We have had an interesting week. On Thursday, I received a voicemail from a pregnancy counselor at Bethany Christian Services. I was staying after school, coaching my DI team, so I immediately called Matt and asked if he could call her. I was very hopeful that we had been matched and waited for Matt to call me back. He finally got ahold of the counselor and talked with her about a birthmother who had picked our profile. She told Matt of some issues that they were concerned about, asking us to still consider the mother and get back to her. Thursday night we talked it over and had further questions for the counselor. We left her a message that night but did not hear back from her.
The next morning I prayed during my devotional time with God, explaining how I was not sure if we were strong enough to take this next step, only to be let down by the birthmother and the issues we were about to face. We had hoped that after walking this journey for so long that the adoption part would be a piece of cake. I prayed that God would show us for sure what we were suppose to do. Then on the way to work, about half way through my drive, I turned on the radio. I turned it on just in time to hear the Pulse Morning Nugget. Corey Mann read the follow scripture, Rev. 3:8 "I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name." I immediately lost it. I turned the channel then, because of commercials and heard the song "Strong Enough" by Matthew West. Wow, I could not believe the way that God had immediately answered my prayer. It was as if those DJ's were there when I prayed it and knew what I needed to hear. It still brings tears to my eyes to know what God did for me that morning.
That same day Matt tried again to get ahold of the counselor, only to find out she was with another family at the hospital waiting on their new arrival. So, she had Matt call and talk with Irene, the director of the agency. Irene answered Matt's questions. And the things we had questions about were cleared up with that phone call, so we agreed to meet with this birthmother, this Wednesday, April 20th.
I know that God has opened this door for us, and all we can do is step through it. This birthmother may not be our birthmother, but He has opened a door. It has given us a renewed hope that He is still in control and we just need to have faith. Please pray with us, as we meet with this birthmother. That we will trust God and know that whatever the outcome, He is still with us walking, between us, leading the way.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Thursday, April 7, 2011
April Update-Faith and Hope
Life in limbo. That is a great way to describe us, right now. Our condo still has not sold and we are currently not matched with a potential birthmother. Hence, the life in limbo.
It seems as of lately, God has been reminding Matt and I that this is a journey and that we are not where God wants us to be yet, for everything to work out to His will. In my daily devotionals I have been reading through the bible, just finished Job, which seems to have added to my depression and frustration with God. But it also, pointed out to me, that I am not in control of this, just like Job, I need to let God work in our circumstances. And not continue to tell God that I did nothing to deserve what is happening to Matt and I. We are living and walking with Him, yet we continue to question, instead of trusting in the journey that He has us on. I also read in My Utmost for His Highest, "Living a life of faith means never knowing where you are being led. But it does mean loving and knowing the One who is leading." Wow, that same devotion included the scripture Isaiah 40:31, "but those who hope in the Lord, will renew their strength. They will soar on the wings of eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Those who have faith and hope...
We received the April update from Bethany, they are curently working with 10 birthmothers. Of which, 5 are already matched with perspective families. Pray with us, that we could continue this journey with a renewed faith and hope in the One who is leading us.
It seems as of lately, God has been reminding Matt and I that this is a journey and that we are not where God wants us to be yet, for everything to work out to His will. In my daily devotionals I have been reading through the bible, just finished Job, which seems to have added to my depression and frustration with God. But it also, pointed out to me, that I am not in control of this, just like Job, I need to let God work in our circumstances. And not continue to tell God that I did nothing to deserve what is happening to Matt and I. We are living and walking with Him, yet we continue to question, instead of trusting in the journey that He has us on. I also read in My Utmost for His Highest, "Living a life of faith means never knowing where you are being led. But it does mean loving and knowing the One who is leading." Wow, that same devotion included the scripture Isaiah 40:31, "but those who hope in the Lord, will renew their strength. They will soar on the wings of eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Those who have faith and hope...
