Dear Friends and Family, October 28, 2011
“you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by
whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" Romans 8:15b
For all of
you who have kept even remotely in touch with Mandy or I, you know that we have
a passion for kids. You have probably
seen the photos or read my blogs about trips to Mexico
or Guatemala
to work with children’s homes in these countries. If you have seen any of the posts in the
past 6 months you know that God has called us to adopt; to realize full circle
the 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 of
our 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 are
feeling led by God to this endeavor. I
am a visual person so let me share a visual with you. Think about your childhood and the feelings
that flood your mind. In many cases you
feel safety, or love. These feelings are
associated with your relationship to your parents. Now imagine that at a very young age, you are
in a Children’s home. You are one of 80
children under the care of 4 or 5 nannies.
They can’t care for you when you are sick, they don’t pick you up when
you fall. You don’t remember your
parents. You feel abandoned by everyone.
You grow up not knowing what love is, what safety is, and you begin to lose
hope. Those thoughts bring me to
tears. Now picture that in the amount of
144,000,000 children. All without
hope. 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 many
experiences. To share our journey with
you in a paragraph is impossible as I could start with a dying baby in China
that our James Fund group named ‘Jamie’ and sought to save. Or a 13 year old girl named Zhihong who
couldn’t understand the concept of a gift as she had never received one in her
lifetime. Or I could forward to the 10+
trips to Mexico
to work with cultural orphans with Back2Back ministries. The stories are numerous how God continues to
open our hearts to the orphan but ultimately it begins in the Word.
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the
Father, 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 rules
that 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 language
barrier. As well we are adopting special
needs and that can be a challenge. Yet
in 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 it
daily. When you do please lift us up in
prayer.
The second
way that you can help is to support us financially. The estimated cost for adopting one child
from 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 the
Talents. 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.
- 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.)
- Mail checks to:
Lifesong for Orphans
Attn: Cecil #2339 Adoption
PO Box 40
Gridley, IL 61744
- You can also use Pay Pal by going to the following website:
In the PURPOSE line please place “Preference Cecil #2339
adoption”
Just please note that while convenient Pay Pal does deduct
between 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 an
eternal return! (Matt.
6:20) We will be sure to give you an
updated 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:
Please
continue to pray that this entire process will glorify God and fulfill His
purposes!
In His
strength,
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