100th post!

January 15, 2009 at 5:14 pm | Posted in adoption process | 4 Comments
Tags: money

Today’s post will mark our 100th entry in this blog.   (funny what your blog stats dashboard will tell you).     So I feel sort of extra responsible to write something …. well…. valuable.    Truth is, something’s been stirring around in me for a few days already and as I was tell some friend’s about it at lunch yesterday, I thought – “I’ve gotta share this!”

The cold, hard facts are that this adoption cost us over $28,000.  That’s a chunk of change!    That’s a nice car.   That’s a four season porch.   That’s a few semesters of college.  It was honestly a big obstacle to us even considering adoption for a while.  Sometimes it’s hard to manage our monthly budget, much less come up with a cool 28k in spare change.

But a good friend of ours told us at the beginning of this journey – ‘Don’t let the money stand in the way.   If you’re called to it, God will do it.”     That thought represented more faith than we really had.     I looked at our bills and I looked at all the kids’ tuition requirements and I looked at the truth that Tague will retire in just over 10 years and I thought that (financially) it was a ridiculous thing to do.   But we did feel called to it.   So – we jumped in the deep end and put our hope in God to throw out a financial life ring!

So – fast forward —

When the first orphanage fees were due – our garage sale covered that payment almost exactly for both boys.

When the second fees were due –  the dessert fundraiser party covered that.

When the visas and passports needed to be purchased, funds came in just before we needed to leave for Uganda.

When we needed to purchase airline tickets to get the boys home, friends donated miles to cover the expenses of our seats.

When we were told we needed to send an additional $400 to the orphanage still to finalize some expenses there, a check arrived in the mail that was $400 —  That day.

When the childcare fees were calculated, 2 checks arrived to cover those almost exactly.

Two days ago, I was opening the mail and there was a note in there from a childhood friend.   I don’t remember the last time i saw this friend…..15+ years ago, maybe?    She and her husband had felt led to be part of what God was doing in bringing our boys into our family and the sent a check to us that represented the very last part of the bill for the whole ball of wax!

It makes me laugh out loud and cry at the same time.

Hear this ….. we did not have the funds to do this.    GOD provided what we needed in the examples above and in others along the way.   Refund checks arrived.  We sold tons of stuff on Craig’s List.   We took spare gold jewelry to those gold people that give you cash on the spot.   We worked the stock market a little bit.    And God motivated you,  His people, to get in on the action.    And it happened.   $28,000 happened.

Are you thinking about adopting a child?   Does it just keep coming up in your mind?   Are you feeling called to do it?   GO FOR IT!!

Remember the Harding boys and have faith that God will give you what you need to bring your child home!!