In the midst of loss

We have been reading and discussing the book of James at the dinner table lately. Honestly, last night I told Morgan that this book was too heavy for our younger ones and that we probably should do something different. Little did I know that God had us reading James for a reason. James says to "count it all joy when you go through struggles." I knew walking into this adoption that we would face struggles because I have yet to hear of an international adoption that didn't have struggles. But what I didn't expect was loss. I have watched it happen to others but I didn't think it would happen to me.
We received news today that the little boy we have been pursuing has been matched with another family. They think it was a domestic match because it happened so quickly and there was no flag on his file previously. We are so happy that this precious little boy is getting a forever home where he will be loved and cared for. But at the same time this is a loss for us. We have been praying for him for months. I have his picture around to be reminded of him and to pray for him. We picked out a name and the kids have started dreaming of where his bed was going to go and what toys we should get for him. When we told Isaac he cried and cried. The poor kid was too sad for even ice cream to cheer him up. He has been talking about "Charlie" for weeks and weeks and prays for him every night. He might have been the most attached to his new brother out of all of us.
But this is not the end. We feel strongly that God is calling us to adoption and is guiding us in all of this. He has another child for us and he will help us find him. We are still going to keep plugging away at paperwork to get our home study complete. We want to be ready to "match" with the next child God shows us whenever that happens.
In the mean time we still need prayer, lots and lots of prayer. And we need funds. We need people to help us match the grant that was gifted to us. We are not allowed to contribute towards the matching grant so we have to rely on faith, trust, and our friends to come alongside us. Would you please consider donating so that we have the funds available for the next step of this process?
Thank you.

Round 2

A little over four years ago, one boy's prayer changed our lives forever. Our oldest son, Nathaniel, kept telling us he wanted Jennifer to have a baby. We laughed it off because we had zero plans of having a biological child. Nathaniel said he was going to pray. We chalked it up to childlike faith and didn't think much of it...until the day Jennifer came outside and told me she was pregnant! God answers prayer! And in January 2016, Nathaniel's prayers were answered in the affirmative when Isaac Jonathan Lusk was born!

Nathaniel is now 12 and in middle school. Elijah, our middle son, is in 4th grade. They have been home for 6 years now. Some days it seems like we just were in Uganda meeting them for the first time. Other days it seems hard to remember a time without them. We have since moved from Chattanooga, TN to Tampa, FL, and the boys have all enjoyed the city and Florida lifestyle. (Fishing is the current obsession) Isaac is now 3 and 1/2...

...and he also likes to pray.

Not long ago, Jennifer was scrolling through a page that listed children available for adoption. Isaac walked into the room unaware of what she was looking at and happened to see one particular child and said, "What's his name? I want him to be my brother!" He often would ask the names of children that he would see on Facebook but never mentioned anything about them being in our family. And he had no idea that we were even thinking about adopting again! Then, Jennifer turned around, only to find Isaac with his head bowed, eyes closed, and hands folded. "What are you doing?" asked Jennifer. "I'm praying for him to be my brother!" said Isaac.

God answers prayer. He has moved mountains and changed hearts, and we believe he has led us to begin the adoption process again.

This time, we hope to adopt a son from Taiwan. We're not able to say much about the child yet. The process is different this time around. We are using an agency (Lifeline Children's Services) and Taiwan is so much more detailed and informative than Uganda was. The process is longer (over a year) and we have to wait to officially "match" with the little boy Isaac identified as his brother. But we are praying and we believe that God answers prayer. After all, we've seen it before many times! He is already moving mountains and tearing down timelines.

As we begin this new journey, here are a few things you can do to help us:

• Pray! Do you see a theme here? This is the most important part!
• Follow our blog. We will post regularly. 
• Give. God has already blessed us by moving the hearts of a donor to offer a $3,500 matching grant. If you donate to our Lifesong account, this donor will match it up to $3,500! https://give.lifesong.org/lifesong/08658-ff
• Send us a note! We would love to hear from our friends and family. 

This is going to be a long process: likely between 15 and 18 months. So we will need to persevere, and we'll need friends to walk alongside us. But the good news is we've been down this road before with our previous adoption, and God taught us so many things that we can apply this time. 

The biggest thing he taught us is that He answers prayer!