When Jaimee and I first talked about adoption late 2020, we only knew that we wanted to continue to grow our family. Last year Jaimee and I got to be involved closely in our friend’s international adoption journey. Watching and walking through that process with them. Jaimee and I started to ask the question we were both thinking, was adoption the way the Lord wanted to bring another child into our family? We began to pray and ask God to show us a path towards this new-found desire. Just over a year raced by and we were feeling no more settled then when we had started. We felt confident that the Lord was leading our hearts in the direction or adoption, but still hesitant to plunge ourselves into the process. There were a few hurdles that had us feeling overwhelmed. Questions like: Where will we get the money? Where are we supposed to adopt from? Which agency is right for our family? We routinely felt there were more questions than answers. It would have been easy to accept defeat in the face of the unknown, but God had a much better plan in store.
This process has been an incredible time of leaning on and trusting in the Lord. God, in His perfect time worked in our hearts and began to connect us with people who would reveal next steps in this process.
Late 2021, we attended an adoption support group that was hosted by a lovely family our neighbors had told us about. We were hesitant to go, feeling like we’d have nothing to offer, and that we’d embarrass ourselves asking questions. In His goodness to us, God used this group to answer so many questions that we had, and instead we felt the love, support and brutal honesty from people who have worked through the same emotions Jaimee and I were experiencing. This was such a blessing to our family, and we continue with these new friends that God has given us.
In March 2022, we attended a marriage and family conference with a focus on providing support to adoptive families. Here again, the feeling of vulnerability abounded. We felt a bit out of place, as all other families attending had had already completed the process of adoption. During our time there, we were encouraged to set time apart to pray intentionally with one another. Jaimee and I prayed for courage to move forward with the adoption application and were overwhelmed by the peace we experienced during our prayer, and the remainder of our time at the conference. Here again, we were connecting with so many helpful and encouraging families, and pieces of God’s plan continued to be revealed.
About a week after the conference, our faith was tested. Many of you know that Jaimee had emergency surgery to have her appendix removed. When the surgery took place, Jaimee didn’t have health insurance. That hospital bill initially totaled over $40,000. We felt discouraged and overwhelmed. We were encouraged to apply for assistance directly through the hospital. We waited for their response, and in the meantime came to a full acceptance that this was completely outside of our power or control. After a few tense weeks we got a letter from the hospital stating that our entire bill was going to be covered and that the balance was now $0. The Lord has been so kind to us in this process!
We are learning that trusting God has nothing to do with our own power and ability to do that, and everything to do with our inability to control events and outcomes. While losing control feels a discomfort at first, it does ultimately produce peace and joy as we can rest in the truth that His plans for us are perfect.
After a year of feeling lost, stories and testimonies from family, neighbors, strangers and friends (both new and old) began flooding into the process, and we applied for an international adoption from India with America World Adoption in April 2022. We have been overwhelmed by God’s goodness towards our family. He has met every question with grace and has allowed the discomfort in our “not knowing”, to produce patience and full dependency on him.
Much of the adoption process still lies in front of us, and we continue to find ourselves in a new and vulnerable place. We have been awarded a $10,000 matching grant from Team127 Adoption Fund, administered by Lifesong for Orphans. They will match the first 10,000 donated to our goal. Our goal reads $35,000 this is INCLUDING our matching grant. Our goal that we are fundraising for without any grant addition is $25,000. So far we have self funded our adoption but have come to the point where we need to ask for help. Asking for your help is not something that comes naturally for our family, and certainly represents something I would consider out of my comfort zone. But the reality is we can’t do this on our own. We are in a place of needing help, and because I tend to learn on the slow and stubborn side, I’m only recently realizing that God is exposing a proud, self-reliant heart. He is causing us to entirely trust Him and what He is going to accomplish, in His perfect time and wisdom.
John 14:18 says “I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you”. We know that adoption is rooted in the Gospel. Christ came to us, adopted us into His family and made us co-heirs of His kingdom. Our family resonates with a David Platt when he writes “We care for orphans not because we are rescuers, but because we are the rescued.” This adoption in no way makes us the “rescuer”, in fact, as recipients of God’s abundant grace we are the “rescued”.
This author says it so well:
“The tragedy and the beauty of one family can help us remember the truth that we are all once orphans with no hope. But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love for us, has made us alive and adopted us as his own. We are all born orphans, but in Christ, we are fatherless no more. “ – Caleb Brasher
We are responding to God’s call for our own family to grow through adoption and are excited to see all that He is doing in this process. We thank you for taking to time to read this and would love to have your prayer and support in this journey.
STRIPE charges an online processing fee (2.2% +.30 USD per transaction)*. Your donations will be decreased by this amount. You may also send a check payable to “Lifesong for Orphans”. In the memo line please write “Kemmerer 10183”, to ensure it is credited to our account. Please mail to Lifesong for Orphans, PO Box 9, Gridley, IL 61744.
Lifesong has been blessed with partners who underwrite all U.S. administrative and fundraising costs (TMG Foundation and other partners). That means 100% of your donation will go directly to the adoption.
- In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to Lifesong for Orphans. This organization retains full discretion over its use, but intends to honor the donor’s suggested use.
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