Sigh of Relief

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh..." I am feeling a huge sigh of relief this week. The first 2 months of our adoption journey have been a complete roller coaster ride already, but I feel like we are finally hitting a smooth point in the ride where we can just breathe and enjoy the view.


I feel like this picture Beautiful Blue Nile Falls in Ethiopia captures how I'm feeling today

 We had our final home study meeting this Tuesday and I feel a huge weight has been lifted. I was really struggling with fearfulness about this part. So my husband and I had a "Doxology Moment" when it was over & literally sang the doxology!

"Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Praise Him all creatures here below.

Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts.

Praise Father, Son & Holy Ghost!"

We know that the fact that the meeting went well was completely the Lord's doing! And the the rest of this process is in His hands. I am trying to enjoy this ability to breathe & find contentment right here, right now, in the journey itself. I know that our homestudy still has to be "approved" by our agency, and we have to fork over $1500 for it, and we have to send it off with our USCIS I600A form for US approval, and then we'll have to wait like 2 to 3 months for a fingerprinting appointment, etc,etc. Basically I know that this journey is FAR from over.
 So I am trying to focus on this: the Lord is in control of this process, the details, the timing, which child(ren) will be ours, the finances, all of it. And I am His. He adopted me when I became a believer in the gospel of His Son. And it wasn't easy. He had to sacrifice His only Son to take the place that I deserve on that cross. He pursued me and loved me first when I was loving my sin and living in rebellion against Him. "We love because He first loved us," (1 John 4:19) I wouldn't even be on this journey to rescue an orphan if God hadn't rescued me first and given me a new heart to love the things that He loves. To live for His glory, not my own.
I cannot wait to hold my son and have him HOME with us here. But that will come in God's timing. It could be 6 months from now, or 18 months from now. I have no control over it, so I have to have faith that God has worked out the details for my good (Romans 8:28), for I know that "God is working all things together for good for those who love God, for those who were called according to His purpose." I know it will probably be harder to say once we get a referral and I have seen his face, I will want him HOME even more, so I better start now!
Thanks for walking this sanctifying journey with us! Continue to pray for a smooth process and for Ethiopia to remain open for adoption for many,many years to come so that tons of children can be rescued and adopted into Christ-centered families!

Our Adoption Fundraising shirts



 Well, we are getting ready to order our first batch of our Adoption Fundraising T-shirts this week!! Jon & I created the design ourselves and hope that you like it! {Despite our amateur efforts!} If you want to make sure we order & reserve one in your size & favorite color, you can pre-order them NOW!
We'll let you know once they come in & you'll be the first to get yours!

We are asking for a $20 donation to our adoption per shirt. (And $5 extra if you need it shipped.)

 Our shirts will be available on both navy and charcoal gray colored shirts. They are being printed on a super soft,  higher quality cotton shirt with a less baggy fit. They say most people still wear the same size, its just a little more fitted, but you're welcome to order a size up if you want! We will have adult small through XXL. Sadly, we won't be able to get toddler sizes at this time, but we're looking into it for the future.

Thank you to everyone who has already pre-ordered their shirts!! If you'd like to pre-order yours, you can leave a comment below with what color & size shirt(s) you want! Thanks again everyone!

On another quick note- please PRAY that our final Home Study meeting would go well this Tuesday evening!! And that God would help me not to be fearful about this whole process, where some days it feels like we're being "investigated" to see if we're worthy of being parents to a child. It really makes me have to re-focus on the Lord and not on fear of man! I'm tempted to want to give the "right" answers, or whatever I think they want to hear, but I know that the truth is the right answer! We are a loving, Christ-centered family that has nothing to hide, so why do I feel like this???

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of Christ, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." -Phillipians 4:6-7

praising the Lord for His good word!

Sip Coffee, Save an Orphan

I love a good cup of coffee in the morning, or when I sit down to read God's word, or when I get together with friends, or just as an occasional special treat. But I must confess, for me it's all about a good flavored creamer. I'm not a die-hard,straight black coffee kinda girl. 

No matter how you take your coffee, you can feel good about drinking this fair-trade coffee AND knowing you're supporting Adoption at the same time! Mmmmm.... now that is coffee that I can really enjoy & not feel guilty about sipping on & sharing with friends!

That's what Just Love Coffee is all about... supporting orphans and their forever families

and supporting the coffee farmers around the world with fair-trade wages for their hard work.

In fact, when you order any bag of coffee from www.justlovecoffee.com/jonandbethany ,

 $5 will be donated to our Adoption Fund!

They have organic coffees, coffees from around the world, even several coffees made in our child's birth country of Ethiopia! In fact, I think this is pretty cool- Just Love Coffee is owned & run by a Christian man who has adopted a daughter from Ethiopia! You can read more about his story here.

We'd like to say THANK YOU in advance to any of you who purchase coffee from our adoption store (www.justlovecoffee.com/jonandbethany ) and in-turn donate to our Adoption Fund & help us bring our child(ren) home from Ethiopia!! Every little bit helps! So we sincerely thank you!

Are you willing to rescue what God holds dear?

This video & message from Eric Ludy stirs my heart and makes me want to RUN to Ethiopia right now to my son! I hope if you are considering adoption, or if you have never in your life thought about adopting I hope you'll watch it. I hope it will cause you to start thinking about adoption the way God does. But don't stop there, PRAY that the Lord would show you how He wants to use you to care for the fatherless!

ANOTHER crazy week

Oh, where should I start? We've had another crazy week in adoption land. Once you get on this rollercoaster ride, there's no telling what might happen. So let me recap last week for you:

Monday: Mailed application & $250 check to our agency, Celebrate Children International

Tuesday: Met with our Home Study worker for our first Interview (She was nice, it went well. Then we came home & I was sick with some crazy virus for the rest of the week.)

Wednesday: Find out through Home Study worker that CCI is now only letting you adopt 2 if you adopt 1 waiting child (age 5+). Jon called CCI & got to talk to the Ethiopian program coordinator for about 20 minutes on the phone.

Sooooo... perfect adoption plan out the window! Let me refresh you if you don't remember my original post about our adoption. It went something like this, "We are excited to be adopting a boy and a girl under 2 from Ethiopia!"

We know that God allowed this timing to happen, so we are trusting that it is all part of His plan for our family. So, we are going to move forward in adopting ONE infant from CCI. {They said there is a small chance that we could still adopt another infant, but we have to go into it only expecting to be able to adopt one.}

So, here is the revised plan, via all the doors the Lord has closed in the past 6 weeks:

"We are excited to be adopting one little boy under 2 from Ethiopia!"

Please PRAY with us that the country would remain "open." That the US Embassy would NOT find any reason to try to shut it down, and that many, many more orphans may be rescued by loving, Christian families!! And pray for our little BOY, our SON, that God would protect him and keep him safe and healthy!

Trusting in the Lord,
Bethany

in the mail

Our application is FINALLY in the mail to our Adoption Agency! We had to include a recent family photo, 5 references, and a big ol' non-refundable check for $250. Let's just hope we hear back from them soon, so we can start gathering the documents for our dossier! =)

You can pray for us @ 4:30 today as we do our Couples Interview with our Home Study worker!!