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Andy and Jill Lehman family

Entries in family (42)

Friday
Jun102011

Family Friday: Marc and Amy

Marc and Amy adopted their sweet 3-year-old Zoe June, who has Down Sydnrome, from Ukraine.  

We named her Zoe June to honor a time in June when God reached down in our lives and our marriage and began a great work of redemption!  Zoe June means "abundant life in June".

Little Zoe with her new siblings

Lifesong, through the funding of a private donor, was blessed to be able to provide this family with a matching grant!  Earlier this week we received this note in the mail:

Thank you, Marc and Amy!  We love you too!

 If you would like to read more about Marc and Amy's story click HERE!

 

Friday
Jun032011

Family Friday: meet Fred and Sarah

Meet Fred and Sarah, and their sweet little family!

Fred has agreed to guest blog for us as he recalls the journey to adopt their son, Lewie...

A year ago, we would have told you we were probably insane for thinking about adding to our family through adoption, especially since we had a two-year-old and a 13-month-old at the time, but here we are one year later, with three children, three-years-old and under. The journey of bringing our, now nearly six-month-old, son home has rocked our world in such an amazing way. It is the biggest miracle of God we have experienced. Lewie was meant to be a part of our family. It’s so obvious now.

We decided in April 2010 that we wanted to proceed with adoption due to complications with Sarah’s last pregnancy and our feeling that we were still missing someone in our family. We had heard the adoption journey can often be a long one with spontaneous roadblocks and a high price tag, and with our advancing age, we decided to look into many different adoption opportunities. We instantly fell in love with the African American birthmom’s story.  We learned that there were far less couples willing to adopt an African American child and, as a result, women were being turned away from many agencies.  Not seeing our own genetic make-up or our race in our baby’s face didn’t deter us from adoption in the slightest. We were, however, still anxious about the high price tag of adoption.

We prayed more over our adoption process than anything we have before in our life. We prayed that we would be spared any unnecessary pain of a fall-through, that our child’s birthmom would be guided to us specifically, that we would be able to show God’s love to Lewie’s birthmom, and that He would provide the funding for our adoption.

In September of 2010, our agency called us to tell us we had been chosen by a birthmother due with a boy in November, just less than two months after waiting for a call. It was so surreal to know that a birthmom really had chosen us to be her little one’s adoptive parents. Although we did not wait very long, those two months felt like an eternity, just knowing our son, Lewie, was out there but not with us.

During this time, we were very humbled to find out Hands of Hope and Lifesong for Orphans had reached out to us to give us an opportunity to fund our adoption through an interest free loan and matching grant. We were delighted to know that our fear of asking our friends and family to help support us financially had been responded with an overwhelming amount of financial support. Praise God!

We didn’t meet Lewie’s birthmom until we were at the hospital as she had made the decision to keep the adoption as closed as possible, but she invited Sarah into the c-section room, which was such an amazing privilege. Sarah got to hold her hand during the procedure, hear Lewie’s first little cry, and immediately know his birthmom was giving us the biggest gift anyone can give another person. Lewie’s birthmom never met him, but we were able to talk with her at the hospital for a couple of days to get to know her, why she picked us, and what she wanted him to know about her. We cried with her over her life story and self-sacrifice.  Most amazingly, the Holy Spirit filled our mouths with words to pray with her that God would come into her life and change it for the better. That still knocks us off of our feet. We now get to hold this beautiful, sweet, giggly, six-month-old boy who completes our little family because of her sacrifice and God’s guidance. "

What an amazing story!  Thanks for sharing Fred!

Friday
Apr152011

Family Friday: Joel and Kristie

 

Both being raised in strong family environments, Joel and Kristie knew they wanted to someday have a family of their own.  But almost eight years into their marriage, after numerous treatments, surgeries, and miscarriages they were unable to have children biologically.

Kristie refers back to this difficult time in their lives:

I now believe that God has allowed me to experience such great pain and loss, so that I may better understand the pain and loss that these orphans experience."

