Tonight Chris has a night job cleaning, so here I am dreaming, praying, and researching adoption...again! :) It's all I do. Lately, I have been having dreams about our little baby. Very specific ones. It gives me hope, but it also makes me sad because I want that baby with us now. I want to share with everyone it's name (the name God has already given us). I want to share pictures. I want to lavish it with kisses. I just want to hold it and call it "mine". At our Micah Fund meeting, one of the women in our interview told me to praise God for this baby as if it is already here. That has helped me tremendously in trusting God because I know in my heart, this baby is already here, and is coming home to us.
Tonight, I started doing more grant work. It is such a daunting process to me, but I only have a few more to do, and it brings us closer to our baby. It also lets me feel like I am doing something in this adoption, instead of just sitting here. :) Here is a recap of the grants we are/have working/worked on:
Katelyn's Fund-Got denied a $3,000 grant. God is still good!
Match Fund-Received a $1,000 grant. Woohoo!
Micah Fund-Received an unknown grant. We are trusting it will be the perfect amount to "complete" our adoption.
Gift of Adoption Fund-Waiting to hear back still; praying it is soon. Grants range from $500 to $7,500. The average grant award is $3,500. Pray!
God's Grace Adoption Ministry-They contacted us waiting to hear back from one more reference. They should be able to review our application at the end of this month. Typical grant amounts range from $1,000 to $4,000 with an average of about $2,000. Pray!
Help Us Adopt-We are currently filling this application out. Grants range in the amounts of $500-$15,000 depending on individual situations. We will not know back from this one until June 15. Kind of a bummer, but they meet only twice a year. Pray!
Shaohannah's Hope-We are currently filling this application out. Just a little more paperwork and we will be done. Pray!!
Our Creator's Hope-We are currently filling this application out. Grants range from $1,000-$10,000. Application must be received by March 15, thus reviewed shortly after that. Pray!
See how doable all of this is? I feel so confident that God is going to provide for us through these grants. If not through them, I know He has another plan. It will just be amazing to look back on it all when we are holding that precious little babe in our arms.
So what can you do to help? Pray, pray, pray! Pray for these grants to go through soon, and in our favor. Blessings to all of you!
Monday, February 16, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
Woohoo!
We got it! Need I say more???? :D We did not expect a call back so early already, what a blessing from God. Our representative that did the interview and called us today is also going to try and find out a maximum amount possible to receive, so that we have an idea going into the adoption.
Please pray!
Please pray!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Micah Fund Update
Thank you for your prayers! This is a quick update, as there is not a whole lot to update! :) We were interviewed, and the interview went amazing. We will find out within a week if we are accepted or not. If so, they asked us what amount we would like to receive. They do not have a minimum or a maximum amount to give, they will just give whatever amount possible that they have at that time. The clincher is, we won't know how much that amount is until we are placed with a baby. It makes things sort of difficult for planning, but we can totally understand why they do so. Plus, we are having faith that it will be the perfect amount that we need for the adoption! So, we basically told them a very large, high number in just having HUGE faith in God that whatever comes to us, comes. So, you can all pray that 1. We get accepted 2. We get the highest amount, the perfect amount, that God has in mind for us when the time comes.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Micah Fund Prayers Needed
The Lord is so good and so amazing! I am constantly reminded to just trust and WAIT in Him and His timing. So, we were specifically praying that God would give us hope and that the adoption would move forward, not be stagnant, right? Guess what? It is!!! We came home today from vacation with a message on our machine from the Micah Fund representatives. They wanted to set up an interview with us. Now typically you would think that the interview would not happen for several weeks, or at least a week...nope, not in this case. The interview is tomorrow night at 7:15 p.m.!!!
Please, please, pray! This is our first interview that we have given for a grant and I have no idea what that entails. That makes me nervous, but excited. The interview itself is about an hour to an hour and a half. I have no idea the specific amount we could possibly get here, but we are praying that God would grant us the maximum amount if able. I was also told today that it will not take them long to notify us on the amount we receive. So what a blessing; again moving forward.
That's all I wanted to say! :) To praise God for specifically answering a prayer, and to ask for all of your prayers. Thanks and I'll update as soon as I can!
Please, please, pray! This is our first interview that we have given for a grant and I have no idea what that entails. That makes me nervous, but excited. The interview itself is about an hour to an hour and a half. I have no idea the specific amount we could possibly get here, but we are praying that God would grant us the maximum amount if able. I was also told today that it will not take them long to notify us on the amount we receive. So what a blessing; again moving forward.
That's all I wanted to say! :) To praise God for specifically answering a prayer, and to ask for all of your prayers. Thanks and I'll update as soon as I can!
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Waiting
This week Chris, Zoelle, and I are away on an incredible free vacation my parents gave us. Thank you again Dad and Mom! It has been a huge blessing for us to get away from work, the house, and just the everyday things of life to do...well, nothing! We could have chosen to go basically anywhere with this free vacation, however, we are only an hour away from home. :) While it is not a tropical, Caribbean beach vacation, it has been just wonderful for us regardless of that fact.
Meanwhile, we wait. I think we literally both hate waiting. We were up late into the night last night talking of our options for this adoption to happen. Right now, we are trying to patiently wait to hear back on these grants. However, I think both of us were a little shocked on how much time it would take to hear back from places. We prayed specifically last night that God would give us some hope and that things would move forward in the adoption process rather than be stagnant.
This morning, I woke up and went straight to a message I received from my dear friend Tara a few weeks back. She had written a little devotional on waiting and thought it would be really good for us to read as well. She was right, and this morning I had to once again read it to realize that God is doing work in us, in the baby we plan to adopt, and in who knows what else while we wait. It's just that waiting is hard, but we will continue to do so knowing God's will is being done while we wait.
Below, is a beautiful song by John Waller called "While I'm Waiting". I listened to it again yesterday and realized that this song describes what we are feeling completely. So, enjoy listening to it, and maybe you too will learn to wait on the Lord.
Meanwhile, we wait. I think we literally both hate waiting. We were up late into the night last night talking of our options for this adoption to happen. Right now, we are trying to patiently wait to hear back on these grants. However, I think both of us were a little shocked on how much time it would take to hear back from places. We prayed specifically last night that God would give us some hope and that things would move forward in the adoption process rather than be stagnant.
This morning, I woke up and went straight to a message I received from my dear friend Tara a few weeks back. She had written a little devotional on waiting and thought it would be really good for us to read as well. She was right, and this morning I had to once again read it to realize that God is doing work in us, in the baby we plan to adopt, and in who knows what else while we wait. It's just that waiting is hard, but we will continue to do so knowing God's will is being done while we wait.
Below, is a beautiful song by John Waller called "While I'm Waiting". I listened to it again yesterday and realized that this song describes what we are feeling completely. So, enjoy listening to it, and maybe you too will learn to wait on the Lord.
