As I opened our blog to write a new post this morning, I couldn't believe that it has been so many months since my last post. Time truly flies! We have been busy fundraising with yard sales, selling our excess stuff, family movie night, and last month had a craft fair. I hope I've thanked all those who have helped us these past few months, if I haven't then please know how grateful we are for all the support we have been given. You all are precious to us and we appreciate your sacrifices whether it be financial, your time to assist at different events or your time spent in prayer. We thank you for having a heart for the fatherless and joining us as we try to walk in obedience to what the Lord has placed on our hearts. Here is an update on where we are now:
We are still brainstorming future fundraisers to begin in the new year so I will post in January about fundraisers we have coming up. We plan on beginning our home-study this Spring. We wanted to reach one financial goal before beginning and we are very close...Praise the Lord!
To be honest with you all, we have definitely felt the powers of darkness since beginning this journey. A spiritual battle occurs daily in all of us as we try to walk a life with Christ, but battle the sin that is in this broken world. Although the war has been won, until the day Christ returns, sin is still here and Satan does all possible to break our relationship with the Almighty. You all know this, you feel it too, this sinful world has brought junk into your life as well. It comes through loss, relationship strife, financial burdens, sickness, you can fill in the blank. With that being said, let me thank you again for those of you have have "randomly" sent us words of encouragement and have been praying for us. I say "randomly" because I know that those sweet words were God led. The Holy Spirit knew I needed those words on those specific days and provided them to encourage me and lift my spirit when doubt was prevalent. The encouragement for me this morning came from Lamentations 3:22-26...
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in him.' The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord."
Jeremiah was writing here his response to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. There was loss of life and horrible destruction. Thankfully our battles right now aren't a result of a physical war, but they are a result of a spiritual war. God has provided these sweet words to encourage anyone facing any battle for us to know we are not alone. He is here. He is Emmanuel. My personal prayer right now as we approach Christmas is to not lose grasp of this reality. We must hold fast to the truth that Jesus came, he became flesh, lived a perfect life, and died so we could live. He is faithful! As I rejoice in this truth, my heart also breaks because the Lord has broken mine and Ryan's hearts for a child we do not yet know. My momma heart is breaking because to me, there is room in our home for another and he isn't here yet. We don't know how old he is, what he looks like, but what we do know is that God does. He knows his name. He knows his face. He knows every little detail because He made him. Our baby boy miles and miles away, is loved by the One and only One who will ever love him more than his mommy and daddy do. And I pray the Lord provides our sweet boy with peace that someone is coming for him. We don't know when, and we know it could be years, but we pray peace over him on the days when he may not feel loved. Some of you may be reading this and be thinking, she is crazy that she thinks of a child as hers that she doesn't even know. You know it is pretty crazy, but that is how the Lord works. He places something on your heart and opens your heart and mind to something you never thought He would. In our case, it is a child. A child that I think of every morning as I kiss my baby girls and touch there sweet faces, as we enjoy a moment together playing, or make a memory baking goodies in the kitchen and definitely when we snuggle at bedtime. I think of a sweet faceless boy who doesn't have his mommy kissing his precious face and telling him how much he is loved. We don't know his story, what loss he has felt, what battles he has faced, but we know the Lord does. So for now...we wait. We wait and pray for the Lord to provide and we will fundraise and save because that is what we feel called to do. To be the hands and feet of Jesus in the hopes to share His love with this precious child, and to share Jesus through our testimony of this journey. So many conversations have already occurred and we've only just begun. Praise the Lord for His faithfulness. All of this is for His glory.
Thanks sweet friends. I pray you each have a very merry Christmas!
Jenni
Specific prayers as we continue this journey:
House selling - the past few months we have been praying about ways to save more to bring our boy home...we felt that selling our home and using the profit to pay off our remaining debt would open the ability to save more monthly that we were using to pay off debt to put toward adoption expenses. Although the housing market stinks, we are trusting God will provide a buyer so that we can pay off debt and save more monthly. Will you join us in praying our house sells quickly?
Future fundraisers - we will begin an envelope fundraiser toward the end of January where we will seek to fill 144 envelopes each labeled with an amount $1 - $144. We pray we will have 144 people partner with us to choose an amount from $1-$144.
Thank you for praying!
