comes . . . not a small task!

We are finally able to apply for adoption grants now that our homestudy is done so I've been filling out applications for as many as possible.  We sent an application in April to Show Hope, the incredible organization founded by Stephen Curtis Champan.  We supported Show Hope for years and it is so cool to now be on the other side . . . at least we prayed we'd be on the receiving end!

We received a letter on June 30 that we had been awarded a Show Hope grant.  And you'll never believe for how much . . . $6000!  I know.  I was so flippin excited and just in awe of how God provides perfectly!  We're still applying for other grants, fundraising, and saving (travel will be around $8000), but we are so blessed to know that we are ready for the referral fees when that amazing call comes!

And I'm not done!  In the back of our minds this whole time has been our car situation.  I drive a Ford Escape that I got in college (yay for getting scholarships!) and it has been an awesome car for us.  We got Chad's Cirrus after his other car drowned in Katrina, but it has been having tough times lately.  We really don't want to put more money into it AND the backseat is broken so it isn't even safe for the kids to ride in . . .not ideal.

The issue is that we didn't think my car was big enough to fit three carseats all in a row (Ava is almost 4 and only 23 lbs . . . she'll be in a carseat until she's 16!).  That left us with needing a van.  But we don't have car payments now and have no room in our budget for a car payment so we were stuck.  We had two options . . . pray for someone to give us a van or buy really expensive carseats that are super skinny and would just barely let us get three in a row.  Obviously we decided to go with the latter route because people don't just hand out vehicles!  We chose to wait on buying the carseats until our referral, but just settled on making this work.

Oh, but God had other plans!!!  My cousin called the night I announced on the blog that we were finally on the waitlist and had our number.  He told me how excited they were for us about this big step.  Then he dropped a bomb . . .

And we want to give you our van.

Say what?!  I seriously sobbed for the next five minutes as I tried to wrap my mind around what was happening.  Who just gives away a van?!

When I finally got ahold of myself, I was able to share how this was an answer to a prayer that he couldn't have know about.  A prayer that I prayed with such weak faith, but God still delighted to answer.  A pouring out of grace . . . we don't deserve a van, but God loves to give good gifts to His children.  And I hope this is a tremendous blessing to this amazing family who are giving up the money that could have been made on selling the van and giving us a priceless gift instead.

Chad was in shock when I shared the news with him.  We cracked up because he started asking me all manner of questions about the van (such a man) and I had no clue.  I didn't ask a single question because all I could do was cry!  I didn't even know what kind it was . . . FREE was all that mattered!

Ahhhhhh!  God provides.  Abundantly.  Graciously.  Miraculously.  He provides!

I pray that our testimony of God's provision encourages your heart today.  We are nothing special . . . He is just that amazing.  We don't deserve these gifts . . . He is just that gracious.  We could never have asked or planned for how He has provided . . . He is just that sovereign.  Jehovah-Jireh!

***UPDATE***

As if all the above wasn't enough . . . another cousin just gave us a twin bed!  Now Grayson will be ready to let Easton use the crib when he gets home!!  So blessed by our family and friends being used by God to meet all our needs!