Once their decision to adoption became a reality, they faced the struggle that so many other couples face in their situation: Cost.  Lifesong for Orphans was able to provide them with fundraising support and just this past month Joel and Kristie were able to pick up their little boy... born halfway across the world, selected by God to be their son.  What a reason for rejoicing!

We are back from the Congo with our sweet little guy, Kaden.  He is adjusting really well, although nap time is still the enemy.  Here's a picture our little one that you helped bring home.  

Thanks for all you do!"

-Joel

Thank you, Joel and Kristie!  The staff at Lifesong is blessed to be a part of your story!

Friday
Jan212011

Family Friday: the Creasy's

Our adoption journey began two years ago almost to the day that we brought our daughter home. My wife and I knew without a doubt that God had called us to begin our family through the blessing of adoption, but we were also keenly aware of the various challenges and complications that lay before us. However, we put our faith in knowing that what God had called us to, He would give us the strength and ability to achieve.

One of the largest obstacles in adoption is the financial obligation, and as a bi-vocational minister, we simply were incapable of funding the entire adoption out of pocket. This is when we heard of Lifesong for Orphans.  We knew it would be by God’s grace through Lifesong for Orphans that we would reach our goal.

We began praying Christmas of 09 that we would bring our child home before Christmas the following year. Not only were we matched and our baby born, but we were able to return home on Christmas Eve! We prayed that God would fund the adoption, and through gracious organizations such as Lifesong, He answered that prayer. Looking over the past two years, we are amazed to see the hand of God through our adoption journey. He continues to be faithful.

I love how personal our God is about answering our prayers... that they brought their little girl home on Christmas Eve is awesome!

Thank you, Logan and Melody, for letting us be a part of your journey!

Friday
Jan072011

Family Friday: the Olsons

Today it's time for...

And this week we're featuring the Olsons!  Take a look at that cutie!  Below is a letter they sent to us.  I love to hear "God stories" like this and feel so blessed to work in a place where it's not an uncommon occurance!

There are no words to thank you enough for helping bring our family together. We believe that God has called us to adoption, however we have had to take a step of faith to trust God with the finances. You are an answer to prayer.

We sent over 400 letters to friends and family asking for help with the finances. We had three responses totaling about $250. We were discouraged. We tried a book sale where we collected over 1500 books from people who wanted to help with donations. We made about $1000 selling those donated books, but that was not as much as we had hoped. We were stuck. We applied at Lifesong for Orphans and felt so blessed to receive a matching grant! We could not believe it, but when we sent a letter about the matching grant, we had over $8,000 come in! Isn't that amazing?! We were blown away.  40% of our adoption costs were raised! We are so grateful!

We are first-time parents and loving it. We started the Ethiopia adoption process in the summer of 2008 through Children's Hope International. We had many disappointments along the way, but are so thrilled to say that we are home with our son! The process for Ethiopia calls for two trips, but we decided to stay the entire time! So we were in Ethiopia for six weeks. We learned about the culture and got some key time with our son.

His name is Zain Sato Olson. Zain is a form of John meaning "Beloved" and "God's Gracious Gift." Sato is his given Ethiopian name meaning "life" or "lush" though there is no literal translation. He was born on May 6, 2010 and became our son on Nov 25, 2010. He is amazing! He already can crawl and pull himself up on things. We had to baby-proof as soon as we got home!!! He babbles all the time and always wants to be involved in the conversation. He has two teeth and seems to be getting more. He is super healthy and growing like crazy!

Again, thank you so much for all you have done for us. We hope that you got a glimpse of the Kingdom impact you have made. God's heart is for adoption and we know that you have reflected this part of His character with your generosity.

Much love,
Erik, Bet, and Zain Olson
http://wechoseyou.blogspot.com

Ephesians 1:3-8 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—  to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.

Genesis 22:13-14  Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”

Thank you, Olsons!  The Lifesong team has counted it a joy to work with you and we are honored to be a part of your story!

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