Testimony Tuesday is dedicated to the stories of our grant recipients. May you be encouraged by their stories…
We have been married 29 years and have always loved kids. Kevin is a pastor and also the athletic director and boys basketball coach at our children’s Christian school . Cindy is a nurse but stays home full time with our children. God has blessed us with 8 children now. We adopted our first child domestically and then had 3 sons biologically. We were busy with 4 active boys but started really thinking and praying about adopting a baby girl from China. When we started the process we found out we didn't qualify to adopt from China at that time because of family size restrictions. We then felt led to adopt from Vietnam and got our beautiful baby girl, Rachel. A couple years later, we found out about Sarah in South Korea. God confirmed in our hearts she was to be our daughter.
We thought our family was complete, 4 boys and 2 girls. We are so glad God had other plans. As we prayed, Kevin asked God the question, "How can I best invest the rest of my life?" He felt very strongly God told him to start an orphan ministry in our church and to adopt again personally from China. God brought Anna to us and provided the funds we needed. As Cindy was praying for confirmation to adopt Anna, God showed her "life is such a blip in light of eternity and what we do here counts forever. We knew this was the mission and calling God had for us as a couple and family."
Our heart for the orphan has grown over the years. We have been blessed to meet many people with the same heart. Our orphan ministry in our church has taken off. We were able to raise funds as a church to build a dorm for 133 boys in Uganda. We have become involved in many orphan ministries and seen God do amazing things for "the least of these".
Thinking we were done adopting ourselves, we were surprised when Cindy found a 6 year old on our adoption agency's website that stirred her heart. We began to pray God would provide a Christian home for her. As we prayed we felt more and more that was to be us. We had no idea where the funds would come from but felt God was telling us to "step out of the boat" and trust Him. After many confirmations, we began the process to bring Marissa home from China. We have been blessed with the funds through gifts, fundraising and grants. When we had our interview with Katelyn's fund, we were so touched by their genuine hearts for us. Not only did they bless us with a grant to help financially, but their hearts for us as a family and for the orphan was so evident. We felt so encouraged after the interview and when they called to tell us about the grant. They prayed for us on the phone and told us they would continue to pray for us. It was an amazing confirmation from the Lord that we were following His will for our lives and that He truly wants this girl to be a part of our family. We hope to travel to get her in the next month.
Thank you so much to Katelyn's Fund for their generosity and heartfelt prayers in helping us bring our daughter home.
