God's calling re-confirmed through a child!!

This is such an amazing comment that I had to share! My cousin's wife, Nancy, commented on my blog post on facebook yesterday....

"Wow. I just read this blog entry and I have to tell you what Elena said a few days ago. She had just finished reading your Christmas letter and asked me what endometriosis was. I gave a brief definition and explained that it can often prevent or make it very difficult for a woman to get pregnant. A few minutes later she came back and said, "I think endometriosis is really a blessing." This took me aback and I asked what she meant. She said, "I think God can use it to open someone's heart to adopt a child that needs a family." It struck me as a very simple perspective on such an emotional issue, and I wondered to myself how you would feel about it being described that way. So, it just blew me away to read your words saying essentially the same thing! I just had to share."

This was something that Elena told Nancy at least a week or so before I was given the same Word by God, yesterday! Wow, is right, Nancy! This wisdom and knowledge that God gives directly to a child is so powerful!! Elena definately has God's hand on her and she is a special young lady! Thank you, Nancy, for sharing this with us. God is in control and we know that this is definately His calling on our lives, espcially after the Word God gave Elena, as well!!

MercyMe - Bring The Rain

A calling confirmed!

It's been a week since Nick's surgery, Christmas has come and gone, and I am once again reminded of God's faithfulness of this past year and throughout my life! I woke up this morning drawn straight to God's Word. It was one of those callings and strongholds that only God could place on my heart. As I sat down to pull out my Bible, I asked God to settle the house, the dogs, and keep Nick asleep, so my focus would be all His. Immediately, both dogs (Jon's parents and ours), found a place and settled in. Thank you Father for this amazing time with You. Near the end of our time together, I asked God, " Do I share all that You have told me this morning?" His reply, "Yes, how else will my name be known and the intimacy others can have with Me be known?" So, straight from my journal and God's heart....

This morning I was drawn to your Word so very strongly and to the book of John. As I read through it, You focused my attention on the words of your Son, Jesus in chapter 9. "Neither the man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in His life." (This was in reference to Jesus healing a blind man that was blind since birth. His blindness was not because of a sin from him or his family, but so that God's glory and healing power could be shown to others, so that they might believe in Him) This is also in reference to the endometriosis that I have that has prevented pregnancy for the past 6 years. We sought a lot of help, but still no answer or pregnancy. The more we sought help from doctors and refused to see God's calling, the worse my health seemed to get with numerous surgeries.
This then brings the song, " Bring the Rain" by Mercy Me. A favorite of mine...

I can count a million times
People asking me how I
Can praise You with all that I've gone through
The question just amazes me
Can circumstances possibly
Change who I forever am in You
Maybe since my life was changed
Long before these rainy days
It's never really ever crossed my mind
To turn my back on you, oh Lord
My only shelter from the storm
But instead I draw closer through these times
So I prayBring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there'll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain
I am Yours regardless of
The dark clouds that may loom above
Because You are much greater than my pain
You who made a way for me
By suffering Your destiny
So tell me what's a little rain
So I prayHoly, holy, holy
Is the Lord God Almighty

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8HgAVenbUU

Father, You have put these words on my heart since the day I was diagnosed with endometriosis, yet I refused to hear it fully. I always knew there was a purpose for the suffering. James 1: "Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials (my daughter) because you know that testing of your faith develops perservance..." God spoke straight to me.....

"This has been bringing you wisdom my daughter. The wisdom of my plans for you. Without this suffering, Your heart would not be ready for adoption and my work for you is to care for the orphans, my precious children. You always wanted to adopt, but your timing was not mine and your children (my children) need you sooner than you planned. Your family is my family and I want nothing more than to increase your family to show that I am in control and truly love each and every child. You, Jon, and Nick (yes, Nick too) are chosen by Me to care for my precious children. You will testify as a witness of suffering for my glory. How is Nick involved? Nick is on the forefront of building relationships and loving my orphans, because he was once an orphan, himself. I have given him the gifts of relationships, love, and an underlying wisdom that only comes from Me. He is on this journey with you for a deeper insight for my children. Trust me always, my daughter. Your home will be full of laughter and joy. Persevere and continue to seek my wisdom and plan for you. I will provide!"

