When we have stepped out in faith... the Lord has always provided for our family

I often get asked how do you afford to adopt so many children? I will attempt to answer the reason why.... It all begins when I was a little girl....I have loved children even when I was a child. If there was a baby in my presence I drifted over to them, I begged my parents for lots of brothers and sisters. I also when I was older loved reading about orphans or the stories of people overcoming some very severe and harsh things in their lives. I loved the movies like Annie and Oliver. I read the Orphan Train series of books... my heart was being molded and softened to the plight of orphans even as I was growing up. I believe that my purpose has been to help the children who no one cares about...it is so very easy for me to open my heart and home up to another one....I believe that the Lord placed this love in my heart for orphans. I also think that each one of us is given a certain love and we are to address that with our life... our life song so to speak. My heart does sing and is the happiest when I am mothering and sharing my love to my children.

Now I believe I recieved a sort of call on my life as a child to fulfill this need in me to love children.. this call came from the Lord no doubt in my mind or heart. It is costly though to adopt...anywhere from 10,000 to 50,000 per child for everything involved in the adoption. We have adopted mostly special needs children and have been given a lesser amount we had to pay because the agencies were trying to help these children find homes. We have also been able to get some grant money for some of our adoptions. Also Paul's employer has an adoption benefit that is really very unique and positive towards adoption. They will reimburse you for 10,000 per child, per adoption. So for this adoption we will get back from his company 20,000 dollars when we submit our court documents and receipts for the expenses paid... now our adoption of these 2 is costing us about 35,000 dollars total. For a comparison it cost us 53,000 total for the adoption of our 5 children from Ukraine... we got a check in Paul's account for 50,000- so we paid a grand total of 3,000 for the 5 children where this time it is costing us 15,000 out of our pocket... this gives you an idea of our cost...

Now I share this to say we don't have a deep bank account at all... the money we get reimbursed for is already spent ... we just pay that off when we get it.... we live like most of you.... living paycheck to paycheck.... however we also serve an amazing Lord who we have seen provide for us and our adoptions in some pretty neat ways. Paul's employer has been very supportive of adoptions and we are grateful for that... even when we have traveled for as long as 6 weeks for one of our adoptions. When we have gotten grants for the exact amount of our adoption or the cost was reduced dramatically for an adoption we could see and know the Lord had his hand in it... when we start out with absolutely no money..none at all... and we owe someone a significant amount of money for an addition he built for us and as soon as we decided to be obedient to the call of the Lord to adopt the next child... that contractor calls and says," we have been praying about this money you owe us and we love your family and your ministry and want to support you... we forgive your debt to us. " and they never knew we were considering adopting again we know the Lord again was showing us... you step out in faith and I will provide....

And provide He has... over and over and over again in my life as I listened closely to His still small voice telling me that He loves the orphans and cares for them ... just as clearly as I hear my own familie's voices the Lord speaks to me thru my love for orphans... Once when it was Christmas eve a few yrs ago there was a mega lottery being played in several states including ours.... now we do not advocate this as a way to pay for adoption or even to play... but I had this notion and I am enough of a child myself especially at Christmas... I thought and told my husband to buy a ticket and I just knew we would win... because it was the "magic" of Christmas or something like that :) Well we bought one ticket ( the Lord only needs one to "bless us").. well on Christmas day we heard that someone in WV had won... I just knew it was us... but alas it was not... the next day we were doing devotions with the kids and the Lord spoke very clearly to us... He said," If you need a million dollars than you will have a millon dollars for my purposes." Then I knew that if we did need that amount to do the Lord's work than it would be provided... so from that I say we are all millionaires if we need to be..... I can not tell you how many times the amount of money has come in... sometimes in some strange ways... My dear father died in May... and he had a life insurance policy that my brother, the executor cashed and dispursed in Aug... it was the exact amount we needed for our next part of the adoption after our first trip... not anymore or less... My daughter and her husband are well into their adoption of hopefully 2 from Ethiopia... I shared the other week that they held a yard sale and got the exact amount they needed to mail off their documents.... not more or less the right amount. These is at least the 2nd or 3d time this has happened for them... they sold thier jeep for the exact amount needed to send in for the I600 A process... so it is not just us but our children who are also experiencing the hand of the Lord's provision in their adoption...

I know it is scary to step into the unknown but, following where ever the Lord is leading is always the safest place to be.... just like the Newsboys song goes... In the hands of God... that is right where I want to be... watching and experiencing this wild and amazing journey of life and adoption.

How do we afford to adopt so many... I say how do we afford not to adopt... if the Lord has called and we obey ... He will provide....Our family can be an encouragement to others because we do not have any extra money but we have lots of faith built up thru years of trusting in the Lord's provision... being on the cutting edge of life and depending on the one we have fallen in Love with.. our Lord and Savior, Jesus.

Remember my blog months ago about a book called Crazy Love by Francis Chan.... well we are crazy in love with Jesus and only want to live our lives serving Him by caring for the children He brings to our hearts and home.