“I hope in God, I pray on, and look yet for the answer.”
~ George Mueller

It’s been a week now since we posted our last update and shared the news about our next adoption.

It has been a week of learning as Scott and I attended Christian Alliance for Orphans 2015 Orphan Summit, where we were privileged to listen to one of the best attachment specialists in the world of adoption. We came away from those workshops even more certain of our calling to bring “Marcus” home to our family, and even more excited about what God is about to do in and through our family to begin healing in this child’s heart and to stretch our family to new heights in our relationships with each other and with Him.

It’s been a week of praising God as we saw the first donations come into “Marcus’s” TSC account to help us accomplish our goals of bringing this new son home within the next six weeks.

But it has also been a week that has tried our faith and caused us to fall to our knees and cry out for answers to our prayers because we are still far short of what’s needed to even start this adoption.

In spite of the gifts of love that have been sent for this adoption, we still need another $1000 before we can even begin our home study and another $2900 for the placing agency before we can officially begin the process. There will be more due soon after that, but these fees should already have been paid last week in order to get things going. It has been hard to watch the days pass while “Marcus” waits.

Although there have been times when our hearts felt discouraged, and fear and doubt threatened to shake our conviction that God will provide what’s needed to bring this son home, we know that God is faithful. As Scott said, “We have almost a half-million dollars’ worth of children in our home right now as evidence that God keeps His promises.”

As I sat on the deck this afternoon, watching our children play together, I marveled at the incredible family God has built here. One by one, the younger ones ran to show me some new trick that one of their older siblings had patiently taught them; their laughter rang through the neighborhood as they wrestled and practiced cartwheels and played tug-of-war; the very real love they all have for each other was as tangible as the colors, smells, and sounds of nature that caressed my senses.

And it was so easy to picture this new dark little face in the mix. He needs to be here. His healing needs to begin now. Our hearts long to dive into this without losing even one more day — and certainly without losing another whole week.

Would you please consider becoming part of this child’s story? If so, please jot us a note (or leave us a comment) to tell us that you are praying with us. That you care about this child’s future. That you are willing to stand by our sides as we step into this new season of our lives. It would mean so much to know that you are in this, too.

And if you want to help us financially as we wait for the funds to get this moving, you can either:

donate online here

or

mail a check to:
The Shepherd’s Crook Orphan Ministry
P.O. Box 773
West Chester, OH 45071

Either way, be sure you designate that the donation is for “Marcus Rosenow”

In closing, I want to share this quote from C. S. Lewis. He is comparing our lives here on earth to our eternal lives to come in Heaven, but it struck me that this is also a beautiful description of what happens when a child gets a fresh start — especially when it’s a start that will lead him to know his Heavenly Father. Won’t you please be a part of this little boy’s “coming up a flower”; his “real waking.”

“Think of yourself just as a seed patiently waiting in the earth: waiting to come up a flower in the Gardener’s good time, up into the real world, the real waking. I suppose that our whole present life, looked back on from there, will seem only a drowsy half-waking. We are here in the land of dreams. But cock-crow is coming.” 

Our new son, known as “Marcus” for now. This is the only picture we are allowed to share right now, but stay tuned.