Blessed

So much has happened these last couple weeks. It gives me chills to think of how good our God is, what an amazing God I serve. Just when I need to be lifted up when I am starting to sink, God shows up and picks me up. Love that! Here's some tidbits from the last couple weeks that I am so grateful for:

S will be here June 29th to August 14th! Almost 7 weeks with my babe! Woohoo!

We were short $1700 to host S. Two families, who did not know eachother came forward so we would not be without our son this summer. One gave us $1,000, the other $700. Exactly what we needed, on the same day. God is good.

I was contacted from someone who owes me money from 3 years ago, telling me they are sending me what they owe me the first week of June.wow!

My husband and I were debating between visiting a family friend last weekend or on June 8th. We prayed about it because our money was stretched thin for this last week before pay day. We decided to go and gosh, it was a God given weekend!! We went to church on Sunday, where our friend attends. We were so warmly welcomed. After the service, our friend said "Hurry, I think the couples group today is on orphan ministry!" We rushed over, and indeed, they were going to be talking about orphan care. We watched an awesome video(need to figure out the name!) that made me cry pretty hard. I realized I had just met the president of Christian Alliance For Orphans. Pretty cool...that is a HUGE organization that almost all of us adoptive mommas know of. We then broke up into small groups and cried some more. We learned one of the couples that was there had recently had God place a calling to adopt from Ukraine on their hearts. It was just all so meant to be. We met some pretty great people, started new relationships, have more people praying, and more support in our journey.

We were filling out grant applications for our adoption and realized a lot of them asked how your church has supported your adoption. So I took the leap and emailed our pastor. We got a positive reply and are praying this is just the very beginning for our church and orphan ministry. Please keep this in your prayers!

We are doing another dinner fundraiser where we deliver meals this Friday and we have even more sales than the last time!

I have literally seen God moving in my parents lately which has been something we've prayed for. I see their hearts opening to adoption and orphan care and it just touches my heart and brings me to tears.

I have cried so much this last week, mainly from being blown away by my God. Sometimes I think things are impossible, that God couldn't possibly do this or that. But just as soon as I start to feel that way, He knows, and He picks me up off the floor and tells me "Danielle, I have laid this journey on your heart, I've told you to do this, and I am not going to have you start and not see you through to the end. No. I will see you until the very end of this, when you've brought my child home." Fundraising, coming up with so much money, just is overwhelming at times. Sometimes I feel alone, defeated, beat down. These couple weeks have given me the push I need to go full speed ahead again. To keep putting one foot infront of the other, as God has called us to do. No one ever said adoption would be easy. No one ever said following Jesus would be easy. Quite the contrary. It is in stepping out in our faith that we've found our deepest relationship with Him that we've ever had. We are often left gripping onto strings. Strings that God gives us to hold on and keep pressing on to serve Him. I wouldn't have it any other way, because caring for the fatherless has blessed us in ways we just can't put into words. Love, love, love the God we serve and just feeling so thankful for these huge blessings lately.

*Most recent picture of my boy that we were sent from Ukraine!

~Danielle

We finally have news!

Well...it seems like we have waited months and months for the official news, when in reality it was about 3. S did NOT get the waiver for the 12 month waiting time. At first, I just cried. That's a momma's first reaction though. My mind instantly went to "my poor baby has to sit in that place for another year". I had prayed and prayed, on my knees, for God to prepare my heart and accept His answer. I knew God is good, all of the time, and although I may not understand His answers at first, eventually I would. I quickly went from crying to a heart filled with gratitude. I was thankful that the SDA got and processed S's paperwork quickly. I was thankful that we actually had a date he would be available for international adoption that we could look forward to, count down to, and get prepared for(It is the beginning of April). I was thankful that even though waiting a year means paying $5,400 more in hosting, it gives us more time to gather the $19,000 we still need for his adoption. I was thankful that it wasn't 12 months we had to wait anymore, but 11. I knew the situation could be so much worse, and I was just thankful that although not ideal, we could go get him before we know it!

So where does that leave us right now? Well...fundraising. God called us on this journey, and no doubt, He will provide. I cry every time someone I least expect to, helps us, or donates, or offers prayers. It just means so much to me. To us. S will come here for summer, for double the time of winter hosting. He keeps telling me how much he misses his sister...how he loves us and wants to make sure he's coming back. I love that boy. My arms are aching to hold him, my ears are burning to hear him talk and say I love you again. I can hardly wait for him to see how much his sister has grown. I can hardly wait to have my boy home for almost 2 months. 1.5 more months to go until that piece of my heart gets off that plane and back where he belongs!

We are hoping to do so many things with S this summer. It is always crazy trying to cram so much into just a few, much to short, weeks. 

The countdown begins! <3