Friday
Jun252010
T-Shirt Give-Away!
Friday, June 25, 2010 at 10:29AM Check out the new Lifesong t-shirts...and YOUR chance to win!
Mens:
Womans:
So what do you have to do to win a free t-shirt? Post a comment (with email address) on our blog or the Lifesong Facebook fan page before Monday, June 28th, 5:00pm sharing a brief experience of how God worked in the waiting...
From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him. Isaiah 64:4
Reader Comments (29)
We've been waiting to be matched with our blessing for 4.5 months now. I can truly say that God always finds new and amazing ways to make sure I keep trusting in Him. This process has produced the largest amount of spiritual growth in my life since becoming giving my heart to Him as a child and just when I think I've learned to fully trust in Him to provide, I have to repent of my doubts and come back to His arms for support. The patience I'm learning is hard as my heart longs every moment of the day to see my child's face, so I have to depend on the strength of my Savior to get me through. I see God's hand throughout our whole adoption and look forward in anticipation to fulfilling God's call on our family.
We did not have as much waiting as most couples. We committed to adopt our son in February and we leave for his country in 10 days. We praise God for a speedy process, but putting together the money to make this adoption possible was still a stressful process (possibly more stressful because it was so short). Lifesong is one of the reasons that we are able to go get our son. Thank You!
ahhh... the wait. We started with China. Then God led us to do a concurrent adoption in Ethiopia. After accepting our referral - our son, Brighton Asher, passed away at his orphanage before we could get him home. Back to waiting - but this time in a terrifying place.
6 months later we brought our daughter home from Ethiopia. And God was so BIG and so PRESENT during the wait, the struggle, the fall, the collapse, the get-back-up... closest I have ever felt to Him. And through Brighton and his death - God showed us how we are supposed to love Jesus. He gave us real-life, real tangible feelings and let us know that is how we are supposed to love Him.
Even though we never got to touch Brighton or hold him - we loved him with all of our hearts and minds and bodies. And that's the kind of love Jesus wants.
I am thankful for the wait we had - we never would be the people, the parents or couple we are now without it...
Our waiting....three times.....is all in the past, but God taught us much each time.......I think what stands out now is the truth that He is always good, all the time. There were times when money was tight, time seemed to take forever, papers came back, mail was missed, birthdays and Christmas came and went.....but each time He brought us through the wait....and we have three wonderful children because of Him. We are now doing foster care, and the waiting and wondering continue. Will mom show up for a visit today, or is she on drugs, so won't show up. What will be the future of this beautiful baby we are caring for. One friend shared an important truth with me: God doesn't ask me to change her past, nor control her future, but to be faithful in caring for this baby today. So today I am doing my best, and leaving the rest to Him....because He is faithful.....
Our journey was nothing short of our Faith in God. On the day we received our LOA to adopt our son from Chi*na something tragic happened that halted everything. After a lot of praying we decided that we could not turn our backs on this boy who knew his mama and baba were coming for him. We prayed some more . . asked for guidance, and then we were approached to apply for grants, that they might be able to do something for us. Two organizations gave willing to allow us to bring our son home. When we got our son he was "failure to thrive" and I couldn't imagine him having to live one more day in those conditions. With God, and his workers our son is no longer in serious condition. He is a happy, healthy little boy.
Less then a year later . . another miracle happened, but that is not my story to tell yet. :)
Due to some complications I had an emergancy hysterectomy after the birth of our first child almost 11 months ago. Since then we have been waiting. At first I thought that my husband was a bit crazy to insist on waiting, I mean after all adoption takes a few years. However, I have discovered in that wait that one of the reasons I was so anxious to end the wait was because I was grieving. I thought that if I could have something to do or know that a child was on their way everything we went through would be behind us. HOwever, I am learning that that child is not going to be able to fill the gap in my heart (or my arms) and its not fair to ask them to do that. I'm learning that only God can fill that. As I wait I am letting God do that. It is making me stronger in him and more reliant on him. I'm also learning that our wait is allowing us to strenghten our marriage. We are constantly praying for strong rouos in our marriage. We know that bringing a child (or many children) into our home will require a strong marriage.
