In this world you are an orphan—
eagerly anticipating your adoption as God’s child
In this world you are a widow—
longing for reunion with your Bridegroom.
In this world you are a stranger—
a pilgrim waiting to become a citizen of heaven.
And in this world, God has called you to care for—
the orphan, the stranger, and the widow.
—C. Thomas Davis
“Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”
James 1:27
We hope this letter finds you and your loved ones doing well! Troy and I have been very busy here in Indiana, but are enjoying the life that God has led us to here! I graduated this past April from college and have passed my RN boards. Troy continues to manage the local Jiffy Lube, while I have been working at our local hospital on the Telemetry (heart monitoring) unit. We both enjoy our jobs and have found a wonderful Biblical church in which to serve and be discipled.
That said, as many of you may know, Troy and I have always loved children and wanted a large family. However, despite over a year of trying to conceive, this past June we learned that we will be unable to conceive by “natural means.” Not wanting to go through the trying , expensive, and often futile attempts with fertility treatments, God has lead us to the choice of adoption. While we were dating, Troy and I had discussed our mutual desire to open our home to an orphan, but had always considered it an “after our own kids” option. Through this trying time, God has continually shown us His heart on this matter through His Word and we have prayerfully considered His will.
We have looked into the various forms of adoption, and have come to the conclusion that international adoption is God’s will for us. With much thought and prayer, we have decided to adopt from Vietnam! We could not be happier or more at peace over our decision to adopt and are beginning to fill our time together in happy anticipation of growing our family! We have chosen to use a Christian attorney who specializes in international adoptions. She is a wonderful resource and encouragement as we traverse this long journey.
Having felt called and directed by God, we have started working in earnest towards adopting twin orphans from Vietnam into our family. We truly believe that adoption is the very heart of God, as we were all adopted into His family by His grace and mercy. We believe that these orphans are not only deeply loved by God, but precious in His eyes. It is because of this love that we feel compelled to grow our family through adoption. We believe that God’s perfect hand of providence has brought us to this divine opportunity and we simply cannot say “no” to these precious children. As a family, we have been excitedly praying about this for months, and we are already considering a name for them–Jayleigh and Josiah.
The challenge before us today is not so much opening our hearts and home, but it is now finding the finances to make this happen before we travel. We estimate the total cost for our adoption fees, document preparation, home study, airfare, travel, etc., to be $40,000. That is certainly money we don’t have, but we know that God is faithful and has called us to this journey in trusting Him. By God’s grace, we have been able to save about $7,500 so far.
Though making our needs know to others is a very biblical thing, it is rarely ever easy to ask for help. It grates against our pride and humbles us. That said, we would like to humbly say that to continue on the course that we believe God has set before us, we will need help. We appreciate your love and friendship very much and would like you to pray and consider doing so in two specific ways.
1. Prayer — Our first request is that you remember us in prayers as we move through this process, and prepare, Lord willing, for the arrival of these new members of our family. Please pray for our little ones, that God would tenderly care for them in the orphanage in Vietnam until we are able to bring them home, and that God would give us wisdom as we raise them to know Jesus Christ and His love in our family.
2. Financial support — Our second request is that you prayerfully consider partnering with us through a donation to help us meet the remaining $32,500 of adoption expenses. Any amount you can bless us with will be wonderful. Every dollar will help us to get one step closer to bringing our little ones home to their forever family. Although the expense is great, we will not be discouraged by money. Instead we are trusting in the Lord to provide, clinging to the promise of Jeremiah 33:3, “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”
Thank you so much for taking the time to read our letter and for your consideration in partnering with us. We look forward to updating you on our progress. We welcome any questions that you may have. We know that the road ahead of us is a long one, but with God as our strength and the support of such a tremendous group of family and friends, we are sure that the trials will be far outweighed by the joys.
May the Lord’s rich blessings rest upon you all,
Troy and Tonya
COMING SOON!