We’re coming for you Thomas!

Images by Patty V Photography  www.pattyvphotography.com

Big News all!! We have travel dates to go and pick up Thomas!!!! Even as I type this I just am so in awe. I’m so in awe that we are actually here, we are leaving in 2 days to go 6,000 miles to pick up our son that God has placed in our family. I’m so in awe to think of all the things the Lord has orchestrated to bring us to this point. Through trials of the homestudy, surgeries and sickness, job change and finances. The Lord has provided what was needed every single step. Thinking back two years ago I was sitting at an adoption retreat for adoptive and foster mommas. I was in the group titled something like “finding your direction” and I heard a momma say “If God calls you to it, He’ll see you through it.” That sweet little rhyme stuck to my heart and as we found our way on our road to adoption. I clung to this truth, knowing that the Lord was definitely faithful to provide what was needed, but I had never experienced Him in this way personally. And particularly in the realm of money. At this same retreat during worship I heard the Lord ask me to hand over the finances and the timeline of this journey. So I did that night. And had to again and again during the process, each time in a different way. Because I knew that I couldn’t come up with the money to approach adoption. And that I just wanted the road to be fast so we could keep our kids close in age. Through this journey the Lord allowed me to break. I again had to hand over the timeline, something I thought I had control over. He allowed me to see that this was HIS plan, not my own. Fast forward to the match with our sweet little Thomas. We know that God placed Him in our family, on purpose, and that he is to be ours, and we are to be his. And had it been MY timeline, he wasn’t even born when we would have been ready for a match!

Slowly I’m learning the value in surrendering to what the Lord has for me. The finances are so hard though! Dollars are finite! and the process is expensive! Through the times when I would be overwhelmed by this fact, the Lord would remind me that He was the one who owned the cattle on a thousand hills (Psalm 50:10). And that He is our Provider. And I still cannot get over how He uses His beautiful Church to minister to the needs of each other. Through friends and family and fundraisers and complete strangers and grants and anonymous donors God provided what was needed every time a payment came due. For each part of the process He laid it on someones heart to give, or worked miraculous things out in our budget. I want to say thank you to each of you who have supported us financially. Thank you for being obedient when God nudged you. Know that you are doing the big things, the most important things in life. Helping to bring home a child who is orphaned into a family who is SO excited to be his forever family. Allowing him to be a part of a Church that loves the Lord and loves caring for others and sharing their hope in Christ. So that ultimately Thomas has a chance at knowing his worth, that he is loved by his Creator and that he doesn’t have to journey this road of life alone.

This story of adoption that begins with brokenness, has the possibilities of a glorious redemption. Of love, of living through the difficulties with a Savior who promises to never leave.

We feel so utterly grateful to be able to journey this life with Thomas. We know that we aren’t perfect, we mess up plenty. But our prayer is that we could point him (along with Isabelle, Isaiah and Evelyn) to the One who IS perfect, the One who will never fail us.

As we approach the actual start of the journey for Thomas WITH us there is a lot of worry within my heart. His grieving, will we be able to comfort him? How can we help him? How do we do this sleep thing? His routine is very different from ours at home. And eating, we eat such different things! How will he attach to us? How will our bonding be with him? What will cocooning look like? How will each child’s relationship with each other go? etc etc….

And so with all of our story being layed out here in print, we are reminded that HE IS FAITHFUL. Lamentations says “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.” Sara Groves (my all time favorite artist) sings a song that resonates this verse and the hymn “Great is Thy faithfulness” and is called “He’s always been faithful.” Last night as I was listening I heard a new piece of it that became real to me. She sings

“This is my anthem, this is my song
The theme of the stories I’ve heard for so long
God has been faithful, He will be again
His loving compassion, it knows no end
All I have need of, His hand will provide
He’s always been faithful…”

The line God has been faithful, He will be again – gives me so much peace, and what a great reminder not only that He’s BEEN faithful, but He will be again! and that His compassion is never-ending. That every need that is present in this adoption journey and beyond He will provide. What a glorious God we serve.

a quote I see daily from my amazing friend Elisa

Thomas, these three CAN’T WAIT to meet you and start life with you!

moving along in our adoption…

So obviously I’m horrible about blogging. I do not process things by writing, there is no need for an “outlet” that has to do with words on a page. At all. So I’m sorry I go so long between adoption updates. Now if you want to TALK! I could talk all day, and, as I have recently learned about myself (that which Joel already knew) I am an external processor, but only having to do with conversation 🙂  So all that to say here is a long overdue update!