When we were gathering documents for our dossier and waiting to get on the waitlist, it seemed that everything that could go wrong, did. When we finally submitted our paperwork, we found out it was a holiday weekend and our agency was closed. So that news already meant another week to find out our number on the waitlist. Then when our dossier was finally reviewed, revisions were needed. Simple things like something crossed out on a notorized document, and a reference using my husband's nickname instead of his first name. We thought we could take care of it that day and have our number after the weekend. Our pastor easily did the reference letter over (even though he was on vacation) and offered to meet us at church to notorize it but had a stroke. It was awful! And I remember crying and crying and thinking WHY ME?!? We finally got our number right around Easter. I cannot describe what perfect timing this was. First of all, it put Easter and Good Friday into such a new perspective for me. What Christ did for us on the cross just to adopt us into HIS family. It was also the same time as a lot of referrals were going out so not only was our number MUCH lower than we had anticipated, but it kept changing daily for a while. And now that we have been on the waitlist for a couple months TWENTY MORE FAMILIES have been added! If it would have taken a moment longer, we would have been on the waitlist months longer. If it would have been any sooner, our number would have been much lower and we would have been on the list with no movement for quite some time. GOD'S TIMING IS PERFECT!!!! And I felt SO surrounded in love and support from my friends, family, and church community. It was an incredibly difficult, but amazing and well-worth-it experience!
When it had only been 6 days since we mailed out our dossier, already the waiting seemed a little hard at times. I think the fast pace of collecting paperwork gave me the sense that I was doing something to move things along, and then it felt strange to sit still! So...here are some verses the Lord brought to my attention that remind me He is in control of all things, including the timing of all of this.
Isaiah 14:24, 26-27 The Lord of hosts has sworn: "As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand...This is the purpose that is purposed concerning the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out over all nations. For the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?
Isaiah 46: 9-10 Remember the former things of old; For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying "My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all My purpose."
What a great God we serve, who rules over all things, whose hand is stretched out over all nations! Lord, help me to rejoice in every circumstance, knowing that You have ordained it and You have good purposes that will stand. May I rejoice in You and be satisfied in You.
Psalm 73: 25-26, 28 Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever...As for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works.
God was gracious to fill the waiting time with joy, but there is still plenty of time to think too. I had to be careful that my thoughts didn't turn to worry or fear. It's easy to start to wonder just how hard the journey would be for us and for our children.
During the waiting, my husband and I spoke about what the Bible has to say about adoption. It seems unfortunate at first glance that there isn't an example there of a family bringing a child in as their own and raising him or her as a son or daughter. But of course, we know that this is exactly what God has done in taking us into His family. An absolutely amazing passage in Romans 8:15-17 says "For you did not receive the Spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him."
How incredible that God has taken Gentiles like us, who were not originally a part of His chosen people Israel, and welcomed us into His family. Not only that, but He has made us heirs to His inheritance, fellow heirs with Jesus! Romans 11 goes on to talk about how the people of God are like natural branches growing out of an olive tree, with the nourishing root being God Himself. And God has grafted in Gentiles like us among the natural branches. "You, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree." (Romans 11:17)
It must have been difficult for some of the Jews to embrace the Gentiles as brothers. And we expect that it might be difficult for some to accept our children as our own. But God is the One who chose both the Jews and the Gentiles as His people, just as He is the One to give both the gift of biological and adopted children. Both are true children. I'm a Gentile. But I hardly think of myself in those terms. I don't question my status as God's child just because I was not born Jewish. And we shouldn't question our adopted children as our own true children just because they did not come from my womb.
Hubby also pointed out that when Paul talks about God adopting us in Romans and other places, he is using the word adoption with the assumption that his readers knows what he is talking about. That comforted me. It seems to indicate that adoption was a familiar thing to the people in Jesus's day, and that it was a positive thing -- especially since they would relate it to our heavenly Father adopting us.
Here's a closing confession -- I like life to be comfortable. By nature I'm self focused like that. But I want to be Savior focused instead. And if it takes some discomfort now and then to shift my focus from myself to Christ, it's well worth it.
Waiting is not easy. But neither was coming to earth to die for our sins.
God chose us. In sending Jesus, God made it clear that relationship with us was worth doing anything for. He even chose to give us the inheritance of His kingdom!
We chose to pursue our son with the same kind of desire for relationship. He will become a part of our family, and with it, he will be every bit as much an Olson as I am. Not because he did anything for me, or for my husband, but just because he is family, our son.
So when the waiting gets hard, I realize that it is worth it because he is worth it. That little 4 month old boy has no idea what is coming his way, but he will know soon. And one day, he will hear the story of just how much we pursued him and just how important he is. He will know he is loved and has been loved since before he was born and will be loved for the rest of his life.
We started the process 2 years and one month ago, finished our paperwork 1 year and a week ago, and have been seeing his picture since 2 months ago. We continue to wait not knowing whether we can get him tomorrow or December or never, still always knowing...
HE IS WORTH IT
~Bet
http://wechoseyou.blogspot.com
I'll just copy today's blog post, alrighty? :-)
Once upon a time, Walker and I decided we wanted to move across town. We had great reasons: the move would make us much closer to both sets of grandparents and to church. And to all our friends. And to the Galleria. And to lots of other cool stuff.
We listed our house. For 11 months, it sat on the market. Did it show? Oh my word, did it show. This is where I should mention that I had a 1 year old, a 2 year old, and was preg.nant. And trying to keep a clean house for all those dang showings.
It showed almost every stinking day.
And I mean stinking quite literally, because once it showed when I had left a dirty diaper in the middle of the kitchen floor.
During the entire time, we only got one second showing. (Not the dirty diaper people.) (By the way, during the showing, I kept the video camera running under the bed so I could hear the potential buyers' comments. Walker thought I was the most immoral reprobate he had ever married. I had zero guilt. Still don't. And I learned that they really wanted one huge walk-in closet.)
Once, during this frustrating time, over lunch with Walker's uncle I complained that we were so sure that God wanted us to move, we just couldn't understand why He wouldn't send us a buyer!
And Dan asked, "Why did you think that God wanted you to move?"
I just stared at him and sputtered. Why had we thought that? Um. Because we really wanted to move? Because it made sense? Closer to church, had he heard the closer to church part? Because we had prayed about it and when lightening had not immediately struck our home following the amen, we decided it must be the will of the Lord?
Dan continued, "Usually when God is willing you to do something, the doors will just open."
And then he quit talking, leaving me alone in my confusion to grimace at my broccoli salad.
Dan's words have been repeating in my brain recently.
When it is God's will, the doors will open.
Last summer, we finally decided to start the adoption process. We chose Gladney as our agency, did the initial application, and began collecting the 3,489 trees of paperwork. In November, I pulled out the info from Gladney and realized that in order to take another step, we would need at least $4,250.
Problem: we didn't have $4,250.
Due to the terrible economy, Walker received a paycut last year - which we considered a blessing while friend after friend lost his job - but it had hurt. Every little bit hurts when you're feeding six mouths on one paycheck. In addition to that, he hadn't received an end-of-year bonus in 2008, which used to account for a large part of his salary, and he seriously doubted he'd get one this year. We'd lived throughout the year hand-to-mouth.
Late at night, while Walker slept, I stared at the $4,250 on the fee sheet, plus the $760 required for immigration papers. My stomach dropped. We did feel that now was the time to finally begin our dream of adopting. My husband felt it even stronger than I did, which is exactly how submission typically works in our marriage. But how?
I prayed, God, we can't do it. I don't know when we're going to be able to do it, but we can't do it. I'm sad, God. It's all up to you. {deep sigh} Amen.
And I went to bed.
The next day, the VERY next day, did you hear me mention that it was THE NEXT DAY?, some of you received this email from me:
Y'all, I have to share a praise with you - a BIG one!!
We want to begin the process to adopt but have been stymied by a lack of funds. It takes around 5K to even get to the homestudy phase. Just last night I pulled out the paperwork and worked on some of it but thought, well, until we find an extra $5000, this is just going to sit here, probably until at least February when we can get our tax refund.
Walker just forwarded me an email from work that said that not only would he be receiving a bonus, BUT, his company will also compensate all the employees who received the pay cut by reimbursing what we were withheld!!! WE HAVE OUR MONEY FOR THE HOMESTUDY!!!! We should receive it by mid December!!
Several times lately I have been tempted to "work" the situation, I have eyeballed those checks that come from the credit card company, we have toyed with the idea of taking money out of our retirement savings....but I felt God saying, no, just wait, I'm on it. Just in the past few days I have been in lots of prayer about this. And HE HAS PROVIDED.
