OK...hope to finish this. My house looks like a triage with 3 home sick today. So where was I? Awe...Yes! Sunday evening November 25th my husband gets a text...AKA our answer to our prayers. The answer that prevented the sliver to fester...The answer that told me, HE sees you, HE hears you...When she asked what we needed next in the process, we knew we needed to be completely honest with every detail since the 14th of accepting our referral. Again my pride has a way of wanting to star on Broadway in this moment. I actually tell my husband, "Oh just respond by telling her we just need a plane ticket, or to cover our stay over there, or our immunizations, or his visa,or better yet just to pray for us, OR, OR, OR? Be completely exposed in an honest response back to her text. You see...her text was asking where we were at in the process...So David began to text her back our last few weeks that I previously posted. Numbers and all. Her RESPONSE back..."INTERESTING, my husband and I felt strongly last week that we were to give you and Ranell 7,000.00 for the next step." Do you remember where we were just 15 minutes before this text? I sit here barely able to read what I am typing as I am still moved with emotion of such a gift. A gift that defends the Fatherless, a gift that brings a child closer to having a family, a gift that shines HIS glory, Reflects HIS Love, and Renews Hope...
After David and I processed her text with praise, many tears, and much joy we knew that we would be able to wire the funds the next morning, Monday November 26th when it was due. If you have a few more minutes I would love to share with you our time at the bank. We believe this adoption is not only about this orphaned boy having a family, but to testify to the things of God. To always reflect him in all the details. So we head to the bank, and it's the same teller, you know the one with the magic wand? She perks up when she sees us and asks if were doing the cash advance. My husband says,"that wont be necessary, God heard our prayers!" She tilts her head with intrigue. He hands her the 7,000.00 dollar check and shares what had happened the night before. She begins to cry, and then gets the other tellers and bank manager to come hear the story. They have been invested in this adoption with every form we needed notarized. They quickly get caught up on God's goodness by Davids loud proclaiming! With no regard to the line that has formed behind us, Church was happening there in the ban!k My husband finishes by telling them that Gods love is for everyone not just for us, not just for the orphan but for them as well. He then was overcome by the gift that was given to us, and the weight that was removed that he had to excuse himself. As I finished the transaction alone, I watched something beautiful going on in my husband who was trying to collect himself in the foyer, from the teller who cradled the gift like it was a newborn, and all those working and in line had just heard of Gods Faithfulness, and HIS Love. Which got me pondering on the most beautiful scriptures in the Bible.
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." There are two really big actions in the scripture. Loved and Gave. Words of movement....What a beautiful example of Loving so much that the end result is Giving...He Gave, He gave it all.
As For Me And My House We Will Serve The Lord. Joshua 24:15
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Prequel to OUR Referral
Prequel to Our Referral~ A few weeks before we laid eyes on our son, I had a dear friend come up to me and say she was praying for our family. While she was praying she said she SAW him. She continued to share about the light in his eyes. She couldn't quite describe it. I told her, "Oh yeah Ethiopian children are known for light in their eyes. Their eyes have been called reflectors of light." She looked at me in a way that I KNEW to hold on to every word she spoke. She then said,"No that's not what I mean." The best way she could describe to me is that she saw a light coming from his eye, it reminded her of a flashlight beaming out light from his eye. Because I love this friend and trust God in her, I knew to tuck that Word in my heart.
So when we opened our "referral" November 14th and after we dried our eyes to read his medical report, we saw that he had a condition with his right eye. On one report it was called corneal opacity. When we googled the condition it said it could lead to blindness. We knew because of WHAT my friend had seen about his eye that was our confirmation that he was ours. His "condition" didn't deter our hearts from loving him, from desiring to bring him into our family. The next day I looked at the medical report again, and on the bottom it said refer to an opthamoligist/surgeon. So I found that report in our referral packet...The condition was actually something to do with his Iris and wouldn't affect vision at all. And when you look at his sweet right eye he is missing part of the color and in it's place is light. In one of the medical definitions it describes the condition as, A light shining thru. PRAISE! His Ethiopian name is Sinthayhu, Meaning...What my eyes have seen, and what I have been through.