We received the April update from Bethany, they are curently working with 10 birthmothers. Of which, 5 are already matched with perspective families. Pray with us, that we could continue this journey with a renewed faith and hope in the One who is leading us.
Monday, February 28, 2011
March was the start
A year ago, Matt and I started this adoption process with Bethany. I would love to be writing this post, excited about the baby that has entered our lives, but still we wait. There is not much to report. We are praying and trying to trust in God's timing. We have had a rough couple of weeks, as we get closer to the date we started this process.
We still believe Jer. 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." We are still learning through this process to be patient and wait upon the Lord. I read recently that to be patient means to trust in God's timing. Wow, how this is true!
Please pray with us that we will trust in God's timing as we continue the journey with adoption.
We still believe Jer. 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." We are still learning through this process to be patient and wait upon the Lord. I read recently that to be patient means to trust in God's timing. Wow, how this is true!
Please pray with us that we will trust in God's timing as we continue the journey with adoption.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
My Hope is in You!
God, I'm not trying to rule the roost, I don't want to be king of the mountain. I haven't meddled where I have no business or fantasized grandiose plans. I've kept my feet on the ground, I've cultivated a quiet heart. Like a baby content in its mother's arms, my soul is a baby content. Wait, Isreal, for God. Wait with hope. Hope now; hope always! - Psalm 131, The Message.
"Hope now; hope always!" A powerful sentence to reflect upon. Where does your hope come from? As the psalmist says, my hope comes from the Lord. We anchor our life in the hope of Christ Jesus. We worship Him with thankful hearts and through Him we shall have abundant life. God surrounds us with love daily and we put our hope and trust in Him. It is that hope and trust that we cling to daily.
We have had an interesting week. A week that no doubt has God's finger print on it. A week of confusion. A week of emotions. A week of hope.
God has surrounded us with wonderful family and friends. Words can not describe the appreciation we have for you! We also know God has something special for us (Mandy and I). We do not know what that will be or when that will be. But we pray and thank God for all He has done for us. We pray for the child that He will uniquely place in our lives. We know you pray for us. We encourage you to not only pray for us; but for us to have patience for God's time; to give him total control; but also pray for that Birth mother that will make a very difficult decision. Pray that God will surround her with a sense of comfort, love, and hope for the child she bears.
As noted at the beginning of this post, we put our hope in Him. This week we learned that all the profiles we gave to the adoption agency were passed out. It's easy to look at this and say 10 families looked at us but we were not chosen, how depressing. I'd rather look at this and say, we have been considered by 10 families, what a blessing to be able to be part of their journey. Personally, I think they like our profiles because of all the Notre Dame pics. I mean who would not want a child to be part of a family so embraced with the heart of the Irish. Is there really anything more adorable than a little Irish football player or Cheerleader...I doubt it! And, Of Course, a Notre Dame Education is unparrelled. Where was I...oh, we have been blessed to have all our profiles shown...it gives us hope. For that we thank God. We'll be sending more to the agency this week.
We also learned of a unique situation this week that clearly illustrates the power of sharing our story. For privacy purposes we will not disclose names. We learned of a young women in Illinois who recently gave birth to a little girl. She is working with an adoption agency in Illinois. However, through our connections we have forward our profile to her pastor. We do not know what will come of this, but we do know that there are many people praying for this situation. We ask that you pray for this little girl. Pray that God will surround her with love and comfort. We ask that you pray for this young women as she continues to process this difficult decision. Pray that God embraces her and fills her with His love and guidance. While it would be a wonderful addition to our family, we pray that the little girl is placed with a loving family. That may mean staying with her birth mother, it may mean being placed with another family, it mean the placing the little girl with us. We do not know but He knows. We know He knows the plan He has for this little girl and we pray that His will be done in this situation. We recognize that this may be a step in the journey and we are keeping our emotions at bay.
As you can see, its been an interesting week. We know that God has a plan for us and we know that none of these situations may go in our direction, but we put our hope, our trust, and ourselves in God's hands.
