Hi beautiful friends. On the eve of my 30th birthday, I wanted to tell you the story of how God led us to adopt again. We aren't special, Seriously we aren't. Adopting Nikita was a God adventure like none other that my hubby and I had experienced. But like all God adventures, it was RIVETING at times, and desperately hard in others. We knew to go back to Ukraine, to adopt again, meant we were going to be holding very tightly to the Lord for every step. We should be like this everyday honestly. But for my hubby and I, adopting put us in a place of clinging like never before. And so as we thought and prayed about returning for some very beautiful kids, the following happened:)
In early September of this year I was asking the Lord if we should go back. I felt like I wanted a sign, something tangible so that I "knew" for sure that this was where God was leading our family. As I was thinking about what that should be, the thought "200 dollars" came to mind. I knew I hadn't thought that random number on my own, so I felt it was the Lord leading me to ask. So that is what I did. I asked him to bring us 200 dollars specifically for our adoption. I knew this would be hard for 1 reason. Nobody knew that we were contemplating going back to adopt from Ukraine right now. There were some who knew we were thinking of it, but not for right now. So I knew for God to send 200 dollars for our adoption would be, in fact, a miracle.
Fast forward to about 3 weeks later. I was a bit discouraged. I felt like I should keep trusting and praying, but God had not sent any money. I was tempted to tell somebody, but I knew this was a big decision. If God wanted us to go, I needed to trust He would answer in His timing. So I went to the mailbox one day, and received a card in the mail. I opened it up, completely expecting a nice card reciprocating a deep friendship I had with this person. Instead I opened it up to find a check for 100 dollars, and a note stating that God had put our family on their heart, and they wanted to give us 100 dollars to invest in our adoption. I NEARLY JUMPED OUT OF MY SEAT! I just knew that I knew that it was God answering me! But, it was only for 100! At this point I was fully confidant that God was going to bring the other 100. I knew it!
Everyday I would go to the mail, awaiting the second 100. Weeks passed, and I didnt know what was going on. "C'mon God", I thought! "Let's get this rolling". I talked to my hubby about it, and we agreed that we would wait together. So early in November, we were ready to take a small step. We were going to commit to our sweet Olya and set up our FSP on Reeces Rainbow. (An FSP is a tax deductible account where you can donate towards our adoption! We had one with Nikita, as many of you can recall!) That morning my hubby was going to fax the paperwork necessary to set it up. But he overslept, and I wasn't ready, and he had to head to work. Boy, was I frustrated. And then I considered what happened, and realized maybe God was giving me a chance to pray and think through something else that had been strongly on our hearts-adopting 3! Yes, adopting 3. So my hubby and I decided to really pray, and my hubby asked God to very specifically bring the last 100 dollars if we were supposed to adopt the 3 we were intently considering. AND 2 days later, God sent us that last 100 dollars, specifically for our adoption, in UKRAINIAN MONEY! 200 dollars. The very number He put in my head, He had supplied!!!!
So our newest additions, the 3 we prayed uniquely for, are being pursued by our family, and a God Who loves them and smiles over them! Our journey has begun!:) We have no idea what this journey will look like, but we are following a God Who answers prayer!!!!!!!!!!!! Glory to God!
To see updated pictures, go to the blogpost below, entitled "You Make Me Brave"!
If the Lord puts it on your heart to support us, you are more than welcome to go here:
http://reecesrainbow.org/84178/sponsorsotolongo-2
Thank you for walking with us,
Monica:)
