He Had Grace on Us...Why?

The Lord has continued to move in mysterious ways. He is an amazing God, Father, comforter, friend! I am amazed that He would bless us so much. Why did He choose us? What did we do to deserve such a blessing as this? I guess that's it...we didn't do anything. We couldn't do anything to deserve this. He did it for us. It's by His grace we have been saved. It's by His grace we have been blessed. It's by His grace we stepping out in faith and can trust in Him. Why wouldn't you want to know Him? He loved us this much; that He laid down His life for us on the cross that we might be saved! Thank you Jesus!
"I tell you not to worry about everyday life-whether you have enough. Look at the birds. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren't you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?" Matt 6:25-27
"Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need." Matt 6:32-33

Bread Upon the Waters

"Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again. Give portions to seven, yes to eight, for you do not know what disaster may come upon the land. If clouds are full of water, they pour rain upon the earth. Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there will it lie. Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap. As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother's womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things. Sow your seed in the morning and at evening let not your hands be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well." Ecclesiastes 11:1-6

Exhausting

We've only just begun....I know this is true. We are almost ready to send out our letters. Boy, does that take time! It was great writing the letter though; to be able to put into words on paper what we are feeling and going through right now. How we came to the decision to adopt and what the Lord is continuing to do in our midst. I am so blessed to have such a core group of godly, incredible friends that encourage and challenge me. If you are reading this, you know who you are. We are trying to make every effort to raise our initial payment. Chad is working hard at his side business. I just applied for three different jobs at St. Francis. We are trusting that the Lord will open doors where doors need to be opened. Thank you to all who are following and praying along with us. Please continue to pray for Moise, as he is still in the orphanage. Pray for protection over him and that if he is not to be our child that another family comes to take him home soon. I see his face every day..my heart goes out to him.

Coffee & More..

If you visit our Just Love Coffee sight and decided you want to purchase something but are curious as to how much & what goes towards our adoption, this is how it works:
Coffee: $5 each
T-Shirt: $5 each
Travel Mug: $3 each
Tote Bag: $3 each
Hat: $3 each
Coffee Scoop: $1 each
All of this will go towards our adoption on the purchases made by you! Thanks!

Change of Plans!!

I know that we just put the chip in option on our blog for those of you that were wanting to know how and where to send money to support our adoption, but we decided to change our plans. Just received confirmation that we can have money sent to Journey Church and it will be tax deductible to you and then once we are accepted for a matching grant, the money can be sent to the organization! Praise Jesus! We'll keep you posted once we get an acceptance letter on the matching grant. Thanks everyone!

FYI

We have posted an option for donating, Chip In, on the left side of our blog for friends and family that have requested how they can help support our adoption process. Do not feel obligated to donate; this is primarily for those of you that have asked how and where to send money. Thanks again everyone and we are excited to have you all joining in on our process of bringing our baby home!

We have a new Coffee Store!

Last night I was up searching for different ways that people might be interested in supporting our adoption and came across this awesome fund raiser that a family started after they experienced the same frustrations and difficulties with fund raisers during their adoption process! It's a coffee store where you can purchase coffees from all over the world and also has t-shirts, mugs, and much more for purchasing! What's awesome about the coffee is that a lot of it is from Africa! So, you'll not only be supporting our adoption from Africa but the suppliers in Africa that make the coffee; and it's supposed to be excellent coffee to start your day with! So, for all you coffee drinkers that want to support our adoption or those of you that don't drink coffee but may want to buy for a friend, check out the left hand side of my blog and you'll find a link to Just Love Coffee-The Swifts! All purchases go towards our adoption! The t-shirts are pretty slick too! Thanks everyone and please continue to pray for our home study paper work to get done quickly!

Overwhelming

I just got through doing my Bible Study Fellowship lesson and learned about how we as Christians should no longer have fear because we have been set free in Christ. It was extremely encouraging but I turn around and find myself crying over the anxiety & fears of raising funds for our adoption as we wait for our home study to be considered "complete." How quickly we forget the truths we are taught. It's good to be reminded though that he says, "...in this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world!" John 16:33
Chad and I are working at finding different ways to raise support while we wait for our paper work to be completed. The fund raiser world is an overwhelming one...please be praying for peace that only the Lord can give us. Please pray for discernment. Thank you to everyone already doing this for us.

Hmm...sun

After Haven took her nap this afternoon we decided to go for a walk to Gage park. It was beautiful out! There were so many people at the park with their kids today! She had a great time though and we walked down to the pond in the cemetery to feed the ducks. For some reason I find comfort in walking through the cemetery. It's so peaceful and reassuring to know that when I die I will be in the arms of Christ.
Our last home study visit was on Saturday. It went well and now we just wait. All our documents are in to the KBI, FBI and SRS. Waiting for approval from them that we are good to go. Letters for our references are out and we are just waiting for those to come back in. Have our physical exams set up with our docs for the end of the month. Seems as if we will be waiting for awhile to get all this stuff back in to our homes study agency. It's unfortunate because we can't apply for any grants until our home study is "complete". Feel like we should be doing something in the meantime....I suppose we should be patiently waiting and trusting that the Lord knows what he is doing. We know this is true. He called us to step into this world of adoption and we know that he'll guide us through it. It's a good thing I'm not in control.

Final Home Study Visit

Haven and I cleaned the apartment all day today. Wendy came over and helped. It's good to have her around! I'm praying that Haven is in a good mood tomorrow; she was great today! Please Lord, give her a cheerful and obedient spirit tomorrow for the home study. We are getting anxious....we have filled out a ton of grant applications but can't do anything with them until our home study is complete. It's a hard place to be in....waiting; especially when we have been sent a referral and we have been praying over him for a month now. It's hard not to have the resources to secure him. We are trusting that the Lord knows what is best and that if this little boy is to be ours, that he'll be there when we have the money. It's comforting knowing that God sees the bigger picture.