Rourke Family Adopting!
Donation protected
A Little Bit o' Background:
Our family is on quite the faith journey these days! We have two amazing, smart, busy kids and we enjoy our life! We had always planned to have two kids. Just two. That is our number. Nice, round, even number. Two of us, two of them, man-on-man defense. It's all good! We even had surgery so we couldn't have more!
Back in November 2013, several weeks before we decided to adopt, we talked with the kids around the kitchen table t about ways to give back in our community. Ryan was the first to suggest we "adopt some kids." We looked at him in confusion, "Like Compassion International, send $ away each month to a child in another country?" Ryan replied, "No, like have kids come live at our house that don't have a family." Hmmm.
About that same time, Tony was also sensing that God was asking us to get ready because He was "getting ready to do something big" in our lives. He started seeing, hearing and feeling drawn to the word "siblings." Adoption? We are crazy in love with Jesus yet hearing this calling was still totally out of left-field for us! After many hours of prayer, we feel called to adopt from within the US and feel they will be little and we are open to the very real possibility of twins.
While we don't know what state they'll come from or when they will come, we are taking the necessary steps to follow His calling. We now know He is asking us to add to our family through adoption.
That conversation went something like this:
Us: "What? Are you serious!?"
Him: "Yes, very serious."
Us: "But we're 'done' having kids."
Him: "YOU had planned to only have two. That wasn't MY plan."
Us: "We're 40 years old and not getting any younger!"
Him: "These kids will keep you young and remind you that you are my adopted children."
Us: "Our kids are only 5 and 7 years away from heading off to college and we're looking forward to traveling."
Him: "You'll have many good years to travel. These kids need you. Their birth mom needs you."
Us: "Twins, Lord? The statistical probability of a birth mom wanting to place her twins and then choosing US,... that is less than,... well, that's just crazy!"
Him: "Remember, Me? I am the One who knits babies together in the womb, so I can do anything. Trust me, it will be a miracle! Watch and see!"
Us: "We don't have $40,000 sitting in a closet somewhere. We can't afford that."
Him: "YOU can't, but I can do immeasurably more than you ask."
Us: "Where will that money come from?? We don't use credit cards and we have worked really hard to use the money You provide wisely."
Him: "I've called you to this and I will provide for your needs. Remember the lillies of the field? You need to work on trusting My vision and I'll take care of the rest."
Us: "Serious? Ok, Lord. You lead, we'll follow."
Him: "Thank you."
We pray for all our children daily and we believe that the Lord has called us to this journey of trust and He is working out the details on our behalf. We are also confident that we cannot do this on our own. God is working on stretching us, expanding the borders of our family and calling us to open our home to a precious set of siblings.
SO SO MANY of you have asked how you can help and support us. Most of all we need your prayers and encouragement!! There is not a day that goes by that we don't think about adoption, read blogs and websites about adoption, dream about how everything will work out in the end, and ponder the miracle and heartbreak of adoption. Since we're not bloggers, we are using this webpage service to share our crazy adventure and keep you updated.
If you feel you'd like to do more, supporting us through a donation toward adoption costs would be awesome, too! We have a goal of $30,000, which feels like so much! Yet, we are confident in this calling and so we are trusting Him to work out the details as we are faithful in each step. Our homestudy should be finalized in October and then we'll apply for grants and scholarships. Even if we qualify for those, it will only make a small dent in our total cost. We're working on some great fundraisers and we'll post links to those here, too. We've started rearranging our home to accommodate new little people, selling extra furniture and have warned the kids that if it isn't alive or nailed down, it's fair game!
Thank you for reading our GoFundMe! page. We love you all and we thank you in advance for your interest and coming alongside us as we journey to find our kids! Hang on! It's going to be a WILD RIDE!
Thank you so much!
Tony, Heidi, Ryan and Emma
Our family is on quite the faith journey these days! We have two amazing, smart, busy kids and we enjoy our life! We had always planned to have two kids. Just two. That is our number. Nice, round, even number. Two of us, two of them, man-on-man defense. It's all good! We even had surgery so we couldn't have more!
Back in November 2013, several weeks before we decided to adopt, we talked with the kids around the kitchen table t about ways to give back in our community. Ryan was the first to suggest we "adopt some kids." We looked at him in confusion, "Like Compassion International, send $ away each month to a child in another country?" Ryan replied, "No, like have kids come live at our house that don't have a family." Hmmm.
About that same time, Tony was also sensing that God was asking us to get ready because He was "getting ready to do something big" in our lives. He started seeing, hearing and feeling drawn to the word "siblings." Adoption? We are crazy in love with Jesus yet hearing this calling was still totally out of left-field for us! After many hours of prayer, we feel called to adopt from within the US and feel they will be little and we are open to the very real possibility of twins.
While we don't know what state they'll come from or when they will come, we are taking the necessary steps to follow His calling. We now know He is asking us to add to our family through adoption.
That conversation went something like this:
Us: "What? Are you serious!?"
Him: "Yes, very serious."
Us: "But we're 'done' having kids."
Him: "YOU had planned to only have two. That wasn't MY plan."
Us: "We're 40 years old and not getting any younger!"
Him: "These kids will keep you young and remind you that you are my adopted children."
Us: "Our kids are only 5 and 7 years away from heading off to college and we're looking forward to traveling."
Him: "You'll have many good years to travel. These kids need you. Their birth mom needs you."
Us: "Twins, Lord? The statistical probability of a birth mom wanting to place her twins and then choosing US,... that is less than,... well, that's just crazy!"
Him: "Remember, Me? I am the One who knits babies together in the womb, so I can do anything. Trust me, it will be a miracle! Watch and see!"
Us: "We don't have $40,000 sitting in a closet somewhere. We can't afford that."
Him: "YOU can't, but I can do immeasurably more than you ask."
Us: "Where will that money come from?? We don't use credit cards and we have worked really hard to use the money You provide wisely."
Him: "I've called you to this and I will provide for your needs. Remember the lillies of the field? You need to work on trusting My vision and I'll take care of the rest."
Us: "Serious? Ok, Lord. You lead, we'll follow."
Him: "Thank you."
We pray for all our children daily and we believe that the Lord has called us to this journey of trust and He is working out the details on our behalf. We are also confident that we cannot do this on our own. God is working on stretching us, expanding the borders of our family and calling us to open our home to a precious set of siblings.
SO SO MANY of you have asked how you can help and support us. Most of all we need your prayers and encouragement!! There is not a day that goes by that we don't think about adoption, read blogs and websites about adoption, dream about how everything will work out in the end, and ponder the miracle and heartbreak of adoption. Since we're not bloggers, we are using this webpage service to share our crazy adventure and keep you updated.
If you feel you'd like to do more, supporting us through a donation toward adoption costs would be awesome, too! We have a goal of $30,000, which feels like so much! Yet, we are confident in this calling and so we are trusting Him to work out the details as we are faithful in each step. Our homestudy should be finalized in October and then we'll apply for grants and scholarships. Even if we qualify for those, it will only make a small dent in our total cost. We're working on some great fundraisers and we'll post links to those here, too. We've started rearranging our home to accommodate new little people, selling extra furniture and have warned the kids that if it isn't alive or nailed down, it's fair game!
Thank you for reading our GoFundMe! page. We love you all and we thank you in advance for your interest and coming alongside us as we journey to find our kids! Hang on! It's going to be a WILD RIDE!
Thank you so much!
Tony, Heidi, Ryan and Emma
Organizer
Tony Rourke
Organizer
Newberg, OR
