This journey for the adoption thus far has been amazing. I don’t even know where to begin to start writing to explain these last few weeks. This whole process has truly been a “God thing.” From the very beginning, when we felt called to proceed with this adoption, we knew that financially this was going to be a hurdle for us. We needed God to give us miracles for this to happen. Throughout this process he has shown us time and time again that he was there listening to every need that we had. He provided for every invoice and for every small obstacle that we encountered. These past two weeks was a week in my life that I will never forget. Jim Bob and I were getting down to the wire for traveling and we didn’t have the money to even book flights. Yes, this whole process has completely been a faith builder for Jim Bob and I both!! I mean there we were sitting just about a week away from our travel date and we didn’t have the money to book flights. Jim Bob and I just put it all in God’s hands, for he had called us to do this adoption so he will provide. It was on a Wednesday and we received a call that a certain amount of money from the pledge drive and our donation letter had come in. An amount that was only driven by God! So on Friday a week before we were ready to travel we booked our flights!! God had provided yet again. Even the flight itself was an answer from God because we were able to book a flight very close to where we live and at an excellent price. So then there was the next step. We needed money to travel and money for the last and final fee to pay for the adoption. With a few last minute arrangements, Jim Bob and I put together another spaghetti dinner. It was a great evening spending time with family and friends. I was so overcome with emotions at the dinner because throughout the night we were reminded that God is in control. There was one little girl who touched my heart. She came to our spaghetti dinner to help support us and yet she had never even met us. I found out later that she came and donated to our dinner with her very own money that she was saving for a cell phone. I was so touched that she did this selfless act of kindness. That evening was just filled with countless leaps of faith on our behalf. Jim Bob and I were so humbled that so many people believed in us and wanted to support us and get our girls home! There were people who sacrificed so much of their own money to help see this adoption process through. May God rest his hand upon each and every person who gave or prayed because they too were listing and taking that leap of faith. The spaghetti dinner was a huge success…only something that God could pull off!! When the money was counted, I was so overwhelmed with emotions that I just started to cry. I couldn’t believe how much God had provided for us. But he didn’t stop there!!! A grant came through that helped pay for the second child fee; our church gave to our fund and an anonymous donor gave graciously to our fund as well. It was once said to me, “plow the fields and He will supply the rain.” Jim Bob and I leaned on that advice and did everything we could to plow through this process. God has provided in abundance!! I just stand in awe knowing that God pulled this all off in just a few days. He is never late!!
As I sit here in Ukraine, I still can’t even believe that I am actually here!! There was such a whirl wind of events leading up to this point that I haven’t even had time to process J Even getting here was a challenge, one that we had to put into God’s hands. We had a flight that was leaving out of State College, Pa and headed towards hurricane Irene. We didn’t know if our flight was going to be canceled or if we would make it or not. So we drove to State College to find that our flight was still on time and we boarded the plane to Dulles. This flight was one that I would not like to experience again!! The turbulence was horrible because of the incoming winds from Irene. We were safe but it was a ride that I don’t want to do again!! We were almost certain that we would find our flight leaving Dulles canceled. The hurricane was fast approaching and we were hoping that we could get out before it was too late. We heard that other airports were shutting down so we were preparing ourselves that we would be staying there. We just sent out texts and updated people through Face Book to keep praying that God would just shuttle us through. Well, when we got to Dulles we saw our flight was still on time!! I couldn’t believe it! We actually beat hurricane Irene!!
Now we are in Kiev ready to start a new chapter to our life. It has been by faith, through hope and with love that has gotten us this far.
God is great!!
