Our expectations/ God's plans

So there's this passage in the Bible (Romans 11) where Paul is talking about a really difficult and mysterious truth (another blog for another time). He spends all this time carefully explaining the way God is working out His plan of salvation, and then when he gets to verse 33 it's like he just can't hold it in anymore and he starts singing! Just picture it.

Here's what he sings: "Oh the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways!"

So, I feel like Paul today. Once again God has blown me out of the water with the depth of His riches and wisdom and knowledge, and the unsearchable, inscrutable nature of His plans. I said in the beginning of this journey that I have always had a passion for adopting and my dream was that we wouldn't be the only ones from Chattanooga adopting. Well, as great as that dream was, God has once again taught me that I dream too small when it comes to the way He goes about building His kingdom.

Here's how the plan was supposed to work out in my mind:
1) Go get the boys
2) Come back and parade their cuteness before all our friends
3) Watch God work in our friends' hearts to cause them to want to adopt as well.

But here the thing: God has apparently decided that my little plan wasn't awesome enough.
He has already been at work in hearts all over our city to the point that Morgan and I aren't going to be adopting alone. It's like God has been saying, "Yes, good, that's a fine dream and all. But let me show you a more excellent way." Here follows a short account of that most excellent way.

Last week I got in contact with a family who heard through the grapevine what we were doing and really wanted to know more. After a few conversations with them, they contacted the orphanage in Uganda to see about available kids. They ended up choosing an adorable brother and sister and may get to go over to Uganda to get them before we can go get our boys!

If you're keeping count, that's 4 little Ugandans coming to Chattanooga. 

Then, on Saturday, I was thrilled to hear more excellent news. Some close friends of ours chose a brother and sister from the same orphanage. That makes 6 little Ugandans coming to Chattanooga.  But you haven't even heard the coolest part yet.

As we talked and continued to put the pieces together, we began to realize that these 2 couples from the same city each picked out children who are all half siblings! Only God could orchestrate all 4 of the siblings going to the same city on the other side of the world. It's like He's in complete control of this whole thing or something :)

But the excellent news doesn't stop there. On Saturday afternoon I talked to another family in Chattanooga who heard what we are doing and who would like to adopt as well. They are still praying about who it is God has for them but they are seriously considering taking a cousin of the 4 siblings!

What started out as 2 little boys moving to Chattanooga has turned into 7 (possibly 8) Ugandan children moving here this summer! God does indeed set the lonely in families and looks out for the orphan. He is making sure that these children are taken care of, loved, and brought into His Covenant community; a community which will include many of their friends and family. As they grow up in Chattanooga, they will have an incredibly unique bond with each other and an important link to their heritage.

God has also thrown my expectations for fundraising out the window. We now have raised over $10,000 this month! We are more than halfway to our goal and we still have a few months to go. Next week we will send the orphanage the second third of the money we owe them. We will also be able to pay off our home study. At the start of this process the money we needed to raise was quite daunting. Now I can see a light at the end of the tunnel and that God will provide the funds as/when we need them.

Our next steps are to receive our home study report, send the rest of our paperwork to Uganda, go to USCIS for fingerprinting, buy flights, raise the rest of the funds, and GO!

My faith and dependance on God is truly growing through this process. As others continue to pour out blessings upon us, I'm convicted that I am not generous enough. My perspective on needs verses wants is changing. It's hard in this materialistic culture to not join in with the crowd and get all the same things they have. But maybe God is calling me to make sacrifices and give up some comforts so that others may know Him through my actions/generosity.

For now, I am adopting these boys and introducing them to the unsearchable, inscrutable, incredible, mysterious Kingdom of God. But what will I be doing to help expand His Kingdom when the boys are home and we have settled into our "normal" life? Yes, I'll be raising them to know and fear the Lord, but perhaps God is asking me to do more. Maybe there's another example of the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God waiting just around the corner.

And the winner is...

Margaret Martin! She is a sweet lady in our church who I got to know better this fall at our church's women's retreat. She has beaten the odds against cancer and has shown others that with God all things are possible. Thanks to all who donated. We had 46 donors and raised almost $2,000.

To those of you who are interested in how we picked... I created an excel sheet with everyone's name next to a number and Morgan went to random.org and had it generate a number for us....and so it picked Margaret.

Thanks again for helping us get closer to bringing our boys home. We love y'all.

When it rains it pours...and that's not a bad thing

You've all heard the saying "when it rains it pours." I agree that it seems to often be the case but that's not always a bad thing. Like plants, sometimes we need all the rain to grow. It's hardships that help us grow even if they aren't our favorite part of life. Plus if we never had rainy days we wouldn't appreciate the sun as much. It's in the pouring rain that I depend on God even more than in the sunshine.

Since our last post, I feel like I have been drinking from a waterfall and barely keeping from drowning in the process. In the past couple of weeks, we have closed on our house, moved in, had one home study for our "foster" daughter, had another home study for the boys, had a weekend youth retreat, took a short trip to Asheville to help my mom pack her house, taught art lessons, tried to fill quote orders, worked on adoption paperwork, worked on adoption fundraisers and sorted, priced and brought close to a thousand items to two local consignment sales. Last night Morgan and I sat down together and felt like it was the first time we had seen each other in weeks. Sure, we have been living under the same roof, but we hadn't had time to just sit down and talk.

Over the last few months, I kept saying to Morgan that when we got into the house things would settle down and we would get back into our routine. Thus far that has not proven to be true. We may be sleeping at this new house but we do little else there. We still don't have internet so I have to go to the church to get online...my smart phone has decided to be not so smart and shuts down when I try to use any of my apps for more than a couple of minutes. That has made it difficult to post new blogs. Our internet will be hooked up on Monday so I will get better about keeping you updated then.

Yet among all this chaos God continues to be faithful. Perhaps He has used this "pouring rain" of busyness to show us that He alone was the one behind all the funds coming in. When we were too busy and too tired to do the work ourselves, God provided families in our church to encourage and support us. Many women came and helped me sort and price the consignment sale donations. People have donated both items to sell and money and their generosity has blown me away. We had one person, who is a friend of a friend living in another state, donate $100 to bring our boys home! Who does that? She doesn't even know us! Little things like this make me cry with gratitude.

People have been reading our blog and telling others about what we are doing. Through this 2 other families, that we didn't know beforehand, are now seriously considering adoption from the same orphanage! One family hopes to go with us in July and get their 2 kids! Another family in our church is prayerfully deciding who it is that God has for them to adopt. It is WONDERFUL to go through this journey with others. God knew what we needed before we did and he has provided in abundance!

In February, I set the goal of raising $10,000 in March. Honestly, I didn't think it was attainable but I thought, "what the heck, shoot for the moon." We are currently only $700 away from that goal! I cannot believe how much people are supporting us and loving on our children through it. The consignment sales are still continuing so hopefully they will help us get that last $700. At that point we will be a little more than halfway to the funds needed to bring the boys home. Thank you all so much for everything you have done for us. We will announce tomorrow morning who won the ipad. It's not too late to donate and get your name on the list of donors we'll choose from. :-)