I have been mulling over and re-writing this post in my head for the past few days and pray that the Lord enables me to speak with His words what is on my heart regarding our adoption.
First off, let me address our oft-asked questions: "Why in the world is this taking SO LONG??" and "Where are things in your adoption process?" There are many reasons that it has taken us longer. I have mentioned some of the reasons in previous posts---long ago. :-) One main reason was that it was a very difficult process finding the right agency who works with the orphanage that we wanted to work with. Also, adoptions were technically closed until April of 2011, so we really were limited in what we could do anyway. But mostly, the Lord has allowed things to take longer than we thought because He is accomplishing His will through the wait. I will admit, however, that waiting for all of this to be completed is not easy. Those of you that know us well can probably imagine how Mark and I handle the waiting--he is calm, cool, collected and just ready to do the next thing. I, on the other hand, am so tired of having this "mountain" of things to do hovering over us. My type A personality just wants to 'git er done' and get our kids!! This is where the Lord is teaching me, and I am SLOWLY learning.
Right now we are up against a financial wall. Haiti sets the fees for their courts to process adoptions, and the 2011 fee is $12,500 per child. In order to even send our dossier into the country to be matched with children, we need to send half of the fee along with it. Now, I am not sure what they will expect since we are adopting siblings, and we don't know how many that will be. We are thinking that we probably need to send enough for 2 and be ready to send another $6250 if we are matched with a group of 3. Our homestudy case worker has approved us for up to 3 kids ages 0-9.
We have already spent several thousand on homestudy fees, agency fees, FBI clearances, fingerprinting, etc... and we are realizing that it is time to ask for partnership from our friends and family. This is where the Lord is teaching me through my precious first grade class. If you are my facebook friend, then you have likely already read the sweet things that happened in class just this week. Teaching in a Christian school is such a blessing for many reasons, but one in particular is that we have a class prayer time every day. We lift up the burdens they are carrying (like the cat's hurt eye, the scratch on their finger, and many other 'interesting' concerns!), we pray for a new school building, we pray for our business partners, and occasionally I will share something to pray about. Several weeks ago when I realized that the financial component of our adoption was rapidly approaching, I asked the children to pray that God would provide the funds for us to complete our adoption. I think I mentioned it in prayer time twice over the last 3 months. Well, 2 of my students have written me the sweetest notes and enclosed their hard earned money to contribute to our fund! I was BLOWN away! I went in to the school office to tell our sweet secretary about it (she is also the leader of a Bible study that I have attended and a spiritual 'mama').
As I stood there with tears in my eyes feeling guilty that my students had done this, she began to share with me,
"LET THEM GIVE TO YOU!"
"LET THEM BE A PART OF THIS!"
"THIS IS SEED MONEY!"
"THEY ARE BEING BLESSED AS THEY GIVE TO YOU!"
(and the one that REALLY got me)
"WHEN THEY GET TO FINALLY SEE AND MEET YOUR CHILDREN, THEY WILL KNOW THAT GOD USED THEM TO HELP BRING THEM HOME!"
I knew that God was trying to get my self-reliant self to see the bigger picture. This is not just about us and our family! All of His followers are called to help the orphan, but obviously not all of us are called or able to adopt. My students were JOYFULLY giving from their limited means, and God was blessing it!
Now comes the part of this post that I don't want to write, but know that I must. I have been in somewhat of a "faithless funk" for the past few months. I know that my God is able to do ANYTHING and I believe that He will provide for His children, but I didn't want it to be this hard. I selfishly wanted the money for this adoption to just fall into our laps. I justified my thinking with all kinds of rationale--"We both have demanding full-time jobs! We don't have time to focus on fund-raising or applying for grants that we likely won't qualify for anyway." Or, "Alli graduates this year! We must go to every function of hers before she leaves us!" Or, "Man! Senior year is expensive! Senior pictures, announcements, yearbook stuff, and all her concurrent (college) credit fees!" On and on and on went my list of excuses. Mainly, I wanted God to just show up in a big way and do it quickly! I didn't really care if that was His way or not....
"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Is. 55:9
I BEGAN TO REALIZE THAT HE WANTED TO GIVE OTHERS THE OPPORTUNITY TO PARTICIPATE IN A STORY OF REDEMPTION.
I don't want our adopted children to feel "rescued" or "saved" by us. And I certainly don't want them to feel obligated in any way to us for "saving" them--God saves them, just as He saved you and me.
"I have made you, and I will carry you; I will sustain you, and I will rescue you." Is. 46:4
We want to increase our family, and we know that the Lord has directed us to do it in this way. He is allowing us to enter into a broken situation and be a part of bringing beauty out of the ashes. He weeps over the orphan and longs to comfort and soothe their tears.
"God sets the lonely in families..." Ps. 68:6
So as I have contemplated my precious students who have given with their BIG faith to their teacher with her little faith, I realized that I wanted a way to remember FOREVER all those who encourage us with their faith and joy.
I wanted a way to memorialize their sweet names and hearts.
Here is our plan: We are ordering a specially made 1000 PIECE PUZZLE with a map of Haiti on it. We are inviting you to be a part of our family's adoption story by first PRAYING about what the Lord might have you do. If he directs you to participate financially, we will be adding your name to the back of a puzzle piece for every $10.00 increment.
SO EACH $10 OF YOUR GIFT GETS YOUR NAME ON THE BACK OF A PUZZLE PIECE!
After we complete our puzzle, we will have it mounted with glass on both sides so that our family will FOREVER REMEMBER
the love and kindness shown to us by so many.
I know that there are so many worthy causes, and I certainly don't want anyone to feel obligated at all, but the Lord is reminding me that His ways are not mine! He moves upon the hearts of man, and I need to get out of the way!
If you do want to give, there are a couple of ways:
First, there is a Paypal button at the top of my blog. If you have a Paypal account, you can give directly through that. If you don't have an account, they are easy to get and very secure. There are instructions if you click on the "donate" button.
Secondly, you can email me at "teachermahnke dot com" for my address if you want to send something through the mail.
Thank you for taking the time to read. Thank you for praying for our family. I am humbled beyond words that many of you have asked how you can help--prompting this post. Feel free to link this on your blog or facebook and share with anyone that you think may want to join us in this journey.
"I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants."
Let it be, Lord!
