A challenge to my readers...

Yesterday I posted a link to a fellow adoption mommy's blog and told you about a contest she is having to help raise awareness, funds, and prayer support to about 20 different families in need. They are each bringing children home from faraway countries and many are in some seriously desperate situations. To help them each get a little extra support, this blogger is holding a contest and asking that people donate at least $20 to one or more of the families she posted about, then leave a comment on her blog saying you did so. She will choose two random posters and give them each a $250 gift card to Wal-Mart!

Over the past few months, God has really given me a heart for these families and children. I am constantly reading their stories and praying for them and watching miracles unfold every day. It is pretty amazing! But my heart also breaks for families that just can't get the funds they need, and the only thing separating them from their precious babies is money. It's just not right. If a family is obedient and courageous enough to commit to adoption, to love the least of these, they should not be held back by lack of funds, especially Christian families who are supposed to have the full support of the church in helping orphans. And they should certainly have more prayer partners than they can count.

Now, according to my fancy blog tracker thingamajig, I average about 200 readers a day give or take a few. I would like to challenge you guys to go visit No Greater Joy Mom's blog and click on a few of those precious baby's faces! See if God doesn't soften your heart towards these families and ask you to give a little to one or more of them. Maybe along with your gift, you could commit to faithfully praying for one special family, start following their story, and see what God does over the next few months! Just think what would happen if 200 of you committed to one of those families! That would be very cool.

I think we all have room in our days to pray for one of these families and their child(ren). This adoption community is quite large, and there are SO many families that need prayer and support! I would love to see some of you commit to one of them in prayer and help bring their babies home!

I realize that you are already committed to my family and helping us bring our little one home, and the support we have seen has been phenomenal. We are so blessed and so thankful for your love, support, prayers, and financial sacrifice. Because you have all been so wonderful to my family, I know you have it in your hearts to be just as wonderful to at least one more adoptive family in need! I truly believe God put our family on this particular journey for a bigger reason than just adding to our brood, and it would be amazing to help bring some other little ones home to their forever families as well!

If you'd like to give prayer or a financial gift to one of these children, visit this blog and leave a comment there saying you did so. Personally I would LOVE if you left a comment here as well!!!

If you have a blog or facebook, would you please share the link with your friends and family? Maybe you aren't able to give, but someone you know can! The more we spread the word the better. These are real families trying to bring home real children in really desperate situations.

Okay friends, thank you for reading and joining me in following some of these families! Let's help bring some kids home.

Adopting Families in Need

I wanted to share a blog post by an adoptive mother who is wonderful about connecting the adoptive community and spreading the word on different needs and prayer requests within it. I encourage you to start following her blog and become a part of the prayer and support community she creates!

She recently posted an entry specifically asking for help and support for a few adoptive families in crisis mode, who are desperately trying to raise funds in order to bring their babies home. To get the word out, she's offering a $250 Wal-mart gift card to one person who donates to one of the families in need.

I encourage you to check out her blog and see if God leads you to any of the families in need of serious assistance right now. Click here to visit her blog!

URGENT!!!

***UPDATE***

I am so excited to tell you guys that Sergey has been officially matched with his forever family!!! God is so good and I am so relieved to know that this little man we've been praying for is going to have a home and a family to call his own VERY SOON!!! Please continue to pray for his safe travel home and to stay healthy while his family waits to go get him. Praise God for giving this sweet little guy his miracle!!!

Okay my friends, I have never done this before but God has just been really really tugging on my heart to ask for help for this little guy!

If any of you read the story I posted on facebook about American families adopting children with special needs from other countries, you might have seen the reference to Reece's Rainbow, a foundation that supports and helps fund these kinds of adoptions. (You can see the story here: http://abcnews.go.com/International/hidden-angels-american-families-saving-children-syndrome/story?id=15234109#.TvjMAOD1cNg.facebook) I know a family who found their little boy Isaac through Reece's Rainbow and will hopefully be bringing him home soon (You can see more on their story and learn how to support them by visiting room4love.blogspot.com)!

Anyways, the article also described what happens to these kiddos when they turn four. They are taken from the baby house, where they have been relatively well cared for, and put into an adult mental institution. An institution! These little babies who have every opportunity to thrive in the right environment are housed in filthy and disgusting conditions, given no love or attention, and spend their days sitting in an empty room hoping their basic needs will be met that day. The survival rates for children once they've been placed there is extremely low, and their chance of finding a forever family is even lower.

There is one little guy who has been put on my heart, named Sergey, who is only four years old and has been transferred to an adult mental institution. Below is a link to more information about him, but caretakers say he is very gentle and sweet, and his pictures and videos show that!

Apparently there has been absolutely no one to inquire about adopting him at ALL, and seeing his adorable sweet little face it just breaks my heart knowing the conditions he is in as I type this. I am going to post a link to his information and maybe you can be praying for God to lead someone into bringing him home!!!

Sergey is HIV positive, and before that scares the beans out of you, know that with good treatment in the United States, HIV positive kids grow up to live wonderful and full lives! We happen to have an amazing pediatric HIV clinic right here in Phoenix that takes care of so many great kids!

