It's time to announce! We (the Wilkins family) are working towards adopting two children from Africa. We have not yet been matched with our children, but are in the beginning steps of getting our paperwork turned in and selecting our placement agency. It has been an amazing journey that has brought us to this place of readiness to add to our family(for MUCH more of our story, visit my, Jen's, personal blog at www.ramblings-of-jen.blogspot.com). The girls are so excited and pray for their "baby" siblings every day on the way to school and before bed. Ari is even looking forward to selling lemonade and cookies at our upcoming fundraiser to help bring "her" babies home! Ella asks if she can help push the "babies" in strollers once they arrive and Ari can't wait to teach them all that she knows!
We are hoping to adopt two children zero to three years old. The country that we are aiming to adopt from and believe the Lord has lead us to is DR Congo in central Africa. We know several people that have adopted internationally and know that sometimes the location changes because of changing laws and other unexpected happenings, but as for right now, that is where we are headed. We actually wanted to adopt domestically because there are so many precious children right here that need homes!! But as we took steps in that direction (several different times), it became clear that the Lord was directing us to the kids that He had planned for our family...internationally. Oftentimes (most times) His plan looks different from our own and requires a bucket load more faith, but it always has the most amazing blessings and glory that illuminates His Son, Jesus Christ in the end!!!
As of now, we are not quite sure why God has called us to adopt from one of the most hostile countries in the world, or why He is asking us to step out on this limb of faith (once again) that could snap at any moment with the life(s) of one or both of our adoptive children ending in death because of the unimaginable conditions they are in, but we do know that He has a plan and it is more amazing than we could ever comprehend! We just have to "prepare our fields" once again and wait for His glorious rain.
As we embark on this journey, we ask for your prayers!!! Cal and I know and have experienced what it is like in the past to be absolutely bathed in prayer, and we need it in this process! Our God is capable of meeting our expectations and even exceeding them beyond our ability to understand! I can't wait to see what He has up His sleeve!
This process involves so much faith partly because we have no idea what the outcome will be. We have been told that our children will most certainly deal with Scabies and malnutrition and by the leading of the Spirit, Calvin and I prayerfully selected (in our homestudy paperwork) several "special needs" conditions that we would be willing to care for in our adoptive children. The director of the Congo program at All Blessings Intl (our placement agency) informed us that in some cases, the children die while waiting for their adoptive parents to arrive. We are well-aware of the fact that we are entering a very dark and difficult path and have felt the battling of the evil one already, but we are filled with the hope and light of Jesus Christ, our LORD and Savior!
Another reason this journey takes so much faith is the fact that it is not cheap! We are not sure yet what the tax credit will look like or even when our adoption will be finalized. Many of the latest news that has hit says that there will still most-likely be a tax credit, but it may not offer any dollars back for what went into the adoption; it may only help to wipe-out any amount owed to the government on income taxes. Our adoption is due to cost us (depending on whether we are able to adopt a biological sibling group or unrelated children) between $35,000 and $55,000. Please pray for us as we enter into this financial faith-growing experience! Calvin and I are both working as much as possible to bring in extra income and have created a new family budget, but it's going to take an absolute act of God to raise this money. Aren't those the best miracles though, the ones that are just not humanly feasible! :) Kind of reminds me of the million dollar baby we already have! (who is absolutely alive and paid off, thanks to the miracles of Jesus!)
Ephesians 3:20-21
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
If anyone would like to help financially, one way is by purchasing a copy of my book, "Ella: A Life Unaborted" online at Amazon, Barnes and Noble or Westbow Press. The hard copy and electronic versions are available. $7.00 (my profit) of all hard copy editions purchased from Westbow Press (sale price: $17.95) will go directly to the cost of our adoption. Any other online sales (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc...) will profit us around $2.00 and all electronic copies (sale price $3.99) will benefit us around fifty cents for our adoptions! Every little bit counts. We are big believers in working for our money and not lying idle, so this is one way to be able to give a little something in return for any financial blessings that come our way. Thank you so much!!!! We can't wait to see what God will do!!!!
We are hoping to adopt two children zero to three years old. The country that we are aiming to adopt from and believe the Lord has lead us to is DR Congo in central Africa. We know several people that have adopted internationally and know that sometimes the location changes because of changing laws and other unexpected happenings, but as for right now, that is where we are headed. We actually wanted to adopt domestically because there are so many precious children right here that need homes!! But as we took steps in that direction (several different times), it became clear that the Lord was directing us to the kids that He had planned for our family...internationally. Oftentimes (most times) His plan looks different from our own and requires a bucket load more faith, but it always has the most amazing blessings and glory that illuminates His Son, Jesus Christ in the end!!!
As of now, we are not quite sure why God has called us to adopt from one of the most hostile countries in the world, or why He is asking us to step out on this limb of faith (once again) that could snap at any moment with the life(s) of one or both of our adoptive children ending in death because of the unimaginable conditions they are in, but we do know that He has a plan and it is more amazing than we could ever comprehend! We just have to "prepare our fields" once again and wait for His glorious rain.
As we embark on this journey, we ask for your prayers!!! Cal and I know and have experienced what it is like in the past to be absolutely bathed in prayer, and we need it in this process! Our God is capable of meeting our expectations and even exceeding them beyond our ability to understand! I can't wait to see what He has up His sleeve!This process involves so much faith partly because we have no idea what the outcome will be. We have been told that our children will most certainly deal with Scabies and malnutrition and by the leading of the Spirit, Calvin and I prayerfully selected (in our homestudy paperwork) several "special needs" conditions that we would be willing to care for in our adoptive children. The director of the Congo program at All Blessings Intl (our placement agency) informed us that in some cases, the children die while waiting for their adoptive parents to arrive. We are well-aware of the fact that we are entering a very dark and difficult path and have felt the battling of the evil one already, but we are filled with the hope and light of Jesus Christ, our LORD and Savior!
Another reason this journey takes so much faith is the fact that it is not cheap! We are not sure yet what the tax credit will look like or even when our adoption will be finalized. Many of the latest news that has hit says that there will still most-likely be a tax credit, but it may not offer any dollars back for what went into the adoption; it may only help to wipe-out any amount owed to the government on income taxes. Our adoption is due to cost us (depending on whether we are able to adopt a biological sibling group or unrelated children) between $35,000 and $55,000. Please pray for us as we enter into this financial faith-growing experience! Calvin and I are both working as much as possible to bring in extra income and have created a new family budget, but it's going to take an absolute act of God to raise this money. Aren't those the best miracles though, the ones that are just not humanly feasible! :) Kind of reminds me of the million dollar baby we already have! (who is absolutely alive and paid off, thanks to the miracles of Jesus!)
Ephesians 3:20-21
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
If anyone would like to help financially, one way is by purchasing a copy of my book, "Ella: A Life Unaborted" online at Amazon, Barnes and Noble or Westbow Press. The hard copy and electronic versions are available. $7.00 (my profit) of all hard copy editions purchased from Westbow Press (sale price: $17.95) will go directly to the cost of our adoption. Any other online sales (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc...) will profit us around $2.00 and all electronic copies (sale price $3.99) will benefit us around fifty cents for our adoptions! Every little bit counts. We are big believers in working for our money and not lying idle, so this is one way to be able to give a little something in return for any financial blessings that come our way. Thank you so much!!!! We can't wait to see what God will do!!!!
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