Testimony Tuesday is dedicated to bringing you stories of our grant recipients. May you be encouraged by them….
As a family of ten, we weren’t necessarily feeling a need to grow our family, however, God was. Therefore, in obedience to what He was leading us do for His glory, our journey into adoption began in spring, 2010. He opened our eyes to the beginning of His plan with the earthquake in Haiti and the helplessness we felt in how to help. Initially, we planned to adopt a child from Haiti. As He continued to guide us, His plans lead us instead to the country of Albania and a 6-year-old boy named Genti.
About three years prior to our beginning this journey, God was already at work preparing us. We had debt (car payments, credit cards, student loan, …) that we felt wasn’t honoring God so we began to work as a family to pay off everything. By spring of 2010, we were debt-free! Soon after God showed us to that we were to have another child by adoption, but we believed He would not lead us back into debt to do so. Our day-to-day living budget had no room to put away extra for anything. We went forward trusting in the God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills to provide for us to bring another child into our family.
We are always amazed when God meets our needs even before we realize we have a need. This is how we felt upon beginning our relationship with Katelyn’s Fund. Initially we applied for a grant, realizing this may be one way in which God would provide for us financially. When we had our interview with the Katelyn’s Fund team, we knew that we were now co-laborers with this beautiful group committed to glorifying God through meeting the needs of the least of these, orphans. As Sheila De Jong wrote in a previous newsletter, we needed to “have others that can genuinely walk with you, support and love you, and most importantly pray for you.” When the team prayed for us (and continues to do so), we knew God had blessed us with the support we truly need.
As we continue to wait for the next step in the process of getting our new son home, we are not in debt. God has provided all we need, as we need it. Katelyn’s Fund has come along side of us in this journey, providing a grant as well as meeting other needs through ongoing prayer and a support system for education and fellowship. We are truly grateful for their faithfulness to our Lord.
