Cake!

Just got these pics last night. Timothy's 3rd birthday was Wednesday. We arranged for him to have a cake to celebrate. Looks like he did! Sure wish we could have celebrated with him..... but waiting on God's timing.... only by HIS grace.
Enjoy!

Happy Birthday, Timothy Justice!

Timothy,

May you be blessed with the understanding that you are loved forever, not only by your Forever Family who is just waiting to come and get you, but most importantly by the Father who has been watching over you always. Happy Birthday, Sweet One! Next year you will be HOME for your birthday!

We love you,

Mommy, Daddy, Alexandra and Hunter

Today--- blessed!

I really don't know where to begin. Heard from someone today who is a friend of a friend of mine. I haven't had the privilege of meeting her face to face yet, but soon I hope! She and her husband feel God has led them to put their adoption process on hold for now, not to give up on it, but to postpone it. God's ways are so unlike our own. He is leading them to donate toward our adoption of Timothy and Annabelle the money they have already saved. Amazing! Tears really..... no words. Someone we haven't even met yet and knows that one day they will be bringing home a child--- to give what they have been able to save so far to us???? That just is not the mind of man, but the mind of God. He cares so much for Annabelle and Timothy. He continues to shine. There is no question that He is in this. God continues to provide in ways I would never dream possible. This sweet selfless couple is totally at peace about this and know that He will provide for them when it's time to continue in their process. I fully believe that, too! Very humbling to know the God of this universe, Creator of all things, sees us here in TN and two little ones across the world in China and is working on bringing us together. Wow!

And to top it off....look what we just received.....

How cute is he??!!!!! He'll be three next week. Sure wish we could celebrate with him here at home.

Thank you all for your prayers and support. We truly appreciate them!
~B

oops...

I just wanted to shout out a thank you to Chick -fil-A on Gunbarrel for donating lunch on our project day. I am so sorry I didn't put them in the credits of our video, and now I don't know how to fix it. They have been very supportive of our adoption. We've been able to sell calendars last fall and this fall, and they donated lunch. Thanks Chick-fil-A!!!!

Chick-fil-A at Gunbarrel Pointe

Our Both Hands video

Our Both Hands Project

This past weekend 45 of our friends and family gathered to help fix up the home of a widow in our community while raising funds to help bring Timothy and Annabelle home. How awesome is that! It's not too late to donate. You can connect to the link by clicking on Annabelle and Timothy's picture to the right. Hope you enjoy the video....

Click here to see Our Both Hands video

Look what we got....

Pictures!!!!
We sent Annabelle a care package a few weeks ago, and she got it! (We haven't heard if Timothy received his yet.)

Here they are... enjoy!

"It's a bunny!"

Someone from True Children's Home made the hat and scarf. It is really too warm to wear right now, but isn't she a cutie?!!!
Looking at her new hair bow/clips

"Is this all for me?"

Wearing her new backpack and shoes while reading her book.

Looking at Mommy and Daddy

Looking at Alexandra, Hunter, Timothy and herself


Her hair is a little longer than the last pics we received. The bow clips we sent should work well for now. I think my favorite pic is Annabelle with the bunny.... but they are all so incredibly cute!
~B

Their Names....

Well, upon receiving the LOAs we needed to fill out paper work for immigration. This meant that we needed to fill in the blanks for Annabelle and Timothy's new names.... their full names. So, we chose...

Annabelle Hope

and

Timothy Justice.

Annabelle Hope: Annabelle means grace and beauty. Hope means trust and faith.

Chris and I chose the name Annabelle before we ever saw our precious daughter's face. We knew she would be brought to us by God's grace, and we knew she would be beautiful. We pray that she will grow in God's grace and true beauty. Throughout this process our hope in Him has grown. We've learned to trust Him more. We've seen hope and faith grow in others as they have listened to and seen how God has worked in specific ways in our journey. We are blessed to be used by Him.

Timothy Justice: Timothy means to honor God. Justice means fair, just- guided by truth.

