Jesus Loves the Little Children

Our homestudy went well last Friday, it was sooooo many questions and a long day, but good. Our caseworker is a precious lady and we are excited to be working with her in this process. We have about three weeks until all the paperwork is processed and we are officially waiting or as they say, "paper pregnant." Wow.

I've noticed throughout this whole journey that God has really been stretching us past our comforts. It's been two years of loss and waiting. Two years ago Sunday that we lost Grace and the thought crept in that this may not be as easy as we thought it would be. Fast forward to last October where we realized that adoption was to be on the radar sooner rather than later. Fast forward to now and here we are again at a crossroads.

Please never read this and feel sorry for us and give us the good ol, "bless their little hearts". God has been beyond gracious, my friends. He's AMAZINGLY good to us and we live abundant lives. We are being made more like Him and we are growing in our faith and just having him "rock our worlds" for the better. He's stretching us again in this process and making us stand back and say, "ok, Lord...if this is what you want for the Martins....we're all in! It may be hard and we may struggle, but we trust you 100%."

Jacob and I had long said and even written in black ink on our adoption paperwork that we were open racially across the board in adoption. We'd be thankful and excited for what ever skin color the child has that he will put in our family. We go to a church where that's embraced and celebrated, where it's almost the norm in adoption and we praise Jesus for that. We know white couples that have adopted children of other races and they are actually the minority in their own house. We know a couple who are adopting a special needs child from China, we know couples who adopted children from other countries who have H.IV. Praise God for these people who would step up and love these children without even batting an eye.

As we stand here and are faced with praying through what we are supposed to do, weighing the cost, knowing this probably won't be our only adoption...we believe God is calling us to step out in faith. So, we are switching to the program in our agency that is only for minority and biracial adoption. I know some might struggle with this, even out of the goodness of their hearts and simply not wanting us to see suffer more pain and heartache, but I hope you instead are faced with the gospel of Christ. I hope you see how we believe the verse in James that says, "pure and undefiled religion is caring for widows and orphans in their need" refers to the orphan is Africa, in Russia, in China, the white child in the US, and the child of another race in the US. It breaks my heart to know that the cost for us to adopt a biracial child here in the US is three times less for us than a white child. Who will love these precious babies...if not us? Who will step up and say, "yes Lord, send me", if we don't? Will they be passed into a failing foster system or be a child growing up in the welfare system with parents who didn't want them in the first place and would dare call them a mistake? Who will validate over and over again who they are in Christ and not as the world sees them? Who will sing the verse over them with tears in thier eyes, "red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world", if we don't?

I know we will face difficulty in this, our child will surely someday be teased or feel like they don't fit in. I was treated that way as a child a thousand times and I come from a white family. I just know that God wants us to be the kind of people who can bring a child into our family who looks nothing like us and call them "son" or "daughter" because He does. It's simply a preview of heaven that we will be blessed to experience here on earth. It will probably be the greatest joy we could ever be given by Him who's adopted us.

So, we are excited to share this news with you all and hope you'll continue to pray for this precious life that God is going to put into our family. Amen and amen.

One More Week!

I can't believe I am writing this...this time next weekend Jacob will be done traveling!! What a cause for celebration. Party at our place....just kidding! Friends, it's been a long, lonely Spring/Summer/first month of Fall. Jacob has been traveling every weekend since the end of March. I spend my weeks without him, just me and the pups. Thank goodness for them!

We are SO ready, so thrilled that this is the end! I can't even describe how ready I am. Of course with the end comes prayers for what's next. We are praying that his company keeps him here through the end of the year. We are praying for the plans God has next. If Jacob is sent off on another out of town project, we are trusting God, acting in faith, and he is resigning. That's scary given this economic climate, but we do feel like He's preparing the way for something bigger, already in the works. I can share all of this in a few weeks when we feel like we're at a final decision. We've asked God to BOLDLY show us His plan, and He's definitely giving us that blessing thus far. He's always been faithful, so who would we be to doubt His plan or path?

"Commit your way to the Lord, trust in him and he will act." Psalm 37:5

We trust Him for our future. It's really easy for me to be afraid, I don't do well with change. Let me rephrase....I am terrible with change! This is coming from the woman who multi-tasks in the shower everyday....the same routine. Sick, isn't it? I feel like even in walking down His path, I still need to "gather the necessities" as if God doesn't provide everything we need. In fact, everything we have is his. I am begging him to help me relinquish that need to be in some false sense of control. Because, let me tell you, we are not in control and I know that...but I think I claim to know it, yet don't really believe it deep within my soul. I want to be a woman who sits back and says, "today, Lord is yours and I won't stress, I won't fret, I won't worry......I'll just live for you and seek to glorify you in all I do." Wow, am I thankful that he is full of grace because lately I feel like I need a lot of grace.

We continue to pray for our family, my body is finally normal again. It took a while for hormones to readjust. Another praise! God has purpose even in that. We trust Him and deep in our hearts believe he is going to give us a family.

We are excited to be together again, as husbands and wives should be. Yet, we don't doubt that God had great purpose in our being apart these past months. He's done amazing things as we've had to seek him for everything, as distance kept us from relying on each other. In my loneliness specifically this past week, he's been here with me revealing himself and really encouraging my heart.

So please keep us in your continued prayers, as changes are ahead for the Martins, but as they often are, changes that will surely be great blessings.


-C