First things first our home study is complete!! It was stamped as completed on July 25th!! Hooray! Praise the Lord, it was a long road. Joel changed careers, had shoulder surgery and recovered, and the kids basically completed a school year in this time. So, on to the next step.

We are doing more paperwork and submitting our home study to South Korea. We dropped this in the mail today and then will be waiting to be matched with a child (aka as a referral). Estimated time, we hope to matched by the end of December, but it’s always flexible.

Also, had a friend exploring “family journalism” and she spent an evening with us. She captured some really great moments of our fam. We couldn’t be more grateful for her artistic eye! This coupled perfectly with our path as we are applying for grants and needed a family picture to send with each grant. So thank you Patty! All the pics on this post are her work.

During this time of waiting there has undoubtedly been spiritual attack. Which allows us to see that satan does not want kids to find forever families, he would much rather them remain orphaned. We have been reminded of Eph 6:12 that says “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against spiritual forces of evil in heaven places.” It has been a reminder of what is at stake in adoption. A person’s soul. A chance that this individual might find hope in Christ. That they might know the grace and forgiveness of a loving Father. And in this fight the Lord has been strong to speak through writings of saints of the past.

I have been listening to George Müller’s Audio book “Answers to Prayer” from George Müller’s Narratives. I love his perspective on a life lived for the Lord. He says “Truly I prefer by far this life of almost constant trial, if I am only able to roll all my cares upon my Heavenly Father, and thus become increasingly acquainted with Him, to a life of outward peace and quietness, without these constant proofs of His faithfulness, His wisdom, His power, His over ruling providence, etc.”

Also have been listening to the Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer and this quote just grabbed me (he is speaking of Levi leaving his life behind and immediately following Jesus) ”

“He is called out, and has to forsake his old life in order that he may “exist” in the strictest sense of the word. The old life is left behind, and completely surrendered. The disciple is dragged out of his relative security into a life of absolute insecurity (that is, in truth, into the absolute security and safety of the fellowship of Jesus), from a life which is observable and calculable (it is, in fact, quite incalculable) into a life where everything is unobservable and fortuitous (that is, into one which is necessary and calculable), out of the realm of finite (which is in truth the infinite) into the realm of infinite possibilities (which is the one liberating reality).

So powerful!

A verse that I have held on to is Psalm 62:5-6 “For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.”

A thought also from George Müller speaking of one of the ways to “conduct a business unto the Lord” (in his case he ran an orphanage in the 1800’s) was to “look for answers to prayer and EXPECT God will help us.” His writings have challenged our prayer life and increased our faith as a result of the Lord providing. So far God has allowed us to be able to pay every amount that has come due. Whether this was from a donation layed on someone’s heart or through a fundraiser, He has shown up. Our Provider!

As far as fundraisers we will be putting on a Trivia Night this fall, that will also have a silent auction there. This should be a night full of fun, we are excited. More details to be announced soon!

So all this to say, thank you for caring to read this and for being on this journey with us. Know that your prayers are powerful, as is our God! We are thankful He has called us to this work and are amazed how He continues to provide for every aspect. He is so good.

 

Launching The Love Tree

Hello all! As our home study slowly progresses, we are in the fundraising/financial stage. This has been trying, as the process has it’s own speed and we are not in control of it. It has caused me to rely on these 4 verses which have been life giving. This is how I’ve been seeing these verses throughout my house so I’ll share them in all their beauty. (Shout out to Esther for the beautiful paintings!)

 

So with no further ado I will introduce our fundraiser myself and some good crafty friends have all worked hard on.

Tonight we are launching a fundraiser called The Love Tree!

It is an event on Facebook and works like this:

Our little love tree holds 120 handmade ornaments, each numbered $1 – $120. They can be purchased for the amount to the right of the ornament. If all ornaments are purchased, we will raise over $7,000 for our adoption! That would contribute greatly to our fees due when we get matched with our little one!

Follow the steps below to purchase your ornament:
1. Select an ornament (there are multiple pics to look through) Post below it which ornament you want.