We also chose the name Timothy before we saw our son's sweet face. We felt called to this journey and that by following it, whole heartedly, not knowing where it would lead, we were honoring God. We want and pray for him to be fair and just and for him to be guided by The TRUTH. Also, his initials will be TJK... the same as Chris' dad.

We know that this journey will be difficult for them at times. They will have questions about their pasts. We hope by choosing these names for them, they will one day understand how much they are loved, wanted and hoped for.

Blessings,
Bethany

After waiting 100 days...

Guess what is finally here...

That sure was a long wait, but we are all so glad both LOAs are here now! We must fill out more paperwork, then wait some more. It goes like this...
Receive LOAs, then we must sign them and send them back to Lifeline along with some other forms. Then Lifeline sends all of our paperwork to USCIS for specific approval for Annabelle and Timothy to return with us to the US. At the same time we also need to apply for all 4 of our visas so we can travel to China. We must wait for approvals from USCIS and for our visas. Once those are approved we will wait for Travel Approval from China. All in all it should be about three and a half months to travel. That will be about mid to late February... which means Hunter may have his birthday in China!

93 and counting...

Today makes the 93rd day of waiting for our LOA (letter of approval). We are already pre-approved to adopt Timothy and Annabelle, but the LOA is the formal paper work to get immigration papers started... and of course, more paperwork and another wait and more paperwork...

This mommy must admit that this has been a long, hard wait. We've waited for papers before, but now we've seen their sweet faces.

We know who they are... they are the ones God chose for us long ago. And... His timing is perfect. So, even though it seems like a long wait to me, the timing will be as it should.

Of course we are keeping very busy, and there's still lots to do. Lots of cleaning out, painting, crawling around to see what is not toddler proof :) and most of all... getting ready for our big Both Hands project which is just about 2 weeks away. Click here for more info.

So, I'll keep doing what I can to take care of my family and prepare for our little ones' arrival....and wait (try to wait patiently) on God's perfect timing.

Blessings!
~B

The heart of a mother

There is something about the heart of a mother. It is an amazing thing to watch. The mother doesn't need to "meet" a child before she loves the child and is willing to go to the ends of the earth for that child. I have been witness to this phenomenon for months now. Watching Bethany attack this adoption with the same energy that she did when she was pregnant with Ali and Hunter. This is one of God's most amazing creations. The heart of a mom. There really is no stopping it. It is hard for us dad's (mere mortals)to truly comprehend but we are the lucky one's that get to see it happening and be blessed by it. I am here to tell you that when you couple the heart of a mom with the will of God, just hide and watch because something unbelievable is about to happen...

Get Your Chick-Fil-A 2012 Calendar!

If you love Chick-Fil-A, then you need a new 2012 Calendar! Your purchase will help us with our expenses while we are in China picking up

We are selling the calendars for $8 each. There is something yummy each month.

Please leave a comment, email, facebook or call us if you would like one... or some. They make great stocking stuffers, too.
Thank you!

God has got this..."

Before you read this please know that we are so grateful and have been incredibly blessed by all those who have supported us through contributions, providing services, offering up prayers, words of encouragement and guidance through this adoption process. What comes next is just an example of the ups and downs of walking with God, learning how to trust in Him through all things.