OK~ as if that Godly word wasn't enough...Are you ready??? You might want to pop some popcorn and sit in AWE of God's design in this adoption journey! The week before our referral I saw a post from our agency saying they had a healthy 1 yr old boy who needed a forever family. In my spirit I KNEW he was ours! I actually responded right away, with something like, Do you hear me screaming?" I couldn't believe it because we put in for a 1-5 yr old boy. I had a quick thought of why is she trying to give our son away. She, our Ethiopian coordinator responded so kindly back saying I thought of your family first but I knew you wouldn't be ready to send the referral money, because we had just raised the Dossier amount. She was very accurate in her thinking. In that moment I text alot of our friends to PRAY. I said there would need to be a miracle so this boy wouldn't be referred out. It wasn't like, Oh well if it's meant to be...NO! I knew that was our son! We needed a miracle. I even asked God to make him undesirable for that family...I know, awful. I'm only speaking raw truth from the very core of me. This isn't written to please man. I hope me being completely honest will only encourage those of you who are or will be in a similar situation...So the morning of our referral...Our coordinator calls and says,"How soon do you think you could get your referral money in? I told her I wasn't sure because we had just come up with the close to 7000.00 amount for our dossier. However...I said I don't want to miss "our son"..In my head I'm thinking, we are SO doing a cash advance and were going to accept this referral. I could have even vocalized this in the phone conversation...One thing I knew for sure is my amazing husband has said throughout this whole process is he didn't want to charge. We didn't envision our little boy wearing a t-shirt that said, "My parents went in forclosure for me" OR "My parents loved me so much, their bankrupted." My husbands decision to not charge was that he wanted God to get the glory, not Discover or American Express. So knowing this I was afraid to ask my husband, but I knew our agency needed to know asap. After hanging up the phone I went to prayer. I remember being literally on my knees, with my face buried in the carpet...seeking God. Only in this moment throughout this process I remember praying YOUR WILL GOD. FORGIVE ME IF I'M RUNNING AHEAD. IF HE ISN'T OUR SON, THEN PLEASE CLOSE THE DOOR..so when my husband came home for lunch I quickly caught him up to speed and told him the ONLY way we can accept this referral is to just do a cash advance and pay it off later...PAUSE...to this miracle in the making. The Ranell in her flesh...is saying right now, WHY are you sharing all the intimate details of something so personal...I'm sure everyone has 35,000 dollars in their savings to adopt...Hit backspace, and NO one will know...PLAY....I really want you to SEE HIS GLORY. I wonder if this is how King David felt as he danced naked before the Lord. So here it is....Okay so guess what my husband says to my 2 hour prayer request prior to him coming home for lunch? "Let's go for it!" I couldn't have been more elated with his response.
We knew the money would be due asap, usually within 48 hrs of acceptance, she said the following Monday on the 19th would be fine. So that night we opened our referral and accepted...which you know if you read the prior..After we accept is when God gets even more fancy in HIS creation of this adoption journey. We go to our bank on the morning of the 19th to do the cash advance. Mind you we have never done this before so we really thought we just go on in...We step up to the teller and let her know our wishes. With her wand in hand she's going through everything and getting ready to wire, she grabs the card we are planning on using and informs us that this bank isn't set up to do American Express. UGH....No wish granted...Her wand was only a pen, but she tells us the banks that use AE. As we head back to our car I told David, you know this feels like a door shut. Not shut to our son, but to doing a cash advance. I continued to share with David that God wanted to honor his desire to not charge, and to get all the Glory! As we part ways...my husband continues to hit up the banks that were set up for AE, he even calls American Express and they tell him they can put a direct advance into our checking, but that it takes two business days. This is all happening while I am out getting groceries in complete peace...THOSE of you who know us, KNOW it would be me knocking on every door to complete this transaction not the one who didn't want to"charge"..OK so now it's the 21st and were still trying to get the money...Your probably wondering where is American Express' magic carpet ride with the direct advance...Well in those few days, they changed policy and only offer a cash advance of 500.00 every seven days. Door remains SHUT. Instant heartburn sets in, I let our agency know this and her Milantic response was, "No worries tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I won't be in the office till Monday." So were thinking PTL more time to figure this out..And there it is, a sliver of doubt..Not doubting our referral is our son, but will God provide? I hate confessing this...I KNOW God at His word, but there it was, a lack in my faith. Looking back I am so thankful the sliver didn't fester.
