"For the Scripture Says..."

... 'Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.’” Romans 10:11

This morning when we realized it was time to update our blog, we re-read the entry from one year ago today and found it hard to believe how different our lives are now. March 10th, 2011, we were two days away from flying to Ethiopia to bring home Chernet, Mulu and Ruby. We only knew life with three kids then (Tommy, Victor and Vanessa). We had a cleaner, quieter house, quicker departures, and much fewer socks to match. Today, as we reminisce and relish in the blessings that God has poured on us this past year, we can confidently agree that “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” It has been awonderful year of transitioning for all of us- even better than we expected, praise God! And now we have even more exciting news!

We had no idea last March that God would not be finished adding to our family with the adoption of Chernet, Mulu and Ruby. We’ve discovered that the “Room For More” title of our blog meant even more than we thought. We are thrilled to announce that we have begun the process to adopt Pavlina(16)and Vanya(14), biological siblings from Ukraine who were brought to Louisville 8 months ago. They are precious children whom we agreed to house temporarily while other arrangements were being made for a permanent placement. That was almost five weeks ago. We realized soon after they arrived that we are to be the permanent placement! So much has happened in that time with more confirmations from God, especially through Scripture, that we cannot count. Our hope is that in sharing with you some of the details that have brought us to this point, you will clearly see God’s sovereign hand at work and join in us in giving Him the glory.

On January 22nd, we felt “foolish for Christ” (I Cor. 4:10) as we sent out an email to friends and family explaining that we were being convicted to sell our house to be better stewards of our money. Scriptures about being set apart and called to spread the gospel were popping out at us in our daily Bible readings. We thought this might mean we were being prepared for some type of mission work. We committed to praying for 40 days and asked God to give us clarity. Two weeks into our 40 day period, we received an email asking for help regarding two children who had been recently adopted from Ukraine. Tim was sure this was what we were supposed to
do, especially after asking God to help us see more opportunities like what
Jesus describes in Matthew 25 (the sheep and the goats passage). Therefore, we
offered to help temporarily. The first morning they were with us, God told us
this through Scripture (it just happened to be in our reading that day!):
II Corinthians 9:6-8 “Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or undercompulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may
have an abundance for every good deed.”

Hebrews 6:10 “For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints.”

Matthew 25 :35, “I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger and you invited me in; naked, and you clothed Me… to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine,even the least of them, you did it to Me.”

Luke 6:38 “Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure- pressed down, shaken together and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”

Every morning, when we asked, “Really, God, you want us to be their family?” He has answered with a big “YES” not only through Scripture but also through little things that confirm this is what we are to do. Here are some examples:

The first week they were here, Ruby (who was never interested in the CD player) constantly played one of Mulu’s new birthday CDs- always starting with the first song, “Jesus Loves Me”. It is the first song we intentionally taught all of our other children. This time God was using Ruby to teach it to Vanya and Pavlina.

The first day they were with us, we went to our homeschool co-op where I was surprised to see Pavlina pull out her Bible while the other kids in the class were pulling out writing pieces to share. I had to smile and say “thanks” again to God when I noticed she had opened to Matthew 25 (…hungry and you gave me something to eat, thirsty…)

Such strong walls built to protect their hearts from more hurt were replaced with so many smiles, laughter and even skipping through the house as we watched in amazement.
Conversations with our other six kids confirmed that they also wanted this to happen.

Just two weeks ago, we sold a bed that was given as an unexpected gift a few months ago. The amount was exactly what we needed for the largest fee of the adoption.

Oh, there is so much more, as I said, too many confirmation to list. So, as we continue to move forward we would like to ask you to pray that God will continue to give us wisdom and guidance as we do something we never EVER would have chosen ourselves- adopt two teenagers from Ukraine! All we can do is keep believing in Him to accomplish whatever it is that He has planned for our family and hanging on to that promise that we “will not be disappointed” Romans 10:11.