Thank you for saying a prayer for this little guy, and if you happen to have a blog, maybe consider sharing his information with your followers as well! The more that know about his near hopeless situation, the better!

Here is the link to Sergey's site and how you can learn more about him.

http://reecesrainbow.org/22031/sergey-16

If nothing else can you pray for this little guy?? Isn't he beautiful???!!!

Thank you guys for taking the time to pray for Sergey!!!

Choices choices...

I'm a researcher. I love looking into every detail of every thing and finding out all I possibly can about something or someone. This is probably why I love facebook and am unhealthally (I don't think that's a word but it fits) addicted to Pinterest. A site devoted to looking up awesome stuff and saving it for future reference? Sign me up! Google is my best friend. When an issue comes up...I google it!

Google has answers for everything. Best BBQ place within five miles? GOOGLE! How many weight watchers points are in a Buffalo Chicken Salad from Chili's? GOOGLE! Jake has an odd pain in his left leg? Forget that my sister is a pediatrician, GOOGLE!

The awesome thing about Google is you get a million different answers in less than three seconds. You have instant direction, no waiting involved.

The bad thing about Google (if you're really looking for something...) is that it can be seriously overwhelming and when out of control, can take the place of prayer. Go with me for a minute.

Maybe I'm the only one, but when a big situation comes up (as in...I don't know...adoption) I tend to go straight to the internet. Give me all the information I can get so I can make an informed decision. To a point, I think this is smart. To a point. But there comes a time when you need to put the mouse down and pray.

Case in point: Josh and I are trying to make some serious decisions here. So we've decided to adopt, now what? There are a million types of adoption and a million different adoption agencies and all kinds of children from all parts of the world with all different backgrounds. How in the world are we supposed to know what the next step is?

So I did what I always do, I researched. Josh and I researched fost/adopt. We attended an orientation as I mentioned earlier and just did not feel comfortable with that situation. One option down, eight bazillion to go.

I started with researching international adoptions. I learned that different countries have different restrictions. So I researched the countries themselves. China was first on my list, as my cousin has adopted two from there and she was very happy with the process and her particular agency.

Turns out China requires parents to be at least 30 years old to apply, among other things (I feel it is my duty to let you know that China requires adoptive couples to have a BMI of under 40. Just a little interesting factoid.)

So since Josh and I are only 28, that ruled out about 3 million children and a few dozen adoption agencies.

Onto other countries. I eliminated them one by one based on required travel time (some countries require two visits of at least 2 weeks each, not a viable option when you have two children at home), cost of travel and stay, requirements by specific countries, etc.

The one country that stuck out to me was Korea South. They only require their couples be 25 years old, and the weight restriction is that you must not be over 30% above "average" weight. Phew. Just squeeked by! ;) The other cool thing was that unlike most other countries, Korea does not require you to travel to their country to pick up your child, they could be escorted to the States. I do think it would be really important for me to go visit the country our child is born in and see the sights and take pictures and spend some time there, but Korea does not require that both parents go, therefore at least one of us could stay with J* and E*. (And I have a sister who I know would travel with me!)

So if we chose international adoption, I believe I had narrowed it down to one country based on a variety of factors. But that was only if we chose international adoption. How would we know if that was where God was leading us? And even if He was, how do you then pick an agency? How do you pick a social worker to do your homestudy? Google was not helping me now.

So I researched private adoption. Agency adoption. Open adoption. Closed adoption. DES Adoption. Fost/Adopt. Like I said, the options are endless.

I threw down my phone with frustration and just closed my eyes. I told the Lord, "I have no idea what I'm doing. I cannot be trusted with such a big decision!"

I talked to Josh and tried to explain to him the ridiculous variety of choices we had and how very overwhelming it was. Josh, being Josh, did not seem the least bit shaken and very casually said something very casual that I don't even remember because it was of no particular help to me.

So I had a minor meltdown. I vented to Josh about how huge a decision this was and how I needed him to be completely on board yada yada yada. Basically, the minor meltdown ended with me realizing that maybe Josh wasn't overwhelmed because he wasn't overwhelming himself with information. So I decided to take a step back, put the mouse down, and just breathe.

I realized I had been spending more time googling than praying, and that is not a balance I want out of whack. I want to feel confident in the direction we are going because I know I am on the same page as the Lord and talking to Him on a regular basis.

I have done my homework. I know the options that are out there. I've inquired with different agencies. We feel like the next step is to just wait, and pray that God will open a door or light the next step.

Our goal is to bring a child into our lives and love them and give them a family and a home and a chance, to raise them up to love the Lord and to make sure they never for one day feel alone or unsupported or unloved. We want to work with an agency who is Christ-centered and has a mission statement we believe in, who takes care of their children and/or birth families, and who will support us and help us through this very daunting process.

So that is what we are praying for, and we will just have to be patient and see what doors God opens.

If you are praying for us, please pray specifically that God will show us the next step and we will feel total peace about taking it.

Until then, I am taking a bit of a Google break. ;)

Thank you again for your prayers and loving support! We are so thankful for them!

Givin' it to God!!!