Kingdom sacrifice!

SUCH GREAT NEWS!  My sister and her family found out this week that they have the clear to go PICK UP AND BRING HOME their THREE kids from Ethiopia, ages 6, 6 and 10.  SOOOO EXCITING!!!  I can't wait to get to Nashville now, to help her with some last minute things before the kids get HOME.  AND I CANNOT WAIT TO HUG THEIR PRECIOUS NECKS and tell them I LOVE THEM!!!  And that I have a little boy named CREW in Ethiopia that will be here SOON and is their cousin!!!  Soo excited!!!

I wish everyone was as excited as I am!!  I guess it's like a new car in a way.  When some friends of ours got a new Suburban many years ago, they told everyone, "You have got to get a Suburban!"  I thought, "Yikes!!  Why would I want a Suburban!!  They're huge!!!"  But guess what?  I got a Suburban after I rode in theirs.  It's big!!  It's roomy!!!  And it was great having a Suburban with 3 kids under 5!!  And that's when I understood where their excitement came from!  They had experienced it!  I wish everyone could experience ADOPTION and be so EXCITED about it!!  I wish everyone wanted to adopt a child or a few....so they would know how awesome it feels to know you changed that child's life FOREVER!!!

But I know not everyone will adopt!  I get that!!  Not everyone wants a Suburban!!  LOL!  But if you don't, you can still be a part of it in another way!!  What they are doing by adopting is AMAZING!  It is SELFLESS!  It is LOVING!  It is a SACRIFICE!  And it is a CHOICE!!  But God did call ALL of us to help the orphans....so if you do not feel led to adopt a child, please support someone who is!!  My sister is bringing home THREE children.  The cost to do that is over $50,000......just in adoption fees.  Not living expenses!  YES, people who adopt know how much it is going to cost!!  That doesn't matter!!  They find a way!!  If it means getting a loan, they will!!  If it means getting a second mortgage on their house, they will.  If it means selling t-shirts and having fundraisers, they will!!  If it means a spending freeze on everything else, they do it!!  Nothing will stop them from this calling!!  But, wouldn't it be so INCREDIBLE if everyone they knew helped a little?  Maybe $10.  Maybe $100.  Maybe $1000. Maybe more!  And there is a benefit to the giver, besides the obvious blessing; it can be tax deductible!!  So maybe try skipping eating out one day this week....help an orphan who doesn't eat 3 meals a day!!  Forget that big vacation just once.....help an orphan who just wants a HOME!!  New pair of jeans?  How about for the orphan instead who only has 1 outfit (if he's lucky)!!!  Manicure?  Picture the little hands on that orphan and maybe you could do without one time and help an orphan get home!!   Think how awesome it would be to be a part of something sooo big!!!  Even if no one else knows.....GOD KNOWS!!!!  THIS has ETERNAL VALUE!!

James 1:27 says, "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."

Please contact me if you want to help!! We have partnered with World Wide Compassion to help bring home orphans!!  When you give to WWC, it is tax deductible!  If you don't need a tax deduction, give anyway!  The reward will be worth the sacrifice!!  Kingdom sacrifice is what I call it!!  :)

By the way, we are just waiting for our homestudy papers so we can send off our Dossier!!!   After that, we wait again....for our court date!!!  One more step closer!!  It's all God's timing!!  *Crew, I can't wait until we are heading to the airport to bring you home, little buddy!!  Your family is waiting!!!!*