So today is the day when we are supposed to have the kick off for our both hands project. Well, between conflicting schedules, emergency room visits and a series of other obstacles it looks like we are only going to have a few able to attend tonight. The truth be told my instinct is to just cancel the thing and try to reschedule when more people can attend. I see the discouragement in Bethany's face and it just breaks my heart. I want to go into the protective defender of the family and tell the world that we don't need your help...we will do this on our own and that is just how it will be. Then, I was humbled when God put a Word in me and reminded me that we are not doing this nor have we ever been doing this alone. He reminded me of the tea, and then put a name in my head...Gideon. OK, so I go and look up Gideon and I am humbled to read once again that Gideon, who is hiding because he is terrified of what God is asking of him, is referred to as a "Mighty Man of Valor". Isn't it interesting that Gideon is referred to as a mighty man of valor before he did anything, other than run and hide, but you know anything worth that title? A lot of you probably know the rest of the story, God told Gideon to take a handful of warriors to attack something like the rest of the world but not to worry, cause "God has got this..." so bring that several thousand years to today and look at what we have, two beautiful kiddos that need a forever family, us feeling at times completely alone and fearful at times. Knowing that it is hard for people to understand what we are going through. Knowing that we cannot become bitter because our adoption is not as important to everyone else as it is to us. We have to understand that this is our call and our Father will bring people along side us, provide the needed resources to accomplish His work. It is hard to remember but very freeing to remember that it is not about us. That this is about Him, it is happening in His time with the people and resources that He is providing. So to that I say "THANK YOU GOD! You've got this!"

Both Hands: One for the Widow, One for the Orphan

September 15, 2011
Dear Friends and Family,
As you know, we've been going through the process of adopting our beautiful little ladybug, Annabelle (Mao Zhong Wen), and our handsome little dude, Timothy (Mao Zhong Xin), from China. Check out their pics!

We started the adoption process in July 2010, were matched with them on August 2, 2011, and hope to be allowed to travel to pick up our kiddos in January or February 2012.
Annabelle was born with a cleft lip and palate (for which she has had the first surgery), and Timothy has had an injury to his head (of which we do not know the extent). We're anxious to get them home quickly to love on them and address their medical needs as soon as possible.
Right now, ‘getting them’ is the hard part because it’s just flat out expensive.  However, we have been confident that God would provide a way, and He has been faithful in doing just that by supplying many things along our journey. Now, a very interesting fundraising idea has made us believe that He will continue. When we heard about this project over a year ago, we hoped we would be chosen because it is so cool! Now is the time!
We have a chance, not only to raise the ransom for our Annabelle and Timothy, but to also minister to a widow-- just like the Bible talks about in James 1:27. The organization is called Both Hands Foundation, and this is how it works:
We (Chris, Bethany, Alexandra and Hunter) find a widow in need and assemble a team of our family and friends. Then, the team (including us) sends out letters to family and friends asking people to sponsor us for the day as we work on this widow’s home. All the funds go toward the adoption. It’s just like asking someone to sponsor you for a 5K run or golf tournament for a cause.
The idea has been done over 50 times around the country already! Here is an address to a video that might help give you a good idea of what the Both Hands Project is all about.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=98PD-O97N3I

This is our request: Would you consider being on our team to help raise the ransom for Annabelle and Timothy? You may be jumping up and down like we were after we learned about Both Hands saying, “pick me, pick me,” or you might have several questions. We’ll contact you soon to answer those questions and talk about the project. If you’re just not sure, come to the Kick-off/Info Party to see what it’s all about, then decide.
Thank you for even considering it!
Blessings,
Chris, Bethany, Ali and Hunter


Important Dates to remember:
Kick off / Info Party Sunday, September 25, 2011 6:30 PM Hamilton YMCA
Envelope Stuffing Party Sunday, October 9, 2011 6:30 PM Hamilton YMCA
Project Work Day Saturday, November 19, 2011 TBA TBA

Annabelle and her care package....

So thankful for Jenny at True Childrens' Home for delivering Annabelle's gift from her family and sending us these pics.

She's wearing the dress we sent.

This last pic is of Annabelle with her foster parents. We are so grateful to them for their love and care for her!

Our God is awesome!

We made it! Thank you to everyone that has helped us in this journey so far. We are living proof that God loves to pour out blessings on His children. August has been a big month for us so far. The goal was hit for our matching grant from Hand in Hand and now we are off and running on the next thing through Both Hands. This is a very cool thing, we get a group of folks, help fix up the home of a local widow as the team sends out support letters. If all goes well with that we believe that we will be able to travel to China to pick up Timothy and Annabelle! Check out the pics. Is it weird that Timothy reminds me of Hunter? Ali already has pictures of them hanging in her room. Bethany sent a care package to Annabelle and we got to see pictures of her going through it. Such a great thing to see. Our adoption agency sent a medical team to the orphanage for check ups. Turns out that a lady that goes to our church knows someone that was on that team. We didn't know that this was happening but she went and was able to take pictures of Timothy and Annabelle. I was just floored when that email came through! I am just amazed at how our God takes care of all the little things to make sure that we know that He is in control, how He reminds us that He is working for us in all things. This has been a great adventure so far! Can't wait to see how it ends!

