Built To Blossom

Okay- it’s t-shirt day over at BlogThreads.com!

Here is a size chart for the Unisex t-shirts:

(I am wearing a Unisex size Small in the photo above)

Here is a size chart for the Ladies cut V-neck shirts:

Here is a size chart for the Ladies cut Crew neck shirts:

The sale will be open today and tomorrow, and as promised, I want to introduce you to the mama of this month’s fundraiser family.

This is Lorie, and this is a little bit of their (in-progress) adoption story:

“We’ve always had a special place in our hearts for adoption. My husband, Stephen, has two younger brothers (18 years younger than him to be exact) that were both adopted and I, myself, am adopted as well. I have always felt a sense of overwhelming gratitude toward my birthmother for the choice she made to have me. It was not until I had children of my own that I fully understood the sacrifice she made. My husband and I have been married for 18 years. We have been blessed with four biological children of our own. Despite our heart for adoption, about two years ago, we had come to a point where we knew the Lord was telling us that adoption was not in our future. He had shut that door and taken the longing out of our hearts. We gave away all the baby/toddler things that we had been holding on to with great certainty that our family was complete. We felt such a sense of contentment with our family of six. You know the Lord has a sense of humor, right? Here is where the story begins…

About two weeks after giving away everything, I began feeling the Holy Spirit calling us to adopt. I argued with the Lord! I was content, remember? I worried about what my husband would think if I told him what I had been feeling (Satan was obviously at work there). I wrestled with the Lord for a couple of days. I could not sleep, could not eat, it was all that I could think about. It was Friday, and we were scheduled to go out on our date night that night. I can still vividly remember the point in the date where I looked at him and through lots of tears and shared my heart with him regarding adoption. To my surprise, he smiled and told me that just the day before he had been asked by some nurses in a doctor’s office how many children we had. He said he answered, “We have four children and hope to adopt another child soon.” He said it caught him off guard when he said it. He knew that was not the case. What he did not realize is that the Lord was re-preparing his heart as well for the call to adopt. We discussed that night where we felt the Lord was leading us to adopt, and very clearly, we knew we were to adopt a special needs child from China- and so the process began, May 2013. We chose to use Living Hope Adoption Agency because of their heart and connection with China.  We began filling out all the paperwork and everything was looking normal when compared to their projected timeline for families on this journey. We were so anxious! In February 2014, our dossier made it to China and was logged in. We were so excited and so nervous. We could hardly wait to hear when the next shared list would be released! A couple of weeks later, we got news that a list would be released. We made all the necessary calls and waited to hear from our agency. Much to our dismay, we did not receive a referral that night. Our hearts were saddened, but we knew that we had just been placed on the list, so we had high hopes that the next time would be different. March roles around and the same scenario plays out again. April, May, June, July, and August have all played out the same way for us. No referral.

I remember hiding in my car one Tuesday at our homeschool community day. Another list had been released the night before and another “sorry we do not have a referral” email had been dropped in my inbox that night. I put on my happy face and made it through my morning announcements and then would slip away to my van to cry. The pain would lessen some as the weeks would pass and I could feel myself starting to guard my heart. It is such an emotional place to be. It is so difficult to pray for a referral when you know that it means that a mother somewhere has had to make the most difficult decision of her life. I know that my joy would be accompanied by someone’s pain. I slowly stopped sharing with all but a couple of our friends when the next lists would be released. It was not that I did not want their prayers, it was simply that I did not want to have to tell them that we did not receive a referral again. The thought of speaking those words aloud was almost paralyzing to me. Through it all though, today I can honestly say that our hope is still found in the One that so clearly called us to adopt, and your email has allowed me to see so clearly that the Lord is walking right beside us on this journey and that we are not alone.”

***

That’s right! You are not alone Lorie. You, and the rest of your adoption story, were built to blossom!! 😀

Kevin and I are praying for Stephen and Lorie every day this month, and I look so forward to sharing the news of their referral when they receive it. And thank you in advance to anyone who picks up a Built To Blossom shirt…your encouragement is appreciated so much!