Provisions From God!!!

I had to take time to document God’s goodness, his provisions for us!  There were so many ways, both big and small, that He has, and continues to, supply the funds we needed for this adoption journey.

We started this journey earlier than planned.  The thought was to wait until this Spring and then begin the process again.  However, we saw this face… and the rest is history.  

We worked to acquire a loan in order to help with costs.  The problem is that adoption loans require a completed homestudy to finish.  Many of our fees were due before the homestudy was completed.  However, this didn’t stop God from providing.

• I ended up with a new student for the last few months of school.  This put me over the number of students I should have in my classroom, according to our contract.  The remedy is to pay the teacher a one-time lump sum.  This helped us to cover some of the early fees. 
• Our house addition was finishing up, but we still haven’t had our final closing.  During this time, I continued to budget for the new mortgage amount, but we were only billed construction loan amounts according to the draws made.  This freed up more money to apply to adoption costs.
• I was invited to speak at a ladies’ group at a family friend’s church.  They surprised us with a special offering.
• Near the end of school, my principal forwarded an email asking for summer school teachers.  Mark and I discussed it and knew this would provide some extra funds needed for the adoption.

Can you believe all of these little ways that add up?? How God provided in ways we might have missed?

BUT… IT DIDN’T STOP THERE!!

I was struggling a bit when I posted that we would still be short on funds.  Even with the loan, we were still going to need additional help.  I prayed a lot about a number.  I was sure God was laying on my heart to go BIG.  I admit, I struggled a lot.  What if it was too much??  What if we didn’t actually come up with that much??  Would people doubt God??

That’s where I stopped… I WAS DOUBTING GOD!  You see we have been blessed during our last two journeys.  You all helped us raise over $3000 for our journey to Addisyn and Ryan.   With a matching grant and your help, we were blessed with $8000 for our journey to Greyson and Kristyn.  But, the number in my head was SO MUCH BIGGER.  I took a deep breath and decided to go for it!  Our goal would be $15,000!!  It was a little scary seeing it in print. I filled our LOTS of grant applications and prayed. 

Then it happened…

• Rollstone Foundation awarded us $1000!
• Then, Gift of Adoption let us know they were granting us $3500!!
• THEN, Chosen and Dearly Loved (partnering with Lifesong) made the big announcement… They are giving us a $4500 matching grant!!!!!!  (They will match dollar for dollar everything we raise up to $4500!)
• Now, the fundraising will soon begin, so watch for details on how you can help and be a part of our journey!

There are still more grants we haven’t heard back from!   

GOD IS OUR PROVIDER!!!