Thanks to you, Awesome Donors!

We had a goal of $5,000 for our matching grant with Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc. Thanks to all you incredible donors, we raised $6,400 of which $5,000 will be matched! That's over $11,000 to help bring

Annabelle
and

Timothy
HOME!!!!!
THANK YOU!!!!!!

Received our PA today!

We received our Pre-Approval to adopt two specific children today. Our family is increasing by two! :)

Meet...

Annabelle

and Timothy

We hope to bring them home in five to six months.

"I will put my trust in Him." Hebrews 2:13

Angel Girl is home!

Glad she is home, but understand her heart for wanting to be back in the D.R. It'll change your life!

So proud of her for working to earn her way. She set her mind to it and earned almost all of the $1,200 it took to get her there. We are grateful to those who donated toward her trip. Thank you! It's so humbling to see God working in your children...and such a blessing!

"...being confident of this, that He Who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." ~Phil. 1:6

Only 18 Days Left....

Thanks to many of you who have sent a donation to Hand In Hand Christian Adoption, Inc. to go toward our goal of $5,000. To date, we have just over $2,000! Wow! Every penny of that gets doubled by Hand in Hand. :)

We have 18 more days to raise $3,000. Everything must be postmarked by August 16th.... just around the corner. Please consider giving to help us bring our two children home. Every little bit helps and every cent up to $5,000 will be doubled. Anything over $5,000 that is postmarked by August 16th will also go toward our adoption.

Remember: Do NOT write our names on the check, but please DO write "Chris and Bethany Knox" on the outside of the envelope. (This is for tax purposes.)

Thank you so much for your generosity and prayers!
Blessings,
Bethany

PS-- Here's the address one more time:

Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc.
Chris and Bethany Knox
18524 Juniper Street
Gardner, KS 66030-9147

24 Days left!

We are up $1500 in support on our goal of $5000 for the matching grant. So grateful for the incredible support from our friends and family. We are truly blessed to have an amazing group of people supporting us. We still are in need of $3500 to make it to our goal. If you are planning to help it just needs to be postmarked by August 16th to make sure the funds go to our adoption. Thank you again for your prayers and assistance.

PLEASE help us with our matching grant!

Hello Everyone,
Below is our letter with the information about our matching grant. Please feel free to share our blog address and/or this info with anyone who may have a heart for adoption. THANK YOU!!!

Dear Family, Friends and Supporters of Adoption,                                                                            

As many of you may have already heard we feel that God has called us on a new journey to provide a “forever” family to two children through the process of adoption. We have started down this path and are excited to bring a boy and a girl into our home within the next six to twelve months. We have felt led to pursue two kiddos from China and are now waiting for the specific children God has for us.

This road to adoption is full of many joys and challenges: the greatest joy being the inclusion of two more kiddos into our family and the greatest challenge being finances.  The costs of adoption include the expenses of a home study, adoption agency, lawyers, travel, medical reports, paperwork translation, immigration, etc. with the total cost ending up somewhere around $39,000. 

We are very happy to say that recently we were awarded a matching funds grant to help with the expenses of our adoption through Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc., a non-profit private operating foundation. Hand in Hand will match any funds that are donated through our friends and family for the expenses of our adoption. All funds received through our friends and family will be matched dollar for dollar by Hand in Hand up to our awarded grant amount. All donations are tax-deductible.

You can find out more about Hand in Hand through their website at http://www.handinhandadopt.org/. If you have further questions about the Hand in Hand matching grant program please feel free to email us at knoxfam4@gmail.com. You may also contact Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc. with any questions you may have. They can be reached at 913-248-5015 or by e-mail at handinhandadopt@gmail.com.

