He liked it!
The Lee Three
Monday, July 12, 2010
The Beginning of our Adoption Fund
Right here it is. All $12+ of it.
Unbeknownst to Jason and I, this past Friday afternoon our neices and nephew and their friends (whose family is also adopting from the same agency we are) had a lemonade and cookie stand at the end of the Ehresman driveway. Before they opened their stand, they decided all the proceeds of their business venture would go toward the adoption funds of our family and the other friends' family.
They made $26 total. Pretty stinkin' good for selling lemonade and cookies!
When I got handed this baggie of our half of the money, I could have just cried. How sweet of those kids to think about bringing home African kids from half way around the world. I love it!
Another quick, cute story along the same lines: Two weeks ago Mya and Sydney were playing at the Zielke house with the Zielke girls and some neighbor girls. Stephanie Zielke texted me to say they were all playing "adoption" with some dolls . . . and even talking about the paperwork. I love how God might use our adoption to shape little lives outside of our immediate family!
Unbeknownst to Jason and I, this past Friday afternoon our neices and nephew and their friends (whose family is also adopting from the same agency we are) had a lemonade and cookie stand at the end of the Ehresman driveway. Before they opened their stand, they decided all the proceeds of their business venture would go toward the adoption funds of our family and the other friends' family. They made $26 total. Pretty stinkin' good for selling lemonade and cookies!
When I got handed this baggie of our half of the money, I could have just cried. How sweet of those kids to think about bringing home African kids from half way around the world. I love it!
Another quick, cute story along the same lines: Two weeks ago Mya and Sydney were playing at the Zielke house with the Zielke girls and some neighbor girls. Stephanie Zielke texted me to say they were all playing "adoption" with some dolls . . . and even talking about the paperwork. I love how God might use our adoption to shape little lives outside of our immediate family!
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Our Three Kids in Africa
First of all, I need to update you on the ages and genders of the three kids we are adopting. We changed them! If you remember from a previous post, we originally planned to adopt a five year old boy, three year old girl and infant of either gender.
After talking to Troy and Pam Nesbitt (Troy is one of our pastors at Cornerstone Church; he and Pam adopted two boys from Ethiopia a couple years ago), we changed the ages and genders of the children we will be adopting. New drumroll please . . .
We are adopting two girls between the ages of 3 and 5 and a boy 0-2 years old.
We truly believe God has led us to these ages/genders of children. Since we already decided on three, we are choosing to give each of our kids a "buddy" to go through life with. We are so excited about being a family of six with two girls and two little boys. Jason and I both think this family make-up fits us very well.
It wasn't until two days after we decided on this new family make-up that I realized the incredible gift God gave me.
My sister and I are very close and we have been all of our lives. I can't imagine any part of life without my sister. For a good portion of my early life, therefore, I didn't know what I would do if I didn't have two girls close together in age after I got married. I had to have two girls, close in age! But, about 11 years ago (when I was living in Thailand), I distinctly remember realizing it would be wrong if I kept up that thinking. So, I submitted this desire to God and decided to let Him be in control of what kids I had down the road (and I honestly didn't think about it a whole lot after that). A few years later, my nephew Brady was born and he completely stole my heart. Oh how I loved that little boy (and then the idea of having little boys)! Another several years later, after Jason and I knew we were going to adopt a little boy and name him Abram, I began picturing myself with all boys. The crazy thing is that I was totally okay with that.
So you can imagine my surprise and joy when it dawned on me (two days after deciding on our new family make-up) that I was going to have two girls, close together in age. And God let me CHOOSE this! It is a redemptive moment in the story God is unfolding of our family's journey through infertility and adoption. I could have never known this beautiful blessing waiting on the other side of the pain of infertility. God is so incredibly GOOD!
So back to the title of this post. Two nights ago I laid in bed thinking about and praying for our three kids in Africa. God already knows exactly who they are. He has chosen them specifically for our family.
Our two girls and little boy are probably very hot and thirsty. They will probably only eat 2-3 meals today and be hungry. They probably wear the same outfit day after day.
Do the girls know each other? Do they have friends in the orphanage? Do they wonder if they will ever have a mommy and daddy? Do they dream of being part of a family? Does our little boy have someone to snuggle him up and rock him to sleep?
I don't know the answer to these questions.
Here is what I do know:
But you, O God, do see trouble and grief; you consider it to take it in hand . . . you are the helper of the fatherless. Psalm 10:14
(These kids are from one of the orphanages that our agency works with in the country we are adopting from. By no means are any of these "our" kids.")
After talking to Troy and Pam Nesbitt (Troy is one of our pastors at Cornerstone Church; he and Pam adopted two boys from Ethiopia a couple years ago), we changed the ages and genders of the children we will be adopting. New drumroll please . . .
We are adopting two girls between the ages of 3 and 5 and a boy 0-2 years old.
We truly believe God has led us to these ages/genders of children. Since we already decided on three, we are choosing to give each of our kids a "buddy" to go through life with. We are so excited about being a family of six with two girls and two little boys. Jason and I both think this family make-up fits us very well.
It wasn't until two days after we decided on this new family make-up that I realized the incredible gift God gave me.
My sister and I are very close and we have been all of our lives. I can't imagine any part of life without my sister. For a good portion of my early life, therefore, I didn't know what I would do if I didn't have two girls close together in age after I got married. I had to have two girls, close in age! But, about 11 years ago (when I was living in Thailand), I distinctly remember realizing it would be wrong if I kept up that thinking. So, I submitted this desire to God and decided to let Him be in control of what kids I had down the road (and I honestly didn't think about it a whole lot after that). A few years later, my nephew Brady was born and he completely stole my heart. Oh how I loved that little boy (and then the idea of having little boys)! Another several years later, after Jason and I knew we were going to adopt a little boy and name him Abram, I began picturing myself with all boys. The crazy thing is that I was totally okay with that.
So you can imagine my surprise and joy when it dawned on me (two days after deciding on our new family make-up) that I was going to have two girls, close together in age. And God let me CHOOSE this! It is a redemptive moment in the story God is unfolding of our family's journey through infertility and adoption. I could have never known this beautiful blessing waiting on the other side of the pain of infertility. God is so incredibly GOOD!
So back to the title of this post. Two nights ago I laid in bed thinking about and praying for our three kids in Africa. God already knows exactly who they are. He has chosen them specifically for our family.
Our two girls and little boy are probably very hot and thirsty. They will probably only eat 2-3 meals today and be hungry. They probably wear the same outfit day after day.
Do the girls know each other? Do they have friends in the orphanage? Do they wonder if they will ever have a mommy and daddy? Do they dream of being part of a family? Does our little boy have someone to snuggle him up and rock him to sleep?
I don't know the answer to these questions.
Here is what I do know:
But you, O God, do see trouble and grief; you consider it to take it in hand . . . you are the helper of the fatherless. Psalm 10:14
(These kids are from one of the orphanages that our agency works with in the country we are adopting from. By no means are any of these "our" kids.")
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