This was absolutely powerful for me. A sense of healing and a mission to keep trusting and pursuing God's Calling on our life! I am so incredibly blessed and honored to be called on such an amazing journey in God's path! I am so grateful that I answered his nudge this morning to hear His calling on our life confirmed and to understand Nick's important role in our family! I pray that you will hear or feel God's voice/nudge today!

Nick's surgery journey

Well, today is two days post surgery. Nick had his alvealar bone graft and a nasal-palatal fistula repaired on Monday, Dec. 20th. He was in surgery for approximately 3 hours. Nick and I decided to take pictures throughout his journey to help him remember what had happened, since he could not remember much of his last surgery (velopharyngeal flap) two years ago. After this surgery, I must say our little guy is a trooper! God truly has something big for this special child He brought into our lives!


Nick received many cards and letters from friends and family through the mail and from his classmates at his school. He started opening them the Saturday before his surgery for encouragement and to remind him that he had many friends praying for him! God opened the floodgates with the cards that he receieved! Nick was so excited and so thankful after receiving and reading each card! He still has cards that he has not read, but will continue to read through recovery! Each evening he reads 2 or 3 cards or a stack of handmade cards from one of the classes at this school. We are so thankful for so many wonderful friends in our life for encouraging our little guy.




Nick's principal, Mrs. Elrod, also pitched in to remind Nicholas that he had so many people that loved him and were thinking of him. She got together a basket of 10 small gifts for him to open the day before surgery, the morning of surgery, while at the hospital and each day as he recovers afterward! Nick was so blessed by this, that when he saw the basket he said, "wow, they must really love me!" Nick has loved this and once again, we are so blessed to be part of school that loves their children and go above and beyond for them and their families!


When we arrived at the hospital, we were greeted by five wonderful friends from our church, Shady Grove Church! Pastor Kaye Green (the women's pastor), Pastor Kari Lowrie (the children's pastor), Pastor Niles Holsinger, and two Nick's children's ministry team members! We are so blessed by the love and support that our church has given our family since we have been there! Nick has so many people that love and adore him at church and it showed the morning of surgery!


He got his "hospital PJ's" on and started to prepare for surgery. He was still nervous as he was wheeled back to the pre-op room to start prepping for sugery, talk to the nurses, and the doctor, Dr. Byrd. The gave him his "goofy juice," which caused hiccups and a really strange little boy. He eventually fell asleep, but like always, he fought it!

We waited, what seemed like forever, but was truly only three hours for surgery to end. Dr. Byrd finally came out and announced that Nick did great in surgery and was in recovery. He did mention that he was concerned about the graft taking because there was little tissue to reconnect the graft. This was due to an adult tooth that is sitting right in the middle of where the graft was going. I made the comment, "well, our prayer is that the graft will take and we will not be doing this again." Dr. Byrd said, "yes, we will all be praying that." We know our Doctor is a believer and pray that God finds favor over this surgery and the healing process!

Nick was soon moved to his hospital room, Room 607, where we were greeted by his nurses. He was a pretty good patient, taking his pain medicine without a fight and beginning his fluids with sprite and gatorade. Nick had visitors that evening from the Mansells. He probably doesn't remember much of it, though. That evening, I spent the evening with him, while my dad and Jon went home to rest. Nick felt the need to stay up and watch movies that night, keeping mom up all night. I finally turned the channel to something less appealing and he went to sleep for about 2 and 1/2 hours.

The next morning, he woke up saying, "when can I go home." The nurses reply, "when we know you are getting enough fluids, your pain is under control, and you walk the hallway a few times." Nick was motivated! He got out of bed and started his walk! He was a trooper and of course, caught the eye of all the nurses! He still had his sense of humor and attempted conversation with them all, even though he tired quickly.



We were, eventually, ready to GO HOME! Nick changed his clothes and was excited to get home! Of course, he insisted on the wheelchair ride down to the car, but why not!



