God Call

Wow! A lot can happen in two weeks!

Many of you have been keeping up with our adoption process. Over a year ago, we made the decision to adopt internationally from Russia. Most of you know that Russia closed its adoption program to US citizens last December. After praying, we decided to switch programs to Ghana, West Africa. Shortly after joining this program, they closed as well. We were very discouraged. We were feeling like I always do when I change traffic lanes, because one lane looks faster than the other, only to come to a complete standstill and watch my previous lane speed on by. We had some good friends at that time ask us if God was maybe wanting us to adopt domestically or even if God was shutting this door completely. These were good questions, and we diligently talked about them and prayed through them. When it came to it, though, we still felt a strong calling from God on our lives to adopt internationally.

About three weeks ago, we just got desperate. I remember when we were talking about having our first biological child, and we knew that we were ready. That is how we felt. We were just ready to have our child. We began to look at other agencies, websites, and waiting lists. I was even willing to adopt a 12 year old girl at one point! (Now that’s desperation!) About two weeks ago, we were on vacation at the beach when our Ghana program director contacted us to let us know about some possible referrals from South Korea. We emailed back saying that we would be interested in taking a look at the referrals. Our social worker called us about 2 hours later, still at the beach, saying that there was a specific boy from South Korea that they wanted us to consider. We were surprised that they would give us a referral from a country program that we were not even in, but they felt like it would be a good fit. After praying for two weeks and seeking medical guidance, we felt sure that this was our baby that we have been waiting on. We knew that if we did not accept this referral, we would regret it. We can’t help but wonder if God brought us to this place of desperation, because he had this child waiting for us. If this referral had come a couple of months earlier, we might have said no to wait on the Ghana program. God has definitely given us peace about this decision.

Our fourth son’s name will be Samuel. My wife, Jennifer, felt like God gave her that name, and Samuel appropriately means “God has heard.” He has just turned 10 months old, and he is a cute one. The hardest part for us is yet to come as we have to do tons of paperwork and walk through government red tape, raise the finances for this expensive process, and wait 14-18 months before we can go get him. Please be in prayer for us that everything will continue to work out. Pray that the paperwork and needed approvals from a thousand different government agencies will go smoothly. Pray that we will be able to get him sooner than expected. Pray for Samuel’s continued health, safety, and development. Pray for his foster family.

We want to thank all of you that have been praying for us and will continue to do so. We also want to thank those that have given to us financially. Being a pastor is not the most lucrative of professions, and this is a very expensive process. If you would like to help towards bringing Samuel home, we are raising funds here at Adopt Together. We would greatly appreciate any gift large or small.