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Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Lots of stuff going on!

As time has gone on since we announced to family and friends that we were adopting again, we have received the gammet of reactions, comments, suggestions, opinions, etc. This is all of what we expected, but who they came from was the match we didn't expect. So, how do we deal with this? Well, everyone has their personal opinion which is fine and I have no problem with that because I know that we are following what we have been asked to do. God stirred both Ethel and I in our spirits that this was His doing. He will be the one who provides financially, emotionally, spritually, physically, and we fully expect Him to have his hand in every aspect of us bringing home these kids from Ghana. No human can tell us what Ethel and I both felt stirring in us that we knew was the voice of God. It's hard to understand sometimes what His voice sounds like, but in the past 6 months, we have been through some amazing things where we have seen and heard that soft voice stirring within. When we heard that voice again and both agreed that this was another step of faith we were about to take, we filled out the paperwork for Ethiopia. Events churned and as we were getting ready to send in that initial application we discovered the possibility of Ghana. Interesting as it was, it didn't really click. Then, we prayed about it, but it didn't go away. Soon, it became all we could think about. Again, the stirring voice within. A few days after we sent in our application for Ghana, we discovered some startling rule changes to Ethiopia and that confirmed with us that again God knew best and brought Ghana to our hearts and minds. It's amazing how He works. Stay tuned as we move forward with our process as we believe it's going to start moving faster now. Our home study is in process and will be completed in the next two weeks. Most of the paperwork for our dossier is in order besides some odds and ends. Since we've been through this before, we have a lot of extra copies of certain documents which is helpful. For those of you adopting, please make sure you keep those cancelled checks and receipts for anything adoption related. It will make it much easier to obtain that adoption credit from the IRS later. Being the nerd that I am, I kept a spreadsheet for each expense with a total at the end.

4 comments:

  1. Friend, I cannot tell you how my heart just soars to "hear" you speak. I've said it before, I keep thinking back to highschool years and all the "stuff" our respective families have gone through...and to see you serving God with your whole heart and allowing him to create a family that is whole and forever...I'm just utterly thankful! I KNEW and even remember stating to my parents, "If "Fred", Dan and Mike knew Christ, they could change the world!" You are doing that dear friend! I will continue to watch, pray and cheer you on!! ~ Colleen

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  2. You both are feeling and working on a calling. Go with it. Will keep you all in our prayers.
    Blessings to all of you

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  3. We can't wait to hang out with you all very soon!!!!

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  4. Just found your blog and look forward to reading more about your wonderful family.

    We brought home 2 girls from Ghana 3 years ago ... to add to our 10 bio. Yes. We are the parents of a DOZEN children.

    Keep trusting the LORD and He will guide this crazy journey.


    :) :) :)

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