We got some surprising news this week. We lived near the federal poverty level last year. Apparently this is figured by how much you make per member of your household. It is actually quite ridiculous by world poverty standards & it made me pretty angry but that should be another post for another day.

How did we find this lovely info out? It’s an immigration thing. To adopt internationally you will be, in effect, sponsoring an immigrant (your new child) to come into the country so it’s not really an adoption thing. It’s an immigration thing. Don’t worry, it makes no sense to me either. In order to sponsor an immigrant you have to make 125% of the federal poverty level. No problem, right? I mean- what’s the poverty level? 20,000? 30,000? Nope. Keep guessing. I was shocked at how much it was for my family. We live in a large home with running water, electricity, more stuff than we have closets for, a pantry that is so stocked you can hardly walk in there & we live almost at the poverty level? It’s crazy. I can flip a switch & it is a constant 70 degrees year round in my house. This is NOT reality by world standards & it makes me even more ashamed of my gross consumerism in the face of how my brothers and sisters around the world live. I said this should be another post, didn’t I? Sorry.

Anyway back to last year. If you know us “in real life” you know that last year held some trials for us. We adopted our amazingly wonderful Baby Best Beloved & if you look immediately to your right you’ll notice that (shhh) he’s brown. We expected that this would cause some problems for some people but we never guessed the extent of heartache that would accompany such a blessing. There were lost and damaged relationships. Les lost his job. It was not an easy time. But Christ. God was faithful to supply our every need spiritually, emotionally & financially.  So- God provided a job for Les the very next day (agriculture based!) and our adoption went forward uninterrupted. Praise God! But, Les is a commissioned salesman & it takes awhile to start over,  build up a client base & learn a new product so our income was significantly reduced last year. Great news is that the Lord has prospered him greatly in his new line of work & he’s really enjoying it.

This morning Les called to give me the exact figure for 2008 & it was almost 10k below what I thought it would be. We did some dumb things a few years ago. Not wrong things but things that caused us to stray from the path the Lord has laid before US. We find ourselves needing to pay off debt (not credit cards) & committed to becoming debt free & remaining that way. It was a real matter of prayer deciding if we should pursue adoption before paying the debt off but we clearly felt that the Lord was calling us to adoption & would make a way for us to do both.

After I heard from Les this morning I did some figuring from last Jan. to this Jan.

Look what our God did! The U.S. gov. standards are nothing to the God that owns the cattle on a thousand hills.

Debt Reduced- $23,892.93*

Adoption-          $13,000.00  approx. & still counting

ALL PAID! Awesome! That comes to $36,892.93*. That’s $5,075.13 more than we hope to pay off this year & all near the poverty level. WOW!

To God be ALL the glory cause we never could do it on our own. *It is my prayer that by sharing so much of our personal business someone will be encouraged to trust God & step out in faith to whatever calling He is putting on your life. Does this mean that it’s easy or that everything will go your way? Or that it won’t cost you dearly. No, not at all. We know that sometimes we put our Issac on the alter & there is no physical ram. By that I mean a ram that we see & are physically aware of. If you have ever lost a child you know what it means to pray fervently for the life of that child and God says no and takes them back to Himself. We don’t know why or what the greater purpose is but we do know that He does everything for our good and His glory. That was rambling. I hope you get what I mean. When we step out of our comfort zone and do things we could never do in our own strength then a lost and dying world will see God’s glory in our life.

Current Adoption - Please join us in praying for direction on this one. We want to do this in His time and not our own. There may be a way to move ahead but we want to bath every step in prayer. If you don’t already know we are hoping to adopt an older waiting child or siblings from Ethiopia. One thing we know-If it is His will He will provide the way.

Last adoption- We have one more matter to provide for to finalize The BBB’s adoption. Please pray with us for that or maybe you know an attorney willing to work for food ;o).

Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.                           1 Thessalonians 5:17-18

* Edited ’cause I forgot to add in something we paid. WOO-HOO!!! & I added an explanation as to why I’m telling ya’ll all our b’ness.