Our Calling

It's pretty interesting how topsy turvy things can be finding our way through daily life that drops us into unexpected adventures!  When we started thinking about adoption it was because we felt so strongly that it is a very accurate picture of the Gospel:  a journey from being orphans (lost without God) to being sons and daughters of a loving Father.

We opened up our heart to God, saying yes to unknowns galore and He has given us more then we could ask or imagine in a story that He is writing.

It all began with a book called Kisses From Katie, about a young gal who has dedicated her life to helping those in Uganda find hope in Jesus. She has adopted 14 little girls of her own that she cares for. After reading it and already considering adoption it was the final push to activily pursue adopting. Within 1 hour of researching the adoption process online I was confused and a bit overwhelmed at the amount of information. So, we prayed and I promised Jesus I would do the one thing he gave me a day to do regarding adoption. I would not research online, I would not make our own way.

He did it. Everyday I got a phone number, a name, a lead and that is how we began. There are too many things to list but a few are my favorites. A name: I had a dream one night and woke up with the name Isabella, weird, I do not know an Isabella or have a frame of reference for it. A week later I was looking up a name meaning for a friend on a web site and saw that the featured name of the day was Isabella. It means consecrated to God or God is my Oath. And suddenly God said, you'll call her Bella....which is Beauty. Ok well this was cool.

In our adament quest to have God show us our role in His story we waited. We had heard and followed leads for Africa. My heart was convinced it was Africa. But none of the leads we followed panned out and all things fell flat. So we let it go and waited. Then one morning I got an email asking for adventurous families who would be willing to adopt from a country called Moldova. I had never even heard of Moldova. Upon looking at it I knew that it was God's invitation because everything Moldova was spoke to our deep hearts and were things God had written on us since the beginning of time and we did not even know.

So what we thought was saying yes to this BIG step of adoption God knew it was so much bigger than that. It was really yes to a country, a people group. Moldova is called the "Africa of Europe." I knew we would be going to Africa somehow just not how we planned. Through the past year we have learned so much about adoption, the good, bad and ugly. We have come to see that adoption really is a bandaid to a much larger problem. There is such a need to help orphans as a whole where they are in their countries. Countries that have such large orphan crisis like Moldova need hope, life and light into their hopelessness. So then God said to us that the girls would be our gift but Moldova would be our calling. Wait, I thought the girls were the calling. I thought adoption was our calling. We are beginning to think not so much. We see those girls as part of our family, a part that has always been so but Moldova is a place that we are excited to see how our life story weaves into this country.

 






We feel the call to bring Light and Life of God's Kingdom to this country. God said to us that the girls will be our gift but this country is our calling. He has given us Isaiah 60 as our promise, inheritance and calling. It says:

Arise, shine, for your light has come,
    and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. 
See, darkness covers the earth
    and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the Lord rises upon you
    and his glory appears over you.
Nations will come to your light,
    and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

Lift up your eyes and look about you:
    All assemble and come to you;
your sons come from afar,
    and your daughters are carried on the hip.
Then you will look and be radiant,
    your heart will throb and swell with joy;
the wealth on the seas will be brought to you,
    to you the riches of the nations will come.

Wow, there is so much promise here! We received this word one year ago and Jesus had been writing it on our hearts before we got it- we were not even aware of Moldova yet or our girls. Everything has developed and become more clear along the recent path we've been on.

We need covering and this process needs covering. We believe prayer has momentum and is essential and vital for shifting atmospheres and bringing God's Kingdom to pass.  Please ask Jesus how you can be praying for us. We want to pray in agreement with what He is praying.

• We are praying for our girls, as their spiritual parents, we are taking that authority and praying for their nourishment, affection, warmth, hope, and protection. We are praying that God would even send his angels to minister to them.
• We are praying that God would deliver Kirby to Moldova and that he would arrange divine appointments for him while he is there. How that will happen and all the details we have no idea but trusting God knows every detail and will tell us in due time.  
• We are pressing into God as he continues to grow our character and teach us in an accelerated matter. 
• We are praying for a fresh anointing as parents. We have never parented girls, let alone orphaned girls. 
• We are praying for a fresh anointing as we move toward acting as advocates for Moldova. 
• We are praying for an anointing on our adoption paperwork and calling down God's favor upon it. 
• We are praying that God gives us everything we need just when we need it including finances, sanity, people, wisdom, and provision in every way.