BIG NEWS!!!!

What a difference a week makes....a week ago I wrote how we are raising money to help put grants on three orphans to help families adopt them...well this week I'm writing that we have committed to one of them!!!!!!!

I've found when I listen closely to what God is telling me to do, sometimes it's shocking! I called the ministry on Monday or Tuesday and told the lady our plans to help out the orphans. She was happy of course. I told her several times we were NOT adopting just helping out.... By Thursday Jon and I were talking about adopting....I was scared, a few years ago we tried to adopt a blind baby from India. We had all the fees paid, waiting for travel when we found out she was completely deaf! At that time, Sam was still in and out of the hospital and we did not feel we could handle the situation so we backed out of the adoption. It was awful and I have ALWAYS felt guilty about it! All the fees that we had paid in remained on her account and one great thing happened, an English christian couple fostered her in India and ended up adopting her. Because we had started the process of adopting her, that agency had found a foster home for her to help her learn to live in a family. So I feel God used us to help her anyhow & it even paid some of her fees. But it was a terribly traumatic situation for us/me. It was like a miscarriage to me. So that has always been in the back of my mind.

Of course now as we have had more experience with Sam (who has some hearing loss) I feel that I could cope with whatever happens with this new adoption. We are assuming she will be as delayed as Sam is and are prepared for that. If she is not, then we'll be thankful. When we adopted Shad, we thought he was COMPLETELY blind. All the paperwork had that on it...then I got him at the orphanage and found he was ONLY blind in one eye. Big difference & what happiness we had about that!

International adoption is not safe nor is it easy. You don't know much about the child and just have to go on faith. We are committed to this child no matter what issues/diagnosis she has. I can't share anymore info about her until we have all our pre approval paperwork in so I'll soon be able to give her name and show her picture.

Please pray that God will provide the funds. We of course have no savings but God hears the cry of the orphans and I know we experienced miracles of provision in Shad's adoption and in the other adoption that didn't work out (but God still used our willingness) The funny thing is in that adoption, we actually had the money for it and some folks did give but we could have probably scrimped and done it ourselves- with Shad and this one, we have NO resources to do it!!! But God is able If you 'd like to give our address is Grace Church 7060 Berry Road, Zephyrhills, Fl 33540. You can give through our church just mark clearly it is for the Clanton adoption & you will get tax credit at the end of the year. thank you