WelcomeHomePhoebe!

After many months of sorting through our hearts we have decided to change adoption agencies. This decision was a very hard one simply because our old agency was the one we used when we adopted Lily, however, we have found a local agency that has access to a larger list of "waiting children". We have passed through that whole transition and will be meeting with our caseworker this Friday to take an inventory of where we are in our paperwork. Meanwhile, a very kind family held a fundraiser for us at a family Hootenanny and raised $550...very humbling experience and an amazing event. Someone also donated an anonymous gift to the adoption for $1000, so we are now in need of a little over $20K (much less than the beginning $27K). Many times we have started to lose sight of our goal and God continues to remind us of what we are chasing after through these generous gifts. We are so excited to see this little girl. I dream a life for her where she is reminded daily of the plans that God has for her life and humbled by what her life could have been had God not intervened. I was contacted yesterday and told that a friend had contacted some old friends at Randomshirts.com about offering a "Bring Phoebe Home" shirt. It is posted on their website right now, http://randomshirts.myshopify.com/collections/shirts-with-a-mission. The proceeds will go toward accomplishing this mission. Both of my daughter's lives will be because of sacrificial giving, love, and undeniable grace...imagine what God is going to do with this. 1500 - 2000 shirts sold will bring us to our goal. Thank you for being a part of something way bigger than me, my family, Phoebe, or a t-shirt...this is about God. He is Immanuel, God with us, the one who is with Phoebe right now and with each of us in our individual lives. He is the one we get to join in doing something truly lasting with our lives. I love all of you. Thank you for loving my family so well.

Well, I came home from camp on Friday. I was so tired and fortunately have had most of the weekend free to recuperate. My mind has been so much on camp all week and trying to follow up on all of those campers who made decisions at camp that I haven't given the adoption much focus this week. This morning, as I was preparing to do baptisms for some kids during children's church a boy that went to camp with us approached me with his mom. He reaches out his arm and gives me a freezer bag full of change and a $5 bill. His mom is standing there teary and said, "he wanted to do it". He says this is for your adoption. He emptied his piggy bank for this child he doesn't know yet. These kind of gifts are the kind of gifts God multiplies and does miracles through. Thank you Jesus for prompting such beautiful acts!

It's way past due for me to update this journey. This has been a tough year for Jayme and I, having faced some disappointment and being guided to let Jesus build perseverance into us. It sounds like God is preparing us for something....hmmm...what could it be? I think many things. Our life in Spokane is growing and becoming something new, and our family is about to take a major shift. After much prayer and fasting, Jayme and I have decided that we believe Phoebe is on the waiting child list for China adoption. This means that Phoebe will have a special need of some kind. We are preparing ourselves for many challenges and a spirit of perseverance, but are in full belief that this is the path God has prepared for us. We are so excited as we continue to watch His path of provision and are blessed to have a front row seat in this child's life. I really can't believe that God allows us to play such a part in this beautiful story. Phoebe, we love you and can't wait to meet you!

Some of you have been asking about what is happening financially in this journey. Listen to this: God has continued to place Phoebe on various people's hearts, even during this time when we have been confused and unmotivated. Every gift given has slowly chiseled away at the defenses that we had built up and love has conquered once again. Thank you for being faithful. The tears in my eyes as I am writing this all have names and you know who you are. Thank you for fighting for us and for Phoebe.

This weekend, reminded me of how the Spirit of God works. Our relationships that we have built for the last few years within our church Care Group are truly beautiful. Everyone of them played a part as they held a car wash to raise money for this adoption. They gave so much...it was worship...and God just pulled back the curtain and showed what He is capable of. The total for 4 hours of washing cars, emptying piggy banks by some of the kids in our group, and selling lemonade and beautiful cookies was $1161...amazing! When we came home and Lily saw the money she looked at me and in a giddy giggle said "Jesus gave us all of this money"! It was overwhelming. This may sound weird, but I actually got depressed. I don't quite get it either, but it's what happened. Waking up early this morning, still depressed, Lily comes in SO excited jumping on the bed and asking me if she can do a lemonade stand for Phoebe. After experiencing 2 hours of a salesman's life with no activity whatsoever, Lily started crying and hiding under the Lemonade stand saying, "just forget it! Nobody likes my lemonade!" We stopped and prayed under the Lemonade stand and she decided to give it another crack. We came in and posted it on Facebook. I saw gifts online and then door-to-door salesmen stopping by to get a drink and then grandparents and then an amazing family who gave Generously. The mom actually crawled under the table with Lily and played with Lily in the fort that she had built under the Lemonade stand. Total for the Lemonade stand was $805. I came in and saw so many people commenting on Facebook, with new ideas on how Phoebe can get here. It's so humbling to watch God do this all over again. I cannot help but be drawn back to the Scripture when James writes, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." (James 1:27) This is beautiful and so close to God's heart. Bless you all!

Brad

Hey everyone, just wanted to let you know that some kind neighbors of Karen & Matthew Morrison (whom we do not know) have sold their washer/dryer for $75 and gave the money toward Phoebe's adoption. We also received another $40 donation and $11 from a Red Swann party that was held as an adoption fundraiser. That means that our Homestudy is now officially paid for and we have $26 in the bank ready to be used for our next expense. Thank you all so much for your extreme kindness and faithful remembrance of this need. Blessings!

