God's Blessings

Praise the LORD, all nations!

Extol him, all peoples!

For great is his steadfast love toward us,

and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.

Praise the LORD!

(Psalm 117 ESV)

I have wanted to share this post for sometime now but I just can’t find the words to do it justice. This has been an amazing month for us. God continues to work in our hearts and lives, transforming us to be more like Him. He continues to provide in amazing ways as we learn to live dependently on Him.

Our adoption account has sat on empty since we sent off our dossier to China. Yes, we had a need of $13,500 and a deadline 3-4 months away, yet we felt confident that the Lord would provide. I had some ideas in mind of how I thought He would provide but slowly, one by one, those doors closed.  I thought of grand ideas for fundraising even went as far as making a few things (some art work and homemade jam) but after much prayer I did not have a sense of peace about it so I did not move forward. The last thing I want is to manipulate the situation or try to guilt people into giving.  So I waited, and waited. I began to get discouraged and as I crawled in to bed one night I prayed “Lord, please just make this clear. I know you called us to this child but I don’t see how this can happen. Please make things clear. I want your will not mine.” You will not believe what happened next….

I stopped by the post office to pick up my mail and I seen a little red envelope sticking out of all the bills and junk mail. My first thought was “How exciting! Someone sent $2 for Nathaniel’s birthday!” I tore open the envelope to find a letter from a lady in California. She shared with me how the Lord had put it on her heart to help us with our adoption and she hoped this would bless us and encourage us. Attached was a check for $1000!! Tears flowed down my face as I began thanking Jesus. Yes, I was so thankful for the money but more so for serving such a mighty God who cares so much about me to hear my cries and answer me. I am also thankful for this family who acting in obedience to reach out and help a complete stranger.

It doesn’t stop here. Just today a man walks into the bank and asked me “do you do yard sales?” and I replied, “Yes, I am having a yard sale.” He replied, “Well it must be God. I have a truck full of Home Interior stuff that I want to give you to help you with your adoption. You should be able to get around $1000 for it.”

The blessings continue to fall. A co-worker, who has helped us in more ways than I can even put into a blog post, donated $100 to our fund. She also is contributing to our yard sale AND donating a Prada purse that she purchased on a trip to Paris!

This month our adoption fund has grown by $2043.15 and we received $1300 in yard sale donations thus far! Overwhelmed with God’s blessing!

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. Hebrews 11:6

So that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. 1 Corinthians 2:5

Happy Birthday Nathaniel!

Nathaniel’s birthday is coming up and I want to do something special for his big day. He will be celebrating in China with the wonderful caregivers and his little friends at the House of Love. I am thankful to God for placing him in my path and placing him in the hands of two wonderful organizations that have provided the best care possible as he waits for us.

Click on the link to see his first steps at the House of Love: HERE

Our need right now is so great and yet the Lord has given me peace. He called us to this precious child, not only to be his family but to share the word of God with him and to raise him up to be a warrior for Christ. God has this covered. He is working on hearts. He is preparing the way. I have no idea where this money is coming from but I don’t need a plan B when God is my plan A. So as we patiently wait for God’s provision we want to do something special for Nathaniel’s birthday. 

Nathaniel will be turning 2 on May 18^th and to celebrate this special day we ask that you send Nathaniel a birthday card (homemade preferred but will take store boughtJ) with a $2 donation to AOW inside.

You can mail his birthday cards to:

Chad and Kristy Gray

PO BOX 2364

Cullman, Al 35056

We will cherish the birthday cards received and one day share with him the story of all the child he helped on his 2nd birthdayJ

On May 31^st we will add up our donation and purchase shoes to send to An Orphan's Wish to support their You Got Sole Project:)

If you feel the Lord is leading you to give to our adoption fund as well please note on your card how to designate the money.

Thank you for making Nathaniel’s birthday so special!

He is WALKING!!

This is just too precious

My BOY

WALKING

you must take a look:)

Click HERE!  

He is quickly approaching his 2nd birthday!

We will be having a big celebration.

Wish he were here to enjoy it:(

The Cost…

The most asked question we getJ

2^nd is why so much?

So here is a run down of how it works, where we are, and how God has provided.

Nathaniel was part of a program for hard to place children within our agency….so from the start the agency waived their fees of $5800.