If you feel led to support us financially, please send all donations made payable to “Hand in Hand Christian Adoption” postmarked by August 16, 2011  to:

Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc.  

Chris and Bethany Knox

18524 Juniper Street

Gardner, KS  66030

-9147        

**For tax purposes please include our name on the outside of the envelope only. Do not put our name on the check itself. Thank you!**

All donations postmarked by August 16, 2011 will go toward our adoption costs. Any received after that date will go into a general fund at Hand in Hand to help bring other children home to their forever families.

Thank you for your prayerful consideration in helping us to bring our son and daughter home to their “forever” family. We are blessed to be following God’s call to adopt.

Walking Hand in Hand,

Chris and Bethany

knoxfam4@gmail.com

www.theknoxfamilyjourney.blogspot.com

2 Big News Items!!!

Just found out today that our dossier is officially logged-in in China!!! Now we will wait to be matched with our two kiddos God has for us. :)

Also, we got news a few days ago that we will be awarded a matching grant! Hand in Hand will match our fundraising efforts (donations from family/friends/supporters of adoption) up to $5,000. That is a huge blessing for us! I will try to post the letter tomorrow. If anyone feels led to donate, the info will be on the letter.

Getting closer and closer!  :)

DTC

Got word on Friday that our dossier was sent to China that day. It should arrive next week, get checked out by someone working with our agency and then delivered to the CCCWA where it will be translated and logged in. So... hopefully we'll be LID (logged in date) in the next 3 to 4 weeks.

This is another big hurdle. Whew! It seems like things take so long, but we are resting that it is all in the Lord's hands and His timing. We've noticed there is a lot of hurry up-- then wait. That's ok. There is a time for everything.

Sadly, we've been denied for two of the five grants for which we've already applied. We are in the process of applying for one more. Then we'll be on the hunt for more grants out there. If anyone knows of any grants for adoptions please leave us a comment. Thanks!

Soon we'll be figuring out what to do for our next fundraiser. We've had a friend offer to host Pampered Chef for us and another a jewelry show. So sweet to do that! We may even put up a few things on our blog to sell....so please share our blog with others!

Thanks for following along with us on a journey. We appreciate you thoughts and prayers!
Blessings to you!

Love this picture of the kiddos chasing the van! So cool!

Some more pics from Romania.

Day 2 in the Village

arts and crafts in the village today. The village is such dirty rags...but the children are so beautiful! Made  me think God sees us like that....such dirty rags but then...beautiful with Jesus. 

at least one pic from the village

The Village Today

We went to the gypsy village today. The children are beautiful!

My pictures won't load again... boo hoo!

We blew bubbles, sang songs, played soccer and performed our skit. It was a good day. We go back tomorrow. Also, we broke up into teams and visited foster families. I really wish my pictures would upload so you could see the sweet family who blessed us today...a lovely mom and her two daughters- Christina and Malvina. She adopted Christina who is now 12 and plays the recorder and piano and sings. Malvina is her 5th foster child and is now 8. She has a poster of Hannah Montanna on her wall and she loves dolls. They fed us lunch....four courses. Very sweet family.

Tomorrow we go back to the village and to an orphanage. Maybe I can figure out how to get my pics to work.

Pray for us to be able to share the TRUTH and Love of Jesus despite our language barrier.
Multumesc (thank you)!

Getting to Romania

Left for Romania yesterday...got here today. Got here about 5 PM Romania time. We are 7 hours ahead of Chattanooga. We flew to JFK then to Budapest, Hungary. Then we had about a 4 hour drive to Oradea, Romania.

Our team is doing church for some kiddos tomorrow. So exciting.

Tried to upload some pics but they won't work right now. I'll try again tomorrow.

Update on Kirill

Kirill is coming home!!!
Click here to read their blog.

APPROVED!!!!