When Nick arrived home, he was greeted by a banner that the 3rd graders made for him and signed. We put it in his room as a reminder of all his friends praying for a speedy recovery for him. Nick is home resting and continuing his liquid diet for a couple more days. He has watched lots of movies, including all 4 Home Alone movies, his favorites! We also continue to read through the cards that Nick received as an ecouragement to keep resting to get better soon! Nick's mouth is still a bit swollen and his hip is a bit stiff and sore from where the bone marrow was taken from. He will continue on his pain medication for a couple more days, an antibiotic for 7 days, and a prescription mouth wash for awhile.

Nick's recovery time period is about 3-4 weeks. For the first four days, he is to remain quiet and on a full liquid diet. This is somewhat challenging for a nine-year-old boy, who likes to eat! On the fifth day, Christmas Eve, he will be able to eat soft foods or small cut up foods in the back of his mouth. As far as physical activity, he is not allowed to participate in his gymnastics, basketball, PE, or recess for approximately 3-4 weeks. This will be a challenge to all that reside in the Stewart household, because as most of you know, Nick is a very active child!!

We will know in about 3 months if the bone graft has taken and worked. We visit the orthodontist at this point, who will determine the success of the surgery! Please continue to pray with us that Nick's bone graft takes and will be a complete success! Thanks for travelling this journey with us and for praying for our sweet Nicholas!!

Nick's preparations for surgery....

So we are one day away from Nick's surgery! We asked him this evening how he felt about his upcoming surgery. "I am S-C-A-R-E-D (spelled out)." I asked, "what are you scared about, what part of it?" Nick replied, " I don't know, I'm just scared." Jon and I assured him that this was normal to feel scared and that God was going to be with him the whole time. He didn't want to talk about it after that. We know he is anxious and scared and continue to pray for comfort and peace for him as we get even closer to his surgery.

We did have our pre-op appointment on Thursday, which, in my opinion, proved to be pointless and not helpful at all! With all surgeries that I have had, the pre-op is supposed to explain to you the procedure, what to expect during and after surgery. We did not get any of this information! I am so used to Children's Medical Center and how thorough they are that I guess we were spoiled! I'm going to give Medical City the benefit of the doubt, since they are new at this, but I still feel uneasy not knowing what to expect, whether we are staying the night, etc. I know that we have one of the best Cranialfacial doctors, so we are going to stick through it. I wish I had more to tell you about the surgery and if we were staying the night, but I just don't know. You will have to watch for facebook posts and updates to see what happens! Nick did take pictures at pre-op!

I do have to say that Nick goes to an amazing, loving, and giving school! Every grade/class at the school wrote/made cards for Nicholas for his surgery. His classroom had a professional banner for him with all his classmates signatures on it for him to come home to. The principal, Mrs. Elrod, gave me a basket loaded with little wrapped presents for Nick to open before and after surgery. I asked why and her response, "We want Nick to know that we love him and are thinking about him during this scary time!" Wow, so wonderful. I haven't given or told Nick about these, yet, because we will start these tomorrow. In addition, I asked for friends and family to send him a little card or note just saying they were praying for him. Nick got so many cards! I have hidden those as well, and he will begin opening those tomorrow. Again, we are so blessed by our family and friends that are praying for our special little guy! I will post pictures soon!

We will continue to keep you updated! thanks for your prayers for our little guy!!

Adoption update

So...we have so many things going on right now that I am going to have to post two seperate postings to tell you what has been going on!

God has truly blessed us in our adoption process! Our Hand in Hand matching grant was matched and then some! We were able to raise $11, 645 with this grant! God is so good and he has truly blessed us with amazing family and friends! This puts us half way to where we need to be to have full funds for our precious little baby. I know that God will help provide the remainder...I know in my heart He is going to provide 100%.

Jon and I have been researching and praying over how to raise the final funds. After talking with our adoption consultant, Tracie, we believe that we are suppose to apply for another matching grant through Lifesong. I will begin their application after Nick's surgery (see my next posting). I know that we had many friends and family that were unable to give this through this past grant, so now there is another opportunity to sow into the life our child. I will keep you posted!

