A miracle! A miracle! A miracle!

We have seen a miracle. To frame the miracle, you have to know the tragedy. Jackie has received 24/7 care in a family since she was 1 day old, health care, and a law firm committed to legally transition her from orphan to US Citizen. However, the price is steep. We started with a loan by refinancing the then paid off van, sold Aaron's tuba, worked extra hours, and drained our savings, applied for grants, sent support letters to our family and friends . . . but when the money came due getting out of PGN, we came up short. $3,800 short to be exact. Here's the tragedy. The agency emailed and said that our adoption had been halted. HALTED until they received payment. We didn't have it. I sat motionless on the couch praying and praying. Aaron just had a salary reduction all summer, then his manager decided that unlike the last two years, Aaron would have to lead this year's mission trip UNPAID even though it is on behalf of his agency in the same month that I stop receiving my teaching salary, health insurance for me and Jon, we still have to buy expensive plane tickets on short notice when we pick her up plus buy whatever supplies we need for an infant, and out of the blue we are moving cross-country plus we just drained all of our savings for our daughter. Can you just feel Carrie's heart start racing in that run on sentence? For a God-sized problem like this, I turned to a place of prayer support... the adoption board she's been part of for over 4 years.


Brace yourself for the miracle: a few hours later, one of the other moderators from the board called to say that two families feel led to pay the balance in full so the agency can lift the hold and pay the facilitator in Guatemala our final payment. I was speechless...and handed the phone to Aaron who had tears streaming down his face as he shared our home address. It was unreal. Two checks for $1,900 each came to us anonymously. Here is my note to my friend who called:

I cannot even explain to what this feels like . . . stuff like this just does not happen to real people...

Our life is just over-flowing right now. We are being driven closer and closer to God. We have some mountain-sized worries and tasks (running a church w/ no experience). What if this is the wrong church for us? What if there is racism among the older folks towards our children? What if the church never grows? What if I can't find a like-minded SAHM friend to keep me sane? What if Jonathan freaks when Jackie arrives? What if babysitting my friend's boy over-whelms me 45 hours a week? What if we can't fit our stuff in the Uhaul?

Yet at the same time God is blessing us in unbelievable ways....out of PGN which allows us to move, a pastorate straight from seminary, a parsonage that is a real house in a neighborhood/not a 1 bedroom apartment left of Sketchville, and now this. Wow! Wow! Wow! What a testimony about sharing our fears with the Lord, leaning into him, God sending people to care for us....on and on and on. After life settles a bit, I told Aaron that I want to write this all up and see if I can't get it published. Our last two weeks should be in the Guidepost magazine or something. For real!

Thank you for being apart of our miracle. We are looking forward to a chance to return the blessing to another family.