Praise Him, Praise Him, Praise Him!!!!!!
Did you hear a creak?
An open door.
In April, we received an email saying that we were Gladney approved. I had no idea what that meant, but by the congratulatory tone of the email I knew it was a big deal so I celebrated Yea! We're Gladney Approved!
The same email also said "You are expected to pay the remainder of your Program Fee ($2250), Post Placement Supervision Fee ($1200) and the Post Placement Administration Fee ($450) within 30 days from the date of Gladney approval." I'll do the math for you: $3,900.
We had raised $3,400 from tshirt sales, a garage sale, and a book that Walker sold on ebay. Then on May 7, my birthday, a friend handed me a birthday card with a check inside for $1,000.
Creeeeeeeeeaaaak.
God has provided nearly $11,000. In six months.
None of it, believe me, none of it, came from us.
When I initially thought that we would need $22,000 to bring home our baby, and then when the travel requirements changed and I realized we would need even more, I had no idea how that was going to happen.
I just ran the numbers tonight and realized that we have about $13,000 more to raise.
I still don't know exactly how it is going to happen.
But I know Who's gonna make it happen.
Do it, Lord. Open those doors. Bring Your baby home.
Oh, how I praise You for open doors!!
Amen!
Wow! I have so many stories to tell of His work in the waiting....I think that's where He likes to work best :) But a little over a year ago, while we were waiting for our three children from Ethiopia and trying to get the last of our funds together, we held a giant garage sale to raise matching funds for our LifeSong grant of $4000.00. God did the most amazing thing ever! He showed up in such a BIG way. Please read about it here: http://bearcreekmeadows.blogspot.com/2009/03/god-salemore-than-meets-our-needsit.html
There have been times in the past where God was working while we waited... and then there are other times when God does the waiting- until we obey. That is exactly what happened with our last adoption. For quite some time we had felt God calling us to adopt from Ethiopia. Only, we became pretty good at coming up with excuses. The timing wasn't right, we had other plans for our lives, and well, we didn't exactly have $20,000 in cash laying around. But God did. One week after finally saying yes to God, one week after finally submitting to His will- He literally dropped $20,000 into our laps from a single donor to bring our child home. God is so good. He truly loves us and wants what is best for our lives- in His perfect timing.
Oh the waiting...
Our adoptions (4 from Russia) began over 12 years ago. They were amazing -- God opened doors, provided funding in His glorious way, and even provided income so that I could stay at home & care for our new girls. The wait was blessed, because He showed His clear intentions & provision for our family, but looking back that wasn't really the waiting that was so hard.
The time that was really difficult to "wait" through was the 10 years following the adoption of our youngest - twins! You see they came from "hard places". They were preemies and then lived in an orphanage, no one rocked them when they were scared or cried. People seemed untrustworthy and frightening. They only knew how to watch out for themselves. It was understandable, but made for a really difficult life in our family that wanted to be loving & "close".
So there were years of holding & tantrums, therapy, new parenting styles, prayer, crying, begging, and even probably some bargaining with God! He had his own time though. Finally we laid ourselves aside completely & just gave HIm time to do His work in them. That is when the real healing began! We watched and WAITED & waited & waited....
Our baby girls are 16 now & WELL WORTH the the time it took for God to redeem them from their past. They are sweet & beautiful creatures that are learning to know & serve God. Now it's time for "round two" as tand this time they will join the rest of the us as we begin our new adoption "wait"!!
While our adoption was different than most of yours I dont know about all that has to be done for international adoption, but I do know about the wait..we were in foster care and were blessed to bring home an infant from the hospital...Being a preemie we had to wait and see if he was going to get strong enough to come home, and then there was the waiting to find out what type of medical problems he could have...the wait for him to be brought back after he would be torn out of my arms to be taken for a visit with his biological mother.,the wait to see how the judge would decide his future...after 31/2 years the wait would come to an end...and we were able to adopt our beautiful son..through it all I had to learn that everything happens in God'stime and we have to be patient and wait...He always knows best..He knew before this little life was delivered that he would be with us...after 14 years I still find myself in awe of God's blessing and the great priveledge I have had to be chosen to raise this child..everyday is filled with joy...him being a teenager now there are other feelings going on now too lol...One of the true facts about perfect timing is this..My mother passed away on January 24th..not knowing how I would continue without my best friend and going through 10 months of grieving we recieve a letter saying our adoption would take place on January 24th..God is so good...to me this was a sign of his loving care..Good luck to all of you who are anticipating your children. Put all your faith and trust in Jesus Christ and you will see it come to pass.