It's now Sunday night, November 25th the eve before money is due, and my husband says to me, "I don't know how were going to be able to send the money, at this point we just don't have all of it. I'm not sure where it's going to come from." We had a stare that only we could read and understand, and in that moment we truly knew it could only be from God...That ONLY God would provide. After we prayed, we were resolved and at absolute peace. Praise God my mind was numb from the knowledge that if HE didn't provide by the next morning more than likely we wouldn't be moving forward with this child whom we have fallen madly in love with...This is that moment where you believe it for everyone else, because you've seen it happen for others. 15 minutes later my husband receives a message from a couple asking us what we needed next in the process of our adoption! Intermission~ To His Story..Possibly for the effect of suspense...but the reality is I have a little one home sick and need to hold the bucket under her dear face.
So when we opened our "referral" November 14th and after we dried our eyes to read his medical report, we saw that he had a condition with his right eye. On one report it was called corneal opacity. When we googled the condition it said it could lead to blindness. We knew because of WHAT my friend had seen about his eye that was our confirmation that he was ours. His "condition" didn't deter our hearts from loving him, from desiring to bring him into our family. The next day I looked at the medical report again, and on the bottom it said refer to an opthamoligist/surgeon. So I found that report in our referral packet...The condition was actually something to do with his Iris and wouldn't affect vision at all. And when you look at his sweet right eye he is missing part of the color and in it's place is light. In one of the medical definitions it describes the condition as, A light shining thru. PRAISE! His Ethiopian name is Sinthayhu, Meaning...What my eyes have seen, and what I have been through.
OK~ as if that Godly word wasn't enough...Are you ready??? You might want to pop some popcorn and sit in AWE of God's design in this adoption journey! The week before our referral I saw a post from our agency saying they had a healthy 1 yr old boy who needed a forever family. In my spirit I KNEW he was ours! I actually responded right away, with something like, Do you hear me screaming?" I couldn't believe it because we put in for a 1-5 yr old boy. I had a quick thought of why is she trying to give our son away. She, our Ethiopian coordinator responded so kindly back saying I thought of your family first but I knew you wouldn't be ready to send the referral money, because we had just raised the Dossier amount. She was very accurate in her thinking. In that moment I text alot of our friends to PRAY. I said there would need to be a miracle so this boy wouldn't be referred out. It wasn't like, Oh well if it's meant to be...NO! I knew that was our son! We needed a miracle. I even asked God to make him undesirable for that family...I know, awful. I'm only speaking raw truth from the very core of me. This isn't written to please man. I hope me being completely honest will only encourage those of you who are or will be in a similar situation...So the morning of our referral...Our coordinator calls and says,"How soon do you think you could get your referral money in? I told her I wasn't sure because we had just come up with the close to 7000.00 amount for our dossier. However...I said I don't want to miss "our son"..In my head I'm thinking, we are SO doing a cash advance and were going to accept this referral. I could have even vocalized this in the phone conversation...One thing I knew for sure is my amazing husband has said throughout this whole process is he didn't want to charge. We didn't envision our little boy wearing a t-shirt that said, "My parents went in forclosure for me" OR "My parents loved me so much, their bankrupted." My husbands decision to not charge was that he wanted God to get the glory, not Discover or American Express. So knowing this I was afraid to ask my husband, but I knew our agency needed to know asap. After hanging up the phone I went to prayer. I remember being literally on my knees, with my face buried in the carpet...seeking God. Only in this moment throughout this process I remember praying YOUR WILL GOD. FORGIVE ME IF I'M RUNNING AHEAD. IF HE ISN'T OUR SON, THEN PLEASE CLOSE THE DOOR..so when my husband came home for lunch I quickly caught him up to speed and told him the ONLY way we can accept this referral is to just do a cash advance and pay it off later...PAUSE...to this miracle in the making. The Ranell in her flesh...is saying right now, WHY are you sharing all the intimate details of something so personal...I'm sure everyone has 35,000 dollars in their savings to adopt...Hit backspace, and NO one will know...PLAY....I really want you to SEE HIS GLORY. I wonder if this is how King David felt as he danced naked before the Lord. So here it is....Okay so guess what my husband says to my 2 hour prayer request prior to him coming home for lunch? "Let's go for it!" I couldn't have been more elated with his response.