We just received our I-797 in the mail today. That means we are approved from USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) to adopt two children from China!!! Woo Hoo!!!!

Now we send our dossier (pack of papers about us) to our adoption agency for certification and authentication. Then the dossier goes to China for the CCCWA (China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption) to approve us.

Getting closer! :)

Still Amazed! (by Chris)

O.K. I know that this blog is about our adoption process but as we go through this process I have been blessed so man times by Bethany and the kids by watching what God is doing in their hearts. I have spent the last few weeks taking in all that my wife is.  If there are typos and grammatical errors in this post I apologize. If I let her preview it she would never let me post it.  I know it is a day after mother's day but still close enough for me to brag a little on Bethany.  Over the last few months I have seen just what God is doing in the life of Bethany and it is truly amazing!  She is already incredible but to see her with the courage to put on a event, actually ask people to help her (something that she hates doing), stand in front of a group of about 60 people and share her heart for orphans and her passion to serve them (public speaking is something she fears more than death!) but she did it.  Not only are we trying to raise the support for our two children from China but also for her to go and minister to God's precious children in Romania.  Watching her heart swell with love for these kids that she has never even seen just shows me what a work God has done in her.  It reminds me of what a gift she is to me, Ali and Hunter.  She pulled the tea off with the help of some other amazing people from what has become our church family.  She stood there shared her heart and moved people, not because of her magical words or years of training but just because she was willing to follow our God.  She is truly an amazing mother and an amazing wife.  I cannot wait to see where God takes us next!

A Successful "China for China": Thank you!!!

THANK YOU to everyone who participated in China for China- The good and gracious Lord who provided all the following: Servers, tea makers, silent auction donors, silent auction bidders and winners, ticket sellers, ticket buyers, prayer warriors, food preparers, set up crew, break down crew, Calvary Chapel church and staff, table setters, ticket and money takers, auction workers, attendees. We could not have done it without you! THANK YOU!!!

May you be blessed in being a part of bringing our children home.

Fingerprints

Been checking the mail everyday for 3 weeks.... Today we received our appointments to go get fingerprinted! One step closer!!! Yipee!!!

China for China

Well...we're doing it....hosting a tea and silent auction. I kind of can't believe it. It's a huge thing that I don't really know how to do. So, you see....God gets all the glory for this!!! He is bringing people alongside us. Wonderful, gracious, kind-hearted people who believe in adoption and trust God to provide. He knew we would need them. And He knew they would help, because they are His. Thank you all so much!!!


Tea and Silent Auction info:


China for China
Date: Sunday, May 1, 2011
Time: 2:30 - 4:00
Where: Calvary Chapel Chattanooga
             3415 S. Broad St.                Chattanooga, TN 37409 
Cost: Per person- minimum donation of $10
         Per table of 8- minimum donation of $80
Silent auction will close at 3:30.

So come and join us and bring a friend or two for tea... and treats... and fellowship.

You can even celebrate Mother's Day a week early and bring your "Mum."


*If you are interested in attending, serving or donating an item or service for the auction please contact us at knoxfam4@gmail.com. We are still in need of items for the auction, ie. art, china, gift baskets of all kinds, electronics, gift certificates, yard work, babysitting... etc. Thank you!!!

PRAYER IS POWERFUL!!!

Thank you all soooooo much for praying for Evan. I have no words only tears of JOY!
Click here for update on "E"

Update on "E"

Just wanted to give you an update on "E".....keep praying!

Click here for update on "E".

Off to USCIS....finally

Finally got a copy of our homestudy and mailed it along with our I-800A to USCIS today. That's adoption talk for....we mailed in our application to Immigration/Homeland Security to be approved to adopt from China. It sure has taken quite a bit longer than expected....amazingly, I've had the patience to go with it. Got to be a God thing! Just trying to trust God's timing in all of this. He's been so gracious to show us His hand at work along the way, and I know He has a plan. Now, we wait for appointments for fingerprinting.

