the Medical is in!

Well, just a week after losing our referral for our little guy we found out that the beautiful little girl we have been waiting for did pass her medical. Because it was so soon after our loss of the little guy, we have been slow to get too excited or too attached. We have been cautiously guarding our hearts. So our announcement on our blog & to many of our friends and family has been a bit delayed as well. We have talked with our agency and they reassured us that everything is good to go with "LIL SISTER"....
so without further ado...

We have a referral for a beautiful 8 month old little girl!!!!!

*I was tempted not to do this. Not to post her picture. I don't want to have to go through that again, but my hope is not in my circumstances or how "perfectly" our adoption process goes. My hope is in Christ ALONE. So rather than letting my heart become hard and calloused I will guard it slightly, but I will be excited. I will pray and ASK the Lord to let us adopt her and bring her home soon, even though I feel very vulnerable by doing so. I recently told some friends in my bible study that I am struggling with prayer. After praying without ceasing for the referral we had for the little boy & then losing the referral I felt scared to ask anything of Him. I was so disappointed that God didn't see fit to answer the way I wanted Him to.  I confessed to my friends that I would rather not ask and not receive than ask & not receive. So do I really believe that I have a Father who delights in giving good gifts to His children? And that He who gave His only Son to me will not withhold ANY good gift from me? (from Elyse Fitzpatrick's Because He Loves me, p.105)

Yes, Lord. Yes. And help me in my moments of unbelief!! As Fitzpatrick says on page 99, "Like Nicodemus, many of us need our self-confidence and self-reliance annihilated before we're willing to look to him in faith and to believe... Whether we're overly introspective and excessively aware of our failures or blindly proud and self-sufficient, the gospel dares us to look away to Another in faith."

This sounds all too much like my testimony. Lord, help me to trust in You alone! Not in my own well-laid plans. Not in the words of men, who will disappoint. Not in myself at all. Help me to believe that your Word is true & meditate on it day and night.

 

"God works all things together for good for those who love Him, for those who are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

We recently had the opportunity to hear our dear friend, Blake Gillen, preach at our old church in Lexington. He said of this verse, "What is the ultimate GOOD that God works together for believers in all circumstances? To make them more like Christ." That is the GOOD. To be more like Jesus. Paul isn't promising good circumstances to all believers. He is promising that believers will be sanctified (made more like Christ) through all of their circumstances! What a good reminder for me in the midst of this whole crazy adoption process. All of this God is working together for my good, for my sanctification.

 

We do covet the prayers of believers! We trust that God will not withhold any good gift from us. And so we are asking that the Lord keep "Little Sister" safe, fed, and loved on, and that we WOULD be able to adopt her and be able to hold our daughter in our arms one day soon!

Our Both Hands Project Recap

The Lord gave us beautiful weather this past Saturday for our Both Hands project!! The perfect number of people were able to come help (totally the Lord) knock out our "to-do list" for Mrs. Denise home. Here's a video we made to recap our day. We hope you enjoy it!
Both Hands is a non-profit helping orphans and widows. Our team of friends and family sent letters out asking people to sponsor them (like a 5k,etc) as we work on a widow's home for a day. My husband and I covered the costs of all the supplies for the day. ALL of the money raised goes directly to our adoption costs!

A BIG THANKS to:
 *Home Depot for donating $100 in gift cards & giving us 20% off everything else
 *Chic-Fil-A for donating Chicken sandwiches for our whole team
*Starbucks for donating lots of coffee to get us ready for the day
*Walmart for donating $25 to help cover the cost of drinks for the team

You can also view the video online @ http://youtu.be/HQR-dZQQ8hk


**There are details at the end of the video if you or someone you know would like to support our adoption!!
* You can make a tax-deductible donation online by clicking the Donate button next to the "Meacham family" project details at www.lifesongfororphans.org/bhProj.html

Hope you had a great weekend!

Because He Loves Me

As most of you all know, this has been a hard week for our family. We lost the referral for the sweet 6 month old little boy that we'd been staring at and praying for the past month. I've been struggling at times to keep my head up and keep my eyes focused on Christ. I've had several sweet friends who have let me pour out all my emotions on them and have listened and gently pointed me back to the truth that never changes- the gospel.

