Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Humbled

When we began this adoption we truly had no idea how we would finance it. We had ideas, but honestly, none of the math we did put us entirely over the finish line.  Filling out and submitting our application to adopt was a huge leap of faith in many ways, one of them being with our finances.

We have been so humbled by the gracious, generous, enormous outpouring of support we have received to assist us in making our dreams of adopting Hannah become a reality.  We received a grant.  We got a matching grant (that will likely be fully met by the end of this week).  We got an anonymous gift of brand new five dollar bills in the mail--a big stack of them!  We had another anonymous gift sent to our agency on our behalf--$1,000!  A family sacrificed a bonus for us while the children in this same family thought of ways to help us financially and made their own sacrifices to help us.  Our family has given us money.  Our church family will hand us an envelope during worship and we'll get home to find a note and a check tucked inside.  Our friends have given us money they likely didn't have to spare.  A friend made a quilt and raised over $600 through the raffle ticket sales.  We have sacrificed savings and all gifts.  We raised close to $200 through a 31 fundraiser. God has been so big.  Not once have I feared making a payment to our agency.  Only one time did I get nervous about our wire to China and rapidly He provided and the fear disappeared.

We are so humbled and thankful for all He has done for us through this adoption process.  To each one of you who have helped us, thank you.  We haven't been able to write all the thank you notes we wanted to write.  We don't even know who some of you are.  Please know that your gift is not taken for granted and Hannah will know one day of the army that worked to bring her home.  We are blessed, humbled, and so thankful for your sacrificial gifts. 

3 comments:

  1. Katrina,
    We just recently joined the Lifeline China FB group and I happened to glance at your profile picture...and I gasped. I have prayed for your Hannah many times. Why? Because on Aug. 13, 2014 my husband and I received her referral file. After praying, crying, lots of discussion and more prayer, we decided not to accept her file. It was the most heartbreaking 72 hours of our lives. But she was not our daughter, because she is YOURS! Amazing! I cannot tell you how happy and relieved I am (literally crying as I type this!) to know that she is going to have an awesome and amazing family to call her own. Very soon! I would love to connect with you more, I am blogging about our progress at bringinghomeahoch.blogspot.com. We are currently waiting for our TA! I am looking forward to reading as you travel to bring sweet Hannah home.
    Blessings,
    Emily

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    1. This is so amazing! Yes, let's connect more!

      Funny, we had the same experience. We know a family that is currently adopting a referral that we said no to as well. Only God knows why it all works out the way it does. Blessings to you on your journey!

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  2. Ok just sent a friend request under my husband's FB (I don't have FB).

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