Well, it's been awhile since i have posted and have recently had a few people ask where we are in the process, so I thought I would catch you up. We have been hashing through our Home Study and were about 3/4 of the way through the process in which we were quoted about $600. Things looked solid and then we received a call from our Caseworker with some "bad" news. She says that something called the Hague Convention has been instituted (purposed to prevent child abduction) and so our homestudy fee was going to jump from $600 to $1750...ouch! Jayme and I submitted this to Jesus and the next day I show up to work and someone had dropped off an envelope with about $600 in it with a note saying that God told her that this money she was saving was for "someone He had chosen" and she wanted to give that money to Phoebe. We had about $1000 saved up and I have noticed another $50 in contributions in this account. So, all of that to say that God has provided $1650 of the $1750 and so we will be able to move forward with the rest of our Home Study. He is always waiting on us! He is our Faithful Father!

Well, last night I went to speak at our 1831 Young Adults Ministry and someone asked me how Phoebe's adoption is going. I started telling them how incredible it has been how God is continuing to provide the money for Phoebe, and was getting so re-energized by just telling the story. At the end I prepared everyone to move into our worship time and an incredible friend from church got up and asked to start a video. The video came on and started showing friends from within our church who secretly held a Garage Sale to raise money for Phoebe. After the video they got up and gave us $693.09...which brings our total needed below $25,000 now, just not too long ago it was at $27,649. Thank you to everyone who participated in that Garage Sale, and a special thanks to Karen & Matthew Morrison for organizing it...so special! Bless you all!

It's funny how God seems to pour his grace over us in waves that seem to knock us down.  I simply do not know what to do with Grace.  It is unnatural, or better yet, supernatural and has a terribly difficult time staying married to my human soul. It seems that every time God blesses us with another gift toward this adoption, I find myself scrambling around the week afterward in almost a depression.  I isolate myself to regain control. Grace definitely reminds us that we are not in control of our lives...it is not what we expect, because I believe all of us innately know what we truly deserve.  I still wait for the bomb to drop and suddenly realize that God can't handle me anymore and He too is done with me.  This of course is my own prideful spirit trying to control and concoct a plan that I once again can rule.  I am discovering through this process how lacking I am in humility.  How I retreat to self abuse rather than receiving grace. Christ is transforming this life and He is using each of you to teach us about receiving His Grace.  As I write this, Lily is competing for my attention with an impressive demonstration of High School Musical. Another little gift that I might have overlooked if I weren't thinking of the graces in our lives.  Thank you for loving my family.

We know that many of you have given on this site, but what you may not know is that God is prompting others to give in cash and check. So far, we have received $1278 toward the adoption. We are going to subtract the amount given outside of this site from the overall goal, so that the percentage will be more accurate. It is exciting when we see that today we started our Home Study with our social worker and had to pay $600 and will need to send in $1700 to our adoption agency as soon as we get it. As we were stressing about that this morning we received $200 in the mail this afternoon and $98 the day before. God just knows how to calm our hearts down. When I told Lily that God had given us $1278 toward bringing Phoebe home, she said, "Wow, does that mean we can get a little brother too?!" Anyway, thank you all for giving so generously. We look forward to seeing how God pieces it all together to make another path for another child to enter our family. We love you all.

So, I have been thinking about some things that I spoke about on Sunday, http://www.valleyreallife.org/community.aspx?id=43&page=1 (Sons of Korah)

and realizing that this message God wanted me to deliver on Sunday morning was one that He wanted me to listen to three times and study. You see the sermon was on finding my Security in Him ALONE, and when I do that there is power that begins to flow out of my life, and when Power flows out of my life the Spirit begins to bring LIFE into the world, but all of this happens as we REMEMBER to stop and Think about what God has said. What He wants to do in our lives...who He wants to be in our lives. I spoke about how Remembering is hard and requires effort on our part, and when we do it we begin to operate with the Spirit of Life. I want God to show His power through our family and want the world to see How deeply He loves us and how grateful my heart is. However, I forget...I have even forgotten since Sunday...but today I want to remember...not because I want to feel better, but because I want others to see God's power. He can change any situation and give beyond measure...and He WILL do that for us if we will find our safety in Him Alone istead of maneuvering through life on our own. I don't know how this all applies to adoption, but I know that it applies to me and I don't want people to be thinking about adoption...I want this adoption to cause people to remember God. Help me to remember this Jesus...you have been beautiful in my life.

It's Sunday Morning and I'm preparing to preach at our church this morning and i'm reminded at how powerful and secure God is, and then I anxiously check this website to see if He really is going to provide the money for another child.  It's strange how quickly we rely on ourselves and how our true beliefs come out in our actions.  I do pray that God will teach me to truly believe that I have no power outside of Him and I have no Security outside of Him.  His plan is what I want to desire and I want to "set my mind on things above, not on things that are on this earth".  If God brings another child into our lives then it is His plan, not mine.  Psalm 84 is beautiful and may His name reach all nations and every heart.