We knew the money would be due asap, usually within 48 hrs of acceptance, she said the following Monday on the 19th would be fine. So that night we opened our referral and accepted...which you know if you read the prior..After we accept is when God gets even more fancy in HIS creation of this adoption journey. We go to our bank on the morning of the 19th to do the cash advance. Mind you we have never done this before so we really thought we just go on in...We step up to the teller and let her know our wishes. With her wand in hand she's going through everything and getting ready to wire, she grabs the card we are planning on using and informs us that this bank isn't set up to do American Express. UGH....No wish granted...Her wand was only a pen, but she tells us the banks that use AE. As we head back to our car I told David, you know this feels like a door shut. Not shut to our son, but to doing a cash advance. I continued to share with David that God wanted to honor his desire to not charge, and to get all the Glory! As we part ways...my husband continues to hit up the banks that were set up for AE, he even calls American Express and they tell him they can put a direct advance into our checking, but that it takes two business days. This is all happening while I am out getting groceries in complete peace...THOSE of you who know us, KNOW it would be me knocking on every door to complete this transaction not the one who didn't want to"charge"..OK so now it's the 21st and were still trying to get the money...Your probably wondering where is American Express' magic carpet ride with the direct advance...Well in those few days, they changed policy and only offer a cash advance of 500.00 every seven days. Door remains SHUT. Instant heartburn sets in, I let our agency know this and her Milantic response was, "No worries tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I won't be in the office till Monday." So were thinking PTL more time to figure this out..And there it is, a sliver of doubt..Not doubting our referral is our son, but will God provide? I hate confessing this...I KNOW God at His word, but there it was, a lack in my faith. Looking back I am so thankful the sliver didn't fester.
It's now Sunday night, November 25th the eve before money is due, and my husband says to me, "I don't know how were going to be able to send the money, at this point we just don't have all of it. I'm not sure where it's going to come from." We had a stare that only we could read and understand, and in that moment we truly knew it could only be from God...That ONLY God would provide. After we prayed, we were resolved and at absolute peace. Praise God my mind was numb from the knowledge that if HE didn't provide by the next morning more than likely we wouldn't be moving forward with this child whom we have fallen madly in love with...This is that moment where you believe it for everyone else, because you've seen it happen for others. 15 minutes later my husband receives a message from a couple asking us what we needed next in the process of our adoption! Intermission~ To His Story..Possibly for the effect of suspense...but the reality is I have a little one home sick and need to hold the bucket under her dear face.
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
OUR REFERRAL
November 14th @ 8:35 pm all five us crowded in the office and nervously swarmed the computer screen! There was our BOND referral file ready to be opened..We really have waited so long for this..Before we opened there were random questions,such as....Here it is, with much vain..."What if he's ugly?" Ha!I know...Not proud of it, because it came from me...the Mama. However it was a thought that I happened to vocalize...other questions shouted out, "How will we know if he's the one?" "How old is he?"And from our Mia..."What if he has a little sister?" with really no audible answers...we OPENED....
The Enter button was pushed to Open the first sight of our son~ As I am hearing lot's of awes and coos around me, I am folded over the keyboard crying as he IS the little boy from my dream...our soul son...Knowing we serve a God of Amazing details...I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was overwhelmed with it! He had taken our breath away..We proceeded to lightly scan over the medical details...but we already knew we would ACCEPT this Referral...now KNOWN as our son..There is such delight in seeing him each week via email. The anticipation of the weekly updates brings that warmness you get when Thanksgiving dinner has been set on the table, the Rush of the day after Christmas Sale at Target, and truly more delicious than any shots on top of my Starbucks Americano! We rip into the updates and as quick as we can, we send the photos of our son to all our phones! Only to show him off, of course...I will share very soon the GOD details that led to us even being able to accept our "referral". The design of this adoption, Hollywood could never have produced.
The Enter button was pushed to Open the first sight of our son~ As I am hearing lot's of awes and coos around me, I am folded over the keyboard crying as he IS the little boy from my dream...our soul son...Knowing we serve a God of Amazing details...I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was overwhelmed with it! He had taken our breath away..We proceeded to lightly scan over the medical details...but we already knew we would ACCEPT this Referral...now KNOWN as our son..There is such delight in seeing him each week via email. The anticipation of the weekly updates brings that warmness you get when Thanksgiving dinner has been set on the table, the Rush of the day after Christmas Sale at Target, and truly more delicious than any shots on top of my Starbucks Americano! We rip into the updates and as quick as we can, we send the photos of our son to all our phones! Only to show him off, of course...I will share very soon the GOD details that led to us even being able to accept our "referral". The design of this adoption, Hollywood could never have produced.
