He needs a family.
And we get to be that family.
I wish I could explain just how huge of a miracle this is. It is AMAZING that the Ethiopian and United States governments decided that we could continue through two specific agencies. Then, it was very clear we would only be allowed to continue IF those agencies found our cases were ethical and IF our children were truly adoptable through their own investigations.
IF.
Well, that IF is no longer an IF. It's a yes. Only God. Only. Him.
With that yes came pictures from the transition house where Gideon now is. We saw our boy. Saw his sweet face. His hands holding toys and his sweet eyes looking up at us. We also were given a developmental update on our boy. He's drinking bottles and eating solid food. He's playing with toys. And on that form...his last name was Abell. And tears came. Praising Him as much as we could. He gets to be ours.
Then we got the new forms that we need to fill out to accept a referral from a new agency. Because they took his case on as their own, Friday was like our second referral day and it was filled with all the joy the first referral day should have been. We texted pictures to our family immediately. I sat in amazement just staring at his pictures memorizing them, marveling at his perfection, trying to learn a little more about him in each one. Just like I should have that first time. I didn't cry tears of fear this time. We didn't keep it to ourselves and the doctor while we tried to figure it out. We cried tears of pure joy and told many. I couldn't wait to show pictures to people at church or text pictures to family throughout the weekend. We were just amazed at this gift we were given.
With a referral, there is paperwork to be filled out and a significant 'referral fee' to be paid. We told few about this. After losing all of our money and donations through our previous agency, we certainly don't have this. We also hate HATE the idea of asking for more help. We are sick about the money we lost before. We are still so very sorry. But, there have been many people who have read through the lines. They know we probably are going to owe money and they have been very vocal about wanting to help. Wanting us to ask. So, here it goes. We owe a LOT of money this week. We need help.
Some very close friends have agreed to help us out with this. When Addilyn and Josiah were babies, Ben and Delane designed and made us brightly colored quilts for each of them. These quilts have been very special to us. It meant so much that Delane would spend all that time to create something unique for each of our kids. So, we asked them to consider making one for Gideon and then we could have each square of the quilt sponsored by someone in efforts to help fundraising and have something that would mean so much to all of us.
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It works like this. By donating and supporting our adoption of Gideon, you will be helping put the quilt together. Different size sections will be based on different donation amounts. Each person or family that sponsors this quilt will have their name on their section of the quilt so we (and Gideon) can see and be continually grateful for each of you as we're playing and snuggling with the quilt.
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Quilt Section SIZE Breakdown:
$20 - $100 = A Section - name on quilt
$100 - $500 = B Section - name w/option to write short message to Gideon on quilt - approx. 70 characters long (half-tweet length)
$500 & above = C Section - name w/option to write longer message to Gideon on quilt - approx. 140 characters long (full-tweet length)
(for those who wish to write a message, we will contact you at a later date regarding your message)
2 Ways You Can DONATE
(through the Eternal Family Program with our agency)
1) Mail a Check - Click HERE for instructions and to download a form to mail with your check.
2) ONLINE - Click HERE and fill out the "Support a Family. Donate Today" box on the right. Put our names in the Designated Family Fund.
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Our goal through this fundraiser is to raise at least $10,000 within the next week that is needed for us to take our next step in the adoption. To bring Gideon home as soon as we possibly can.
This goal seems quite extreme to us. But so did the $30,000 goal that God "somehow" provided last year through literally hundreds of people. So does the very idea we get to be his family.
This goal seems unimaginable. But "coincidentally" we read in our devotion this morning that God is "... able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us ..." - all for His glory.
This goal seems impossible. Even a little bit reckless. But God is teaching us to be OK with that.
