- N
- J
God is not predictable but He is faithful!!
This whole adoption process has been a journey of the Lord gently redirecting our family to whom He would bring into our hearts and lives. When He lead us into adoption, the door was wide open. Naturally I thought bringing a baby into our home was what He wanted, but as the Lord worked in my heart, I realized that was what I wanted. In our surrender, the Lord showed us an 11 year old girl whom we knew we were supposed to pursue. Halfway through the adoption process, our agency was placed on probation and we lost our girl and everything we had done to bring her home. We were crushed.
In the middle our brokenness the Lord came and lifted our faces, comforted our hearts, and reassured us of His truths. He gently redirected us and showed us again the bigger picture of adoption. It’s about obedience. It’s not about our ideals. It’s not about a specific gender, age, or ethnicity. It’s not about a number either. It’s simply about a child or children in need of a loving family and trusting and submitting to His leading. We knew He wanted us to be open to an older child. Then when we signed on with our new agency, they asked if we would be open to a sibling group. We hadn’t really thought about that at all but after praying together about it, felt that the Lord was once again asking us to surrender our ideals. So we surrendered. Our social worker approved us for a sibling group of up to three children and we left it in God’s hands to bring however many boys or girls into our family, 1, 2, or 3!
We finished our dossier in March and sent it off to wait for a referral. The average referral time for a sibling group is about 2 years and some people wait up to 5 years or more! We mailed it off and thought we would settle in for a long wait. Our completed dossier hadn’t even made it to our agency yet when they sent us a file for a sibling group of THREE GIRLS that had just come available and asked if we were interested. We prayerfully reviewed their files and couldn’t see any reasons not to consider them. Our prayer from then on was “Lord, if these are the children you have for our family, please make it clear.”
We submitted our intent to adopt and were interviewed and reviewed by our agency social worker, our home study social worker, the Department of Social Services, US Citizenship and Immigration, and finally, the International Adoption Council, all of whom gave resounding a “YES!” and several, “We think these girls would be a wonderful fit for your family!”
The way that the Lord has orchestrated this whole journey has been simply amazing. We have gone through some excruciating moments but have been surprised and overwhelmed by His timing and blessings over and over again.
In July we traveled to meet the girls for the first time. The bond and connection was supernatural. Throughout the whole trip we could clearly see the Lord’s leading and blessing. The Lord had gone before us to prepare their hearts and ours.
We are waiting for our court date, visas, and passports. Then in a few months we travel again to bring our girls home!!!
There is still lots to do before these girls come home. We have lots more paperwork and waiting, about $15,000 more to pay in adoption fees and airfare. We will need a bigger vehicle, and a bigger table to build! But you know what, God is faithful!
Please pray for protection and blessings over these girls and for God’s continued provision and blessing over this adoption and our family.
God is not predictable but He is faithful!!!
Here is more of the background of how the Lord lead us to adopt:
When Suzanne was growing up, her family was torn apart. What the enemy meant for evil, the Lord used for her good and His glory by placing her in a loving Christian home. That experience totally changed her and gave her new life! As a young adult, Suzanne worked to get her degree in lay counseling and spent four years on the mission field serving others in hopes of pointing them towards Christ.
Fred was first introduced to Christ as a college student. The rest is His story of redemption and grace on Fred’s life. Fred stepped completely out of his comfort zone in obedience to the Lord’s calling on his life. He spent several years serving at a Christian camp where he not only ministered to others but grew in leaps and bounds spiritually as he was ministered to. Fred then took on an internship with 2100 Productions which is part of the collegiate ministry (Intervarsity Christian Fellowship) that introduced him to Christ.
That’s about the time God introduced us to each other. ❤️❤️ We both knew that the Lord’s hand was on our lives and our desire was to be obedient to the Him, even in how we grew our family. Knowing what it’s like to be adopted physically, emotionally, relationally, and spiritually, we look forward to being a part of that process that will rewrite someone else’s life story.
We have been married for 13 years and have nearly 12 years of experience as parents to five wonderful children. We are so excited and grateful for the work that Christ has done in our lives and that we, in turn can offer our home and hearts to children in need of love and family.
We are trusting the Lord’s timing and leading in the whole adoption process and He is doing amazing things! Thank you for being a part of this journey and allowing Him to do amazing things through you!