Friday, August 10, 2012
"If just one church
in every four churches got one family to adopt there would be no more orphans in
America. It's not because we lack the resources, or lack the knowledge, or lack
the skills… what we lack is the willingness for a group of people to say enough
is enough, no more
orphans."
-- Pastor Rick Warren, author of The
Purpose Driven Lifehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOqx4ggOJWc&feature=player_embedded
My friends, adoption is redemption. It's costly, exhausting, expensive, and outrageous. Buying back lives costs so much. When God set out to redeem us, it killed Him." --Derek Loux
" Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy." --Proverbs 31:8-9
Sunday, July 1, 2012
~Hello baby boy...I really wanted you to know how much love has gone into bringing you home...A few weeks ago we had a yard sale to raise money to bring you home. Many friends and family gave so much of their beautiful things...Your Pappy & Grandmama cleared out their home to sell things and then even bought things! Your aunt Darlene brought things over, and baked, and so did two of mamas dear friends Miss. Noelle, and Miss. Kim..They baked for hours and invested so much into this sale. Their fighting over who gets to hold you first! Many of mommy & daddy's friends came to buy things at the sale...they even overpaid! ALL TO BRING YOU HOME...Your sisters and big brother, cousins and friends helped sale lemonade and baked goods all day:-) A new friend of ours Miss. Janet and Curt made beautiful bracelets to help us out! We have also recieved love gifts in the mail from dear friends just wanting to be a part of our journey and your story...God is Gracious...One day when you are older my hope is you will read the bondadoption and realize you were thought of before we ever met. That two different countries will be intertwined on this earth because of the POWER of His love, that race doesn't matter, that LOVE will be our language, miles make the distance far, but Love in our hearts makes you close, the desire to DO God's word conquers any doubts or fear, WE will continue to press on for the Fatherless... that one day there will be NO child waiting! We're so greatful That when God knitted you in your mothers womb...HE knew HE made you to be with us...We are all SO excited to meet you and anxiously await to have you here with us..Your forever family...<3 Mama
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Thursday, May 24, 2012
IAN
So I will fastforward to four years ago...We were comfortable...we got a phone call from a friend asking if we'd consider adopting a little six yr old boy from Ethiopia..All we knew is his mama couldn't provide for him anymore..We found out more about this beautiful child, and said "YES"! It was within two weeks we were told his mama started selling herself to be able to KEEP her boy. You hear of a mothers love, I would never go there to question her in that desperate time of her life. We continue to pray for him and the mother who sacrificed...Why I share this time with you is because that is when Comfortable WAS GLARING at me...and the Lord was so clear that even though we are blessed with our kiddos, HE has spilled forth an abundance of LOVE and if we were willing to answer the call of adoption we would be a reflection of our very KING...and also it was a matter of this childs eternity! Our daughter Mia at this time was in a real health crisis...so to think of trying to adopt and get her figured out was to overwhelming...so I shelfed the call...Hmmm???It was then God began to give me dreams. The dream that got us moving in the direction of at least doing a homestudy...some paperwork,etc was this...I was in a land that I have never seen before..In this place was my family and to the right of me was Mia..Mind you..she was not quite 4..but in the dream had bigger girl features and stood at a little higher than my hip. and to the left was this little black boy...would love to tell you he was chubby and adorable..but he was very malnourished and had sunken eyes. All his bones were displayed to show the reality of what HUNGER is..I woke up...I remember hitting David awake and said Ethiopia! We are to adopt a little boy and his name is IAN. Weird to some, but I knew the journey for this boy had begun. That week I prayed with absolute petition on behalf of what the Lord was doing for him and how HE was guiding us. During this week as I was taking Mia to pre-school I took the normal route and prayed the normal prayer of protection and blessing over her as she would be away from me..The normal prayer went into a loud call out for ALL of my children and that HE had each one of them in HIS hands...I remember noting in my heart that He even was having me pray for our future son..I remember stopping at a two way at the end of that prayer. Right next to the stop sign was a telephone pole and on that pole in bright white was the letters IAN.
I not only heard God, but HE showed us! I pulled over and through tear filled eyes snapped this from my cellphone KNOWING it would need to go in his baby book...
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