Saying Good-bye to Extravagance

ex·trav·a·gance  

Noun: 

1.  Lack of restraint in spending money or use of resources

2.  A thing on which too much money has been spent or which has used up too many resources.

Synonyms:  prodigality-wastefulness-extravagancy-waste

We live in a society that we want more and complain about what we do have.  I have been to Mexico, Brazil and Costa Rica.  Each out of country trip, I have been on, the one thing that is overwhelming is the happiness of the people.  They are living in one room huts with dirt floors and no running water yet they are content.

I recall one emotional time in Brazil when I was holding a little child that had crawled up in my lap.  The mom started saying something to me in Portuguese.  I looked at our translator and said, "What is she saying to me?"  The translator looked back at me with tears and said she wants you to take her baby with you so she can live in America.  It broke my heart.  Do we really have it better in America?  The place where we're worried about keeping up with the people next door.  We are worried about getting the next thing that is bigger and better instead of helping the needy.

James 1:27 says, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."  God commands us to take care of orphans and widows. 

We've had several people ask us where we are going to put another child in our 3 bedroom house.  Honestly, that is the least of our worries.   This sweet boy just needs to be loved and THAT we can do.  Endale's identity and self-worth will not be wrapped around whether or not he had a bedroom of his own.  Instead, I pray that Endale knows without a shadow of a doubt that he is a precious gift from God and loved by the Creator of the universe.

Sometimes we just need perspective.  Take a minute to watch this video.

Puzzle Progress

We have sold  169  puzzle pieces!!!!

 

 I am so thankful for each and everyone one these pieces sold.  They each represent a person(s) who is living love out loud.  Each piece is helping give Endale a forever family where he will be loved and accepted and experience the love of God every day!  These pieces are bringing people together that we have known over the years all for a common cause.  Some pieces represent family.  Some pieces represent loved ones that are already sitting at the feet of Jesus.  Some pieces represent junior high, high school and youth group friends.  Some pieces represent families and youth we've known through ministry over the years.  Some pieces represent a former employer who has been touched by adoption in a very special way.  His wife is adopted and he and his wife adopted adopted twins!!!  Each piece to our puzzle is so very, very special.

If you would like to be a piece to our adoption puzzle or see all the names that represent pieces to Endale's homecoming, please click this link.
I cannot wait to see it finished!!

Cultural Lapse #1

We've had several laughs over our first of probably several cultural faux pas.  From the moment we received an email from the agency with Endale's name in it, we've been calling him Endale (pronounced "En-dale") just like it looks with our American dialect.  Matt was visiting with is Dad on the phone today and he says something like, "Do you think his name might be En-dal-e (pronounced "En-dah-lay")?"  Hmmm.  Well, I guess, if he was from Africa.  Wait, he is from Africa!!!!  We looked up his name and it is most certainly "En-da-le" and rolls off the tongue like the beautiful Ethiopian name that it is!  We laughed and now will have to spend the next few days un-doing the pronunciation that has enveloped our hick, American brains.

Putting Maylee Grace to bed, we were explaining that we had been saying Endale's name wrong.  She informed us that she didn't like the new way of saying it and she was going to call him En-dale.  So, in typical Matt fashion, he started making up different ways to say Maylee Grace, so it sounded more.....uh, cultural?  :)  I told her that she had plenty of time to get used to saying his name the right way and maybe she could pray about her willingness to learn to pronounce it the correct way.  (She is a Baptist girl....change may be difficult.)

On a more serious note, we looked up the meaning of his name.  Endale means "As He Said."  My thoughts immediately went back to the previous post on Psalm 37.  "Take delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart."  As He said....He gave me this desire and just as He said, He is carrying out His plan for our family and baby Endale.  As He said......ahhhh....goosebumps.

Puzzle Progress

We have sold 131 puzzle pieces!  We're making progress.  The first pieces were put together today.  As I gazed across all puzzle pieces with names on them, I was so overcome with emotion.  Each of these people are investing in our little Endale without knowing him or having seen him.  What a beautiful, beautiful image to see all those pieces come together to complete the whole outside of the puzzle!  It is a humbling place to be.  We know that we are fully relying on God to provide every dollar we need to bring Endale home.  Thank you for being a part of God's handiwork.  We are truly, truly grateful.

Perfect Provision

God has in His perfect way provided up to this date exactly what we need for upcoming costs.  I debated on how much information to disclose, but I want all the glory to go to God for His perfect provision.  I am overwhelmed and humbled at who He has used to bless us on this journey!  When our home study is given to us completed (Monday or Tuesday this week!), we will have to pay the remainder of our home study fee ($500).  Then, we mail a copy of our home study to the US Citizen and Immigration Service which costs $720 plus $85 for each of us ($890 total).  So, we were trusting God for $1390 to pay these fees.

Can I tell you what HE did!!!!???  As of today, we have sold 131 puzzle pieces which totals $1310.  I know what you're thinking.  That is still short of the $1390.  Well, in the mail this week, I was returned 2 cashier's checks from CYFD, because I had included too many for our fingerprints.  I thought it was per card (we had 4 cards) and it was actually per adult.  So, I got $66 back in the mail!  I can pull together $14 and we have all that is needed this week! 

God is so good!

Psalm 37

"Take delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart."  Psalm 37:4

This verse can be found in several places in our home...in scrapbooks, under a baby picture of our son and even hanging in our daughter's room.  I love this verse, because it so specifically speaks of God's goodness and provision.  Sometimes, you can read a verse over and over again and one day it magnifies a whole new meaning.  This verse says, "He will give you the desires of your heart".  Surprisingly, we've faced a few people that have shared their uninvited opinions with us about our choice to adopt a child with special needs.  You see, this is more than just something we're doing on a whim.  God has instilled this desire in my soul long ago and now He is fulfilling that desire!  That is exciting.  He is the "instiller" and the "fulfiller"!  He has been preparing my heart for years for this desire to become a reality in His time.  To me, this is exhilarating to be a part of God working so evidently in my life.  I can only pray that God might use us for others to see what love is all about...

Love is not picky.

Love is not reserved for certain people.

Love does not have to look like us or function like us.

Love can span the globe from one continent to another.

Tears of Joy

Matt and I were attending the Send North America conference with our worship pastor, Gerome, and his other half, Bianca.  We had just pulled into a massive church in Dallas called Prestonwood Baptist Church to find a place to park.  I thought I'd check my email on my phone before we went inside. 

I saw I had an email from our program director at the adoption agency.  Now that we have committed to adopt, Endale, they have moved him into a transition house where he is cared for by a nanny.  She had included in the email 20+ pictures of him!!!!  Up until this point, I had only gazed upon one picture they had of his sweet face.  The first picture I downloaded, I saw his ear to ear grin!  My heart melted and I began to cry.  I cannot express the feeling that came over me as I sat and scrolled through those pictures that are so precious to me.  This is our boy.  He is so far away.  I saw his hands and his feet and his cute little curly hair.  Tears rolled down my face as I felt short of breath over these strong emotions that came flooding over me.  I love this little boy so much already and I have not even touched his sweet skin or rocked him to sleep in my arms.  What a gift to feel love like this.  How is it that I can love him so fully when he didn't come from my womb?  It's a beautiful blessing.

The emotions that followed were pure heartache that it will take months before I will be able to hold his hand, dress his body and sing him to sleep.  May God wrap Endale in His embrace and hold him so tightly that he doesn't feel alone or unloved.  I pray that we can be God's vessel for Endale so that he might come to know God's love for him.