Along this journey, we've learned of so many families adopting. I want to share two of them with you. They've touched my heart so deeply. I hope you will pray for them. I'm not very good at writing and telling stories, so hopefully I can figure out how to post a link to each. God bless!

 Click here for "E"

Click here for "K"

"With man this is impossible,

but not with God;

ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE WITH GOD!"

Mark 10:27

 

A Word from God

The past week or so has been an emotional one.  There has been some disappointment in our process related to two little ones that we were beginning to get attached to.  It's funny how attached you get to someone that you have never met.  We have only seen pictures, most a few years old, and read some medical reports that told us about the heart defects.  It turns out that the children that we thought might be "the ones" for us may not be at all.  Weird that we can be heart broken over feedback on a person that we never met and lives a world away. I know Bethany will have more to add to this but from where I am in this, I watched my wife as she was blessed by a friend with nothing more than a phone number for a doctor.  She had said, "I need a word from God today" and as we walked into church Sunday she was handed this little piece of paper with that name and number on it. This particular doctor is a specialist that travels to China to perform heart surgery on orphans...are you kidding?! Bethany has said several times that she feels very led to doing more for orphans and getting involved in some way, to allow God to use her to serve these kids wherever they are.  During the service Frank showed a video about orphans in Romania and how we can help.  There is a mission trip coming up this summer.  Here is an opportunity to step into God's work, to provide some hope and love to a group of people that truly have nothing. Another touch from God.  Also, we are hoping to host a ladies tea and were trying to figure out how we are going to pull all of that together.  Renting/borrowing tables was an issue and I know it sounds like a small one but Sunday Darren from Calvary sat with us for a minute and let us know that he had just purchased 25 tables for the church.  One more blessing that we didn't see coming, one more hurdle removed, one more Word from God.  It may seem like a small thing but the amount of stress a little practical thing like that can relieve is amazing. 

Lesson; be careful when you ask to hear from God...He might just respond. 

Evidence of God's Grace, part 2

"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways, so that we may walk in His paths."  --Micah 4:2



 

pics taken in 2005 in Aspen, CO

This weekend I was privileged to meet another family who has been down this path of adoption....adoption from China in fact. Their daughter who is now 12 is going back to China this summer for the first time since she was adopted 11 years ago. Wow! It is amazing to me how God is placing more and more people in our lives who have also travelled this road. And...I think the "road" is one of the main parts of this.

I've learned so much about God during this process...how He loves us; how He shows us that love in mercy and grace; how His hand is in the small details; how He comforts and encourages this not so confident mom that He hears my prayers and that His grace abounds when mine does not. Sometimes, with all the overwhelming paperwork and waiting for this and that, I get discouraged. But, God is so good. That's when His grace flows down. He sends me some encouragement.

I had the great blessing of chatting with a special friend from San Antonio not too long ago. She and her family were the first friends the Knox family had when we moved to TX. Alexandra met the oldest daughter of the family at Bible Study Fellowship the first few days we were in TX and found out they were home-schoolers as well...first person she met = God's grace. That sweet family introduced us to our home school group, many friends and our fabulous church. (Wayside Chapel--just in case you're ever in San Antonio and looking for a church to visit) They have five beautiful, biological children, and since we've been in Tennessee, they have been traveling the adoption road as well. It was such a treat to talk with her. She confirmed something I had been thinking of as well by saying, "I have learned so much about God. My relationship with Him has grown so much...just because we have followed Him down this path. I still pray that if this isn't His will that He would close the door of adoption to us. In my heart of hearts, of course, I hope we end up with a child, but I never would have know Him like this if we hadn't followed Him into adoption." Wow! That's just exactly what I was thinking! Just another bit of evidence of His grace....another mom echoing my heart.

Sometimes this path is scary, exciting, confusing, heartbreaking, challenging, joyful, discouraging, heart-filling... all rolled in together; but it's not lonely. God is here, and He is gracious enough to give me the gift of others who have gone before me or those who are also on their adoption journey. Thank You, Jesus!

"But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved."

Ephesians 2:4-5