Now that the adrenaline rush of last week's biggest surprise ever is starting to subside, I am finding myself feeling wholly and completely overwhelmed by God's grace and favor in life of our family. I absolutely cannot believe that this is our life. I was telling Adam last week that feel as though our life as a family has come full circle. When we originally felt the Lord leading us to adoption in 2010, He drew our hearts to China. We weren't old enough yet to meet the requirements, but we knew that adoption, especially adoption from China, was going to be a part of the Knott family story one day.
As years progressed and we fought to bring Bradley home, the Lord was continually asking us to trust Him, to believe in His holy sovereignty. He was asking us to walk by faith and not by sight. And it was so hard, because the things we could see terrified us, made us believe that our vision for our family was simply impossible. There were days, even months, when it looked like we would not be able to adopt from Ethiopia. And then, with one phone call, our lives were forever changed. We saw God's faithfulness revealed in the face of our son. The Lord showed us, through Bradley's adoption, that He can be trusted in every circumstance, that we can throw our lives at His feet and KNOW that He is good.
And then there was sweet Asher, the surprise we never saw coming. When we were told that biological children would not be part of our life we mourned deeply. We grieved the loss of what we though our family would be: a beautiful reflection of what we imagine the family of God to be like. Over the years, the Lord was again asking us to trust Him. And it was so hard. But slowly, He broke us down and then rebuilt us, teaching us all along the way that He is worthy of our love, our loyalty and our trust. So when we found out about our first daughter, we were reminded again of God's faithfulness, of His goodness, of His perfect timing.
And now we face something completely foreign to us: an adoption that is moving at lightning speed. When my phone rang last week and Maggie told me that we had a daughter on the other side of the world, my soul fell silent except to say, "Thank you, Lord." I know that only He could have done this. Adding children to our family has always been so difficult, so fraught with obstacles, so seemingly impossible. And in that one moment, the Lord, in His infinite goodness, redeemed years of grief and hardship. It is as if He is extending His hand of grace directly to us and merely asking that we take it.
And we are so honored to do it, to add another life to love to our family. She is already so dear to us, and we are so ready to have her home. But here is the tricky part about an adoption that moves faster than you expect: We are now in the position of having to trust God in a new way. We are having to trust God to provide financially in a very short amount of time. Prior to last week, we thought that we would be matched this time next year. So we have been diligently saving and planning fundraisers (t-shirts, yard sales, etc.). And it looked like we might be OK just doing that.
But now things have drastically changed. We are planning on traveling to bring Baby Knott #3 home in June. That means we have about three months to finance our remaining adoption costs, which, at this point, are substantial. After much discussion and a lot of prayer, we are going to do something that I swore to myself I would never, EVER do. We are going to turn to you, our community, and ask that you prayerfully consider helping us bring our daughter home by donating toward our adoption.
I don't like asking for help. I actually pretty much hate it. But I love my daughter more, and I know that there is no way we can get to her and bring her home in this short amount of time on our own. We have applied for grants, and we are still planning yard sales. We are still saving as much as we can, but we need help. We have set up a YouCaring link that you can donate to, if you feel so led. PLEASE do not feel obligated in ANY way. We know this is asking a lot, and, believe me, we feel plenty awkward doing it, but we are trying to step out in faith and believe that the Lord will provide a way for us to bring her home. I have included the link below.
CLICK HERE
I could never say it enough, but thank you. Thank you for loving our family. So many of you prayed right alongside us to bring Bradley home. And then you prayed Asher safely here. And then you prayed for this adoption. Our family would not be where we are without you, and we want you to know that we know that. You have been the hands and feet of Jesus in our life.
With deep love,
Adam, Baylor, Bradley, Asher and Lucy
No comments:
Post a Comment