It allows God to work in a ways you never even imagined!! As we were reminded of this today I keep being reminded of the verse in Matthew 16:20 "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, "Move from here to there and it will move" Nothing will be impossible for you" God is truely amazing to prove just the faith of a mustand seed, have you ever researched how small a mustard seed is? It is one of the smallest seeds known to man.
Here is what particularly we are refering to for our family. Since my trip in May and Rich's trip in Sept of last year we have had William on our hearts and really felt God "Pushing" us towards adopting him but really battled with it and just kept saying "Maybe, but not now" It's not "Our" perfect timing in all this. Well in December we both felt a peace about what God was stirring in our hearts, "ADOPT WILLIAM TOO and DON'T WAIT!!!" So we made it official in December and decided to adopt him too. Here is what happened after we said YES!!! God provided one donation the day after we said Yes. The very next day we were informed of a small adoption related expense and that donation helped cover that.
Currently we are saving and preparing to bring the boys home soon and adding a second adopted child does add some extra fees. We received word today that we have been approved for another adoption grant that does not have to be matched, we are half way to our estimated remaining expenses goal now!! Isn't God truely amazing. I am speechless at his love for the Orphans, (I mean not that I don't know this first hand :) But he LOVES the orphan and when he calls you to do something he WILL provide for it. No mountain is too tall for him!!
I am writing this post to encourage you to Step out in Faith for whatever you need to step out in! This is a phrase our Church lives by and honestly we have seen it happen in our church and the ministries there but never this boldly in our personal lives! God has called each of us to step out, to go, and to give!!
Psalms 145:13 "The Lord is FAITHFUL to all his promises and loving toward all he has made"
I just want to thank each and everyone one of you, wether it's been prayer, donations, support, etc... As we go thru this adoption process. God is working in a powerful way and I can't wait to see all he has for us this coming year!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
My Heart is on a journey!
The TRS team has arrived in SL and is doing some incredible work there, you can follow there amazing journey at http://www.savetheorphan.blogspot.com/
As the team is there this makes our anxiousness to be there with our boys and the incredible people of Sierra Leone grow incredibly stronger. Having a team on the ground is a wonderful thing and I am so glad they get to love on our children and share the amazing love of Jesus, but boy is it hard being here while you heart is there. God has really been teaching me patience on this journey it was November 2009 when we started so a year and 3 months later, that's a long time for someone to wait. But he is always faithful and this journey is DEFINATELY in his timing.
As we "Wait" and prepare for the boys to come home I often find myself daydreaming as I go thru the day what exactly it's going to be like with 4 children in our home, how they are going to adjust, how we are going to adjust to them? Will they love our family as there own, will they miss SL and the amazing people there? As you get further in an adoption process the reality of it all sets in and don't get me wrong with all this I am just clearly stating that we are excited and very anxious to see how God works all the "details" out in the next couple months, and years.
If you would have asked me 2 years ago if we would have ever of imagined being on this journey I would have told you that you were crazy. And now I just smile everytime I think about all the pieces of this amazing puzzle coming together. God is so good! Even though at times I may not understand things, I look back now and it "Clicks" God's picture is forming together for our lives. I find myself singing this song all day "Our God is greater, our god is stronger, God you are higher than any other..." and the song goes on to say and if our God is for us then who could ever stop us...... the words to this song are so powerful. And if our GOD is for us then WHO can ever stand against us!!! Just had to remind myself of this today and I struggle with not being in SL where our heart is. Who is going to stop what God has for us??? NO ONE as long as you allow God to work COMPLETELY in you!!
Okay, that's all of my thoughts for tonight :)
As the team is there this makes our anxiousness to be there with our boys and the incredible people of Sierra Leone grow incredibly stronger. Having a team on the ground is a wonderful thing and I am so glad they get to love on our children and share the amazing love of Jesus, but boy is it hard being here while you heart is there. God has really been teaching me patience on this journey it was November 2009 when we started so a year and 3 months later, that's a long time for someone to wait. But he is always faithful and this journey is DEFINATELY in his timing.
As we "Wait" and prepare for the boys to come home I often find myself daydreaming as I go thru the day what exactly it's going to be like with 4 children in our home, how they are going to adjust, how we are going to adjust to them? Will they love our family as there own, will they miss SL and the amazing people there? As you get further in an adoption process the reality of it all sets in and don't get me wrong with all this I am just clearly stating that we are excited and very anxious to see how God works all the "details" out in the next couple months, and years.
If you would have asked me 2 years ago if we would have ever of imagined being on this journey I would have told you that you were crazy. And now I just smile everytime I think about all the pieces of this amazing puzzle coming together. God is so good! Even though at times I may not understand things, I look back now and it "Clicks" God's picture is forming together for our lives. I find myself singing this song all day "Our God is greater, our god is stronger, God you are higher than any other..." and the song goes on to say and if our God is for us then who could ever stop us...... the words to this song are so powerful. And if our GOD is for us then WHO can ever stand against us!!! Just had to remind myself of this today and I struggle with not being in SL where our heart is. Who is going to stop what God has for us??? NO ONE as long as you allow God to work COMPLETELY in you!!