In addition this I also sent out another application to another agency in Utah, which puts us on list number 4. Only God knows where our precious little one will be born! I will also start working on our baby's room after the first of the year, so if anyone has furniture that they are trying to get rid of...we would love help you out!

Well, that is what is happening in the Stewart adoption process, currently! We continue to trust in God's will for our family and in His precious timing. thanks for you prayers!!

Anxious Hearts

Please, Lord settle our anxious hearts.

"Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God." - Phillipians 4:6

I know this blog is, for the most part, about our journey to adopt, but Nicholas is part of our journey as well. Most of you know that our son, Nick, was adopted by Jon and I in 2008, after my mom passed away. He was the foster son of my mom, until she adopted him at age three. Little did we know that God's calling for us to adopt started when Nicholas made his debut in my mother's home when he was nearly 3 months old. Since then, Nicholas has become part of our journey on God's calling for our family to adopt. Nicholas was a "spunky" little guy who refused to give up on life. Brought to my mother as a "failure to thrive," pale, protruded ribs, and a bloated tummy from malnourishment, he seemed to beat all the odds of every doctor. His cleft palate and lip were still unrepaired.... We looked into the face of this child and said, "God has something amazing for you and we can't wait to find out." From the beginning, Nick's little life has been a fight, but he has a strong will and a will power that overcomes any obstacle! Nick is only 9 years old and has had 3 surgeries on his mouth and at least 3 sets of tubes put into his ears. He has seen a number of doctors/specialists for hip dysplasia, a congenital cataract, growth hormone deficiancy, speech delays, and so on. Just recently, his optometrist informed us that there is a possibility that he could also have retinaschiosis, color changes and/or seperation of the layers of the retina. Our prayer is that this is not the case, but we will keep you posted!

My heart is restless, as we quickly approach one of Nick's last major surgeries for his cleft palate, his alvealor bone graft. This morning, I woke up with a knot in my stomach, unsure of the reason, until the verse above sprung into my heart and mind from the Lord. I am anxious and nervous about Nick's surgery. My sweet baby, who has been through so much already, is going to have another surgery! I know that Nick is anxious and does not know how to express it, so his behavior has changed lately, but I know how to express it....with extreme humility and hope from our Father above!
Please, lift our little one up in prayer this week and on December 20th (12pm) during his surgery. Please pray for peace for Jon and I, wisdom, steady hands, and endurance for the doctors, and comfort for Nick.

So, in the midst of our adoption journey, our sweet boy, Nicholas, needs your prayers as he endures, yet another surgery. His mom might need a little prayer too.....

Thanks for your prayers and love for our sweet and precious Nicholas.

A lesson in patience...

As we continue to wait on God's perfect timing for our child, our neighbors a couple doors down welcomed home their little boy this past Friday through adoption. A similar fertility story as ours, but with numerous miscarriages and older in age. We are so excited for them, because they have been waiting/trying for almost 11 years! Jon and I were so happy for them and their new little one, while at the same time anxious for our baby to come home to us. We know that it is all in God's perfect timing and will continue to trust Him. I know in my heart that God wants everything to be perfect, meaning all of the funding will be there, the room will be ready, Nick will be recovered from surgery, and the baby will be full term! I trust my Lord and Savior that He is in control!
Until then...I will enjoy this time with our first son...our precious gift, Nicholas!







Nick is always posing for a picture!!


Nick and I at ICE at the Gaylord!

A pouring out of Blessings.....

We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you were blessed through time with your family/friends during the Thanksgiving holiday. We were able to spend time with my family in San Antonio and also with Jon's family in Arlington. I feel so blessed to have such an amazing family! They have been extremely supportive in our adoption journey and are now just as excited as we are about our baby that God will be bringing into our home!

Here is an update on where we are....

After a plea with our Father above, God answered our much needed prayer! We received 3 additional donations to our matching grant fund. Although, we still have not met our grant total, we are grateful for the wonderful family and friends that have invested into our baby's life! We still need quite a bit more and pray that God will provide above and beyond what is needed...perhaps to bring more than one of His children into our home! If someone wants to donate, please see the first post in this blog with the information, and remember it needs to be postmarked by Dec. 15th.

