He Provides: The Shores Family

Today's featured family is the Shores. 

I hope you enjoy the story of how God is providing for their adoption!

The question nagged me too often:  "How on earth, Lord, are we going to pay for an international adoption?"  When the furnace broke, when we experienced costly car repairs, when our roof began to leak (and shingles slid off onto the yard!) after a hailstorm, the question persisted.  "How could we, a public school teacher and stay-at-home-mom already raising a five and a three-year-old, ever afford $30,000 in adoption fees?" 

We stepped forward, though, attempting to be faithful, clinging to Scripture (particularly Josh. 1:9 and Phil. 4:6), and sometimes only continuing on by the sheer grace of God.

Along our journey, we have been amazed as we have watched God provide for our financial needs in a variety of ways:  the sale of our second car, tax returns, yard sales, extra babysitting jobs, t-shirt sales, making and selling jewelry, receiving grants, and generous donations from friends and strangers alike. 

The money has always been there at the very moment we needed to make the next large payment.  Over the past year, we have even seen God provide miraculously for our adoption (like when we were notified about a mutual fund we didn’t even know existed, worth around $5000, and the amazing $7300 matching grant we received through Lifesong for Orphans, in conjunction with the Orphan Care Alliance and Antioch Church).  

We no longer have any doubt that God will provide.  It’s actually become sort of fun to see how he’ll come through.  

Since we initially set out to adopt one child, we have accepted the referral for three sisters, who are waiting in Ethiopia.  In order to accept the referrals, we had to raise $10,000 more than we had originally planned.  About $6,000 of that came in over the course of around five days, as we leveraged social networking to meet our goal. At this point, all that we have left to raise is the cost of travel.  Our God is so faithful to provide!  

May his monetary provision serve as a reminder to me that he will continue to generously give an abundance of wisdom and grace as we parent our children in the future!

My prayer is that you were encouraged by the Shores story! If you'd like to follow their adoption journey you can do so on their blog Life Safari.

Come back tomorrow to hear JT Henderson from 5 million minus 1 share his story!

When God's in the Story:Provision

At the beginning of this year our pastor taught a series entitled "When God's in the Story". I can't help but filter most messages I hear through my orphan advocate glasses, so when the sermon in the series on provision came around, that's where my mind went... Here are my thoughts. You can listen to the sermon here.

First, God's Word has a lot to say about provision.  

"Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all." Matthew 6:31-32


^"If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" Matthew 7:11


^"Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows." Luke 12:7

^"He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish." John 21:6

^"And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work." 2 Corinthians 9:8

"And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19

But here's the thing - we are so busy trying to figure out HOW He's going to work in OUR situation, we miss WHO He is. We are so concerned with the hand out that we miss His face.

This is WHO He is:


"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." John 14:18


"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." James 1:27


"He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing." Deuteronomy 10:18


"When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow" Deuteronomy 24:19


"O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed" Psalms 10:17-18


"Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation" Psalms 68:5


Hearing this sermon led me to think of ALL the families who have walked the adoption journey He has provided for. I'm excited to be able to share a few of them with you this week!

Tomorrow we'll hear from Lindsay at Life Safari
Wednesday from our good friend JT at 5millionminus1
Thursday from my new friend Wynne at Gloriously Ruined
And Friday from one of my new favorite writers Lauren Casper at Traded Dreams

Stay tuned for some AMAZING stories!

I'll leave you with this humbling awe-inspiring quote from Charles Spurgeon...

What a serene and quiet life might you lead if you would leave providing to the God of providence! With a little oil in the cruse, and a handful of meal in the barrel, Elijah outlived the famine, and you will do the same. If God cares for you, why need you care too? Can you trust Him for your soul, and not for your body? He has never refused to bear your burdens, He has never fainted under their weight. Come, then, soul! have done with fretful care, and leave all thy concerns in the hand of a gracious God.

~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon

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Weekend Reading

Happy weekend!

Here's hoping you get the chance to enjoy a nice cup of hot tea, kick up your feet and do some reading.

First, a thought-provoking post from Tapestry entitled "Protecting What is Sacred."

 "We must acknowledge that we teach our children by our actions.  What we model for them shows them what is sacred. Adoptees have experienced significant fractures in trust, introduced mainly by the adults in their lives long before they ever arrived in their adoptive families. They need reassurance by their parents’ words and actions that the sacred nature of their stories will be honored. Parents must model sacred because for many adoptees they do not view their own life story as sacred."

You can read the full post here.

My friend Leslie took a really honest look this week at the reality of aging out of the foster care system. The statistics are staggering. Each of us should pause and pray about what our role in foster care should be. You can read Leslie's post here.