Okay, that's all of my thoughts for tonight :)
Monday, January 17, 2011
GRAB OUR WIDGET
Would you help us spread the word??? You can add our widget by clicking HERE (on the left hand side of website it says Grab this fundraiser's widget) and adding it to you blog or website. We are trying to raise the $5,000 for our matching grant from LifeSong for Orphans and have only 2 1/2 weeks left to do so. This $5,000 is CRUCIAL because it will then become $10,000 and that will be all the funds needed to complete our adoption.AND it's all TAX DEDUCTIBLE! Thank you so much for helping! As an added plus, leave a comment with your blog or website and I will add you to the drawing pile to win one our our adoption shirts we have in stock (Men's or Women's design, varying sizes available).
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Praise and Prayer!
Praise and Prayer go hand in hand together. Today we are rejoicing, rejoicing for the past, present and future. God is so good!! As I sat down to start our taxes last night I went thru out of curiosity adding up the total for our adoption and travel expenses last year and was blown away!! Blown away at the actual amount we spent on everything AND blown away at how God provided $12,000 that we didn't have!!!! God is soo good!!
Some people ask how are you affording an adoption in this economy, now an adoption of not only one but TWO? I simply state it is God!! Yes you have to follow thru on your part and live essentially, sell anything that is a "Want" and not a need! It's all about just saying "YES" to what God has called us to do and leave the rest up to him! So in these next couple months we are praying for more miracles :) to happen!! Not only financially for this adoption but mentally, physically, spiritually and so on. We are the ending stages of preparing to bring our sons home. Rearranging rooms, painting, and God has once again came thru! We have some very close friends in our lives that have been down this road a time or too, it's so amazing to see how God puts the right people in your lives for a time and season.
During my devotions today I came across this verse and although it may have a couple meanings for different situations this is what stood out to me today and thought I would share:
Some people ask how are you affording an adoption in this economy, now an adoption of not only one but TWO? I simply state it is God!! Yes you have to follow thru on your part and live essentially, sell anything that is a "Want" and not a need! It's all about just saying "YES" to what God has called us to do and leave the rest up to him! So in these next couple months we are praying for more miracles :) to happen!! Not only financially for this adoption but mentally, physically, spiritually and so on. We are the ending stages of preparing to bring our sons home. Rearranging rooms, painting, and God has once again came thru! We have some very close friends in our lives that have been down this road a time or too, it's so amazing to see how God puts the right people in your lives for a time and season.
During my devotions today I came across this verse and although it may have a couple meanings for different situations this is what stood out to me today and thought I would share:
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Matching Grant plus a little surprise!
Dear Family and Friends,
“A father of the fatherless…God setteth the solitary in families…” - Psalms 68:5,6
Some of you know we have felt called and directed by God to adopt a “fatherless” child(ren) into our family. We are adopting from Sierra Leone, West Africa. We just received news in December that the adoption law in the country is set into place and our next step in the adoption and hopefully the final step is traveling for another 2 weeks, going to court while we are there and bringing the boys home.
Did you know it is estimated less than 10% of all orphan children are adopted into evangelical Christian families? According to current estimates, if only 10% more Christians in America would adopt, it would be equivalent to providing homes for all the orphans in Eastern Europe (1.5 million), Latin America (400,000), and the US foster care system (150,000).
Some of you are probably wondering what has prompted us to adopt. Well, primarily, we’ve felt so clearly directed by God to adopt that we want to obey Him, and we also desire to give an orphan child a family that he probably won’t otherwise have. God desires for orphans of all nations to be loved, cared for and adopted into Christian families – ultimately so they can become saved, and be adopted into His eternal family through Jesus Christ! There are so many things God has used to prick our hearts and move us to adopt, here are a few:
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction… James 1:27
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will – Ephesians 1:5
The biggest challenge for us is not opening our hearts and home to another child, but it is in finding the finances to make this happen. We estimate our total cost for adoption fees, document preparation, home study, airfare, travel, attorney fees, etc. to be $21,000 - that’s certainly money we don’t have, but we know God is faithful and is leading us to trust Him. By God’s grace we’ve been able to pay the initial $8,200.
Honestly, it’s a little difficult (because of our pride), to make our needs known to the Body of Christ around us, but we also know it’s very Biblical to do so. We appreciate your friendship very much and would like you to pray & consider helping us in our adoption. There are two ways you can help:
1. Prayer – Please pray God would tenderly care for Kevin and William in Sierra Leone until we are able to bring them home, that God would prepare Emma and Jayden for the upcoming changes to our family, and that God will give us wisdom, discernment, and insight as we raise Kevin and William to know Jesus Christ.
2. Financial support - Will you please consider making a tax-deductible donation to help us pay the remaining $12,800 in adoption expenses, to bring our boys home?
Lifesong (www.lifesongfororphans.org) has graciously given a Matching Grant of $5,000 to help pay the remaining adoption expenses. If you would like to be a part of God bringing William and Kevin home, you can send your tax-deductible gift between now and February 9th 2011 to the address below. Lifesong is a trusted organization administering the funds on William and Kevin’s behalf, and will pay adoption expenses out of funds received.
