Dear Friends and Family, October 28, 2011
“you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, bywhom we cry, "Abba! Father!" Romans 8:15b
For all ofyou who have kept even remotely in touch with Mandy or I, you know that we havea passion for kids. You have probablyseen the photos or read my blogs about trips to Mexicoor Guatemalato work with children’s homes in these countries. If you have seen any of the posts in thepast 6 months you know that God has called us to adopt; to realize full circlethe grace we have in being ‘Adopted’ by God.
Mandy and I, through prayer, decided we wanted to pursue adoption of a child from China. Then through the persistence and prayers ofour children (And ours as well) we have been called to adopt TWO special needs children from China.
So before you start thinking we have completely gone mad let me explain why we arefeeling led by God to this endeavor. Iam a visual person so let me share a visual with you. Think about your childhood and the feelingsthat flood your mind. In many cases youfeel safety, or love. These feelings areassociated with your relationship to your parents. Now imagine that at a very young age, you arein a Children’s home. You are one of 80children under the care of 4 or 5 nannies. They can’t care for you when you are sick, they don’t pick you up whenyou fall. You don’t remember yourparents. You feel abandoned by everyone.You grow up not knowing what love is, what safety is, and you begin to losehope. Those thoughts bring me totears. Now picture that in the amount of144,000,000 children. All withouthope. All without a future.
God has laid it on our hearts to give a new HOPE,a new FUTURE to 2 children from China. This has come over many years and manyexperiences. To share our journey withyou in a paragraph is impossible as I could start with a dying baby in Chinathat our James Fund group named ‘Jamie’ and sought to save. Or a 13 year old girl named Zhihong whocouldn’t understand the concept of a gift as she had never received one in herlifetime. Or I could forward to the 10+trips to Mexicoto work with cultural orphans with Back2Back ministries. The stories are numerous how God continues toopen our hearts to the orphan but ultimately it begins in the Word.
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, theFather, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction… James 1:27
learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression;bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause… Isaiah 1:17
There are many challenges that we know we will face in this adoption process. We have already had multiple government rulesthat have changed which delayed paperwork. There are issues that arise even many years down the road with adopted children due to their early years. Depending on the age of the child, there could be a languagebarrier. As well we are adopting special needs and that can be a challenge. Yetin it all we feel that God is preparing us for this.
In light of these challenges this is where we are seeking your help. Through it all we know that we will need God’s guidance, wisdom and strength. Your prayer support is more important to us then anything. We would ask that you post the letter, or cut out our family photo and post it where you will see itdaily. When you do please lift us up inprayer.
The second way that you can help is to support us financially. The estimated cost for adopting one childfrom China would be $36,000. As you read above we will be adopting 2 which adds to the expense. Praise God we have, through much support of family and friends already,been able to pay $6,500 in fees.
Another praise is that through Family Christian Stores, the James Fund and Lifesong we have been given a $10,000 Matching Grant. In order for us to get that $10,000 we have to find help raising it! It is just like the parable of theTalents. You are helping us turn the 10 into 20!
So how can you give:
If you would like to be a part of God bringing these 2 children into our lives you can send your Tax-deductible gift between now and December 21, 2011 to the address below. Lifesong is a trusted organization administering the funds on our behalf and will pay adoption expenses out of the funds received.
1.Please make checks payable to: LIFESONG. You may preference how the donation might be used by writing “Preference Cecil #2339 adoption” in the memo section of your check. (*Note: in following IRS guidelines, your donation is to Lifesong which retains full discretion and control over its use.)
2..Mail checks to:
Lifesong for Orphans
Attn: Cecil #2339 Adoption
PO Box 40
Gridley, IL 61744
3.You can also use Pay Pal by going to the following website: http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/donation.html
In the PURPOSE line please place “Preference Cecil #2339adoption”
Just please note that while convenient Pay Pal does deductbetween 1.9% - 2.9% from your donation. Yet we know that for some of us this option is the quickest and easiest!
Thank you for investing in the Kingdom through prayer and your finances – it will be an investment with aneternal return! (Matt.6:20) We will be sure to give you anupdated family photo and details of our travel when we return. Be sure to connect with us on our blogs to keep in touch on the process: Mandy: http://www.mandysabusymommy.blogspot.com/
Curtis: http://www.idratherbecaving.blogspot.com/
Please continue to pray that this entire process will glorify God and fulfill His purposes! In His strength,
(Sorry this is hard to see... We all signed our names and then at the bottom is says:
Did you know there are 107,011 currently waiting adoption in the US? There are 348,067 registered churches also, if just 1/3 of them would find 1 family to adopt, we would solve this issue.