May you be blessed by the riches God brings into your lives. May He continue to show you his unyielding desire to grow closer to you.
Thank you for your prayers, we are blessed!
Matt and Mandy
"Hope now; hope always!" A powerful sentence to reflect upon. Where does your hope come from? As the psalmist says, my hope comes from the Lord. We anchor our life in the hope of Christ Jesus. We worship Him with thankful hearts and through Him we shall have abundant life. God surrounds us with love daily and we put our hope and trust in Him. It is that hope and trust that we cling to daily.
We have had an interesting week. A week that no doubt has God's finger print on it. A week of confusion. A week of emotions. A week of hope.
God has surrounded us with wonderful family and friends. Words can not describe the appreciation we have for you! We also know God has something special for us (Mandy and I). We do not know what that will be or when that will be. But we pray and thank God for all He has done for us. We pray for the child that He will uniquely place in our lives. We know you pray for us. We encourage you to not only pray for us; but for us to have patience for God's time; to give him total control; but also pray for that Birth mother that will make a very difficult decision. Pray that God will surround her with a sense of comfort, love, and hope for the child she bears.
As noted at the beginning of this post, we put our hope in Him. This week we learned that all the profiles we gave to the adoption agency were passed out. It's easy to look at this and say 10 families looked at us but we were not chosen, how depressing. I'd rather look at this and say, we have been considered by 10 families, what a blessing to be able to be part of their journey. Personally, I think they like our profiles because of all the Notre Dame pics. I mean who would not want a child to be part of a family so embraced with the heart of the Irish. Is there really anything more adorable than a little Irish football player or Cheerleader...I doubt it! And, Of Course, a Notre Dame Education is unparrelled. Where was I...oh, we have been blessed to have all our profiles shown...it gives us hope. For that we thank God. We'll be sending more to the agency this week.
We also learned of a unique situation this week that clearly illustrates the power of sharing our story. For privacy purposes we will not disclose names. We learned of a young women in Illinois who recently gave birth to a little girl. She is working with an adoption agency in Illinois. However, through our connections we have forward our profile to her pastor. We do not know what will come of this, but we do know that there are many people praying for this situation. We ask that you pray for this little girl. Pray that God will surround her with love and comfort. We ask that you pray for this young women as she continues to process this difficult decision. Pray that God embraces her and fills her with His love and guidance. While it would be a wonderful addition to our family, we pray that the little girl is placed with a loving family. That may mean staying with her birth mother, it may mean being placed with another family, it mean the placing the little girl with us. We do not know but He knows. We know He knows the plan He has for this little girl and we pray that His will be done in this situation. We recognize that this may be a step in the journey and we are keeping our emotions at bay.
As you can see, its been an interesting week. We know that God has a plan for us and we know that none of these situations may go in our direction, but we put our hope, our trust, and ourselves in God's hands.
May you be blessed by the riches God brings into your lives. May He continue to show you his unyielding desire to grow closer to you.
Thank you for your prayers, we are blessed!
Matt and Mandy
Monday, January 3, 2011
Now What?
This question, albeit short and sweet, has continually raced across our minds in the last month, specifically during the week of Christmas and last weekend as we rang in the new year.
Now What? What do we do...we wait. We wait until God brings us new news of great hope and truth. Its not overly realistic to think that our child will be found lying in a manger. Nor is it likely that our child will be crucified for our sins. But there was such as baby that did all this and his name was Jesus, King of Kings, Em manual. Now, I know its a bit late (from a calendar perspective) to be reflecting on the Christmas Story. The fact of the matter is that the Christmas Story has no time or date. Yes, from a chronological standpoint it does but for Christians every day is Christmas. Yes, we had a wonderful Christmas and were infinitely blessed with gifts. No offense to anyone that gave us gifts but we would have traded all of them for that one special gift in a second (really a nano-second). Christmas is a wonderful time and we pray that you had a wonderful season with your family remembering the true meaning for the season.
