“How comfortable is it to us to be able to trust the Lord in the path of duty? To believe that He will supply our wants, direct our steps, plead our cause, and control our enemies! Thus He has promised, and it belongs to Gospel simplicity to take His word against all discouragements.”
~ John Newton

Our hearts are struggling a bit to hold onto the truths proclaimed by Mr. Newton in the quote above.

This picture was taken one year ago today. We had just brought Lilyan home from China, and we wanted to capture the love surrounding her as her still-at-home siblings celebrated her homecoming.

Our at-home kids with their new sister, Lilyan Moriah

That was an amazing day, and we thank God every day for bringing our little girl home to us. But our hearts are aching to go and get our new son. Now. Today.

We had hoped to travel last week, and we never dreamed we wouldn’t have traveled by now. But here we are. Sitting. Waiting.

Waiting on paperwork that we thought would’ve been done over a week ago.

Waiting on money.

We were, once again, blessed by your generosity after our last update, and we have been able to pay our attorney the rest of his fee. We are so, so thankful for this.

But in addition to our need still to raise our travel money, we were very discouraged last week to learn that we also have to raise another $2100 to pay for all of the required post-placement visits during our son’s first six months in our home. This will have be paid up front, so we need it immediately.

We were told last night that the rest of the paperwork should be in the hands of both attorneys tomorrow, so we feel fairly confident that we will be traveling late next week, but for reasons we really can’t share yet, it’s looking more and more like we could be gone for up to two weeks now instead of just one week. This will also greatly increase the cost of our travel.

While working our way through this adoption, we have been plagued by a host of unexpected and expensive car repairs. This is so common for families who are in the middle of adoptions. Satan hates to see God’s work being done. Thankfully, God already provided for these repairs through a gift from friends, and we can’t begin to express our gratitude for that blessing. He has promised; ” . . . He will supply our wants, direct our steps, plead our cause . . .”

God has a plan. He has the timing of our son’s homecoming safely in hand; He has already determined those He will work through to provide the rest of the money needed to save this child. Please pray for our hearts as we strive not to lose sight of this.

This little boy is dearly loved by the Father who created him and then orchestrated all paths to bring him to us. The Father who named him a Rosenow before we even knew he existed.

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

The happy part of this discouraging timing is that we will now get to be here for our new grandson’s baptism and party on Sunday. We are very grateful for this. The reality of this new little life is a bright spot in the midst of the fog.

As always, we ask that you pray for our hearts, our son, and our needs. We need the remaining funds pretty much right now. Feel free to share this blog post.

If you feel led to help with the remaining needed funds, the donation info and the new figures (which, while causing us to gasp, are no surprise to our all-sufficient God) are as follows:

• Travel (plane tickets, hotel, meals, car rental — based on two weeks now instead of just one): Approximately $5000
• Payment for required post-placement visits: $2100

HOW TO DONATE TO OUR SON’S ADOPTION

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”