"The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'” Matthew 25:40
“Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me.” Matthew 18:5
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6
This whole adoption process has been a journey of the Lord gently redirecting our family to whom He would bring into our hearts and lives. When He lead us into adoption, the door was wide open. Naturally I thought bringing a baby into our home was what He wanted, but as the Lord worked in my heart, I realized that was what I wanted. In our surrender, the Lord showed us an 11 year old girl whom we knew we were supposed to pursue. Halfway through the adoption process, our agency was placed on probation and we lost our girl and everything we had done to bring her home. We were crushed.
In the middle our brokenness the Lord came and lifted our faces, comforted our hearts, and reassured us of His truths. He gently redirected us and showed us again the bigger picture of adoption. It’s about obedience. It’s not about our ideals. It’s not about a specific gender, age, or ethnicity. It’s not about a number either. It’s simply about a child or children in need of a loving family and trusting and submitting to His leading. We knew He wanted us to be open to an older child. Then when we signed on with our new agency, they asked if we would be open to a sibling group. We hadn’t really thought about that at all but after praying together about it, felt that the Lord was once again asking us to surrender our ideals. So we surrendered. Our social worker approved us for a sibling group of up to three children and we left it in God’s hands to bring however many boys or girls into our family, 1, 2, or 3!
We finished our dossier in March and sent it off to wait for a referral. The average referral time for a sibling group is about 2 years and some people wait up to 5 years or more! We mailed it off and thought we would settle in for a long wait. Our completed dossier hadn’t even made it to our agency yet when they sent us a file for a sibling group of THREE GIRLS that had just come available and asked if we were interested. We prayerfully reviewed their files and couldn’t see any reasons not to consider them. Our prayer from then on was “Lord, if these are the children you have for our family, please make it clear.”
We submitted our intent to adopt and were interviewed and reviewed by our agency social worker, our home study social worker, the Department of Social Services, US Citizenship and Immigration, and finally, the International Adoption Council, all of whom gave resounding a “YES!” and several, “We think these girls would be a wonderful fit for your family!”
The way that the Lord has orchestrated this whole journey has been simply amazing. We have gone through some excruciating moments but have been surprised and overwhelmed by His timing and blessings over and over again.
In July we traveled to meet the girls for the first time. The bond and connection was supernatural. Throughout the whole trip we could clearly see the Lord’s leading and blessing. The Lord had gone before us to prepare their hearts and ours.
We are waiting for our court date, visas, and passports. Then in a few months we travel again to bring our girls home!!!
There is still lots to do before these girls come home. We have lots more paperwork and waiting, about $15,000 more to pay in adoption fees and airfare. We will need a bigger vehicle, and a bigger table to build! But you know what, God is faithful!
Please pray for protection and blessings over these girls and for God’s continued provision and blessing over this adoption and our family.
God is not predictable but He is faithful!!!
Here is more of the background of how the Lord lead us to adopt:
When Suzanne was growing up, her family was torn apart. What the enemy meant for evil, the Lord used for her good and His glory by placing her in a loving Christian home. That experience totally changed her and gave her new life! As a young adult, Suzanne worked to get her degree in lay counseling and spent four years on the mission field serving others in hopes of pointing them towards Christ.
Fred was first introduced to Christ as a college student. The rest is His story of redemption and grace on Fred’s life. Fred stepped completely out of his comfort zone in obedience to the Lord’s calling on his life. He spent several years serving at a Christian camp where he not only ministered to others but grew in leaps and bounds spiritually as he was ministered to. Fred then took on an internship with 2100 Productions which is part of the collegiate ministry (Intervarsity Christian Fellowship) that introduced him to Christ.
That’s about the time God introduced us to each other. ❤️❤️ We both knew that the Lord’s hand was on our lives and our desire was to be obedient to the Him, even in how we grew our family. Knowing what it’s like to be adopted physically, emotionally, relationally, and spiritually, we look forward to being a part of that process that will rewrite someone else’s life story.
We have been married for 13 years and have nearly 12 years of experience as parents to five wonderful children. We are so excited and grateful for the work that Christ has done in our lives and that we, in turn can offer our home and hearts to children in need of love and family.
We are trusting the Lord’s timing and leading in the whole adoption process and He is doing amazing things! Thank you for being a part of this journey and allowing Him to do amazing things through you!
"The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'” Matthew 25:40
“Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me.” Matthew 18:5
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6