together. [updated with winner.]

interesting that i wrote today about longing for a family to walk this adoption road with.  

meet erica, rachel & melissa.  

they are friends that i haven't met yet, but i adore how God has woven their lives together

in really awesome ways.  rachel & erica's daughters are already home 

[and were best friends at their orphanage! WHAT a blessing to be home and have their families doing life together?!]

melissa's little boy is trying to make his way home.

here are some of melissa's words about this special friendship:

Rachel, Erica, and I are all from the same church. Erica and I are elders' wives and Rachel is the pastor's wife. When Erica moved to Fl and came to our church 2 years ago she shared her heart about orphans and this was something our church had all ready been praying about. Rachel felt called to adopt shortly after, then Erica did and we ended up being right after Erica. We all three (including others) have always said we will fight until they are all home and I am very blessed by their friendship, support and just being able to serve the Lord with these amazing ladies.

melissa & her family just received a court date for their little boy & need to book their

plane tickets within the 18 hours.  i hear of lots of adoptive families and a lot of fund raising.

i think the beauty in highlighting it sometimes is that, as Christians, we all may not be called

to adopt, but it certainly is a tangible way to love on orphans--to come alongside a family that

is called to that.  it is also such an encouragement to the families out there considering

adoption but wondering where the money will come from.  it comes from our Provider

as He uses His people for His purposes & glory.  in plain language, God asks us to step

up and fill in the gap for these families that have stepped out in obedience.

here are melissa's words on where they are in their journey right now:

We got our referral exactly 6 weeks ago and had to ask for money for the rest of that huge fee and now we are in the same boat. We have cut cable, sold everything we could, have had 5 yard sales, Chick-fil-A fundraisers, stuff from our church, sold shirts and jewelry and now we are here and praying the Lord will show us what to do next. 

 I have to be honest that I hate being in this position of constantly asking, I have to 

constantly fight through the negativity going on in my head, but we will serve the Lord 

at all cost. God never said it would be easy and learning to let go of my pride has been 

a huge struggle of mine. We started our adoption journey March 31, 2010 and we are praying 

that we can have our lil man home soon.

 

 melissa's family only needs $2395 for this leg of their journey.

[that's one in four of you giving $10 right now.]

melissa's friends are holding an ipad giveaway to help her raise funds.

i wanted to tell you about it so you have a chance to win one for just $10,

but also so we can just love on this family and be a tiny part of Caleb's homecoming.

i also want to give away one of our brand new colors of Let Love Grow

shirts to anyone that gives $10 for the ipad giveaway.  i've wanted to list

these for months & it just hasn't happened.  this will be the first shirt to go out

and the rest have to come soon.  here's a little sneak at one of the colors:

so, if you can, go to THIS post & donate on the sidebar under

'Donate Helping Others.'  

if you let me know you did, not only will you have entered their ipad drawing,

but also my Let Love Grow shirt drawing.  you'll have your pick of new

styles [tees, tunics & hoodies!] & colors!

thank you for blessing them!!

what a joy it is when we walk things out together.

updated: as of noon CST, they need just $1365.  this is so do-able.

thank you, thank you for everyone that has jumped in to help.

such an encouragement!  i'll be closing this shirt giveaway tonight at 10pm CST.

updated again: melissa and her family received all the funds 7 minutes before

their airfare would have gone up by $800.  they will soon be on a plane to love on

their little boy & go to court where, God-willing, he will no longer be an orphan!

thank you to each of you that spread the word, prayed and donated. 

if you still feel called to give, you can do so at melissa's blog & it

will be going toward their travel expenses of their final trip....to bring Caleb HOME.

it is 100% true that God funds what He favors....and He certainly favors adoption.

thank you for allowing Him to use you in order to bless this family that has

stepped out in faith!

the Let Love Grow shirt winner by random generator is: 

Allison from the Maines family blog!