Here's a really wonderful post on loving families with special needs children.

Enjoy!

And congrats Reagan! You won the giveaway for 31 Nuggets of Hope!

Dear Me (an open letter to my pre-four-kids-under-the-age-of-five self)

Dear pre-four-kids-under-the-age-of-five-self,

You are about to go from two to four kids overnight. It will be fun and exciting and crazy. It will earn you interesting looks and comments like "did you bring your daycare kids to the zoo?" when you dare go out in public.

Here are some things it would have been handy to know ahead of time: 


First, write down everything they say. Examples to follow.

I know you're one of those crunchy green mamas - Get.Over. It. Buy napkins. The paper kind you don't have to wash. Same things goes for paper plates. And clorox wipes. This too shall pass.

Speaking of clorox wipes, keep them near the toilet. The one that will be used by three preschool boys approximately 536 times per day. Aim much?

Your double BOB is worth it's weight in gold. You'll be pushing four kids weighing a total of about 150 pounds. Someone will have to pry it from your cold dead hands.

Parenting someone else's kids is hard. Really hard. I got nothing to say to make that any easier. Just know it.

March 29, 2012 - T told Moses he didn't like him. Moses responded "Yes you do. I do lots of cool things!"

Run your dishwasher every night. Even when it is not full. I know, it makes your earth mama skin crawl. Just do it. Trust me. Waking up to dirty dishes is not a fun way to start the day.

Hand sanitizer is your friend. Washing and drying eight little hands is more work than it sounds. Buy a bunch and put one in every bag.

Baby wipes? Also your friend. Use them. On their faces and hands and anywhere else you might wipe.

Let some things go. For example, it's great to have a separate basket for each type of toy. But that ain't reality. Making beds? Let it go.

"My feet hurt because I ate yogurt and grapes and that makes my feet hurt." I have no idea what kid said that but I wrote it down, May 5, 2012

Stainless steel water bottles at every meal. Cups have to be washed. Water bottles? Not so much. If they start growing something looking oddly similar to black mold - wash them. I hear that happens.

Melatonin is your friend. Some people will poo-poo it. Those people have kids who sleep.

Pick your battles. Shirt on backwards? Who cares.

"When the sun come ups can we go to Halloween?" T, May 14, 2012

Take notes. Even if all you do is send yourself a coded email before collapsing into bed. When you can look back and see that bedtime use to take three and a half hours and now only takes one, you'll be glad you did.

Go to bed. Pinterest and Facebook may feel good now but you will regret it in the morning.

Get up before the little people do. Wake up for them not to them. This is easier said than done. Try to do it and give yourself grace when it doesn't happen.

Amazon Prime is your friend. Running out for a quick trip to Target ain't what it use to be. It now involves wondering if someone is going to call the police on the crazy lady, ahem you, "holding" the kicking screaming kid in the bathroom.

Have fun. Dance parties. Cupcakes for breakfast. Tents in the living room. Fun. Is. Good.

Keep the kids out of the bedroom. No kid toys, no kid clothes, no kid paraphernalia in the bedroom. Adult bedrooms are for one thing. Making kids.

Accept help. Yes you want meals brought over. Yes you need someone to pick something up while they are out. Yes you need those hand-me-down clothes. If no one offers, ask. Some folks just don't know how hard it is.

"Moses your feet are hairy. Like Esau's. And Mr. Williams." T, summer 2012

Don't be a slave to appointments. The therapists, doctors, social workers and judges (ok, maybe not the judges) are not in control of your life. Schedule the appointment when it makes the most sense for your crew, not when they have an opening.

Never ever ever forgo date night. There will be weeks when you live for it and it will be the only day of the week you shower and speak to an adult. The kid may cry while you are gone but you come back a much happier version of the burned out mama you were when you left. It's worth it.

Simplify the stuff. Kids from hard places are easily overstimulated. Cut the toys in half. Get rid of anything broken, missing pieces or with dead batteries.

Most everything you read in the books and learned in the classes is true. It will happen in your living room. Don't be so surprised. Take a deep breath, pray and do what you know to do. Then get yo'self a therapist girl. For you.

Find someone who gets it. You will need someone to laugh and cry with.Someone to drop meals on your porch and bring you kombucha. Someone to pray for your kids and help you google all the crazy things they do.

Last, love those kids with everything you've got. Life is short, these little years are much shorter. You are not promised tomorrow, focus on today.

Mama-of-four-kids-under-the-age-of-five,

linking up today with Lauren Casper at Traded Dreams