As for Jon's job update...once again, God provided, as He has promised when following His will. The day after posting the blog, the client Jon specifically prayed about, called him instead of Jon calling him back. Wow! God moved and once again showed us that He is in control and we are NOT!

In addition, we finally got an official date for Nicholas's surgery. December 20th. Please pray as we prepare ourselves and Nicholas for this surgery. I will fill you in with more details soon!

We are blessed, so very, very blessed!

Plea from the heart.

Ever have one of those days, where you have so much to do that you get overwhelmed by all of it and then can't seem to get started on any of it? I'm having one of those days.... Since, I can't get started on any of the things on my "to do" list I will get it off my mind and clear it so that maybe I can get started on it. I thought I was going to have a productive day until I received the e-mail from our matching grant company with an update on donations...It really discouraged me. We have had one donor in the last two weeks! In reality, it's a tough time of the year to ask for donations, because of the holidays, people's financial situations, and I'm sure people are just so busy that this is the last thing on their mind. Well, it's huge for us! It means bringing a child into a loving home, who would not have one otherwise. This is the main thing on our mind, because without help we will be unable to do this...My heart is sad today. I know that God is our provider, but sometimes when you don't see the provision, your doubts begin to set in.

"Please, Father, give me peace, knowing that You are in complete control and WILL provide for your children. Father, I know this is your will for us and you will provide. I ask, Lord that you will soften our friends and family's hearts to help bring a child into our home to love and guide in your direction. God, we need a miracle of provision."

I am also sad and discouraged, because finances have tightened up in our family. The economy has not been friendly to Jon's job (Investment Consultant) where he is on comission. This has put some stress and burden on Jon's heart and his ability to provide. Then you add the cost of adoption and things are very stressful in Jon's eyes....

"Father, I lift up my wonderful husband to you. He works harder than anyone I know to provide for our family. He continues to insist on me working part-time, even with the argument of me going full time, b/c he believes that this is the job You place him in to let me stay home. Lord, please give Jon peace, help him trust You in every appointment, give him perserverance to look at every avenue with each client, and to know that You will provide according to Your will."

We will be sending out another application for another grant, but only 8 are approved a month! Please pray God's will over this application!

Our hearts long for our baby that is awaiting on the provisions, so he/she can come home to be with us. We ask that you pray for us through this time as we continue to wait upon the Lord for his provision in bringing our baby home.

We hope that God blesses you this wonderful Thanksgiving season. We DO have so much to be thankful for, espcially for our little boy, Nick, who has brought so much love and fun into our lives since God brought him into our lives.

Happy Thanksgiving!

God is providing!

So, surgery is over and I am home recovering with Nicholas. Hmm..how do you recover while taking care of a energetic 9 year old? I guess we will put in a movie until Jon gets home from training.

We got an update on our grant funding today of how much money has been donated in less than a week of sending out the letters. They had $100 donated so far! Jon and I continue to pray that donations are made to fulfill the full amount of the grant...up to $2500, matched to $5000. I just hope friends and family find it in their hearts to bring a child into a "forever" home through donations. We truly believe God is in control of it all and He will provide in all aspects of this adoption.

Short blog, today. I am still pretty tired from the surgery, but feeling better!

God's different callings to adopt!

God is so good! I made it out of surgery without any complications! It took the doctor about 2 hours, but he was able to remove all that he was visibly able to see! Praise the Lord. Thank you for all of your prayers!

I also have to mention that today, Nov. 12th, is the 3 year anniversary of my mom going to be with her Lord and Savior! I miss her so much and my little guy Nick misses her too! He is this biological feeling when it as been a year since her death. We don't even have to remind him, he just senses it! Amazing and so sweet! Nick, Jon, and I will be heading out this weekend to place flowers on her stone and for Nick to continue through his healing of this! (I mean she was his first adoptive mom)

Now, to move forward through the continued healing process and listen to God's will from the outcome of this surgery.


