Fridays are usually our library days (their favorite place to go... They get it from both their daddy AND me! We're book geeks!)! Fridays are also our Friday Hope Days. The kids always wear their Hope Shirts and is the day I'm always looking forward to checking my email as we get a weekly update from our agency. Unfortunately still no referrals, but that's ok!
So... Michael and I have been doing a study together online and reading a book by Craig Groeschel (amazing pastor!! He's got many great sermons online at lifechurch.tv . We're a big fan of the sermon series "Weird"!) called Chazown (pronounced khaw-ZONE). It's an amazing book/study so far and it's all about determining God's Chazown (which means vision in Hebrew)
"God will call you to do something you can't do on your own, so you will have to
take a step of faith into the unknown. The only way you'll accomplish it is to trust
completely the heart and power of God. That way, when God accomplishes His
vision through you, God will get the credit....
If you have the ability to accomplish it without God, then it's not God's
Chazown (vision) for you, and God won't get the glory for it."
- Chazown, by Craig Groeschel
Made me think of our adoption experience... I'd wanted to adopt for years, since I was a child even! Briefly, after marrying Michael, I looked up about adopting and found out that the average costs of International adoption cost in the thousands. I chalked that off with a "Well, maybe someday when we're much older and actually have the money to do it!"
5 years later, God began nudging us more and more, so I began research again, and obviously, the costs of adoption had not gone down at all. As we felt led to Ethiopia and found the average cost to be between $25,000-$28,000, my heart sank... I knew God wanted us to do it, but I was like "Really, God? You want US to come up with twenty thousand some dollars? HOW??" I looked through our budget and finances and had no idea where we'd come up with that much.... I mean, over several years time, yes, but in just months or a years time?! It literally was absolutely impossible, and I'm not exaggerating. I'll be honest! The cost of this adoption is more than half of Michael's annual income, so it's obviously not just pocket change...
The more I researched, prayed, and felt nudges from God, I prayed, "You're right, God. It IS impossible. Impossible for us to do it on our own. So if we jump in with both feet, You're gonna have to provide a way to make this happen..." So, on October 21, 2010 we took a huge leap of faith and applied to Children's Hope International. I knew He would make it all happen somehow but still doubted throughout the process... Michael has been my rock throughout the whole process, never doubting God's provision and always reminding me to trust God and be patient....
Here we are, almost a year later and we have gotten almost the entire amount needed and are just a few hundred dollars short. God is completing this Chazown (vision) and even though it was impossible, He has made it/is making it possible. HE gets the glory!!!
God's vision for our life is not finished, yet, with this adoption. We're feeling called to do much more and hopefully in the coming years (or in God's time) we'll be living His vision of orphan care and missions work!
As for an update on our matching grant... We got SO close to our goal of $2500 (matched to $5000) and are just a few hundred dollars short! Isn't God awesome?! We are SO SO thankful to everyone who was so generous and gave! THANK YOU!!
And................... Look what I received this afternoon!
COOKBOOKS!!!!!! The kids were as excited as I was!
All 10 boxes worth!
All nicely boxed up - 22 in a box
Front Cover
Inside
Full cover from the back - Comes with stand to hold your cookbook up!
Don't they look great?! I am SO excited to have these and I know lots of other people are as well! If you've already bought and paid for yours, it'll be shipped out first thing tomorrow morning! These have more than 300 of the Martin family (my side of the family) favorite recipes! I'm so glad to have them all in one book and not on my computer or scribbled onto a piece of paper! And if you're interested in one, it's not too late to order, as we ordered plenty extra! We've got about 40 extra up for grabs, so if you want one, you better act fast because I've gotten several more orders! :) 100% of the proceeds will finish paying the costs of our adoption! Costs are:
$20 for 1
$40 for 2
$60 for 3
$75 for 4
$90 for 5
(Prices include shipping!)
You can order on the right hand side of the page, if you scroll down a bit, you'll see where!