We have adopted three children from China. Two four year olds and a five year old. When we started our first adoption over 4 years ago we wanted to adopt a baby. God had something different in mind and we brought home a 4 yr old little girl. The next year we started another adoption and found a little boy who was 4 as well. Ok God, I am willing. Then my wife emailed me a picture of another little boy while we were still paper chasing our second child from China. Her email read, "He's five. wanna bring him home too." I replied
Sure. After China miraculously said yes, we brought home two little boys this past December. Yes the wait is often unbearable but put yourself in the orphans shoes. One of our sons recently asked my wife why she didn't come sooner. Why didn't you hold me when I was a baby? What do you say to that? The wait for the orphan far overshadows what the adoptive family experiences. And as we prepare to return to China once more, we wait and she waits.
Our waiting started years ago.. as I waited and prayed for my husband to feel the desire to adopt. After years of prayer, one month I started a different prayer, For my husband to have a heart of God for the Orphans. I wanted my husband to know Gods heart. And WOW.. that worked. We brought home our son about a year and a half after I prayed that prayer. Then, 6 months after we got him home we saw a little girl on a waiting child's list. Our days have been filled with, much waiting. We prayed for her family to find her. Then we told God that we would be honored to be that family. We waited for Him to show us the way. We said YES... we want her as our daughter. then we waited more... Many people asking us "if we are SURE we want her" We were asked to wait a number of times by people saying.. "think about it another week" Or waiting to find out where the finances will come for this adoption... We waited for grants to come, we waited for cakes to sale, we waited for people to arrive at our garage sale... We had NO money towards bringing home our little girl. We spent it all to bring home our son. So we waited and while we waited our faith grew. We were encouraged by each new video we saw of our child, others were discouraged and told us to reconsider and wait some more... we were encouraged more as donations started to appear. There is no way to say that any BODY did all this.. God did it. We just stayed the Path of Faith that HE put us on. Now we are so much closer to our special little girl. We are still waiting.. now waiting for a call saying come get your daughter. Oh, and the money to do so! But We KNOW God is Faithful to those who do as they are called. Thank you for your faithfulness to help orphans! FOr having a heart like that of God's to care for them!
We adopted our son 2.5 years ago and we are currently in process again. While waiting for Silas it was a time to reflect on how long he's waited for us. The Lord taught us patience on a whole new level! This time we're a fundraising family and that patience is not only in waiting for our daughter but in waiting for the Lords timing in providing the funds to fund the next step in the process. Being a fundraising family is a humbling place to be yet the Lord in His faithfulness knew we needed this faith building, patience, and vulnerability as we wait through this season. Waiting and adoption go hand in hand. God is giving us a real live view of His unending patience with us.
When we talked about having a family, I knew adoption was something that had always touched my heart and I could see myself doing. My husband wasn't as keen on it in the beginning. We went through numerous infertility treatments without success. I prayed for my husband for 9 months that he would come to me with a heart for adoption. So, I let go and let God. 9 months, and my husband came to me stating he had the desire to adopt and that he wanted to stop infertility treatments. He said we were called to pursue it. Only a couple of months later, we welcomed our son Gabe via domestic adoption. We have a great open relationship with his birth family. Gabe was worth every minute of the wait and we knew he was meant to be our son. God knew we were meant to be a family. He does fulfill the desires of your heart. God is so good!
We have been waiting since the beginning of Feb to have our dossier accepted by Peru. At this point we have identified a child, but cannot request her until our dossier is accepted. My blog is a running update of our story! www.fly2hisheart.blogspot.com
Help in the wait? Our Lord. Our family. Our friends. He has provided the ability to wait in the midst of confusion and given us clarity in the midst of chaos. All I know for sure is that He wants the orphan in families, the fatherless to have fathers and for our religion in be pure and blameless.
God never promised this journey would be easy. Infact He promised that this world would be full of troubles, but He also promised that He would BE THERE to help us through.
I am thankful that God reminds our friends to encourage us. That they shower us with love and support. That they remember to ask how things are going and remember to pray for us.