Isn’t it amazing how this word, bless, can be used as a verb, adjective and a noun? Isn’t it just like our God to give us such a powerful word to describe the past, present and future? These words, in this order, Bless…Blessings…Blessed, describe our adoption journey to Avery Lane McDonald.
In the beginning, God showed our family what bless means. By definition, to bless is to ask God to look favorably on with His guidance and protection. We began our journey by asking God to open doors and lead us through the right ones. He was faithful and showed His favor as our hearts ached for a little China doll. While trying to keep an open heart for any place God wanted us to pursue adoption, He granted the desires of our hearts and pointed all avenues to China.
“Bless the Lord, O you His angels, you mighty ones who do His word, obeying the voice of his word.” – Psalm 103:20
Once we said YES, the next phase of blessings began. Blessings of monetary value, garage sale donations and other fundraisers began to appear. It was at this point, we realized the blessing of community including the Grace Klein Community. Beyond our wildest imaginations, God was creating friendships, prayer warriors, support and love from people we may not have ever known, but who had a heart for adoption, for people, for God! God broke down our pride and allowed us a clear picture of what a blessing looked like. He also humbled us and taught us to accept these blessings from Him in order to further His kingdom. As years passed and we prayed for our unknown China doll, our faithfulness grew weary. We questioned what God wanted from us and if we needed to close this door, for Him to make that happen. With each step forward, came two steps backward. However, God was still fighting for our little girl. We encountered family resistance to adoption, paperwork struggles, medical hurdles and financial strife, but God had a bigger plan. Our agency called to say they had one file left from the group they had been given and her file would leave the agency in 2 short weeks. We still had a medical hurdle to overcome and weren’t certain 2 weeks would be enough time to get the paperwork cleared. We felt God calling us to review her file despite the hurdles. Once we saw her face, all the doubts were gone and the fear was diminished. God hand-picked her for us! He put all the pieces into place and we were approved for her in a week’s time. Blessings abundant!
“I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.”
– 1 Corinthians 9:23
Now as we wait to travel to meet our daughter, we meet another hurdle. While we know and trust that God will provide financially exactly what we need to complete our family, we fight anxiousness daily. We find ourselves being blessed by friends offering to pray, donate and hear our hearts. Just this week, we have received checks in the mail that should not have been there. He will finish this journey strong with us and we will have the privilege of sharing with Avery how hard God, her Father, fought for her heart. The biggest blessing of all will be passing the blessing of the Lord, Jesus Christ, to our sweet Avery. Blessed beyond words to have had the opportunity to say YES to God and YES to Avery.
“The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” – Exodus 14:19
Thank you Grace Klein Community for standing in the gap for us and Avery, your support is a continued BLESSING.
If you feel Father God leading you to bless this family financially to support them in their adoption process, check donations can be mailed to Grace Klein Community, 1678 Montgomery Hwy #104, Birmingham, AL 35216 OR donate online through PayPal via our DONATE page. All donations are tax-deductible.
The McDonald Family are still in need of $10,000 by September 2015. Let’s lift this beautiful family to the Lord together in prayer!
Isn’t it amazing how this word, bless, can be used as a verb, adjective and a noun? Isn’t it just like our God to give us such a powerful word to describe the past, present and future? These words, in this order, Bless…Blessings…Blessed, describe our adoption journey to Avery Lane McDonald.
In the beginning, God showed our family what bless means. By definition, to bless is to ask God to look favorably on with His guidance and protection. We began our journey by asking God to open doors and lead us through the right ones. He was faithful and showed His favor as our hearts ached for a little China doll. While trying to keep an open heart for any place God wanted us to pursue adoption, He granted the desires of our hearts and pointed all avenues to China.
“Bless the Lord, O you His angels, you mighty ones who do His word, obeying the voice of his word.” – Psalm 103:20
Once we said YES, the next phase of blessings began. Blessings of monetary value, garage sale donations and other fundraisers began to appear. It was at this point, we realized the blessing of community including the Grace Klein Community. Beyond our wildest imaginations, God was creating friendships, prayer warriors, support and love from people we may not have ever known, but who had a heart for adoption, for people, for God! God broke down our pride and allowed us a clear picture of what a blessing looked like. He also humbled us and taught us to accept these blessings from Him in order to further His kingdom. As years passed and we prayed for our unknown China doll, our faithfulness grew weary. We questioned what God wanted from us and if we needed to close this door, for Him to make that happen. With each step forward, came two steps backward. However, God was still fighting for our little girl. We encountered family resistance to adoption, paperwork struggles, medical hurdles and financial strife, but God had a bigger plan. Our agency called to say they had one file left from the group they had been given and her file would leave the agency in 2 short weeks. We still had a medical hurdle to overcome and weren’t certain 2 weeks would be enough time to get the paperwork cleared. We felt God calling us to review her file despite the hurdles. Once we saw her face, all the doubts were gone and the fear was diminished. God hand-picked her for us! He put all the pieces into place and we were approved for her in a week’s time. Blessings abundant!
“I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.”
– 1 Corinthians 9:23
Now as we wait to travel to meet our daughter, we meet another hurdle. While we know and trust that God will provide financially exactly what we need to complete our family, we fight anxiousness daily. We find ourselves being blessed by friends offering to pray, donate and hear our hearts. Just this week, we have received checks in the mail that should not have been there. He will finish this journey strong with us and we will have the privilege of sharing with Avery how hard God, her Father, fought for her heart. The biggest blessing of all will be passing the blessing of the Lord, Jesus Christ, to our sweet Avery. Blessed beyond words to have had the opportunity to say YES to God and YES to Avery.
“The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” – Exodus 14:19
Thank you Grace Klein Community for standing in the gap for us and Avery, your support is a continued BLESSING.
If you feel Father God leading you to bless this family financially to support them in their adoption process, check donations can be mailed to Grace Klein Community, 1678 Montgomery Hwy #104, Birmingham, AL 35216 OR donate online through PayPal via our DONATE page. All donations are tax-deductible.
The McDonald Family still needs $10,000 by September 2015. Let’s lift this beautiful family to the Lord together in prayer and give as we can!
Isn’t it amazing how this word, bless, can be used as a verb, adjective and a noun? Isn’t it just like our God to give us such a powerful word to describe the past, present and future? These words, in this order, Bless…Blessings…Blessed, describe our adoption journey to Avery Lane McDonald.
Now as we wait to travel to meet our daughter, we meet another hurdle. While we know and trust that God will provide financially exactly what we need to complete our family, we fight anxiousness daily. We find ourselves being blessed by friends offering to pray, donate and hear our hearts. Just this week, we have received checks in the mail that should not have been there. He will finish this journey strong with us and we will have the privilege of sharing with Avery how hard God, her Father, fought for her heart. The biggest blessing of all will be passing the blessing of the Lord, Jesus Christ, to our sweet Avery. Blessed beyond words to have had the opportunity to say YES to God and YES to Avery.