1. Please make checks payable to: Lifesong. You may preference how the donation might be used by writing “preference Johnson #1693 Adoption” in the memo section of your check. (*Note: In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to Lifesong which retains full discretion and control over its use.)
Mail checks to:
Lifesong for Orphans
Attn: Johnson #1693 Adoption
PO Box 40/202 N.Ford St.
Gridley, IL 61744
2. You can also give directly thru Paypal thru this link http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/donation.html MAKE SURE to note in the comments section PREFERENCE JOHNSON #1693 ADOPTION or this will not be applied to our account.
Thank you for investing in the Kingdom through prayer and finances – it will be an investment with an eternal return! (Matt 6:20) We’ll give you an update with a picture of the boys and details as we receive them. Please pray this entire process will glorify God and fulfill His purposes!
In Christ,
Rich, Tiffany, Emma and Jayden Johnson
(Feel free to copy and paste this and share with your facebook friends, emals, blogs, etc)
“A father of the fatherless…God setteth the solitary in families…” - Psalms 68:5,6
Some of you know we have felt called and directed by God to adopt a “fatherless” child(ren) into our family. We are adopting from Sierra Leone, West Africa. We just received news in December that the adoption law in the country is set into place and our next step in the adoption and hopefully the final step is traveling for another 2 weeks, going to court while we are there and bringing the boys home.
Did you know it is estimated less than 10% of all orphan children are adopted into evangelical Christian families? According to current estimates, if only 10% more Christians in America would adopt, it would be equivalent to providing homes for all the orphans in Eastern Europe (1.5 million), Latin America (400,000), and the US foster care system (150,000).
Some of you are probably wondering what has prompted us to adopt. Well, primarily, we’ve felt so clearly directed by God to adopt that we want to obey Him, and we also desire to give an orphan child a family that he probably won’t otherwise have. God desires for orphans of all nations to be loved, cared for and adopted into Christian families – ultimately so they can become saved, and be adopted into His eternal family through Jesus Christ! There are so many things God has used to prick our hearts and move us to adopt, here are a few:
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction… James 1:27
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will – Ephesians 1:5
The biggest challenge for us is not opening our hearts and home to another child, but it is in finding the finances to make this happen. We estimate our total cost for adoption fees, document preparation, home study, airfare, travel, attorney fees, etc. to be $21,000 - that’s certainly money we don’t have, but we know God is faithful and is leading us to trust Him. By God’s grace we’ve been able to pay the initial $8,200.
Honestly, it’s a little difficult (because of our pride), to make our needs known to the Body of Christ around us, but we also know it’s very Biblical to do so. We appreciate your friendship very much and would like you to pray & consider helping us in our adoption. There are two ways you can help:
1. Prayer – Please pray God would tenderly care for Kevin and William in Sierra Leone until we are able to bring them home, that God would prepare Emma and Jayden for the upcoming changes to our family, and that God will give us wisdom, discernment, and insight as we raise Kevin and William to know Jesus Christ.
2. Financial support - Will you please consider making a tax-deductible donation to help us pay the remaining $12,800 in adoption expenses, to bring our boys home?
Lifesong (www.lifesongfororphans.org) has graciously given a Matching Grant of $5,000 to help pay the remaining adoption expenses. If you would like to be a part of God bringing William and Kevin home, you can send your tax-deductible gift between now and February 9th 2011 to the address below. Lifesong is a trusted organization administering the funds on William and Kevin’s behalf, and will pay adoption expenses out of funds received.
1. Please make checks payable to: Lifesong. You may preference how the donation might be used by writing “preference Johnson #1693 Adoption” in the memo section of your check. (*Note: In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to Lifesong which retains full discretion and control over its use.)
Mail checks to:
Lifesong for Orphans
Attn: Johnson #1693 Adoption
PO Box 40/202 N.Ford St.
Gridley, IL 61744
2. You can also give directly thru Paypal thru this link http://www.lifesongfororphans.org/donation.html MAKE SURE to note in the comments section PREFERENCE JOHNSON #1693 ADOPTION or this will not be applied to our account.
Thank you for investing in the Kingdom through prayer and finances – it will be an investment with an eternal return! (Matt 6:20) We’ll give you an update with a picture of the boys and details as we receive them. Please pray this entire process will glorify God and fulfill His purposes!
In Christ,
Rich, Tiffany, Emma and Jayden Johnson
(Feel free to copy and paste this and share with your facebook friends, emals, blogs, etc)
Sunday, January 2, 2011
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Well a new year brings new goals, hurdles, budgets, dreams, plans, etc... We are so excited for all God has for the Johnson family in 2011. At the end of 2010 we received amazing news from the government of SL: the adoption law has PASSED and is ready for us to move forward with the adoption once the current ban lifts, which we expect to be this coming week or two. We have so much to be thankful for this past year and the year to come. God has blessed us with 2 amazing children here and amazing children in Africa waiting to come home, wonderful friends, family, church and the list goes on and on.
Here are some recent pictures:
Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a great New Year!! The best is yet to come!
Here are some recent pictures:
Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a great New Year!! The best is yet to come!
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