2. Donate the dollar amount to our agency through Pure Charity.
https://www.purecharity.com/champs-family-adoption

3. If it is to be mailed, add $5 for shipping and direct message me your address.

If you aren’t on Facebook and would like to participate, I’ve posted the pics of the ornaments here and you can email (heidichamp@gmail.com) or text me which you would like, I’ll let you know if it’s still available.

Thank you for your continued support, you all are amazing for caring so well for us.

 

a teensy little update

(pictured above: our silly crew at International Day 2016)

To reflect what the title of this post is, I’ll keep this short. We are still working on our home study, last week we completed our physical and psychiatric evaluations, required by the South Korean government, and it wasn’t near as bad as I had thought (i.e. there was no 6 hour long IQ test-phew!). So here is the long process condensed.

1. Home study (probably will be complete this fall/winter)

2.   (2-3 months) Referral of child- acceptance of child

3. wait 7-9 months

4. go for court date in South Korea and meet child

5. (one month or so later) get to get our new little Champ!

This is very rough, but just an idea of the process. However $30,000 of the money is due upon acceptance of the child up in step 2, which really isn’t all that far off, so we are currently looking at grants to apply for when our home study is complete and fundraising.

Which brings me to an amazing story that the Lord has encouraged us with. During our t-shirt fundraiser a friend of mine shared the status. A friend of hers (who I didn’t even know) saw it and felt led to offer to host a LuLaRoe party where our adoption benefits from a portion of the proceeds!! Praise God for His provision in unexpected ways. So I’ve sent a FB invite to pretty much all the ladies I know in Springfield, just in case they like LuLaRoe clothing 🙂

Also reports on the T-shirt fundraiser, we sold 70 shirts!! What an amazing community God has given us.

I want to say we are so thankful for those who have supported us (both by prayers and finances), you all are amazing and play a part in our little one’s story. Thank you!

 

Need something new to wear?

Hello again, writing on this is kind of fun and exciting!

Come take a look at our shirts!

Just wanted to say that today we launched our 10 day t-shirt fundraiser! We worked so hard on this design and shirt(s) and are super excited about sharing it. We wanted it to reflect our belonging to the Lord, and also share our heart for orphans (and specifically one who will be a Champ someday!). So “Chosen  Adopted  Loved”  seemed very fitting.

side note: these are the soft stretchy tees that you love wearing, and are all over the place now, not your traditional heavy t-shirt. Also, there are kid’s sizes in the “basic” tee, except the kid’s has a crew neck instead of the v-neck.

So since this a blog to share our journey I’ll share that we’ve worked hard at trying to get the word out about our t-shirts. I asked some local news and radio stations if I could post the event on their page and some said yes!! So that’s exciting. And we are running it for 10 days only so not to wear anyone’s ears of our event 🙂

(can i even use emoji’s on blogs? I hope i’m not breaking any rules…yikes!)

Anyways, that’s about it. We are still working on our home study and have all of our meetings scheduled! We are also continuing towards completion our “adoption education” from our agency, which involves watching videos full of info and discussion questions. And we all know I love discussing! 🙂 We hope to be nearing the end of our home study this fall. That about wraps it up!

Come take a look at what we’ve got here!  Champs t-shirt fundraiser!!

 

 

 

 

Our story so far…

Disclaimer: So as you know, I’m a nurse. And nurses write in sentence fragments, with lots of abbreviations, there are no subject and predicate to their notes. Now there are some nurses who are magical. They can both be a nurse AND write. However that is not me. My writings are not witty or beautifully written. But I still want to share our story. So in advance I want to say thanks for hanging in there and reading on.

 

Our adoption journey began, I would guess, when we started to seriously think about adding another child to our family. It was probably somewhere in 2015 and went like this.

Heidi: I really don’t feel like our family is complete, what do you think about adopting?

Joel: It’s something we’ve always wanted to do, I first need to wrap my head around having four kids, other than that, sounds good.

I would have liked to talk about it more, discussed and discussed, and then talk some more. But it was pretty clear we were on the same page. So here we are.

I know nothing about blogging. I’m a horrible writer and Joel is no better. But I feel compelled to write our story, to share our personal testimony of what God is doing in our lives. How He alone is providing. In every aspect possible. How good He is.