Please help to advocate for this cause! James 1:27)
Mandy and I, through prayer, decided we wanted to pursue adoption of a child from China. Then through the persistence and prayers ofour children (And ours as well) we have been called to adopt TWO special needs children from China.
So before you start thinking we have completely gone mad let me explain why we arefeeling led by God to this endeavor. Iam a visual person so let me share a visual with you. Think about your childhood and the feelingsthat flood your mind. In many cases youfeel safety, or love. These feelings areassociated with your relationship to your parents. Now imagine that at a very young age, you arein a Children’s home. You are one of 80children under the care of 4 or 5 nannies. They can’t care for you when you are sick, they don’t pick you up whenyou fall. You don’t remember yourparents. You feel abandoned by everyone.You grow up not knowing what love is, what safety is, and you begin to losehope. Those thoughts bring me totears. Now picture that in the amount of144,000,000 children. All withouthope. All without a future.
God has laid it on our hearts to give a new HOPE,a new FUTURE to 2 children from China. This has come over many years and manyexperiences. To share our journey withyou in a paragraph is impossible as I could start with a dying baby in Chinathat our James Fund group named ‘Jamie’ and sought to save. Or a 13 year old girl named Zhihong whocouldn’t understand the concept of a gift as she had never received one in herlifetime. Or I could forward to the 10+trips to Mexicoto work with cultural orphans with Back2Back ministries. The stories are numerous how God continues toopen our hearts to the orphan but ultimately it begins in the Word.
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, theFather, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction… James 1:27
learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression;bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause… Isaiah 1:17
There are many challenges that we know we will face in this adoption process. We have already had multiple government rulesthat have changed which delayed paperwork. There are issues that arise even many years down the road with adopted children due to their early years. Depending on the age of the child, there could be a languagebarrier. As well we are adopting special needs and that can be a challenge. Yetin it all we feel that God is preparing us for this.
In light of these challenges this is where we are seeking your help. Through it all we know that we will need God’s guidance, wisdom and strength. Your prayer support is more important to us then anything. We would ask that you post the letter, or cut out our family photo and post it where you will see itdaily. When you do please lift us up inprayer.
The second way that you can help is to support us financially. The estimated cost for adopting one childfrom China would be $36,000. As you read above we will be adopting 2 which adds to the expense. Praise God we have, through much support of family and friends already,been able to pay $6,500 in fees.
Another praise is that through Family Christian Stores, the James Fund and Lifesong we have been given a $10,000 Matching Grant. In order for us to get that $10,000 we have to find help raising it! It is just like the parable of theTalents. You are helping us turn the 10 into 20!
So how can you give:
If you would like to be a part of God bringing these 2 children into our lives you can send your Tax-deductible gift between now and December 21, 2011 to the address below. Lifesong is a trusted organization administering the funds on our behalf and will pay adoption expenses out of the funds received.
1.Please make checks payable to: LIFESONG. You may preference how the donation might be used by writing “Preference Cecil #2339 adoption” in the memo section of your check. (*Note: in following IRS guidelines, your donation is to Lifesong which retains full discretion and control over its use.)
2..Mail checks to:
Lifesong for Orphans
Attn: Cecil #2339 Adoption
PO Box 40
Gridley, IL 61744
3.You can also use Pay Pal by going to the following website: http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/donation.html
In the PURPOSE line please place “Preference Cecil #2339adoption”
Just please note that while convenient Pay Pal does deductbetween 1.9% - 2.9% from your donation. Yet we know that for some of us this option is the quickest and easiest!
Thank you for investing in the Kingdom through prayer and your finances – it will be an investment with aneternal return! (Matt.6:20) We will be sure to give you anupdated family photo and details of our travel when we return. Be sure to connect with us on our blogs to keep in touch on the process: Mandy: http://www.mandysabusymommy.blogspot.com/
Curtis: http://www.idratherbecaving.blogspot.com/
Please continue to pray that this entire process will glorify God and fulfill His purposes! In His strength,
Comments