The home study was roughly $2000.00 plus the cost of postage, copies, birth certificates, doctor visits, lab work, authentication, certification, and misc. cost put us at another $1000+. I have to chuckle at the way we came up with this money. It was actually a terrible week with a silver lining. I was backing out of the drive way when I ran into my husband’s car. If he had parked where I told him it would not have got hit but we would not have received a large check from the insurance either. I got a friend to fix my car at a very discounted price. I now have a black mirror on one side and silver on the other but nobody has noticed (until now). Then I was rear ended when taking the kids to school. I got a little crack in my car bumper and a generous check from the insurance company. We chose to live with the small crack and use the money to complete our home study. Driving a minivan with two colored mirrors and a little dent is a small sacrifice we are very willing to makeJ

$900 to CIS for our finger printing and biometrics and it was all covered by our yard sale! We hope to have another one before we leave. If you are local and would like to donate we would greatly appreciate it!

Once we had all of our documents complete we had to send them to Houston, TX to the Chinese Consulate. The cost was around $600 but we had a very unexpected surprise. Chad’s cousin not only delivered them for us saving us $200 but she also covered the fee. We paid nothing!

Thanks to Chad’s cousin we were able to pay the $900 fee to China Center for Children’s Welfare and Adoption. I assume this covers translation and processing. Just my guess.

So that brings us to dateJ

What is left?

Visa for Nate:  $230

Visa for me: $140

Travel (airfare, hotel, food): $4850

Airfare for Nate home: $900

Legal Fees in China: $1385

Orphanage Donation (mandatory): $6100

Post Home Study Updates: $1500

Re-adoption Cost:??

Did I miss anything?

I am really scared about going by myself but as of right now I don’t see any other way. We simply don’t have the money. To add an extra person it would be around: $3500-$4000. If God provides I will be bringing Colin as my sidekick. Chad will not be able to get off work at the start of the school year.

So as a re-cap:

We have 4-5 months until we bring our little guy home and in need of $13,600!

God is our plan A so there is no need for plan B’s.

No worries, God will provide.

PS… I hear our dossier is in the Review Room! That could mean our LOA is right around the cornerJ

ONE STEP CLOSER

A Little History

I joined my son's province yahoo group but

I am always so busy and little access to the Internet

 I hardly ever get to get on and check things out...

but this morning as we were doing a little yard work

for Chad's grandmother....

I took a little Internet break

and read a little post

from said yahoo group.

It was giving the history of his province

which included a history of

  terrible suffering and survival against all odds.

The parent who was so kind to take the time to write this

ended his post like this:

Once my wife and I realized that our defiant, muscular, seemingly misbehaving three-year-old was a mountain child, hard-wired over 2,000 years to rebel against any conquering force, including "the Americans," it all made sense, and we were much more successful as parents of a powerful warrior princess. Good luck. You're probably gonna need it

Hoping for some new pictures or our warrior prince any day now:)

Visiting Guizhou- LWB

http://www.lwbcommunity.org/visiting-qiandongnan-guizhou

Keep Your Eyes on Him!

Sunday we had plans to meet with one of our pastors for some guidance with our adoption.Schedules got crossed and the meeting didn’t take place. We rescheduled and went on to preaching with the kids. We hadn’t been seated for 5 minutes when I complete realized why this meeting didn’t take place… the message Pastor David was preaching was meant for us to hear. Yes, I just have to share:

Lesson 1:

Most have heard of the story of how Jesus feeds a crowd of

Five thousand with five loafs of bread and two fish.

I know I have heard it hundreds of times…

But this night,

The pastor pointed out something I had never caught before:

But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”

Matthew 14:16

David pointed out how Jesus asked the disciples to do something

They did not have the resources to do.

They did not have the resources to feed five thousand yet Jesus tells them to do it.

Because they acted in obedience to Christ, 5,000 people were feed that day

All from 5 loafs of bread and 2 fish.

Wow.

The Lord called us to adopt this child and yet we do not have the resources to get him home.

What great joy it is

To know that because we are acting in obedience to Him

He will provide the resources!

Not only is He supplying our needs

He is using us to meet the needs in others.

How awesome is He!

Lesson 2:

Another familiar story- Jesus walks on water

But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.”

Matthew 14:30

Yes, as soon as Peter takes his eyes of Jesus and focuses on the problem (the wind and the waves)

He SINKS!

Hello, when will we learn?

When we take our eyes off Jesus we SINK!

For us it has been sinking into a pity party.

I have to admit the adoption process (both times)

Have been very isolating for us.

We have struggled with what to do or how to handle some difficult situations.

We have struggled with hurt feelings and some very strong emotions.

We have spent much time in prayer

Seeking the Lord and asking for wisdom and discernment in it all.

We have often felt defeated.

This night was a strong reminder 

To keep our eyes on Him.

To those who are in the process and struggling with funding:

To those who are in the process and dealing with

lack of understanding and compassion from loved ones:

To those of you in the process and are facing racism

from loved ones or from strangers:

KEEP YOUR EYES ON HIM

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written,

“Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Romans 12:17-21