A call to Walk!

Do you ever wonder why God calls us to walk a faith walk? I do.This blog is to keep track of mine. I hope it will cause others who read it to have the courage to ask God where he would send them on thier faith walk.

The beginning.... I have always wanted to adopt. It was actually a question I asked Todd before we got married. Would he ever consider it. ( he said yes) Well we got married and started a family of our own. About 7 years ago, God once again put adoption on my heart. I thought it was going to be a little girl from China. So I started investigating that, and hopeing . But everytime I tried the door was always closed. So, finally I prayed,"Ok God ,China was what I wanted, now, what do you want?" I didn't get an answer at first, but I put it at the feet of Jesus and waited. In the wee hours of the morning of April 23rd I got my answer.
It was around 1am and I couldn't sleep. I did not want to lay around and listen to Todd sleeping and the cats playing about the house, so I got up and decided to be productive. I headed down stairs to do laundry. Boring I know, but productive. While I did laundry I got on the internet to do some surfing and reading.
I decided to catch up on my friends web sight. She and her husband are adopting from Haiti. Her blog tells about her journey, and I wanted to know how it was going. On her blog is a link to the orphanage in Haiti they are adopting from. So I went to it. That way I could learn more about it and could have conversations with her about it. I wanted to be supportive to them and I feel having information can do that. They have on the orphanage web sight a link to pictures of children waiting for families. Curiosity got the best of me and I scrolled thru the list. And there he was. Jonas. It was as if his picture jumped off the screen and God said," this is your son."
What do you mean this is my son? This is crazy. I'm a stay at home mom. My husband is in etween jobs (but he does have his photography business), how on earth can we afford it?How will the girls feel about adding another child to this family? What if I can't love him?What if my extended family won't love him?...... and the list of questions went on. I was up til 4:30am that morning going back and forth with God. One of the two biggest questions was, how would Todd feel?Because when I had persued China, he wasn't sure. God was going to have to speak to his heart. Second, how on earth could we ever afford it?
I prayed and asked God if this was from him, than Todd would be in agreement, and second he'd have to make a way with the whole money issue.
We got up to go to church @8:30am. Needless to say I was tired! And on our way to church I talked to Todd about it. I asked him to start praying and seek out God's answer to him. After church we headed to a friend's house for the day. When we finally got home that evening Todd asked to see Jonas' picture. Then he took a shower. I prayed. After his shower I told him I didn't even know where we would put him (meaning his bedroom). Because we had just moved all the girls to thier own rooms. Todd's reply, he had been thinking about that in the shower. We could turn the storage room into a room and move Megan down to it beside Jessica's room, or divide our huge family room into two rooms, one being a bed room. I WAS SHOCKED! Did this mean God had spoken to Todd's heart too? We both prayed together that night and asked God for guidence and wisdom. We asked for confirmation from God.
Monday, I told my mom. Tuesday, we told Todd's mom. they both took it really well. They each had their concerns about timing and $. We assured them we had the same concerns, but to please be praying. Wednesday we met with our friends who were adopting and talked extensivly about the whole process. We inquired about Jonas thru the parent liason with the orphanage.
During this whole time Todd and I are praying for the Lord to either make a way or close the door. We wanted to do his will. At this point, we are confident that this is God's will. So we drew a line in the sand and stepped across it and haven't looked back.
May 1st we put a permanent hold on Jonas.

Apotion of Jonas...We have started the paper work. God has given us many ideas for fund raisers. I'll do an entry on that later. Right now I want to share what God has shown me in his word. First let me state I believe it is not God's nature to lie, therefore his word does not lie. So I find my thruth in his word. My friend Michelle (she is adopting Noah), told me to surround myself with positive words and people, because not everyone would agree with what we were about to do. So I am following her advice. I believe there is the power of life and death in our words. Anybody who has been called names can tell you that.

So scripture verses the Lord has led me to so far:

James 1:27 "Relgion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this,to look after the orphanes and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

This is how God showed me that he was calling me. "HE" chose this for us. "HE" was asking/commanding us to do this. And if God commands something , the burden is on him to provide. Remember when he commanded Moses to deliver his people. Moses argued with God, how could he convince Pharoh? God told him he would do it thru Moses, all Moses had to do was go. Go and take a step of faith. He did, and God moved mountains and delivered his people. And continued to provide for 40 more years in the desert and beyond.

Ok, GOD, but what about the money? I don't want others to think I expect them to foot the bill?

