A humble thank you

I am humbled beyond words right now. I don't know who, and I don't quite know when, but we have received $410 in donations so that we can adopt and bring home Dennis. I am in complete shock. I really didn't think anyone would help us.

It was very hard for me to even put up the donation links. I really feared being judged for having the audacity to even suggest that we are open to donations. We had opened ourselves up to comments the very first time we adopted our two girls from Russia back in 2005 by asking for donations. Even though the cost of adopting a child is tens of thousands of dollars, a few people made me feel that because we were choosing to adopt another child with our already large family, we were somehow wrong to ask for any kind of financial help because it was obvious that by us asking for donations it meant that we couldn't afford to raise another child once they were home.

Like the answer is to not adopt a child just because we can use a little help coming up with all of the upfront adoption related costs of just getting our child home. I just couldn't make sense of the hurtful thoughts and comments that people had about us and it seemed easier to just not put up the donation link. I struggled with my pride and felt the easier way out would have been to just scrimp and save, take all of our money out of savings....basically do whatever it takes to bring him home. With the falling dollar, we are still probably going to have to do that, but it is so worth it when I think about our little guy languishing in his orphanage because no one can see past his scarring. At this point we have committed to bringing our little guy home and we know that through God we will raise all of the necessary funds to adopt Dennis.

But then I was reminded of something. I was reminded that by taking this route, I was not trusting God to provide anything for this adoption. I was also assuming that everyone who knew us felt this way. I was also reminded that I was taking away the blessing from another person who may want to help out financially so that we could bring our precious son home. I was essentially being my own God, trusting only myself to provide for Dennis to come home.

Well when I checked out our donation page and saw that $410 had already been donated, I knew that the person who reminded me was right and I was terribly wrong.

I am so very thankful that someone has felt led to donate money to help out with the adoption related costs. I think we already have enough to cover Dennis's visa. That is one less expense. I wish I knew your names so that I could personally thank each and everyone of you.

Someone mentioned to us that they would like to donate something but felt more comfortable giving directly to us. Thank you so much. I may put up a fundraising tracker that includes all donations not just those given through the adoption ministry we are using. I just wanted to share with you a verse that brings me great comfort for I trust His word.

I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you. John 14:18

Lastly, please please please keep us in your prayers. Prayer for our paperwork to be submitted without any snags, prayer for a travel date, prayer for Dennis to make it through these next few weeks or months without us, prayer for childcare for our other children while we travel to get Dennis, prayer that our SDA appt. goes well, prayer for safe travels, prayer that our trip is quick and that our 10 days our waived. I know people doubt that the last one is possible, but with God all things are possible.