Ok..back to adoption!! So I got in touch with a good friend I knew from church through facebook and discovered that he and his wife have adopted a little boy and are now waiting on the biological sibling to be born in December! Their story is a lot different than ours, but it goes to show us that God calls us into adoption through different avenues.

Here's a brief description of their adoption story:

"Long story short, my wife and I had not talked about adoption at all. I received a phone call from a family friend on Sept 13, 2009 that this boy was born and CPS was not going to let the parents keep the baby, did we want to adopt. That was on a Sunday, by Friday we were signing papers. Then a few months ago found out that they were having another one and wanted us to adopt this one as well. He is due December 23. " -- Matthew

We are extremely excited about moving forward in our preparation! Now that we are waiting on funding, once I am recovered enough, we will start turning our guest room into a nursery. I think that when the room is transformed, it will become more of a reality.

I will keep posted and if anyone has their own adoption story, please feel free to share!!

One surgery away from complete healing!

So on Thursday I will be having what will hopefully be my last surgery for my endometriosis. Back in June, I had a pretty extensive surgery to remove all of the endometriosis from my body, including off my ovaries, uterus, and other areas. The recovery was extremely painful and long, including a visit to the ER five days after the surgery. After about a month and half, my doctor started me on a regiment of medication to shut down my system, because he found a fibrosis that he wanted to decrease. Well, the medication worked, and underneath the fibrosis, he found one endometrioma in the wall of my tissue. The only way to remove it and to keep it from going deeper and getting bigger is surgically remove it. I was a little anxious at first of the thought of another surgery, but felt this would be God's ultimate way of completely healing me of this disease that took over my body. With any surgery, I am nervous, but I pray that God is in control and the procedure will go exactly as planned and God will guide the doctor's hand, so that further complications will NOT occur.

Why all of this if we are adopting? Well, if you know anything of endometriosis...it's painful, uncomfortable, and continues to grow without treatment. It can grow on your bowels, which can cause major complications and then it cannot be removed. It can also travel to other organs, if not treated. Why now? Before, I never truly had symptoms. Last spring I began having horrible symptoms of it and felt God was leading us in this direction of complete healing of the disease. After many visits to different doctors, we found Dr. Putman in Dallas, who specializes in endometriosis! He has been great! His theory is to take it one step at a time and this has been perfect for us. Yes, he is also a fertility doctor, but we have not been approaching this with that as our purpose. Of course, the doctor would like to have us try again, because pregnancy will make the endometriosis dormant for 9 months and would hopefully help it stop growing for good. We just ask for God's wisdome with that and lay it at His feet!

We are still so involved and excited about adoption that this has been the least of our worries or focus. I am still praying for a successful surgery and no complications right now though. So please keep me in your prayers Thursday. Pray for wisdom, alertness, and God's guidance over the doctor's hand during surgery.

During my day of recovery, my plan is to continue to work on funding paperwork....then starting next week, when I can do a little bit more, I will start cleaning out the guest room to turn it into a nursery!

Much needed adoption training!

Three days of sitting all day for training can make a person so tired! Seems strange, though, since you are are sitting all day long! At the end of each day, we were exhausted! Jon and I went through PAT training, which is the training that is required for all parents adopting children out of the foster care system. I felt that we needed to keep all avenues open for the child or children that God has planned for our family. If our child is in the foster care system, then I wanted us to be ready to go! I believe that this training would be very helpful for anyone adopting, though. It was very informative in all areas of raising a child. Jon and I both thought that we would have loved to have had this training before we adopted Nicholas, but now that we have had the training we will hopefully be able to apply it to raising him now. The training answered a lot questions about Nick's behaviors, too! It's hard to believe that even though he was taken from his home at 2 months of age, he still has long lasting affects to the neglect and trauma of his reason for removal even now. We also realized that his strong will and effort to be in control here with Jon and I had a lot do with his time with my mother. I'm not saying my mother wasn't an amazing foster mom, because she was, but let's be honest....Nick was always in control at her house and probably never felt secure because of her constant visits to the hospital. We struggle a lot with him wanting to be in control of every situation, but now that we see this, we can now guide him through the healing process and hopefully bring Nick to his fullest potential. One other thing we learned, which we kind of knew all along, but didn't have anything to back it up is the fact that we have a nine year old child with the emotional age of a 6 year old. This is very common with children in the foster care system, b/c at different points in their development they did not receive the needs they required for that stage in their life.

