Please read our story and instructions for donating below...
“Father to the fatherless… God places the lonely in families...” --Psalms 68:5,6
Dear Family and Friends,
As many of you may know, we are in the process of adopting a brother and a sister from India into our family. We began the adoption process last November, and are estimating that we have about 9 months left to go before bringing them home. We have been praying fervently for these two children since February, and would love for you to join us in praying for them as we wait to meet and adopt them. It has been amazing to see God’s fingerprints in our lives and how He led us to this decision to adopt, to the country of India, and to these two children.
Why Adoption?
We have always wanted a large family and had discussed adoption in the past, but never seriously. On Good Friday of 2011, we went to the doctor for the first ultrasound of a new pregnancy and learned that the baby had no heartbeat. As the shock and devastation set in, our minds drifted to the significance of Good Friday. If our hearts were hurting so badly over a child we had never met, how much more pain must God have felt that day when He gave up His son for us? Now that is Amazing Grace! As we grieved that week, a friend sent us the verse, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” --2 Corinthians 12:9. Amazingly, we felt God’s peace during that time of heartbreak. We took the advice of articles we read and gave our baby a name… Grace…because we had truly felt God’s grace during a difficult time. The next week, we drove past a sign that we passed frequently but had never noticed before. It read, “Adoption: The Perfect Reflection of God’s Grace.” We couldn’t believe it! That whole summer, “adoption” kept popping up everywhere…television, movies, radio, magazines, books, sermons, friends, Facebook…we could not escape it. Furthermore, God used a recurring theme of “grace” to mend our broken hearts, to make us stronger as a family, and to give us a desire to be the “forever family” to 2 orphaned children. We learned how the Bible often relates our redemption in Christ to adoption. God has taken those without a “family” and made us part of His family by means of His grace. After all of these experiences, we truly felt called to adopt.
Why India?
During Jeff’s time of working in Kuwait (2009-2010), the family visited him 4 times. Over the course of visits, Amanda and the girls became friends with Indian women who were housekeepers in the apartment building. The women shared hardships of how they had left their families behind in India due to poverty in order to make a better life in Kuwait. The money earned was sent back to their families in India. One woman, Mrs. Freida, had a significant impact on the family. She would hug and kiss the girls daily. She had such a deep sadness from being away from her loved-ones in India (including grandchildren), that it was like she adopted us as her family for a short while. She wept in our arms when we had to return to the USA. If we could have taken her with us, we would have. She said she would pray that God would bless our family. Once we made the decision to adopt, we wanted to pick a country that had special meaning for us. Because of the sweet women of India who had cared for us so lovingly, and because of India’s overwhelming poverty, famine, drought, and natural disasters, we knew India was our country. (There are an estimated 143 million orphans in the world today. India has the largest number of estimated orphans and vulnerable children in the world — 31 million.)
In addition to prayer support, we also need financial support to complete the rest of our adoption journey. Our initial adoption costs for 2 children which include adoption fees, document preparation, home study, air fare, travel, attorney fees, etc. are estimated close to $50,000. Through saving and several fundraisers, we have raised around $10,000 so far. As with prayer support, we would love for you to consider how you could help us reach this goal as well.
Jeeah’s Hope of Columbus, GA and Lifesong For Orphans has graciously given us a matching grant to help facilitate raising more of our funds. These organizations have agreed to match up to $3000. This means that any amount you feel led to donate would be doubled up to $3000. Our prayer is that this grant will help us get even closer to bringing our children home, and we would love for you to be a part of this rescue journey.
If you would like to give to Lifesong on our behalf, there are a few things to note. First, the gift is tax-deductible. Secondly, we have a deadline for the gifts to be received at Lifesong by September 13th. Finally, 100% of the funds donated to Lifesong on our behalf will go directly toward our adoption process; nothing is withheld for Lifesong administration costs.
Here are the instructions on how to donate along with some specific prayer requests.
1) Please make checks payable to: Lifesong. Please remember to put in the memo line how you prefer the funds to be allocated by writing: “Preference Carroll/ #2919 Adoption.”
(*Note: In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to the named non-profit organization. This organization retains full discretion over its use, but intends to honor the donor’s suggested use.)
2) Mail checks to:
Lifesong For Orphans
Attn: Carroll #2919 Adoption
PO Box 40
Gridley, IL 61744
Specific Prayer Requests:
--Pray for our children in India--health, safety, emotional well-being, etc.
--Pray for their orphanage as they seek to care for our children until we can get there.
--Pray that the remainder of our process will go smoothly and that we will trust in God’s timing.
--Pray that God would supply the remaining funds needed to adopt these two children.
We want to say thank you up front for your prayers and financial investment. We are confident that adoption is what God always had planned for our family at this time in our lives. We are glad to be able to recruit family and friends to help in this endeavor. We pray that God would be more glorified because of this journey He has given us. For more updates and details, follow our adoption journey online at http://forsuchatimeasthisadoption.blogspot.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment