Friday, November 15, 2013

Ornaments for Adoption

I wanted to share with y'all this awesome website I stumbled across, Ornaments for Adoption!



How cute is that?! She can personalize them with pretty much anything you'd like and the proceeds go to help a family adopt a child!

I ordered one of these stick family ones for us! :)


Ornaments for Adoption 2013 is helping raise funds for Joseph and Laura Thigpen.



Here's their story:

Our story really began in the hallway of an elementary school back home in Florida where we first took notice of each other. But, our paths hardly crossed after 4th and 5th grade until we both came home one summer for college break and found ourselves attending the same Bible study. It was there that the Lord, in His grace, brought us together. We’ve been together for about 5 years now, and married for 3 of those years. And what an amazing journey it has been thus far!

Before we ever married, we had already had conversations about our desire to adopt whether or not we ever have children biologically. Of course, we desire to grow our family biologically and by adopting. We naturally felt that our life circumstances would prevent us from adopting any time soon, mostly because of finances, and so we began trying to grow our family by getting pregnant. After almost a year of struggling to get pregnant, we finally had a positive pregnancy test only to lose our baby a few days later in miscarriage. In a matter of days, we had experienced the highest of joys and the lowest of sorrows: life and death.

As we grieved, we continued to be confronted with the question, “Why are you waiting to adopt?” We still felt that there were obstacles in our way that we just couldn’t get around. But God, who is rich in mercy (Ephesians 2:4), has poured out encouragement and support through our family and our community of faith, reminding us the He is the One who makes straight the crooked paths, who makes the rough places into level ground (Isaiah 42:16), and when there seemed to be no way for man to be reconciled to God, He made a way through the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ, so that we might be adopted into His family and made co-heirs with Christ (Galatians 4:6-7)! When faced with these truths, we could no longer shrink back from the call to adopt.

So, we have literally just begun the process to adopt a little boy or girl from Ethiopia! We are elated with joy, overwhelmed with excitement, and hopeful for the future! We are stepping out in faith, trusting the Lord will meet our needs along the way as we walk in obedience. Obviously, finances are and will be an “obstacle” throughout the process, so we appreciate your prayers as we begin our journey and we’re so glad you’ve taken the time to read about our story. In sharing our story, we desire that you will trust in the promise that Jesus has made; “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:18). And, we hope that you will find ways to get involved by either adopting, or helping those who are.


What are you waiting for?! Go order your ornament and help the Thigpens!! :) :) :)

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