We are so thankful that Amy Curtis, our social worker, recommended these classes for us and that Gladney Adoptions were so gracious to let us take their classes, even though we are not a Gladney family. I would strongly recommend this training for anyone considering adoption of any kind!

Oh...and by the way....our letters have been sent out for our grant matching program! Well, most of them...I need to make more copies and then I will get the rest in the mail on Monday!

Working on Funding

So, I have been sitting here for about 2 hours, addressing, stuffing, and locating addresses of family and friends so that we can send out our Adoption Grant Funding letters. It's a long process, but we are so blessed that Hand in Hand Adoptions has offered a matching grant up to $5,000. Every amount is so helpful and brings our baby closer to coming home into their forever family!

We are also trying finish up paperwork for another grant that would possibly help with funding near the end of the adoption process and help fill in the gaps. The only catch with that one is that they only award 8-10 grants out of about 20 applications they receive each month! We pray for favor in their eyes as we get ready to submit the application to them. Their process involves more paperwork and resources to be sent in, but it's so worth it to us!

Another option Jon is suppose to be looking into are his benefits through his job. When we adopted Nick they reimbursed us a portion of the adoption fees, which definately helps in the long run. Again, we pray that they are still helping their employees bring little ones into their homes through financial support.

Let's see....what other avenues have we or are we doing? I did do a Pampered Chef Show and was able to raise a little bit of money, so that we nice to be able to put into our adoption account. We also were able to put savings bonds that my Aunt Arlene purchased when I was born in the adoption account as well.

Although the financial portion of adoption can be stressful, we are confident that God is going to provide all finances for our adoption and in His perfect timing!

Again, if you feel God leading you to help with bringing a child into a forever home, please send your donation to the Hand in Hand adoptions by December 15th. If you would like for me to send you a letter than send me a message with your mailing address.

Well, we must go to bed! We have 3 full days of Adoption training starting tomorrow morning at 8am! I will fill you in soon!

The adoption journey begins

After receiving e-mails and messages from people asking about our adoption process, I felt called to start a blog, so that you can stay up to date on what is going on. Let me catch you all up on what has been done so far.

In January/February of 2010, Lou Engle came to our church and spoke about "life," and the Zoe Foundation. During this message, God specifically spoke to both Jon and I, seperately, and told us this was how we were to increase our family. We waiting through the spring for them to come back to the church and give us more information about how this was to happen. In June of 2010, Randy Bohlender came to our church, through the Zoe Foundation, and from Hannah's Dreams Adoptions. We knew right away that this was God's calling for us, so we immediately received info for the consultant, Tracie Loux, to start the process. Shortly after that, we started the paper process for Hannah's Dream Adoptions. We are working with Tracie, our consultant, in a multi-agency approach. This is where we are able to place our name on more than one adoption agency list at the same time. Currently, we have our name on three agencies' lists, in Florida, Kansas, and Texas. As of right now, we are waiting for God to match us with the child He has waiting for us and we know that this is all in God's timing.

While we are waiting for our match, we are in the process of gathering funding for our little one's adoption. Right now we are about to send out letters asking for donations through the Hand in Hand Adoption grant program. Adoptions can cost up to $20,000, with attorney fees, home study fees (which we have completed), medical expenses, travel expenses, etc. If you are reading this and feel called to sow into the life of a child and would like to donate, then you can send a donation to:

Please send all donations made payable to “Hand in Hand Christian Adoption” before December 15, 2010 to: (for tax purposes please include our name on the outside of the envelope only…do not put our name on the check itself)
Hand in Hand Christian Adoption, Inc.
The Jonathan Stewart Family
18524 Juniper Street
Gardner, KS 66030-9147

I will do my very best to keep you posted!!