Relentless Love Returns

It has been about 9 months since we had to remove our blog..but we are back with a VERY EXCITING UPDATE! Let me re-cap our journey and then I will catch everyone up to where we are today!

In June of 2012 my husband, Tom and I decided to go on a mission trip to Ethiopia to commemorate our 5-year wedding anniversary. We spent ten days serving in Ethiopia through various ministry outreach programs.  Most of our time was spent working with the people of Korah, an impoverished leper, HIV and TB community adjacent and dependent upon a local trash dump for survival.  While working in Korah, God allowed us to see, touch, feel, work, and live beside those considered the least of these, living in poverty, despair, brokenness, and desperation.  In our first overseas mission, God graced us with His eyes and broke our hearts for a culture and people half way across the world.  We went there with a mission that was planned, but what we didn’t know was that he had an even greater mission for Tom and I when he sent us half way around the world.  It came in the form of a small girl whose name was ‘Hope.’

‘Hope’ (we cannot use her actual name) was a true divine appointment with an undeniable purpose.  When we first arrived in Korah, we were welcomed with a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony. Children were running around everywhere and Hope crawled up into my lap. Many of the children had mothers within the village so I began asking where her mother was. No one seemed to know. Finally, one of our interpreters spoke directly to Hope and we found out that she did not have a mother, or a father. I knew then and there God had placed her in my lap for a reason, and my life would never be the same. Day after day, Hope would smile, wave, or hug everyone in our group upon our arrival, but ultimately she would search the crowd and find me. I remember the first morning after we met, she came running toward me, jumped into my arms and held me in an embrace as if she had been apart from me for years, not just one night. In that moment, I realized I was not just holding a child, I was holding MY child.  The rest is history as the Holy Spirit formed a bond that was unbreakable not only between us, but between she and Tom as well.

The first time she climbed into my lap

By the time we were leaving, both Tom and I felt that Hope was part of our family and the love for her we had both developed was indescribable. On our last day in Korah, Hope leaned over and spoke soft words into my ear in her native language, Amharic.  Our interpreter translated the words, which meant, “Are you coming back?”  We so desperately wanted to tell her, “YES! We are coming back to bring you home with us!” As we drove away from Korah that day, she chased our vehicle to the end of the village smiling and waving hoping we would turn around or return again.

We returned for a visit this past July (2014), it only confirmed the bond God had formed over 2 years ago as she leapt into our embrace once again. At that time, although we had been relentlessly pursuing her adoption since we had met her 2 years prior, we were still unsure if she would ever be able to come home with us. To be completely honest, we thought it was over. Saying goodbye again to our precious girl was too painful to even put into words. But there was one thing we did know for sure, and that was that our love for her reached far beyond the borders that continued to separate us..she was our daughter, forever. The relentless love that brought us this far was not going to end…ever. 

Seeing her again brought me to my knees...

In our arms once again

We visited the home where she lived while she waited 

"I Love You"

Saying Goodbye to Daddy

Today (March 26, 2015) is a day that we have been dreaming about, wishing and hoping for, praying and weeping over, and begging on our knees…scratch that, begging with our faces on the ground asking God for this…for over the last two years and nine months. Facing EVERY obstacle possible, with a million “no’s” being shouted at us from every direction, and clinging to the hope we only have in Christ, today we received our OFFICIAL REFERRAL for ‘Hope.’ In the adoption process, this is what the adoptive families wait to receive once all their paperwork has been processed that officially matches them with their child. Ours was a little different in that we have known our sweet daughter since we began this process so long ago. All the while, not knowing, but hoping in faith that this day would come.  And IT’S HERE!!!!

When we began this journey we knew that we were stepping out on a leap of faith and that we would be stretched in many ways that are outside our comfort zone. We are thankful that we have the ability to provide for our children’s daily needs, but there is a significant amount of money needed for the process of international adoption. We began fundraising back in 2012 and were able to raise close to $10,000. However, that money was lost when our previous agency was indicted for fraud in 2014. Because of that, we have now signed with a new agency and have had to start the process again from scratch, paying many fees twice. Tom and I are asking EVERYONE to please consider being a part of this miraculous story as it still is not over and help us bring Hope HOME!!!!! With the news of our referral also came a bill for $16,300 that is due immediately. We still need about $25,000 more to complete the entire adoption process. We know God is faithful, has brought us this far, and we have NO doubt that he will provide through ways we never imagined! Please consider making a donation toward our adoption!

Here is a breakdown of our expenses:

Referral Fee- $16,300.00 (DUE THIS WEEK)

Includes:

Agency Fee: $2,650

Home Study Review: $300

Post Adoption Liability: $300

Dossier Fee: $525

Ethiopia Country Fee: $10,200

In Country Fee: $1,000 (Child’s Medical, Passport, Birth Certificate, Document Translation, etc)

Child Investigation Fee: $850

Pair Letter Authentication: $175

Validation Liability: $300

Airfare- $5,000 (2 round trip tickets and 1 one-way)

Hotel- $800 for 2 trips (court trip and embassy trip)

Food- $500 for 2 trips

Driver- $200 for 2 trips

Tips for Guest House staff- $200

Miscellaneous- $2,000 (federal fingerprinting, in-country care for Hope, baggage, etc)

Total Funds Needed: $25,000

WAYS TO DONATE:
Click on our PayPal button in the right column to donate online. You must view full website, not mobile mode to access this button.

Please click here to make a donation through our gofundme account.

To mail a check, please contact us for the address.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support! We are so excited to continue to share this journey with all of you and can't wait to officially introduce you to our sweet daughter, Hope!