I Timothy 6:17-19 " Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in GOD, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. in this way they will lay up treasures for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of this life that is truly life"


First God showed me to STOP looking to others for confirmation or acceptence on this matter. He is the God who created me, he loves me, he has my best interest at heart. And I am worried about what others think? Others that don't seek his(God's) face on a regular basis, or read his word on a daily basis. I decided to look to God for my answers. I KNOW there will be people who don't agree with us and refuse to even support us in prayer. That is ok. Because I seek God to supply all my needs, not others. I placed my HOPE in God that day.
I feel this verse shows that God will supply our needs and he sometimes does it thru others.
We believe when you are walking on the path of the Lord he delights in our obedience and supplies all our needs.
I am simply letting others know our needs. It is up to God to speak to thier hearts wether or not he wants them to help. I will not beg, I simply will ask. Either way I will love them.
I am excited to see how God will supply. It is taking everything within to walk in faith. But I feel so secure. I am seeking God's face on a daily basis, praying, reading the Bible, reading other books. It has already proven to be exciting!

Supplies ..... So, how has he supplied so far?

Well for those of you who don't know much about the adoption process, there is A LOT of paper work and forms you have to provide. Copies of birth certificates and such.
Well one of those things is a police criminal background check. Cost @ $10 per person. Well Todd inquired of our friend the local sheriff about where to go and how much. Brad said, just give me your info and I'll do them that way they won't cost you anything. He didn't even ask why we needed them. God supplied. Small thing, but supplied never the less!
Cathy, Todd's sister-in-law asked if I needed any help in bookkeeping let her know. i prayed about it and felt led to ask her to be over the finaces. For two reasons... one, Todd and I in the past haven't made the best choices finacially. And we didn't want anyone who knew this to be hesitant to help for fear of our misuse of funds. So now everything goes to her. She holds the checkbook so to speak. Second, if God laid it on someone's heart to donate annonymously (sp?) then they could send it directly to her and we wouldn't know who. Yes, she promised me she could do that no matter how much I begged.Ha!
A friend invited me to do a yard sale and all my earnings could go to Jonas. I did. And God was generous!
I feel like God has given us many ideas for fundraisers. One being, me. I am going to do a concert of singing and take up a love offering. People can choose to give or not. Either way they get to hear me sing and hopefully be entertained! One problem, where to have the concert? Our church doesn't believe in fundraising at church. God provides once again.
I ran into the director of the church's Easter Contata and told her what God had laid on my heart. When I was done, she said she had the place. Camp Reveal where she is a camp director. She asked the people who owned it and they said yes. He also provided a pianist to donate her time and talent. And her husband signed on to do sound ( he has all the equipment). As well as other singer friends of mine have agreed to sing at it as well. Go GOD!
He continues to amaze me and surprise me with supplies.
there is a poem a friend's mom gave me once that best explains what Todd and I are doing....

"Faith is when you walk to the edge of the light that you have,
and step into the darkness of the unknown.
Knowing, that you'll be taught how to fly,or,
you'll have something solid to stand on."

Where has God led you on your faith walk? My friends, ask him where he'd have you to go. And then take a step. The journey will have ups and downs, but oh so full of love and hope!

Jonas... Here is what I know about Jonas.

The web sight description said " Jonas has the best sense of humor! He has this deep chuckle/giggle that seems to be contagious. He loves to play and give hugs. this little guy likes to be on the move."

My friend Michelle said when she was in Haiti to see her son she met Jonas. She too mentioned his laugh and said he liked to be on the go.

The parent liason (Gail) told me when I inquired about him....Jonas ia a sweet easy going boy. I don't know him that well but what time I have spent with him was enjoyable! He has a great smile and seems to warm up to people easily. He also has a great laugh!

Boy, I can't wait to hear his laugh!

On his birth certificate there is no father listed. His mother is still alive. She is who named him Jonas. We love that name and have decided to keep it. Jonas in Hebrew means "Gift from God".
He was born on September 14, 2004. that makes him 17 months old right now. His birth name is Jonas Toussaint. He was brought to the orphanage 10/26/2005.

The adoption process in Haiti is not a short one. After we get our paperwork (dossier) to Haiti it can take anywhere from 6 months - 2 years to bring our son home. We are believing and asking God for sooner rather than later! :)

Prayer request ....
1. For our family. to prepare us all for another family member.
2. That God would guide us on this journey and provide for our needs. Ones we know about and
ones we don't.
3. That God would use us to be an example to others and stretch their faith.
4. To protect Jonas in Haiti. To protect us thru this whole process.
5. For God's provisions and blessings along this journey.
6. That God would aid us with all our paper work and processing of this paper work would be
faster than normal.