As we look to the days and months ahead we ask ourselves the question Now what....For me (or us), the answer to the question Now What? is we wait. We wait for that special someone to pick us, to get that phone call, to take the next step. There are many steps to go and many we are ready to take. But now, we sit, we listen, and we ask God for patience. Patience as we eagerly and passionately wait to bring a healthy baby into our lives. Oh, that will be the day. Tears will roll, joy will be felt, love will be in the air, and we will be one step closer to expanding our family. Until then we ask the question, Now What? Now what we do is remain faithful and keep our hearts and minds open to the path God has foretold for our lives.
We appreciate your prayers and thoughts. We are learning valuable lessons that God wants to teach us. We have been chosen for this path with faith and hand in hand we take the steps that will lead down the path.
Now What? What do we do...we wait. We wait until God brings us new news of great hope and truth. Its not overly realistic to think that our child will be found lying in a manger. Nor is it likely that our child will be crucified for our sins. But there was such as baby that did all this and his name was Jesus, King of Kings, Em manual. Now, I know its a bit late (from a calendar perspective) to be reflecting on the Christmas Story. The fact of the matter is that the Christmas Story has no time or date. Yes, from a chronological standpoint it does but for Christians every day is Christmas. Yes, we had a wonderful Christmas and were infinitely blessed with gifts. No offense to anyone that gave us gifts but we would have traded all of them for that one special gift in a second (really a nano-second). Christmas is a wonderful time and we pray that you had a wonderful season with your family remembering the true meaning for the season.
As we look to the days and months ahead we ask ourselves the question Now what....For me (or us), the answer to the question Now What? is we wait. We wait for that special someone to pick us, to get that phone call, to take the next step. There are many steps to go and many we are ready to take. But now, we sit, we listen, and we ask God for patience. Patience as we eagerly and passionately wait to bring a healthy baby into our lives. Oh, that will be the day. Tears will roll, joy will be felt, love will be in the air, and we will be one step closer to expanding our family. Until then we ask the question, Now What? Now what we do is remain faithful and keep our hearts and minds open to the path God has foretold for our lives.
We appreciate your prayers and thoughts. We are learning valuable lessons that God wants to teach us. We have been chosen for this path with faith and hand in hand we take the steps that will lead down the path.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Another decision made
We wanted to let everyone know that we decided against having our profile shown to the young lady that I wrote about in previous blog. There were some concerns we had with her smoking and the additional children that she has. When it came down to it, we felt like we were letting our need to have a child cloud our judgement, when it came to the health of the baby, both now and in the future.
We also would like just a few extra prayers. This time last year we were hoping we would be a more complete family this Christmas. And I know that Matt and I are both struggling. As Matt has wrote before, we have many things to be thankful for and we serve an amazing God, who will supply all our needs. WE just need to remember that it is according to His will and timing not ours. (I feel like I have said this many times)
I know when we finally have the child that God wants, we will look back and thank God for this amazing journey that bought us to them! Just have to keep on moving and believing!
Many Blessings,
Mandy
We also would like just a few extra prayers. This time last year we were hoping we would be a more complete family this Christmas. And I know that Matt and I are both struggling. As Matt has wrote before, we have many things to be thankful for and we serve an amazing God, who will supply all our needs. WE just need to remember that it is according to His will and timing not ours. (I feel like I have said this many times)
I know when we finally have the child that God wants, we will look back and thank God for this amazing journey that bought us to them! Just have to keep on moving and believing!
Many Blessings,
Mandy
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Prayer Concern
We received the December update letter from Bethany yesterday, in this update they asked us to be open to a placement of a women early in her pregnancy. We are considering making ourselves available to this girl. Our concern is that it is early in her pregnancy, making us unavailable to anyone else. Also, she has two other children, ages 6 and 2. We are concerned because this child would be leaving biological siblings. Please pray with us as we make this decision. Pray that we have discernment in this process that we will continue to walk in God's will.
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