As most of you know our family has three {amazing} kids. Our oldest, Madalyn will be five this summer, Kyndal is three and Callan just turned one. I absolutely love having three kids..I think it is easier than having two honestly….not every day or every moment is easy, but it’s a beautiful life. We finalized our adoption with Kyndal in August of 2013 when she was months away from turning two and welcomed Callan into our home at the beginning of 2014. Adoption was always on my heart growing up {my parents adopted my four younger brothers and I remember SO many details of that time in our life–good things & sad things} and I was blessed to marry an amazing, godly man who was all in when it came time to start our adoption journey. We went through our local DFCS after looking into international adoption and domestic adoption….it just felt like the right choice for us. We couldn’t be happier with how God brought Kyndal to us.
Well, children in need of families still weigh heavy on my heart and I have been feeling a deep burden for them over the past few months. I could feel God wanting me to help but I couldn’t tell how. I am very satisfied with three kids. Was God wanting me to sign up as a CASA volunteer? Become foster parents? Adopt again? I prayed and prayed and explained how I was feeling to Jonathon. He said he would pray too and said whatever I felt God was leaning me towards he was all in {he is literally a perfect soulmate for me. God overly blessed me when He brought us together}
I made calls into our local CASA program–seriously amazing what that offers!! A great chance to advocate for kids in the foster care system–it just wasn’t it for me. One day I got an email from New Horizons For Children (I get a ton of emails from different adoption agencies/organization/updates) and went to their site. Watched the videos. My heart broke. So, I shared all I learned with Jonathon and my sister (she’s my go-to person after Jonathon when it comes to decisions) we filled out the pre-application and then I got a call from a very kind woman who has been through this before and it is her job/desire to help answer our questions about NHFC. They offer a program where American families can host a child or a sibling group from Eastern Europe for 5-6 weeks during the summer or over Christmas break.
The main focus of this organization is to: show these kids how a loving, godly family lives. To teach them about God and how God loves them- how He sent His son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. We are also encouraged to teach the kids english! We chose a brother & sister and can’t wait to meet them! We will be spending the next few months praying God helps us be all we can be to these two kids. We are preparing ourselves, our kids, and our family and friends for this summer adventure. We can use lots of prayers, and we also need financial support. We have a certain number needed just to get the kids here — right at $6,000 (this pays for their plane tickets here and back home, visas, passports, insurance for them for the summer and various other things pertaining to their traveling journey) We also need to provide each child with a dental visit and eye exam. We plan on talking with our eye Dr and our Dentist(: We will be sending each child back to their country with a suitcase and backpack filled with new or gently used clothes & shoes after their 5-6 week visit is over. Due to strict security guidelines we can’t publicly share much information with you. I can say they are a pre-teen and teen from Eastern Europe who currently live in an orphanage.
I urge each of you to watch the videos on NHFC’s website. http://youtu.be/c-x62d0okts https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DoBjMvxvVa4
And this very powerful video on one mans view on orphans https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWHJ6-YhSYQ&feature=youtu.be
So many people would love to go overseas and volunteer at an orphanage and make a difference—this program allows you to bring the mission field right to your home and do this as a family. We are excited & nervous for sure!
We appreciate your prayers & your financial support. We have several ideas on how to raise the support we need and plan on reaching out to our church, our community & friends and family members. If you can’t give money—please pray. Pray God starts working in their hears and ours now.
If you are willing and able to make a tax deductible donation you can do so by clicking this link and then select the second option for donation to a specific child/children and put in E1068 into the comment section.
http://nhfc.org/more-ways-to-help-orphans/make-a-tax-deductible-donation-to-help-orphans/
You can also just give directly to us–we are planing on having dinners, raffling off photo sessions and even selling artwork from the girls! They are so excited to be part of this.
Thank you for your prayers & support <3