trying to believe

if you are here from a place called simplicity, welcome! we are a family of six, almost seven!!!! well, actually we are already seven but one of us happens to be waiting in china.

in honor of sweet linny, our story is simple. : ) we have been called by God to care for the orphan in the most intimate of ways and that is to bring them to our family. we adopted lydia in july 2008 from china as a special needs child (failure to thrive) and she has done nothing but thrive since! she is a joy to our family.

and since then, we have pressed on to God's calling and are in the process of bringing home sarahjoy. she is waiting in china, will celebrate her birthday in november when she will turn 2, and will be in our arms in december (we are praying!!!)

our first journey was miraculous. God brought us a 'special needs' child that had no special need and he did it lightening fast. he knew just who would fit in our family.

this journey has been a different kind of miraculous. we started with $0. that's right. we had just finished paying off the loan we took out for lydia's adoption and immediately felt God calling us to jump back in the game. we had nothing in the way of savings. so this adventure has been one miracle after another, laying it on God's heart for people to give to bring sarahjoy home.

we have $7000 to go. we are praying and believing that God is going to provide that. we have no debt, we live frugally, we are doing everything 'right'. but in this case, God is going to have to show up in a miraculous way because we just can't do it ourselves. at times i feel like i am anticipating a surprise party - sometime, when i am least expecting it, something big is going to happen. i rush to the mailbox, i look at strange people. i wonder how God is going to make this thing work.

other times...i am so tired of believing. we have been in this journey since november 2009 and i am weary of waiting. i have always been the person who could get a project done. this time, it's not anything i can get done. i look around, i try and figure out what i can do to produce some more money. and nothing. God just repeatedly says to me, "let me do it. this is my story."

we do not have any fundraisers going on right now. to be honest, i am not creative, i can't make things, and we have 4 little kids that take up 125% of our time. we are doing this the old fashioned way and believing that God will lay it on hearts to give to his most precious of causes, the orphan.

we have an account set up at lifesong for orphans so that gifts are tax-deductible. talk about crazy love - now that's crazy to just give money away. but maybe this is how God wants to provide. who knows. i am trying to do my part and then watch him do his.

the info is below if God would lead you to give as part of the crazy love challenge. we stand believing that we will take off in that plane to china with 100% of our funds paid for. and what a story that will be. the miraculous work of God in a real, tangible, no-doubt-about-it way.

lifesong for orphans
p.o. box 40 / 202 n. ford street
gridley, il 61744

make checks payable to 'lifesong for orphans' and write 'sanzone #1284' in the memo line.