After a particularly emotional afternoon yesterday my sweet husband sent me to Starbucks with my bible, journal, and Elyse Fitzpatrick's "Because He Loves Me." And I am oh so glad he did. I really needed that time alone with the Lord, in his word to refocus my mind on the cross. Christ met me in his word and the words of Fitzpatrick's book in so many places. I am so thankful for God's sovereignty in having me reading THIS book right now with my ladie's bible study group. I have been so convicted and encouraged by her writing. On page 98 she says, "God is offended if we refuse to believe that He is merciful and loving enough to give us good gifts, in spite of ourselves." IN SPITE OF MYSELF! God gives good gifts to me in spite of my sin, my past, my rebellion, my pride, my self-reliance! A-mazing! I have been feeling so sorry for myself, feeling like we are trying to do a good thing here & rescue orphans, which God loves, so I feel like I should be "entitled" to an easy process. HA. I have forgotten who I AM and what I truly deserve. God's grace in forgiving me is completely UNdeserved! I deserve hell. "BUT GOD, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were DEAD in our trespasses and sins, made us ALIVE together with Christ! By grace you have been saved!"  (Ephesians 2:4-5) It wasn't EASY for God to rescue and adopt me. He had to send His only Son down to earth in the image of man and die a gruesome criminal's death on a Roman cross to pay the debt my sins deserve, so that I can be forgiven, holy, righteous, wiped clean and adopted into His family forever.

Here's the probing question that really struck the deepest parts of my heart: "Will you transfer all your trust to Him and believe that the One who did not withhold his only Son from you [believers] will also freely give you all good things?" (pg. 105).
That is basically what God is asking me right now, in the middle of this loss. Thank you Elyse Fitzpatrick. Thank you! So my response is this: YES LORD! I trust you and believe that you will not withhold any good gift from me. Help me to cling to your promises and trust that Your plans are better than mine will ever be! You can see the big picture, even when I can only see my next step. Please give me grace to endure whatever lies ahead in this process to rescue orphans. I know they are precious in your sight and made in Your image. Give me endurance and perseverance to fight for them! Help me keep my eyes focused on you & waiting expectantly for you to answer prayer!
"Open your mouth for the mute,
   for the rights of all who are destitute.
Open your mouth, judge righteously,
   defend the rights of the poor and needy."
Proverbs 31:8-9

He gives and takes away

"The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." Job 1:21

Though I may not fully understand WHY this side of Heaven, the Lord is good even when he allows suffering.
He allowed us to get pregnant with our first child and took him/her away during our 10th week of pregnancy.
He allowed us to get a referral for an adorable little 6 month old boy and then find out one month later that we will not be able to adopt him.

We just found out today that his birth family has not released him to be adopted.
So we feel like we have had another miscarriage. We have lost another child. We are mourning, and still processing all of this.
You can pray that we would be able to say, like Job, "Blessed be the name of the Lord," in the midst of this trial. We will continue to pray for this little boy- that the Lord would place him in a family, even if it is relatives in Congo. We will pray for his salvation. And for the other little boy that God has for our family.

We are trying to rejoice in the Lord in all circumstances and bring him glory as we mourn, but not as those who have no hope- because our hope is not in the things of this world. It is in Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. But it is sad to think of this little boy, who we have been picturing as part of our family for the past month, and know that he is sitting in an orphanage in the Congo with no mother or father.

Cling to Christ,

Waiting

We are still waiting to find out if we will lose the referral for our little boy. Until we have our answer the Lord is not done working, so we will continue praying fervently on his behalf!!!!!

In the midst of this sad situation, the Lord has given us reason to rejoice. He is providing for our every need and for our adoption!!!!
As of June 30th (the last day to give to our Matching Grant), we received $5,590 in donations to Hand in Hand!!!
$5,000 was matched Dollar for Dollar, making for a grand total of $10,590 toward our adoption expenses!!!!!!

We are praising the Lord for every single one of you who gave! We are so humbled and encouraged by your generous giving!!

If you would like to make a tax deductible donation to our Adoption Fund, from this point on you can donate through Lifesong. To donate online, go to www.lifesongfororphans.org/bhProj.html.
To donate by mail, make your check out to "Lifesong for Orphans" and write "preference Meacham Adoption #2036" on the memo line. Then mail it to:
 Lifesong for Orphans
PO Box 40 / 202 N. Ford St.
Gridley, IL 61744

Praying for 2 orphan babies across the world! Lord, have mercy! Execute Justice for the Orphan & the widow! Place the lonely in families!