Ephesians 1:3-6 says:
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves."
As we have been praying and spending time thinking about our new child, God has been sending the word adoption to us through scripture. This is a verse I have read over and over again and even taught on it as a student pastor, but within the last 5 months it has come alive. We are adopted as God's sons through Jesus Christ. That kind of love and passion that flows from God blows my mind away. If you put it into context of what we are walking through with this adoption, you will understand God in a whole new light. We have never had contact or even seen our future daughter, but the love we have for her is growing and blossoming. It is a love that we can't explain. She has done nothing for us, given us nothing or even interacted with us, yet we feel like she is our child. It is so hard to explain, but when I read that verse in Ephesians it makes me realize how much God loves us as His children. The word adoption is defined as, "taking into ones family." God has chosen to bring us into His family. I am grateful for all of the lessons and God moments we are having with this process, because every time I look into our child's eyes I will be reminded of God's perfect plan and love for us.
As I am writing I am also internalizing an additional thought. I have always thought I was going to miss out on some of crucial bonding moments in the beginning of this child's life that we had with Riley and Rowen, but in this moment God is showing me how wrong I am. Since we are adopting a toddler aged child I will not have had the privilege of rocking her to sleep or watching we crawl or walk for the first time, but God is bonding us. This journey He is taking us on is bonding us with Him and His heart and in turn with our future child. I may miss out on some of those initial moments, but I would not trade the journey God has been taking us on and will continue to lead us on for anything. Our foundation and memories of this child's life has already begun and her history with us began in Christ. Too cool.
We have also been overwhelmed with love and support of friends and our family that are helping us break down the walls. This process of adopting comes with a lot of waiting, uncertainty and an enormous financial burden. Coty and I have always believed that God called us to this and this is our financial responsibility, but we have been overwhelmed by the amount of people who are wanting and willing to support us. Our good friends Amanda Lowe, Lauren Duplantis (former Lauren Irons) and Kim Adamski have stepped in to help us raise some additional financial support. Amanda designed a t-shirt that we are about to begin selling. The shirts will be $15 a piece and of that $10 will go directly towards our adoption expenses. This is more than a logo or shirt design. It speaks volumes to our expression towards Africa. The red love in the design is in the center of Ethiopia. Every time you see the red love on these shirts remember to pray for our future child and for our process. We are overwhelmed by all of the love and support we have received. We can't wait to update you again on where we are in the process. Once our paperwork gets back from the Federal Government we will be ready to send everything to Ethiopia.
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves."
As we have been praying and spending time thinking about our new child, God has been sending the word adoption to us through scripture. This is a verse I have read over and over again and even taught on it as a student pastor, but within the last 5 months it has come alive. We are adopted as God's sons through Jesus Christ. That kind of love and passion that flows from God blows my mind away. If you put it into context of what we are walking through with this adoption, you will understand God in a whole new light. We have never had contact or even seen our future daughter, but the love we have for her is growing and blossoming. It is a love that we can't explain. She has done nothing for us, given us nothing or even interacted with us, yet we feel like she is our child. It is so hard to explain, but when I read that verse in Ephesians it makes me realize how much God loves us as His children. The word adoption is defined as, "taking into ones family." God has chosen to bring us into His family. I am grateful for all of the lessons and God moments we are having with this process, because every time I look into our child's eyes I will be reminded of God's perfect plan and love for us.
As I am writing I am also internalizing an additional thought. I have always thought I was going to miss out on some of crucial bonding moments in the beginning of this child's life that we had with Riley and Rowen, but in this moment God is showing me how wrong I am. Since we are adopting a toddler aged child I will not have had the privilege of rocking her to sleep or watching we crawl or walk for the first time, but God is bonding us. This journey He is taking us on is bonding us with Him and His heart and in turn with our future child. I may miss out on some of those initial moments, but I would not trade the journey God has been taking us on and will continue to lead us on for anything. Our foundation and memories of this child's life has already begun and her history with us began in Christ. Too cool.
We have also been overwhelmed with love and support of friends and our family that are helping us break down the walls. This process of adopting comes with a lot of waiting, uncertainty and an enormous financial burden. Coty and I have always believed that God called us to this and this is our financial responsibility, but we have been overwhelmed by the amount of people who are wanting and willing to support us. Our good friends Amanda Lowe, Lauren Duplantis (former Lauren Irons) and Kim Adamski have stepped in to help us raise some additional financial support. Amanda designed a t-shirt that we are about to begin selling. The shirts will be $15 a piece and of that $10 will go directly towards our adoption expenses. This is more than a logo or shirt design. It speaks volumes to our expression towards Africa. The red love in the design is in the center of Ethiopia. Every time you see the red love on these shirts remember to pray for our future child and for our process. We are overwhelmed by all of the love and support we have received. We can't wait to update you again on where we are in the process. Once our paperwork gets back from the Federal Government we will be ready to send everything to Ethiopia.
